In March there is hope!

The opening two months of the year have not really brought much cheer to me but as we approach the summer period, I start drooling over once again. But wait, take a step back, we aren't there yet. Things are looking as if they could start heating up from March itself. Or at least, so I would like to believe. March was probably never seen the same way once Alice in Wonderland, released in March 2010, went on to collect more than $1 billion in worldwide revenues. And so that this did not stand out in the history of March as something simply weird as the Mad Hatter himself, The Hunger Games released in March 2012 once again stole the show to churn in box office collections as good as any summer blockbuster. There may not be an encore of such performances this time around, but there is  potential. And the worst case scenario, it still would be better than what February had to offer!

This March sees more familiar names on the big screen, more marketing push, more genres to pick from. Here are five movies of the month that you could look forward to for the weekend, with a cup of coffee and some popcorn to go along with. 

5) Olympus Has Fallen: Aaron Eckhart is the President of USA. Gerard Butler works for the national security. Terrorists take over the White House. So Gerard Butler goes over to kick some ass! Simple story. But probably one which Gerard Butler is more comfortable with than exploring his romantic side as he did in Playing For Keeps (not heard? I am not surprised). This should turn out to be a straight-forward action flick that would keep the audience interested till the lights are out and forget about it once the lights are back on.

4) G.I. Joe: Retaliation: For some reason, I plan to watch this. And I keep forgetting why! Maybe it's because the trailer was not disappointing as I though it would be, or maybe because of the effort that is being made in improving the franchise by bringing in Bruce Willis and Dwayne Johnson. Or maybe it is just the sword fights that were one of the few highlights of the otherwise disappointing predecessor. At least it cannot get worse (or so I thought about Ghost Rider 2). 

3) The Croods: It is not on my 'have to have to' watch list, but The Croods is looking like a family film filled with adventure, which should have a happy ending and make you go home with a warm feeling. It is also the first animation film of the year and there is the DreamWorks tag attached to it. So enough reasons for it to work. 

2) Jack the Giant Slayer: Revisiting fairy tales is becoming some kind of a Hollywood thing now. This latest film has the premise of the fable 'Jack and the Beanstalk'. I enjoyed the first trailer that came out, but after that the activity around this film died a bit. It got moved from summer of 2012 to now, which is not a very good sign. But it has Bryan Singer at the helm of things and I am banking on his reputation and the CGI that was shown in the trailer, for this movie to turn out to be something more than an ordinary flick. As it is releasing in the first weekend of March itself, one shall find out soon enough!

1) Oz the Great and Powerful: We could be talking here about separating the man from the boys. A blockbuster from 'also ran'-s. Oz the Great and Powerful has the potential to be exactly that, great and powerful. Releasing on the second weekend of the month, this is Sam Raimi's second directorial movie after he finished off his Spider-Man trilogy. One thing you can be sure of, the fellow knows how to put on a good show. Along with the support of CGI effects, a healthy looking production budget (some put it at $200 million!) and the known faces of James Franco, Rachel Weisz and Mila Kunis, this movie would undoubtedly be the numero uno of March. But would it be big enough to feature in the top movies of the year? The reputation of March shall lie in the hands of the Wizard of Oz! 

The Master of Award Acceptance Speeches

He won it in 1990 for My Left Foot. He took home another in 2008 for There Will Be Blood. He grabbed his third in 2013 for Lincoln. This is the relationship between Daniel Day-Lewis and the Oscar statuette. A relationship that sees him become the only man ever to take the Academy Award home thrice for Best Actor category. He has won numerous other awards too; you name it and chances are good that he would have won it sometime or the other. 

While Daniel Day-Lewis' brilliance as an actor could never be questioned nor his capability to deliver award winning performances, what he also has in his kitty is an unmatched ability to deliver some of the most gracious and eloquent award acceptance speeches which make you only admire the humility underneath the man more. Succinct and yet spoken with heart. When he speaks, he can stir a pin-drop silence, make you eager to catch each word, each phrase, each acknowledgment that he bestows on his colleagues, going beyond the commonly used 'Thanks'. There is an aura about Daniel Day-Lewis that cannot be described, though it is an aura that does not instigate fear but only admiration and warmth. That is how it felt when he accepted the Oscar for his performance in Lincoln. And if ones goes back in time, one can see that his graciousness has remained intact. A dip down memory lane through these videos that showcase the acceptance speeches of a younger Daniel Day-Lewis for his Oscar wins for My Left Foot and There Will Be Blood. If only I could have been there to hear him live...

And the Oscar goes to...

A fulfilling conclusion to the 85th Academy Awards! 'No one loses' could well have been the tagline for this year's Oscars, as no movie managed to dominate the proceedings, and yet hardly any one would have felt left out. So while Life of Pi lead the show with 4 Oscars, Argo and Les Miserables were not far behind with 3 Oscars apiece. Then there were three movies grabbing 2 Oscars each, Lincoln, Django Unchained and Skyfall. And an Oscar was awarded to Zero Dark Thirty, Silver Linings Playbook and Anna Karenina. Phew, that's a lot of movies winning the Oscars! And that is after not including the animated film category, foreign film category and the documentaries and short films too. 

