06th Feb2015

Selma – Film

by timbaros

images-337Selma, now in theatres, does not quite pack a powerful punch as one would’ve hoped.

Selma focuses on the three months in 1965 when Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) (played diligently by David Oyelowo) pushed for the passage of voting rights legislation not just in Selma, Georgia but also across the United States, amidst some anti-black sentiment in the country. And it came right after the 16th Street Baptist Church murders where four young black girls were killed by a bomb in Birmingham, Alabama.

So Selma is more about the movement and less about MLK. It’s very effective in providing viewers with the drama and humility that blacks had to endure in the U.S. south during this time (which was unbelievably only 50 years ago). A great cast brings this story to life. They include Oyelowo, Billionaire Oprah Winfrey who plays Annie Lee Cooper, a black woman who goes to register to vote but is denied, thus igniting the movement, Carmen Ejogo as Coretta Scott King – MLK’s long-suffering wife, and other actors who play leaders of the movement, among them Colman Domingo as Ralph Abernathy and Common as James Bevel.

Director Ava DuVernay helms her first big Hollywood production, and it’s credit to Winfrey’s Harpo Productions and Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment to give her the reins to this retelling of an important historical event in the U.S. But she doesn’t quite pull it off. While it does have its share of emotional moments, it lacks one huge one to sweeps the viewer off his feet. The first Selma to Montgomery march the activists lead is taut and dramatic. But the second time they do is less so. A standoff between the activists in front of the courthouse looks a bit staged, hence unrealistic. And the final scene that has King giving what should be a powerful speech is drowned out by background music. It’s a moment when the viewers should be moved, but King’s words are barely heard. And Director DuVernay decided to play with history by making President Lyndon B. Johnson (Tom Wilkinson) reluctant to make the Voting Rights act a top priority, when in reality Johnson was all for it.

Selma is a bit like A Long Walk to Freedom (the story of Nelson Mandela) – a good film that cannot live up to it’s subject.

The performances, however, are excellent. It’s too bad that Oyelowo missed out on a Best Actor Oscar nomination for this film – he’s that good, but it was a very competitive year for actors. The film does deserve more than it’s two Oscar nominations (Best Picture and Best Song) – but unfortunately the production company was slow in getting DVD screeners out to members of the academy, a delay which meant that not every Academy member was perhaps not at home during the holidays to receive theirs. But Selma is worth a watch to get a grasp on what it was like in the deep south in American back then.

Off
08th Jan2014

BAFTA Nominations – Film

by timbaros

IMG_3921The British Academy of Film and Television Arts have announced the nominees for the British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA’s). Gravity leads the way with 11 nominations, including Best Film, Outstanding British Film, Director for Alfonso Cuaron, and Leading Actress for Sandra Bullock. 12 Years a Slave and American Hustle are right behind Gravity with 10 nominations each. 12 Years a Slave has nominations for Best Film, Director for Steve McQueen, Chiwetel Ejiofor for Leading Actor, Michael Fassbender for Supporting Actor and Lupita Nyong’o for Supporting Actress. American Hustle is also nominated for Best Film and Director, for David O. Russell. It also has acting nominations in each acting category, including Christian Bale for Leading Actor, Amy Adams for Leading Actress, Bradley Cooper for Supporting Actor and Jennifer Lawrence for Supporting Actress. Captain Phillips has 9 nominations, including Best Film, Director for Paul Greengrass, Tom Hanks for Leading Actor and newcomer Barkhad Barki for Supporting Actor. The winners will be announced in a ceremony to be held on Sunday February 16th at London’s Royal Opera House.

