The Best of the Best – Cinematographers

As an amateur photographer the visuals of films have high importance to me. I can forgive a lot to a film if it looks great (eg. The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug). And when a film looks especially great, I can even forget to follow the story and concentrate on cinematography. When done right, it’s a breath-taking experience. And that’s why I want to celebrate cinematographers on my new The Best of the Best list (previous ones you can find here: Actresses, Actors, TV Shows, Directors, TV characters, Films of 2013 & Future Husbands).

Like always, I want to mention a few bubbling unders; and remember these are my favourites, not the masters that have taken the field necessarily forward or something like that. No, they’re my favourites, so the most of them are guys (unfortunately, only men) that are still working today actively or even guys who have just started gaining reputation. If you’re interested in the masters, here’s list of 50 best by Total Film.

Scandal in Belgravia – Sherlock

Ok, so, the bubbling unders. These guys have gotten my attention but they’re lists of accomplishments are just not that long. Yet, I hope. Fabian Wagner has shot television, most notably Game of Thrones and Sherlock Holmes of BBC. Especially the latter has some unbelievably beautiful shots and he was nominated for Emmy for his work in the series. I already mentioned Desolation of Smaug, so I have to mention Andrew Lesnie who’s Peter Jackson’s choice for cinematographer, he has shot all Jackson’s Middle Earth movies. Beautifully. John Alcott was Kubrick’s regular. His best work can be seen in Barry Lyndon where they actually shot a lot of footage in candle light! That must have been a nightmare.

Another legend: Conrad L. Hall has shot eg. American Beauty (amazing work!), Road to Perdition, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and many more. He has been nominated for the Oscar 10 times and he won three of them. He has been mentioned in all of the great cinematographers lists as well. Robert Richardson is one to mention as well. His career has been amazing and it doesn’t look like he is going to slow down anytime soon. Just ask Tarantino, Scorsese or Oliver Stone, his regular collaborators. Him and Janisz Kaminski (Spielberg’s pal; Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan, Lincoln) should probably be on my top-10 but like I said, it’s my favourites and these guys just didn’t make it. But they really should have, they’re amazing. And the last one outside of my top ten, who is my number 11, is Greig Fraser, who seems very much upcoming with works like Zero Dark Thirty, Snow White and the Huntsman and especially Killing Them Softly.

Schindler’s List

TOP TEN

10)

Newton Thomas Sigel

The most notably to me he is the cinematographer of Drive. And Drive is one of the most beautiful films I’ve seen. Ever. I was in tears in the cinema while watching it and at the same time it is brutally violent. Such an unbelievably great work. He has done a lot of “whatever” films too but just because of Drive, I love him. And he has shot the new X-Men film; I have quite high hopes for that.

9)

Hoyte Van Hoytema

I just noticed that this sucks. I hadn’t put them in order yet and it’s really hard. He could be upper on the list because even though he hasn’t done a lot yet, what he has done, is impeccable. Låt den Rätte Komma In (Let the Right One In), Her and the best so far; Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. If you haven’t seen the last one, just see it because of the cinematography. It’s so good. He has also shot Nolan’s upcoming Interstellar. Can’t be bad. I’m also glad he’s totally international, born in Switzerland, origins from The Netherlands and Sweden and studied in Poland.

8)

Bruno Delbonnel

Here’s the man who inspired me to do this list. Inside Llewyn Davis is a masterpiece when it comes to cinematography. Dark Shadows and Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince also have beautiful cinematography. Delbonnel is specialised in darker subjects, he uses a lot of darkness with a hint of light. Or a lot of colours like in Amélie. Which ever way, he does it superbly.

7) 

Emmanuel Lubezki

A long time collaborator of Alfonso Cuarón just won the Oscar for Gravity. However his best work is in Children of Men (video above, sorry about the quality), it is unbelievably. Well, just see the video. He is also doing a lot of work with Terrence Malick and has gotten a lot of praise from Tree of Life that I have not seen. Lubezki is not exactly my taste but there is no denying his talent.

6) 

Anthony Dod Mantle

Slumdog Millionaire (for which he won the Oscar), Rush (which he should have been nominated), Trance, Dredd, Antichrist and 127 Hours. This man has his own view and it works. I hated Dredd but I can’t deny that the visuals were stunning. Next up another film with Ron Howard, Heart of the Sea, set in the sea, surprisingly. That’ll be a tough shoot.