Well, I got a fairly good 13 award winners right of the 20 categories that I had predicted (applause). The one that I did not see coming was Ang Lee winning Best Director. With Ben Affleck mysteriously forgotten, I could see Spielberg taking home his fourth Oscar... but alas, that wasn't to be. Jennifer Lawrence also sprung a surprise, and this could just be the beginning for this talented young actress. The rest of the top categories saw winners that stood out by miles. Christoph Waltz has been a delight ever since he has stepped into Hollywood and Anne Hathaway is another young actress getting her just rewards. Daniel Day-Lewis would stand out like a bright moon in the darkest of nights, and Argo took home with vengeance the Oscar that a movie of such calibre deserved. All in all, there could be few complains!

Interestingly, winners of the top six categories - Motion Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor & Supporting Actress - this year all came from different movies. That seems like a rare feat! You usually get at least the Best Picture winning movie having an award for its director or some acting accolades along with it. So I put my analyst cap on once again and dug into the past of the Academy Awards to figure out if such a feat has ever occurred in recent times. I looked at the Award list for 25 years, till the Oscars hosted in 1989. And guess what, unlike what I initially expected, there was yet another year, in the not so recent past, when such a feat occurred. Six movies sharing the top six category of awards. This was the Academy Awards held in 2006. Then too it was Ang Lee who held the Best Director Award (if you find such coincidences intriguing!). The entire winners list looked something like this back then.

Best Motion Picture: Crash

Best Director: Ang Lee, Brokeback Mountain

Best Actor: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote

Best Actress: Reese Witherspoon, Walk The Line

Best Actor in a Supporting Role: George Clooney, Syriana

Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Rachel Weisz, The Constant Gardner  

The entire list of winners for this year can be checked here: http://www.imdb.com/event/ev0000003/2013

So the Oscars done for another year. Now come on Hollywood, put on a good show... there is a tough 2012 to follow!

The Villain Capture Twist

I recently came across this image of Benedict Cumberbatch from Star Trek Into Darkness, one of the highly awaited movies of the year. The image shows a grim looking Cumberbatch, playing the anti-hero in the movie, being carried away by a group of guards from the Star Trek universe. 

Gone are the days when one would have been fooled in thinking this could possibly be the last scene of the movie. The picture itself vaguely reminds me of the capture of Loki in The Avengers. Wasn't that supposed to be a big moment for Shield and Nick Fury? Interrogate him and find out the location of the missing Tesseract? Here is the uncanny similar image I am talking of.

And that interrogation did not go too well, did it? For Loki always wanted to be caught (I am not calling this a spoiler, for if you haven't seen The Avengers yet, even God will not forgive you!). When I pondered on it further, I realized that a similar plan had been hatched by the devious mind of Silva, Javier Bardem's character in Skyfall. His capture scene though did not include him marching down the halls with Mi6 personnel flanking him on all sides, or else I would have eagerly put it up here. But he too does look forward to his capture, which brings him a step closer to his goal of getting his hands on M.  

Step back a few years, into the dark nights of Gotham City. Joker too had been captured mid-way through The Dark Knight. You got the bad guy, good job, right? Hardly. For even though he was behind bars, Joker had an entire chain of events going on which lead to the creation of Two-Face and also his ingenious escape. So the point I'm trying to make with all these examples is that the capture of the villain is probably, in this age, what sets the ball rolling for a dramatic turn of events to happen. And that first picture that I showed you way up could be such a 'moment' in Star Trek Into Darkness. Or maybe Benedict Cumberbatch is just taking a stroll with his gun carrying Star Trek friends. Oh, I could be so wrong! 

A Good Day to Die Hard: Time for Die Hard to die!

I remember being in the theatre for Resident Evil: Retribution last year, hoping for a fun-filled time but realizing quite early in the movie that this is likely to be the last movie of the Resident Evil series I'll be watching. I had that exact same feeling today, quite early on while watching A Good Day to Die Hard. That feeling stayed with me right till the end. This becomes more hard to take when you job your memory back and think of the younger John McClane, the one who made the Die Hard series a classic. This franchise is to Bruce Willis what Terminator is to Arnold Schwarzenegger and Rambo is to Sylvester Stallone. The one that began it all, Die Hard, came in 1988, long long time back, 25 years back in fact. And it brought to the world Bruce Willis and his avatar of John McClane. Another macho star in what was turning out to be a golden era for action heroes. But the distinguishing part about McClane was his vulnerability, the fact he bled more, and he had a worrying look on his face, all of which made him look more of a human hero rather than a super hero. Two years later they came up with the sequel. Five years after that they brought in the third movie of the franchise. They should have stopped there. 

