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It is no surprise ‘Lincoln’ leads with 12 Oscar nominations |
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Thursday, January 10, 2013 |
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By PATRICK HALL
Special to The Wilson Post
I checked out the announcement of the nominees in the 85th Academy Awards over breakfast Thursday morning and, deservedly so, “Lincoln” leads all films with a grand total of 12 nominations, but it faces stiff competition in several categories.
The nominations for Director Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln” include: Best Motion Picture, Best Director, Best Actor in a Leading Role (Daniel Day-Lewis), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Tommy Lee Jones), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Sally Field), Best Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published (Tony Kushner), Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, Best Original Score (John Williams) and Best Sound Mixing.
My kneejerk reaction has “Lincoln” taking home one written-in-stone lock and that is Best Actor in a Leading Role, because as great as Denzel Washington was in “Flight” and Joaquin Phoenix was in “The Master,” this award is Day-Lewis’ hands down, without question.
From there it really is a tight race this year.
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'Lincoln', 'Master' best films of 2012 |
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Wednesday, January 9, 2013 |
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By PATRICK HALL
Special to The Wilson Post
There were definitely some huge hits at the theaters in 2012, and it was certainly a much better year at the movies than 2011, and looking back, “Lincoln” and “The Master” stand as the year’s most outstanding films.
With the Academy Awards coming up next month, nominees for categories will soon be announced and you can bet these two films will be in the running for Best Picture, but they are not without their flaws.
“The Master” was written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, who is becoming a force to be reckoned with and whose films truly speak volumes. In “Master,” Anderson created a tragic waltz between wayward drifter Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix) and charismatic cult leader Lancaster Dodd (Phillip Seymour Hoffman).
From its opening sequences, “The Master” was the only film I saw this year where the entire theater sat in complete silence until the credits rolled. It was mesmerizing, beautifully acted and filmed and something I simply couldn’t take my eyes from for a second.
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‘Django’ is a fun, hilarious albeit brutal tale |
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Wednesday, December 26, 2012 |
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By PATRICK HALL
Special to The Wilson Post
There’s no sugar-coating anything in Quentin Tarantino’s new film “Django Unchained,” nor should there be, and the movie is downright awesome, hilarious and so brutally honest that it is impossible to ignore when looking for the best movie of 2012.
In 1858, German bounty-hunter Dr. King Shultz (Christoph Waltz) encounters the slave Django (Jamie Foxx) and sets him free to help find three outlaws to collect the bounty. Along the way, Django and Shultz turn to freeing Django’s wife Broomhilda from the brutal Mississippi plantation owner Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio).
Right from the get-go we get no apologies from Tarantino on the manner of this revenge-film, similar to his 2009 film “Inglourious Basterds.” Like that film, “Django” is one in which the oppressed are given the chance to pay back their oppressors.
For Django it means, “Kill white folks and pay you for it? What’s not to like?” The film spares no expense on its brutality with the deaths of countless slavers, plantation owners, overseers and more. To be honest, it didn’t bother me in the least. |
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'Hobbit' slow at first, a fantastic journey |
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Wednesday, December 19, 2012 |
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By PATRICK HALL
Special to The Wilson Post
Despite a slow start, “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” is really an outstanding adventure that is likely to thrill fans of the book but presents problems for the casual moviegoer.
Directed by Peter Jackson, and based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel, “The Hobbit,” the film is the first of three, and tells of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) and his journey with 13 dwarves and the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellan).
Of course, the films opens with a prologue on how the dragon Smaug destroyed the dwarves’ homeland of Erebor and the surrounding region, setting up the film’s plot. The first 45 minutes drag on, despite the prologue showing off stunning landscapes and dwarf cities common to Middle earth.
There could have been a much more organic way to familiarize the audience with the background, especially considering the entire company of dwarves show up unannounced at Bilbo’s house for dinner to recruit him for the trip.
But once the journey gets underway, the film is fantastic and a whole lot of fun. In keeping with the book’s theme, the characters and events are light-hearted and plenty of comedy is provided by the dwarves.
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'Lord of the Rings' the greatest film trilogy of all time |
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Wednesday, December 12, 2012 |
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By PATRICK HALL
Special to The Wilson Post
With no major releases this past weekend, I started my anticipation for this weekend’s “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” by taking part in a Saturday marathon of all three “Lord of the Rings” films in theaters, and Director Peter Jackson can’t possibly outdo himself.
Of course, Saturday was the first time I had experienced the “Rings” films in a movie theater since I last saw the third installment, “Return of the King” on the big screen in 2003. It was a marvelous time, even though it took over 12 hours to watch all three (11:15 a.m. to 12:45 a.m. the next day, with 45 minutes in between the films).
This weekend, Jackson returns to J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-Earth for “The Hobbit,” which will be the first in another trilogy taking place in Tolkien’s fictional world. Based on the novel, “The Hobbit,” Jackson and New Line Cinemas decided to draw the story out into three films.
I had hoped Jackson would just stick to a two-part story, as was originally announced, but with the addition of a third film for “Hobbit,” I can’t help but think there’s no way it can live up to what Jackson achieved with “Lord of the Rings.”
That trilogy is easily the greatest film trilogy of all time and over the weekend I couldn’t possibly think of any other trio of films that could stand up to them, except maybe George Lucas’s original “Star Wars” films, if for no other reason than the cultural impact they had.
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