5) 

Jeff Cronenweth

Fincher and Cronenweth are the couple here. And as you might know, I’m a big fan of Fincher and I guess that means I’m a big fan of Cronenweth, who in fact is the second generation cinematographer, son of Jordan Cronenweth who was also nominated for the Oscar. He was already part of camera department in Se7en and The Game and heading it in Fight Club (tribute above), The Social Network and The Girl With a Dragon Tattoo. Next installment these two are cooking is Gone Girl. Another great one, I suppose.

4)

Wally Pfister

He’s Nolan’s trusted guy. Inception (above), The Prestige, all batmans Nolan made and even Memento. He is not shooting Interstellar because he is making his directorial debut Transcendence which is on quite many film fans “most waited of 2014” lists. And it’ll be out in a next month, we’ll see if he is as good director as he is as a cinematographer.

3)

Darius Khondji

My top three are all so good that I should not even try to separate them. Iran born Darius Khondji is a genius who can make even films like Wimbledon look cool. He has shot visually shining films like Se7en, Evita, Panic Room (scene in the video above, watch it, it’s marvellous!), Midnight in Paris and Amour (try watch that without flinching; I couldn’t even watch it all the times). Damn, he’s good! Upcoming is Magic in the Moonlight, again with Woody Allen, shot in France. Can’t be ugly.

2) 

Seamus McGarvey

Another video but look at that scene! It’s amazing. It makes me cry every time I see it. (And that remind me of that I should do a list of composers too, Dario Marianelli made brilliant work in that film too). McGarvey is regular collaborator with Joe Wright who is one of my favourite directors. His films are always so  beautiful and beside Atonement McGarvey has shot Anna Karenina, that is staged on the stage. But it works. And McGarvey has also shot We Need to Talk About Kevin that is full of visual storytelling. And The Avengers! Though that one I don’t know, I’m more of a “real” cinematography kind a girl instead of CGI. Next up is Godzilla, 50 Shades of Grey (that is probably rubbish but the name says that there is room for interesting visuals) and Pan with Wright again. Can’t wait!

1)

Roger Deakins

The greatest cinematographer alive. 11 Oscar nominations, no win. He’s basically nominated every year and for a good reason. He’s the best. I though he did the best in Skyfall but take your pick: True Grit, Revolutionary Road, Doubt, Prisoners, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, The Village, Beautiful Mind, Fargo… and so on. Maybe next year he will finally win when his collaboration, Unbroken, with Coen bros and Angelina Jolie will be released.

While writing this post and trying to find suitable photos for it, I ran into this great blog of Beautiful Stills from Beautiful Films. Check it out!

Who are your favourites?

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Inside Llewyn Davis review

Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)

Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen
Written by Joel and Ethan Coen
Starring Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, John Goodman, Garrett Hedlund & Justin Timberlake

No wonder Inside Llewyn Davis got no love from the Academy or in general. Llewyn Davis is quite an asshole. I was unbelievably irritated by his actions in the film. I know people like him. I can’t stand people like him. Not anymore. They tend to ruin everything around them. And they don’t usually think about anyone else except themselves. And so few of them really have that big break especially because they are unable to do compromises. I get all worked up just thinking about people like Llewyn Davis.

Don’t get me wrong. Inside Llewyn Davis is again work of an art from always versatile Coen brothers. The cinematography is hauntingly beautiful, the most beautiful of all the films that I’ve seen since Drive. It even inspired me to do a list of my favourite cinematographers which I’ll be posting later this week. Songs of film are also good, especially Hang Me, Oh Hang Me that introduces us the character of Llewyn (and I would be glad to do that!). I’m not a big fan of folk music but for one film it’s tolerable to listen. All of the actors do nice job, especially Oscar Isaac in the lead and to me the character of Johnny Five played by Garrett Hedlund was enjoyable one. But then again, I’m biased, I like Hedlund quite a lot.

The script again is good one too. Coens still know what they do. It’ll be interesting to see how Unbroken will turn out when they’re the writers and Angelina Jolie is directing. At the moment I see quite a lot of awards potential. But then again, I would have seen some in Inside Llewn Davis too if I’d seen it before the Oscars this year. But I don’t know why Coens wanted to portray him like that; in all of our scriptwriting courses it’s repeated again and again that make your main character likeable. Llewyn Davis surely is not one.

