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Jmunney’s 2013 Oscar Prediction Contest Results

March 3, 2014

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Congratulations to George Monkey and The Narrator Returns for winning my Oscar contest, correctly predicting the winners in 22 out of 24 categories. George missed Animated Short and Live Action Short, while The Narrator missed Animated Short and Documentary Feature. The full results are below.

T1. George Monkey – 22

T1. The Narrator Returns – 22

3. Brenton Andreasik – 21

T4. Nathaniel Clark – 20

T4. Joseph Hiegel – 20

T4. Neil Lapinsky – 20

T4. Trish Mistric – 20

T4. Jeff Smith – 20

9. Bobby Umar – 19

10. Ananda Umar – 18

11. Kaity Malone – 14

12. Darin Robbins – 8

The Oscar Winners:

Best Picture
12 Years a Slave

Lead Actor
Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club

Lead Actress
Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine

Supporting Actor
Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club

Supporting Actress
Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave

Director
Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity

Foreign Language Film
The Great Beauty (Italy)

Adapted Screenplay
John Ridley, 12 Years a Slave

Original Screenplay
Spike Jonze, Her

Animated Feature Film
Frozen

Cinematography
Gravity

Sound Mixing
Gravity

Sound Editing
Gravity

Original Score
Steven Price, Gravity

Original Song
“Let It Go,” by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, Frozen

Costume Design
The Great Gatsby

Documentary Feature
20 Feet From Stardom

Documentary (Short Subject)
The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life

Film Editing
Gravity

Animated Short Film
Mr. Hublot

Live Action Short Film
Helium

Makeup and Hairstyling
Dallas Buyers Club

Production Design
The Great Gatsby

Visual Effects
Gravity

The 2013 Jeff Malone Academy Awards

March 1, 2014

jmunney Best in Film 2013, Best of 2013, Cinema, Oscars Leave a comment

If I were in charge of unilaterally selecting the nominees and winners for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences – and let’s be honest, we all know that is eventually going to happen – then here are what and who the recognized films and filmmakers would be for this year’s ceremony (winners are in bold and ALL CAPS):

Best Picture
American Hustle
Philomena
Prisoners
12 Years a Slave
YOU’RE NEXT

Lead Actor
Christian Bale, American Hustle
Bruce Dern, Nebraska
LEONARDO DiCAPRIO, THE WOLF OF WALL STREET
Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club

Lead Actress
Amy Adams, American Hustle
Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
JUDI DENCH, PHILOMENA
Adèle Exarchopoulos, Blue is the Warmest Color
Mia Wasikowska, Stoker

Supporting Actor
Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips
Bradley Cooper, American Hustle
JAMES FRANCO, SPRING BREAKERS
Jonah Hill, The Wolf of Wall Street
Jude Law, Side Effects

Supporting Actress
Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine
Brie Larson, Don Jon
Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle
June Squibb, Nebraska
LILI TAYLOR, THE CONJURING

Animated Feature
Despicable Me 2
FROZEN
Monsters University

Cinematography
Emmanuel Lubezki, Gravity
Phedon Papamichael, Nebraska
Ben Sarasin, Pain & Gain
ROGER DEAKINS, PRISONERS
Benoît Debie, Spring Breakers

Costume Design
MICHAEL WILKINSON, AMERICAN HUSTLE
Catherine Martin, The Great Gatsby
Trish Summerville, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Patricia Norris, 12 Years a Slave
Guy Speranza, The World’s End

Director
Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
DAVID O. RUSSELL, AMERICAN HUSTLE
Denis Villeneuve, Prisoners
Adam Wingard, You’re Next
Edgar Wright, The World’s End

Film Editing
Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers, and Alan Baumgarten, American Hustle
Christopher Rouse, Captain Phillips
Kirk Morri, The Conjuring
DOUGLAS CRISE, SPRING BREAKERS
Paul Machliss, The World’s End

Makeup and Hairstyling
AMERICAN HUSTLE
Evil Dead
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa
Prisoners

Original Score
STEVEN PRICE, GRAVITY
William Butler and Owen Pallett, Her
Mark Orton, Nebraska
Thomas Newman, Saving Mr. Banks
Thomas Newman, Side Effects

Original Song
“Happy,” written by Pharrell Williams, Despicable Me 2
“Ordinary Love,” written by Paul Hewson, Dave Evans, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
“PLEASE MR. KENNEDY,” WRITTEN BY ED RUSH, GEORGE CROMARTY, T BONE BURNETT, JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE, JOEL & ETHAN COEN, INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS

Production Design
The Conjuring
GRAVITY
The Great Gatsby
Her
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Sound Editing
Oliver Tarney, Captain Phillips
GLENN FREEMANTLE, GRAVITY
Wylie Stateman, Lone Survivor
Scott Martin Gershin, Pacific Rim
Smokey Cloud and Scott Weintraub, Stoker

Sound Mixing
Skip Livesay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead, and Chris Munro, Gravity
Skip Livesay, Greg Orloff, and Peter F. Kurland, Inside Llewyn Davis
Andy Koyama, Beau Borders, and David Brownlow, Lone Survivor
Glen Gauthier and Tim Le Blanc, Pacific Rim
GLEN TREW AND JIM BOLT, STOKER

Visual Effects
GRAVITY
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Pacific Rim

Adapted Screenplay
Billy Ray, Captain Phillips
Simon Beaufoy and Michael Arndt, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
STEVE COOGAN AND JEFF POPE, PHILOMENA
John Ridley, 12 Years a Slave
Terrence Winter, The Wolf of Wall Street

Original Screenplay
ERIC WARREN SINGER AND DAVID O. RUSSELL, AMERICAN HUSTLE
Spike Jonze, Her
Aaron Guzikowski, Prisoners
Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright, The World’s End
Simon Barret, You’re Next

2 DAYS LEFT TO ENTER JMUNNEY’S 2013 OSCAR CONTEST!!!

February 28, 2014

jmunney Cinema, Oscar Contest, Oscars Leave a comment

There’s still time to enter the Oscar prediction contests. Here’s a reprint of the details:
It’s time for another Oscar contest presented by me, a guy who hosts Oscar contests. The ceremony will air at 8:00 PM Eastern Standard Time on Sunday, March 2, on ABC. This particular contest is of the simple pick the winners variety. In the event of a tie in any category, anyone who picked any one of the winners in that category will receive full credit.

The winner will receive a video of me congratulating that winner on his or her win that will be sent to that person and posted on YouTube.

The list of nominees appears below. To enter the contest, predict the winner in each category and e-mail your predictions to me at jmunneyoscarcontest@gmail.com. (Note the new e-mail address this year.) All entries must be received by 7:59 (Eastern) on Sunday, March 2, 2014.

Best Picture
American Hustle
Captain Phillips
Dallas Buyers Club
Gravity
Her
Nebraska
Philomena
12 Years a Slave
The Wolf of Wall Street

Lead Actor
Christian Bale, American Hustle
Bruce Dern, Nebraska
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street
Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club

Lead Actress
Amy Adams, American Hustle
Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
Sandra Bullock, Gravity
Judi Dench, Philomena
Meryl Streep, August: Osage County

Supporting Actor
Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips
Bradley Cooper, American Hustle
Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave
Jonah Hill, The Wolf of Wall Street
Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club

Supporting Actress
Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine
Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle
Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave
Julia Roberts, August: Osage County
June Squibb, Nebraska

Animated Feature
The Croods
Despicable Me 2
Ernest & Celestine
Frozen
The Wind Rises

Cinematography
The Grandmaster
Gravity
Inside Llewyn Davis
Nebraska
Prisoners

Costume Design
American Hustle
The Grandmaster
The Great Gatsby
The Invisible Woman
12 Years a Slave

Director
Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity
Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
Alexander Payne, Nebraska
David O. Russell, American Hustle
Martin Scorcese, The Wolf of Wall Street

Documentary Feature
The Act of Killing
Cutie and the Boxer
Dirty Wars
The Square
20 Feet From Stardom

Documentary Short
CaveDigger
Facing Fear
Karama Has No Walls
The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life
Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall

Film Editing
American Hustle
Captain Phillips
Dallas Buyers Club
Gravity
12 Years a Slave

Foreign Language Film
The Broken Circle Breakdown (Belgium)
The Great Beauty (Italy)
The Hunt (Denmark)
The Missing Picture (Cambodia)
Omar (Palestine)

Makeup and Hairstyling
Dallas Buyers Club
Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa
The Lone Ranger

Original Score
John Williams, The Book Thief
Steven Price, Gravity
William Bulter and Owen Pallett, Her
Alexandre Desplat, Philomena
Thomas Newman, Saving Mr. Banks

