THE DARK KNIGHT RISES
Showing posts with label christopher nolan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label christopher nolan. Show all posts
Monday, December 31, 2012
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
The Oscar Predictions and Nominations Wrap
Well after the Golden Globes performance I had to redeem myself and hopefully my Oscar picks went some of the way to doing that. Let’s have a look at the nominations and the favourites after the jump:
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| You can expect Colin Firth to walk away with one of these. |
Best Picture
“Black Swan”
“The Fighter”
“Inception”
“The Kids Are All Right”
“The King's Speech”
“127 Hours”
“The Social Network”
“Toy Story 3”
“True Grit”
“Winter's Bone"
THE GLOAT-O-METER: 10/10
Let’s put aside for the fact I got it exactly right and look at the possible frontrunners in this category. We can rule out Winter’s Bone, Toy Story 3, 127 Hours, Inception and The Kids are All Right, as none of them were nominated for Directing Oscars. Thanks for coming to the dance, kids. The two clear frontrunners at this stage have to be The Social Network and The King’s Speech. The King’s Speech has the momentum (Producer’s Guild Award and the most nominations) but the Social Network still feels like a very narrow winner. It’s going to be close, folks, but I’ve decided on The Social Network and I’m going to hold my nerve.
Actor in a Leading Role
Javier Bardem in “Biutiful”
Jeff Bridges in “True Grit”
Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network”
Colin Firth in “The King's Speech”
James Franco in “127 Hours”
THE GLOAT-O-METER – 14/15
Damn you, Javier Bardem. The fifth spot on this list was always up for grabs, a four-way dance between Robert Duvall, Mark Wahlberg, Ryan Gosling and Javier Bardem, and in the end Bardem took the honours for Biutiful. I don’t think it matters in the long run, as Colin Firth is almost unassailable in this category despite Eisenberg and Franco being equally worthy.
Actor in a Supporting Role
Christian Bale in “The Fighter”
John Hawkes in “Winter's Bone”
Jeremy Renner in “The Town”
Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right”
Geoffrey Rush in “The King's Speech”
THE GLOAT-O-METER: 18/20
It’s funny how things happen. About four months ago the one guaranteed lock for Best Supporting Actor was Andrew Garfield for the Social Network. Fast forward to now and he’s a late victim of the success of Winter’s Bone, ousted by John Hawkes, as a series of fantastic supporting performances conspired to knock him off the list. It doesn’t matter though, as Christian Bale should win this category and win it easily. He is fantastic.
Actress in a Leading Role
Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right”
Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole”
Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter's Bone”
Natalie Portman in “Black Swan”
Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine”
GLOAT-O-METER: 23/25
This is a really, really good category. I said in an earlier piece that maybe the reason Aaron Eckhart missed out on Best Actor was a more crowded field but these are the best five lead actress performances of the year, no doubt, and not a weak link among them. I’m looking forward to see who wins this category because while the Best Actor and Supporting Actor categories have huge favourites, I don’t think Natalie Portman is guaranteed the win here. You could really do worse than to jump on Annette Bening ($6.00 with Sportsbet, punters) to upset this category.
Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams in “The Fighter”
Helena Bonham Carter in “The King's Speech”
Melissa Leo in “The Fighter”
Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit”
Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”
GLOAT-O-METER: 28/30
The real question, as I mentioned in my predictions, was not whether Jacki Weaver would get nominated but rather whether Hailee Steinfeld would get nominated in Lead or Supporting. Mila Kunis can count herself unlucky, but again this is an excellent category. The frontrunner is Melissa Leo, but don’t discount Amy Adams. I think she’s a genuine shot to win this category. (At $13 as well – not too shabby.)
Directing
“Black Swan” Darren Aronofsky
“The Fighter” David O. Russell
“The King's Speech” Tom Hooper
“The Social Network” David Fincher
“True Grit” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
GLOAT-O-METER: 32/35
The Internet is up in arms about Christopher Nolan’s surprising omission from this category, and I think probably rightfully so. Inception is a truly visionary film, brilliantly directed whereas I think the Fighter is elevated by its acting rather than its direction. But hey, Nolan got a Best Original Screenplay nod, so its not all bad.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
TOP 20 FAVOURITE FILMS COUNTDOWN - 20. THE PRESTIGE.