 

Rating: **** (out of 5)

And the Oscars 2014 went to…

I’m re-watching the Oscars of last night (morning to us here in Finland) and Lupita Nyong’o, the Queen of the evening and Best Actress in a Supporting Role, is about to get her Oscar again. She was so graceful, so beautiful. Here is her speech if you haven’t heard it, it’s worth to listen (I’m so awfully tired that I’m crying here, again):

Let’s see what else happened.

The Best Picture went deservedly to 12 Years a Slave. That was the option number one according to Ellen and so it was. (Option number two was that everyone in the hall is racist.) All in all I had 18 out of 24 correct because I took some chances, wrongly, against all odds. The winners were not surprising. And this year it was just fine. I kinda hoped that Leo DiCaprio would have won Best Actor in a Leading Role instead of Matthew McConaughey, especially after his acceptance speech, but because Dallas Buyers Club was great, I don’t mind. Cate Blanchett won Best Actress in a Leading Role. Besides Lupita, Jared Leto, Best Actor in a Supporting Role, gave great speech. See here:

Best Director went expectedly to Alfonso Cuarón and Best Adapted Screenplay, also expectedly, to 12 Years a Slave. And even though I had predicted that American Hustle would take Original Screenplay, I’m so unbelievably happy that it didn’t but Her did. For once it went right.

Frozen took home Best Animated Feature and Best Song, so I didn’t need to become angry at any time of the evening. John Travolta named Idina Menzel Adela Dazeem (that person has her own Twitter account now) who sang Let It Go of Frozen (unfortunately not so well as I hoped; it looked like she was nervous) and other singing acts did nice job in their performances. Especially Pharrell Williams who jammed with the front row:

The Best Foreign Language Film went to Italy, to La Grande Bellezza. And Best Documentary to 20 Feet from Stardom which was, to me, the most annoying price of the evening. They could have chosen something a bit deeper meaning… Shorts: Live Action went to Helium (I changed my prediction yesterday, before that I had Helium, how very annoying), Animation to Mr. Hublot (only real surprise to me but nice one because it was my favourite of the bunch) and Documentary to The Lady in Number 6 (again good acceptance speech). Ooooh, Cumberbatch is in telly! Thanks to The Academy for adding him to the show and thanks to him for photobombing U2:

Quite many people have been complaining about heros theme, I don’t. I liked it. It reminded me why they make movies and how many great, uplifting films there are. I need to watch my indys, bonds and potters again. And nolans, marvels and georgebaileys too. And In Memoriam, that was beautiful. I really liked Glenn Close’s short speech before the montage. Like was the tribute to The Wizard of Oz. And the fact that real Philomena and Captain Phillips were present. All in all, I  and rest of our viewing party was very happy. And kudos to Ellen DeGeneres for that, she did a great job!

Back to the trophies. Best Cinematography, Editing, Visual Effects (duh!), Sound Mixing and Editing and Score went to Gravity. I thought that editing might go to Captain Phillips but was not surprised that Gravity took it. Gravity was, with seven wins, the biggest winner of the night. But for sure, not the only one.

Dallas Buyers Club took home Best Make-up and Hairstyling (thankfully!) and The Great Gatsby both; Best Production Design and Costumes.

Here are all of the winners once more:

• Best Picture “12 Years a Slave”
• Direction Alfonso Cuarón, “Gravity”
• Actor Matthew McConaughey, “Dallas Buyers Club”
• Actress Cate Blanchett, “Blue Jasmine”
• Supporting Actor Jared Leto, “Dallas Buyers Club”
• Supporting Actress Lupita Nyong’o, “12 Years a Slave”
• Adapted Screenplay “12 Years a Slave,” John Ridley
• Original Screenplay “Her,” Spike Jonze
• Cinematography “Gravity,” Emmanuel Lubezki
• Production Design “The Great Gatsby,” Catherine Martin and Beverley Dunn
• Film Editing “Gravity,” Alfonso Cuarón and Mark Sanger
• Visual Effects “Gravity,” Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk and Neil Corbould
• Costume Design “The Great Gatsby,” Catherine Martin
• Makeup “Dallas Buyers Club,” Adruitha Lee and Robin Mathews
• Sound Editing “Gravity,” Glenn Freemantle
• Sound Mixing “Gravity,” Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead and Chris Munro
• Score “Gravity,” Steven Price
• Song “Let It Go” from “Frozen,” Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez
• Foreign Language Film “The Great Beauty” (Italy)
• Animated Feature “Frozen”
• Documentary Feature “20 Feet From Stardom”
• Animated Short “Mr. Hublot”
• Documentary Short “The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life”
• Live Action Short “Helium”

