Quick Takes: Mother of George - This Is the End - Trance

MOTHER OF GEORGE (2013)

Cast:
            Isaach de Bankolé, Danai Gurira, Bukky Ajayi, Tony Okungbowa and Gideon Okeke

Director:
                    Andrew Dosunmu

Review: MUD (2013)

Cast:
            Matthew McConaughey, Tye Sheridan, Jacob Lofland, Reese Witherspoon, Sam Shepard, Ray McKinnon, Sarah Paulson, Michael Shannon, Joe Don Baker, Sadie Antonio, Paul Sparks, Stuart Greer, Bonnie Sturdivant, John Ward Jr., Kristy Barrington, Johnny Cheek, Kenneth Hill and Michael Abbott, Jr.

Director:
                    Jeff Nichols

Gotham Independent Film Awards Nominations 2014

The nominations for the 24th annual Gotham Independent Film Awards were announced earlier today thus kicking off the awards season officially. October and November are relatively quieter months as far as awards goes while December turns into a headache with critics announcing their winners from all directions.

The highly acclaimed Boyhood and Birdman along with Under the Skin, The Grand Budapest Hotel and Love Is Strange got nominated for best picture. I am specially happy for the latter three films which should get more attention then what you and I expect them to latter on this year. In the acting nominees we have Ethan Hawke, Michael Keaton, Julianne Moore, Patricia Arquette and more. Another nominee I am so delightful to spot is Mia Wasikowska for "Tracks". The jury will also award a special ensemble prize to the three male stars from "Foxcatcher".

Below is the full list of the nominees:

Best Feature:

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Love Is Strange
Under the Skin

Review: THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL (2014)

Cast:
            Ralph Fiennes, Tony Revolori, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Saoirse Ronan, Edward Norton, F. Murray Abraham, Mathieu Amalric, Jude Law, Harvey Keitel, Bill Murray, Léa Seydoux, Jason Schwartzman, Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson, Owen Wilson and Bob Balaban

Director:
                    Wes Anderson

Review: SIDE EFFECTS (2013)

Cast:
            Jude Law, Rooney Mara, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Channing Tatum, Vinessa Shaw, Ann Dowd, Polly Draper, David Costabile and Mamie Gummer

Director:
                    Steven Soderbergh

My Second Attempt At Predicting The Academy Awards 2015 Nominations

I am back with my second round of Oscars 2015 nominations prediction.

2014 awards race unlike last year hasn't resulted in the so-called 'frontrunners' yet. Nothing of "Gravity", "12 Years a Slave" or Cate Blanchett level at least. The most predicted films are the ones that got out of Cannes or Venice, mainly "Birdman" and "Foxcatcher". Then you have titles like "Boyhood", "Whiplash" and "The Grand Budapest Hotel" from earlier this year that are being highly mentioned. They have all been mostly loved by critics with only Boyhood and the Wes Anderson film having strong audience support as well. Of course joining the both critics/audience-loved list is David Fincher's "Gone Girl", an adaptation of the novel by the writer Gillian Flynn herself. There is still much time left for critics to share their top 10 lists and then kick of the awards month. They might not have a significant impact as far as Oscars goes but there is always going to be something in common, they are the first of course, precursors. Never completely ignore the power of critics or 'buzz' in general specially now in the Twitter age. Nothing is certain as of now, no frontrunners but many predicted nominees. You also have some titles with their particular subject matters that the Academy usually loves. Films like "The Imitation Game" (TIFF winner, Weinstein, enough said!), "The Theory of Everything", "Wild" etc. Then there are many highlighted films which are yet to be seen by the audience or critics for that matter. Christopher Nolan's ambitious sci-fi "Interstellar" as well as Angelina Jolie's much hyped WWII film "Unbroken". Another female filmmaker who just might make some kind of splash is Ava DuVernay with "Selma". Some other films like "Into the Woods", "Big Eyes", "A Most Violent Year", "American Sniper" are to watch out for.

From the recent NYFF, the most talked about and the most anticipated film was Paul Thomas Anderson's "Inherent Vice". The reception it got was all over the place, even more so than The Master. The film seems to be acquired madness, I don't think Academy will fully embrace it. About to be released is David Ayer's "Fury" which is getting mixed to good reviews and the supporting cast is being highlighted above all. I don't like the notion of 'Oscar movies' which is thrown at films that supposedly sound or are perceived as films worthy of the awards. As if there is a set standard of any kind. Academy as often predictable that it is, sometimes baffles with their acceptance. It all depends on the votes, not the numbers of votes but the number 1 votes. You never know... is this the year of American independent cinema? Small epics or big epics? Narrative ambitions or technical ones? Significant biographies or simple human accounts? We have still some time to figure that out but at the moment, it is nice that the buzz seems to be going in all directions without fixating on a particular film or star.

What I have done is that for some of the prominent categories like picture, director, acting and screenplay, the nominees have been divided into three sections. My main predictions featuring nominees which I am confident on, secondly the films which haven't yet been seen by critics or audiences and finally contenders which have a chance at breaking in. All of the nominees are ranked based on their best chances for a nomination, not win. I have kept things to a minimum. 

BEST PICTURE:-

1. Boyhood
2. Birdman (or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
3. The Imitation Game
4. Foxcatcher
5. Gone Girl
6. The Theory of Everything

Review: THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES (2013)

Cast:
            Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Eva Mendes, Ray Liotta, Ben Mendelsohn, Rose Byrne, Mahershala, Bruce Greenwood, Harris Yulin, Dane DeHaan, Emory Cohen, Robert Clohessy and Olga Merediz

Director:
                    Derek Cianfrance

Review: UNDER THE SKIN (2014)

Cast:
            Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy McWilliams, Joe Szula, Kryštof Hádek, Paul Brannigan, Adam Pearson, Michael Moreland, Dave Acton and Jessica Mance

Director:
                    Jonathan Glazer

Quick Takes: Man of Steel - Premium Rush - Stoker

MAN OF STELL (2013)

Cast:
            Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Russell Crowe, Antje Traue, Ayelet Zurer, Dylan Sprayberry, Cooper Timberline, Harry Lennix, Christopher Meloni, Richard Schiff, Mackenzie Gray and Michael Kelly

Director:
                    Zack Snyder