Oscars Predictions! and WINNERS! 2015 Edition!

This year might be my best year in catching up Best Picture noms. As of this post, I have watched 6 out of 8 films and might be going to my 7th tomorrow which is Whiplash. While Selma has no sign at all of being released in my country. This year is trickier though. The race is too close to call. Last year I could get 16 out of 17 predictions right (although one being a big gamble as I voted for DiCaprio instead of McConaughey). This year, I'm not confident in repeating that. [Now added with winners on Feb 23 GMT+7)

Best Picture
This year's race is between three: Boyhood, Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel. Birdman may win all the guilds prior to the Oscars, but I sense that Boyhood is pulling a Braveheart upset.
WINNER: BIRDMAN (0/1)

Best Actor in a Leading Role
It would be really cool to see Michael Keaton win, but really Balem Abrasax is played by an Oscar winner.
WINNER: EDDIE REDMAYNE (1/2)

Best Actress in a Leading Role
Carrying that Alec Baldwin's wife goodluck charm, Julianne Moore is finally getting her long-deserved Oscar in a marathon win just like Cate Blanchett won last year: with no competition.
WINNER: JULIANNE MOORE (2/3)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Another shoo-in, J.K. Simmons is going to be the winner for his turn in Whiplash. I'd see him win for playing J.J. Jameson too though.
WINNER: J.K. SIMMONS (3/4)

Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Another category with no competition, my grown-up Alabama Patricia Arquette is going to win for her 12-year-portrayal of a mom in Boyhood.
WINNER: PATRICIA ARQUETTE (4/5)

Best Director
By far, the hardest prediction to make. I'm going to follow the guild and pick Alejandro G. Inarritu for his stellar direction.
WINNER: ALEJANDRO G. INARRITU (5/6)

Best Adapted Screenplay
If only Gone Girl's here, I'd hand it to Gillian Flynn right away. But then we're stuck with Graham King's The Imitation Game.
WINNER: THE IMITATION GAME (6/7)

Best Original Screenplay
As much as I loved Boyhood, it felt like Best Screenplay Improvisation. So, I'm happy to give it to Wes Anderson for his grand Grand Budapest Hotel.
WINNER: BIRDMAN (6/8)

Best Animated Feature
This probably got old, The Lego Movie should've been nominated and won. Yet I'm also totally fine to see it go to How to Train Your Dragon 2.
WINNER: BIG HERO 6 (6/9)

Best Cinematography
Emmanuel Lubezki for Birdman. But Dick Poop--Dick Pope can come on to the stage too.
WINNER: BIRDMAN (7/10)

Best Production Design
I hate to say this but Interstellar will lose to The Grand Budapest Hotel
WINNER: THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL (8/11)

Best Costume Design
Into the Woods may have better costumes but they are like Bad Grandpa to Dallas Buyers Club here. So, another win for The Grand Budapest Hotel.
WINNER: THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL (9/12)

Best Make-up
The Grand Budapest Hotel is gonna be having a really big night.
WINNER: THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL (10/13)

Best Editing
Whiplash gained some support late in the game but Boyhood is still winning.
WINNER: WHIPLASH (10/14)

Best Original Score
Sadly Hans Zimmer's Interstellar is not as good as Johann Johannson's The Theory of Everything
WINNER: THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL (10/15)

Best Original Song
White guilt chooses Glory from Selma
WINNER: SELMA (11/16)

Best Visual Effects
This be Interstellar's only award of the night.
WINNER: INTERSTELLAR (12/17)


My predictions were off by five categories, I quite understand four of them but most outraged by Big Hero 6's win over How to Train Your Dragon 2. About the show itself, it was pretty okay I guess. Maybe we put too much expectations on Neil Patrick Harris but he carried the show pretty adequately. Some highlights:
- Opening number is very Neil Patrick Harris
- All the best picture nominees are winners! Very fair
- Not enough wins for Boyhood tho
- Best speeches of the night were Patricia Arquette, JK Simmons and Graham Moore
- Meryl Streep shouting in support to Patricia Arquette is one of the best things of the night
- Everything is Awesome song is so good.
- I kept wandering whether Keira Knightley would surprise us by singing with Adam Levine
- Adele Dazeem and Gom Gazingo!
- John Travolta: Creep of the night.
- That House of Cards trailer tho
- Neil's prediction envelope is hilarious, I hope that's a real stunt

