Well, here we are at the first stop of awards season and easily the most entertaining show of them all – mainly because they cut out all the boring sound/editing awards. As Amy Poehler put it “Only at the Golden Globes do the beautiful people of film rub shoulders with the rat faced people of television”. So, if you weren’t cool/pathetic enough to stay up for the Golden Globes on Sunday night, read our quick recap to bring you up to speed.
(Disclaimer: the views and bitchiness below are entirely my own but are the truth so, like, whatever)
The Dresses
This may be a film blog but half the fun of awards season is bitching about the dresses (or weird backwards dressing gowns and leggings if you’re Emma Watson).
Best Dressed: LUPITA NYONG’O.
She is just a perfect queen and that is a perfect cape and I hope she wins everything.
Worst Dressed: JENNIFER LAWRENCE.
I hope her contract ends with Dior because they keep sending these ugly dresses and it’s just not fair. I mean, she’s won an Oscar and could be on her way to winning her second (though hopefully not) and this is the best they can give her??
The Presenters
It’s Amy Poehler and Tina Fey and they took swipes as George Clooney, Taylor Swift, Leo and Martin Scorsese: that should say it all.
You can find a full list of the winners anywhere so instead let’s focus on the big important ones.
Best Motion Picture (Drama):12 YEARS A SLAVE (yes yes yes)
Best Motion Picture (Comedy/Musical):AMERICAN HUSTLE (nope nope nope)
Best Director:ALFONSO CUARON (yeah)
Best Actress (Drama):CATE BLANCHETT (yes yes yes)
Best Actress (Comedy/Musical):AMY ADAMS (fine ok whatever)
Best Actor (Drama):MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY (yeah fine whatever)
Best Actor (Comedy/Musical): LEONARDO DICAPRIO (FINALLY!!!!!)
Best Supporting Actress: JENNIFER LAWRENCE (ha Ha HA ok)
Best Supporting Actor:JARED LETO (ok?)
So there’s a three hour show condensed into less than 400 words (and luckily for you, we left out the bit where they honoured a child molester). With the Golden Globes done and dusted, I hope you continue to join us for more snarkiness, bitching and, obviously, serious insights throughout this year’s awards season.
The chemistry between Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper was cemented in our minds after David O’Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook and the thought of all three working on the same project again brought a certain kind of anticipation. However, in American Hustle, a love letter to Martin Scorcese and Paul Thomas Anderson’s work that’s less than poetic - the pair’s equally corruptible lives barely intertwine. The film has a certain surface sheen to it –even if its plot is not completely uncovered and its character development rushed, everything looks great. Despite being nearly two and a half hours, we’re nowhere close to figuring out the bigger picture and perhaps that’s the point in a movie that deals with backdoor deals and government scandals – only a small amount of knowledge is imparted to us about these events in real life. Whilst the deals are the biggest part of the film, the love triangle centring on Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale), Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) and Rosalyn Rosenfeld (Jennifer Lawrence) is the real draw.
With captivating and impressive performances from all three, Bale and Adams look mild and meek once Lawrence struts onto the screen. Adams’ character Sydney, Irving’s lover, spends most of the film keeping up appearances and trying to make her fake identity as Lady Edith convincing with the distraction of an impressive amount of sideboob. Rosalyn, Irving’s wife, however is the exact opposite of Sydney, a nail polish enthusiast who’s an accidental pyromaniac and the life of the party. Undoubtedly the star performance, Lawrence puts every inch of her personality into the role. A particularly great moment is Rosalyn drunkenly scrubbing at her counters furiously whilst doing a passionate rendition of Live and Let Die.
But her honesty and tendency to pry in situations that don’t add up make her the potential downfall of all of Sydney and Irving’s schemes. Having already been caught preying on unfortunate souls by FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper), he makes a deal that will let them get off free but not before dragging them deeper into their own lies first. Cooper has already played the good authoritative figure gone corrupt in last year’s The Place Beyond The Pines and in both instances; it doesn’t work out so well for his character. Unaware to the depth to which Irving and Sydney (known to him primarily as Lady Edith)’s lies extend, DiMaso is helplessly sucked into their whirlpool of scams and trickery and doesn’t even realise the joke’s on him.
