Friday, March 3, 2017
Making the Case for The Dark Knight Rises Blogathon Links!
Making the Case for The Dark Knight Rises Blogathon Links!
So this blogathon went rather well, considering it was my first real crack at one. Lots of great entries, Im seriously impressed with the variety among them. Super huge thank you to everyone who participated! And while I have everyones attention (hopefully), I have exciting news that deserves a line of its own:
I was announced Head Girl of my school last night!
So I really dont need to say any more about it: I love The Dark Knight Rises. I love that movie so much Id shout it from the rooftops but I cant be bothered doing that so I just made a whole Christmas window based around it. The Dark Knight Rises is just amazing to me, and it is a shame that people cant see it in the same light. Im not going to get into the whole "ah everyone sucks because all they did was pick at the plot holes (which I contest didnt really exist)" thing. I just want to say that this was a movie that has played a huge part in my life. Ive never been more excited to see a film, nor have I ever experienced the intense emotion I had when I first saw it. The only thing I was really sad about was something that was beyond anyones control. However, this movie is something of a cinematic marvel: it shows a pretty brave and gritty social commentary through the eyes of a superhero movie. No, I didnt think it was better than The Dark Knight, but I still thought that Bane was an extremely good villain, looking like a human Hulk and getting on peoples wrong sides in an extremely smart way. And dont even get me started on those final moments. I still cry every time I so much as think about it. The look on Gordons face when the Batman statue gets unveiled - it gets me every time. In an ideal world, this is what Id love for The Dark Knight Rises to be nominated for:
Best Picture - We used to be so sure it would get in. What happened? It was bad enough that The Dark Knight got snubbed all those years ago. Of course, this one cant stand as a consolation prize, but The Dark Knight Rises truly does deserve it. It is a modern epic that well remember for years to come.
Best Actress: Anne Hathaway - Sure, shell be getting her fair share of awards for Les Miserables. But her performance as Selina Kyle was nothing short of amazing. Just her walk and her talk - wow. And people thought she couldnt pull it off.
Best Supporting Actor: Michael Caine - He made me cry. A lot.
Best Supporting Actor: Tom Hardy - I once saw a picture of him in his Bane costume and it said, "Still has more facial expressions than Kristen Stewart". And thats the outright truth. Even with a huge piece of machinery on his face, he managed to be wonderfully chilling. Not to mention that last scene with Marion Cotillard. Who on the flipside Ive come to realise gave a truly terrible performance.
Best Director: Christopher Nolan - One day the Academy needs to get over the fact that hes better than the large majority of them.
Best Adapted Screenplay: Christopher Nolan and Jonathan Nolan - Because that would be cool. Some of the lines in this film are so amazing I try and use them in day to day life, but people look at me strangely when I put on my Bane voice.
Best Cinematography: Wally Pfister - It would be cool to see Pfister to have an Oscar nomination in this field once more before he turns his hand to directing. His cinematography is wonderful - the movie is actually darn pretty.
Best Original Score: Hans Zimmer - Theres not a day that goes by when I dont wish that I could casually use Why Do We Fall? and Rise in a film of my own. The rest of the score is wonderful.
Anything else - I imagine that the film will at least get a whole lot of nominations in the technical categories. And Ill still be waving my little one-man fan club flag down here!
Other honourable mentions:
Matthew McConaughey in Killer Joe and Magic Mike - I never used to like old Matty M. But no-one can deny that this has been the year of Matthew McConaughey being bloody awesome at acting. His performance in Killer Joe is by far my favourite of the year. It is so blood-curdlingly great that every time I see so much as a picture of him in the film I cover my eyes. Which made watching Magic Mike very hard, but he was easily the best thing about that film. That SAG nomination snub hurt, but I just know that hell make it to the Oscars. If he doesnt, Ill be very angry.
Michael Fassbender in Prometheus - One I reasons why I liked Prometheus was because of Michael Fassbenders stunning performance as David the android. Even though the character annoyed the hell out of me, Fassys transformation into an android was actually terrifying. He was so...wow.
Rosemarie DeWitt in Your Sisters Sister - Because Rosemarie DeWitt is just awesome and Your Sisters Sister so clearly shows that. Shes so wonderful, as is the movie.
Jack Black in Bernie - Jack Black is another actor who I generally dont like but he was great in Bernie. He managed not to annoy me for once. And was I the only one who was absolutely shocked when I found out that this story was true at the end?
Rian Johnsons screenplay for Looper - Because Looper was utter awesomeness and it happened to be a great time travel film. As I said in my review, he created "a vision of the future, not a dream".
Matt Whelan in The Most Fun You Can Have Dying - A really huge longshot, but I thought Id throw this one out there. The Most Fun You Can Have Dying is a NZ film, and a surprisingly good one (your move, The Hobbit). Matt Whelan gives a stunning performance as a man out to destroy himself on his last days of life. Ive never actually seen a Kiwi perform so well as an average Kiwi. He was great.
Jessica Chastain for the newly incepted award called Most Awesome Person Alive - I really need to appeal to the Academy for this award, just so Jess can win it every year.
Everyone elses entries, in no particular order:
-Sati @ Cinematic Corner makes her case for the awesome score by Hans Zimmer for The Dark Knight Rises.
-Anna @ Defiant Success makes her case for the three performances in The Deep Blue Sea from Simon Russell Beale, Tom Hiddleston and of course Rachel Weisz.
-Nikhat @ Being Norma Jeane made a case for The Avengers to get a Best Ensemble nod at todays SAG nominations, but unfortunately, her case went unnoticed. So she decided to make a case for The Perks of Being a Wallflowers Adapted Screenplay, adapted by Stephen Chbosky himself, and the performances by Logan Lerman and Ezra Miller. Even though I havent seen the film, these choices are infinitely awesome!
-Nicole @ The Madlab Post saw Skyfall by chance since shed missed the screenings for Argo and Lincoln - and lucky she did, because she wrote a beautiful piece about the score by Thomas Newman and the original song by Adele.
-Katy @ The Drama Llama also got on The Perks of Being a Wallflower train and made a case for Ezra Millers performance. I can only imagine how wonderful he is!
-Courtney @ On the Screen Reviews makes the case for Dwight Henrys supporting performance in Beasts of the Southern Wild. Id love to see some new talent in the mix!
-Alex @ And So It Begins... makes his case for Edward Burns screenplay for The Fitzgerald Family Christmas. It would be awesome to see him get nominated!
-Rich @ Wide Screen World makes his case for Frank Langellas performance in Robot & Frank. No amount of Langella love will ever go amiss!
-Drew @ A Fistful of Films made his case for Greta Gerwigs work in Damsels in Distress...and also making Greta Gerwig a thing!
-Nika @ The Running Reel makes a case for Moonrise Kingdom to get a whole slew of nods. I cant wait to finally see it at the end of this month!
-Josh @ The Cinematic Spectacle makes the case for Cloud Atlas, hoping to see its ambition rewarded.
-SDG @ U, Me and Films also shares some love for Rosemarie DeWitts performance in the brilliant Your Sisters Sister.
-Robert @ The Sketchy Details makes a case for Cosmopolis, a film which still intrigues me to this very day, and this article makes me even more intrigued.
-Brittani @ Rambling Film makes the case for Pierce Gagnons show-stopping performance in Looper. I definitely thought of including this one - how great was he for someone who is only 5 years old?
If you have a case you want to be made, it isnt too late. Mail me in the next three days and Ill add you to the list! Whos case would you believe out of these wonderful entries?
Available link for download