So, recap
The Grand Budapest Hotel 4 wins
Birdman 4 wins
Whiplash 3 wins
Interstellar 1 win
American Sniper 1 win
Boyhood 1 win
The Theory of Everything 1 win
The Imitation Game 1 win
Selma 1 win

The Delayeds

Late January and early February this year saw three pushed-back movies. The first one is Warner's ticking time flop that was handed to Universal, Seventh Son. This Big Lebowski reunion was pushed back one year from its initial January 2014 release as a result of the end of Legendary's contract in Warner Brothers and the film is quite shit so that's probably why. Second one is The Wachowskis original science fiction starring Mila Kunis as the queen of the universe and Channing Tatum as human-slash-dog Jupiter Ascending. This film that also starred soon-to-be-Academy Award-winner Eddie Redmayne was pushed back by Warner from its summer 2014 release citing more time to finish special effects. But reports had it that new action scenes were added to the final cut.  The last one is Kingsman: The Secret Service, Matthew Vaughn's follow-up to X-Men First Class in his increasingly outstanding filmography. Previously titled only The Secret Service, Kingsman was bumped from October 2014 release which makes it Fifty Shades of Grey's counter-programming. That plan didn't work out, but kudos to everyone who saw Kingsman instead of Fifty Shades.

Seventh Son
Legendary's track record has been quite spotless. But 2015 and moving to Universal might be their bullet to the head. With Blackhat and this film flopping, we wonder whether Warner is Legendary's good luck charm. Seventh Son's trailer looks okay, it promises you mindless action-packed fantasy with incredible cast that includes Julianne Moore and Jeff Bridges. The story is about a hunter who underestimates a witch, making her crazy with fury and that hunter needs a help of a special apprentice who has to be the seventh son of the seventh son (pretty complicated,no?) to defeat that witch. Seventh Son is pretty forgettable. I'm not going to talk very critically, the action scenes and effects were quite good, but there's just too many stupid going on that not even soon-to-be-Academy Award-winner Julianne Moore can chew enough scenery to save it. But it's an adequate entertainment if you have time to kill. And make sure you're a fan of either Jeff Bridges or Julianne Moore, otherwise you're in it for a bad time. At least you'll walk out of the theatre loving Alicia Vikander though, her costumes are amazing. Seventh Son: rated 1.5/4

Jupiter Ascending
This film has so many unfairness directed at it. You'd expect more respect given to the creators of The Matrix. This film is one of the rare original sci-fi. But Jupiter Ascending wasn't aiming for political undertones or some other overanalyzed analogies or the fifth dimension, it was only for your entertainment. And heck it delivers. Mila Kunis is gorgeous like always, Channing Tatum is pretty cool, set designs are crazy, costumes are breathtaking--it's whatever you wanted for a fantastical sci-fi film. The action scenes are so good, you'd slow things down in your mind and think--I understand that this film is made by the people who made The Matrix. That score by Michael Giacchino is super bombastic it made every action scene way better. The few complaints that I had were that the film, although aiming for epicness, didn't feel that epic and big--the story is quite uneven and add that with very advanced sci-fi lingo those things could be a turn-off. And the lack of memorable villains, sure we had Eddie Redmayne reading lines through his nose or something but he wasn't villainous enough to be memorable. All in all, I'm glad that I watched this in cinema on a really big screen with thundering speakers, because I wouldn't bat an eye if I saw this on TV, heck I would think twice to rewatch this on a small screen. Jupiter Ascending: rated 2.5/4

