Win a Copy of My New Book: 101 Must-See Movie Moments
Posted on January 23, 2013 at 8:00 am
My new book is out in paperback! 101 Must-See Movie Moments
Critics Choice and Golden Globes
Posted on January 15, 2013 at 1:36 pm
I’m back from Los Angeles and an amazing night of glamour and excitement at the Critics Choice Awards. All the star were there — from the youngest-ever Best Actress Oscar Nominee,
Quvenzhané Wallis to Daniel Day-Lewis, Stephen Spielberg, and Sally Field from “Lincoln” and Jessica Chastain, Robert De Niro, Jennifer Lawrence, and Bradley Cooper. The high points for me were Wallis breathlessly reading her acceptance speech for best performance by an actor under age 25 from her pink-covered iPhone, Rebel Wilson’s presentation of a special comedy award to Judd Apatow (she pretended that he had written her speech) and Ben Affleck’s charming acceptance of his best director award for “Argo,” coming just hours after his inexplicable snub by the Oscars. “I’d like to thank the members of the Academy,” he began, and brought the house down. And I loved Anne Hathaway, accepting her best supporting actress award for “Les Miserables,” teasing us for misspelling her name on the screen.
I know I am biased, but for me the critics awards are the most meaningful because we see everything all year long, not just the discs that are circulated at awards time. It was a blast and I’m very proud of our choices.
BEST PICTURE
Winner: Argo
Nominees:
Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Django Unchained
Les Miserables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
The Master
Moonrise Kingdom
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty
BEST ACTOR
Winner: Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln
Nominees:
Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln
John Hawkes – The Sessions
Hugh Jackman – Les Miserables
Joaquin Phoenix – The Master
Denzel Washington – Flight
BEST ACTRESS
Winner: Jessica Chastain – Zero Dark Thirty
Nominees:
Jessica Chastain – Zero Dark Thirty
Marion Cotillard – Rust and Bone
Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook
Emmanuelle Riva – Amour
Quvenzhane Wallis – Beasts of the Southern Wild
Naomi Watts – The Impossible
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Winner: Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Master
Nominees:
Alan Arkin – Argo
Javier Bardem – Skyfall
Robert De Niro – Silver Linings Playbook
Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Master
Tommy Lee Jones – Lincoln
Matthew McConaughey – Magic Mike
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Winner: Anne Hathaway – Les Miserables
Nominees:
Amy Adams – The Master
Judi Dench – Skyfall
Ann Dowd – Compliance
Sally Field – Lincoln
Anne Hathaway – Les Miserables
Helen Hunt – The Sessions
BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS
Winner: Quvenzhane Wallis – Beasts of the Southern Wild
Nominees:
Elle Fanning – Ginger & Rosa
Kara Hayward – Moonrise Kingdom
Tom Holland – The Impossible
Logan Lerman – The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Suraj Sharma – Life of Pi
Quvenzhane Wallis – Beasts of the Southern Wild
BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE
Winner: Silver Linings Playbook
Nominees:
Argo
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Les Miserables
Lincoln
Moonrise Kingdom
Silver Linings Playbook
BEST DIRECTOR
Winner: Ben Affleck – Argo
Nominees:
Ben Affleck – Argo
Kathryn Bigelow – Zero Dark Thirty
Tom Hooper – Les Miserables
Ang Lee – Life of Pi
David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook
Steven Spielberg – Lincoln
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Winner: Quentin Tarantino – Django Unchained
Nominees:
Quentin Tarantino – Django Unchained
John Gatins – Flight
Rian Johnson – Looper
Paul Thomas Anderson – The Master
Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola – Moonrise Kingdom
Mark Boal – Zero Dark Thirty
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Winner: Tony Kushner – Lincoln
Nominees:
Chris Terrio – Argo
Tony Kushner – Lincoln
David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook
David Magee – Life of Pi
Stephen Chbosky – The Perks of Being a Wallflower
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Winner: Life of Pi – Claudio Miranda
Nominees:
Life of Pi – Claudio Miranda
Lincoln – Janusz Kaminski
Les Miserables – Danny Cohen
The Master – Mihai Malaimare Jr.
