Academy Awards 2013

Every year the Academy Awards are the pinnacle of the year of the movie. Most of the times the winners of the major categories (cause let’s face it, the technical Oscars are nice but well…a little bit dull) are fairly clear. Also most of times the nominated movies have rarely been seen by anybody but the academy. This time, 6 of the nominated 9 movies have already made more than $100M at the national box office. All together the 9 nominated pictures have made more than $2 billion.

Every year there are decisions by the academy that leave you scratching your head going “What were they thinking???” Last year this was the case for the missing nominations for ‘Shame’…not ONE or the missing nomination for Ryan Gosling in ‘Blue Valentine’. I also didn’t agree with the shower of awards ‘The Artist’ received but hey, most people disagree with me on that one anyways. This year, the head-scratching moment came, when the best directors were announced and neither Kathryn Bigalow nor Ben Affleck were among the nominees. Considering that both delivered some of the best movies not only this year but also for a very long time, makes their lack of nomination even worse.

I am not really a fan of Daniel Day-Lewis, but I agree that his performance in ‘Lincoln’ was very good (though I thought Bradley Cooper’s was even better) I won’t be that upset when he will win. I recently read an article claiming that Emmanuelle Riva will win because both Jennifer Lawrence and Jessica Chastain still have a long career in front of them while Riva already had a great career. Reading this crap really upset me because an Oscar shouldn’t be given for the overall career of an actor but for the greatness of the performance they are nominated for. Sure, Emmanuelle Riva was great in ‘Amour’ – it was nothing against the power of Jennifer Lawrence in ‘Silver Linings Playbook’. Looking back I fear this was one of the reasons why Peter O’Toole didn’t win an Oscar for his tremendous role as Lawrence of Arabia, people were probably thinking: “Oh, he is so young he will win at a later stage”. And what happened – he never, ever won a single Oscar. One of the greatest actors of our time, never winning once.

But back to the toppic of this article – the race for best actress is still wide open while best actor is pretty much locked. So is best supporting actress – Anne Hathaway will win for ‘Les Miserable’ no doubt about it. The best support actor on the other hand though is also very open – Christoph Waltz won a Golden Globe for his part in ‘Django Unchained’ but you should never underestimate Robert DeNiro for ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ nor Tommy Lee Jones for ‘Lincoln’.

No movie won Best Picture without a nominee in best director for 33 years but I am pretty sure this year will change this. There is little doubt that ‘Argo’ will take best picture even though it’s director was shamelessly left out of the nominations. In his absence I would hope for David O. Russel to win for ‘Silver Linings Playbook’. None of the other nominated movies really moved me the way that SLP did – I also believe that the Academy has a weird obsession with Steven Spielberg nominating him even if he doesn’t really deserve it as much as others would deserve it. But that’s life.

This only leaves the host to discuss. After last years huge disappointment of Billy Crystal (he used to be SO good) and the disaster of Anne Hathaway and James Franco the year before I didn’t really know what to expect when I heard Seth MacFarlane would host it this year. I was never really into these new types of comic series so didn’t really know his work. But then I watched his nomination announcement and boy was he funny! He could be the next best thing after Ricky Gervais. Then again seeing what his recent predecessors achieved…he doesn’t really have a high bar to pass.

So here’s to a fun evening (nope..not night) full of laughter, tears, joy and disappointment. Here’s to the next year of movies!

Review: Lincoln

For some reason one of the earliest memories of watching a movie was with my family in the summer of 1989 – it was a quiet sea town at the Baltic sea and they were showing a couple of different movies. One of them was ‘E.T.’ and until today I can remember that feeling of witnessing something magical. This was my introduction to one of the most celebrated and iconic directors: Steven Spielberg. Later on I saw ‘Indiana Jones’, ‘Jaws’ or ‘Schindler’s List’ all of which have earned their place in film history but lately I am wondering where the magician of those movies is. I was extremely disappointed in ‘TinTin‘ and ‘War Horse‘ and I simply refuse that there is a 4th Indiana Jones. So when his latest movie was announced I was hesitant to buy into the hype. Yes it was a movie about one of the most loved and most important presidents of the USA – President Abe Lincoln – and one of the best actors of our generation would be playing him (Daniel Day-Lewis) but I just couldn’t forget the last movies.

‘Lincoln’ tells the story of the weeks and months leading up to the shooting of President Lincoln and his efforts to pass the 13th amendment – the abolishment of slavery. Meanwhile the Civil War is in its final stages. Lincoln fear that once the war is over his Emancipation Proclamation would not be passed. So he is torn between finishing a cruel and devastating war and passing the 13th amendment.

‘Lincoln’ shows a lot of great actors giving very long speeches. Very little is shown of the people who are actually affected by this amendment. A lot is shown of President Lincoln and his personal struggles with his family but it just doesn’t sink in with me. It feels more like reading a (very boring) history text-book than an interesting movie. Of course Daniel Day-Lewis gives a mesmerizing performance, I don’t think this guy can act badly if he had to. The supporting cast is also very impressive and gives great performances all around – so do the actors wearing those impressive wigs. Tommy Lee Jones, Lee Pace, David Strathairn and Hal Holbrook are the politicians fighting for and also against Lincoln while Sally Field plays the long-suffering wife of the president. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the older son of President Lincoln who doesn’t want to stay behind but fight in the war which his father is extremely against.

My biggest problem with the movie was the fact that it didn’t show anything special. Yes it portrays history and you couldn’t really add anything to it but at the same time it felt bland. If I compare it to ‘Argo’ which is also a movie based on historical facts and Ben Affleck still managed to keep it interesting and exciting. And this was the same feeling I had in the last couple of Steven Spielberg movies. So I find it a great injustice that Steven Spielberg got an Oscar nomination for best directing while Ben Affleck didn’t but that’s just my personal taste. Most of my friends who saw the movie loved it. Maybe it’s just me then 😉

Review: War Horse

When you have a call sheet with names like Steven Spielberg (director), Richard Curtis (Screenplay), Janusz Kaminski (Director of Photography), John Williams (Score),  Emily Watson, David Thewlis, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hiddleston and Eddie Marsan, you’d expect one of the greatest movies of the last year. Then again, I never thought of being disappointed by the super-duo Spielberg & Jackson but Tin Tin was not what it could have been.

While “War Horse” was definitely not as dull as “The Adventures of Tin Tin” I still have the slight suspicion that Steven Spielberg might not make another “E.T” or even “Schindlers List”. While in those movies you didn’t feel the length of the film because you were so compelled by the storytelling, here it felt at times unneccessary long and some scenes just could have been cut short or even dismissed all together: the long visit of the German soldiers at the French Farm or the scenes with the two German brothers. I am also wondering if there is a dialect-language-trainer-strike going on in Hollywood because I simply cannot understand why you would have the German soldiers either speak perfect british english with no accent at all or with very strong German accents or even better – having them speak German with each other. Being German I also spotted the English actors who tried to pretend to be German. You might say what you want about Quentin Tarantino (and believe me I have ;)) but at least he managed to make a totally plausible movie in 4 languages without any of his actors having to succumb to some ridiculous accent (ok maybe Brad Pitt didn’t get that memo) or pretending the whole world speaks English on camera but local languages off camera.

So what about the movie then – the story originally was intended for children and eventually was turned into a very successful stage adaptation for the West End as well as the Broadway. When Spielberg saw the play in February 2010, he decided to make a movie out of it and 8 months later – by October 2010 the main shoot was finished. War Horse tells the story of the horse Joey, growing up in the English Countryside and developing a very close relationship with farmer boy Albert. When it is announced that England will go to War (this being the Great War) horses are sold to the cavalry – including Joey. Luckily for Albert (and for the female viewers of this movie) Joey is bought by the dashing Captain Nicholls (Tom Hiddleston) who goes on impressing his even more dashing (apologies for the lack of variation but it simply is the most fitting word) Major Jamie Stewart (Sherlocks Benedict Cumberbatch) in a very impressive 300 men+horse strong charge. But the reality of war is upon them rather sooner when the cavalry has the task to take over a small camp of German soldiers. Here the movie really shows its strength because what I wasn’t aware of was the clash of generations that this awful war really brought along. While the British were still fighting on horses with bayonets Germans already had machine guns and such things. So when the old-fashioned cavalry charges onto the camp they are not aware of what is hidden in the woods behind the camp. Once the charge is over (here one can see one of the best editing effects ever showing devastation without barely any blood) a German captain yells quite telling at a devastated Captain Jamie Stewart “Look at what you have done! (showing at all the dead horses and men) Did you expect we leave 600 men unsupported? What were you thinking?”

Joeys real ordeal now begins with a short stint at the German casualty department than meeting a lovely French girl before being brought back into the war to pull heavy artillery for the Germans. Meanwhile Albert grew up and is adamant to find his beloved horse so he signs up for the war and we meet him again in the trenches.

Thankfully even though the movie shows the cruel reality of war it doesn’t shy away from some comic relief. Who would have thought that a synchronized throw of 10 steel cutters can be highly entertaining – but it is. Eventually and quite unbelievably the movie draws to a Happy End – this was probably down to the fact that the movie is based on a children’s book. And while the movie overall wasn’t one of Spielberg’s best work, he still manages to make me cry like a little child. What I found myself left with was that I barely had any idea, how bad the Great War really was. You learn so much about the 2nd war (especially if you grew up in Germany) but barely anything about the first one. So for that alone I was grateful I watched the movie. It definitely isn’t my favourite “Best Picture Nominee” but I liked it better than “The Artist” or “The Descendants”. But please don’t go watch it, if you need cheering up!

