"The one and only, Adele Dazeem!" - Random thoughts on Oscars

 
           We all know who won and who lost and who ate the pizza. Therefore, doing a proper recap is pointless. However, I have some Oscar-related thoughts and I'd like to share them. Simply put, here's what I liked and didn't like about the Oscars:

Liked/Loved-

1) Lupita's princess dress was just gorgeous. It makes me want to wear a big flowy gown myself and just twirl around.
2) Among other fashion-related stuff, I liked Kristin Chenoweth's and Karen O's outfits, Emma Watson's hairdo and Naomi Watts' necklace.
3) Coming to speeches, there were a few that stood out. Lupita's was the most heartfelt and inspirational. "It doesn't escape me for one moment that so much joy in my life is thanks to so much pain in someone else's"- this was an incredibly powerful and perceptive sentence and I have been thinking about it ever since. All these biopics we watch, most of them are based around someone's struggle and Patsey definitely had one of the hardest lives ever. We see numerous actors thank and pay tribute to the people they play or their hardships but I don't think anyone has put it the way Lupita did. Also, the way she ended it-

4)The other speeches I liked were Cate Blanchett's "The world is round, people!" and "Hashtag: Suck it" badass woman power declaration, Darlene Love's acceptance ballad, the "Let It Go" duo with their perfectly rhimy speech, the short documentary winners' heartfelt tribute to the woman who was their subject, and all winners whose hands shook while they were on the stage.
5) Lupita, Meryl and Amy dancing with Pharrell. Goddesses.

6) That selfie.

7) And all its subsequent parodies.

8) Lupita Nyong'o's brother who is my new role model.
9) The other selfie where Benedict Cumberbatch just popped up from the back.

10) Cumberbatch photobombing U2. Not once, but twice. #winneratOscars

11) Cumberbatch crying during Lupita's speech.
12) Lupita photobombing Jared Leto.
13) Lupita and JLaw fake-fighting.

14) The fact that JLaw looked happier than Lupita when Lupita won. Bullet dodged.
15) Brad Pitt handing out plates.

16) ALL the pizza photos.
17) Kevin Spacey presenting.
18) Bill Murray standing up after Darlene Love sang.
19) The "Moon Song" performance and the fact that Ezra Koenig's socks matched Karen O's dress.

20) "Possibility number 1: 12 Years A Slave wins Best Picture. Possibility number 2: You're all racists. And now welcome our first white presenter, Anne Hathaway!" #burn
21) Steve McQueen jumping in the air after they won Best Picture. I love this so much. As much as people hate on the Oscars, and they are definitely not decisive word on what is best or not, even someone as unconventional as McQueen was overjoyed at his film getting the award because it is a recognition of efforts and that's always a good and happy thing.

22) The fact that 2 of the Fight Club cast members now have Oscars.
23) Alfonso Cuaron and Emmanuel Lubezki- Oscar winners. FUCK YEAH!
24) Actually, just the fact that Gravity won Best Editing. That movie is so clever with its cuts. I am super impressed with the Academy for this.
25) Daniel Day-Lewis. Such a puppy.

Sidenote: Meryl Streep gave DDL his Oscar last year. Imagine if she had won this year. Actually, imagine if they keep winning alternate years, giving each other Oscars for all eternity because true artists never die and time is a flat circle and ZOMG!

26) Lupita Nyong'o's lip balm.
27) I will talk about the montages later but just the fact that the last "heroes" montage included Indiana Jones, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Speed, The Princess Bride, Independence Day (speech and all), Harry Potter (more on that later too), Aliens, Back to the Future and Air Force One.
28) Spike Jonze winning Best Original Screenplay.

29) And Spike Jonze.

30) SPIKE JONZE!!!!!!!!

