Batman v. Superman

For Your Consideration

The Awards season is in full swing starting this past Monday (Dec. 3) when the New York Film Critics Circle came out with their winners for the year.  It was then followed on Dec. 5 by the National Board Review Awards.  Here are a sample of the "For Your Consideration" print campaign:

National Board Review gave Les Mis the Best Ensemble Award

Zero Dark Thirty is off to a good start winning Best Picture, Director (Kathryn Bigelow) and Cinematography (Greig Fraser) at NYFCC and followed that up with a Best Pic, Director and Best Actress (Jessica Chastain) at the National Board Review

Though not a Best Pic contender (well according to the experts),

 this is a good print campaing for The Dark Knight Rises

Lincoln won Best Actor (Daniel Day-Lewis), Supporting Actress (Sally Fields) and Screenplay (Tony Kushner) at the NYFCC

Marion Cotillard might be another Best Actress

contender for French film Rust and Bone

Argo, a favorite among the critics might win Ben Affleck his Oscar for Direction

Silver Linings Playbook already won a

Best Actor (Bradley Cooper) Award from the National Board Review

but Jennifer Lawrence is also considered the Best Actress front runner this year by the experts

 

 

List of dates for Nominations and Awards shows are as follows:

 

December 5. The National Board of Review announces nominations.

December 9. Los Angeles Film Critics will announce its awards.

December 10. The American Film Institute will honor its Top 10 films of 2012.

December 11. Broadcast Film Critics Association nominees for the 18th Annual Critics’ Choice Movie Awards will be announced.

December 12. Screen Actors Guild Awards nominees will be announced.

December 13. Golden Globe nods live at 8 a.m. on NBC.

December 16. Satellite Awards presentation.

January 3. The Producers Guild of America will announce nominees / Nominees for the Writers Guild of America Awards announced.

January 8. Directors Guild Awards will announce the five Feature Film nominees / The National Board of Review awards ceremonies.

January 10. Academy Awards -- Nominations announced 5:30 a.m., PT. / Critics’ Choice Movie Awards (broadcast on CW network 8:00-10:00 p.m. ET)

January 13. Golden Globes live on NBC.

January 26. Producers Guild of America awards ceremonies.

January 27. Screen Actors Guild Awards on TNT and TBS at 8 p.m. (ET)

February 3. Directors Guild Awards presented at annual dinner.

February 17. Writers Guild of America Awards will be given out.

February 24. The 85th Academy Awards (aired by ABC network)

 

This is one exciting season!  Good luck to everyone!

 

(photos from IMDB.com)



Go See Argo

 Ben Affleck is fast becoming one of my favorite directors.  Argo is set during the Iran hostage crisis that began in 1979.  Unbeknownst to us until the Clinton administration declassified CIA documents, six Americans managed to escape from the embassy and find refuge in the Canadian ambassador's home.  (Victor Garber as Ambassador Ken Taylor.)  And they did it with a little help from Hollywood.

Affleck's Tony Mendez, the CIA exfiltration expert enlisted the help of an unlikely friend:  Oscar-winning make up artist John Chambers---the always charming John Goodman---to get the Americans back home.  The wacky plan is for the foreign service workers to pretend to be Canadians location-scouting for the sci-fi movie "Argo" in Iran.  A hilarious Alan Arkin plays the sardonic producer Lester Siegel, who agrees to make the fake movie.  Bryan Cranston is Mendez's superior, Jack O'Donnell, who agrees to the "best bad idea".  This part of the movie provides the comedy as it lovingly satirizes Hollywood.

The film opens with a scorching history lesson on American involvement in Iran, and goes right into the frightening embassy siege.  (Benghazi immediately came to my mind.)  The rest of the movie is a nail biter, as the crazy plan gets executed.  Even though we know how it ends, the filmmakers manage to keep the suspense up.   Mission accomplished, Mr. Affleck.


(photo from Beyond Hollywood)

Bad Boys

Two movies that came out around the same time had me rooting for the bad guy. All because they are seeking personal salvation. After that One Last Job of course.

In The American, George Clooney plays a mysterious assassin (who goes by Jack or Edward) whose last assignment goes awry. He decides to lie low in a small Italian village, befriending a priest Father Benedetto (Paolo Bonacelli), and an, erm... prostitute named Clara (Violante Placido). His handler Pavel (Johan Leysen) convinces him to take one final assignment, assuring him that he doesn't even need to pull the trigger this time. He only has to customize the weapon for the female assassin Mathilde, played by Thekla Reuten. Jack/Edward wants atonement. The priest and the fallen woman also want redemption for this sinner. We don't always get what we want though. The film's ending was devastating to me.

George Clooney gives one of the best performances of his career. There are many scenes without dialogue or music. Mr. Clooney gets to show us again that he's not just a pretty face. I loved this film for its subtlety, the beautiful cinematography, its restraint. Dutch director Anton Corbijn shows us that a good action movie/spy thriller doesn't have to be loud and CGI-heavy, nor have clever quips, buzz words, or catch phrases. He gave us a thoughtful, meandering, subdued film that haunted me.

The Town is not quite the typical Hollywood blockbuster either. It is a smart, funny, and taut thriller about bank robbers from Charlestown, Massachusetts and the FBI's efforts to catch them. Ben Affleck's second directorial offering is a worthy follow-up to Gone Baby Gone. He stars as Doug MacRay, a gang leader who falls in love with the hostage/bank manager Claire (the excellent Rebecca Hall), much to his partner/BFF Jem's chagrin. (a twitchy, scary, unpredictable Jeremy Renner, as exceptional as he was in The Hurt Locker) Jon Hamm is FBI Agent Frawley. Mr. Hamm has the thankless job of trying to win the audience's sympathy in his quest to catch the handsome bad guy who just wants a normal life with his girlfriend. Frawley is not above using Claire and Doug's druggie ex-girlfriend Krista (Blake Lively---who was quite good) to catch him. The cat and mouse game is ON.

Watch out for brief but goose bump-inducing scenes with Chris Cooper (as Doug's father) and Pete Postlethwaithe (as an Irish criminal with a seemingly harmless occupation---florist). Even Victor Garber has a cameo. Mr. Affleck has a flair for action scenes and building up the nail-biting suspense. Bonus: I used to live near Boston so I truly enjoyed seeing Beantown and its inhabitants. So if you're looking for a good heist movie, you might want to take a turn around the Town.

(The American poster from Cinema Blend; The Town from Screen Crave)