Blue Thompson

Cate Blanchett’s turn as Jasmine in Woody Allen’s latest feature, Blue Jasmine, is an excellent performance that showcases a woman’s descent from privilege to madness as she slowly watches her entire, formerly upper-upper-class lifestyle crumble around her until she is reduced to nothing. It’s also probably going to win the Oscar and I think that it is a performance which is worthy of an award (which it certainly has already, having won everything and anything it’s been nominated for).

There’s only one problem: Emma Thompson.

The problem isn’t that Thompson might swoop in and steal the Oscar right from under Blanchett’s nose like a Snitch, the problem is that Thompson isn’t getting a chance to when she definitely deserves it more.

I was quite shocked when the Oscar nominations were announced and Thompson’s name was left quite conspicuously off the list. There had been huge amounts of buzz for her performance in Saving Mr. Banks as P.L. – sorry – Mrs. Travers and when I finally saw the film, I felt it was the best performance of the year, hands down.

I actually think that Blanchett and Thompson’s performances were quite similar as both played quite unlikable characters. Blanchett’s Jasmine was spoiled and pampered and unfeeling to those around her, especially those who would help her, while Thompson’s Travers was harsh and cold and managed to cut down everyone around her. Both had the troublesome task of taking these unlikable characters and demanding the audience feel sympathy for them, and when it came down to it, I felt a lot more sympathy for Travers than I did for Jasmine, and all of that was Thompson’s performance.

I actually think it was due to a single scene, in which a mean-tempered Travers is sat down by the Sherman Brothers and Don DiGradi, who explain that they changed the ending and proceeded to play ‘Let’s Go Fly A Kite’ for her, while demonstrating some (purposefully) pitiful choreography. Until this point, Travers didn’t budge on anything, she didn’t like anything they had planned and she didn’t like anything they’d written. So to see it in Thompson’s eyes as Travers finally came round to the idea that maybe there’s something, just something in this film that could be magical, to see her feet slowly, but surely, start to tap in time with the music until eventually DiGradi offers her his hand and they begin to waltz around the room together… It was literal Disney magic. Not going to lie, I cried a little.

And yes, I am a huge Disney sap. Ridiculously huge. Can’t get enough of Disney.

But I couldn’t get enough of Thompson in Saving Mr. Banks. She was easily the most captivating thing about the film and, in my opinion, gave the most outstanding performance that I’ve seen from 2013. I loved it so much, I’d give her all the Oscars.

The worst thing about it is that I’ve seen all of the nominees in the Best Actress category and I know that Thompson was better than all of them. The one that really comes close is Judi Dench in Philomena, who is an absolute class act. My brother put it best: ‘Dench gives a better performance in a five minute clip of ‘Send in the Clowns’ than most people do in their entire careers’. I thought that Meryl Streep was good in August: Osage County, but that’s all I can really say about that, it was just… good. That said, ‘good’ for Meryl Streep is essentially everyone else’s A-Game, so maybe I’m being too hard. Amy Adams, as I’ve discussed before, was good in American Hustle, but the character really let her down. There was just nothing for her to do – that said, there was one scene in particular, where she’s confronted by Bradley Cooper, which was incredibly well acted, and had she done that the rest of the film, we’d be engraving the award already.

While I don’t think it will happen, I wouldn’t mind seeing Sandra Bullock win for Gravity, as the film wouldn’t have worked if she didn’t make us want her to survive. It was an intense and intimate performance, but I think in the scale of things, Gravity was about the entire spectacle, as opposed to the person lost within it.

The award will go to Blanchett come Oscar night, and while I won’t be too disappointed, I won’t be able to help but feel like I did last year, when Jennifer Lawrence won her Oscar. I thought Lawrence was fantastic in Silver Linings Playbook and definitely earned the award, but when compared to Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty, Lawrence was out of her league.

It’s an odd melancholic feeling.

Are there any ‘Best Actress’ performances that you thought were better last year? Or should I go and lament Thompson’s snub by myself?

Ordinary Song

‘And the Oscar goes to… ‘Let It Go’ from Frozen! Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez!’

That’s really all that needs to be said about the Best Original Song category.

No, really. That’s what’s going to happen.

The support for ‘Skyfall’ last year has almost nothing on the acclaim that ‘Let It Go’ has received since Elsa first belted her heart out in Frozen and if for some unfathomable reason ‘Let It Go’ wasn’t voted the winner by the Academy, they’ll be changing their minds the instant Idina Menzel opens her mouth during the ceremony. I’m that confident that this song is going to win this category.

