So, this past Thursday, The Academy announced this year's Oscar Nominations, and I have to say, I'm starting to feel a little underwhelmed by the choices of the Academy year after year. Don't get me wrong, I love the pomp of the ceremony: the dresses, the drama, all of it. But maybe it's my involvement in pop culture, or the fact that I'm getting older (and more disillusioned), but the awards seem like a really big MEH this year.
Yes, there are some standouts, like Spike Jonze Her and Brad Pitt-Produced 12 Years a Slave (including the nomination of Lupita Nyong'o for Best Supporting Actress) but Idris Elba was completely snubbed for his portrayal of Nelson Mandela in A Long Walk to Freedom (even though U2 was nominated for Best Song for the same movie). The Butler was completely looked over, even though at the time of it's release, people were buzzing about Oprah's performance and how they expected she would be nominated. Yet, nothing.
I have to say, overall, the Oscars seem more "white" and more "cookie cutter" than in previous years to me. And that's not for lack of fantastic films and productions by people of colour in Hollywood in 2013. But, since the Academy is made up mostly of previous winners, and most previous winners are white males, I guess they go for exactly what they like.
But it's boring.
Do I think that Matthew McConaughey is a bad actor? No way. Do I think he's undeserving because he is a white guy? Nope. But do I think there are actors of colour who had as good if not better performances than his in 2013? Yep. And really, does Meryl Streep need to win ANOTHER Oscar? Let's just stop nominating her because she's Meryl Fucking Streep. SHE'S THE BEST, WE GET IT (I love you, Meryl).
I'll watch the awards show, I'll make predictions and I'll #YMCOscars night of the show along with all of you, but I hope that in 2015, we'll see more diversity, more difference and less of the same old same old.
What about you? Do you think The Oscars are a great indicator of the best in Hollywood, or is it getting old hat?
Best Picture
"12 Years A Slave"
"American Hustle"
"Dallas Buyers Club"
"Her"
"Nebraska"
"Captain Phillips"
"The Wolf of Wall Street"
"Gravity"
"Philomena"
Actor in a Leading Role
Bruce Dern - "Nebraska"
Chiwetel Ejiofor - "12 Years A Slave"
Matthew McConaughey - "Dallas Buyers Club"
Christian Bale - "American Hustle"
Leonardo DiCaprio - "The Wolf of Wall Street"
Actor in a Supporting Role
Barkhad Abdi - "Captain Phillips"
Michael Fassbender - "12 Years A Slave"
Jared Leto - "Dallas Buyers Club"
Bradley Cooper - "American Hustle"
Jonah Hill - "The Wolf of Wall Street"
Actress in a Leading Role
Cate Blanchett - "Blue Jasmine"
Sandra Bullock - "Gravity"
Judi Dench - "Philomena"
Meryl Streep - "August: Osage County"
Amy Adams - "American Hustle"
Actress in a Supporting Role
Sally Hawkins - "Blue Jasmine"
Jennifer Lawrence - "American Hustle"
Lupita Nyong'o - "12 Years A Slave"
Julia Roberts - "August: Osage County"
June Squibb - "Nebraska"
Animated Feature Film
"The Croods"
"Despicable Me 2"
"Frozen"
"The Wind Rises"
"Ernest & Celestine"
Cinematography
"The Grandmaster"
"Gravity"
"Inside Llewyn Davis"
"Nebraska"
"Prisoners"
Costume Design
"American Hustle"
"The Grandmaster"
"The Great Gatsby"
"The Invisible Woman"
"12 Years a Slave"
Directing
Alfonso Cuaron - "Gravity"
Steve McQueen - "12 Years A Slave"
Alexander Payne - "Nebraska"
David O. Russell - "American Hustle"
Martin Scorsese - "The Wolf of Wall Street"
Documentary (Feature)
"The Act of Killing"
"20 Feet from Stardom"
"Cutie and the Boxer"
"Dirty Wars"
"The Square"
Documentary (Short Subject)
"CaveDigger"
"Facing Fear"
"Karama Has No Walls"
"The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life"
"Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall"
Film Editing
"American Hustle"
"Captain Phillips"
"Dallas Buyers Club"
"Gravity"
"12 Years a Slave"
Foreign Language Film
"The Broken Circle Breakdown" - Belgium
"The Great Beauty" - Italy
"The Hunt" - Denmark
"The Missing Picture" - Cambodia
"Omar" - Palestine
Makeup and hairstyling
"Dallas Buyers Club"
"Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa"
"The Lone Ranger"
Music (Original Score)
"The Book Thief" - John Williams
"Gravity" Steven Price
"Her" - William Butler and Owen Pallett
"Philomena" - Alexandre Desplat
"Saving Mr. Banks" - Thomas Newman
Music (Original Song)
"Let it Go" - "Frozen" - Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez
"Ordinary Love" - "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom" - U2, lyrics by Paul Hewson, aka Bono
"Happy" - "Despicable Me 2" - Pharrell Williams
"Alone Yet Not Alone" - "Alone Yet Not Alone" - music by Bruce Broughton, lyrics by Dennis Spiegel
"The Moon Song" - "Her" - music by Karen O, lyrics by Karen O and Spike Jonze
Production design
"American Hustle"
"Gravity"
"The Great Gatsby"
"Her"
"12 Years a Slave"
Short Film (Animated)
"Feral"
"Get a Horse!"
"Mr. Hublot"
"Possessions"
"Room on the Broom"
Short Film (Live Action)
"Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn't Me)"
"Avant Que De Tout Perdre (Just before Losing Everything)"
"Helium"
"Pitaako Mun Kaikki Hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?)"
"The Voorman Problem"
Sound Editing:
"All Is Lost"
"Captain Phillips"
"Gravity"
"The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug"
"Lone Survivor"
Sound Mixing:
"Captain Phillips"
"Gravity"
"The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug"
"Inside Llewyn Davis"
"Lone Survivor"
Visual Effects
"Gravity"
"The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug"
"Iron Man 3"
"The Lone Ranger"
"Star Trek Into Darkness"
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
"Before Midnight" - Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke
"Captain Phillips" - Billy Ray
"Philomena" - Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope
"12 Years A Slave" - John Ridley
"The Wolf of Wall Street" - Terence Winter
Writing (Original Screenplay)
"American Hustle" - Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell
"Blue Jasmine" - Woody Allen
"Her" - Spike Jonze
"Nebraska" - Bob Nelson
"Dallas Buyers Club" - Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack
photos: CHP/FAMEFLYNET PICTURES and Juan Rico/FAMEFLYNET PICTURES
Ah Netflix. First, there was Lillehammer, then House of Cards and Orange is the New Black. With more and more Emmy and Globe noms every year, Netflix is really pushing original programming (not to mention saving Arrested Development, too). While they have mostly stayed within modern drama/comedy, their new show, Marco Polo is a period drama centering around, well, you guessed it, the intrepid Italian explorer.
The show is being produced by The Weinstein Company (hello, basically every amazing movie in the last 10 years) and is being codirected by Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg — the two directors of the Oscar-nominated film Kon-Tiki.
I'm really curious about this show. I was a big fan of the early seasons of The Tudors (but, then again, I LOVE LOVE Tudor English history), love historical drama in general (Downton!!) and think that Harvey Weinstein is a pretty genius guy. I mean, this is the guy who told Tarantino that he should make Kill Bill into two movies instead of one. In general, the adventures of Marco Polo are pretty interesting (he was the first explorer to China to create detailed accounts of his time there). I'm especially interested to see what a modern eye will do with the chronicles of an European man experiencing Asian life for the first time and his understanding of a foreign culture in the 13th century.
Hopefully, this show will be done well, drawing parallels to modern issues in a smart and sophisticated way, and not be a cheesy historical sex-romp (which is what The Tudors turned into). This miniseries is 9 episodes long, and as with all Netflix shows, they will all probably be released on the same day. Which is great, especially if it's good, because then I can burn through the show and not have to wait week to week!
It's interesting to see Netflix taking more chances with original programming and not just movies and TV shows that have already aired on network television. I'm looking forward to Marco Polo and hoping for more original programming in the next few years.
What do you think of Netflix style of television production and release? Will you watch Marco Polo?
So, as we all know, the 71st Annual Golden Globes just aired and I tweeted along with so many of you—as per usual—using our #YMCGlobes tag. But, while watching the awards (Tina and Amy were perfect as always), I realized that nothing exciting or really all that interesting happened, so why recount the same thing everyone else will be? But what to write? Then I tweeted this during the Best Original Song award:
confession: I hate U2 with the fire of one thousand suns today, but 15 years ago, I loved them. #ymcglobes
And that got me thinking about all the things I loved then but loathe now. U2, for me, became sort of hackneyed. Contrite. Overdone. I think this joke sums up my feelings: What's the difference between Jesus and Bono? Jesus doesn't think he's Bono (wah wahhhhhh). People still love U2, and they have a legacy of amazing music, but for me, the last 10 years or so have been very blah. So, I've moved on.
But what is it in general that makes people change? It can't be the folly of my youth, because many bands/genres I loved then, I still love (Led Zeppelin will always be one of the best, to me), and many I disliked then, I dislike now (I am NOT a fan of Pink Floyd. Not now, not then, not ever). There are trends and styles that go in and out of fashion that may lead many people in and out of their pop culture moments, but lasting things—like U2 or certain novels, movies, etc.—are ones that you can love at one point and not in another. And I'm not talking sweeping, huge very popular things, either. I'm talking more personal.
So, since I find this whole thing fascinating and confusing, I wonder—what were you once interested in that you no longer like, and why do you think that happened? And I'm not talking, "I liked Sweet Valley High as a teen, but grew out of it." I'm talking, "Pearl Jam used to be my favourite band, but now they're meh, whatever." (This is something I've actually said, by the way.)
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