The nominations are:

BEST FILM
12 YEARS A SLAVE Anthony Katagas, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen
AMERICAN HUSTLE Charles Roven, Richard Suckle, Megan Ellison, Jonathan Gordon
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca
GRAVITY Alfonso Cuarón, David Heyman
PHILOMENA Gabrielle Tana, Steve Coogan, Tracey Seaward

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
GRAVITY Alfonso Cuarón, David Heyman, Jonás Cuarón
MANDELA: LONG WALK TO FREEDOM Justin Chadwick, Anant Singh, David M. Thompson, William Nicholson
PHILOMENA Stephen Frears, Gabrielle Tana, Steve Coogan, Tracey Seaward, Jeff Pope
RUSH Ron Howard, Andrew Eaton, Peter Morgan
SAVING MR. BANKS John Lee Hancock, Alison Owen, Ian Collie, Philip Steuer, Kelly Marcel, Sue Smith
THE SELFISH GIANT: Clio Barnard, Tracy O’Riordan

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
COLIN CARBERRY (Writer), GLENN PATTERSON (Writer)Good Vibrations
KELLY MARCEL (Writer) Saving Mr. Banks
KIERAN EVANS (Director/Writer) Kelly + Victor
PAUL WRIGHT (Director/Writer), POLLY STOKES (Producer) For Those in Peril
SCOTT GRAHAM (Director/Writer) Shell

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
THE ACT OF KILLING Joshua Oppenheimer, Signe Byrge Sørensen
BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOUR Abdellatif Kechiche, Brahim Chioua, Vincent Maraval
THE GREAT BEAUTY Paolo Sorrentino, Nicola Giuliano, Francesca Cima
METRO MANILA  Sean Ellis, Mathilde Charpentier
WADJDA Haifaa Al-Mansour, Gerhard Meixner, Roman Paul

DOCUMENTARY
THE ACT OF KILLING Joshua Oppenheimer
THE ARMSTRONG LIE Alex Gibney
BLACKFISH Gabriela Cowperthwaite
TIM’S VERMEER Teller, Penn Jillette, Farley Ziegler
WE STEAL SECRETS: THE STORY OF WIKILEAKS Alex Gibney

ANIMATED FILM
DESPICABLE ME 2 Chris Renaud, Pierre Coffin
FROZEN Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee
MONSTERS UNIVERSITY Dan Scanlon

DIRECTOR
12 YEARS A SLAVE Steve McQueen
AMERICAN HUSTLE David O. Russell
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS Paul Greengrass
GRAVITY Alfonso Cuarón
THE WOLF OF WALL STREET Martin Scorsese

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
AMERICAN HUSTLE Eric Warren Singer, David O. Russell
BLUE JASMINE Woody Allen
GRAVITY Alfonso Cuarón, Jonás Cuarón
INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
NEBRASKA Bob Nelson 

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
12 YEARS A SLAVE John Ridley
BEHIND THE CANDELABRA Richard LaGravenese
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS Billy Ray
PHILOMENA Steve Coogan, Jeff Pope
THE WOLF OF WALL STREET Terence Winter

LEADING ACTOR
BRUCE DERN Nebraska
CHIWETEL EJIOFOR 12 Years a Slave
CHRISTIAN BALE American Hustle
LEONARDO DICAPRIO The Wolf of Wall Street
TOM HANKS Captain Phillips

LEADING ACTRESS
AMY ADAMS American Hustle
CATE BLANCHETT Blue Jasmine
EMMA THOMPSON Saving Mr. Banks
JUDI DENCH Philomena
SANDRA BULLOCK Gravity

SUPPORTING ACTOR
BARKHAD ABDI Captain Phillips
BRADLEY COOPER American Hustle
DANIEL BRÜHL Rush
MATT DAMON Behind the Candelabra
MICHAEL FASSBENDER 12 Years a Slave

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
JENNIFER LAWRENCE American Hustle
JULIA ROBERTS August: Osage County
LUPITA NYONG’O 12 Years a Slave
OPRAH WINFREY The Butler
SALLY HAWKINS Blue Jasmine

ORIGINAL MUSIC
12 YEARS A SLAVE  Hans Zimmer
THE BOOK THIEF John Williams
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS Henry Jackman
GRAVITY Steven Price
SAVING MR. BANKS Thomas Newman

CINEMATOGRAPHY
12 YEARS A SLAVE Sean Bobbitt
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS Barry Ackroyd
GRAVITY Emmanuel Lubezki
INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS Bruno Delbonnel
NEBRASKA Phedon Papamichael

EDITING
12 YEARS A SLAVE Joe Walker
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS Christopher Rouse
GRAVITY Alfonso Cuarón, Mark Sanger
RUSH Dan Hanley, Mike Hill
THE WOLF OF WALL STREET Thelma Schoonmaker