Kingsman: The Secret Service

One word: YES. This film had it all. Engaging story, full-on crazy cool action, guns, cars, awesomeness, Colin Firth gone badass. Matthew Vaughn is a very dependable director, he made X-Men cool again with First Class after it was 'ruined' by Brett Ratner. He made Kick-Ass and thank God had little to do with the godawful Kick-Ass 2. Kingsman is touted by many as a spoof to the spy-action movies, I saw it differently. It is a whole different take on the spy genre, elevated it from being self-serious and grim to fast, funny and fun. Not to mention it is incredibly foul-mouthed and violent. Bond and Bourne are only PG-13, this film is rated R. What made this film worked is all the actors are cast against type. Colin Firth as a real badass, Mark Strong not as a baddie and Sam L Jackson as a baddie but with a twist..on the tongue. That lisp made Jackson's Valentine way better than it should've been. And the true find is Taron Egerton as the main character Eggsy--he could be on the same level with these veteran actors. The only thing that bugged me is that the talk-of-the-town scene in the church was cut from theatres in Indonesia. So, I have yet to see that scene. But hot damn, Kingsman: The Secret Service is my first favorite of 2015. Kingsman: The Secret Service: rated 3.5/4

UP NEXT
I don't know, Focus maybe?
or Whiplash!

Newsworthy Stuff or (The Lack of Post Materials)

1. Spider-Man is now joining MCU. Cool idea, but it is such a waste of talent. So we won't see more of Dane DeHaan as Green Goblin? Never seeing Felicity Jones Academy Award-nominee Felicity Jones in action? BJ Novak? More Giamatti's Rhino? Moreover, the second foremost reason to see The Amazing Spider-Man series after Emma Stone, Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker? The fact that your movie doesn't cross $300million domestic doesn't mean that you have to reboot it again. Unless you're bringing Donald Glover, you may as well reboot Thor because The Dark World is such a fucking bore. My advice? Keep Andrew Garfield and Sony's universe, merge it with MCU. So that 2017's release would be Marvel's Spider-Man as well as The Amazing Spider-Man 3. Then you Sony can spark more interest in the 'disappointing' The Amazing Spider-Man 2 which--for you information--is not even one percent bad compared to the bad-dream-inducing The Amazing Spider-Man.

2. Big Hero 6. Never had that much interest in it actually. But finally caught it. It's fun but compared to The Lego Movie or How to Train Your Dragon 2, Big Hero 6 is like My Little Pony. It's flashy. And I'm not even sure that the diversity presented is socially and culturally good. San Fransokyo? Why not New Tokyo? Why is Tokyo merged with San Fransisco? What happened to the formers San Fransisco and Tokyo? Why is the Golden Gate is shaped like a Japanese torii? Guys, this is not entirely acceptable to just mash-up cultures, in my opinion. And Disney, your weepy-weepy stuff is outdated. Take a look at the stellar HTTYD2. And I've never complained this much on a kids movie, but Big Hero 6 is a thematic continuation of The Lego Movie where you're totally acceptable to be intellectually average otherwise you'll be like Hiro who's super smart that he's super arrogant that his brother needs to bring him to a 'nerd lab' and finally got interested in it but never said thank you to his awesome brother and then making a super intelligent invention that is the catalyst of his awesome brother's help. You get what I mean. Being superhero is not fun anymore, thanks Hollywood for killing our dream. Even Tony Stark doesn't even get into his Iron Man suit anymore because the shit's fucking dangerous. Main point is, if Big Hero 6 wins Oscar, we riot.

3. So I watched Sucker Punch again the other day (I love that movie so..). It's technically amazing that even for the film it rips off from, it's still amazing. You know, that awkward moment when the Orcs in that 'Fire' sequence is so much better than the Orcs in The Hobbit trilogy. Yeah guys, Sucker Punch orcs > Azog. Sucker Punch visuals > The Hobbit trilogy > current Jurassic World footage. And I might do a legit paper on that Zack Snyder movie.

Thanks for reading this useless post.
Next post would be titled The Delayeds.
Guess what is it about.

In Defense of The Fantastic Four(s)

Yes guys, I'm going to defend the new Fantastic Four movie as well as defending the previous ones starring the current Captain America and a super hot Jessica Alba circa 2005-2007. Don't leave. Please. Hear me out. Okay?