After a hiatus of 12 years, Live Free or Die Hard released in 2007. It was no more a classic, but it wasn't surprisingly bad. Maybe the fact that it brought in enough money to the studio made it impossible to let it go. And so they just had to do it, had to make one more till the money well ran dry. So they released what seems like a regular B-grade action flick, only under the guise of a Die Hard movie. A Good Day to Die Hard feels wrong from the beginning. It is too loud to start with, and that is not a bad thing for an action movie, only in this case it just seems like noise, for there is missing a sound purpose to it all. There is some 15-minute car/truck chase scene right early on across the streets of Moscow which seems way too long, when you know beforehand that the good guys are not going to be taken captive so early on. Then soon enough you have a long gun blazing scene in the ballroom of a hotel and our heroes survive the day again. And then you have a long and elaborate gun fight plus helicopter plunging battle in a derelict of a place to wrap up the movie. That is more or less what the movie is about. In between all that you have a hero making amends with a son, some Russian politics, and a lame history behind a nuclear accident. 

It is still Bruce Willis though. The guy who is been doing it for 25 years. And you somehow like him for that. He has the punch lines and tries to get the McClane spirit running but the screenwriters have taken most of it away from him. His 'I'm on a vacation' line does get annoying though. The previous Die Hard movie tried to show McClane's relationship with his daughter and this one shows his efforts to work things out with his estranged son. But while the chemistry between father and daughter in Live Free or Die Hard made the movie worthwhile, sadly there is hardly anything running here between Jai Courtney and Willis to give you the goosebumps. The few dad-son moments come in bits and pieces and seem forced, and then the characters also tend to forget them as soon as you do. There are none of the great villains of the Die Hard series, no Alan Rickman or Jeremy Irons, and so you care not how the bad guy is going to die. To end it all, it is just an action flick that you watch and forget, unworthy of the Die Hard brand. 

The first two months of this year have seen a slew of action movies, most of which are from the so-called Expendables team. When you look at how the others have fared, Bruce Willis' flick has still earned a respectable figure. For the first weekend in US, Arnie's The Last Stand collected only $6 million, Sly's Bullet to the Head was more woeful with $4.5 million and Statham's Parker managed with barely $7 million. Compared to that, A Good Day to Die Hard grossed $25 million (though with a bigger production budget) and still has a decent fan-following in the foreign markets. So Die Hard series may not die after all, and if a sixth one ever comes out, I hope the makers make it with some heart after all... and not just lead! 

Oscar Prediction Night!

There are still two nights to go before 'The' night commences. There is also a popcorn fun action-packed Die Hard movie (hopefully) on the doorstep to be seen, before I think about the golden statue. But predictions have to be made beforehand, shouldn't they? Ever since the Oscar nominations were announced, talks about who will be walking away with the famous statuette and who will be going home drunk in sorrow have started. So it is my turn now to put my money on the table. I benefit from the knowledge of the winners in other awards shows, but the Oscars can be a wee bit tricky at times. So here goes nothing... my take on the possible winners (ignoring the Documentary and Short Film categories). 

- Best Motion Picture: Argo (you stole Ben Affleck's night, so this is the least he deserves and most likely will get) 

- Best Actor in a Leading Role: Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln (drum rolls are already out on this one, and I can see myself gushing about his speech)

- Best Actress in a Leading Role: Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty (this is a real tricky one, and I have seen only one performance of the lot; but Chastain might score on the impact of the movie)

- Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained (this group is filled with talent to the brim; and yet I will be laughing loudly if there is not but a straight winner here)

- Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables (she has bagged a number of awards already, so I'm guessing it must have been great)

- Best Achievement in Directing: Steven Spielberg, Lincoln (no Ben Affleck, no Kathryn Bigelow; I find it difficult to see anyone now match what Spielberg created in his epic movie)

- Best Writing, Screenplay Written directly for the Screen: Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained (just give it to him, for no one can tell a tale the way he does)

- Best Writing, Screenplay based on material published or produced: Tony Kushner, Lincoln (this is another tricky one but I just enjoyed the writing in Lincoln way too much)

- Best Animated Feature Film: Brave (not a grand year for animations, but Pixar seemed to be back!)

- Best Foreign Language Film: Amour (this Austrian film even features in the Best Motion Picture category, so it's a no-brainer that it would at least win here) 

- Best Achievement in Cinematography: Claudio Miranda, Life of Pi (the movie has its best shot of an award here, though I like Lincoln's chances here too)

- Best Achievement in Editing: William Goldenberg, Argo (he's nominated for even Zero Dark Thirty, so has a really good shot in this category)

- Best Achievement in Production Design: Eve Stewart, Anna Lynch-Robinson, Les Miserables (would love to just hand over some Oscar to The Hobbit, but this due seems to be the favourites in this category) 

- Best Achievement in Costume Design: Jacqueline Durran, Anna Karenina (was this movie not only about different costumes?) 

- Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling: Lisa Westcott, Julie Dartnell, Les Miserables (Oscars loves musicals)  

- Best Achievement in Music Written, Original Score: Alexandre Desplat, Argo (anything to make Ben happy!)

- Best Achievement in Music Written, Original Song: Adele, Paul Epworth, Skyfall (many would have tuned in just to hear Adele sing; how can you not then award her?)

- Best Achievement in Sound Mixing: John T. Reitz, Gregg Rudloff, José Antonio García, Argo (I think they got everything to do with the sound aspects perfect)

- Best Achievement in Sound Editing: Erik Aadahl, Ethan Van der Ryn, Argo (sticking with the movie for these categories) 

- Best Achievements in Visual Effects: Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik De Boer, Donald Elliott, Life of Pi (this is always a tough one as Visual Effects seems so broad a category and Hollywood movies get it perfect most of the times)  

Now all I need to do is wait for the gala night to begin soon. And in case the organisers stumble in some category  they do have the benefit of logging in here and choosing the most suitable candidate! How simple I make others' lives...

Random Questionning

I can't figure out a good topic to talk on. It is just again one of those days. Stepped out of work early and spent the evening relaxing. And the additional relaxation has numbed the mind. Stopped the gears from working. I'm trying to push it to move. All it does is then walk on a randomly chosen path. Which is Dennis Quaid's best movie? I don't know, is what I would like to say. But the mind is already screaming The Rookie. Maybe I haven't watched his whole collection of work. Will there be another movie in the Rocky series? Unlikely, as the last one too came out of nowhere but had a lovely end to it. You should not mess with perfect endings. Why is the sky blue? Ok, wrong forum for that one. Elisabeth Olsen, did anyone see that coming? Woah, no way... hardly few would have known there was another sister beyond the Olsen twins who is now stealing the thunder, and rightly so! Did you know Paris Hilton is 32? Yes, I did (sheepishly admitting it). Can you watch Notting Hill again? Of course, that is not even a question. And now I am running out of even the strangest of questions. Oh, one more. Would Sin City 2 match up to the first one? God, I hope it does! Can't wait to catch the first glimpse of the trailer. The first photo has been released though. Josh Brolin in the Sin City frame. Check it out... meets the expectations! Sets the mood once again. 

So the randomness draws to a close. A day which maybe even Rachel McAdams and her smile could not set right. Oh... who am I kidding! That last bit can never be true. Another day beckons though! Another set of random events to occur that may see a meaningful ending. Or may not. Time to find out... 

An Internship at Google

No no... I am not offering this opportunity to you! In fact I myself am looking for ways to enter into innovative and trend-setting companies like Google. And if it falls on the likes of Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn to teach me how, then you bet I am desperate enough to even listen to those blokes. Because that is exactly what these guys are going to do, in case you are not aware of their latest movie to be released in June this year, The Internship. In which these two car salesmen are finding a way to enter into an internship program at Google. As is synonymous with Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn, The Internship is likely to be an outright comedy flick. And going by the trailer, I expect it to be a good one (made me add it to my watchlist!). And isn't it so long overdue? 

Back in 2005, Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn, were a hell of a combination in Wedding Crashers, a movie which became then the biggest R-rated comedy movie. This duo along with the likes of Will Ferrell and Ben Stiller created a brand of comedy that was distinctively theirs. It wasn't about acting funny or trotting stupidly, or making brash jokes, but it was the timing of the simplest of actions put together with 'in your face' straightforward lines that made their movies hilarious, Wedding Crashers being the best example. But what ahs followed since has never lived up to the expectations.  

As Ted became the surprise package of 2012, I am hoping The Internship becomes the unexpected hit of this year. It has a prime period release, in June, to help it along. The first trailer was thoroughly enjoyable and especially loved the somewhat crass joke on Charles Xavier, right at the end of the trailer. It has mixed itself with one of the hottest names of this period, Google, which would do it no harm when it comes to publicity. I loved the manner in which the title of the movie has been printed colourfully on the poster, resembling Google's style. Now I am just hoping that the movie would deliver on what it is promising, which is a lot of laughs! The trailer below to begin with. 

Zero Dark Thirty: Gritty!

The hunt and the eventual killing of Osama Bin Laden has been one of the biggest stories of the last decade. A story where much of the work has had to be done underground by shutting out the whole world, for obvious reasons. And so when someone claims to reveal the story, or a part of it, there does trigger an intrigue straightaway. Zero Dark Thirty had that curiosity factor working in its favour right from the beginning. The trick was to manage to fulfil this curiosity of the audience. Kathryn Bigelow and the screenwriters do a tremendous job to get that right. 