PRODUCTION DESIGN
12 YEARS A SLAVE Adam Stockhausen, Alice Baker
AMERICAN HUSTLE Judy Becker, Heather Loeffler
BEHIND THE CANDELABRA Howard Cummings
GRAVITY Andy Nicholson, Rosie Goodwin, Joanne Woodlard
THE GREAT GATSBY Catherine Martin, Beverley Dunn

COSTUME DESIGN
AMERICAN HUSTLE Michael Wilkinson
BEHIND THE CANDELABRA Ellen Mirojnick
THE GREAT GATSBY Catherine Martin
THE INVISIBLE WOMAN Michael O’Connor
SAVING MR. BANKS Daniel Orlandi

MAKE UP & HAIR
AMERICAN HUSTLE Evelyne Noraz, Lori McCoy-Bell
BEHIND THE CANDELABRAKate Biscoe, Marie Larkin
THE BUTLER Debra Denson, Beverly Jo Pryor, Candace Neal
THE GREAT GATSBY Maurizio Silvi, Kerry Warn
THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG Peter Swords King, Richard Taylor, Rick Findlater

SOUND

ALL IS LOST Richard Hymns, Steve Boeddeker, Brandon Proctor, Micah Bloomberg, Gillian Arthur

CAPTAIN PHILLIPS Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor, Mike Prestwood Smith, Chris Munro, Oliver Tarney

GRAVITY Glenn Freemantle, Skip Lievsay, Christopher Benstead, Niv Adiri, Chris Munro

INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS Peter F. Kurland, Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff

RUSH Danny Hambrook, Martin Steyer, Stefan Korte, Markus StemlerFrank Kruse

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS

GRAVITY Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, David Shirk, Neil Corbould, Nikki Penny

THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton, Eric Reynolds

IRON MAN 3 Bryan Grill, Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Dan Sudick

PACIFIC RIM Hal Hickel, John Knoll, Lindy De Quattro, Nigel Sumner

STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS Ben Grossmann, Burt Dalton, Patrick Tubach, Roger Guyett

BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION
EVERYTHING I CAN SEE FROM HERE Bjorn-Erik Aschim, Friederike Nicolaus, Sam Taylor
I AM TOM MOODY Ainslie Henderson
SLEEPING WITH THE FISHES James Walker, Sarah Woolner, Yousif Al-Khalifa

BRITISH SHORT FILM
ISLAND QUEEN Ben Mallaby, Nat Luurtsema
KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES Megan Rubens, Michael Pearce, Selina Lim
ORBIT EVER AFTER Chee-Lan Chan, Jamie Stone, Len Rowles
ROOM 8 James W. Griffiths, Sophie Venner
SEA VIEW Anna Duffield, Jane Linfoot

THE EE RISING STAR AWARD (previously announced, voted for by the public)
DANE DEHAAN
GEORGE MACKAY
LUPITA NYONG’O
WILL POULTER
LÉA SEYDOUX

Tom Hanks nomination is his 4th. He has yet to win a BAFTA. Amy Adams also has had four nominations with no wins. Cate Blanchett has earned her 6th nominations, with two previous wins (Leading Actress in 1999 for Elizabeth and Supporting Actress in 2005 for The Aviator). Emma Thompson has earned her 7th nomination (and has had wins for Leading Actress in 1993 for Howards End and in 1996 for Sense and Sensibility).

Judi Dench is now the most nominated actress is film. She was nominated for her 15th BAFTA for her performance in Philomena. She was won six BAFTA’s: Most promising newcomer (1994), Supporting Actress for A Room With a View (1987), A Handful of Dust (1989) and Shakespeare in Love (2001), and Leading Actress for Mrs Brown (1989) and Iris (2002). She has also won the Fellowship award in 2001.

Martin Scorsese was nominated for his 12th BAFTA. He has won the award three times: Best Film, Screenplay and Director, all for Goodfellas in 1991. He was awarded the Fellowship award in 2012.

Woody Allen is now the most nominations in film. This year he picked up a nomination for Original Screenplay for Blue Jasmine. In total he was been nominated 24 times, and has won 10.

Photo by Tim Baros