Kategorie: Oscars

20. Januar 2014 / Wolfgang / Oscars

The Wolf of Wall Street

The Wolf of Wall Street is based on the memoir of Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) who founded the brokerage firm Stratton Oakmont and committed quite a handful of frauds. Directed by Martin Scorsese (Hugo) the movie chronicle’s Belfort’s descent into a world of crime, drugs and devastation.
And despite some mixed reviews and a lot of controversy surrounding its release I found myself enjoying the movie quite a lot – although enjoying might be the wrong phrase to use when we are talking about a 3 hour story about horrible people doing horrible things.

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2. Oktober 2013 / Wolfgang / Oscars

Gravity

When a storm of debries from a shot down satellite surprises a shuttle from the ISS (International Space Station) the surviving astronauts Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) and Matt Kowalsky (George Clooney) must fight to stay alive and make it back to safety in one piece.

Cuarón returns
It has been seven years since Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men – a brilliant and layered science fiction film weaving social and polticial commentary together with fantastic characters and staggering images.

Seven years is an awfully long time for a director to follow this movie whose critical praise has only increased since then. The obvious question is was it worth the wait?

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26. Februar 2013 / Wolfgang / Analysen

Oscars 2013 (movies from 2012) Afterthoughts

So the Oscars are over and let’s see where we stand.

Was is a good night?
A good show?
Deserving Winners?
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24. Februar 2013 / Wolfgang / Analysen

Oscar Predictions 2013

Tonight’s the night! And it will be a wild and unpredictable night!
Tonight the Oscar goes to….?
As with last year I have sat down with ExistentialCoffee to pin down our votes for the evening. If we agreed on one tip it will be listed as our prediction Will Win whereas different colors for Flipthetruck and ExistentialCoffee will. Should have been there and Should Win categories are added for fun whereas Could Win categories mark the one’s which might take home the gold.
Please note that I am notoriously bad at predictions and while this article might sound very confident (and probably full of itself/pretentious) I am taking a stab in the dark many times (director, supporting actor, original screenplay mainly) – the percentage at the side is just how sure we feel about this guess so don’t take them as laws of nature. This year has been a crazy race especially due to the omission of Ben Affleck and it will be a fun evening, I am sure.

If you are interested in continuous self-indulgent whining by flipthetruck you can follow my reactions on twitter.

So, it is only a few hours before the show begins and I am ready!

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23. Februar 2013 / Wolfgang / Oscars

Les Misérables

Les Misérables follows the life of Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) who is released from a 19-year sentence and has to try to find a new life after losing two decades in hard slave-work. But Valjean can never rest easy for Javert (Russell Crowe) is always on his heels reminding him that once a criminal always a criminal. In the eyes of Javert a man like Valjean deserves no second chance and will always be a thief. The conflict of redemption hope and how tiny good deeds can redeem a man and change people is played against the background of the June Rebellion (1832) a student-led revolution against the monarchy.

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23. Februar 2013 / Wolfgang / Oscars

Amour

Amour is the story of an elderly married couple. We follow Georges (Jean-Louis Trintignant) and Anne (Emanuelle Riva) as they live their quiet retired life. Everything seems fine until the moment when Anne does not respond to Georges and seems to be mentally absent. A few moments later she comes back to her senses but has no knowledge of what just happened.

The doctors diagnose a blocked artery as the cause for this and Anne undergoes surgery – which unfortunately goes wrong and leaves her partially paralyzed. The rest of the film is Georges caring for his wife and what immense sacrifice the title giving Amour demands from people.

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20. Februar 2013 / Wolfgang / Oscars

Silver Linings Playbook

David O. Russel is back after his boxing movie The Fighter got seven nominations (plus wins for Christian Bale and Melissa Leo) his newest drama Silver Linings (Playbook) is up for a staggering 8 nominations boasting one in each acting category, screenplay, editing, directing and of course best picture.

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19. Februar 2013 / Wolfgang / Oscars

Lincoln

Boasting the name of Daniel Day-Lewis as one of the most iconic presidents in U.S. history and directed by Steven Spielberg Lincoln was the kind of movie that was a big Oscar-movie even before it garnered 12 nominations.

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15. Februar 2013 / Wolfgang / Oscars

Zero Dark Thirty

Hey let’s watch the film where the Americans shoot down Osama Bin Laden!

I must admit had I not been swept away by The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow’s last film) I would have been as skeptical about this movie project as the people in my self-help group. A movie about Osama Bin Laden 1.5 years after the raid seemed as rushed and ill-thought out as a Natascha Kampusch adaption.

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11. Februar 2013 / Wolfgang / Oscars

How do the BAFTAs help oscar-predictions?

I have mentioned it in the Oscar-Podcast but I don’t grow tired of saying it: Oscar season is like the super-sport event for movie fans. The same way you root for your football team to make it all the way until the finals the same way you are rooting for your favorite film (or against your least favorite film).

Aside from the individual guild awards (most notable for the big predictions are producers, directors, screenactors and screenwriters guild) the BAFTA-Awards (The British Academy of Film and Television Arts) are another award show which might affect the Oscar-outcome or at least point towards some possible winners in categories which are still unsure.

So after having spent the night refreshing the awards-sites to find out who won (due to not being able to receive BBC1 or BBC3) here are some quick thoughts about some winners and how this might play into the big Oscar-race (full list of winners can be found over at incontention).

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