Original Song
“Happy,” by Pharrell Williams, Despicable Me 2
“Let It Go,” by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, Frozen
“The Moon Song,” by Karen O and Spike Jonze, Her
“Ordinary Love,” by Paul Hewson, Dave Evans, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen (that is, U2), Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Production Design
American Hustle
Gravity
The Great Gatsby
Her
12 Years a Slave

Animated Short Film
Feral
Get a Horse!
Mr. Hublot
Possessions
Room on the Broom

Live Action Short Film
Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn’t Me)
Avant Que De Tout Perdre (Just Before Losing Everything)
Helium
Pitääkö Mun Kaikki Hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?)
The Voorman Problem

Sound Editing
All is Lost
Captain Phillips
Gravity
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Lone Survivor

Sound Mixing
Captain Phillips
Gravity
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Inside Llewyn Davis
Lone Survivor

Visual Effects
Gravity
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Iron Man 3
The Lone Ranger
Star Trek Into Darkness

Adapted Screenplay
Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, and Ethan Hawke, Before Midnight
Billy Ray, Captain Phillips
Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope, Philomena
John Ridley, 12 Years a Slave
Terence Winter, The Wolf of Wall Street

Original Screenplay
Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell, American Hustle
Woody Allen, Blue Jasmine
Craig Borten and Melissa Wallack, Dallas Buyers Club
Spike Jonze, Her
Bob Nelson, Nebraska

This Is a Movie Review: Dallas Buyers Club

February 22, 2014

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews Leave a comment

Dallas Buyers Club is primarily about two things: Ron Woodroof’s enlightenment and his fight against the DEA. I do not know how well the movie’s depiction of Woodroof’s change in attitude regarding homosexuals accurately captured the real-life version. By the end, he still wasn’t comfortable with pictures of George Michael adorning his wall, but he was tolerant enough that he could actually be friends with gay and trans people, and that was a huge change from the good ol’ homophobic cowboy he was introduced as. Frankly, at least as far as the success of the movie itself is concerned, I don’t think it matters how accurately this evolution captured real life. More important is the internal logic of the story as it was presented. Woodroof’s change of heart may have strained credulity, but the way he changed is kind of the way that people’s prejudices go away. That is to say, he got to know the people he was prejudiced against. The development that prompted this change may have been self-focused, but it wasn’t selfish: ultimately, Woodroof was a bigger fan of surviving than he was of gay-bashing, and he realized soon enough that making gay friends increased his chances of living.

DBC‘s anti-Drug Enforcement Administration stance is a little simplistic, but purposefully so, in that the movie is primarily Woodroof’s story. He does his research to determine what AIDS treatments are most effective, but he is not a doctor, so he does not have the years of experiences that would presumably be necessary for someone to make the best determination. So his dismissal of AZT may not be completely warranted, but his frustration with the government absolutely is. Woodroof’s is a forceful personality, with an unwavering focus, which is so essential when a crisis is at its most desperate, and that is why his story works as one of the most inspiring movies of the past few years. This story required a commanding lead performance, and no surprise that is what was delivered from Matthew McConaughey in the midst of his career renaissance.

This Is A Movie Review: The Lego Movie

February 19, 2014

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews Chris Pratt, Christopher Miller, Lego, Phil Lord, The Lego Movie 1 Comment

The ending of The Lego Movie was spoiled for me before I saw it. I’m not complaining; it is my prerogative to not go out of my way to avoid spoilers. And it wasn’t specifically spoiled in any one review – I put the details together from various reviews and comments sections. It is also my prerogative when writing my own reviews to include spoiler-ish information if useful, so be forewarned and stop reading if you feel you must. I believe that a great movie still holds up even if I know the ending ahead of time, whether or not that ending is surprising. But if it is a surprise, it is fun to have that surprise revealed when it is meant to be. But, oddly enough, I think I actually enjoyed The Lego Movie more than I would have without knowing the ending. Each point of conflict was so much more resonant because I knew it was supposed to have sprung from the imagination of a young boy trying to get through to his dad.

Surprise or no, that last scene worked brilliantly. I loved the way it was directed and edited. Obviously there was plenty of care given to the visual aesthetic of the majority of the movie, goofily capturing the herky-jerky rhythm of moving blocks around. Directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller probably could have gotten away with blowing off the live-action portion, but it appears that they gave it just as much care. There are several high shots of Dad Will Ferrell that are blocked by the Lego models that effectively convey a child’s POV and just look cool. Also, props must be given for the psychedelic transitions of Emmet traveling between the Lego and real worlds that made everything disorienting in the best way.