31) I love you, Spike Jonze. Please marry me.
32) The fact that I later dreamt that Joaquin Phoenix was hosting the Oscars. I don't remember more than that. Sorry.
33) Leo lost and that sucks but seriously though, WoWS is such a IDGAF movie that I can't feel that bad. But all the "Poor Leo" memes have been hilarious. This one's my fav-

34) Matthew McConaughey was very sweet when he presented with Kim Novak. She was definitely having some problems and he was very gracious.
35) Ditto for Angelina Jolie.
36) Ellen making all of the JLaw falling jokes, so that we didn't have to. Chill humans. We've all done stupid things when drunk (more on this later too though).
37) Ellen in Glinda's costume.

38) Ellen in general.
39) Nicholas Hoult. Dawwwwwwww.

40) Not playing most of the winners off.
41) That American Hustle didn't win anything. MUAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!

42) I laughed like hell in the Bradley Cooper nomination clip though. Best in show.
43) And my absolute favourite thing that happened at the Oscars- the coming together of Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Emma Watson. Such a perfect unison of good looks, charm and talent. Of course, I want them to get married now, but for the time being I will be totally happy with both of them starring in a romcom together. Preferably something set in the 1st half of the 20th century and screwball-y. You can see it, right? It can be all witty and stuff. DanRad can be there too. Remember when he and JGL danced at last year's Oscars? It's all perfect.

Disliked/hated-
1) The whole "heroes" theme. I happened to like Pink's performance but it was so unnecessary, as were the montages. No one bloody tunes in to watch the Oscars because of whatever theme they decide to go with. That's just silly and confusing and distracting.
2) Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto's white tuxedos. They looked like really good-looking waiters, but waiters nonetheless.
3) Harrison Ford. What happened, Indy?
4) Jim Carrey. It was super awkward to watch.
5) Most of the intros were awkward to watch. ADELE DAZEEM!!!!!!

6) Jared Leto's hair but that's like one of the things I hate most in the world. Well, not the hair but the hair on him. Annoyances!
7) I didn't listen to U2. BOTH times I watched the ceremony. I can't. Nope.
8) Also, Bette Midler singing "Wind Beneath My Wings". That song is one of the many we were made to sing throughout school and I will always feel resentful towards it. And it wasn't a very good performance either.
9) Jennifer Lawrence was a bit mental yesterday. When she came on stage to give Best Actor and randomly started screaming at the crowd- not funny, JLaw. Such a misfire.
10) Speaking of, the entire Jimmy Kimmel thing during the red carpet- what the fuck was that? If you must know, I was eating salsa at like 6:30 in the morning while watching the show. Problem?
11) Chris Hemsworth's wife was super preggers. The Loki in me kind of wanted her to give birth then though, just to see how people would react.
12) Where was Hiddles? Why was he not there? You must rectify this next year, Oscars.
13) Back to the "heroes" thing- why the fuck would you put the new Spider-Man and Superman only? They are barely heroic.
14) Also, I kind of hate it when anything Harry Potter-related is used during the Oscars. You had your chance, bastards. Avada kedavra!
15) The Great Beauty winning Best Foreign Film. Boo you pretentious whores.
16) I mean Mads was sitting there, razor-sharp cheekbones and everything. He could have come up if The Hunt had won. Dumasses.
17) The constant standing ovations. They just weren't cool anymore.
18) Matthew McConaughey's speech was actually kind of terrible. I listened to it twice to make sure. He should have just said "Alright alright alright" and left.
19) Those Oscar statuette shaped bauble thingies at the back. Terrifying! I'm surprised drunk JLaw didn't fight one of them.
20) In totes agreement with all who are angry at Oscars not including honorary Oscars in the main ceremony. Angelina Jolie's speech for that was one of the most beautiful things ever.
21) That I should really get off the net while the ceremony is going on. I missed a lot the first time tweeting and chatting with friends. Also that the whole Twitter shutting down thing made me panic a tad too much.
22) My absolute least-favourite thing about these Oscars- just how incredibly predictable and boring the winners ended up being. There were people on my Facebook page who have barely watched any of the movies but were announcing how they did with the predictions because they had obviously read about it in 150000 sites already. I really want Oscars to change its airdate. We need some excitement, come on! Nothing against the winners, just that an upset or two is always fun.