Something that is common throughout American Hustle is the naivety of the majority of its characters. Whether it is for love or money, the charm that oozes out of the pores of these people has a hold on them and they find themselves getting into a lot more trouble than expected. Charm and surface detail dominate the film - the elaborate outfits, coiffed hair and dazzling personalities put in the place of a substantial plotline. There are some captivating scenes within the film but they’re positioned next to needlessly long stretches of dialogue that could have done with a touch of editing. American Hustle may have all the gloss and appearances for award nominations in Oscar season, including an extremely brief cameo from Robert DeNiro, but it feels as if it’s striving for that exact goal too much and cutting corners in what could have been a much more developed film.
2013 has been a veritable feast for brilliant moments in film, regardless of the quality of the overall motion pictures themselves. It's hard to pick just a few moments that stand out from the bunch, particularly as the undeniably greatest moment I've witnessed in the cinema this year belongs to a film that isn't actually out until 2014, (three words - Please Mr Kennedy) but here is just a small selection of the moments that have kept me laughing, crying, or simply glued to the screen this year. (A few spoilers ahead, obviously)
Song and Dance - I'm So Excited!
I've already charted my love of this film in my review earlier this year, so instead of gushing over how much I enjoyed Almodovar's latest bonkers and hilarious offering, I'll skip to straight to the brilliance of this clip. It's probably obvious by now that I have a penchant for song and dance numbers in film, and this scene really is one of the best. The dance is absolutely hilarious and oddly riveting, and is brilliantly juxtaposed by the looks of absolute horror that the plane's passengers give their air stewards.
Modern Love - Frances Ha
If I had my way, this list would be comprised solely of clips from Frances Ha, but I've forced myself to show a little self restraint and just pick the one. This scene, a loving ode to New York and Greta Gerwig's wonderful awkwardness is also an accidental homage to an equally brilliant scene in Leos Carax's Mauvais Sang - allegedly he chose Bowie's Modern Love to score the scene and only afterwards realised the connection. This scene provides just a small glimpse into one of the most sincere and wonderful films of the year... and conveniently enough, isn't even available on Youtube.
Look At My Shit - Spring Breakers
I wasn't actually a fan of Harmony Korine's hedonistic latest release, (but read our review here for a different opinion) but even I can see that James Franco's monologue here is an absolute masterpiece. Is it satire, commenting on how much we treasure our possessions, or is the scene used just to show off how cool Alien's pad is? Who knows. I'm not even sure Korine does. But this scene is so gleefully over the top - Franco must be having the absolute time of his life - that it's hard not to watch it in a state of slight awe. After watching Alien cooing over his shell-shaped base board and aftershaves, the films we've seen this year seem pale in comparsion. Jay Gatsby, eat your heart out.
Ending Scene - Drinking Buddies
Joe Swanberg's departure from low-budget mumblecore into... slightly higher budget mumblecore may have been well reviewed, but it was heinously over-looked this year. The film's naturalistic approach to male/female friendship that could at any moment bloom into something more (and, judging by the film's ending, does, if you're one of those people who reads the ending of The Apartment as the start of a beautiful relationship) is so well written and well acted that it's incredible it never got more attention. Aside from this lovely, simple scene in which the two main characters silently reconcile after an argument through food and beer, it also features some of my absolute favourite dialogue of the year - "What the theme of our bar going to be again?" "Reservoir Dogs meets Casablanca, I've told you a million times!" It's impossible to watch this film, and especially this scene, without a wry smile on your face.
Marcus's Rap - Short Term 12
Here, technology has failed me somewhat, because the rap that Keith Stanfield performs in this scene (or at least, a remix of it, the original the features in the film is far more stark and stripped back) is on Youtube, yet the powers that will be will not allow me to put it in this actual post. Short Term 12 is a film full of brilliant little moments, some of them funny - such as the monologues about his time working at the facility that John Gallager Jr's character uses to bookend the film - and some of them utterly powerful and heart-wrenching, such as this scene. Short Term 12's oldest resident, Marcus, is leaving the facility in a few short weeks, and has been acting out. Through a rap that he performs with careworker Mason accompanying him on a basic drum, he vents his frustrations and also reveals his past to the audience. So good is the rap that it has been (unless I'm making this up out of sheer will) put on the longlist for Best Original Song at 2014's Academy Awards.
I Follow Rivers - Blue is the Warmest Colour
Blue is the Warmest Colour is now infamous for a set of scenes that are very different in tone to this one, but this very short scene shows a side of the main character Adele that we do not see often in this illuminating but at times very hard to watch film - we see her as the teenager that she is, laughing, having fun and dancing with her friends. While the performances of the film's lead actresses, Lea Seydoux and Adele Exarchopoulos, the film's director makes it clear here the the true subject of the film is Adele. Although in a group of people, it is possible not to notice her presence, and the camera is constantly drawn back to her face in a moment of rare unadulterated happiness.
