Oscar nominations and more

The Oscar nominations came out today! I'll print them below. The show will be Sunday, February 22. Tonight, Thursday, the Critics' Choice Awards will be on A&E at 9:00, 11:00, and 1:00.

True movie geeks may want to delve a little deeper and check out links, which I've provided, to other important awards and nominations, including tonight's Critics' Choice nominees.

Here's an article analyzing this morning's Oscar announcement:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2015/01/15/2015-oscar-nominations-complete-coverage/

Of course, we just had the Golden Globe awards, which was a good show Sunday night. Here are the nominees and winners:
http://www.goldenglobes.com/2015_72nd_Golden_Globes_Nominees

In the guilds, members vote on their own colleagues.
The Writers Guild of America, winners announced February 14:
http://www.wga.org/wga-awards/nominees-winners.aspx

The Screen Actors Guild, winners announced Sunday January 25 (it's always a fun show):
http://www.sagawards.org/awards/nominees-and-recipients/21st-annual-screen-actors-guild-awards

The Producers Guild, winners announced January 24:
http://www.producersguild.org/blogpost/923036/205893/All-Nominations-for-26th-Annual-Producers-Guild-Awards

The Directors Guild feature film nominees, winners to be announced Saturday February 7:
http://www.dga.org/News/PressReleases/2015/150113-Awards-Feature-Film-Noms.aspx

And the National Board of Review announced its winners on January 6:
http://www.nationalboardofreview.org/2014/12/national-board-review-announces-2014-award-winners/

Critics' Choice Movie Awards, scroll down for nominees. Awards tonight, January 15:

http://www.criticschoice.com/movie-awards/

Oh, and don't forget the Golden Raspberry Awards AKA Razzies!

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-30810025

Oscar nominations (by movie, not including animated, shorts, foreign, docs):
Birdman – 9
The Grand Budapest Hotel – 9
The Imitation Game – 8
Boyhood – 6
American Sniper – 6
Whiplash – 5
Interstellar – 5
Foxcatcher – 5

The Theory of Everything - 5

Mr. Turner - 4

Into the Woods - 3

Unbroken - 3

Guardians of the Galaxy - 2

Ida - 2 (okay one foreign, because it got a second nomination)

Inherent Vice - 2

Selma - 2

Wild - 2

Gone Girl - 1

The Judge - 1

Maleficent - 1

Still Alice - 1

Two Days One Night - 1

The list of nominations for the 87th Academy Awards

Best Picture
“American Sniper”
“Birdman”
“Boyhood”
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”
“The Imitation Game”
“Selma”
“The Theory of Everything”
“Whiplash”

Actor in a Leading Role
Steve Carell, “Foxcatcher”
Bradley Cooper, “American Sniper”
Benedict Cumberbatch, “The Imitation Game”
Michael Keaton, “Birdman”
Eddie Redmayne, “The Theory of Everything”

Actress in a Leading Role
Marion Cotillard, “Two Days One Night”
Felicity Jones, “The Theory of Everything”
Julianne Moore, “Still Alice”
Rosamund Pike, “Gone Girl”
Reese Witherspoon, “Wild”

Actor in a Supporting Role
Robert Duvall, “The Judge”
Ethan Hawke, “Boyhood”
Edward Norton, “Birdman”
Mark Ruffalo, “Foxcatcher”
J.K. Simmons, “Whiplash”

Actress in a Supporting Role
Patricia Arquette, “Boyhood”
Laura Dern, “Wild”
Emma Stone, “Birdman”
Keira Knightley, “The Imitation Game”
Meryl Streep, “Into the Woods”

Directing
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, “Birdman”
Richard Linklater, “Boyhood”
Bennett Miller, “Foxcatcher”
Wes Anderson, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Morten Tyldum, “The Imitation Game”

Animated Feature Film
“Big Hero 6”
“The Boxtrolls”
“How to Train Your Dragon 2”
“Song of the Sea”
“The Tale of the Princess Kaguya”

Cinematography
Emmanuel Lubezki, “Birdman”
Robert D. Yeoman, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lynzewski, “Ida”
Dick Pope, “Mr. Turner”
Roger Deakins, “Unbroken”