The story behind the killing of Osama Bin Laden would be deeper than what any single book or movie can possibly reveal. So unlike what appears as the premise of the movie, Zero Dark Thirty does not detail out the hunt for the leader of al Qaeeda in a manner that a mystery movie would. Zero Dark Thirty reveals more about the grit and perseverance of one female CIA agent who refused to give up, who stuck to her instincts and her talents to uncover key elements that eventually led to the discovery of Bin Laden's hiding place and his execution. How much of the plot in the movie is based on actual facts, and how much has been exaggerated for cinematic reasons, cannot be told. But either way, it does reveal the efforts and willingness of a few to keep digging even when the odds seemed against them.  

The CIA agent has been wonderfully enacted by Jessica Chastain, one of the strong contenders for an Academy Award for this role. Jessica Chastain is loud when she has to be, soft when that is needed, adamant at times, smiling on occasions, battling with herself, battling with the bureaucracy, and so much more. She conveys a remarkable picture of the agent Maya, as her name goes in the movie, as not a superhero, but a human being who refuses to let the brick walls be any hindrance. There is a wonderful cast surrounding her played by Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler, Joel Edgarton, Mark Strong and a few more, who come and go at regular intervals becoming part of Maya's relentless search for Bin Laden. But none of them is ever able to steal the thunder from Jessica Chastain. She is the heart and soul of the movie, one of the biggest reasons why the movie ticks. 

And behind it all is the brilliance of Kathryn Bigelow. Just like Ben Affleck's omission from the Academy Awards list for Best Director is a conundrum, so is the absence of Kathryn Bigelow's name. But an Oscar or not, Bigelow has proved her mettle beyond doubt to make such gritty movies, mixing in the action and gore of torture with truth and realism. She did it with Hurt Locker previously and then took it another step forward with Zero Dark Thirty. Her retelling of events at a pace that suits the audience and adding the touch of the dramatic while keeping it real, is a trade that is becoming unique to her. The final dramatic climax of Zero Dark Thirty that goes on for about 25 minutes highlights this, where even though one knows the final outcome, there is still intrigue and fear in our hearts as the events unfold. It was a remarkable end to the story, both in real life and reel life. One that has been well dramatized in Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty. Now I am looking forward to hear about her next movie, and wouldn't it be interesting if she were to shift her focus from such war / terrorist films? Could she still make the narrative as captivating as her last few movies? Maybe we will know soon!

The Valentine Song

Don't have much to say today. It is Valentine's Day after all. This day usually for me brings forth memories of my favourite romantic movie, Notting Hill. A bumbling and yet charming Hugh Grant with an ever so graceful and beautiful Julia Roberts. Sigh. And as the Ronan Keating song that plays in the soundtrack of the movies goes "You say it best... when you say nothing at all...", I too shall keep mum. If you haven't yet heard this beautiful song, check out the video with snippets from Notting Hill as well. A shyly grinning Hugh Grant and a sparkling Julia... aahh, getting swayed by the scented winds tonight!

A 'Miracle' Speech

Most of the great movies are filled with 'remember them forever' kind of amazing lines. But only some of these have great speeches, a cluster of great lines spoken at the opportune of moments that leaves you with goosebumps which take time to settle. And that is why when you come across one, you remember it for long. If you are as crazy as me, you listen to it again after again till you have learnt each line, each pause, each change in the tone and pitch and then you recite them to an audience and enthrall them (in my case, scare them) with your amazing grip on the language. Such great speeches are more common in the Hollywood underdog sports movies than anywhere else. While Al Pacino's raging talk to his team in Any Given Sunday or Sylvester Stallone's emotional speech to his son in Rocky Balboa come to mind easily, there is one inspirational speech in one of the most underrated sports movies that I feel deserves to be there with the cream. 

It does not taunt or bully, it does not impart wisdom that we were not aware of, it does not scream right in front of you. It is placid, calm, soothing. And yet it makes your heart thud. It builds with a rhythm that I cannot describe. It connects emotionally, such that at the end you know what you got to do. You got to not disappoint this man. This is the speech delivered by Kurt Russell to a young US team of ice hockey players playing in the 1980 Winter Olympics, right before this team is about to enter the arena for one of their toughest fights ever -- a semi-final matchup against the gigantic Russian team. Kurt Russell was enacting the role of the real-life coach Herb Brooks who achieved an impossible dream in these Winter Olympic games and rose to instant stardom. The movie of course has been aptly titled Miracle.

The speech would be better understood and felt in the context of the movie and if you have missed it, I urge you to get your hands on it. It is a real delight to watch, inspiring, riveting and emotionally connecting. If you have already watched it then you know what I am talking about! Here is the youtube video of the speech delivered by Kurt Russell, to re-live that moment. 

And this speech seems to have inspired people from all age groups... I mean all. Check out this little one re-creating the magic, with more than 5 million views on youtube and counting!

BAFTA done... Oscars next!