The message of The Lego Movie is inspiring, and it is phrased in a perfectly nuanced way. A prophecy declares that whoever finds the Piece of Resistance will be “the Special,” the one who will save the world. And so it is that Emmet, a simple construction worker, finds himself in this position. But Emmet doesn’t find himself among the more obvious Master Builders like Wyldstyle, Batman, and 1980-Something Space Guy because everyone is special; he is among them because anyone can be special. You see, Vitruvius made up the prophecy, but that does not mean it wasn’t true. It just meant it was incumbent on Emmet to make it become true. And so it is for everyone to figure out how to be special themselves, knowing when to follow instructions and when to imagine whatever they can think of. A

This Is A Movie Review: The Monuments Men

February 19, 2014

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The Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program was established as part of the Allied Armies in 1943 to retrieve artwork stolen by the Nazis. The Monuments Men, the movie about this program, showed me these retrieval efforts, but it did not make me feel these retrieval efforts. That is not entirely true, as there were moments when I my heart responded to the film’s tugging. But overall, the effect this movie left on me was noble, but flat. The emotions were believable, but some of them felt a little rote. There is one oddly pitched scene in which Bill Murray’s character, Richard Campbell, receives a recording of some family members singing “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” which Bob Balaban’s character, Preston Savitz, plays for him, and it basically came out of nowhere. Actually, Murray and Balaban’s whole dynamic is off. They are supposed to be an antagonistic odd couple who eventually come around to be great friends, but I never got the sense that they didn’t love hanging out with each other, Balaban’s constantly bemused face notwithstanding.

Monuments Men does not fail completely. Frank Stokes’ (George Clooney) speeches to FDR that bookend the film make a grand case for why this endeavor needed to be taken on and why it ought to be continued after the war’s end. Essentially, the story itself is the selling point. It is hard to screw up completely. And with a cast this talented, it is unlikely that the result is going to be a complete waste of everyone’s time. But this isn’t the best work of anyone involved. I feel like Clooney works best as a director when he has a commanding lead performance and/or a strange story. (Although I’m guessing a bit here, as I haven’t seen Good Night, and Good Luck. or Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.) Ultimately, it’s not like there was anything all that bad about The Monuments Men, just not enough that was good. Like, I want to rip into it, but also, I don’t? B-

This Is A Movie Review: August: Osage County

February 10, 2014

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Meryl Streep’s three daughters in August: Osage County are played by Julia Roberts, Julianne Nicholson, and Juliette Lewis. That is to say, I thought these three ladies were convincing as sisters. Meryl and Julia have gotten the majority of the press out of all the actors, what with the Oscar nominations and being two of the most famous working American actresses. They were fine, certainly. The whole cast was perfectly decent, no question. Meryl is Meryl, but this was far from her best performance. But it was Nicholson – perhaps the least-known of the cast – who was the one who really worked for me as youngest daughter Ivy. With this film and her role on the Showtime series Masters of Sex, she is having a bit of a moment. With just about everyone else going loud and/or hysterical, she was able to play her part with a fascinating self-assuredness. I would also like to call out Chris Cooper, who makes one of those speeches that really show off a character’s integrity, and it is the sort of thing that always gets me.

This movie kind of felt like it should have ended about halfway through, around the end of Sam Shepard’s funeral. There certainly was time for the story to continue, but it didn’t feel like there was a whole lot of purpose to what remained. Plus, the tone wasn’t exactly remaining consistent. Also, its roots as a play were all too present. At the end, Meryl is walking around her house, talking to nobody in particular, and it looks like the sort of thing you would see on a stage. August: Osage County is competent, but it doesn’t have panache in all the right places. B-

An Appreciation of The Stupids

February 7, 2014

jmunney Cinema 3 Comments

Interestingly enough, this movie’s strategy involves coleslaw.

John Landis may not share with Bob Clark the distinction of having directed films in both the IMDB Top 250 and the IMDB Bottom 100, but his lowest-rated effort, 1996’s The Stupids (currently at a 4.1), does noticeably stick out from his more acclaimed work. Tom Arnold may not be a comedy legend on the level of Belushi, Aykroyd, or Murphy, but to this viewer’s eyes and ears, he holds his own as patriarch Stanley Stupid. Comedy is famously subjective, so even the most acclaimed laughers don’t make everyone chuckle equally. So I understand that The Stupids may not bring everyone as much delight as it has brought me, but it does several things objectively right that most viewers have missed.

