Majarkeun

Making a Case For The Orange Coat

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Making the Case for Blogathon

Well, somehow weve arrived at another awards season. Which means that Ive finally caught up on all of the 2012 movies in contention, and Im ready to make my 2012 ballot. Jokes aside, awards season is a beautiful thing (to me, anyway), for all of the acceptance speeches - even if therell be no Daniel Day-Lewis this year - and the dresses and hopefully Jessica Chastain popping up and being perfect, and of course, the movies.

But with such limited places on offer, theres bound to be some movies missed out. Or just the ones that arent backed by Harvey Weinstein. And heres where my blogathon comes in:

What are the movies that are unlikely for awards contention, but they truly deserve it? The shining performers or writers or directors or cinematographers that will probably slip through the ballots? It is time for you to make a case for them. Last years blogathon was quite the success, with people making the case for everything from Cosmopolis to Frank Langellas performance in Robert & Frank to Ezra Miller in The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

The blogathon date is set for December 10th, which is a couple of days ahead of the Golden Globes nominations. Go crazy on your cases. Nominate writers and editors and scores. Give us a film and all of the categories youd nominate it for. Make top ten lists.

When youve done your post, either tweet it at me (@SteveeTaylor) or email it to me at steveetaylor[@]hotmail.co.nz. You have 13 days from now, so get case making!

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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:

Very exciting times. Alas, now I shall add my own case to the pile: the case for The Dark Knight Rises to win all of the awards. And Ive got a few honourable mentions because I couldnt bear to leave them out. Here we go!


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?

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Making the Case for Elizabeth Debicki Blogathon Entries

Yes, I know there were 10,000 better films that came out in 2013, but truth is, Ive only seen around 30 2013 films (I wish I was joking), and by far, the one that stuck was The Great Gatsby. As is documented here, I dont really like the film all that much as an adaptation, but I liked it enough to see it six times since June. Reason? This flawless lady right here:


Yes, the marvellous debut actress Elizabeth Debicki is cruelly underused in the film. They cut out her all important final scene (but the deleted scene does exist, and she is flawless, so well pretend that it is still a part of the film). Of all the actors in the film, she has her character so incredibly aligned with F. Scott Fitzgeralds description. In fact, the part where Jordan is described is pretty much my favourite example of Fitzgeralds writing (apart from the amazing final lines), and to see Debicki pull off those few moments so flawlessly ensured that I would love the film.


Debicki just fits so perfectly into the time period, with her look and her voice, shedding off the feelings of imitations that plagued Carey Mulligan and Joel Edgerton. Id be happy if we had a whole film of just her and her poor driving skills, lies about leaving the car roof down and her adventures through golfing. Unfortunately, we didnt get that, but one can only imagine what kind of talent Debicki would have brought to the table. Her vibrance is something that I look forward to seeing in the future.


But one cant forget: Leonardo DiCaprio as Gatsby. Hes (supposed to be) getting buzz for The Wolf of Wall Street, and the Best Actor race is damn over-crowded this year, so any chance of him getting proper recognition for his work as Gatsby is slim. Alas, he fits Gatsby like a glove, perfectly portraying Gatsbys fantastical dreams and self-built delusions. Would have been interesting to see how hed have fared if the film was released closer to awards season (probably not well, knowing his track record).

Other mentions, from the handful of films Ive seen:


The Place Beyond the Pines - Best Supporting Actor, Bradley Cooper
He may have a bit more traction with American Hustle, but out of the fine ensemble - which does include a brilliant Ryan Gosling - Bradley Cooper really proved his worth here. It is hard to put my finger on exactly what it is that he does so well here, but he just brings such a vulnerability to someone reluctantly put at hero status. Speaking of...


Catching Fire - Best Actress, Jennifer Lawrence
...another person reluctantly put at hero status. And also another person who has a better chance with American Hustle. But Jennifer is wonderful in this film, navigating the tricky business of being Katniss Everdeen with more fluidity than she showed in the first film. She truly does make this teen franchise one of a high calibre.


The Past - Best Actress, Berenice Bejo
Why isnt this getting more love? Sure, Bejo won the Cannes award for Best Actress, and rightly so, but the love seemed to stop there. She plays one hell of a character, and is probably one of the "strong female characters" that actually deserves that paper thin title. Shes flawed, frustrating and ferocious, and definitely a far cry from the preppy Peppy Miller from The Artist. Due credit should also go to Asghar Farhadi for another thrilling screenplay that uses words as weapons.


Side Effects - Best Actress, Rooney Mara
This film, though released very early in the year, is still one of my absolute favourites. It is so twisted, evoking this Hitchcockian feel that many modern thrillers lack. One of my favourite things about this film was the chilling performance by Rooney Mara, who played one of the more twisted and complicated characters of the year with surprising ease. If Lisbeth Salander had be terrified of Mara, then Side Effects definitely gave me another reason.


Spring Breakers - Best Cinematography
For one thing, and one thing only: the pink skies that light up some of the scenes in the film. Makes a grimy gangster flick as slick as a Terrence Malick film. Spring Breakers deserves points for being the most colourful, most out there film of the year, but Im pinning my hopes on a cinematography nomination, because this film was an unsettling feast for the eyes.

Entries into the blogathon:

Mette has some love for Spring Breakers and the categories it should be nominated in. Which includes Best Nail Polish.

Josh makes the case for everything, with an outsider for every category at the Oscars. How Id love for Before Midnight to get a Best Picture nom!

Brittani makes the case for The East, a movie which Im still desperate to see. ILY, Brit Marling!

While Gravity is sure to get a lot of love, one person who will probably come out awards season without any recognition is George Clooney. Sati tells us why he should be up there with the party.

Andy has a case to make for Stoker, and the several categories it should be nominated in (a big yes for a Nicole Kidman nom).

And Nikhat went beyond the call of duty and had three cases to make: a case for comedy, a case for Tye Sheridan in Mud, and a case for Greta Gerwig in Frances Ha. Considering Ive seen all of the films shes made a case for, major hearts for all of them.

There were only a few entries, so if you wanna get your entry in, tweet at me (@SteveeTaylor) or email it to me (steveetaylor[@]hotmail.co.nz). For now, who is an outsider that youre most rooting for?

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