         And that's it. As you can see, I was quite happy with the ceremony in general. Let's end this with what has become the catchphrase of this award season. See you next year, O sweet headache-inducing Oscars.

My Top 10 Male Performances

        Very soon it is going to be the third anniversary of this blog and to celebrate, I am making various film-related lists. In this list, I enumerate some of my favourite performances by actors. The list is in random order with my absolute favourite performance crowned at the end.

Brad Pitt in Fight Club

In a way, Pitt's Tyler Durden is my least favourite character of the main trio of Fight Club. But the more I think about it, the more amazed I am by his performance. Durden is crazy, strong and charismatic, someone not dissimilar to Satan in Paradise Lost, and Pitt brings to it so much energy and danger to Durden that one cannot imagine anyone else in his place.

Favourite scene- After being bloodied by the owner of the basement in which he holds his fight club, Tyler laughs hysterically and spits blood all over the man, leaving him very frightened indeed.

Robert De Niro in Raging Bull

If you know me, you would know of my abhorrence towards sports and everything sports-related, in however big or small way. In spite of this, I could not help but be gobsmacked by De Niro's legendary turn as Jake LaMotta.

Favourite scene- LaMotta in his prison cell, punching and hitting his head against the wall and then collapsing crying.

Ralph Fiennes in Schindler's List

I have often spoken about how Schindler's List is sometimes a bad example for me for a Holocaust movie because I am so enchanted by Fiennes' Amon Goeth, in all his repulsive glory. He personifies everything that was wrong about that time and the worst acts of genocide and hatred that the world ever saw. It is a scarily brilliant performance.

Favourite scene- Goeth looks at the mirror and like a benevolent god says, "I pardon you."

Ryan Gosling in Drive

I have a thing for internalised performances. Gosling's Driver is a lonely and taciturn man who has a very lethal side to him that he keeps just under control. This underlying current of danger that is always present in his performance gives him a sort of edge that makes him one of the coolest anti-heroes of our time.

Favourite Scene- The Driver interrogates Blanche. The restrained anger is terrifying.

Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange

Speaking of anti-heroes, I am particularly partial to my favourite one, Alex DeLarge who is brought to life by McDowell. His DeLarge thrives on violence and Beethoven. I think this is a very brave performance in many ways. Not everyone would like to be the embodiment of nihilism but McDowell does it fantastically.

Favourite scene- The Minister of Interior feeding Alex while Alex artfully taunts him.

Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Whatever one says or thinks of his career choices now, Depp's ability to morph into a character is astounding. And his Captain Jack Sparrow feels almost like a real living and breathing person. He isn't Depp as Captain Jack, he is Captain Jack himself. Depp immerses himself in this role completely, with all the mannerisms and acting and charm, and gives us a modern hero like we've never had before.

Favourite scene- "She's safe, just like I promised. She's all set to marry Norrington, just like she promised. And you get to die for her, just like you promised. So we're all men of our word really... except for, of course, Elizabeth, who is in fact, a woman."

Al Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon

The only word I can use to describe this performance is all-encompassing. I really do not believe that there is any emotion that a human being can go through that Pacino's Sonny doesn't go through in this film and he shows it all so beautifully.

Favourite scene- Sonny talks to Leon on the phone. We get to see just how confused this man is about everything that is happening to him.

Bill Murray in Lost in Translation

Sofia Coppola wrote this part for Murray and it was really custom-made for him. While being one of the funniest men alive, Murray brings a sort of tragedy and vulnerability in this persona of him. A most nuanced and lovely performance.

 Favourite scene- When he first says goodbye to Charlotte and watches her walk away while having to take pictures with the hotel staff.

Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs

For a character who is there for only sixteen minutes in the film, Hopkin's Hannibal Lecter pervades the entire running time because of his unforgettable menace and startling softness towards Clarice Starling. My favourite villain ever.