Since as far back as I can remember, I have loved the comedy wrung out of stupid people. But as I have grown older and developed a humanistic worldview, I have tried to avoid thinking of anyone as inherently stupid. Yet, foolish behavior still makes me laugh. I have decided to appreciate this generally in one of two ways: in the first case, even the smartest among us occasionally make mistakes – being made of fun for it is humbling in a valuable way; in the second case, those who are continually foolish are not necessarily stupid, but they do definitely see the world differently than everybody else, and that doesn’t have to be wrong.

The Stupids might mean to disabuse me of this justification, since, after all, “stupid” is right there in the title. But that is the last name of dad Stanley, mom Joan, daughter Petunia, and son Buster, not a description. Actually, it really is a description, but, “stupid” or not, each member of this family does see the world differently than everybody else, and it is actually quite charming if you look at them from the right angle. The most memorable scenes of The Stupids work because of their intense commitment to an unusual worldview.

After accidentally leaving their trashcans out on the curb, Stanley and Joan Stupid awake to discover that their garbage has once again been “stolen.” In true absurdist fashion, it is never once explained how the entire Stupid family is able to carry on without ever having learned how many of the basic features of modern life work. Stanley decides to tail the garbage truck one night, and at the dump, he stumbles upon a black market weapons deal between U.S. Army Lieutenant Niedermeyer (Mark Metcalf, named after his Animal House character) and a group of terrorists. Stanley introduces himself to Niedermeyer for the sake of getting a ride home (he had used rollerblades to follow the garbage truck). His obliviousness to the danger of the situation contributes to the mistaken impression that he is a government spy.

The conspiracy of garbage-stealing is assumed to be the work of one Mr. Sender. You see, Stanley used to work “inside the system,” as “a courier for the U.S. government” (that is, a mailman). When Stanley begins to notice that several pieces of mail have been marked “Return to Sender,” he starts asking the questions that get him fired: “Who is this Sender? And what he is doing with other people’s mail?” In an extended fantasy sequence, the Stupids imagine Sender as an evil mastermind (Christopher Lee, having a blast tapping into his villainous reputation) bent on world domination by means of stealing “the one resource no one ever thinks to protect”: garbage. An actual man with the last name Sender is discovered in the phone book, and just for fun, he is played by Captain Kangaroo himself, Bob Keeshan.

One other scene to note among many others is that of Stanley and Petunia’s “death” and “resurrection.” When the lights go off while they are sneaking around a planetarium, father and daughter assume that they have died. When a janitor appears, Stanley proclaims, “Hail to thee, O Lord.” The janitor explains that his name is actually pronounced “Lloyd,” and instead of realizing that they have not actually met their maker, the two take it to mean – in typical Stupid fashion – that all these years they’ve been saying it wrong.

These scenes and several others (the “Drive B”, Stanley singing “I’m My Own Grandpa” on a sleazy daytime talk show, Joan mistaking a flamethrower for a fire extinguisher) have worked for and should work for anyone who gives The Stupids a chance because of the actors’ commitment. This movie may be exceedingly silly, and the Stupids as characters are patently absurd, but – crucially – they are never winking. I am totally convinced that Tom Arnold believes that the world can be ruled by stealing people’s garbage. The extent to which the Stupids are so far from any recognizable reality calls attention to artifice in a similar fashion to one of my favorite TV shows of all time, Stella.

Landis’ reputation may not have been enough to make The Stupids a hit, but it was presumably his cachet that attracted the cameo appearances by several distinguished filmmakers. Atom Egoyan appears as a TV studio guard, Costa-Gavras is a gas station attendant, Norman Jewison is the French chef, and Robert Wise is the Stupids’ bemused neighbor. If for no other reason, The Stupids is worth watching to see David Cronenberg as the supervisor to Tom Arnold the mailman.

Jmunney’s 2013 Oscar Prediction Contest

February 5, 2014

jmunney Cinema, Oscar Contest, Oscars Leave a comment

It’s time for another Oscar contest presented by me, a guy who hosts Oscar contests. The ceremony will air at 8:00 PM Eastern Standard Time on Sunday, March 2, on ABC. This particular contest is of the simple pick the winners variety. In the event of a tie in any category, anyone who picked any one of the winners in that category will receive full credit.