Piano Scene - Stoker
Stoker was an hour of a half of surreal madness, (although, who expected anything less from the director of the dark and twisted Oldboy) some of it, such as the cringe-worthy shower scene, perhaps not paying off. But this rapidly paced scene in which India duets with her Uncle on the piano - OR DOES SHE?! - is wonderful, and shows just how good a director Park Chan-Wook can be if he's given the right scene to direct.
Turbulence - Flight
Everyone seems to have forgotten about Flight - mainly because it really wasn't the great - but it's worth refreshing your brain with this scene towards the beginning of the film, in which Denzel Washington's inebriated pilot manages to drive a plane through turbulance and safely land it... upside down. The film's by the director of Forest Gump, so anything goes here really. After the plane's landed, the film begins to tail off, but these ten minutes show just how good it could have been.
Opening Shot - Gravity
Yet another reason that nobody remembers Flight anymore is due to just how tacky and dreadful it would look in comparison to Gravity's masterful and breathtaking opening shot. I've ooh and ahh-ed over this shot already, as have about a thousand other people, but this unbroken 13 minute long shot really is the pinacle of modern filmmaking, and will definitely still be discussed in 10 years time when talking about the best film openings of all time.
The Gimp - This is the End
I confess somewhat guiltily, This is the End was one of my favourite films of the year. I've always been a sucker for initally awful looking but surprisingly good "bro" comedies, (such as last year's 21 Jump Street) and Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg's directorial debut did not disappoint. Well, apart from the special effects. More on that over here. As all the actors in the film played themselves, there were cameos aplenty, making it very hard to choose just one - it was a tie between this and the "is this amazing or the weirdest thing ever?!" ending - but Channing Tatum suddenly popping up for a minute long cameo as Danny McBride's love gimp was perfect.
Hotel Room Fight - Before Midnight
Before Midnight was a film of two distinctive halves: (oh, and what wonderful halves they were - and you don't believe me, here's our review) the "before" and the hotel room. While I may have preferred the breezy and humorous tone of the first half of the film, showing Jesse and Celine as a family after 7 years (!!!!) of viewers not knowing what became of their relationship. But the film's dialogue, co-written by the film's stars, truly comes into it's own in the second half, a bitter, painful fight that the couple shares in the hotel room that has been gifted to them by their friends for the night. There are still comic moments - Celine storms in and out of the room in fits of rage - but it's definitely more serious, and subtly reveals what's been happening for the past 7 years without the dialogue ever become too wooden. Because we've invested so much in these characters in their relationship over three films, this scene is painfully tense not just for the characters but for us too. After all these years, after finally getting together, are they really going to throw away their relationship? The scene leaves you on tenterhooks.
Opening Shot - The Place Beyond the Pines
The Place Beyond the Pines didn't do too much to impress me after it's first "act" starring the always swoon-worthy Ryan Gosling - a pity considering how in love I am with Derek Cianfrance's wonderful Blue Valentine - but the 45 or so minutes that open the film really are wonderful, particularly the film's opening shot, a long unbroken take of Gosling walking through a fair, preparing to perform his cage biking act. It's inexplicable to say why (although perhaps it's due in part to the menacing looking knife that he performs a trick with at the beginning of the scene) but there's something ominous about the scene, as though - while not explicitly - it foreshadows the grim nature of the events that will follow. It really is a wonderful shot, and an even better way to open a film, even if the rest of it is perhaps less wonderful.
Do you agree with my choices? What would you have chosen? Let us know in our comments box.
There seems to be an unwritten rule for batshit crazy films about space - if it's got one syllable, you've got a winner on your hands. Moon, Sunshine, Solaris, Alien, the list goes on and on. Obviously not all of these films are seminal classics, (and sadly only one of them contains a naked George Clooney) but one thing that they all have in common, aside from the names, is the inventiveness of each film's director to strive to show a side of the space experience that hasn't been seen before. But despite how good some of these films may have been, Gravity well and truly topples them all.