Then again, you and I both know that I wouldn’t have started writing this if I only had that to say.

I’ll admit it. I’m a little worried about U2.

It’s a bit of an understatement when I say that I’m a massive U2 fan: seeing them live was one of the highlights of my life and when I’m playing music, I play about three U2 songs for every song by any other artist. They’re supposed to be releasing a new album this year and I’m completely psyched for it, and when I heard that they were doing a song for Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, I jumped on that straight away.

And the result?

Um… eh?

It was a really standard U2 song. It’s exactly the kind of song that you get by asking a non-U2 fan to write a U2 song. It sounds like U2, it hits all the U2 notes that U2 usually hit when they’re busy being U2. It’s not a terrible song; it just seems like its ticking things off a list of what it has to sound right. If only there was a word that I could use to describe how basic, standard, bland and boring ‘Ordinary Love’ was… I know there’s one out there to express how unimpressive or not-special this song it. Oh well.

So why am I worried about it? Mandela died.

Nelson Mandela was an incredible man who did incredible things. He was an important figure culturally and historically and nothing anyone says can change the impact of this man and his actions. His death was, to put it mildly, a big deal.

I also think it was the only reason U2 got nominated for an Oscar. Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom was released after Mandela’s death, just before awards buzz began for the Golden Globes and funnily enough, U2 and their song got nominated for the Globe. And I was fine with that, but then they had to go ahead and give them the award as well. It felt like a political move more than anything else.

But the Golden Globes have had a history of picking the exact wrong song(s) for that category. A couple of years ago, they thought that Madonna had the best song of the year (this has never been the case in the history of anything) and that Gnomeo and Juliet was deserving of a nomination as well. I just assumed that this was one of “those” wins – it honoured Mandela and played it safe on a political level.

When U2 was nominated for the Oscar, I’ll admit I was surprised, and then that surprised turned into worry (not proper worry, but the kind of worry reserved for thoughts such as ‘Who is going to win the award this year?’). Would the Academy do the same thing? Would they give U2 an award they don’t deserve, over a song that so desperately does, based on political motivations?

I’m about 90% certain that they won’t, because ‘Let It Go’ is just so friggen good, but you never really know until the award’s given out.

I suppose I should talk about the other nominees, in fairness. ‘The Moon Song’ from Her is the only other nominee that I think should have a chance – it’s such a minimal, heartfelt song that worked because of the way that the film built up the relationship of Theodore and Samantha. This is also the second year in a row that a song sung by Scarlett Johansson is nominated for the Oscar. ‘Happy’ from Despicable Me 2 is, as my brother described it, “the happiest song ever” and it comes pretty close to that. It’s so upbeat and fun and joyous that makes me want to listen to a lot more of Pharrell Williams’ stuff, but then I remember that he wrote ‘Blurred Lines’ and that literally makes me want to have nothing to do with the guy.

There isn’t a strong enough word to describe my dislike of ‘Blurred Lines’.

But obviously, I think that ‘Let It Go’ is going to win, and it should win. It’s easily the most deserving, especially as it was accompanied by the best Disney visuals since the opening of The Lion King. I did think that a couple of other songs from Frozen deserved a nomination. ‘For the First Time in Forever’ is a sweeping, wondrous song performed exquisitely by Kristen Bell that really deserved more recognition than it got, and also established a great contrast between the two sisters, which was the entire point of the movie. I’d also be remiss if I didn’t mention that my brother desperately wanted ‘In Summer’ to be nominated, and I kind of agree with him – that song is almost a perfect way to spend two-minutes.

As for other songs this year? I haven’t seen/heard Inside Llewyn Davis, but I’ve heard that there were some great tracks in that. I liked ‘Atlas’ by Coldplay from Hunger Games: Catching Fire, but not enough to warrant a nomination or anything like that.

No, there’s pretty much been one song for me this year, and that’s ‘Let It Go’. And to be honest, I’m completely fine with that. I can’t wait for it to take home the gold.

(And yes, I’m aware that the title was way too easy.)

365 Days

This is my 366th post to this blog.

That means that I’ve been writing on this blog every day for one year.

That means the challenge I set myself is complete.

…

WOO!!!!!