And finally, the best thing of the evening, crashing down Twitter with the most re-tweeted selfie ever (that’s 2,7 millions at the moment!):

And the Oscars 2014 goes to… Or so I hope

OSCAR PREDICTIONS – WINNERS
(and what I hope to win)

Best Motion Picture of the Year

American Hustle (2013)
Captain Phillips (2013)
Dallas Buyers Club (2013)
Gravity (2013)
Her (2013)
Nebraska (2013)
Philomena (2013)
12 Years a Slave (2013)
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

I have seen all of the best picture nominees and I’m hoping 12 Years a Slave will win the Best Picture. The second favourite of mine was The Wolf of a Wall Street, quite surprisingly. I had a blast with it. Nebraska was my favourite of the last year films and I liked Dallas Buyers Club more than I expected. So basically if any of those wins, I’m alright with it. I just hope it won’t be American Hustle or Captain Phillips. In the end, the whole awards season has been great success.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

Christian Bale for American Hustle (2013)
Bruce Dern for Nebraska (2013)
Leonardo DiCaprio for The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
Chiwetel Ejiofor for 12 Years a Slave (2013)
Matthew McConaughey for Dallas Buyers Club (2013)

I do believe Matthew McConaughey will win but I’m going against the odds and betting DiCaprio. I think he finally deserves the win. And he was better than ever in The Wolf. All of the nominees were good.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

Amy Adams for American Hustle (2013)
Cate Blanchett for Blue Jasmine (2013)
Sandra Bullock for Gravity (2013)
Judi Dench for Philomena (2013)
Meryl Streep for August: Osage County (2013)

Cate Blanchett. Nothing more to say.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

Barkhad Abdi for Captain Phillips (2013)
Bradley Cooper for American Hustle (2013)
Jonah Hill for The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
Michael Fassbender for 12 Years a Slave (2013)
Jared Leto for Dallas Buyers Club (2013)

It seems like I’m betting my own favourites. Well, what can you do? Leto was stunning in Dallas Buyers Club.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

Sally Hawkins for Blue Jasmine (2013)
Julia Roberts for August: Osage County (2013)
Lupita Nyong’o for 12 Years a Slave (2013)
Jennifer Lawrence for American Hustle (2013)
June Squibb for Nebraska (2013)

Another one that I’m betting against the odds is Jennifer Lawrence. I do hope Nyong’o wins but for some reason I have a hunch it’s gonna be J-Law. Maybe I’m wrong. I doubt anyone else will win. I haven’t seen Julia Roberts’ performance but she hasn’t got any preceding awards, so guess she won’t win.

Best Achievement in Directing

Alfonso Cuarón for Gravity (2013)
Steve McQueen for 12 Years a Slave (2013)
David O. Russell for American Hustle (2013)
Martin Scorsese for The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
Alexander Payne for Nebraska (2013)

Cuarón. I think. I did like McQueen a lot too. Which ever.

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen

American Hustle (2013): Eric Warren Singer, David O. Russell
Blue Jasmine (2013): Woody Allen
Her (2013): Spike Jonze
Nebraska (2013): Bob Nelson
Dallas Buyers Club (2013): Craig Borten, Melisa Wallack

I’m really torn in this category. I want them to give the statue to Her but is it too much? Is Jonze too much for the Academy? I was disappointed to American Hustle but maybe voters are not. And there were some witty writing or was it improvised? I’ll go with Hustle now. It could be Her or DBC too.

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published

Before Midnight (2013): Richard Linklater
Captain Phillips (2013): Billy Ray
12 Years a Slave (2013): John Ridley
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013): Terence Winter
Philomena (2013): Steve Coogan, Jeff Pope

I loved Philomena’s script but it has to be 12 Years a Slave. Otherwise it would probably win only the Best Picture according to me and that’s not enough.

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year

The Croods (2013)
Despicable Me 2 (2013)
Ernest et Célestine (2012)
Frozen (2013)
Kaze tachinu (2013)

Frozen. Got to be. It was my second favourite of the ones I saw last year after Nebraska. And we are watching it right now while awaiting to the actual show to begin. And everyone loves it! And btw, Frozen just went over billion bucks at box office.