The BAFTA awards are done with. And hardly any surprises here. Argo took the Best Film award and Abraham Lincoln... oops! Daniel Day-Lewis was given the trophy for Best Actor. Best Actress went to Emmanuelle Riva for Armour and not the Golden Globe winner Jessica Chastain, so that category becomes interesting when the Oscars are announced. Anne Hathaway and Christoph Waltz took away more awards home for their supporting roles. And who else but Ben Affleck won the Best Director award that makes you again question, how the heck has he not even been nominated for the Oscars. Probably they thought that a four letter word cannot be a movie title and sidelined it thinking it all to be a practical joke. Poor Ben!  

So the countdown for the Oscars is on. And with most categories seeing unanimous winners, there should be a familiarity to it once the Oscars are unravelled. Or should there? I decided to get my detective tool kit out for this and scan the previous records to figure out whether a Golden Globe and a BAFTA award gets you the coveted Oscar after all. So to figure out this conundrum, I track back across the four major award categories awarded for the last five years and let’s see what the results showcase.

Here are the list of the Oscar winners and their performance in the Golden Globes and BAFTA. First tick / cross for win / loss in Golden Globes and the second one for BAFTA (hope your tired minds are not finding this too much to decode).

Best Picture

2012 – The Artist: Tick Tick 

2011 – The King's Speech: Cross Tick 

2010 – The Hurt Locker: Cross Tick 

2009 - Slumdog Millionaire: Tick Tick 

2008 - No Country for Old Men: Cross Cross

Best Director

2012 - Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist): Cross Tick 

2011 - Tom Hooper (The King's Speech): Cross Cross

2010 - Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker): Cross Tick

2009 - Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire): Tick Tick

2008 - Ethan & Joel Coen (No Country for Old Men): Cross Tick

Best Actor

2012 - Jean Dujardin (The Artist): Tick Tick

2011 - Colin Firth (The King's Speech): Tick Tick

2010 - Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart): Tick Cross

2009 - Sean Penn (Milk): Cross Cross

2008 - Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood): Tick Tick

Best Actress

2012 - Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady): Tick Tick

2011 - Natalie Portman (Black Swan): Tick Tick

2010 - Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side): Tick Cross

2009 - Kate Winslet (The Reader): Tick Tick (Golden Globe was in Supporting category)

2008 - Marion Cotillard (La vie en Rose): Tick Tick

Interesting... so out of the above 20 Oscar winners, only 10 times have the winners been awarded both, Golden Globe and BAFTA as well. Kind of makes it neither here nor there. But to narrow down the Oscar winner for this year, note this, that only thrice have the Oscar winner won neither of the other two awards. Tom Hooper took the Best Director Oscar for The King's Speech when David Fincher was the overwhelming favourite for The Social Network. Sean Penn too stole the limelight in 2009 from Mickey Rourke (Wrestler) who had won the Golden Globe and BAFTA previously. And No Country for Old Men took the Best Picture Oscar in 2008 without winning either of the other two awards, though that was an year where there never seemed to be an overwhelming favourite.  

We are going to get another "Cross Cross" in the Best Director category this year as poor Ben will sit the Oscars out. Interestingly, that seems to be the category where no one is able to make their mind up (if having most "Cross"es is anything to go by), and this year too will continue the mystery. I'm doubting anyone will steal the thunder from Daniel Day-Lewis this year, and Argo should have its deserved moment with the Best Picture award. The Best Actress Category remains open for debate. And while we are on this topic, Christoph Waltz and Anne Hathaway should be seeing more trophies coming their way for their Supporting roles. 24 February... not that far away!    

Great roles that almost weren't as we remember them

Having watched Lincoln yesterday, I have rounded off most of the great movies of 2012, having watched Django Unchained a couple of weeks back. Two movies that were such a joy to watch, directed by two of the greatest movie makers of this time. Written with such passion that made for a compelling story-telling having a similar broad theme about slavery in USA in the 19th century. And then there is the stellar cast in each of these movies, giving some of their greatest acting performances, which eventually makes you want to watch these two-and-a-half hour long movies over and over again. Christoph Waltz in Django Unchained and Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln stand out so prominently despite the presence of great actors like Leonardo DiCaprio, Jamie Foxx, Tommy Lee Jones and Sally Field around them. They take their acting skills to another level and in this process elevate the whole standard of these movies. 

And to believe that these acting roles may not have fallen to these great actors after all. For Christoph Waltz would never have risen to his Hollywood prominence if the role of Colonol Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds had never been given to him. It almost wasn't for Tarantino intended Leonardo DiCaprio to play that role, till he eventually changed his mind. For Lincoln, Spielberg always wanted Daniel Day-Lewis to play this role after Liam Neeson dropped out. Daniel-Day Lewis actually refused! Probably overwhelmed by the greatness of the character, he wrote a letter to Spielberg citing his refusal, which was later on revealed by Spielberg. Scroll down to the end in case you want to read it, the wonderfully eloquent English that it carries. And how we cannot imagine these roles to be played by anyone else now! 

