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Dr. H—long time contributor to JPFMovies makes his Revised Oscar predictions!

18 Feb

Dr. H—long time contributor to JPFMovies makes his Revised Oscar predictions!

Ok we’ve all been waiting for Dr. H. to release his revised picks for this year’s Oscars so here they are.  Please note that the revisions are due to transcription errors on behalf of the JPFmovies staff.

Best Movie:

Will Win:         “The Artist”

Should Win:    “The Artist”

Dark Horse:     “Hugo”

Strangely, after ruling the airwaves for more than three months, the Descendants fizzled out yielding all ground to the “Artist” and never recovered.  Some attribute this shift in power to the “Harvey Weinstein” factor.  JPFmovies feels it is the feel good factor working its chorus for the “Artist.”

Best Director:

Will Win:         “The Artist” (Michel Hazanavicius).

Should Win:    “Tree of Life” (Terrence Malick).

Dark Horse:     “Hugo” (Martin Scorsese).

Terrence Malick creates this little-seen masterpiece but the smart money is still on the “Artist.”

Best Actor:

Will Win:         George Clooney

Should Win:    George Clooney

George Clooney will win his 2nd Oscar.  A different role with the understated, repressed emotions played with nobility and panache.  The Oscar voters will love to vote this performance in.

Brad Pitt and Jean Dujardin were plainly unlucky to run into Clooney’s year.

Best Actress:

Will Win:         Viola Davis (The Help).

Should Win:    Viola Davis

Dark Horse:     Meryl Streep

The last time Streep won her Oscars was for her performances in Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) and Sophie’s Choice (1982), in which she gave a heart-wrenching portrayal of an inmate mother in a Nazi death camp.  Those Oscars were won when most Academy voters were still in high school.  Since Kramer vs Kramer and Sophie’s Choice, Streep has been nominated numerous times but no awards.  The only problem is that her impersonation of the “Iron Lady” Margret Thatcher is just that—an impersonation and Mrs. Thatcher does not have the same charisma she did in the 1980’s.  Unfortunately, JPFmovies does not see the pendulum swinging her way, which is too bad because Streep is probably the best living actress today.

Best Supporting Actor:

Will Win:         Christopher Plummer (Beginners).

Should Win:    Christopher Plummer.

Dark Horse:     “Jonah Hill.”

Jonah Hill did do a great job as the whiz kid totally against type casting.  But Plummer battles cancer and comes out of the closet two totally politically correct topics that raise hell of they were ignored.

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Will and Should Win: Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon for the “Descendants.”

Dark Horse:     “Moneyball.”

Best Original Screenplay:

Should and will win “Midnight in Paris.”

Dark Horse  “The Artist.”

Best Foreign Film:

Will and should Win “A Separation” (Iran).

Dark Horse  “Footnote” (Israel).

Best Animated Feature Film:

Will and Should Win—“Rango.”

Dark Horse “Kung Fu Panda  2.”

Best Original Score:

Will Win “The Muppets.”

Best Cinematography:

Will Win and Should Win “Tree of Life.”

Art Direction:

Will Win Should Win—“Hugo.”

Dark Horse “Harry Potter.”

Best Documentary:

Will Win To “Hell and Back Again”— From his embed with US Marines Echo Company in Afghanistan, photojournalist and filmmaker Danfung Dennis reveals the devastating impact a Taliban machine-gun bullet has on the life of 25-year-old Sergeant Nathan Harris.

Dark Horse –“Undefeated” A documentary on an underdog football team who look to reverse their fortunes with Coach Bill Courtney.

Best Short Documentary:

Will Win “Saving Face” (Pakistan).  Every year hundreds of people — mostly women — are attacked with acid in Pakistan this short documentary follows several of these survivors.

Dark Horse “The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom.”  Survivors in the areas hardest hit by Japan’s recent tsunami find the courage to revive and rebuild as cherry blossom season begins.

Best Makeup:

Will Win:  “Iron Lady” (Streep as Thatcher).

Dark Horse:  Albert Nobbs (Glen Close as a man)

Best Editing:

Will Win “Moneyball.”

Dark Horse “The Artist.”

Best Costume:

Will Win “Hugo.”

Dark Horse “Jane Eyre.”

Best Original Music Score:

Will Win “War Horse.”

Dark Horse “The Artist.”

Best Sound Editing:

Will Win “War Horse.”

Dark Horse “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.”

Best Sound Mixing:

Will Win “Transformers Dark of the Moon.”

Best Visual Effects:

Will Win “Rise of the Planet of the Apes.”

Dark Horse “Hugo.”

We’ll see how Dr. H. does this year.  It will be tough for him to beat last year.  Good luck Dr. H we’ll see you in a couple of weeks.

 
3 Comments

Posted by on February 18, 2012 in Movie Reviews

 

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Bottle Rocket (1996)—A Movie of Débuts.

07 Feb

Bottle Rocket did not do well at the box office; by all accounts it was a commercial failure but launched Wes Anderson, Owen and Luke Wilson’s careers by drawing attention from critics and other Hollywood elite.   Indeed, director Martin Scorsese named Bottle Rocket one of his top-ten favorite movies of the 1990’s.

The Bottle Rocket spring board helped Wes Anderson go on to direct two movies I hold in high regard: Rushmore (1998) & The Royal Tenenbaums (2001).  As for the Wilson brothers—well it is common knowledge that both went on to star in various films like Old School and Wedding Crashers just to name a few.  Not only did Anderson direct Bottle Rocket and Owen Wilson co-star in it, they also co-wrote the script.  The only big name in the movie (at the time) was James Caan who played a quasi-gangster.

The film centers on a group of directionless young men living in Texas (in fact the entire film was shot in Dallas, Fort Worth and Hillsboro, Texas).  Dignan (Owen Wilson) “rescues” Anthony (Luke Wilson) from a voluntary mental hospital where he has been recovering from self-described “exhaustion” for the past two years.  Dignan concocted an elaborate escape plan to spring Anthony from the hospital as well as a 75-year plan that he proudly shows to Anthony.  Part of the plan is to pull off several heists and then meet Mr. Henry (James Caan), a landscaper and dilettante criminal known to Dignan.

To begin their training, the two break into Anthony’s house, stealing a predetermined number of objects from a list.  They then critique the heist and Dignan discloses that he took a pair of earrings not enumerated on the list. This upsets Anthony, as he had bought those earrings for his mother.

Bob (Robert Musgrave), the third spoke in this wheel, is a spoiled rich kid who raises marijuana in his backyard and lets his older brother beat him up on a regular basis.  Together, the trio attempt several crimes that stand as monuments of ineptitude and are laughably-executed.  These three are so bad at what they do that not even their victims take them seriously.

Eventually Dignan’s employer and mentor—Mr. Henry (James Caan), allows the trio to pull off a “major” robbery and lets Dignan run as point man for the operation; and, even though the robbery crashes and burns, Dignan passes through the flames of failure, finds self-worth and holds onto his youthful naiveté.

Friendship/family, fitting into society, purpose, self-worth, love, sadness, mischief, sacrifice and redemption- these themes run throughout “Bottle Rocket” (and all of Wes Anderson’s movies); yet, Anderson weaves them together with such soft humor that one can easily forget the gravity of the characters’ pains and frustrations.

I love this movie, but beware it is entertaining only for the quirky.  If you are not into unconventional and subtle humor don’t bother.  Otherwise it is a classic destined for cult status.

 
7 Comments

Posted by on February 7, 2011 in Movie Reviews

 

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