Since I was very young, our family would always watch the Oscars. Los Angeles is the movie town, with thousands of people working at the film studios, production companies and costumers, not to mention the hundreds of restaurants and other businesses that cater to the various film productions shooting in and around town. My hometown is on the outskirts of L.A., but it is a bastion for film and television production, providing a big boost to the economy. Seldom does someone not say that they have some involvement with "the industry." All that being said, there is something special about living in L.A. on Oscar night, since the town practically shuts down for the Academy Awards. Couple that with the fact that I and several family members are big film fans or work for the studios and it's easy to see why the Oscars are the awards show most significant to us.
The nominees for Best Picture are... American Sniper Birdman Boyhood The Grand Budapest Hotel The Imitation Game Selma The Theory of Everything Whiplash
As of this writing, I've seen four of the nominees and hope to see three more. Selma was fantastic with a great performance by David Oyelowo and was the first film I saw this year that I walked out of the theater thinking "That is a sure-fire Oscar best picture." Birdman was good, but I didn't love it as much as the critics did. The Imitation Game and The Theory of Everything both were pretty good and I favored Theory a touch more, but I'm hesitant to say they were the definitive Best Picture.
As good as those films may be, it isn't Oscar season without snubs. When Ben Affleck was left out of the Best Director race for Argo in 2012, I thought that would be the last time in a long while that there would be a snub of that epic of proportions. Boy, was I wrong. The omission of The Lego Movie is nothing short of highway robbery. That film has been ranked No. 1 on my rankings for most of the year, was named the presumptive winner by many Oscar handicappers and has a ridiculously high score on Rotten Tomatoes. I went into the movie with little expectation and was beyond pleasantly surprised after viewing it. The film has a lot of heart and can be enjoyed by the widest possible audience while still being smart. It doesn't stoop down to children and entertains adults as well. Were the other animation contenders like Big Hero 6 and How to Train Your Dragon 2 good? Absolutely, but they would have been no match for Lego, whose sole nomination was for the song "Everything is Awesome."
Other notable snubs include Gone Girl and Nightcrawler for Best Picture, Ava DuVernay (director) and Oyelowo (actor) for Selma (both pictured at right). Jake Gyllenhaal and Rene Russo (acting), David Fincher (director) and Gillian Flynn (adapted screenplay) also got snubbed for Nightcrawler and Gone Girl, respectively. Having said that, some of the categories like actor and director were stacked full of viable nominees, so I'm less disappointed over these than the glaringly obvious omission of Lego.
For a full list of the nominees, click here. I'll be revealing my picks before Oscar night Feb. 22.
Happy New Year everyone! I hope you've had a fantastic holiday season and have a great 2015 ahead!
When people discuss New Year's resolutions, it's often times things like "lose weight" or "have a better diet." But what about us bookworms? Here are three of mine...
1) Read diverse authors
I started listening to several podcasts this year like Book Riot and Books on the Nightstand and was not privy to the ongoing concerns in the publishing industry about a lack of diversity among authors. BookExpo America, the New York trade show that aspires to be the book equivalent to Comic Con, suffered high-profile public relations gaffe this summer when it had multiple panels that didn't have female or minority authors. While a book's subject matter will still be the proverbial compass I use to determine which book I want to read next, it cannot hurt to consider more diverse voices. In an attempt to put my money where my mouth is, I've recently acquired bestseller Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and both Cristina Henriquez's The Book of Unknown Americans and Ishmael Beah's A Long Way Gone are on the wish list.
2) Aim for 52, hope for more
Goodreads started up their annual yearly reading challenge again today and I put in 52 books, with the hope of topping that number even more. How does one help get to that number? Well...
3) Listen to more audiobooks
For a while, I didn't care for audiobooks. I had canceled my Audible account after having several bad experiences listening to books, most notably Catching Fire, the second novel of The Hunger Games series. After realizing that I was spending my 90-minute roundtrip commute listening to a local sports radio station talk 24/7 about the Lakers, who I don't care for, I wanted to be more productive with that time. I started with Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus, then went to Cary Elwes' As You Wish and Michael Koryta's Those Who Wish Me Dead, which I'm almost halfway through. I initially thought I'd take inventory after Koryta's novel, but by the time I was done with Night Circus, I knew I was hooked. Guess I should fire up that Audible account again.