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year

The Broken Circle Breakdown (2012): Felix Van Groeningen(Belgium)
L’image manquante (2013): Rithy Panh(Cambodia)
Jagten (2012): Thomas Vinterberg(Denmark)
La grande bellezza (2013): Paolo Sorrentino(Italy)
Omar (2013): Hany Abu-Assad(Palestine)

I have to admit, I haven’t watched any of these. But The Great Beauty has won most of the awards that hasn’t been won by Blue is the Warmest Color (and that is not nominated).

Best Achievement in Cinematography

Gravity (2013): Emmanuel Lubezki
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013): Bruno Delbonnel
Nebraska (2013): Phedon Papamichael
Prisoners (2013): Roger Deakins
Yi dai zong shi (2013): Philippe Le Sourd

I think Gravity will win because it looks amazing and The Academy tend to award one with the flashiest look. I like Inside Llewyn Davis’s cinematography the best. Just saw it today and it’s a beautiful thing to look at.

Best Achievement in Editing

12 Years a Slave (2013): Joe Walker
American Hustle (2013): Alan Baumgarten, Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers
Gravity (2013): Alfonso Cuarón, Mark Sanger
Captain Phillips (2013): Christopher Rouse
Dallas Buyers Club (2013): Martin Pensa, John Mac McMurphy

The pace of Gravity was thrilling and that has to be partly thanks to editing. But Captain Phillips has been praised that much that it might win. Don’t know. I’ll go with this now.

Best Achievement in Production Design

12 Years a Slave (2013): Adam Stockhausen, Alice Baker
American Hustle (2013): Judy Becker, Heather Loeffler
Gravity (2013)
The Great Gatsby (2013): Catherine Martin, Beverley Dunn
Her (2013): K.K. Barrett, Gene Serdena

I loved the look of Her. It looks very convincing. Like the way that could be the future. But then again The Great Gatsby has this lavish look. It is sparkling one. And the easiest to recognise.

Best Achievement in Costume Design

American Hustle (2013): Michael Wilkinson
The Great Gatsby (2013): Catherine Martin
12 Years a Slave (2013): Patricia Norris
Yi dai zong shi (2013): William Chang
The Invisible Woman (2013): Michael O’Connor

Again, same reason to nominate Gatsby as the winner; it’s spectacle. But like I told in my review of Hustle, I loved the costumes of it. I hope it wins this.

Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling

Dallas Buyers Club (2013): Adruitha Lee, Robin Mathews
Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (2013): Steve Prouty
The Lone Ranger (2013): Joel Harlow, Gloria Pasqua Casny

Did you know Dallas Buyers Club had 250 dollars budget for make-up? That’s nothing. And very cool. It looked real.

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score

The Book Thief (2013): John Williams
Gravity (2013): Steven Price
Her (2013): William Butler, Andy Koyama
Saving Mr. Banks (2013): Thomas Newman
Philomena (2013): Alexandre Desplat

At first I didn’t like Gravity’s score that much but after listening to it quite a lot, I’ve come to like it. And it’s different. Philomena has beautiful music too.

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song

Despicable Me 2 (2013): Pharrell Williams( “Happy”)
Frozen (2013): Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez(“Let It Go”)
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013): Bono, Adam Clayton, The Edge, Larry Mullen Jr., Brian Burton(“Ordinary Love”)
Her (2013): Karen O(“The Moon Song”)

This is the category that I will be most pissed off if something else wins. I’ve said it hundreds of times how much I adore Idina Menzel and Let It Go is great great musical number. And I’m gonna post it right here once more:

Best Achievement in Sound Mixing

Gravity (2013): Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead, Chris Munro
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013): Christopher Boyes, Michael Hedges, Michael Semanick, Tony Johnson
Captain Phillips (2013): Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor, Mike Prestwood Smith, Chris Munro
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013): Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff, Peter F. Kurland
Lone Survivor (2013): Andy Koyama, Beau Borders, David Brownlow

I believe Gravity will win because it’s the biggest one in technical things but I really liked Inside Llewyn Davis’ sound. You could hear the mixing. And apparently Captain Phillips has great sound too but because of the grand size of Gravity, I’ll go with it.

Best Achievement in Sound Editing

All Is Lost (2013): Steve Boeddeker, Richard Hymns
Captain Phillips (2013): Oliver Tarney
Gravity (2013): Glenn Freemantle
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013): Brent Burge
Lone Survivor (2013): Wylie Stateman

Same reason. And I think the silence works here.

