Saturday, March 6th, 2010
Award Season is Crazy Season. If you follow these things at all, you have been bombarded by information about the superiority of one film above another for months now. If you blissfully ignore all that stuff, you might even not have heard that a producer on The Hurt Locker is in trouble for trying to convince Academy voters to vote for his film instead of Avatar. His crime: sending an e-mail to his friends. Yes, things are crazy. So it is a good thing that with the Oscar telecast on Sunday, Award Season will be over. Until May or so, when the first discussions for next year’s favourites and winners will begin once more.
But before the Oscars, the most important of all the meaningless awards, are handed out on Sunday, it is time for my annual Oscar predictions. Last year, I picked 19 of the 24 winners. This year, let’s try to improve on that. But unlike last year, this year I actually feel like I am entitled to my own opinion, having seen 20 of the 58 animated films, 18 of the 38 feature films, and actually having seen all nominated films in three categories. So not only will I now predict the Oscar winners as promised, I will also tell you who should win. (Yes, my opinion constitutes objective truth in these matters.) The following list is ordered rather randomly and incomplete, an alphabetical and complete breakdown of all categories and predictions follows at the end.
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Tags: 2009, 2010, A Matter of Loaf and Death, A Serious Man, A Single Man, Aardman Animations, Ajami, Alessandro Camon, An Education, Anastasia Masaro, Anna Kendrick, Armando Iannucci, Avatar, award season, Bob Peterson, Carey Mulligan, Caroline Smith, Christoph Waltz, Christopher Plummer, Coen Brothers, Colin Firth, Coraline, Crazy Heart, Das Weisse Band, Dave Warren, Disney, District 9, El Secreto de Sus Ojos, english, Ethan Coen, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Faubourg 36, Gabourey Sidibe, Geoffrey Fletcher, George Clooney, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Helen Mirren, Henry Selick, In the Loop, Inglourious Basterds, Instead of Abracadabra, Invictus, James Cameron, Jason Reitman, Jeff Bridges, Jeremy Renner, Jesse Armstrong, Joel Coen, Kathry Bigelow, La teta asustade, Lee Daniels, Logorama, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Marion Cotillard, Mark Boal, Matt Damon, Mauro Fiore, Meryl Streep, Mo'Nique, Morgan Freeman, Movies, Neill Blomkamp, Nick Hornby, Nine, Oren Moverman, Oscar, Paris 36, Penélope Cruz, Pete Doctor, Pixar, Precious, Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire, Quentin Tarantino, Randy Newman, Sandra Bullock, Sheldon Turner, Sherlock Holmes, Simon Blackwell, Stanley Tucci, Star Trek, T-Bone Burnett, Terri Tatchell, The Blind Side, The Door, The Hurt Locker, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, The Messenger, The Princess and the Frog, The Secret of Kells, The White Ribbon, Tom McCarthy, Tony Roche, Un Prophète, Up, Up in the Air, Vera Farmiga, Wallace & Gromit, Wes Anderson, Woody Harrelson
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Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010
Review:
In Post-Apartheid South Africa, Nelson Mandela is elected president. He struggles with the reconciliation between black and white people that he knows is necessary for his country to have a future, so he decides to task the national rugby team - a sport just for the white people - to win the world cup and bring the nation together. The story, based on true events, is predictable enough, but it is well staged and powerful enough to be moving on its own. The political messages mixed in with the average sports underdog drama make the film a bit unusual, which works to its advantage. It’s not a great film by a long shot, but it’s good enough.
Random Observations:
Invictus at the IMDb
Morgan Freeman in the lead role is very good and very convincing. He certainly deserves the Oscar nomination he got.
Matt Damon as the captain of the rugby team, on the other hand, is rather bland. My guess is he got nominated for the Dutch accent he sports.
The nicest staged interactions between the (formerly) warring factions are those between the black and white bodyguards of the President.
I don’t know much about rugby, but it’s certainly a more interesting (and intense) sport than its American cousin, which they call football despite having the ball in their hands all the time.
I’m always fascinated by the power of mass sports events to bring people together and bridge their differences. Smart move by Mandela to use that for his political goals.
Tags: 2009, Adjoa Andoh, American Film, Anthony Peckham, Bonnie Henna, book adaptation, Clint Eastwood, Dan Robbertse, Danny Keogh, David Dukas, Drama, english, history movie, Invictus, John Carlin, Julian Lewis Jones, Leleti Khumalo, Louis Minnaar, Marguerite Wheatley, Matt Damon, Matt Stern, minute movie review, Morgan Freeman, movie review, Movies, Oscar, Patrick Lyster, Patrick Mofokeng, Penny Downie, Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation, Robin Smith, Shakes Myeko, Sibongile Nojila, South African Film, sports movie, Tony Kgoroge, true story
Posted in Minute Movie Reviews, Movie Reviews, Movies | No Comments »
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