THE 86th ACADEMY AWARD WINNERS

THE 86th ACADEMY AWARD WINNERS

BEST PICTURE

12 YEARS A SLAVE

BEST DIRECTOR

Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity

BEST ACTOR

Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club

BEST ACTRESS

Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

The Great Beauty, Italy

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

John Ridley, 12 Years a Slave

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Spike Jonze, Her

BEST ANIMATED FILM

Frozen

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

Catherine Martin and Beverly Dunn, The Great Gatsby

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Emmanuel Lubezki, Gravity

BEST SOUND MIXING

Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead, and Chris Munro, Gravity

BEST SOUND EDITING

Glenn Freemantle, Gravity

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Steven Price, Gravity

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

"Let It Go", Frozen

Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Catherine Martin, The Great Gatsby

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

20 Feet from Stardom

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT

The Lady In Number 6: Music Saved My Life

BEST FILM EDITING

Alfonso Cuarón, Mark Sanger, Gravity

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

Adruitha Lee, Robin Mathews, Dallas Buyers Club

BEST ANIMATED SHORT

Mr. Hublot

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT

Helium

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Timothy Webber, Chris Lawrence, David Shirk, and Neil Corbould, Gravity

I don't think there were too many surprises from last night. My final outcome on predictions was 19 out of 24, which wasn't too bad. I should have stuck to my initial guesses on Best Picture and Best Costume Design, but I thought I would throw out some surprises. 20 Feet from Stardom took the award home for Best Documentary when many thought The Act of Killing had it in the bag. Ellen Degeneres completely nailed the opening monologue and brought an informal approach to her hosting duties, often times delivering bits from the audience. The selfie that broke Twitter was a fantastic idea and takes a bit of the stuffiness out of the room. I'm sure there will be some curmudgeons that will balk at her casual ways, but I found it entertaining. I will say that some of the bits took too long. The Oscars are always far longer than they need to be. I read many negative comments regarding some of the performances. I really enjoyed Bette Midler, Pink, and Idina Menzel. My biggest beef of the evening came with one of their presenters. Can I just throw it out there that John Travolta should not present again? Why does he always have to present one of the Best Song nominees? He completely butchered Idina Menzel's name. Don't they have rehearsals and pronunciation cards or something to ensure names are pronounced correctly? Travolta and his hair piece were two of the lowest moments of the evening. Some highlights of the evening include Jared Leto, Lupita Nyong'o and Cate Blachett who had wonderful and inspiring speeches. While Gravity took home the most with seven wins, 12 Years a Slave took home the final award for Best Picture.

AND THE OSCAR FOR BEST ORIGINAL SONG GOES TO...

AND THE OSCAR FOR BEST ORIGINAL SONG GOES TO...

Here are the nominees for best original song from a motion picture.

"Happy" from DESPICABLE ME 2
Music and Lyric by Pharrell Williams
performed by: Pharrell



"Let It Go" from FROZEN
Music and Lyric by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez
performed by: Idina Menzel



"The Moon Song" from HER
Music by Karen O
Lyric by Karen O and Spike Jonze
Performed by: Karen O



"Ordinary Love" from MANDELA: LONG WALK TO FREEDOM
Music by Paul Hewson, Dave Evans, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen
Lyric by Paul Hewson
performed by: U2



You may notice that this category is one nominee short of its usual five nominees. When the nominations were announced, heads turned in disbelief when "Alone Yet Not Alone" from the film of same name was nominated. Most people had never heard of this song or movie due to an extremely limited release, so how did it stand out and get nominated? The Academy decided to disqualify the song and pull the nomination after finding that composer Bruce Broughton, who is a current member of the music branch, emailed and promoted the song to voters outside of the rules and regulations regarding campaigning for a nomination.

Which one of these four great songs will win? My vote is going toward "Let It Go" from Frozen. The movie was a massive hit for Disney and the song has had just as big of an impact as the movie did. There are countless YouTube videos and Buzzfeed pages devoted to it with many young fans singing their versions of it. I am so happy to hear that powerhouse Idina Menzel will sing it live during the ceremony. I think the only song that could come in its way is "Ordinary Love" by U2. They are gaining a little momentum after their Golden Globe win and acoustic performance on "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon".

Who would you like to win? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments section below!

