The 87th Academy Awards - 22nd February 2015.

On Sunday evening 22nd February 2015 the 87th Annual Academy Awards were held at Hollywood's Dolby Theatre. Hosted this year, for the first time, by Actor, Producer, Director, Comedian and various other employments tags, Neil Patrick Harris - this Hollywood night of nights was attended by the glitterati, glamourati and paparazzi of the film industry that make up the highly anticipated back slapping, hand wringing, teeth clenching, finger crossing and emotionally charged Oscar ceremony.

With awards given out in 24 categories, this year there were seventeen films that had multiple nominations going into awards night. These were 'The Grand Budapest Hotel' and 'Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)' each having nine nominations; 'The Imitation Game' had eight; 'American Sniper' and 'Boyhood' had six apiece; 'Foxcatcher', 'Interstellar', 'Whiplash' and 'The Theory of Everything' all had five; 'Mr. Turner' had four; 'Into the Woods' and 'Unbroken' with three; and with two nominations each were 'Guardians of the Galaxy', 'Ida', 'Wild, 'Selma' and 'Inherent Vice'.

Shown below then, are the winner & grinners from Oscar Night 2015 in the main categories :-

Best Picture : 'Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)'
Best Animated Feature Film : 'Big Hero 6'
Best Documentary Feature Film : 'CitizenFour'
Best Foreign Language Film : 'Ida'

Best Achievement in Directing : Alejandro G. Inarritu for 'Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)'

Best Actor in a Leading Role : Eddie Redmayne for 'The Theory of Everything' 
Best Actress in a Leading Role : Julianne Moore for 'Still Alice'
Best Actor in a Supporting Role : J.K.Simmons for 'Whiplash' 
Best Actress in a Supporting Role : Patricia Arquette for 'Boyhood'

Best Cinematography : 'Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)' 
Best Visual Effects : 'Interstellar'
Best Production Design :  'The Grand Budapest Hotel'
Best Costume Design : 'The Grand Budapest Hotel'
Best Make-Up & Hair : 'The Grand Budapest Hotel'
Best Original Music Score : 'The Grand Budapest Hotel'

Best Original Screenplay : 'Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)'
Best Adapted Screenplay : 'The Imitation Game'

In the final analysis both 'The Grand Budapest Hotel' and 'Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)' walked away with four golden statues each from nine nominations each, and 'Whiplash' took three from its five nominations.

For this Reviewer and Movie Critic this years Academy Awards were one of the most closely contested  in recent years - in my humble opinion. The competition was very strong and because of it final decisions could have gone any way. I am surprised that not more was made of 'Boyhood, 'Nightcrawler', 'The Imitation Game', 'Mr. Turner', 'Foxcatcher' and 'American Sniper' for example - all excellent movies and Reviewed previously at this Blog. If nothing else it has been good to see such a rich year in terms of cinematic content resulting in closely fought contests this awards season, and, with the promise of more to come over the next twelve months.

Keep watching, keep reading and, see as many movies as you can!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

The BAFTA Awards - Sunday 8th February 2015.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts held their annual film awards for the 68th time on Sunday evening earlier this week at London's Royal Opera House, and hosted for the tenth time by Actor, Raconteur, and Television personality Stephen Fry. With the Golden Globes, AACTA's, Screen Actors Guild and now the BAFTA's all done, this leaves only the Grand Daddy of them all later this month - the Academy Awards on 22nd February.

Summarised below are the main winners & grinners from the UK's film night of nights which for my mind was a little one sided in the final analysis with many great movie offerings being overlooked that hitherto have been lauded from on high. As I'm not on the judging panel though I accept no responsibility - those that did win clearly gave notable and outstanding performances/services all round, but as always with such things you could debate the decisions for or against those that won and those that lost all night long! So with that in mind . . . the winners are :-

Best Film : 'Boyhood'
Best British Film : 'The Theory of Everything'
Best Animated Film : 'The LEGO Movie'
Best Documentary Film : 'Citizenfour'
Best Foreign Language Film : 'Ida'

Best Actor in a Lead Role : Eddie Redmayne for 'The Theory of Everything'
Best Actress in a Lead Role : Julianne Moore for 'Still Alice'
Best Actor in a Supporting Role : J.K.Simmons for 'Whiplash'
Best Actress in a Supporting Role : Patricia Arquette for 'Boyhood'

Best Direction : Richard Linklater for 'Boyhood'
Best Adapted Screenplay : Anthony McCarten for 'The Theory of Everything'
Best Original Screenplay : Wes Anderson for 'The Grand Budapest Hotel'

Best Production Design : 'The Grand Budapest Hotel'
Best Costume Design : 'The Grand Budapest Hotel'
Best Make-up & Hair : 'The Grand Budapest Hotel'
Best Special Visual Effects : 'Interstellar'
Best Music Score : Alexandre Desplat for 'The Grand Budapest Hotel'
In the final analysis 'The Grand Budapest Hotel' won five awards from a total eleven nominations and did the best on the day, with the runners up coming from 'The Theory of Everything' which won three awards from ten nominations, and both 'Boyhood' and 'Whiplash' picking up three wins each from five nominations each. Although receiving multiple nominations too, I was surprised that none of 'Birdman', 'The Imitation Game', 'Nightcrawler', 'Mr. Turner' or 'Interstellar' fared better.

That's it then for another year from the BAFTA's with just the icing on the cake to come - keep watching the movies and keep reading this Blog for more movie Reviews, Previews, News and Views and your final wrap on the Oscar's in just over a week!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

The 72nd Golden Globes - winners & grinners!

All the Hollywood glitz & glamour of the Golden Globe Awards unfolded for the 72nd time on Sunday 11th January at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills. Hosted once again by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, the Golden Globes acknowledge excellence in film and American television, and are seen as the pre-cursor to the Academy Awards which will be held for the 87th time on 22nd February. Many of the winners & grinners walking away with a Golden Globe will be secretly hoping to snaffle a golden statue in a few weeks from now and catapult their film and/or television careers into the A-list big time! We'll see!

And so, for your reference in case you missed it, here are the main winners of the 2015 Golden Globe Awards.

    

Best Motion Picture  - Drama : 'BOYHOOD'
Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy : 'THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL'

Best Actor Performance in a Motion Picture - Drama : EDDIE REDMAYNE in 'THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING' (Australian release date : 29th January)
Best Actress Performance in a Motion Picture - Drama : JULIANNE MOORE in 'STILL ALICE' (Australian release date : 29th January)

Best Actor Performance in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy : MICHAEL KEATON in 'BIRDMAN' (Australian release date : 15th January)
Best Actress Performance in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy : AMY ADAMS in 'BIG EYES' (Australian release date : 5th February)

     

Best Supporting Actor Performance in a Motion Picture - Drama, Musical or Comedy : J.K. SIMMONS in 'WHIPLASH'

Best Supporting Actress Performance in a Motion Picture - Drama, Musical or Comedy : PATRICIA ARQUETTE in 'BOYHOOD'

Best Director : RICHARD LINKLATER for 'BOYHOOD'

Best Screenplay : ALEJANDRO GONZALES INARRITU for 'BIRDMAN' shared with Nicolás Giacobone, Armando Bo, Alexander Dinelaris Jr.

Best Animated Motion Picture : 'HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2'

Best Foreign Language Motion Picture : 'LEVIATHAN' (Russia)

Best Television Mini-Series : 'FARGO'

   

The votes then are in, the decisions made and the awards received by a handful of winners and grinners who for this year at least can lay claim to be up there amongst the best in the world of film and US TV. A bunch of movies here that have already been and gone and are now available to rent or buy, and few still yet to hit our screens. Do yourself a favour, and check out any one of these soon - you won't be disappointed!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL - Saturday 12th April 2014

I sat up high in a packed out Orpheum Theatre last night at the Cremorne Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace on a rain soaked night to enjoy 'THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL'. This film is a delight, and for a running time of just 100 minutes this Wes Anderson Directed offering will captivate your interest from beginning to end. This is Anderson's eighth film ('The Royal Tenenbaums', 'Moonrise Kingdom', 'The Darjeeling Limited', 'Rushmore' etc.) and while this one contains his trademark style, his favoured acting talent and his quirky touchstones this will rank right up there as possibly his finest work so far.

With a stellar cast that takes in Ralph Fiennes, F. Murray Abraham, Tom Wilkinson, Jude Law, Jason Schwartzman, Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, Harvey Keitel, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe, Tilda Swinton, and Saoirse Ronan amongst others this film should succeed on that level alone. But there is so much more here to take in - the lavish sets, the beautiful colours of a decadent era, sharp dialogue, fast paced action, dark humour, convincing performances . . . and a gripping story.

We are initially greeted by an ageing author in 1985 (Tom Wilkinson) who begins to tell the story of his stay at the run down somewhat dilapidated Grand Budapest Hotel in 1968 (the younger self played by Jude Law) and how a chance meeting with the hotels owner, Mr. Zero Moustafa (F. Murray Abraham) leads to him recounting how he came to own the hotel having first worked there as the Lobby Boy in the early 1930's.

And so the story within a story begins to unfold as the Hotel Concierge, M. Gustave H. (played brilliantly by Ralph Fiennes) takes the younger Zero under his wing and their relationship unfolds in the lead up to war, occupation of this fake eastern European country, and what needs to be done after the murder of one of the Hotel's guests and the contents of her last will & testament are revealed. Gustav H. is devilishly debonair, sophisticated, well educated, admired by all Concierge, but can also scheme and connive with the best of them when the chips are down. And so this tale of deception, escapism and daring do mixed in with a little intrigue, danger, rich dialogue and heavily stylised images of a by-gone era make for an engrossing film.

You don't need to see this on the big screen and can easily wait for the DVD, but why would you? This is a great little film, and you will be rewarded by repeat viewing to ensure you capture all the little nuances offered on screen by Anderson and his assembled cast, the colourful storyline and the rich dialogue.

   

-Steve, at Odeon Online-