Review: The Adventures of Tintin

Having grown up on movies such as ET or Indiana Jones Steven Spielberg is by far the most influential director of my first cinema experiences. When he later also collected constant critical claim with Schindler’s List or Saving Private Ryan he pretty much manifested himself as one of the greatest directors ever been. It therefore pains me to write this but I have the suspicion that similar to his esteemed colleague Ridley Scott he maybe should stop making movies. Or at least having someone double-check the scripts he intends to turn into movies. I am still wondering who in heaven’s name told him that “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Crystal Skulls was a good idea…

The reason I am having these thoughts is that I am just not sure what he wanted to do with Tintin. Yes it was the first of 3 planned movies and yes the technology is what makes this film stand out and yes he co-direccted it with Peter Jackson.  But the Spielberg-Spark is missing – maybe he should ask JJ Abrams to get it back. The Adventures of Tintin surely is an enjoyable movie. It tells a decent story in at times breath-taking performance-capture technique but since I am no fan of 3D I was glad to see it in 2D – and it doesn’t help the movie.  In a whole it just feels…lacklustress.

Tintin – a world-famous Belgian comic by Hergé – is a private detective who solves crimes with the help of his dog Snowy. Here he buys a model ship from the flea market but quickly gets drawn in a greater mystery leading him to Africa. Along the way he meets captain Haddock who eventually helps him solve the riddle.

Behind the animated figures are real actors but you wouldn’t really know it – Tintin is played by Jamie Bell and I have never seen him so wooden (blame the computer). Captain Haddock is played by Andy Serkis and even he as a performance-capture-veteran is fun but that’s also because he has the liveliest role (apart from Snowy). The bad guy is played by Mr. Bond himself – Daniel Craig.

For me performance-capture gives movie makers the tools to create a whole new world for the viewers pleasures but here it seems rather an excuse for a boring story (which is shocking seeing that it comes from Steven Moffat who wrote “Sherlock” and above all “Dr. Who”). When it came to the final show down at the docks I was reminded of what I was thinking sitting through the last 10min of the last Indiana Jones: “You’ve got to be kidding me!!!???” Alas – they weren’t kidding.

So please make up your mind for yourself, and check out the fairly enjoyable “Adventures of Tintin”. Meanwhile I am hoping that Steven Spielberg remembers checks out his old movies and maybe finds, what he lost along the way to being a Hollywood Superpower! Oh and hopefully Peter Jackson does a better job at the Hobbit.

Summer Blockbusters

With the imminent arrival of the summer blockbusters I get more and more excited and already planning when to watch which movie (think HP7, Captain America & Green Lantern…) but having talked with some of my friends whether they would join me, a lot pointed out that they would not be found in a cinema when it’s 30 degrees outside. I tried to convince them that with the installation of state of the art sound systems proper air cons were also set up. But apparently they rather sweat than enjoy freezing 15 Celsius (or 10 depending on the cinema). Considering this one must wonder how the summer blockbusters actually survive. Maybe summer of 1975 was an extremely cold one because that’s when it all started.

The release of “Jaws” on July 20^th 1975 is widely recognized as the birth of the summer blockbuster. It was the first film to be released “nationwide” and back then opening to a staggering 409 screens was something never seen before. Imagine “Pirates of the Caribbean: On stranger tides” had only opened up to 409 screens instead of it’s 4155 – it’s opening weekend gross wouldn’t have even covered the marketing bill. But before “Jaws” movies started slowly with some few cinemas in LA and or NYC and through word of mouth and reviews people would be drawn into the cinema. Nowadays studios won’t even screen their films to critics anymore (I assume because they know their movies are crap but won’t admit it) and mainly relying on elaborate marketing strategies in order to draw the crowds in.

But back to my initial problem of getting my friends into movies when they rather want to relax on the beach or at least the local pool – why did the studios chose the summer for their big money makers? My personal theory is that it was the only free time left. From fall until early spring it’s the awards season with releases, re-releases and later banking in on potential wins. So in order to not interfere with “for your consideration” campaign you can only start marketing your movie in spring, then you need to build up momentum and finally can release the movie in the summer.

So actually we can be thankful for all those people who don’t want to watch movies in the summer – it actually gives us a chance watching movies in rather solitude without having too many neighbours disturbing you with popcorn crunching or laughs at the wrong time….Maybe not when watching Harry Potter BUT…you get the general idea 😉