Favourite scene- When we finally see this "monster" in action and then him listening to music covered in another man's blood.

Which brings me to my favourite male performance-

Adrien Brody in The Pianist

Just look at the stills above. This is towards the end of the film, when Brody's character Władysław Szpilman is finally playing a piano after having witnessed the horrors of Holocaust. He starts out at peace and then after seeing one of his friends outside the recording room starts to feel happy, but soon reality hits him and all that he suffered and lost is remembered and he starts to cry, only to try to compose himself and finish his beautiful piece.

I was stunned by Brody when I first saw The Pianist. He is alone throughout a major part of the film, barely talking to anyone... in a room, living, surviving. His character goes from being a sprightly attractive man at the beginning of the film to someone who is can barely walk straight and is almost ape-like by the end . There is so much pain and guilt and fear in this performance that it just breaks my heart. I have never seen a more deserved Oscar winner.

Favourite part- Szpilman walking down pillaged streets, crying, and when he plays a piano at the command of a German soldier.

Thoughts

Sorry I'm a bit late. My mother hijacked my laptop since hers isn't working- MLIA. Anyways, here we go-


1) The Oscar nominations come out in 4 days. I completely forgot about this. In my head, it is still ages away. I have to start making my predictions/ wishlist. This will obviously be related to my final year-end lists. I saw most of the remaining "award-worthy" films this week- just have The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Shame left, them being the two films I think will feature majorly in my lists. I am very reluctant to watch J. Edgar and The Iron Lady, and maybe, if I can, will see My Week with Marilyn and A Dangerous Method. I think Harry Potter has lost all its chances except if someone puts an Imperius curse on the Academy voters (this is not a thought- it's a suggestion. Someone do this please!).


2) Anyways, this brings us directly to Awards Talk- right after its major win in the Golden Globes, I saw The Descendants. I liked it quite a bit in the first hour after seeing it, but with the realisation dawning on me that such a relatively bland and forgettable film is a front-runner for the Best Film in Oscars this year, its becoming less and less impressive for me. Clooney was rather good, though nothing tops his performance in Up in the Air for me; what can I say? I love Clooney playing Clooney. I was really impressed with Shailene Woodley and she was the best part of the film for me. Then I saw Moneyball. I know people say "it's the sports movie not about sports" and blah, but as much as I wanted to believe that, it still was a sports film for me. Here's a fact about me- I don't do sports. And then it was baseball, which is like the most foreign of all sports for me. I spent too long trying to figure out what Jonah Hill's idea was in the beginning that caused the whole stir in the system or whatever.  It did get better for me around the second-half, but I could not shrug the feeling of complete unfamiliarity. Also the song Brad Pitt's onscreen daughter keeps singing is "The Show" by Lenka, which came out in 2008 and this film is set around 2002-2003. I just could not understand why they had to use that song since it was obviously so anachronistic. Little things like this can really get me distracted, and Moneyball unfortunately suffered due to that. Pitt was good, but personally I prefer his performance in The Tree of Life. Hill was a revelation here, and the best scenes were seriously of him and Pitt together. Finally I just saw The Artist. And it was lovely. I would be overjoyed if such a film wins the top prize at Oscars this year. It is not a great or unique film on its own, but the ambition and heart put into making it in this day and age definitely is great AND unique. I loved Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo and even Uggie (I will still not sit in the same room with him though, obviously). For such a nostalgia-filled year, nothing could be better than a black and white, silent (mostly) film, with actors whose faces light up the screen like the celluloid gods and goddesses of  yesteryears. Ouie?


3) I saw the SNL episode hosted by Daniel Radcliffe. He was very good and confident, but he mostly got terrible sketches. His Harry Potter sketch was the best part, though I kind of dug the idea of  him and Kristen Wiig together. Still, his Allen Ginsberg film Kill Your Darlings has an excellent cast lined up. Elizabeth Olsen, who was amazing in Martha Marcy May Marlene; Jack Huston, who plays Richard Harrow in Boardwalk Empire and is possibly my favourite character in the show; and Dane DeHaan, who will be in Chronicle, The Wettest Country in the World and Gosling-starrer The Place Beyond Pines. It's an impressive group of young actors, and I am really looking forward to this.


4) Sherlock got over this week- oh the infinite sadness! :'( Three episodes per year, that which get over within the first half of the first month of the year, is just cruel. I have to finish rewatching the last episode, and then I will hopefully have a little write-up on it. It really is quite a marvelous show, and Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, and I have to mention him because even my ringtone is "Staying Alive" for him, Andrew Scott who plays Jim Moriarty, are all just superb! I'm a Freeman Fangirl!!


5) Trailers- Detachment, which has the fantastic Adrien Brody in lead. It's about teachers and their thankless lives- believe me, I know all about this. Therefore I think it will become either a love it or hate it film for me. Looking forward to Brody's work though, and the Tony Kaye is the director. He made American History X, which is a film I really need to watch completely at some point. Also there is Resident Evil: Retribution, which is apparently the 5th film in the series, though I don't know when the fourth one came out. I have seen the others, and have little-to-no interest in watching this. It is some sort of mobile ad/ culmination of all the previous ones/ whatever. Milla Jovovich is really gorgeous though.


6) Finally, I have barely been on Tumblr this week, so I don't have much to choose from. Most of it is just SOPA humour, like this. Or this. Or definitely this. 


Byee.

Evil is as Evil does

Video- Cinematic Villains

NYTimes did the classic silent movie types last year, and this year they are back with Touch of Evil, showing the 13 actors who have given some of the best performances of 2011 as famous cinematic villain types. I love this! Seeing that one of the biggest films this year has ended up being The Artist, maybe unintentionally this will start some sort of trend. And this would be very cool because I adore villains (MUHAHAHAHAHAHAAA). So as my limited film knowledge is failing me yet again (I haven't even seen Touch of Evil), like last year, I will just give my thoughts on the actors and their little skits-

* The ones who I don't know.

1) Brad Pitt- Henry Spencer in Eraserhead (he sort of looks like Gollum in the end) .

2) Rooney Mara-Alex Delarge in A Clockwork Orange (gorgeousity).

3) Gary Oldman- Fats in Magic (He disturbingly resembles one very famous Indian actor-director Raj Kapoor in this. Good).

4) Mia Wasikowska*- The Homewrecker (plain love... kind of reminds me of Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity.)

5) Ryan Gosling- The Invisible Man (ugh, he should totally play this...).

6) George Clooney- Captain Bligh in Mutiny on the Bounty (I'm sorry, but bahaha for the eyebrows).

7) Viola Davis- Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (scary shit...no idea where the bugs came from).

8) Kirsten Dunst- Carol in Repulsion (there's a reason why she sort of invented the manic pixie girl ideal... so much allure, and then just stuff of nightmares).

9) Michael Shannon- Gordon Gekko from Wall Street (the papers were too distracting and unnatural).

10) Jessica Chastain*- The Firestarter (and this is why the whole world wants her- superb).

11) Jean Dujardin*- It's apparently from Green Street Hooligans (very energetic... not that malevolent).

12) Adepero Oduye- Bonnie Parker from Bonnie and Clyde (how is this villainous? It's sad, and melodramatic like Jennifer Lawrence last year).

13) Glenn Close*- The Vamp (sort of in the style of Norma Desmond... her icy cold eyes that have made her so famous help her immensely).

My favourites- women rule with Mara, Wasikowska, Dunst, Davis, Chastain and Close all being absolutely spot on. In the men, it's the Year of the Goz, so how can he not be bloody brilliant? I sort of liked the minimalistic monochrome of last year's better, but with ones like Gosling's, Mara's, Wasikowska's and Chastain's, it sort of makes sense why they went for the spectacular sets and effects. 

Enjoy :D