2013 was the Year of...

2013 was a pretty big year. Perhaps not in my film watching (which will be shown in my unofficial Top 15 that'll be posted up tomorrow morning), but there were plenty of things that I loved about this crazy year. So here's a big gigantic mess of the things that made 2013 what it was for me, some of which are movie related, most of which is culture related, and just the general happenings of 2013 that will remain landmarks for the year. Kinda like flipping through the back pages of my diary. But more interesting than my diary would be if I actually had time to keep one.

The Actors 

Daniel Day-Lewis
Yup, this was definitely my biggest actor obsession of the year. Spurred off by my drama class doing The Crucible, and then turning into this big thing where all I'd do with my spare time is watch his Oscar acceptance speeches over and over (I haven't watched one in about three weeks - have I been rehabilitated?). All other spare time was taken up by watching all of his movies. Which brought me to the lovely My Beautiful Laundrette, the awe-inspiring My Left Foot, the rather restrained The Age of Innocence, the amazing In the Name of the Father, of course The Crucible, the gutsy The Boxer, the violent Gangs of New York, the heartbreaking The Ballad of Jack and Rose, a rewatch of There Will Be Blood which boosted my love for the film, a rewatch of Nine which dragged down my supposed love for that film, and a couple of watches of Lincoln which just exemplifies how Daniel has mastered his craft. I wish I had at least 40% of his commitment.

Bradley Cooper
This has been a banner year for Bradley Cooper, an actor who I've long been in love with since The Hangover back in 2009. Along comes Silver Linings Playbook, which shows what I've long known: Bradley Cooper is one talented actor who is more than just the "eye candy" status that the woman's magazines like to lay on him. The Place Beyond the Pines gave him another chance to show how talented he is, and I hear that he's one of the best things about American Hustle. Hopefully The Hangover has been long left behind, and it is only up from here.

Late Night Thoughts #5 Exams and Daniel Day-Lewis Has a Rapper Son

-So exams are happening.

-I've had Biology, English and Statistics so far. The human evolution part of Bio seemed to go pretty well (but I'm suspecting foul play on NCEA's behalf - were the questions supposed to be that easy?). English seemed to go pretty well, but I don't really think I'll get solid top marks like I wanted to. And Stats...well, let's just say, I'm not hoping for big things. I just have Drama left, which is basically just a paper about The Crucible which should be okay if I don't ramble on about how cool Arthur Miller is/how cool Rebecca Miller is/how cool Daniel Day-Lewis is. So yeah, exams are pretty much done.

-But school is not done. I have spent much time preparing for the ball, and also writing my valedictory speech, which is probably inspired by every Oscar acceptance speech of all time.

-I admit, all I seem to do in my spare time is watch Oscar acceptance speeches. And any of Daniel Day-Lewis' acceptance speeches. I should be embarrassed, but I'm not.

AAN: Where the Awards Stand After the Guilds and BAFTAs

I haven't really covered this year's awards season as much as I would have liked - hell, I just haven't found the time to review Silver Linings Playbook even though I saw it over a week ago - but I've found it a little hard to keep up to the minute with this stuff. So I've waited until after the BAFTAs to throw in my two cents on how the season is going as we head into the final straight. Here's my simple guide to what has been happening...

Best Picture - Well Argo pretty much has this one in the bag. With the Golden Globe, SAG, PGA, DGA and BAFTA under it's belt, there's pretty much no stopping it. I do think there is a little leeway for a spoiler from Lincoln or Zero Dark Thirty or even Amour. I mean, I won't be surprised if it doesn't win.

Best Actor - Yeah, Daniel Day-Lewis has pretty much got this as well. I haven't seen Lincoln but I still get so angry about the fact that he is winning over Hugh Jackman and Bradley Cooper who were both brilliant. Ah well. There's literally no room for anyone else to win in this category.

Best Actress - As has been said, this is pretty much a race between Jennifer Lawrence and Jessica Chastain. I mean, the media is now making up rumours that they hate each other but let's be honest - it isn't a big deal if neither of them win it, and I'm sure they're beyond catty behaviour. I like Jessica Chastain's performance 1000x more than Jennifer Lawrence's (that's not because I love J-Chas more than life itself), but they both have a million more chances to win in the future. However, Emmanuelle Riva won the BAFTA tonight and I think this could happen again come Oscar night. Like really. But I still hope that J-Chas wins.

Best Supporting Actor - Christoph Waltz has won the Golden Globe and the BAFTA, with Tommy Lee Jones winning the SAG, probably because Waltz wasn't nominated. Another Oscar for Waltz? Bet on it.

Best Supporting Actress - Biggest plot twist ever: Anne Hathaway doesn't win.
Not in this lifetime.

Best Director - This whole category makes me LOL so hard. "Oh look, Ben Affleck just won another award - oh wait, he's not even nominated for the Oscar". Neither is Kathryn Bigelow, who would be my other guess. So really, this race is going to be down to the wire. I'm thinking Michael Haneke will win (I have this thing that Amour is going to win literally everything, like including Best Animated Film). None of the directors who have been nominated for the rest - Ang Lee, Steven Spielberg or David O. Russell - seem to stand out, though Ang Lee seems to be the sensible bet. This is mind boggling stuff, which makes it all the more exciting.

Other little notes:
-Django Unchained's screenplay is getting lots of love. The WGA's can't provide much more clarity on that but I think QT has it in the bag.
-Skyfall seems to be all the rage. Even though it isn't nominated for much that isn't on the technical side, I'd see it taking a few of those awards. Specifically Best Score, which it seems to be doing rather well with.
-Brave is the front runner for the Animated section? Who knows. I hope it is.
-On a BAFTA related note, so happy that Juno Temple got the Rising Star award. She's amazing.
-I actually can't wait for the Indie Spirits this year. Matthew McConaughey as a double nominee? That's how it should be done!

What are you thinking now? Got any front-runners/favourites sorted?

AAN: Predicting the Screen Actors Guild Awards with Silva, David and Joe

Coming up tomorrow we have the Screen Actors Guild awards, which in this rather interesting awards season where there's no clear winners for a whole lot of big categories (well, I don't think there is, but then again, I still haven't seen all that much), and these awards probably won't provide much more clarity, just more options. Before I can get into the predictions, here's a refresher on what Silva, David and Joe represent:

Sparkling Silva - Who I'd ideally like to win.

'Overjoyed' David - Who I'm predicting to win.

Loopy Looper - The long shot.

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture:
Argo / The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel / Les Miserables / Lincoln / Silver Linings Playbook
This is a tough category, as they're all great ensemble films in very different ways. I think it'll be a race between Lincoln and Silver Linings Playbook, but I think that Silver Linings Playbook will be given the edge, especially considering it now has Oscar nominations in every acting category. However, Lincoln has nominations in all of the acting categories apart from Best Actress. It would be cool if The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel won, coz that has the ensemble cast of all ensemble casts, but Les Miserables has some strong performances across the board. Argo could be a surprise winner.

AAN: Predicting the Golden Globes w/ Silva, David and Joe

The Golden Globes are happening in nine days, but since I'll be in Japan at the time, I am going to do my predictions now. I'll be using Sparkling Silva, 'Overjoyed' David and Loopy Looper to help me predict the awards. Here's how they work:

Sparkling Silva - Who I want to win...even though I don't really have an opinion because I've seen 0.078% of the nominees.
'Overjoyed' David - Who I'm predicting to actually win.
Loopy Looper - The long-shot.

Best Motion Picture - Drama: Argo / Django Unchained / Life of Pi / Lincoln / Zero Dark Thirty
While this is race between Lincoln and Zero Dark Thirty, I just can't see Zero Dark Thirty taking out this one. I'm leaving that for the DGA and PGA's to get that to the Oscars. So, I'm fairly sure Lincoln will win, even though I wouldn't dismiss Argo. Life of Pi and Django Unchained seem like long-shots for such a close race, but I'd pick Django Unchained as the one I want to win because that would be cool.

Best Motion Picture - Musical/Comedy: The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel / Les Miserables / Moonrise Kingdom / Salmon Fishing in the Yemen / Silver Linings Playbook
Silver Linings Playbook and Les Miserables will go head to head here, but given the mixed reaction to Les Miserables, I can see the former winning. However, Moonrise Kingdom could end up being the spoiler (hey I've seen that one, meaning that the only films I haven't seen in this category are the front-runners - I guess I'm kinda winning). I'd love to see The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel win, and Salmon Fishing in the Yemen will continue being the place-filler it is and come out on the bottom.

AAN: What We've Learned From the Past Week's Awards

This past week has been extremely busy. Critics group after critics group has been announcing their favourites, providing the building blocks for what we can expect come the Golden Globes/SAG nominations later on in this week. Instead of going through all of the awards one by one, I'll link them all here (by now you're probably sick to death of hearing about them) and then show how the categories are changing. (NOTE: sorry for the lack of pictures - Blogger is being a MASSIVE asshole and I'm about to smash my computer so I'll give up trying to upload them)

New York Film Critics Online / Boston Society of Film Critics / Los Angeles Film Critics Association / Boston Online Film Critics Association / New York Film Critics Circle / National Board of Review

What we've learned about the Best Picture race:
Zero Dark Thirty topped everything apart from the LA Film Critics awards, so I think it is safe to say that this is pretty much a lock for a nomination, and perhaps a certainty for the win. We'll just wait to see how everything pans out in its wide release and for the Golden Globes to be sure. However, let's not rule out the possibility that either Argo, Les Miserables or Lincoln could win. The LAFCA chose Amour as their winner and The Master as their runner up. They gave The Master a huge boost, which means that it could be a lot more prominent in awards season than originally thought. Amour was also given a boost, so I wouldn't be surprised if it gets given a spot in the Best Picture race.
Other than that, the NBR did give us some alternative picks in their top ten with The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Promised Land making the cut. I'm not entirely sure about the latter since practically nothing has been said about it and I doubt it'll have any traction. Django Unchained was also included, meaning that it could figure into the race, but I'm doubting it will be a major player. And I was definitely surprised and happy to see Looper included!

A Conversation with There Will Be Blood

Where's Christopher this week? Well, he isn't that far away from where he was last week talking to No Country for Old Men. This week, our dear Christopher has taken to talking to There Will Be Blood.

(Newbies: this 'conversation' is completely made up through my bad characterisation of a movie. Christopher isn't based on anyone living or dead either, I know plenty of Christopher's but this Christopher is named after what I want to name my cat. My Mum won't let me have another cat, so I'll just name my fake interviewer Christopher to tide me over until I leave home.)

CHRISTOPHER: I've been holidaying in Texas of late, and what do you know? I just happened to come across There Will Be Blood. How are you?
THERE WILL BE BLOOD: You were talking to No Country for Old Men last week, weren't you?

C: Yes.
TWBB: TRRRRAAAAAAAAAAITOR!

C: I'm sorry?
TWBB: I bet you he told you that Anton Chigurh killed me in order to get the Best Picture Oscar, yes?

C: I think I can recall him saying...
TWBB: WELL HE WAS LYING! Anton tried to kill me. He came into my bowling room, so I offered him a steak. He declined that offer. I tried to interest him in my story of how I got to have a character that got very rich from being an oil prospector, even though he was a bit of a cold one. He was not interested. Instead, he pulled out a coin and said "What's the most you've ever lost on a coin toss?" So I replied "You're making a huge misstep." Now I had heard through an aquaintance of some man I've seen that this Anton fellow uses a cattle gun as a weapon. Which is when I realised that he had come to kill me. What else was he going to use that cattle gun for? The closest thing to a cow was the steak I was eating. Anyway, I digress. Anton got exasperated, so I quickly grabbed a bowling pin, knocked the gun out of his hand and then proceeded to smash his head to pieces. I succeeded in that. I killed Anton Chigurh.

C: So, how did you lose Best Picture?
TWBB: To this day I simply don't know. The Oscar is simply a false prophet. I did find out that Anton had killed the other competitors before he came to me...they were small in comparison to my epic stature. I killed Anton, but No Country for Old Men came out scot-free. Soon after they figured out that Anton was missing, they quickly hired a lookalike to tide them over awards season. It turns out that lookalike was better than the original Anton, and he also won his own Oscar. Those Oscars are just lucky I didn't take a barrel of oil and a lighter to their little ceremony.

C: You can't be too bitter though. Many people have named you as the 'film of the decade'.
TWBB: That's because I am. I am a masterpiece. I am a monumental piece of modern cinema. I'm gonna bury every movie underground.

C: Wow, modesty isn't one of your strong points.
TWBB: Neither is a little bit of femininity. Not all of us can be perfect. Even though we look perfect.

C: You "look perfect"?
TWBB: Have you not seen me? I am filled with marvellous performances, especially the central one from the best actor ever Daniel Day-Lewis, along with an interesting turn from Paul Dano. The cinematography is nothing short of beautiful. The music...well that is frightening. Especially when the first thing you hear is something that sounds like the world's entire bee population buzzing together. And the direction from Paul Thomas Anderson? Sublime. I am a technically brilliant film.

C: What about your story/script?
TWBB: That isn't so bad. My central character, Daniel Plainview, was once a miner who turned into an oil prospector. He gets an offer he can't refuse...a land with a lot of oil for real cheap. He brings change to a small county, but he also manipulates landowners into selling their properties to him so he can get more oil. But with wealth and popularity comes hatred on everyone and even more ambition to rise above his competitors.

C: It sounds like you are a very layered portrait of a time gone by.
TWBB: That would be a perfect way of summing me up.

C: I would like you to explain one thing to me: the final scene.
TWBB: Ah, my final scene. That seems to be the only thing which people associate with me. Well, I do admit that it is very over the top. But to be honest, isn't it nice to see an actor like Daniel Day-Lewis just go all out? This scene shows just how easily Plainview gets ticked off, and how driven he is to seek revenge and feel like the bigger man. There is such a unique madness in Plainview, and that is absolutely on show on this scene. Oh, and if you are one of those people who tilted your head sideways at the merit of the line "I drink your milkshake! I drink it up!", remember that an actual person said that. I must say, I feel a little bit giddy when people use that line in times of anger.

C: I think the end scene makes you even more unique.
TWBB: I am glad that you think so. Unique is what I aim for.

C: I feel that you will have a long and successful life, and will definitely be regarded as a 'classic' in the years to come.
TWBB: I believe I will too. After all, not many films can reach my fearlessness, brilliance or originality. After all, I have competition in me. I want no one else to succeed. I hate most people.

C: Any last words for our readers out there?
TWBB: You're a bastard from a basket! A bastard from a basket!

C: Well that was...rude.
TWBB: Like I said, I hate most people.

C: You're finished?
TWBB: I'm finished.

My rating for this film: