Dredd is one of the best comic book adaptions I've ever seen. I saw it twice in 3D, and it looked outstanding. It perfectly matches the tone of the original 2000 AD comics, down to Judge Dredd never taking his helmet off and Judge Anderson never putting hers on. The Stallone version has nothing on this one. It would have to do insanely, impossibly well on home video to help nudge a sequel into existence.
The first animated short I remember seeing (and repeatedly so) is the Vitaphone classic "I Love to Singa", which is included in full HD on the new Jazz Singer Blu-ray. Did I see it on a VHS tape of the Max Fleischer Superman cartoons? I have no idea, but the two feel jointly connected in my memory. "I love-a to, I love-a to sing."
This movie is known as the first American feature with sound (albeit only sequences, not throughout). It's a major plot point in Singin in the Rain, but is likely much, much less seen than Singin. Part of that is due to the regresive racial attitudes presented here, where star Al Jolson performs in blackface. For some time, it was less than fashionable for this movie to be seen at all as a result, but that makes it no less culturally significant. The blackface makes it embarassing, but if anything, it makes the cultural significance that much greater. A full review is coming soon.
Stephen Fung merged steampunk, the "Wuxia" genre of Chinese martial arts movies, flairs of homage to Edgar Wright's Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, and a pile of cameos into one of the most fun martial arts movies I've seen in a while. Tai Chi Zero hits Blu-ray on 22 January, with behind the scenes featurette, music videos, and trailers as extras. I'm including multiple grabs after the cut to show how nuts this thing is.
Our hero, "The Freak"
There's no massive outright travesty this year, though a few big surprises.
Here are some assorted facts and opinions. The full list of nominees is pasted further down.
GENERAL NOTES
Lincoln leads overall nominations with 12 total, making it a heavy favorite for Best Picture and Director.
Life of Pi, which got written off by many for some time (but I called as a mega-multi-category likely nominee in April), follows Lincoln very closely at 11 total nominations.
There are 9 Best Picture nominees.
Skyfall is now one of, if not the most multi-nominated James Bond movie in Oscar history, but didn't pick up a Picture nomination (here's hoping for Song).
Let's congratulate Academy Award nominees Mirror Mirror, Snow White and the Huntsman, Hitchcock, and Seth McFarlane (Best Song for Ted).
Looks like The Weinstein Company spent most of their money on Silver Linings Playbook instead of movies like The Intouchables and others. How unsurprising.
Superhero movies were shut out of tech categories, where they're often heavily favored. No nominations for The Amazing Spider-Man or The Dark Knight Rises, and just one for The Avengers (Visual Effects).
Cloud Atlas got completely shut out, including tech categories like Makeup, Visual Effects, and others that one would think it appropriate for.
DIRECTING
Benh Zeitlin being nominated for Best Director (Beasts of the Southern Wild) over Kathryn Bigelow and Ben Affleck, who were both heavy nominee favorites, was an enormous surprise.
Michael Haneke (Amour) was not picked for nomination by most Oscar handicappers. Seth McFarlane making a Nazi joke when his movie was nominated in the Foreign Film category will probably be a big scandal...in Europe.
Bradley Cooper said on morning TV today "I gotta say, Ben Affleck got robbed".
David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook) was not a solid lock to get nominated, it's good he made it in.
The Master got a few acting nominations here and there, but got snubbed in Picture and Director. Maybe it peaked too early.
It's official: Christopher Nolan never got nominated for Best Director for making a Batman movie.
BEST ACTOR
A solid field, but don't know any of them have a prayer against Daniel Day-Lewis.
Bill Murray didn't get that "gold watch" nomination for Hyde Park on the Hudson.
BEST ACTRESS
Emmanuelle Riva (Amour) is now the oldest ever nominee in this category at 85.
Q Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild) is now the youngest ever nominee in this category at 9.
ANIMATION
3 of the 5 nominees are Disney-company movies: Brave, Wreck-It Ralph, and Frankenweenie.
Both Studio Ghibli (From Up on Poppy Hill) and Dreamworks Animation (Madagascar 3, Rise of the Guardians) were completely shut out of Best Animated Feature.
Aardman Animation, whose early success was helped by an Animated short win, has now been nominated for their first Animated Feature, The Pirates! Band of Misfits.
The Simpsons has now been nominated for an Oscar (Animated Short).
SUPPORTING ACTOR
All nominated actors have previously won Oscars.
Samuel L. Jackson and Leonardo DiCaprio were both snubbed for Django Unchained (in favor of Christoph Waltz), even though the movie is good enough for Best Picture.
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook) was a big surprise in this category, but she's really good.
EDITING
One guy (William Goldenberg) is nominated twice this year (for Argo and with Dylan Tichenor for Zero Dark Thirty).
Only one nominee has previously won: Lincoln's Michael Kahn, who got Oscars for Raiders of the Lost Ark, Schindler's List, and Saving Private Ryan.
SCREENPLAY
Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom got its only nomination here (in Original). At least it got the one.
I'm disappointed that Looper didn't get nominated for Original Screenplay (caveat: the writer/director is a friend of mine).
CINEMATOGRAPHY
The Master, which will probably be the last major release completely shot on 70mm film, did not get nominated.
Wally Pfister (The Dark Knight Rises) got snubbed. Maybe you hated the movie, but that doesn't change the quality of work on display.
If Roger Deakins hadn't gotten nominated for Skyfall, I'd have thrown something at the wall. He's been nominated 9 times and never won.
SOUND
Both Brave and The Hobbit, whose sound editing and mixing was done in the new Dolby Atmos surround format, were snubbed in both audio tech categories.