Movie Review: HER

HER
Writer/Director: Spike Jonze
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Scarlett Johansson, Amy Adams, Rooney Mara, Chris Pratt, Olivia Wilde

Is it possible to fall madly in love with someone even though you have never met them? I am sure that is not uncommon in the world of online dating. What if that person was your operating system? That is the fascinating and peculiar idea behind Spike Jonze's latest, Her. Theodore Twombley (Phoenix) is going through the divorce process with his wife Catherine (Mara). He feels alone, confused, and all of those other feelings that come when the love of your life wants to leave you. It probably does not help matters that he writes love letters for other people as a living through his job at "Beautifulhandwrittenletters.com".

A new, personal, talking operating system has been released on the market, and Theo purchases the new OS1. This new operating system is specifically catered and customized to grow and evolve around the person using it. Theodore gives his new OS1 a female identity who gives herself the name Samantha (Johansson). He is baffled at how intelligent and lifelike Samantha is. She has the capabilities of reading his email, browsing his computer, looking at his music and really knowing everything about him through what is found on his computer or cloud. The more Theodore uses and talks to Samantha, she goes from being a friend and organizer to someone who can sense his emotions and vulnerability. Their relationship continues to grow and when intimacy is experimented with, Theo realizes she is more special than anyone he has ever been with and starts referring to her as his girlfriend. He knows this is a strange and different kind of relationship and keeps Samantha a secret from his boss (Pratt) and good friend Amy (Adams).

Spike Jonze is the creative genius behind the likes of Being John Malkovich and Adaptation. His movies are original, different, and may be a bit odd at times. Her is all of that. It is by far one of the most original ideas and concepts I have seen all year. The story takes place in the future but Jonze never states what year it is. The design aesthetic is colorful and vibrant. The city and downtown landscape is a booming metropolis. You may notice that the clothing and costume design slightly contradicts that. Jonze and costume designer Casey Storm have decided to go vintage with high-waist pants and mustaches as the look which I see as them saying that this look has come back to fashion in this timeframe. Technology has soared to new innovative heights. I am sure it is only a matter of time before some of these technological advances start happening. The film provides an insightful commentary on the state of technology, how we come to use it, how it can control our lives, the obsession we have with our devices, online dating, and intrigues us with that concept of an individual falling in love with something so advanced it is practically human. Jonze, along with Phoenix and Johansson, present the romance with such a subtle and evolving growth and is treated like any other romance between two humans. Maybe I was too sucked into it, but there are times where you forget that Samantha is not a real person. When you succumb to the possibility of this being a real relationship, you forget that she is an operating system. You think of her as a voice on the other end of a phone or perhaps two people in a long distance relationship.

We last saw Joaquin Phoenix in a fully charged and highly physical role in 2012’s The Master which also starred Amy Adams. His performance here is far different yet equally impressive and demanding as that one. Theodore is a shy, introverted, and lonely individual. He builds this beautiful relationship all without ever filming any scenes with Johansson. Many of his scenes are him alone interacting with his device. There is an innocence and vulnerability to Phoenix that we don’t often see him portray. Johansson continues her string of really fantastic work within the past few years. Like I have mentioned before, I was a bit late on the ScarJo train, but I am fully on board now. Johansson treats Samantha as if she were a full-bodied character. She is breathtaking and sublime as she morphs from a simple voice of an operating system into this almost girl-next-door type of character. She never uses a cheap robotic techy type of voice. Their chemistry together is so warm and caring that you forget it is about a man falling in love with an operating system. I also find it interesting that Phoenix filmed all of his scenes with another actress cast as Samantha. I do not know how it was originally filmed, if the original actress’ voice was played back for Phoenix to act against or if he was acting without any sort of playback. Johansson took over in the part in post-production after Phoenix shot all of his scenes. Amy Adams and Rooney Mara should not be ignored. It should come as no surprise that they both give strong performances in smaller roles, especially since much of Mara’s work is in flashback montages.

Her is one of those instances where I, as a writer, cannot do justice in describing what the film is like and the journey it gives to its audience. It is best to experience it for yourself and obviously bring an open mind. If I had seen this in 2013 it would have made my Top 10 of 2013 list. Jonze has made another provocative film to add to his innovative repertoire.

