Sunday, April 19, 2015

10 of the most famous actors who directed their own films recently.

Several full-time actors ventured into directing lately..here are 10 of the famous actors who took a small break in acting to direct their own film.

1. Rusell Crowe
Title: The Water Diviner (2014)
Oscar winner Rusell Crowe recently directed an Australian historical-drama "The Water Diviner". After directing several documentaries and short films,Crowe debuted his first full-length film late last year. The movie is currently at 73% certified fresh in Rotten Tomatoes and received 7.1 user rating in Imdb. The film was released in Australia last December and will be released in US this month.

2. Chris Rock
Title: Top Five (2014)
Top Five is one of my favorite comedy films last year. This is the comedian's third film as a director but his most successful film so far. The film was a box-office success and became one of the recognized comedy films for 2014 praising both directing and acting for Rock. 

3. Angelina Jolie  
Title: Unbroken (2014)
Last year was a very fruitful year for Oscar Winner Angelina Jolie. After starring in world-wide box office success fantasy film Maleficent, she directed the multi-Oscar nominee biopic drama Unbroken. This is her second directed film, her first was the not-so-known drama "In the Land of Blood of Honey" in 2011 .

4. Jason Bateman 
Title: Bad Words
We've seen Bateman in a lot of comedy films, the most recent are "Horrible Bosses 2",  "This is Where I Leave You" last year and before that in "Bad Words" in which he personally wrote and directed. Though the movie didn't click with audiences, his directing and acting were praised by critics.

5. Seth Rogen
Title: The Interview (2014)
Seth Rogen first directorial job was with the surprise-hit "This is The End" in 2013. This was followed by the most controversial comedy "The Interview" late last year.

6. James Franco
Title: Child of God
Seth's pal James Franco also directed many films. His most recent are "Child of God" & "Interior, Leather, Bar" but were poorly received by critics and released in limited cinemas mostly in US only.

7. Ben Stiller
Title: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)
Who would forget "Reality Bites" in 90's? Yes, it was Stiller's first directorial feature. He directed several comedy films since then which include Cable Guy, Zoolander, Tropic Thunder and the comedy-drama The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.

8. Keannu Reeves 
Title: Man of Tai Chi (2014)
Known as Neo in sci-fi action film Matrix Trilogy, Keannu Reeves' comeback was a martial-art film "Man of Tai Chi" in which he wrote and directed.

9. Joseph Gordon- Levitt
Title: Don Jon (2013)
Gordon- Levitt also directed his first directorial feature with romantic-comedy Don Jon. The film was a box-office success and was praised by critics.

10. Elizabeth Banks
Title: Pitch Perfect 2 (2015)
After starring and producing the first film, Banks will not just reprise her role in Pitch Perfect sequel but at the same time she will be working as the director of the musical-comedy film. 

Sunday, February 22, 2015

My Oscars 2015 pick

Few minutes before the Oscar starts, here I am listing my own set of winners.

Best Picture - Boyhood

"Whiplash" is my favorie movie of 2014 and Boyhood is second to my list. While Whiplash offers great and inspiring tale, Boyhood has the same elements except that it came out of its normal way of showing it. Richard Linklater took time crafting his master-piece which took 12 years to make. It deserves to win the best film for iys ground-breaking approach in film-making history.

Best Director - Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu

Well, it's harder to put up a large great ensemble than directing the same actors for 12 years, I guess.

Best Actor - Michael Keaton

Eddie Redmayne may look a lot to win but Keaton has proven his worth despite being out of play for a long time.

Julianne Moore, Patricia Arquette and J.K. Simmons, nothing can separate this trio. All three will win Best Actress, Supporting Actress and Support Role respectively

Original Screenplay - The Grand Budapest Hotel

Adapted Screenplay - Whiplash

Best Animated Film - How to Train your Dragon 2

Best Foreign Film - Leviathan

Best Cinematography - Grand Budapest Hotel

Best Prodution Design - Grand Budapest Hotel

Best Costume Design - Grand Budapest Hotel

Best Original Song - Lost Stars (from Begin Again)

Best Makeup & Hairstyling - Grand Budapest Hotel

Best Editing - Boyhood

Best Visual Effects - Interstellar

Best Sound Mixing - American Sniper

Best Original Scoring - The Theory of Eveything

Best Sound Editing - Birdman

Best Documetary - Citezenfour

Monday, January 19, 2015

2015 Oscars Best Picture Nominee, Whiplash

Prior to announcement of the nominees last Thursday, indie drama, Whiplash has been my favorite movie of 2014. Yes, I like it better than Boyhood. Here is my brief review of the film and I rate it as 10/10. 

At first, the movie looks like a typical story of a promising student who wanted to do great with the help of his teacher. But as it progresses, the film takes you to something new, something more beautiful than it already is. Its little twist and turn will make your heart cry, laugh and shout for joy all at the same time.

Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons were equally great and gave life to their characters. I only remember Simmons as a funny guy in Spider-Man movies and Juno, so seeing him in this film is a 360-degrees turn of his usual role showing the actor's real potential. As for Teller, he was over-shadowed with rom-coms. He had serious role once with Nicole Kidman in "Rabbit Hole" but this film should get him to wide-range of roles in the future (hopefully).

There are a lot of takeaways in Whiplash, but perhaps the strongest of all is that you don't limit yourself. Pushing someone beyond their capability is an absolute necessity, as Fletcher (Simmons' character) said in the film. And that must have what writer-director Damien Chazelle applied in making this gem because it transpired and visible to every take, scene by scene.  