As another feature of the blog I’m going to be writing mini-essays about my top 20 favourite films of all time. I am in no way saying these are the best films ever made – they are the films that have resonated with me in ways others have not. Some of the consensus greatest films ever made (The Godfather, Goodfellas, Citizen Kane) will have just missed out. Some others (Star Wars, The Sound of Music) won’t come anywhere near it. Feel free to offer your thoughts on these films, suggest your favourites, or even guess at the films yet to come! I hope these pieces will act as entertaining and mildly insightful companion pieces to the films listed here.
DIRECTED BY CHRISTOPHER NOLAN
SCREENPLAY BY CHRISTOPHER AND JONATHAN NOLAN
BASED ON THE PRESTIGE, A NOVEL BY CHRISTOPHER PRIEST
STARRING CHRISTIAN BALE, HUGH JACKMAN, MICHAEL CAINE, SCARLETT JOHANNSON, DAVID BOWIE
I can remember when I first saw the trailer for ‘The Prestige’. My great friend and fellow film addict Nick and I were watching a whole bunch of movie trailers, commenting on how good or otherwise they looked, before happening on to a trailer for a film we had not heard of – ‘The Prestige.’
Click.
Play.
Two minutes later, we reacted in the same way – “That. Looks. Awesome.” It was like a giant box of cinematic treats – we were fans of Christopher Nolan’s previous work, huge fans of actors Bale, Jackman and Caine, Scarlett Johansson was an appealing addition for two teenage boys… this was a movie we were extremely excited to see.
See it we did, and love it I did.
Let’s revisit it, shall we?
THERE ARE SPOILERS AHEAD – DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE FILM
CUTTER (MICHAEL CAINE): Every great magic trick consists of three parts or acts. The first part is called "The Pledge". The magician shows you something ordinary: a deck of cards, a bird or a man. He shows you this object. Perhaps he asks you to inspect it to see if it is indeed real, unaltered, normal. But of course... it probably isn't. The second act is called "The Turn". The magician takes the ordinary something and makes it do something extraordinary. Now you're looking for the secret... but you won't find it, because of course you're not really looking. You don't really want to know. You want to be fooled. But you wouldn't clap yet. Because making something disappear isn't enough; you have to bring it back. That's why every magic trick has a third act, the hardest part, the part we call "The Prestige"
I love The Prestige for the sheer simplicity of making a movie about a magic trick follow the structure of a magic trick. All through the film characters constantly talk about how once you know how a trick is done it never seems as impressive as before – and sure enough, when the film’s own trick is revealed, people were disappointed. So is that the film’s fault for crossing its own boundaries – or is it intentionally illustrating the very point its characters are making? My faith in Christopher Nolan would suggest the latter – but really it’s just great fun to watch.
Watching The Prestige a second time – which I did before writing this – is a strange, almost embarrassing experience. I’ve always been terrible at picking the twist in a film – even basic plot diversions in romantic comedies tend to trip me up (Jude Law has kids in The Holiday! – OMG!) – and I didn’t see the Prestige’s twist coming for a moment. Watching it a second time, it becomes painfully obvious that Christian Bale is actually playing – I warned you about spoilers – twin brothers. The character of Fallon looks like Bale, Rebecca Hall’s character constantly foreshadows the fact she’s married to two different men, the trick at the beginning of the film with the two birds – one dead, one alive – is poignant in retrospect, etc. etc. You wonder, upon discovering the film’s secret, how you didn’t spot it all along. That is absolutely the best kind of twist, and even if you saw it coming, you have to admire the director’s craft and bravery in hiding it in plain sight. Roger Ebert called it a cheat – but how can it be a cheat when it was so clear all along?
One criticism of the film that I’ve read is that it is gimmicky. Well, yeah, but sometimes you have to just sit back and admire a well-crafted gimmick. The key to this film is that it is a gimmick worth experiencing a second time and another few times after that. It’s a story of competition and betrayal, beautifully acted and directed, and another in a series of terrific, well told stories from one of the most consistent directors in the world.