I’m actually kind of surprised – I managed to keep this blog going for an entire year without missing a single day (and trust me, there were some REALLY close calls). No, not every post was genius or brilliant or even worthwhile, but at least it was something.

I’ve really enjoyed having this blog. It’s given me a place to vent my feelings about one thing or another (usually movies or music or musical movies – or moving music, I suppose…) and to let my opinions be heard by all six of you readers out there.

I shouldn’t joke about you readers, because it’s meant a lot to me that you have been reading. Sincerely, thank you all for checking in with me along the way, and for leaving your own comments and opinions – I always got a lovely feeling whenever someone started following my blog, or when someone left a comment or anything like that, so thank you all so much.

It’s going to be weird tomorrow, realising that I don’t have to write a blog post, and I’ll probably wake up the day after in a surge of panic, thinking that I’d forgotten and completely failed everything… But I might keep updating every now and then, if I feel like there’s something I want to say.

I am going to eventually start up another blog, hopefully one that looks more professional/less-crap, but I’ll deliver updates about that when the time comes – I’ve got some ideas, people! So watch this space.

More specifically, I’d like to thank my mum, my dad, my brother and my girlfriend for constantly making sure I kept on track with this challenge. I’m pretty sure they must be sick of hearing the words ‘But I have to write a blog post!’ once every twenty four hours, but I appreciate all the support they gave.

And… Well, I’m not sure how to end things. Thank you, so long and thanks for all the fish, that’ll do, pig and…

Jim probably says it best.

Thank you everyone.

Oscar Upsets Part 2

I had two main upsets when the Oscar winners were announced, however neither of them were ‘This person/film shouldn’t have won because they were terrible’. As I said last night, I really enjoyed Brave, but simply thought that better films were nominated. And it’s the same with my second, possibly more upsetting upset.

I don’t think Jennifer Lawrence should have won.

Yes, I’m going after the current ‘It-girl’ of the moment and yes, I’m going after someone who I think is quite talented. As with Brave, there were just better contenders in that category that deserved it more. Well, let’s be fair, contender. Emmanuelle Riva’s subtle performance in Amour was definitely worth note, with some incredibly emotional scenes hinging on her; and Quvenzhane Wallis (the greatest Scrabble move ever) was outstandingly powerful considering her age – it could have easily gone wrong, but Wallis carried Beasts of the Southern Wild all on her own. I didn’t get to see Naomi Watts’ performance in The Impossible, so I am unable to comment.

So, by process of elimination, the final two contenders are Jennifer Lawrence and Jessica Chastain, and while Lawrence took home the trophy, Chastain deserved something to place on her mantlepiece. Don’t get me wrong, I thought that Lawrence was superb and her turn in Silver Linings Playbook was worthy of the award, but Chastain’s intense and strong performance in Zero Dark Thirty was nothing short of miraculous to watch. My brother always talks about seeing the connection in someone’s eyes when they act, but of Chastain, all he had to say was ‘She wasn’t acting’.

Chastain has exploded onto our screens in the past two years and is obviously an intensely hard working actress, not to mention wildly talented. She was excellent in her nominated performance from The Help, and played a completely different character to her nominated role this year, flawlessly, I might add.

Lawrence did give a fantastic performance, I shall say that, but Chastain was just… better. That said, I feel that – like Brave‘s victory – the win was political. Lawrence was getting the media attention and was being hyped up like you would never believe, while Zero Dark Thirty suffered from unwanted and unnecessary controversy, and it did lose a lot of favour with the public, whereas Silver Linings was more accessible to more people. That’s what I think it comes down to – Lawrence’s performance was less controversial and less challenging (not to say that it wasn’t challenging, it’s just that she was dancing with Bradley Cooper while Chastain was hunting Bin Laden. There’s a bit of a difference) to the public, and therefore the voters.

I think that Zero Dark Thirty was quite heavily overlooked when it came to handing out the awards, but the Academy seemed to shy away from the controversy surrounding the film, that had nothing to do with the quality of the film in itself. It had flaws, yes, but every film does, and at least Zero Dark Thirty tried to challenge itself and the cinema goers. The torture scenes were absolutely brutal, as they needed to be! Not only did it need to be to engage with the audience emotionally, but the vast difference in the torture (which didn’t work) and the kindness (which eventually did work) needed to be very obviously and clearly demonstrated. Which is was. However, the controversy stemmed from people watching the beginning of the film, knowing that Bin Laden died at the end (oh, spoiler or whatever) and thinking the two were directly linked, without really listening or watching the film… Anyway, I digress…

Chastain was robbed, but at least she was robbed by someone who had the decency to deliver a pretty fantastic performance. That said, Chastain has had two nominations in two years – at the rate she’s going, they’re just going to keep nominating her each and every year until she’s finally handed that golden statue.

Oscars Upsets Part 1

Brave should not have been awarded Best Animated Feature. And I say this as someone who enjoyed Brave. Very much. I really, really enjoyed Brave, yet there were at least two other films that I found more deserving of the Oscar.

This award was definitely a political win, in that the Academy was awarding Pixar as opposed to the film Pixar produced – and that’s a terrible thing. I love Pixar (in fact, today I watched Ratatouille for the first time and I loved it) and I’m always excited with what they produce, with the Cars franchise the exception. Cars 2 was their first real dud of a film and that was good for deflating egos and the like, so try had to bring themselves back. Brave was a step in the right direction, but it wasn’t a big enough step. It wasn’t up to the standards of true Pixar quality, and it definitely wasn’t as good as any of the other Pixar wins.

Pixar won the award for a good film, but they should be winning them for great films. And great films lost this year. The Pirates! Band of Misfits was a hilarious, adventurous film that deserved gold; Wreck-it Ralph was surprisingly moving and emotional, as well as a lot of fun and great enough to over come some of the issues within the film. Both of these films deserved to win over Brave, and it was such a shame when Brave was called.

All this negativity really sounds like I didn’t like the film, but I really did. I’ve seen it twice and enjoyed it twice, but there were better films. Plain and simple.

Join me tomorrow for my second, possibly bigger gripe from Oscar Night.

Oscars Over

Well, Oscar season has come to a close, and already my senses have begun to slightly tingle at the thought of Oscar season 2014.

I really enjoyed the ceremony and thought Seth MacFarlane was a great host. I enjoyed (most) of the musical numbers, although I do agree that there may have been slightly too many.

As for the winners? I have some mixed feelings, but I’ve decided to wait a while before posting a full report of the proceedings, lest my emotions get the best of me.

As for the tipping between my brother and I? We ended up drawing… As usual.

One Week

Ladies and Gentlemen, there is one week until the 2013 Oscars.

Let the countdown begin.

Pretentious

Pretentious films irk me. More so, fans of pretentious films, who smother all others in their self-important air.

I’m trying to fully put into words why I liked Synecdoche, New York and to a lesser extent Holy Motors, but I couldn’t stand The Tree of Life – I could understand if someone were to call all three of these films ‘pretentious’.

What’s the most pretentious film you’ve ever seen? And why did you hate it?

Lincoln

I wrote a much longer post before, but then the wonders of the internet lost that to the cosmos, so now you’re stuck with this much shorter and much lower quality blog post.

Lincoln was awesome. The acting was sensational and will bring home the gold come Oscar time – while I would like to see Hugh Jackman win the award, they’ve got to engrave Daniel Day-Lewis’ name into the base when the time comes, he was brilliant; not to mention Tommy Lee Jones’, who stole every scene he was in with a very passionate performance. Sally Fields was deserving of her nomination, but it won’t be able to stop the Hathaway Express as it picks up an award at every station along the line, every station not on the line, and every station that’s still in the process of being built.

I think that giving the film Best Picture is a very easy decision, not in that it towered above every other film out there, it’s just the obvious choice, the safest choice. I would prefer to see something like Zero Dark Thirty or Django Unchained take home the prize – they were more challenging or more willing to try new things, whereas Lincoln was a very solid, yet standard film. Holding the films scene-by-scene against each other, Lincoln probably got more balls in the hoop, but the hoop it was aiming for wasn’t as high as the others.

Never the less, it was one of the best films of last year and every award that the film has earned is well deserved.

I have a minor quibble with the ending, which was good, but would have been more effective had it ended five minutes earlier, on a much more striking image. That said, I thought the inclusion of Neil Patrick Harris and ‘The Ballad of Booth’ might have spruced it up a bit.

Midnight Spa

My brother and I sat in a spa last night until two in the morning, while the world around us was freezing. It was so amazingly warm and cosy, we kinda wanted to stay in there forever.

It was good conversation, too, all about movies and films and the Oscars and all that.

It was awesome. I kinda want to do it again…