During the holiday hiatus, I saw several movies, most of which were okay at best.
1) Theory of Everything - Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones give fantastic performances and David Thewlis of Harry Potter fame is a nice addition. The movie's classical soundtrack is excellent and the direction was exemplary. The movie is in my top ten of the year, but it didn't strike me as the definitive Best Picture of the year. Grade: B+
2) Interstellar - This year's "great idea, so-so execution" movie. Two of director Christopher Nolan's past movies are two absolute favorites of mine and I eagerly awaited this one all year. Having said that, I mostly enjoyed what the film tried to do, despite a plot that seemed to bend and twist over itself to the point of confusing audiences. There were moments when I was taken out of the storyline because I was trying to digest the science of the previous scene. Having said that, after the movie, I drove over to my local Barnes & Noble and perused Kip Thorne's book The Science of Interstellar. If other filmgoers managed to have their imaginations sparked and pursue the stars, then Nolan can consider it mission accomplished. Grade: B-
3) The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies - I didn't care for the first two parts of The Hobbit, so I went in with minimal expectations. I love the book, but I didn't like the splitting of the story into three films. The resolution of the Smaug storyline could have easily been handled in the second movie (it's finished before the title card, so get to the theater on time). There are now major continuity problems with The Fellowship of the Ring, especially in how Gandalf knows about the One Ring and Sauron. The latter part of the movie I enjoyed, mostly because the damage had already been done. The Hobbit is to Lord of the Rings what the Star Wars prequels are to the original triogy, both in terms of timeline and quality. Grade: B-
4) Exodus: Gods and Kings - After hearing negative reviews online, I went into Ridley Scott's Biblical epic with greatly reduced expectations. Even then, this movie didn't deliver the goods. Dozens of changes from the original text didn't serve the story and seemed to be made for the sake of a change, rather than serving the story. The visuals were good, but with the likes of The Hobbit playing in the same multiplex, there wasn't anything special about Exodus. Grade: C- (the visual work saves it from the F).
Do you have any book-related New Years resolutions this year? Seen any stellar films this year?
The fall movie season has historically been one lined with awards contenders, but this year, the autumn months will also be stuffed to the brim with book-to-film adaptations.
The Maze Runner (U.S. theatrical release: Sept. 19)
The era of young adult dystopian adaptations continues with this adaptation of the James Dashner novel, starring Dylan O'Brien from MTV's Teen Wolf series in the lead role. The plot is more solitary than Divergent or The Hunger Games, though, as a group of teens try to escape from the middle of a giant maze they've been trapped inside. According to reports, the film only cost studio 20th Century Fox $30 million for its budget. For comparison, Fox's summer adaptation of John Green's The Fault in Our Stars has gone on to gross more than $280 million worldwide on a $16 million budget, crazy low by summer blockbuster standards. The producers of "Stars" are also shepherding this project and seem to have their finger on the pulse of these young adult adaptations in what I'm sure Fox is hoping becomes a franchise. The newest trailers show a lot of promise.
This is Where I Leave You (Sept. 19)
Writer Jonathan Tropper wrote the screenplay and produced this adaptation of his 2009 bestseller about a family sitting Shiva, a Jewish mourning ritual, in the wake of the death of the patriarch. With an all-star cast led by Jason Bateman, Jane Fonda, Tina Fey and Adam Driver among others, the film has made some alterations from the novel (the family's last name is now Altman, not Foxman like in the book), but with Tropper writing the script I wouldn't expect any dramatic changes from the source material.
