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.

THE ANNUAL BRITISH ACADEMY OF FILM AND TELEVISION ARTS AWARDS WINNERS

THE ANNUAL BRITISH ACADEMY OF FILM AND TELEVISION ARTS AWARDS WINNERS

The countdown to the Oscars continue as the winners of The BAFTAs were announced Sunday night. There were not too many surprises here, but the equal love for 12 Years a Slave and Gravity still makes your Oscar ballot a bit tricky to fill out.  Despite the win for Jennifer Lawrence, I still think Lupita Nyong'o will take home the Oscar.

 Let's take a take at the BAFTA winners...

BEST FILM
12 Years a Slave

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
Gravity

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
Kieran Evans (Director/Writer) Kelly + Victor

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
The Great Beauty

DOCUMENTARY
The Act of Killing

ANIMATED FILM
Frozen

DIRECTOR
Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell, American Hustle

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope, Philomena

LEADING ACTOR
Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave

LEADING ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle

ORIGINAL MUSIC
Steven Price, Gravity

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Emmanuel Lubezki, Gravity

EDITING
Dan Hanley and Mike Hill, Rush

PRODUCTION DESIGN
Catherine Martin and Beverley Dunn, The Great Gatsby

COSTUME DESIGN
Catherine Martin, The Great Gatsby

MAKE UP AND HAIR
Evelyne Noraz and Lori McCoy-Bell, American Hustle

SOUND
Glenn Freemantle, Skip Lievsay, Christopher Benstead, Niv Adiri, and Chris Munro, Gravity

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, David Shirk, Neil Corbould, and Nikki Penny, Gravity

BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION
Sleeping with the Fishes

BRITISH SHORT FILM
Room 8

THE EE RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public)
Will Poulter

Movie Review: THE GREAT GATSBY

THE GREAT GATSBY
Director: Baz Luhrmann
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire, Joel Edgerton, Jason Clarke, Isla Fisher


When you think about it, The Great Gatsby has all the ingredients to be a fantastic movie. Fitzgerald! Baz! Leo! The Jazz Era meets Jay-Z! Somehow this recipe does not quite turn out like the masterpiece I hoped it would be. Nick Carraway (Maguire) is spending time in a sanitarium for depression, anxiety, and being morbidly alcoholic amongst other things. He starts to tell his psychiatrist about the time he spent in New York and how a man named Gatsby (DiCaprio) had a huge impact on his life. Being unable to fully express his thoughts, his psychiatrist suggests having him write it all down as a memoir.

When Nick arrives in New York he settles in at a little cottage next door to a sprawling luxurious mansion. This elusive Jay Gatsby character owns the place. He throws the grandest parties filled music, alcohol, fireworks, and beautiful women. He is world renown yet maintains a mysterious air about him as few people ever seem to meet him face to face. Directly across the bay from the Gatsby mansion lives the beautiful Daisy (Mulligan) and her brutish husband Tom Buchanan (Edgerton). Daisy just happens to be Nick's cousin and Jay’s former lover. Nick learns the hard way that Tom is by no means a faithful husband when Tom takes him to a secret place he goes to cavort with his mistress, Myrtle (Fisher). Nick receives an invitation to one of the infamous Gatsby parties and actually meets the host. Jay gets Nick to host a tea party the next day in order to reconnect with Daisy and potentially rekindle his romance. Jay’s feelings for Daisy have never dissipated over the years. His mansion and parties were all a way to gain her attention in hopes she would stop by to see him again.

There is no denying that Luhrmann has a distinct style and vision. The world he has created to represent the vision of author F. Scott Fitzgerald sits right alongside Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge! Extensive choreography, music infused with various genres, and elaborate costumes by Catherine Martin are all present and from the outside can be a feast for the eyes. As a whole picture, Luhrmann relies too heavily on these theatrical moments to get his story going instead of trusting the characters and original source material. The cinematography and editing are so fast paced in the first part of the movie in hopes of capturing that vibrant rush that comes along with the party lifestyle. Luhrmann has brought in Jay-Z to blend the sounds of jazz and hip hop. There are fabulous moments and scenes in his previous movies where the musical elements really drive the scenes and intensify the emotions between the two lovers. I never felt that concept successfully worked in this case. It just plays as gimmicky and distracting.

When the camera slows down and the 3D special effects are not popping out at us, the story starts to take shape. Luhrmann has cast a strong ensemble willing to tackle on such well-known figures from the literary world. DiCaprio, as always, knows how to command the screen and can very easily bring out the multiple sides of Gatsby that show off his true personality. This role seems to fit him like a glove. It is probably a good thing the movie finally got made as he is getting too old to play a part that he was born to play. Edgerton and Mulligan are just as impressive as the tough, forceful husband against her beautiful, light, and airy qualities of Daisy. I cannot forget to mention Jason Clarke and Elizabeth Debicki who are equally fantastic in smaller roles. Maguire was the only negative standout which is a big problem being the narrator of the story. He lacks any sort of emotional connection and vibrancy that Nick should have toward the romance between Daisy and Jay.

I adored Lurhmann’s fusion of styles and tones in Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge! but he cannot seem to make it work for The Great Gatsby. Throughout the whole movie, I was baffled by how inconsistent Luhrmann was in approaching this story. The character and dialogue driven scenes were simple and effective while the lush, CGI heavy party scenes were explosive and over-the-top. The two different styles never worked well together. He seems to trust the actors and the Fitzgerald language but feels the need to Luhrmannize any transitional type moments. The film was shot for a 3D release, but the effects came across as fake and phony like those recent Disney adaptations of Alice in Wonderland and Oz, The Great and Powerful. He easily could have made a lavish artistic movie that conveys the world of the Fitzgerald novel with real sets and effects without giving into CGI pressure. Luckily DiCaprio, Mulligan, and Edgerton are strong enough to make a portion of the movie work.

RATING: ** 1/2 (2.5 out of 5 stars)