Let's start from the past, shall we?
Take a look at Fantastic Four (2005), directed by Tim Story who made that American Taxi with Jimmy Fallon and Queen Latifah. Starring Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans and Michael Chiklis. It currently stands at 5.7 on imdb, hated by most fans, but has a place in my heart and eventually made profit during its run. Okay, guys, in those years DC still owns the movie game. Batman Begins was just released about a month before. It was a new kind of gritty summer blockbuster back then. So, Fantastic Four is super campy, super fun, mindless, pretty much straight forward--the good guys are fun and the bad guys are bad. I haven't watched it again for almost five years at least, so give me a break. I wouldn't want to ruin those memories.

this used to be the coolest thing on the internet, ppl

Fast-forward two years later, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer was released. Two months prior, the super talky, less action-y Spider-Man 3 was released. So, advantage is once again with Fantastic Four 2. Before, The Avengers, before this cinematic universe stuff boomed, this campily self aware franchise had the first cross over film ever. It was a bit darker than the first one, thanks to the-getting-darker Harry Potter films and Batman Begins of course.

Fast-forward to now, 2015. The trailer for The Fantastic Four (or is it Fant4stic?) is finally here. I'm all with Fox here. Hiring Josh Trank of Chronicle, hiring Miles Teller of Whiplash, Kate Mara of House of Cards, Michael B Jordan of Fruitvale Station and Jamie Bell of Billy Elliot--four of the best young actors, keeping it secret. Now, about keeping the secrets, people, do you want all your movies spoiled before they come out? Do you want to watch Fight Club for the first time knowing that Edward Norton and Brad Pitt are actually one person? Do you want to watch Gone Girl for the first time knowing that Amazing Amy is a psychopathic bitch who frames her husband? We live in a highly dangerous spoiler culture now. I mean, do you really want your secret spoiled for Star Wars 7, have your expectations so high just to be disappointed by a single name: Kylo Ren. Or that Kevin Feige confirms roster change in Avengers: Age of Ultron? Hello? Spoiler alert? Or all those things about Batman v Superman? Fuck you people who staked out outside of movie sets with your tele-lens camera or just a shit iPhone, selling those infos to the click-hungry movie blogs. I'm going to paraphrase Reverend Book and say, there's a special hell for people who talk in cinemas and people who spoils movies before they're released. I personally feel pity to the actors/actresses who promote their passion projects, just to be asked whether they could spill some secrets about their superhero movies. Okay, rant ends here.

omg, darknesssss. scarryyyyy

Back to Fant4stic, the trailer hits all the right notes. Frankly, compared to Marvel's own Ant-Man, this looks better. Edgar Wright is a big thing to lose. And people, it doesn't mean that a production is in trouble just because we haven't seen anything from the film SIX MONTHS before its release date. Ant-Man is more troubled I believe, and that's why they're releasing a trailer so soon to construct this reality that everything's alright there. While Fox was bullied to release this trailer. Maybe Fox wants to pull a Beyonce and just release the movie without any promotional material. Who knows? Also, I see people complaining about the dark tone of the film. To those people I say go back to the fucking fifties! We don't live in that landscape anymore. Blame Christopher Nolan, Alfonso Cuaron and Jason Bourne. Write your messages to them, sign it, go jerk-off to your comic books. Comic book fandoms are the hardest to please although YA fandoms are the grossest because they make filthy fan-fics, fan accounts on Instagram and those other YA-fandom-things they do. If you want the campy version, go watch the film from 2005 that you all loathe. The new trailer for Fant4stic is amazing, and I went back to the 2005 version trailer seeing people in the comments that said that the 2005 trailer is better. Well aren't you guys fucking hypocrites?

And what disgusts me the most are the racists. We now have a black Stormtrooper! We now have a black Johnny Storm! Tyrese Gibson is running for Green Lantern! 12 Years a Slave won last year's Best Picture! FREAKING DEAL WITH IT. You guys didn't complain when a black person directed those two perfectly okay and acceptable Fantastic Four movies!