RATING: **** 1/2 (4.5 out of 5 stars)

Movie Review: JACKASS PRESENTS: BAD GRANDPA

JACKASS PRESENTS: BAD GRANDPA
Director: Jeff Tremaine
Starring: Johnny Knoxville, Jackson Nicholl, Greg Harris

Do you like watching pranks performed on innocent people? Boy, do I have a movie for you! If you have ever watched MTV's "Jackass" or saw any of the three movies that were spawned after it, you will be familiar with Knoxville's character of Grandpa Irving Zisman. Now he gets his own movie! At the funeral for his wife, Irving's estranged daughter shows up to drop off his grandson Billy (Nicholl) without any warning as she has been ordered back to jail for violating parole. Billy likes to tell people his mother is a drug addict. Irving has no choice but to take Billy on a road trip back to be with his dad and to find a proper burial spot for his dead wife.

Now you may be saying to yourself, "Since when does a Jackass movie have a plot?" Yes, I am as surprised as you are. All of the other films Johnny Knoxville has done under the Jackass banner have been a collection of gross out gags performed by his buddies on each other. Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa weaves together an actual plot working as transition material between all of the gags. There is indeed a script full of dialogue between Irving and Billy in the car throughout their trip. I was pleasantly surprised at this mix of documentary style filmmaking with a faux story thrown in. Borat is another good example of this mix. Let's be real though. The majority of the audience will remember this film for the hilarious gags on its unsuspecting victims. Irving and Billy strike up random conversation with people on the street, the ladies at the bingo hall, restaurant patrons, a male strip club, and even a gang of motorcycle riders.

If you are familiar with the Knoxville canon, you are probably already aware of what kind of humor you can expect. It's a mix of physical comedy, slapstick gags, fart jokes, penis jokes, and old man hitting on younger women jokes. The bits are crass, crude, gross, dumb and everything in between. Some of it seems so ludacris at times you wonder how people are falling for it, but it sure is damn funny to watch it all unfold. If you stay and watch the credits, you get a glimpse into the filming of it and how they were able to pull it all off. I give credit to many of the innocent bystanders that signed over their waivers to appear in the film. I am glad to see people able to poke fun at themselves and be up for showing their more embarrassing moments. I could not help but wonder how many people did not, how many were pissed off at them, and how many people they had to pay off to pay for their damages.

Not every bit or gag is laugh out loud funny; the big ones make it all worth while. I am typically appalled by Little Miss pageants, so I took a bit of pleasure out of Billy performing a lewd dance to "Cherry Pie" to the shock and disgust out of all of those stage parents watching him. Sometimes after you have had a really crappy week or month, a dumb comedy like this can be just the 92 minute release you need from the everyday life. Is it the best comedy of the year? No. Is the the worst? No way. Some may find the humor to be crewd and mean, but the able participation from its victims make it feel a bit more justifiable. You may also be interested in knowing Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich, Her) produced and helped write the story behind it.

RATING: *** 1/2 (3.5 out of 5 stars)

Movie Trailer: THE WOLF OF WALL STREET

THE WOLF OF WALL STREET
Director: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matthew McConaughey, Jonah Hill, Jon Favreau, Kyle Chandler, Jean Dujardin, Ethan Suplee, Rob Reiner, Spike Jonze, Joanna Lumley, Christine Ebersole

Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio are teaming up for their fifth collaboration. They are bringing Jordan Belfort's memoir of the same name to the big screen with an adaptation by Terence Winter ("Boardwalk Empire", "The Sopranos").

The film is a biographical boiler room drama that follows the notorious Jordan Belfort (DiCaprio), a Wall Street stockbroker who was flying high on drugs, money, and women. This bad business included a "pump and dump scheme" of money laundering and security fraud against Wall Street and the mob.

I am a huge fan of Martin Scorsese's work, and while some naysayers like to claim that no new film of his could ever live up to Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, or Goodfellas. While I agree that those are cinematic works of excellence, The Departed is one of my favorite movies. I may also be one of the few that has a soft spot for Leonardo DiCaprio and don't understand why the Academy continually ignores him. The first trailer for The Wolf of Wall Street definitely showcases the look of luxury and the more comedic tones the film will have. It does not have that gritty, rough feel of your traditional Scorsese film. I have read up on the life of Jordan Belfort and I have faith the film will showcase the darker or crazier sides of his life.

What are your first impressions?

In theaters: November 15, 2013

Here's the trailer: