Archive for December 2013
Golden Globes 2014: Nominations, Reactions and Predictions
The nominations for Golden Globes 2014 has been revealed now and we have some interesting nominees this year. Some great performances have been left behind, which I will talk about later in this post, but first, lets find out who made it to the final list of nominees.
Best Motion Picture - Drama:
Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama
Chiwetel Ejiofor for 12 Years a Slave
Idris Elba for Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
Tom Hanks for Captain Phillips
Matthew McConaughey for Dallas Buyers Club
Robert Redford for All Is Lost
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama
Cate Blanchett for Blue Jasmine
Sandra Bullock for Gravity
Judi Dench for Philomena
Emma Thompson for Saving Mr. Banks
Kate Winslet for Labor Day
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
Christian Bale for American Hustle
Bruce Dern for Nebraska
Leonardo DiCaprio for The Wolf of Wall Street
Oscar Isaac for Inside Llewyn Davis
Joaquin Phoenix for Her
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
Amy Adams for American Hustle
Julie Delpy for Before Midnight
Greta Gerwig for Frances Ha
Julia Louis-Dreyfus for Enough Said
Meryl Streep for August: Osage County
Best Director - Motion Picture
Alfonso Cuarón for Gravity
Paul Greengrass for Captain Phillips
Steve McQueen for 12 Years a Slave
David O. Russell for American Hustle
Alexander Payne for Nebraska
Best Screenplay - Motion Picture
12 Years a Slave: John Ridley
American Hustle: David O. Russell
Her: Spike Jonze
Nebraska: Alexander Payne
Philomena: Steve Coogan, Jeff Pope
The fact that Golden Globes give separate Best Pictures for Drama and Musical or Comedy often disturbs the movie enthusiast in me. I am a movie fanatic who believes that a good cinema is simply a good cinema irrespective of its genre. This ideology of separate Best Picture Awards questions the quality and effort with which a Musical or a Comedy film is made against a Drama or the other way around. As a viewer, I have never felt that a good Musical is less than a well made Drama in any circumstance, but since this is the way golden globes award is celebrated, there is no use debating about it.
For the Best Picture in the Drama category, there exists some well deserving films like 12 Years a Slave, Gravity and Rush, though they missed a couple of films that should have made to this list according to me. Films like Prisoners, The Place Beyond the Pines and Before Midnight are films which are appreciated by the masses and the critics as well, so their exclusion is quite disappointing in a way. Moreover if this category was bound to include only 5 or 6 films, I strongly believe Prisoners was a better film than Captain Phillips and it could have replaced it from the list of nominees.
For the Best Picture in the Musical or Comedy Category they must have selected the best films because I haven't seen more than half of those names and I can have no opinion about it, though I have watched a film called Five Dances a few days back and was completely in love with the film, I hope the other nominated ones are better.
No comments on the Acting awards, just remembering a few great performances that could not win a nominations. The most effective one among them is Hugh Jackman's performance as Keller Dover in Prisoners.
Movie Geek's Predictions:
Following the patterns Golden Globes has chosen cinemas for each of these awards in the last decade, I have a few guesses of my own. I have made some predictions and I believe many of my predictions will be correct if I have closely followed Golden Globes in the past. Here goes my list:
Best Picture [Drama]: Gravity
Best Picture [Musical or Comedy]: Inside Llewyn Davis
Best Actor [Drama]: Tom Hanks for Captain Phillips
Best Actor [Musical or Comedy]: Leonardo DiCaprio for The Wolf of Wall Street
Best Actress [Drama]: Sandra Bullock for Gravity
Best Actress [Musical or Comedy]: Amy Adams for American Hustle
Best Director: Alfonso Cuarón for Gravity
Best Screenplay: John Ridley for 12 Years a Slave.
Lets see if my predictions match with the actual winners of the Golden Globes 2014.
Do check the full list of golden globes 2014 nominations at IMDB.
-Amrit Rukhaiyaar
Bullett Raja [2013]: Tigmanshu Dhulia compromising on quality to make it more appealing to the masses
Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Jimmy Shergill, Sonakshi Sinha, Vidyut Jamwal.
Directed by: Tigmanshu Dhulia
Also featured in IMDb Critic Reviews
So, I watched Bullet Raja last night and I am hugely disappointed now. No it is not as rubbish as "Dabangg", "Rowdy Rathore" or "Singham" any other shit they are making in the name of action films these days.
Directed by: Tigmanshu Dhulia
Also featured in IMDb Critic Reviews
So, I watched Bullet Raja last night and I am hugely disappointed now. No it is not as rubbish as "Dabangg", "Rowdy Rathore" or "Singham" any other shit they are making in the name of action films these days.
