20 December 2013

The Best of 2013: The Nominees.

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE


Broadcast, Berberian Sound Studio

Joe Hisaishi, The Wind Rises
Cliff Martinez, Only God Forgives
m83 and Joseph Trapanese, Oblivion
Rob, Maniac
Tindersticks, Bastards



BEST ORIGINAL SONG


Do You Wanna Build a Snowman, Frozen

Let It Go, Frozen
The Moon Song, Her
Oblivion, Oblivion

Please Mr. Kennedy, Inside Llewyn Davis



BEST DOCUMENTARY


The Act of Killing

Call Me Kuchu
The Source Family
The Square
Stories We Tell


BEST ANIMATED FEATURE


Despicable Me 2


Frozen

Monsters University
Turbo
The Wind Rises


BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM


Bastards

Drug War
The Grandmaster (HK Version)
I Killed My Mother
Post Tenebras Lux
Safe Haven (from S-VHS)
The Wind Rises


BEST EDITING


Annette Dutertre, Bastards

Andrew Bujalski, Computer Chess
Pietro Scalia, The Counselor
Matthew Newman, Only God Forgives
AJ Edwards and Keith Fraase and Shane Hazen and Christopher Roldan and Mark Yoshikawa, To The Wonder
Adam Wingard, You're Next


BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY


Richard LaGravenese, Behind The Candelabra

Danny Strong, The Butler
Gavin Hood, Ender's Game
Shane Black and Drew Pearce, Iron Man Three
Don Coscarelli, John Dies At the End
John Ridley, 12 Years a Slave


BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY


Todd Berger, It's a Disaster

Jem Cohen, Museum Hours
Alice Lowe and Steve Oram and Amy Jump, Sightseers
Shane Carruth, Upstream Color
Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright, The World's End
Simon Barrett, You're Next


BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Shane Carruth, Upstream Color

Benoit Debie, Spring Breakers
Agnes Godard AFC, Bastards
Emmanuel Lubezki AMC/ASC, To The Wonder
Iris Ng, Stories We Tell

Brandon Trost, The Lords of Salem

Dariusz Wolski ASC, The Counselor



BEST DIRECTOR


Rama Burshtein, Fill The Void

Shane Carruth, Upstream Color
Claire Denis, Bastards
Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity
Spike Jonze, Her
Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
Rob Zombie, the Lords of Salem


BEST SCENE


Child Beauty Pageant, Bad Grandpa

Funeral, Bad Grandpa
Tscherkassky-style freakout, Berberian Sound Studio
Audrina Patridge robbery, The Bling Ring
Adele and Thomas talking about literature, Blue is the Warmest Color
Oprah thinks this dinner is done, The Butler
last questions, Computer Chess
"...over in the corner," The Conjuring
Gina Carano vs Michelle Rodriguez, Furious 6
Ip Man and Gong Er's 'don't break anything' fight, The Grandmaster
trainside fight, The Grandmaster
Spiders in the Forest, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug 3D
Biaggio Family Discussion, The Kings of Summer
"All Tomorrow's Parties," The Lords of Salem
The Ritual, The Lords of Salem
Bruegel Lecture, Museum Hours
What witch tears do, Oz The Great and Powerful
Splitscreen view to a kill, Passion
Opening Scene, Post Tenebras Lux
Graffiti Run, Something in the Air
"Everytime," Spring Breakers
Opening Credits, Texas Chainsaw 3D
portal chase, Thor: The Dark World
The Lemmons, Wolf of Wall Street
Be vewy vewy quiet in the lab, World War Z



SUPPORTING ACTRESS


Ashley Benson, Spring Breakers

Gaby Hoffman, Crystal Fairy
Scarlett Johansson, Her
Joanna Lumley, Wolf of Wall Street
Angela McEwan, Nebraska
Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave
Mickey Sumner, Frances Ha
Oprah Winfrey, The Butler


BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR


Matt Damon, Behind The Candelabra

James Franco, Spring Breakers
Ben Foster, Kill Your Darlings
John Gallagher Jr, Short Term 12
Jeremie Laheurte, Blue is the Warmest Color
Rob Lowe, Behind The Candelabra
Olafur Darri Olafsson, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Jeffrey Daniel Phillips, The Lords of Salem

BEST ACTRESS


Amy Adams, American Hustle

Sandra Bullock, Gravity
Cameron Diaz, The Counselor
Adele Exarchopoulos, Blue is The Warmest Color
Brie Larson, Short Term 12
Lindsay Lohan, The Canyons
Alice Lowe, Sightseers
Hadas Yaron, Fill The Void
Ziyi Zhang, The Grandmaster
Sheri Moon Zombie, The Lords of Salem


BEST ACTOR


Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave

Oscar Isaac, Inside Llewyn Davis
Vincent Lindon, Bastards
Clement Metayer, Something in the Air
Joaquin Phoenix, Her
Robert Redford, All is Lost
Bobby Sommer, Museum Hours 


BEST PICTURE


BASTARDS

FILL THE VOID
HER
THE LORDS OF SALEM
MUSEUM HOURS
SHORT TERM 12
SPRING BREAKERS
STORIES WE TELL
12 YEARS A SLAVE
UPSTREAM COLOR
















13 December 2013

The Worst of 2013.

The 9 WORST FILMS of 2013.

It's odd. Usually, there are ten films that I hate strongly enough to immortalize in whatever shame a list like this instills. But I sincerely couldn't find ten films worthy of my contempt. There were a lot of flawed films that had enough redeeming facets to pull them out of consideration for this list, so I'm stuck with just the nine, in ascending order of awfulness.


09) Texas Chainsaw 3D
08) The Last Days on Mars
07) Fright Night 2: New Blood
06) Escape Plan
05) Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters
04) Free Birds
03) A Good Day To Die Hard
02) G.I. Joe Retaliation
01) A Haunted House

21 November 2013

At the movies: Seventeen.

Showing once. Tonight. On 16mm. Just go. Do that, for me.

You can read this beforehand, or after. Just go. Don't miss this.

Famous People talked to me: Adele Exarchopoulos.

While my response to Blue is The Warmest Color/La Vie d'Adele is measured, there's one aspect of it that I am completely bowled over by, and that is the central performance of Adele Exarchopoulos. After the film's tempestuous post-Cannes history, it was nice to be able to hear from Adele herself. This article in the online version of the Scene (supplementing Jim Ridley's exceptional review of the film, which makes me want to rewatch the second half, keeping some of his points in mind) was taken from the press conference interview with Exarchopoulos and Abdellatif Kechiche, whom I have omitted from the piece because he is dickish and kept dodging thoughtful questions. But enough of that- on to Adele.

07 November 2013

At the movies: The Visitor (Stridulum).

Ah, The Vistor. Also known as Stridulum. Also known as That Movie where Everything That Could Possibly Happen in fact Does... It's a very special film, and thanks to Drafthouse Films, it's being unleashed upon a world that can show it the love it properly deserves. Don't let it pass you by. 


Famous People Talked to Me: Robert Redford and J.C. Chandor.

All is Lost is finally opening in Nashville, and to help promote it/bring awareness to this truly unique film experience, I'm running the discussion that happened after the film's screening at the New York Film Festival this year. This is well worth your time.