“The Impossible” Could Pull Off the Improbable at the Oscars

So far this Oscar season, most of the talk has been about a number of big films that fit the Awards season bill in practically every way: Argo, Lincoln, Les Miserables and The Silver Linings Playbook. There are also several smaller films that are making some big noise like The Sessions, Beasts of the Southern Wild and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. While all of those pictures will likely score some several nominations, one film be a strong dark horse and land a host of nominations, the tsunami disaster picture and ultimate story of improbable survival, The Impossible. The film, directed by Juan Antonio Bayona,  is incredibly harrowing and gut wrenching but it’s also inspiring, beautiful and fantastic. The Impossible follows the true story of one family that is caught up in the devastating Indonesian tsunami in 2004 that took the lives of over 100,000 people. Naomi Watts and Ewan MacGregor star as the parents of three sons who struggle to survive after the tsunami hits. Watts and MacGregor both give incredible performances that should put them at the forefront of the Best Actress and Supporting Actor races, but we might see newcomer Tom Holland in the Supporting Actor race as well. Playing their oldest son, Holland is simply astonishing and should have a very bright future in Hollywood. The film should contend in many different categories and won’t leave a dry eye in the house. I highly recommend it and I gave it an “A” grade. Check it out when it hits theaters in December and take a look at what Oscars I think the film should contend for and the trailer below. It could end up being a big spoiler in this year’s race.

Oscar chances for The Impossible~

Likely Noms:
Best Picture
Best Actress (Naomi Watts)
Best Supporting Actor (Ewan MacGregor)
Best Visual Effects

Good Shot:
Best Director (Juan Antonio Bayona)
Best Cinematography
Best Original Score
Best Sound

Other Possible Nods:
Best Supporting Actor (Tom Holland)
Best Editing
Best Production Design

The Impossible trailer

The Hunger Games are Too Much for the Titans and Julia at the Box Office

2012′s first massive smash film The Hunger Games rolled over the new competition taking in another $61 million for a huge two-week take of $251 million for the new franchise. It’s likely to hold up well throughout April til the summer blockbusters hit us the first week of May. This week Games took on the dreadful action sequel Wrath of the Titans and the family-centric comic take on the Snow White tale, Mirror Mirror starring Julia Roberts as the evil queen. Both opened decently, but will have a tough time making back their big production budgets. Titans took in $34 million which was about half of what its predecessor, Clash of the Titans, opened with while Mirror made off with just $19 million… Better news came for the romantic drama Salmon Fishing in the Yemen starring Ewan MacGregor and Emily Blunt which flew into the top ten in only 483 theaters and the new anti-bullying documentary Bully which had a massive $23,000 per screen average in limited release on 5 screens. (I highly recommend the latter film by the way)… For more on all the numbers, head to Box Office Mojo here and take a look at the new top ten below.

TW LW Title (click to view) Studio Weekend Gross % Change Theater Count / Change Average Total Gross Budget* Week #

1 1 The Hunger Games LGF $61,100,000 -59.9% 4,137 – $14,769 $251,033,000 $78 2
2 N Wrath of the Titans WB $34,200,000 – 3,545 – $9,647 $34,200,000 $150 1
3 N Mirror Mirror Rela. $19,000,000 – 3,603 – $5,273 $19,000,000 $85 1
4 2 21 Jump Street Sony $15,000,000 -26.7% 3,148 +27 $4,765 $93,100,000 $42 3
5 3 Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax Uni. $8,000,000 -39.3% 3,264 -413 $2,451 $189,600,000 $70 5
6 4 John Carter BV $2,005,000 -60.5% 2,397 -815 $836 $66,210,000 $250 4
7 16 Salmon Fishing in the Yemen CBS $1,274,000 +81.3% 483 +359 $2,638 $3,171,000 – 4
8 5 Act of Valor Rela. $1,006,000 -50.7% 1,239 -977 $812 $67,750,000 $12 6
9 6 A Thousand Words P/DW $915,000 -53.1% 1,007 -780 $909 $16,520,000 $40 4
10 10 Journey 2: The Mysterious Island WB $835,000 -38.5% 908 -432 $920 $98,480,000 $79 8

Beginners is the Big Winner at the Gotham Awards

As the long awards season begins, last night’s Gotham Awards started things with a surprise… a tie for Best Picture. The Awards, in their 21st year, are like the Independent Spirit Awards from the East coast and this year they make news with their first tie for the top honor between Beginners and The Tree of Life. The former also won Best Ensemble for its cast including Oscar front-runner Christopher Plummer plus Ewan MacGregor and Melanie Laurent. For more on the ceremony and the awards, head to their website here and check out the winner list below.