Costume Design
Milena Canonero, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Mark Bridges, “Inherent Vice”
Colleen Atwood, “Into the Woods”
Anna B. Sheppard, “Maleficent”
Jacqueline Durran, “Mr. Turner”

Documentary Feature
“Citizenfour”
“Last Days in Vietnam”
“Virunga”
“The Salt of the Earth”
“Finding Vivian Maier”

Documentary Short Subject
“Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1”
“Joanna”
“Our Curse”
“The Reaper”
“White Earth”

Film Editing
Joel Cox and Gary Roach, “American Sniper”
Sandra Adair, “Boyhood”
Barney Pilling, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
William Goldenberg, “The Imitation Game”
Tom Cross, “Whiplash”

Foreign Language Film
“Ida”
“Leviathan”
“Tangerines”
“Wild Tales”
“Timbuktu”

Makeup and Hairstyling
Bill Corso and Dennis Liddiard, “Foxcatcher”
Frances Hannon and Mark Coulier, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou and David White “Guardians of the Galaxy”

Music – Original Score
Alexandre Desplat, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Alexandre Desplat, “The Imitation Game”
Hans Zimmer, “Interstellar”
Gary Yershon, “Mr Turner”
Johann Johannsson, “The Theory of Everything”

Music – Original Song
“Everything Is Awesome” by Shawn Patterson, “The LEGO Movie”
“Glory” by Common and John Legend, “Selma”
“Grateful,” by Diana Warren, “Beyond the lights”
“I’m Not Gonna Miss You,” by Glen Campbell and Julian Raymond, “Glenn Campbell: I’ll Be Me”
“Lost Stars” by Gregg Alexander and Danielle Brisebois, “Begin Again”

Production Design
“The Grand Budapest Hotel,” Production design: Adam Stockhausen, Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
“The Imitation Game,” Production design: Maria Djurkovic, Set Decoration: Tatiana Macdonald
“Interstellar,” Production design: Nathan Crowley, Set Decoration: Gary Fettis
“Into the Woods,” Production design: Dennis Gassner, Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
“Mr. Turner,” Production design: Suzie Davies, Set Decoration: Charlotte Watts

Short Film – Animated
“The Bigger Picture,” Daisy Jacobs and Christopher Hees
“The Dam Keeper,” Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi
“Feast,” Patrick Osbirne and Kristina Reed
“Me and My Moulton,” Torill Kove
“A Single Life,” Joris Oprins

Short Film – Live Action
“Aya,” Oded Binnun and Mihal Brezis
“Boogaloo and Graham,” Michael Lennox and Ronan Blaney
“Butterlamp,” Hu Wei and Julien Feret
“Parvenah,” Talkhon Hamzavi and Stefan Eichenberger
“The Phone Call,” Mat Kirkby and James Lucas

Sound Editing
“American Sniper,” Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman
“Birdman,” Martin Hermandez and Aaron Glascock
“The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies,” Brent Burge and Jason Canovas
“Interstellar,” Richard King
“Unbroken,” Becky Sullivan and Andrew Decristofaro

Sound Mixing
“American Sniper,” John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Walt Martin
“Birdman,” Jon Taylor, Frank A Montano and Thomas Varga
Mark Weingarten, “Interstellar,” Garry A. Rizzo, Gregg Landaker and Mark Weingarten
“Unbroken,” Jon Taylor, Frank A Montano and David Lee
”Whiplash,” Craig Mann, Ben Wilkins and Thomas Curley

Visual Effects
“Captain America: Winter Soldier,” Dan DeLeeuw, Russell Earl, Bryan Grill and Dan Sudick
“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Daniel Barrett and Erik Winquist
“Guardians of the Galaxy,” Stephanie Ceretti, Nicolas Aithadi, Jonathan Fawkner and Paul Corbould
“Interstellar,” Paul Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter and Scott Fisher
“X-Men: Days of Future Past,” Richard Stammers, Lou Pecora, Tim Crosbie and Cameron Waldbauer