Skyfall – Roger Deakins
BEST ART DIRECTION
Winner: Anna Karenina – Sarah Greenwood/Production Designer, Katie Spencer/Set Decorator
Nominees:
The Hobbit – Dan Hennah/Production Designer, Ra Vincent & Simon Bright/Set Decorators
Les Miserables – Eve Stewart/Production Designer, Anna Lynch-Robinson/Set Decorator
Life of Pi – David Gropman/Production Designer, Anna Pinnock/Set Decorator
Lincoln – Rick Carter/Production Designer, Jim Erickson/Set Decorator
BEST EDITING
Winner: Zero Dark Thirty – William Goldenberg, Dylan Tichenor
Nominees:
Argo – William Goldenberg
Les Miserables – Melanie Ann Oliver, Chris Dickens
Life of Pi – Tim Squyres
Lincoln – Michael Kahn
Zero Dark Thirty – William Goldenberg, Dylan Tichenor
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Winner: Anna Karenina – Jacqueline Durran
Nominees:
Anna Karenina – Jacqueline Durran
Cloud Atlas – Kym Barrett, Pierre-Yves Gayraud
The Hobbit – Bob Buck, Ann Maskrey, Richard Taylor
Les Miserables – Paco Delgado
Lincoln – Joanna Johnston
BEST MAKEUP
Winner: Cloud Atlas
Nominees:
Cloud Atlas
The Hobbit
Les Miserables
Lincoln
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Winner: Life of Pi
Nominees:
The Avengers
Cloud Atlas
The Dark Knight Rises
The Hobbit
Life of Pi
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Winner: Wreck-It Ralph
Nominees:
Brave
Frankenweenie
Madagascar 3
ParaNorman
Rise of the Guardians
Wreck-It Ralph
BEST ACTION MOVIE
Winner: Skyfall
Nominees:
The Avengers
The Dark Knight Rises
Looper
Skyfall
BEST ACTOR IN AN ACTION MOVIE
Winner: Daniel Craig – Skyfall
Nominees:
Christian Bale – The Dark Knight Rises
Daniel Craig – Skyfall
Robert Downey Jr. – The Avengers
Joseph Gordon-Levitt – Looper
Jake Gyllenhaal – End of Watch
BEST ACTRESS IN AN ACTION MOVIE
Winner: Jennifer Lawrence – The Hunger Games
Nominees:
Emily Blunt – Looper
Gina Carano – Haywire
Judi Dench – Skyfall
Anne Hathaway – The Dark Knight Rises
Jennifer Lawrence – The Hunger Games
BEST COMEDY
Winner: Silver Linings Playbook
Nominees:
Bernie
Silver Linings Playbook
Ted
This Is 40
21 Jump Street
BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY
Winner: Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook
Nominees:
Jack Black – Bernie
Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook
Paul Rudd – This Is 40
Channing Tatum – 21 Jump Street
Mark Wahlberg – Ted
BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY
Winner: Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook
Nominees:
Mila Kunis – Ted
Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook
Shirley MacLaine – Bernie
Leslie Mann – This Is 40
Rebel Wilson – Pitch Perfect
BEST SCI-FI/HORROR MOVIE
Winner: Looper
Nominees:
Cabin in the Woods
Looper
Prometheus
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Winner: Amour
Nominees:
Amour
The Intouchables
A Royal Affair
Rust and Bone
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Winner: Searching for Sugar Man
Nominees:
Bully
The Imposter
Queen of Versailles
Searching for Sugar Man
The Central Park Five
West of Memphis
BEST SONG
Winner: “Skyfall” – performed by Adele/written by Adele Adkins & Paul Epworth – Skyfall
Nominees:
“For You” – performed by Keith Urban/written by Monty Powell & Keith Urban – Actor of Valor
“Skyfall” – performed by Adele/written by Adele Adkins & Paul Epworth – Skyfall
“Still Alive” – performed by Paul Williams/written by Paul Williams – Paul Williams Still Alive
“Suddenly” – Performed by Hugh Jackman / Music by Claude Michel Schonberg, Lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil
“Learn Me Right” – performed by Birdy with Mumford & Sons/written by Mumford & Sons – Brave
BEST SCORE
Winner: Lincoln – John Williams
Nominees:
Argo – Alexandre Desplat
Life of Pi – Mychael Danna
Lincoln – John Williams
The Master – Jonny Greenwood
Moonrise Kingdom – Alexandre Desplat
And the Golden Globes! It’s the most fun to watch because they give out so many awards and because everyone just relaxes and enjoys the party. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler should not just host everything from now on — they should run everything from now on. They were perfect! I loved Jodie Foster’s heartfelt speech accepting her lifetime achievement award.
My Book is Free — Three Days Only!
Posted on January 13, 2013 at 6:00 am
My book, 101 Must-See Movie Moments
From the introduction:
Many movies show us characters who surprise the others with their skill or courage. I will show you why “Amadeus” and “A League of Their Own” do it better than most. What can we learn from the opening credits? If they are designed by Saul Bass, they can be the most creative part of the movie. What do “Notting Hill” and an almost forgotten Bing Crosby movie do to show time passing more effectively than most prestige films? Check out the essay on “High Time.” What does DBTA mean? Find out in the essay on “Top Gun” and see why Goose from “Top Gun” is the best example. Why does everyone in the stands at a tennis game follow the ball except for one? Read the essay on “Strangers on a Train.”
Powerful scenes in “Annie Hall,” “School Daze,” and “A League of Their Own” feature characters we see for only a few seconds. The “B-story” couples get the best moments in “How Do You Know” and “17 Again.” Many movie heroines transform a tacky dress by removing some tulle or an overskirt. To see who did it best, watch Sophia Loren in “Houseboat.”
“Rich in Love” and “Miss Firecracker” are non-musicals with great musical numbers. The directors of “Die Hard” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark” changed their plans to take advantage of unexpected opportunities or unexpected obstacles while filming.
This book will guide you to Meryl Streep’s silliest appearance as a singing Bonnie Parker and a rare chance to see Broadway stars of the 1940’s show off their best drawing room manner. You will read about some of movie history’s best comic reactions to the way something tastes with James Stewart in “Bell Book and Candle” and Donald Meek in “State Fair.”
I love documentaries. There are unforgettable scenes no one expected to capture in “Hoop Dreams” and “The Last Waltz” and one of the sweetest final images ever shown on screen in “The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill.” In some of the essays I provide some background on the film or some thoughts on how movies address different challenges. In others, all there was to say was “Just watch it.”
The single most important attribute for a career in reviewing each week’s big studio releases is an infinite capacity for awful movies. We become critics because we love to watch great movies and then we end up sitting through an endless series of buddy cops, gross-out comedies, second-rate superheroes, chases, explosions, and remakes of television shows that some studio executive loved as a kid. And yet, almost always I can find some moment – some performance, line of dialog, production design, or insight – that makes me glad I saw it. Some of those moments are here as well.
For me, movies combine the best of every other art form. They contain elements of writing, theater, music, dance, and graphic design. They can be formal and stylized or intimate and improvised. Movies bring us inside their stories as no other art form can, allowing us to experience what is happening to the characters through the grandest sweep of adventure with marching armies or inter-galactic journeys to the smallest and most private moments with a close-up of a face showing devastating loss or whispered words of love and hope. Movies are life without the boring parts. They illuminate the human story by giving us a chance to see one or more characters resolve something that unsettles their lives with a conclusion that can be happy, sad, funny, or bittersweet but somehow gives us a satisfying sense of alignment and understanding.
We see the same stories over and over. A young person leaves home. A stranger comes to town. Two or more people who don’t know each other or don’t like each other have to accomplish some task, often involving a journey. We hear the same lines over and over. Two that seem to occur in nearly every movie are “Please, try to understand” or “Why don’t you try to get some rest.” What makes a movie memorable is in the details of plot, direction, cinematography, dialog, performance, lighting, and design that make these stories distinctive, touching, and authentic. This book includes some of my favorite examples and my thoughts on what makes them special.
Movie Addict Headquarters: Holiday Gift Guide
Posted on December 9, 2012 at 8:00 am
Many thanks to Betty Jo Tucker for inviting me back to the Movie Addict Headquarters podcast, this time to discuss movie-related gifts with “Mad Movie Man” A.J. Hakari! And thanks to Betty Jo for making one of her recommendations my new book 101 Must-See Movie Moments
My Conversation with Nick DiGilio
Posted on November 5, 2012 at 12:30 pm
Time always flies when I visit the Nick DiGilio show on WGN in Chicago. We talked about “Flight,” “Fun Size,” “Skyfall,” Cloud Atlas,” and lots more. Thanks a million for having me on.