2011 Gotham Award Winners~

Best Feature: Beginners & The Tree of Life
Breakthrough Director: Dee Rees, Pariah
Breakthrough Actor: Felicity Jones, Like Crazy
Best Ensemble Performance: Beginners
Best Documentary: Better This World
Best Film Not Playing At A Theater Near You: Scenes of a Crime
Audience Award: Girlfriend

2011 Movie Grades… So far…

As any avid moviegoer might tell you, 2011 has not been the best year for movie fans. In fact, I found myself going to the theatre much less in the first half of this year than most years. However, the lackluster studio output does resemble the sad first half of 2010. Luckily, the second half of last year made up for it and I’m hoping that will be the case in the coming months. Perhaps the issue has been an emphasis on crappy 3D movies (which generally suck~ I’m sorry, the 3D craze is a giant waste of time in my opinion!) or just general studio moronitude. Yes, I just coined that word, hehe… Looking at the few bright spots, there were two fantastic indies that will hopefully be remembered at Oscar time, Jane Eyre and Beginners. The latter film, in fact, is my favorite of the year featuring wonderful performances from Ewan MacGregor and Christopher Plummer (who is assured an Oscar nom) as a son and father who navigate the last few years of the elder’s life as he comes out of the closet and deals with cancer. My favorite studio picture of the year thus far was J.J. Abrams triumphantly Spielberg-esque sci-fi action pic Super 8 which showed a summer movie can be smart, funny, scary and have heart. (Hey just like Spielberg’s 80′s summer movies, hmmmmm)…. One other fantastic film was the filmed adaptation of the live Broadway musical performance of Company starring a brilliant Neil Patrick Harris. It was the best experience I’ve had at the movies all year, and it wasn’t really a movie. So, that tells ya something… With that said, take a look at my grades for all the movies I’ve seen this year. Then, let me know your faves so far in 2011.

2011 Movie Grades So Far….

Beginners: A
Super 8: A
Jane Eyre: A-
Bridesmaids: A-
Thor: B+
The Conspirator: B
X Men~ First Class: B
Hanna: B
The Lincoln Lawyer: B
Water for Elephants: B
Scream 4: B-
The Hangover Part 2: B-
Bad Teacher: B-
The Adjustment Bureau: B-
Battle Los Angeles: C+
Fast Five: C
Pirates of the Caribbean~ On Stranger Tides: C
Larry Crowne: C-
Limitless: D+
Paul: F

And the special screenings~
Company: A+

I’ve been on Vacay…

Hey readers,
I just wanted to give ya a heads up as to why there have been so few posts this week…. You see, I have been on a little vacation. Just had to take a couple of days of R & R, but I was actually quite busy… I hit the beach, the pool, had a movie audition, saw a bunch of celebrities while hiking at Runyon Canyon (Zac Efron, Dane Cook, Angelina Jolie), went to the amazing Glee Live concert (and chatted with Glee stars Dot Marie Jones and Jenna Uskowitz), saw Beginners (really good beautiful movie featuring a wonderful performance from Ewan MacGregor and an Oscar worthy one from Christopher Plummer, grade: A-) and Hangover 2 (rather funny, but not as good as the first, grade: B) and on and on. But fear not the posts will come fast and furious next week. Thanks for hangin’ tight… By the way, I also went to Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure which was way more fun than the former one. While there, my friend Giana and I saw my friend Jeff Sumner perform brilliantly as the Genie in their fantastic live musical Aladdin spectacular. I highly recommend it. Take a look at our fun pics below.

Take care everybody!
Jason

Two Summer Oscar contenders… The Help and Beginners

The summer movie season brings big blockbusters and big box office, but sometimes it can also bring some seriously good Oscar worthy films. In fact, last summer we had four Oscar contenders released in this busy season: Toy Story 3, Inception and the indies Winter’s Bone and The Kids are Alright. This summer we will likely see a couple of contenders arise among the indie crop most notably Beginners from Focus Films. This dramatic comedy features Ewan MacGregor as a man whose relationships all seem to fall apart and his journey with a new love played by Melanie Laurent (Inglorious Basterds). All the while, he will also be grappling with the revelation that his ailing, elderly father (Christopher Plummer) has just come out of the closet. The film played to raves on the festival circuit last year and should appeal to art house, gay and adult audiences and it looks pretty great from the trailer below. I foresee the film being a serious contender in the Oscar race for Screenplay and Supporting Actor which could finally net previous Oscar loser Plummer (The Last Station) his first competitive Academy Award. We may also see it factor in the Picture and Actor races if it’s received well. Check out the trailer for the film below and watch it in theatres in June.

Beginners

One studio film that could make the race for the Oscars is the upcoming adaptation of the massively popular race relations novel of Kathryn Stockett’s The Help. The film centers on a young white writer (Golden Globe nominee Emma Stone) in the 1960′s who seeks to tell the story of the African-American maids in the Southern town she grew up in. The story is ripe for laughter, tears and drama and could feature a breakout performance by Octavia Spencer. In fact, I think Spencer and Viola Davis (a previous Oscar nominee for Doubt) will both contend in the Supporting Actress race while the film could land in Picture, Costume Design and Adapted Screenplay. If it garners a following, it might even contend in Direction and Actress (Stone). Other big names in the cast include Bryce Dallas Howard, Allison Janney and Oscar winner Sissy Spacek. For more on that film, head here and check out the trailer for The Help below. Watch for it to hit theatres in August.

The Help
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1454029/