Writing – Adapted Screenplay
Jason Hall, “American Sniper”
Graham Moore, “The Imitation Game”
Paul Thomas Anderson, “Inherent Vice”
Anthony McCarten, “The Theory of Everything”
Damien Chazelle, “Whiplash”

Writing – Original Screenplay
Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris and Armando Bo, “Birdman”
Richard Linklater, “Boyhood”
E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman, “Foxcatcher”
Wes Anderson and Hugo Guinness, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Dan Gilroy, “Nightcrawler”

Inherent Vice (2014)

Jack and I laughed long and hard at the comedic adventures of a stoned 1970 private investigator doing a favor for an ex-girlfriend in southern California. Colorful, wild, and sexually explicit, it's not for everyone. Many friends back in the day were entranced by the work of novelist Thomas Pynchon: V (1963), The Crying of Lot 49 (1966), and Gravity's Rainbow (1973). I didn't have the stamina to get through them. Jack, however, began reading Inherent Vice (2009) shortly before we saw the movie Friday and said he was liking it.

Joaquin Phoenix (last blogged in The Immigrant) and Josh Brolin (most recently in Labor Day) are wonderful as P.I. Doc Sportello and crazy police detective "Bigfoot," respectively. Katherine Waterston (real-life daughter of Sam, played the sister of man-without-a-face Richard on season four of Boardwalk Empire, and has been in several movies that I've seen but didn't remember her) is the comely ex-girlfriend Shasta and Reese Witherspoon (last in Wild) plays deputy district attorney Penny who's having an affair with Doc.

There are new characters introduced all the way through the movie, which made it a little hard to keep track. The movie's narrator is a character named Sortilège and I never did figure out who she is. Doc's current girlfriend? Best friend? The actress is musician Joanna Newsom, Andy Samberg's wife. Notable cameos include Maya Rudolph (real life partner of the director--this is the first time she's been in one of his movies; during one of her scenes a song by her mother Minnie Riperton is playing in the background; most recently in these pages in The Way Way Back), Owen Wilson (I left him out of my post on The Grand Budapest Hotel; before that he was in The Big Year), Eric Roberts (372 credits with dozens upcoming), Benicio Del Toro (last in Savages), Martin Short (my favorites of his characters are Ed Grimley on SNL, Ned on ¡Three Amigos! (1986), the wedding planner on Father of the Bride (1991 and the sequel in 1995), Lionel Dillard in Mumford (1999), and the voice of the Jester in Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return (2013) which I should probably write about one day but it came and went so quickly!), Timothy Simons (who plays "shut-the-f***-up-Jonah" in Veep), Jena Malone (started as a child actress, last blogged in The Messenger) talking very dirty here, and, my personal favorite, Jeannie Berlin (daughter of Elaine May, known best for The Heartbreak Kid (1972) and Sheila Levine is Dead and Living in New York (1975)) in kabuki makeup early on.

Director Paul Thomas Anderson (most recently made The Master) adapted the novel for the screen with the approval of the author, and it's the first time one of Pynchon's books has been filmed.

Great picture cars, set dressing, wardrobe, and beach locations. And that music! The soundtrack is a mix of songs composed by Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood and tunes from the era. It's widely available on Spotify but the commercials are annoying, so I suggest this youtube playlist instead. To hear only the non-Greenwood songs, try this link.

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes average 69% and its audiences a limp 58. You can self-select by watching this trailer or that one. If you enjoy them and don't mind some dirty talk and lewdness, you'll like it as much as we did.

Annie (2014)

For a sappy crappy movie, this latest update of the 1977 Broadway musical has a few good moments, just not enough. No more orphanage--Annie and her friends are now foster kids in the era of Instagram, and Will Stacks (AKA Daddy Warbucks) is a narcissistic cell phone maker. The aerial photography of New York, however, is spectacular.

We thought we'd try this because we like Jamie Foxx (last blogged in Horrible Bosses 2) and Cameron Diaz (before a cameo in In a World... she starred in Bad Teacher), who play Stacks and Miss Hannigan. There's no shortage of talent in this almost universally panned extravaganza. Quvenzhané Wallis (last in 12 years a Slave) takes the title role, Rose Byrne (most recently in This Is Where I Leave You) is Stacks' adoring assistant, Bobby Cannavale (last in Chef) is a conniving associate, and there are cameos by Mike Birbiglia (Sleepwalk with Me) as a social services guy, and Ashton Kutcher (Jobs) and Mila Kunis (Third Person) in the movie-within-the-movie.

Apparently everyone does his or her own singing, and there's an abrupt change in room tone every time  the on-set dialogue cuts to the studio singing (or maybe that's just the auto-tune). A couple of old songs are missing and three new ones are added. The opening credits are creative, with Annie running around the city past street musicians playing clips of the soundtrack in various styles.

Director Will Gluck (I heard Easy A (2011) was good and always meant to see it) co-wrote the script with Aline Brosh McKenna (We Bought a Zoo).

The critics on Rotten Tomatoes are averaging a painful 27% and the audiences only 63, so apparently only non-voting moviegoers are putting this movie sixth at the box office in its third weekend. Bottom line: if you have a little girl who's eager to see this, it's not all bad. If not, perhaps you should save your money and catch it on free cable sometime in the future to see the opening credits and the aerial shots.

Big Eyes (2014)

Jack and I enjoyed this story of the painter of kids with freakishly large eyes and the overbearing husband who took credit for her work. We're both old enough to remember the kitschy art that permeated our youth and we particularly liked the sets, cars, artifacts of the late 50s and 60s, and that magnificent suburban house in act two.

Amy Adams (last blogged in Her) and Christoph Waltz (most recently in Horrible Bosses 2) are both nominated for Golden Globes for their powerful performances as Margaret and Walter Keane. The movie is narrated by Danny Huston (last in The Congress), playing a gossip columnist and Jason Schwartzman (most recently in The Grand Budapest Hotel), who produced, has a small part as a disgusted gallery owner

We're fans of director Tim Burton's (last blogged for Dark Shadows) and this one is much more normal than his usual fare. The screenplay is by the writing team Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (co-wrote Ed Wood (1994) for Burton and The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996) and Man on the Moon (1999) (about Andy Kaufman) for Milos Forman--all bio-pics) and they've been nominated for Best Screenplay from the Independent Spirit Awards.

Three other nominations that caught my eye just now are from the Women Film Critics Circle Awards: the Karen Morley Award (for best exemplifying a woman's place in history or society, and a courageous search for identity), the Invisible Woman Award (performance by a woman whose exceptional impact on the film dramatically, socially or historically, has been ignored) for Adams, and Worst Male Images in a Movie. I know, right?

Composer Danny Elfman (most recently blogged for Mr. Peabody & Sherman) has already shown us he can do normal as well as "out there," and this is in the former camp. Listen for yourself at this link, which also includes the two original songs by Lana Del Rey.

If you haven't yet seen the movie and plan to do so, watch carefully during the scene where Margaret and Walter are painting in front of the San Francisco Palace of Fine Arts. Apparently the real Margaret Keane is sitting on a park bench reading a book. If you have already seen it, go ahead and read this spoiler-filled page about the true story compared to the one on screen.

Certainly there are better and more important movies out there right now (Rotten Tomatoes' critics average 70% and audiences 74), but if you've seen them all, give this one a look with your own little eyes on a big screen, or save it for a night at home after the DVD release in April or so.

Into the Woods (2014)

Thrilling. Amy and I loved the adaptation of the popular musical intertwining four fairy tales into one darkly comic operetta (more singing than talking). With show-stopping performances, it's musically excellent and artistically imaginative. In the (urban) dictionary for "chewing the scenery," there should be a video of Meryl Streep (last blogged in The Homesman) as The Witch. Jack, who was with us, liked it but found it too long.

And that singing! To my discriminating ear, almost all delivered each note and difficult interval spot-on, particularly Anna Kendrick (most recently in The Company You Keep) as Cinderella, Lilla Crawford (in her feature film debut after playing the title role in the 2012 Broadway revival of Annie) as Little Red Riding Hood, Daniel Huttlestone (Gavroche in Les Misérables) as Jack (and the Beanstalk), Emily Blunt (last in The Edge of Tomorrow) as The Baker's Wife, Chris Pine (most recently in Horrible Bosses 2) as Cinderella's Prince, and Streep.