I am disappointed because Tigmanshu Dhulia made this film, if this was made by Prabhudeva, I would have said that he improved a lot as a Director, but "Bullett Raja" is below standards for someone like Tigmanshu.
It was clearly visible that Tigmanshu was more interested in the commerce of the film and not on how the film is made. When we talk of Tigmanshu, we can't resist thinking about "Haasil", "Saheb Biwi aur Gangster" and "Paan Singh Tomar"; such is the standards he has set for himself in the Hindi Film Industry.
This is the story of 2 extrovert young men [Jimmy Shergill and Saif Ali Khan] from the state of Uttar Pradesh, who despite of all their resistance fall into the dirty politics of the state, eventually turning them into local gangsters. With time, they evolve to become two of the most feared gangsters of the state. But the execution was just not good enough and it was like they actually wanted to be a gangster only.
So, what could have been a really good gangster lord cinema, took a romantic turn and the film went to self destruction. There could be a romance angle included in an intelligent way but it appeared like they forced a heroine in between the plot only because a hero needs one.
Tigmanshu often cast the same actors in more than one of his films, and Jimmy Shergill has been working with him since Haasil in 2003. Jimmy was good but not as great as he was in Saheb, Biwi aur Gangster, he has great acting skills and it was disappointing seeing him do an alright job.
Sonakshi Sinha did what she has been doing since Dabangg, she becomes a part of every plot where there is no use of a heroine and when they actually need an actress, why whould someone cast Sonakshi, anyway ?
Vidyut Jamwal had a little role though it was an important character in the film. He has shown more expressions than he generally shows in any of his films, but one who really did something great in this otherwise mediocre film was Saif Ali Khan, Saif was really good as a middle class man and immersed himself deep into the skin of the character of a local UP guy. The fact that he has done great acting playing a metro-sexual in cinemas like "Love Aaj Kal" and "Cocktail" fascinates me even more when I see him playing a small town guy. He did a great job in "Omkara" as well, and this was another instance when he shown how versatile an actor he is.
This film has a good story line but is hugely commercial that makes it a mediocre cinema. Tigmanshu Dhulia fans are going to be disappointed.
Movie Geek's Ratings: ★★
-------------------------
Movie Geek's Ratings: ★★
-------------------------
PS: Since Movie Geek's Blog is trying to determine the greatest movie ever made as voted by its readers, will you please take a minute to vote for your favorite movie(s) on the right side bar of this blog?
American Pie [1999]: Not just another Sex Comedy
Cast: Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Seann William Scott, Eugene Levy.
Directed by: Paul Weitz, Chris Weitz
Also featured in IMDb Critic Reviews
American Pie was released in 1999, the year when some of my most favorite films released, which includes American Beauty, Fight Club, The Matrix, The Green Mile, Sixth Sense, Cruel Intentions, Magnolia and of course American Pie. In fact even Wikipedia believes that 1999 was the year that changed movies.
Directed by: Paul Weitz, Chris Weitz
Also featured in IMDb Critic Reviews
American Pie was released in 1999, the year when some of my most favorite films released, which includes American Beauty, Fight Club, The Matrix, The Green Mile, Sixth Sense, Cruel Intentions, Magnolia and of course American Pie. In fact even Wikipedia believes that 1999 was the year that changed movies.
This film has a pact, some friendship, love maybe, some hilariously awkward father-son encounters and Steve Stifler. Now if you haven't seen this film, watch it for the stifmeister. American Pie is about the gang of 4 pretty loser high school buddies, losers in matters that include woman/girl, otherwise they were pretty cool.
 |
| When I will write about the most loved characters in Cinema, Stifler will certainly make the top 5. |
The directors Paul and Chris Weitz made sure that every character is equally hilarious and important in their own way. So if you ask people who their favorite American Pie character was, they will all come up with different answers. Jim was the lead according to many, while many believes that American Pie is all about Stifler.
This is a funny film which is immensely enjoyable and have some really hilarious dialogues by everyone. Most high school sex comedies ends up being the pursuit of the most obvious element that is getting laid but this one is different.
 |
| Noah Levenstein and Jim Levenstein, having the "hilariously awkward father-son" moment. |
I'd say even if you get offended by Sex Comedies, I will still recommend this film to you because there is much more to American Pie than being just another Sex comedy. Try to ignore the offensive parts and understand the sarcasm, it has some really genius humor there. It is a gem in the comedy genre of Cinema.
You gotta taste the first piece of this Pie.
You gotta taste the first piece of this Pie.
Movie Geek's Rating: ★★★★
-------------------------
PS: Since Movie Geek's Blog is trying to determine the greatest movie ever made as voted by its readers, will you please take a minute to vote for your favorite movie(s) on the right side bar of this blog..? No registration required