Whiplash is nominated for 5 Oscars including Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Actor in a Supporting role for J.K. Simmons. 

Sunday, January 18, 2015

Oscars 2015 Nominees

First off, I'm so thrilled that my favorite movie this year Damien Chazelle's Whiplash is nominated for 5 awards including Best Picture, Screenplay and acting for J.K. Simmons.

This year, Oscar went only for 8 films to compete for the top prize (they had 9 for the last 3 years). Critics' favorites Boyhood and Birdman as expected are nominated and the two are in very close fight. Other nominees are American films "Whiplash", "Selma" and "American Sniper". British films "The Theory of Everything", "The Grand Budapest Hotel" and "The Imitation Game" complete the list.

Four of these films are based from real-life story. "The Imitation Game" is about the life Alan Turing, a mathematician and how he created Turing Machine that inspires today's computer. "The Theory of Everything" is about the famous physicist Stephen Hawking and his wife. "Selma" is about Martin Luther's endeavor for securing equal voting rights and "American Sniper" is about the American Navy Seal sniper who became legend among his colleagues.

The other four are fiction and creatively written for screen. The 12-year epic drama "Boyhood" tells the story of a 5-year old boy as he turns into teenager. The movie was shot for 12 years with the same actors. "Whiplash" is about a promising student and his dream to be a successful musician. "The Grand Budapest Hotel" a comedy that tells about the adventure of the owner of a great hotel. While "Birdman" is a comedy-ensemble that centers on an aging film actor who tries to rebuild his career through Broadway.

I haven't seen all the nominees but I'll watch most of these films and pick my own winners before the Oscar Night on February 22nd. Let's just hope I can find a decent copy of the those foreign films as well because they are never shown in our place. Also, I'm not fond of watching documentaries so I can't really give my opinion on that.

Here are the complete list of nominees:

Birdman - 9 nominations
Best Picture
Best Director  for Alejandro González Iñárritu
Best Actor for Michael Keaton
Best Supporting Actor for Edward Norton
Best Supporting Actress for Emma Stone
Best Original Screenplay
Best in Cinematography
Best in Sound Mixing
Best in Sound Editing

The Grand Budapest Hotel - 9 nominations
Best Picture
Best Director  for Wes Anderson
Best Original Screenplay
Best in Cinematography
Best in Editing
Best in Production Design
Best in Costume Design
Best in Makeup and Hairstyling
Best in Original Score

The Imitation Game - 8 nominations
Best Picture
Best Director  for Morten Tyldum
Best Actor for Benedict Cumberbatch
Best Supporting Actress for Kiera Knightley
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best in Editing
Best in Production Design
Best in Original Score

Boyhood - 6 nominations
Best Picture
Best Director  for Richard Linklater
Best Supporting Actor for Ethan Hawke
Best Supporting Actress for Patricia Arquette
Best Original Screenplay
Best in Editing

American Sniper - 6 nominations
Best Picture
Best Actor for Bradley Cooper
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Editing
Best in Sound Mixing
Best in Sound Editing

The Theory of Everything - 5 nominations
Best Picture
Best Actor for Eddie Redmayne
Best Actress for Felicity Jones
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Original Score

Whiplash - 5 nominations
Best Picture
Best Supporting Actor for J.K. Simmons
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Editing
Best Sound Mixing

Foxcatcher - 5 nominations
Best Actor for Steve Carell
Best Supporting Actor for Mark Ruffalo
Best Director - Bennett Miller
Best Original Screenplay
Best in Makeup and Hairstyling

Interstellar - 5 nominations
Best in Production Design
Best Original Score
Best Sound Mixing
Best in Sound Editing
Best in Visual Effects

Mr. Turner - 4 nominations
Best in Cinematography
Best in Production Design
Best in Costume Design
Best in Original Score

Into The Woods - 3 nominations
Best Supporting Actress for Meryl Streep
Best in Production Design
Best in Costume Design

Unbroken - 3 nominations
Best in Cinematography
Best Sound Mixing
Best in Sound Editing

Selma - 2 nominations
Best Picture
Best Original Song

Wild - 2 nominations
Best Actress for Reese Witherspoon
Best Supporting Actress for Laura Dern

Inherent Vice - 2 nominations
Best in Adapted Screenplay
Best in Costume Design

Guardians of Galaxy - 2 nominations
Best in Visual Effects
Best Original Song

Ida - 2 nominations
Best Foreign Film
Best in Cinematography

Single nomination for these films in acting category. In lead roles, Julianne Moore for "Still Alice", Marion Cotillard in "Two Days, One Night", Rosamund Pike in "Gone Girl" and Supporting role for Robert Duvall in "The Judge".

Single nomination for all the Animated Film category: "The Boxtrolls"; "Big Hero 6"; "How to Train Your Dragon 2"; "Song of the Sea"; "The Tale of the Princess Kaguya"

Single nominations for these films in Visual Effects category: "Captain America: The Winter Soldier"; "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes"; "X-Men: Days of Future Past"

Single nomination for these Foreign Films: "Tangerines"; "Leviathan"; "Wild Tales"; "Timbuktu"

Single nomination in the Best Documentary category: "Citizenfour"; "Finding Vivian Maier"; "Last Days in Vietnam"; "The Salt of the Earth"; "Virunga"

Single nomination for these films: "Nightcrawler" for Original Screenplay; "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" for Visual Effects; "Begin Again", "Beyond the Lights" and "Glenn Campbell: I'll Be Me"  for Original Song; "Maleficent" in Production Design.