I don't mean to denigrate the others: James Corden (last in Begin Again, and soon to take Craig Ferguson's hosting job on CBS) as The Baker and narrator, Christine Baranski (returning here to her comic roots from 87 episodes of Cybill in the 1990s before 124 episodes and counting of the drama The Good Wife; she was also in Chicago (2002) and Mamma Mia! (2008)) as Cinderella's stepmother, Tracy Ullman (most recently in I Could Never Be Your Woman) as Jack's harried mother, and Billy Magnussen (new to me) as Rapunzel's Prince are quite capable of carrying a tune. Lucy Punch (last in Bad Teacher) displays her considerable slapstick talents as one of the stepsisters and Johnny Depp (most recently in The Lone Ranger) is a revelation as the Big Bad Wolf.

Director Rob Marshall (last blogged for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides) brings his style to the show with the help of Tony-award-winning playwright James Lapine adapting his own play to the screen in an utterly cinematic way. My discriminating ear is also very grateful that the performers were permitted to overdub their singing in studios, unlike in Les Mis.

Although I have great respect for Stephen Sondheim, I'm not all that familiar with his shows after A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962). I should really brush up, but it was fun learning the story for the first time with the Christmas day audience (and I didn't miss the songs from the original show omitted here). It was a return to our tradition of seeing a musical movie on December 25, which we began, I think, with Dreamgirls in 2006, and have been sidetracked many times.

Here is a link to stream the entire one hour and 37 minute soundtrack.

I know many folks have brought their kids to the show, but it does have some scary bits (taken from Grimm's fairy tales, after all) so it's not for the very young. That said, this will be good on the big screen if you can swing it. Rotten Tomatoes' critics at 71% and audiences at 59 are not in agreement with us, but plenty more are voting with their wallets--it was second at the box office its opening weekend.

The Imitation Game (2014)

Jack and I loved this true story of Alan Turing, the mathematician who cracked the Germans' Enigma code to help win WWII. Benedict Cumberbatch's performance is outstanding as the slightly Asperger-y, closeted gay Brit (homosexuality was a crime until 1967 in the United Kingdom, 1980 in Scotland, and 1982 in Northern Ireland). Cumberbatch, last blogged in 12 Years a Slave, has been racking up deserved nominations (along with others of the filmmakers), and will almost certainly be Oscar-nominated as well. Matthew Goode (after I mentioned him in Belle he became a series regular in The Good Wife), Keira Knightley (most recently in these pages in Laggies), and Mark Strong (last in Before I Go to Sleep) are all powerful as two members of the code breaking team and one of the organizers, respectively. Matthew Beard has a good scene as the youngest member of the team and Charles Dance (I haven't seen much of his many credits but liked White Mischief (1987), Alien 3 (1992), Last Action Hero (1993), Hilary and Jackie (1998), Gosford Park (2001), and Swimming Pool (2003)) gets a special "with Charles Dance" credit as the Commander. And for us Masterpiece Theatre regulars, you'll see Allen Leech (Tom Branson in Downton Abbey) and Tom Goodman-Hill (Mr. Grove in Mr. Selfridge) as another member of the wartime team and the 1952 constable. Oh, and Alex Lawther is remarkable as the teenaged Turing.

This is impressive work, especially for Norwegian director Morten Tyldum, in his English-language debut, and Graham Moore's feature screenwriting debut (after two shorts and co-writing a TV episode), adapting the book Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges. Though the ending is sad, there are a few laughs here and there.

We're big fans of period details, and this production design team does not disappoint. Apparently the machine, a fore-runner of all computers, was made a bit more cinematic and isn't an exact replica. Another fascinating bit of trivia is that Cumberbatch and Turing were actually related--17th cousins.

The lovely and sometimes urgent music by the prolific Alexandre Desplat (most recently scored The Grand Budapest Hotel) can be streamed in its 51 minute entirety from this link.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics, averaging 90% and its audiences at 95, are on the same page as we are, for a change. Be sure to see this before the Oscars!