It is probably destiny, as if things were just meant to fall in place. As if these roles had the names of those actors written all over it. Try as you may, forces of nature would ensure that it is them who would eventually be the ones enacting it. Arnold Schwarzenegger was signed on to play Kyle Reese in The Terminator and not the titular character, until James Cameron changed his mind. Harrison Ford was nowhere close to playing the iconic Hans Solo in Star Wars movies but George Lucas found something in his auditions that made him offer a contract and the rest they say is history. Harrison Ford was again almost not going to become yet another iconic figure, Indiana Jones, and as luck would have it, Tom Selleck who had been offered the role was not allowed to leave by makers of the movie he was currently working on. Guess what, Will Smith was to be our Neo of The Matrix but he turned down the role. Heck, your loss, for the world got Keanu Reeves. And three actors including John Travolta turned down this role before Tom Hanks went ahead and won an Oscar for it... the lead role in Forrest Gump. How things would have been different you wonder! But some things are just meant to be the way they turn out to be...

Here is the letter that Daniel Day-Lewis wrote informing Spielberg that he would not be able to go ahead with the role of Abraham Lincoln, a role thanks to Spielberg's persistence and whosoever got Daniel to change his mind, which would likely win him another Oscar.  

Dear Steven, 

It was a real pleasure just to sit and talk with you. I listened very carefully to what you had to say about this compelling history, and I’ve since read the script and found it in all the detail in which it describes these monumental events and in the compassionate portraits of all the principal characters, both powerful and moving. I can’t account for how at any given moment I feel the need to explore life as opposed to another, but I do know that I can only do this work if I feel almost as if there is no choice; that a subject coincides inexplicably with a very personal need and a very specific moment in time. In this case, as fascinated as I was by Abe, it was the fascination of a grateful spectator who longed to see a story told, rather than that of a participant. That’s how I feel now in spite of myself, and though I can’t be sure that this won’t change, I couldn’t dream of encouraging you to keep it open on a mere possibility. I do hope this makes sense Steven, I’m glad you’re making the film, I wish you the strength for it, and I send both my very best wishes and my sincere gratitude to you for having considered me.

Disappearance of the thudding hearts

Where has romance disappeared from movies? Where have all the tender and mushy tales been driven to? Rom-com, meaning Romantic Comedy movie, used to be such a pleasant term, one that would make your heart flutter and bring that smile back on your face. I see it no more! Don't get me wrong. Romance is still there in movies. But it is intertwined with a bigger tale, a scheming story that would not let the lovebirds just be. So there was romance in The Hunger Games, there is always romance in The Twilight series, heck even Batman started seeing someone. But this is not the same. 

Remember Notting Hill. 1999 seems so far off now. A bookshop owner gallops through the busy roads of UK to reach in time to a female movie star who is departing to her homeland, to say that he had been a 'draft prick' and to accept her proposal, while blushing his way to the hearts of many a young women. Or When Harry Met Sally (1989, gosh!). When yet another guy rushed over to meet a girl to tell her how he loved the 'crinkle above her nose'. To tell her that 'when you realise that you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible'. I've only picked out two of my favourites. But there have been plenty of romantic flicks that have done well on the big screen and been a regular appearance on Valentine's Day. The Notebook, Love Actually, French Kiss, and plenty more as you run back the years. Romantic - comedy. Romantic - drama. Any combination. But it was all about the romance. 

But not much nowadays. While there have been romantic flicks releasing in recent years, hardly any with the A-list stars. And hardly any are grossing the big bucks. How many actually topped $100 million at the US box-office? In 2012, there was The Vow, a surprise hit. One that I haven't seen, though it does not come across as a classic. In 2011, it required Adam Sandler of all people to play the romantic hero, a somewhat screwed up one though, in Just Let It Be. In 2010, the aptly titled Valentine's Day grossed decent bucks, along with some poor ratings. The onus of keeping the romance alive might actually have fallen to Tangled, Disney's animated flick of 2010 which probably has spoken more about young loving hearts than anyone else in recent times. And eventually 2009 reveals the kind of romantic movie I am talking of, in the again somewhat surprise-hit The Proposal. Sandra Bullock played the feisty boss who has to fake a marriage to her assistant Ryan Reynolds to avoid deportation. No prizes for guessing that the fake love starts translating into something concrete and after a bit of drama towards the climax, the couple do live happily ever after. 

With superheros coming onto the big screens every few months and action / thriller flicks never having left them, romantic movies starring big stars which would hold presence on the box office still appear more of a thought than reality. Cannot think of any such star-packed rom-com movie for this year. Maybe an unknown one will surprise. Until then it falls onto the romantic movies of the old to keep the young hearts young...