Furthermore, it’s not exactly like the film is thematically weak. Obsessions, competition, sacrifice – they’re all there in spades. My favourite thematic element is about what a man will do for his art – the level of sacrifice one must go to in order to be a performer. It’s highlighted in the Chinese magician who pretends to be old and decrepit in order to make his tricks work and tragically further illustrated in the character of Borden, who sacrifices his brother and inadvertently his wife – and Angier, who sacrifices himself, over and over again.
(And Cutter, who sacrifices a bird.)
Before I address another few criticisms of the film, I’d like to talk about the acting. Christian Bale, so good as Batman in Batman Begins, returns to the Christopher Nolan directorsphere and crafts an entirely different persona to the one in that film. He manages, appropriately enough, to create a character totally unlikeable and alternately totally charming. It’s not his best performance ever, but it’s a very good one. On the other hand, I think this might be one of Hugh Jackman’s finest performances. For some reason the former Oscar host has never troubled the nominations himself (and is unlikely to do so with a movie like Real Steel) but here he’s very good. Haughty, sympathetic, morally questionable, obsessive, charming, terrified and petty, he manages to play every note given to him by the script and Nolan. Michael Caine is also great, with a deep sense of melancholy in the smaller moments, like when he tells Angier that drowning is not like going home, but rather agony. Scarlett Johansson is lovely as always but struggles to really come across as a woman of the period – whereas Rebecca Hall convinces us of that every moment she is onscreen.
I’m not an expert of directorial technique but you do notice similarities when watching Nolan films – the way he uses sharp cuts and short scenes to maintain our interest especially struck me. The non-linear narrative structure will surprise no one who has ever seen Memento.
So why does The Prestige kick off my top 20 instead of featuring even higher in it? Firstly, some of the criticisms leveled at the film are accurate – particularly that none of the characters are particularly redeemable. Alfred Borden has the obligatory daughter character to give him motivation to stay alive, but for the most part everyone is morally questionable. That does make the film a difficult one to get truly involved in – you’re very much an observer in this particular story rather than someone with an emotional investment. The sci-fi element, which sneaks up on you – the movie is never advertised as having it – suffers from being little underdeveloped. I think David Bowie is charismatic but a little distracting as Tesla – you can’t help but think ‘Hey, its David Bowie!’ – but overall this is a fantastic film. It’s a hard film to love, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love it.
I was never going to not like this film, but like every Christopher Nolan film I’ve ever seen, I didn’t expect to love it as much as I do. Awesome, tense, exciting, well acted, thematically deep and brilliantly tricky, The Prestige comes in at number 20 on my top 20 favourite films of all time.
The Barrage:
- I was spending the whole movie thinking how bad Hugh Jackman’s accent was before remembering that his character isn’t actually American, so that’s perfectly acceptable.
- The film has one of my favourite actors in a smaller role – Roger Rees as Owens the lawyer. I could watch him in anything.
- Hey, there’s Gil Chesterton from Frasier! He’s actually quite good!
- The score – something I rarely actively notice when watching a film- is really great and the costumes are fantastic.
- Scarlett Johansson in a corset is very rarely a bad idea when promoting one’s film. Her character is not nearly as much fun. In fact, I can’t remember a female character in a Nolan film that has been much chop. I’ll push that thought out of my head for the moment.
- Love that opening scene. A whole bunch of hats and Christian Bale’s voiceover – ‘are you watching closely.’
- As far as I can tell, Rebecca Hall and Michael Caine are the only primary actors performing in their native accent.
- Similarly to Scarlett Johansson, Hugh Jackman with his shirt off is probably not the world’s worst promotional image.
- The last scene with all the Algiers in all the tanks (in all the world) is a really, really creepy image. Would have been creepier (though completely insane) if his eyes had opened.
- I have a pretty big fear of drowning, so those scenes are hard to watch.
- The actress who plays Angier’s doomed lover is Piper Perabo, famous primarily for Coyote Ugly and now on a TV show, Covert Affairs, for which she was bafflingly nominated for a Golden Globe.
- I always feel like Hugh Jackman should start singing in any film he’s in, but I guess I can wait for Real Steel. He’s bound to sing in that, right?
- Prestige is one of those words that looks weird if you look at it for too long.
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