SONG
There was a new song by Paul Williams ("Still Alive") that didn't get nominated. Huh.
FOREIGN FILM
The Intouchables (from France) was a heavy favorite for nomination, and not just because the Weinstein Company picked it up.
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Chasing Ice got a Song nomination, but not Doc Feature. Weird.
MAKEUP
Hitchcock was nominated over Lincoln, Looper, Men in Black 3 (Rick "American Werewolf in London" Baker), and Snow White and the Huntsman.
Among many favorite Wes Anderson movies, Moonrise Kingdom shot up on the chart in its opening frames, but especially so once it hit this moment. Simple cuts and gorgeous shot composition combined with the precise moments of action make this another great film among many he's made.
I haven't bothered with the extras on the Blu-ray, but the movie has played around four times since I received it.
The third season of Downton Abbey just started airing on PBS in the US. I've already watched the whole thing, thanks to readily-available import DVDs. I'm watching it as it airs regardless, not just because it's really well-done. Knowing what I know about some ENORMOUS twists that were planned from the beginning of the season, I can't emphasize enough that no fan of the program should allow Season 3 to be spoiled for them.
This still from the tail-end of Season 2, where footman/valet/soldier/valet Thomas gets a massive comeuppance and humbling, which he so deserves. As Patton Oswalt put it so eloquently live-tweeting last night's premiere (which combined the first two UK episodes) "even eats oatmeal like an asshole".
As much as I hate Thomas, his development through Season 3 is very interesting. Season 3 is available on Amazon UK , and if you get it, you have to buy the 2012 Christmas Special "Journey to the Highlands" (13.99GBP/~$23 USD), which ends up fundamentally changing the dynamic of the show going forward.
Just got a press release for Star Trek: Enterprise's Season 1 Blu-ray, which is set for release on 26 March. Read on for details on new extras, including commentaries on select episodes plus...
Eureka/Masters of Cinema released Floating Weeds on Region B Blu-ray back in mid-December. It was Ozu's big color breakthrough. He'd done color previously at this point, but this is where the shot composition really used it most effectively for the first time.
The disc is locked for UK-region Blu-ray players, but it's readily available on Amazon UK (13.99 GBP or ~$23 USD).
The transfer is absolutely gorgeous, and the essay in the booklet by Ignatiy Vishnevetsky is very well-researched and written. If Region-B locking doesn't cause you problems and you don't care about the lack of disc-based extras, it's well worth your money (as it has been mine).
The movie is a reworking and remake of A Story of Floating Weeds, one of his big hits back in the silent days. This was one of the very rare times he made a movie at a different studio than Shochiku, which served as his home base for most of his career.
I'll be covering the silent original soon in Discovering Ozu, and will then double back on it (as I will with all his self-remakes) when I make it up to the color classic.
In this installment, we look at Soderbergh's Sundance Film Festival smash hit, along with the preceding short that inspired and informed it. Screenshots all come from the 2009 Blu-ray of sex, lies, and videotape.
James Spader has done so much since sex, lies, and videotape, but this role re-shaped his screen persona and redefined him.
One of various things I like looking at are the semi-illogical causal events that would prevent the entire narrative of specific movies from happening.
If seahorses were already extinct, Finding Nemo would not have happened. Seahorses are pushy*, trust me. Nemo's arrival on Blu-ray late last year finally got the entire Pixar library on Blu-ray, with no "vaulting" in sight.
*I keep seahorses.
I recently interviewed Guillermo del Toro on Screen Time, one of the highlights of my professional life. We talked a fair amount about the classic Universal Monsters movies. For me, the guy with stitches and neck bolts will always be the definitive monster...if he's even the one you consider the monster in his story.
I did acapella in high school, so I knew Pitch Perfect would be my sort of thing. The only more-perfect kind of movie would be one focusing on high school or college forensics (speech and debate).
Well, if it stars Rebel Wilson.
A memorable interchange from Ozu's The Lady and The Beard, wherein the ingenue tells her would-be "modern" suitor that he lacks an essential skill she needs from her man.
She stands firm
He brushes her off
Oh snap!
The next installment of Soderberghopolis posts later today, with new stills taken from the Blu-ray.
If you've never seen Terry Gilliam's Brazil, Criterion's recent Blu-grade of it is a really great way to discover one of the greatest speculative fiction movies in history. Avoid the recent Univeral Blu-ray.
The best part Jonathan Pryce has ever played.
This is the first of three catch-up Daily Grabs, in the interest of them actually being daily this year. Goals, go figure.
Tokihiko Okada, a silent film actor on the rise, and one of Ozu's early career megastars-in-the-making, died far too young. I learned something surprising, delightful, and touching when I researched his background and legacy.
The next few Ozu films cover the last four movies he made in 1930 (out of seven), and the three that he made in 1931. They are a diverse mix of crime, melodrama, romance, an attempt at a character franchise, and the story of Japan's cultural progression.
Check back on this entry in March, when I get my hands on the BFI's latest Ozu Collection release and add screengrabs from the first feature in this in batch...
Satoko Date in 1931's The Lady and The Beard
I talked with my pal Sam Smith recently (iTunes link) about movies, art, design, and classic, true-blue Mario Bros. games. He made this, among other really cool things:
I talked with Emma Rios for a good long while (iTunes link), to the point that I didn't have space for another interview. This chat is very much worth it. The fact that English is not her first language is really not an issue, either, and she got comfortable after a while.
This discussion is a great look at the creative process and how you go from one "job" into the creative career that you really want to do.