You go forward Fant4stic! You will always have my support! Although you will have my fullest support if you write the title as The Fantastic Four.

Biopic Quadruple Hit

The year is 2015. I had a great run for the first four cinema-going in this year. Prepare for it. Bam! American Sniper. Bam! The Imitation Game. Bam! The Theory of Everything. Bam! Unbroken. I know right. I almost got into A Most Violent Year too in Paris but I've too much restraint. I wrote this post in Japan (yes, I got back from Milan), this was supposed to be written during my last days there but man, the emotions and the fun of Milan got into me and I don't want to spend the last days there writing this post. Now, I'm jetlagged and it's the perfect time to do this (while internally crying longing for my favorite Milanese pizza and gelato, taking short walks to see the Duomo). I miss it so much.

American Sniper
The movie was released in Milan on New Year's Day. It was an amazing true story that maybe people outside of the US has never even heard of. Directed by Hollywood vet Clint Eastwood starring the now three time nominee Bradley Cooper as Chris Kyle, America's best sniper. In also a sterling performance, Sienna Miller as Chris Kyle's wife. It was a thrilling movie, filled with confident direction and great performances. However for a true story, it felt too dramatized, like there's a real villain and all. But it was a honorable service for Kyle's stellar achievement for America. And yes, I noticed that dead-looking baby but I didn't expect it would be a doll. Nevertheless, I personally found it more exciting and thought-provoking than The Hurt Locker. American Sniper: rated 3.5/4

The Imitation Game
Another Best Pic nom, directed by Morten Tyldum and starring Benedict Cumberbatch (how did they manage to collect these strangely named people?). The film is another biopic and the first one here about a great Brit. Played by the more-than-able Benedict Cumberbatch, this film is the story about Alan Turing who helped the British Intelligence cracked the Nazi Enigma code, which then helped the Allies ended the war. Also back in the great films' limelight, Keira Knightley as Joan Clarke. Rounding up the cast are Ozymandias and Tom Branson. The film is a very well made film, but it is very safe. Trust me guys, Cumberbatch is not in his full mode here, see Sherlock for more of his talent show-off. While I'm quite content with Turing's relationship with Clarke, I felt something missing between Turing and his team. Among the film reviewed in this post, The Imitation Game is the one that made the most creative decisions, making it strayed the furthest from the fact. But when you see this film, you'll love the cast, the theme by Alexandre Desplat and most of all, Keira Knightley's super strong performance. The Imitation Game: rated 3.5/4

The Theory of Everything
Another Brit biopic about great men with great women behind them. Aesthetically, this film is the most pleasing among the four. It looks beautiful. It has Eddie Redmayne in his high game. Portraying Stephen Hawking is incredibly hard. Felicity Jones is also amazing as Jane Hawking. While the film doesnt delve too much on Hawking's science and achievements, it explored his personal life to its fullest. It is beautifully shot, masterfully directed by James Marsh, charged by powerful performance--especially by Eddie Redmayne's Oscar-bound performance, and ear-pleasing courtesy of Johann Johannsson's amazing score. I'd say among the four reviewed here in this post, this movie is the best. The only thing is, this film might come out too soon. The Theory of Everything: rated 4/4

Unbroken
The buzz surrounding this film is wrong. It shouldn't focus on 'the second feature directed by Angelina Jolie'. The film is about one of the most amazing survival story by a person with incredible milestones in his life. The book might be more powerful, because the film focuses on the wrong part of his life. His survival story might be even more wholly amazing when told in its entirety. The film failed to made us care about Louis Zamperini's achievement. Played by the powerful rising star Jack O'Connell, Zamperini is portrayed greatly yet the story doesn't make the character that great. It is ably directed by Angelina Jolie though and beautifully shot by master cinematographer Roger Deakins. The casting is great for the exception of Miyavi as The Bird. He's so out of place here and it irritates me the most, he's not a good actor too, sorry. Unbroken: rated 3/4

Next up
should be Exodus: Gods & Kings but it might not happen.
if it doesn't happen then, the next post would be Indonesia-based.