"Fear is not real"

Ohh there is so much to say! But these droopy eyes do not help my cause. My typing is slow, even blurrrryyy... but I use the backspace button and auto-correct feature diligently. It is tough to keep the mind functioning in such a state. When you tend to repeat and blabber. Glug glug! Maybe I should after all hit the bed. But something is playing in my head repeatedly, ever since I discussed it with a friend today. This incredible trailer of After Earth. A chance for M. Shyamalan to prove that his best is not behind him. How I wish he gets it right with this summer release. And what lines the trailer holds! Will Smith narrating them in a soft calming voice, words that hold an ominous undertone. As the backdrop showcases exotic plants and creatures. The contrast of it all makes the trailer more gripping. And these words... these words that I find hard to forget. 

Fear is not real. It is a product of thoughts you create. Now, do not misunderstand me. Danger is very real. But fear... is a choice. 

Watch this trailer, if you haven't yet. Watch it even if you have. Each time you hear that narration, it feels as if you get to hear something new. Something worth listening to. Watch it in High Def. With the lights dimmed out. With the volume turned up high. That is the way to really watch this trailer. Watch it. 

The end is near for the Fast & Furious?

Fast & Furious 6 got its first teaser for the audience during the Super Bowl event last weekend. The trailer is available on Youtube now. I have placed it at the bottom of the post. Seeing the trailer gives the feeling that the movie will surely not disappoint. It's got Justin Lin in the Director's chair who has directed the previous three movies of this franchise. It's got the old gang back again, it's got Dwayne Johnson and probably Eva Mendes back as well, if the post-credit scene at the end of the fifth movie was not just a tease. And it has the return of a 'ghost' to tie it all up. It's got the fast cars, the partying girls, loads of action and a plot revolving around the Vin Diesel gang taking out a rival car-thief gang in exchange for full pardon of their previous crimes. Full Pardon? Could this be the end of the action packed movie series after all? The signs are such...

The poster released by the studio does resonate with this eventuality. "All roads lead to this". Now there can hardly be a better line to state the closing of a franchise. Or am I reading too much into this? But then aren't they bringing almost anyone associated with this movie franchise together again? For one last hurrah? It is after all a six-movie franchise so far. That's a lot! But the tricky part here is... it's still rolling! It's in top gear. The producers would have no reason to bring an end to a movie franchise where the last one was the biggest hit of the series yet. 

The Fast & Furious franchise has been a real strange one. You have these set protocols on how franchises usually work. The movies either keep deteriorating till the returns do not justify the investment or they are highly successful but reach an eventual conclusion of the main storyline such that they either bow out gracefully or give way to spin-offs till the former part of this sentence holds true again. Now even the die-hard lovers of this movie franchise would admit, The Fast & Furious was never about the movie plots. It kicked off in 2001 bringing forth Vin Diesel to the common household (this one was sandwiched between Pitch Black and XXX) and mixing fast cars with an undercover cop plus car thief kinda tale worked pretty well. Step 2, when it should have gotten bigger, Vin Diesel stepped out of the sequel leaving it for Paul Walker to carry the burden. Step 3, the franchise seemed to have reached an unheroic conclusion when the third movie collected the weakest earnings, though it interestingly did end with a neat cameo of Diesel right at the end. Who was to know that that would be the beginning of it all once again?

For the fourth movie, Vin Diesel and Paul Walker took off from where they had left, and the movie was aptly titled Fast & Furious with no '4' attached anywhere. This was more of a sequel to the second movie, leaving the third movie to be nothing more than a casual fun ride (told me about 'drifting' though). The fifth movie, Fast Five (they really keep messing with the names in this franchise; enjoyable for a geek!), got bigger, got Dwayne Johnson, and got all the stars and co-stars of the first two movies. Or most of them. The loose ends would, it seems, be tied up in the sixth instalment, Fast & Furious 6 (and now we get a numeral back!).  Last one? Or will its position in this chart decide its fate? Check out how the franchise got a resuscitation, literally pumped back to life for greater glory!

The fate of the series will uncover soon enough. Maybe another instalement or maybe a spin-off or maybe this is it... all the roads have indeed led to here. But for now, stop thinking, relax, push back and watch the Superbowl teaser. Come May 2013, step in the theatre for another wonderful fast ride. Vrooooommmmm!

  

The King of Old

Sigh. As Stand Up Guys starring Al Pacino released in a few theatres in USA without much of a swan song, it made me feel nostalgic of the time when Pacino ruled the theatre halls. His name itself has a certain royal ring to it, of a king in whose grandness we basked. Words can never come close to describing what a talent Pacino is and the joys his movies have brought. For me his greatest five movies, and what a debatable fun topic this is, are The Godfather (I & II), Heat, The Devil's Advocate, Scarface and Scent of a Woman. This one picture from 1972's The Godfather sums up a lot about Al Pacino - royal, majestic and intense. Just don't want to say anything more.