A Walk Among the Tombstones (Sept. 19)
Based on a 1992 book by Lawrence Block, the film follows private detective Matthew Scudder as he tries to find the missing wife of a drug dealer. According to reports, Block has said star Liam Neeson is an ideal choice to play Scudder, even going so far as to tell The Wrap, "My book's in good hands." However, the trailer has already framed the movie as a "Taken"-style revenge thriller. At a recent movie screening, a friend of mine who is unaware of the book turned to me after watching the trailer and said, "That one's a renter." Judge for yourself and take a look at the trailer:
Gone Girl (Oct. 3)
The cast of this film is outstanding (Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris), the script is being written by Gillian Flynn herself, and David Fincher is directing. Sounds like an awfully good combination. Given the book's narrative structure of bouncing back and forth between the perspectives of husband Nick and wife Amy, it isn't surprising that the film will deviate from it, though rumors are swirling that the ending is being re-tooled as well. Any way Flynn does it, the book is in very capable hands and it wouldn't surprise me if the movie is both a box office hit (budget of only $50 million) and an Oscar contender.
Left Behind (Oct. 3)
I admit it, I read most of the Left Behind series when I was in junior high and early high school. I lasted to book 9, Desecration, out of the initial 12 books before I opted not to continue. When the first film adaptation came out, starring former Growing Pains star Kirk Cameron, it was a cheeseball movie. Given that the premise of the series, two authors' fictionalized opinions about how the Book of Revelation could unfold, can be seen by some as cheesy or goofy to begin with, enlisting Nicolas Cage as Rayford Steele was probably not the best call. Having said that, the supporting cast is a bit better than I thought it would be.
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (Oct. 10)
In what figures to be a heavily reworked version of Judith Viorst's 1972 classic, Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner star in a comedy about a boy's horrible day. In the book, Alexander wakes up with bubble gum in his hair and his day gets progressively worse, but in the film's trailer, the hijinks are leveled on the other family members. I remember reading the book as a child and have been split on whether or not to see this one.
Big Hero 6 (Nov. 7)
Very loosely based on the Marvel Comics team that debuted in 1998 and was later the subject of a 2008 miniseries, this animated film has already garnered a following online with its trailers and clips. A boy and his robot companion venture into a world of superheroes as a villainous figure tries to take over San Fransokyo, a colorful mashup of San Francisco and Tokyo. If you're going into this film with the hopes of an Avengers cameo, the director told Total Film this summer that the universe of Big Hero 6 would act as a stand-alone world separate from the other Marvel films. The movie is one of the top five films I'm most looking forward to for the rest of the year. Here's the latest clip, which debuted Sunday during a "Frozen" special on ABC:
Rosewater (Nov. 7)
Based on the 2011 memoir Then They Came for Me by Maziar Bahari, the film tells Bahari's story of being held captive by the Iranian government for more than 100 days after the 2009 election. The film has been getting buzz for being directed by Jon Stewart of "The Daily Show" fame, but the film's crew and subject matter suggest a good movie as well and apparently critics have given it generally favorable reviews after debuting last week at the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado (current Rotten Tomatoes rating is 89%).
The Theory of Everything (Nov. 7)
Despite the title, the movie is not necessarily based on Stephen Hawking's 1983 book, but rather on his wife's memoir Travelling to Infinity. Starring Eddie Redmayne, who was last seen by most audiences as Marius in the excellent 2012 adaptation of Les Miserables, and Felicity Jones, the film will show Redmayne as theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking during his time studying at Cambridge, falling in love and being diagnosed with a motor neuron disease. The movie is set to debut this weekend at the Toronto International Film Festival. Here is the trailer, which debuted to big Internet buzz last month:
Is there a film based on a book you are most looking forward to this fall?
As good as those films may be, it isn't Oscar season without snubs. When Ben Affleck was left out of the Best Director race for Argo in 2012, I thought that would be the last time in a long while that there would be a snub of that epic of proportions. Boy, was I wrong. The omission of The Lego Movie is nothing short of highway robbery. That film has been ranked No. 1 on my rankings for most of the year, was named the presumptive winner by many Oscar handicappers and has a ridiculously high score on Rotten Tomatoes. I went into the movie with little expectation and was beyond pleasantly surprised after viewing it. The film has a lot of heart and can be enjoyed by the widest possible audience while still being smart. It doesn't stoop down to children and entertains adults as well. Were the other animation contenders like Big Hero 6 and How to Train Your Dragon 2 good? Absolutely, but they would have been no match for Lego, whose sole nomination was for the song "Everything is Awesome."