I wrote in my preview of the Autumn's cinema that I was terrified to see this film, and really, I was quite right to be. Space is generally a terrifying thought, and Gravity comes along and proves that we were right all along to harbour grudges against the millions of galaxies that are out there. There are very few nice things that happen in this film. Just when we, oh foolish audience, think that finally everything is safe, something catastrophic will happen, and set us back to square one. If you're a nervous person, or are easily invested in characters and their survival then be warned - this is not an easy film to watch. You, just as I did, will most likely have at least 30 minor heart attacks throughout this film. But in a weird and twisted way, it's all part of the fun.
Here comes the obvious part of the review, the part that has been repeated countless times in countless reviews since Gravity's debut at Venice a few months ago - the film is absolutely, unquestionably, almost shockingly stunning. From the 15 minute-ish long unbroken opening shot, it is a film that will make you ooh and ah in awe. What Cuaron has achieved with this film is simply incredible. While I'm not usually an advocate for 3D, if you're planning to see this film in 2D then I urge you to reconsider, and experience the film to the fullest.
With a film this technically brilliant, it does seem like a lot to ask Gravity to be as incredible in other areas, and as many other people have commented, the script is perhaps not that great. Sandra Bullock's character is fairly rudimentary, and spends the first 3/4 of the film overwhelmed and screaming, throwing in some emotional (and what some people have called unnecessary) backstory. However in order for the audience to truly put ourselves in her shoes, she needs to be a fairly simple character. And asking for a story as complicated as say, Moon's, seems like asking for a lot, considering how complicated some sequences are. Though perhaps a little weak, I was still engaged with the story for the whole of the film, and even found myself coming out of the cinema ruefully shaking my head and saying "I can't believe Sandra Bullock nearly made me cry".
Whether or not you're interested in space, whether or not you enjoy Sandra Bullock as an actress, Gravity is definitely a film that you need to see, as soon as possible. Every so often a film comes along that is described as "THE film experience of the year", and Gravity more than qualifies as 2013's.
It seems almost redundant at this point to compare Steve McQueen's third film and potential breakthrough into Hollywood to Quentin Tarantino's blood-spattered "Southern" Django Unchained, and yet, it also seems impossible not to. After all, the films are so similar, and so very different. Having watched Django just a few days ago, it remains all too fresh in my head. And while, at the beginning of the year, I was very much sold on Django as a film that managed to combine both the suffering of slavery with unmistakably Tarantino-ish gestures, (blood, feet... more blood...) 12 Years a Slave without a doubt is greater than Django (and this comes from an undying Tarantino fan), and, in all honesty, most films that have so far been released this year.
The film tells the real-life tale of Solomon Northup, a freeborn black man and classical violinist, who is unwittingly kidnapped on a trip to Washington. From here, Northup is sold into slavery, and is put through a series of harrowing ordeals as a slave. For TWELVE WHOLE YEARS. So far, so white guilt, but unlike pretty much every director who's made a film about slavery, McQueen (who is himself black, though really his race should be irrelevant with regards to this film) is surprisingly unsentimental. He doesn't need to be. The thought of slavery alone is a horrible one, and there are scenes in this film that had me crying without the saccharine melodrama of Hollywood. So while, with all slavery films, we can see that the white slave owners are of course in the wrong, we don't cheer when wrong befalls them like we do when Django shoots someone in the genitals. Probably because everybody is too busy sobbing into their popcorn.
One thing that has been universally heralded are the performances. You may hear the words "power-house" thrown around in the next few months, and these descriptions are completely accurate. Chiwetel Ejifor has always been a remarkable actor, from Love Actually to the brilliant Dirty Pretty Things, and now finally comes the time for him to be revealed as the star that he really is. If he doesn't receive Best Actor come January, I'm sure a lot of people, myself included, will be eating their proverbial hats. Also astonishing and award-worthy is newcomer Lupita Nyong'o as fellow slave Patsey, the unfortunate object of her master's lust and mistresses hatred. In fact, it feels a little mean to draw just those two actors out of an ensemble who are all at the top of their game. I've had many reasons to be angry at Michael Fassbender over the years, (the domestic abuse claim, the time he ordered his drink wrong in Inglorious Basterds...) but working for the third time with McQueen and back in the crazy zone, he is brilliant.
I feel a little cruel writing this review as I remember that this film isn't actually out in the UK until 2014. But I haven't felt such a strong sense of passion, a sense of "everything about that was perfect" about a film for a long while. It seems incredible that such a film about slavery can really have been made by a British man, but it's true. When we come to look back on slavery, when children are educated and we come to reflect on 2013/14 in film, 12 Years a Slave will, I'm sure, instantly jump out. McQueen has added yet another classic to an ever-flourishing career.