Best Achievement in Visual Effects

Gravity (2013): Timothy Webber, Chris Lawrence, David Shirk, Neil Corbould
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013): Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton, Eric Reynolds
Iron Man Three (2013): Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Erik Nash, Daniel Sudick
The Lone Ranger (2013): Tim Alexander, Gary Brozenich, Edson Williams, John Frazier
Star Trek Into Darkness (2013): Roger Guyett, Pat Tubach, Ben Grossmann, Burt Dalton

Is there any other possibility here? NO.

Best Documentary, Feature

The Act of Killing (2012): Joshua Oppenheimer, Signe Byrge Sørensen
Cutie and the Boxer (2013): Zachary Heinzerling, Lydia Dean Pilcher
Dirty Wars (2013): Rick Rowley, Jeremy Scahill
The Square (2013): Jehane Noujaim, Karim Amer
20 Feet from Stardom (2013): Morgan Neville

I’m gonna go with popular opinion here. The easiest subject. But I want The Act of Killing to win.

Best Documentary, Short Subject

Cavedigger (2013): Jeffrey Karoff
Facing Fear (2013): Jason Cohen
Karama Has No Walls (2012): Sara Ishaq
The Lady In Number 6 (2013): Malcolm Clarke, Carl Freed
Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall (2013): Edgar Barens

I haven’t wathed any of these but on paper The Lady sounds like winner.

Best Short Film, Animated

Feral (2012): Daniel Sousa, Dan Golden
Get a Horse! (2013): Lauren MacMullan, Dorothy McKim
Mr Hublot (2013): Laurent Witz, Alexandre Espigares
Tsukumo (2012): Shuhei Morita
Room on the Broom (2012) (TV): Max Lang, Jan Lachauer

Mr Hublot has beautiful animation but I liked Get a Horse! too and everyone has seen it.

Best Short Film, Live Action

Aquel no era yo (2012): Esteban Crespo
Avant que de tout perdre (2013): Xavier Legrand
Helium (2014): Anders Walter
Pitääkö mun kaikki hoitaa? (2012): Selma Vilhunen
The Voorman Problem (2012): Mark Gill

Pitääkö mun kaikki hoitaa? is from Finland. So obviously it is my favourite. We don’t get that much Oscars coming to this way. But I go with The Voorman Problem because it has Martin Freeman in it.

American Hustle Review

American Hustle (2013)

Directed by David O. Russell

Written by Eric Warren Singer & David O. Russell

Starring Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence & Jeremy Renner

American Hustle was the last Best Picture nominee that I had yet to see this year’s Oscars. And I got to say, I was a little bit disappointed. I obviously had huge expectations but then again not because I know how Russell makes his films. They are not exactly these stories of great success. They are more about stories of tiny success, that kinda success that gets you through the life. But I was still a bit disappointed. I rolled (that’s what you do when you have the app) my IMDb starring back and forth between eight and seven and ended up giving eight because my parents, after seeing what were the other films that I’ve recently given seven, said: “Come on, it was much better that Little Miss Sunshine.” Guess it was.

The biggest problem in American Hustle is pace. It doesn’t flow. And it should flow especially because it is a con-movie. Con-movies should be as sleek as its characters. The characters sure were cool. Even Christian Bale with his hair-do. And belly (how that good-looking guy can look that repulsive; that’s a talent). Amy Adams did look f***able. And she and Bale were good as always. And it was so nice to see Renner in a good guy’s role for a change. Him and Cooper were good too, like everyone else. And like my mum said after the film: “That Rosalyn was my favourite, she was really good.” Yeah, Lawrence did a bit steal the show. Her character had the best lines and she delivered them. Though not in the Oscar worthy way, so let’s hope Nyong’o get the statue on Sunday (I don’t mind if J-Law gets it though, I still adore her).

It was really refreshing to see a movie with people who don’t watch movies the way I do. My parents, in this case. Another thing that my mum pointed out was that the film happened only in a few locations. If I would be a producer I would give money to Russell. He always delivers and he even though he spends big bucks to actors, his sets are always only few and inexpensive looking. And apparently he shoots his films very quickly (few weeks is what I’ve read). And I would think that these days actors are lining up to perform in his films considering his track record to get the Oscar nominations to his actors (11 nominations in three latest films; that’s A LOT). And his films are always good. Maybe not spectacular but good. So he is definitely worth of every penny that production company puts in. After watching THR’s directors roundtable, I’m a bit more in love with him, he seems very interesting.