Filth is an example of an alright film that is elevated to a great one due to a brilliant lead performance. The film tells the story of Bruce Robertson, the cocaine snorting, self-destructive detective sergeant who is hell-bent on getting promoted whilst dealing with his own demons in very fucked up ways. The film never condones his horrifying behaviour and yet manages to evoke some sympathy for what is truly an unlikable characters. It really is James McAvoy’s show: the scenes without him just don’t stand up to the same level and the other actors are elevated when they’re opposite him. McAvoy revels in the hilariously shocking scenes and well as dealing with the emotionally shocking ones.
However, it does end up a bit messy in the third act, then tries to redeem itself with a twist that isn’t quite executed well enough. From that point onwards, the structure seems to fall apart and its shock after shock that leaves you walking away from the film trying to work out if any of it was really necessary. Not all of the surreal scenes work either. Although funny, Jim Broadbent’s role seems superfluous as did the car sing-a-long.
That said, I really did enjoy the film. It balances the funny and the harrowing well and at only 97 minutes, it never overstays its welcome. Eddie Marsan as Bruce’s best pal Bladesey and Shirley Henderson as his wife Bunty are brilliant. Imogen Poots and Jamie Bell also hold their own as his rival colleagues. If you’re from Edinburgh, you’ll also get all the extra references that may pass over other audiences’ heads and it’s exciting to see your hometown on screen – even if it makes us look awful. It’s also a nice change to see a film made specifically for a Scottish audience instead of catering to an international market. Because of this, and also the pretty disturbing nature of the film, it may never receive American distribution which really is a shame as McAvoy deserves at least a nomination for his work.
Overall, it may not be perfect, but for wee Jamesy boy alone it’s worth it.
I don't know how it happened but, through begging, borrowing and stealing (joking about the latter) I have acquired a delegate pass to London Film Festival. This means that, for the next month or so, I shall be posting a lot of reviews of the content of the festival, (but sadly not mingling with Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock) letting you know which films you should flock to, and which you should definitely avoid in the coming months.
It's been a very good year for very bad girls in cinema. From the silent, sinister girl who goes from outcast to cold-blooded killer in Park Chan-Wook's Stoker, to the gun toting, beer guzzling girls of Spring Breakers and the clueless criminals of Sofia Coppola's Bling Ring, teenage girls both solo and in new rebellious gangs have been proving how much fun it can be to be a bit bad. We may not approve of their actions, but that doesn't make them any less fun to watch. All Cheerleaders Die gleefully follows in this tradition, keeping the sense of rebelliousness and bitchiness, but upping the buckets of blood.
The feel of the film is clear from the off - we follow cheerleader and general Queen Bee Alexis, star of her ex-best friend Maddy's documentary project around school as she drops life tips such as "Always take remedial classes, that way you can always get straight A's" and simpers over her boyfriend, the equally popular Terry. So far so idyllic, until Lexi ends up breaking her neck during an ambitious cheerleading stunt. Three months later, Maddy is more than happy to fill her friend's shoes, and all hell breaks loose.
All Cheerleaders Die has an "anything goes" feel to it, gathering (and on occasion subverting) teen film cliches with glee. Obsessive wiccan ex-girlfriend? Sure thing. Douchey jock who thinks he rules the school? You bet. Enough curses to fill up a swear jar? Of course. Unlike a lot of recent films (Kick-Ass 2's painful teen girl subplot immediately springs to mind) these characters are, for the most part, broad stereotypes whose backgrounds are gradually and briefly filled in. But for a film whose plot increasingly picks up speed and keeps adding in different elements, this oddly works, especially when directors McKee and Silverston move away from teen bitching and towards straight gore and horror. It's predictable, but that doesn't make it any less fun. Like with any good horror film, the audience knows what's going to happen, and is kept in anticipation of it.
All Cheerleaders Die may perhaps not go on to be a definitive classic of the teen genre the way Heathers and Mean Girls have, rather instead it is the sort of will that could (and should) go on the gather a cult following around it. It may not be perfect, and it may be steeped in tropes, but at the end of the day, it doesn't matter because it's just so much fun! McKee and Silverston have created a film that can happily sit side by side with films like Spring Breakers, The Craft and Jennifer's Body in a marathon of good films that are about very bad girls.