American Hustle looks good. I loved hair-dos, make-up and especially clothes. I’d love to wear those outfits that Amy Adams’ character is sporting. If I’d had the guts. I don’t. It could win the costume Oscar but then again, The Great Gatsby looks stunning and the other nominees are not bad either. Otherwise I don’t know. I think I’ll go with Lawrence when it comes to the Best Supporting Actress but the script of AH is not good enough to beat the competition and in other categories too there are much better films. I’ll do the final predictions later tonight, we’ll see if I end up predicting American Hustle in any other category. I doubt it.

Rating: **** (out of 5)

Dallas Buyers Club Review

Dallas Buyers Club

Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée
Written by Craig Borten & Melissa Wallack
Starring Matthew McConaughey, Jared Leto & Jennifer Garner

Yesterday I finally saw six-time Oscar nominee, Dallas Buyers Club. I’ve had hard time deciding who will win the Best Actor in a Leading Role and seeing DBC didn’t make it any easier. McConaughey is very good in the leading role as Ron Woodroof, he could easily beat the competition to win the golden boy on Sunday. But Jared Leto should win. He is heartbreaking in the Supporting Role as Rayon. Truly amazing. His final scenes in the film are remarkably vulnerable. I absolutely loved his flawed character. And I hope he will win the Oscar. He deserves it. All of the other actors are good too but are outshined by Leto.

I’m so glad they managed to do this film. And I think everyone should see it (I’ve said that quite often lately but that just shows how good the films of this award season actually are). It is a story of people willing to live even when the whole world around them turn on them. I’m an admirer of not giving up and this film is all about it. And about humanity against bureaucracy and greedy people. There have been so many films that I’ve seen lately that makes you think and this is definitely one of them. It makes good to your soul to see people who are ready to take a stance for others even if it starts as a selfish act.

There are flaws in Dallas Buyers Club like the sound mixing (it is amazing how easily we can hear even the whispers in the noisy places) and in general I hate this ugly look that the whole film has. To me it’s not natural but maybe it really is that way. I don’t know. My own world has always had more colours in it. But those are just technicalities that can’t hide the huge heart of this film. Again, I’m so glad they made this and that it has gotten the recognition. It’s worth of every mention it gets.

Rating: ****½ (out of 5)

Her review

Her (2013)

Directed by Spike Jonze

Written by Spike Jonze

Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Scarlett Johansson, Amy Adams, Rooney Mara & Olivia Wilde

What a script! If the Academy does not give the Oscar for the best Original Screenplay to Spike Jonze it’ll be a huge injustice! The originality of it! You have to see it to understand what I mean. It’s weirdly real even though it is not. It’s sad but not miserable. It makes you think more than you necessarily want to. In two words: IT WORKS. And I’m not usually Jonze’s fan.

I also liked the mood of the whole film, Her reminded me a lot of Lost in Translation, though that one was a tiny (very tiny) bit better. But the film kind of embraced LA the same way that Lost in Translation did to Tokyo. But it also is sadder if you think it a little bit more. And then again not. Depending on what you are seeking from a relationship? As a huge cry baby I did miss the tears that are usually the icing on the cake for me if the film is really good. This didn’t make that happen but it has so many other things to wonder.

Joaquin Phoenix is again amazing. He always is. What makes it more amazing is that the last part I saw him in was The Master where he was scary. This time he is awfully romantic, lonely man who you just want to give a big hug. He is worth of an Oscar nom but so are all those who were nominated, so… And Scarlett Johansson. I think this is probably her best part to date. And she’s not even on the screen. Not bad. They should give Oscars for voice acting too. Kristen Wiig’s brief turn as SexyKitten is hilarious and Brian Cox is so good that you want to bunch him if he would have body to bunch.

I’m not particularly excited about The Moon Song that is THE song of the film and also nominated for the Oscar but I am very pleased that the producers of the Oscars are bringing all of the acts to play their songs on the stage including Karen O of Yeah Yeah Yeah who is the performer of The Moon Song.  She’ll probably won’t win but Her has a good change in Production Design category, especially now after it won Art Directors Guild’s award for the best contemporary film. We’ll be seeing how that goes on March 2^nd. Do see Her, it’s definitely worth of your time.

Rating: ****½ (out of 5)