Alejandro González Iñárritu claimed the Oscar last year in the ‘Best Achievement in Directing‘ category for his film Birdman, and winning the ‘Best Motion Picture of the Year‘ and ‘Best Original Screenplay‘ awards as well!
So not surprisingly, there is an immense amount of expectation for Mr. Iñárritu’s latest film The Revenant, and then again, when the ever-impressive Leonardo DiCaprio is in the lead, tagging with him all that debate about – can this be finally Leonardo’s Oscar moment or not?
And on top of that, the film is shot by ace cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki who has already won two Oscars for his brilliant camera work in films Birdman and Gravity. He should have also won for two of his previous films The Tree of Life and Children of Menbut again that’s another debate for another time.
So coming back to The Revenant, a thrilling revenge saga dated way back in 1823, a dangerous time for the American fur traders and trappers who not only had to survive the treacherous climate but also the Indians for whom they were guests not particularly welcomed.
‘I ain’t afraid to die anymore. I’d done it already.’
Leonardo DiCaprio playing the part of Hugh Glass (the film is inspired by his real life endeavors), who was a frontiersman on a fur trading expedition, an explorer in the true sense of the word, a survivor who came back from dead and most importantly, a man with vengeance on his mind.
‘He’s afraid. He knows how far I came to find him.’
And Tom Hardy on the other hand, playing the intense yet crooked character of John Fitzgerald, who in a way was the real reason of Hugh Glass’s will to survive!
Often vicious and violent (specially the bear attack scene), The Revenant was shot in twelve different locations and three different countries, chronologically for as long as 80 days and that too almost entirely using natural light!
A 2 hours and 36 minutes of cinematic bliss not to be missed under any circumstances.
P.S. – For the record, Leonardo sleeping in an actual gutted carcass of a horse is not true, the carcass was a prosthetic one. Though Leo did eat a bison liver for real to capture the authenticity of that shot!
On Sunday, February 28th, it’s that time of the year when they give away those awards!
Yes, on this day, the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences will hand over the most prestigious awards of the entertainment world – the Academy Awards or the Oscars.
On the basis of the ‘preferential voting’ system (democratic and unbiased), all the nominees are chosen each year for the various award categories and then they simply wait, hope and pray to win!
This year Chris Rock will be hosting the award ceremony on ABC.
In total 305 feature films are competing for Best Picture nominations. Though the final and official seven/eight nominated ones will be announced on Thursday, January 14th, it’s always fun to guess, predict and anticipate a little before hand.
So let the predictions for the ‘Best Picture’ category begin!
A film that reflects on the youth and relishes the old age with the same intensity. It deals with friendship, love, marriage, lust, professions, emotions and above all emotions. I bet my
Powerful, dramatic and full of energy, directed by George Miller, this is undoubtedly the best action flick of 2015 and a leader in the Oscar race for the ‘Best Picture’.
Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu (whose film Birdman won the ‘best director’, ‘best picture’ and ‘best screenplay’ awards last year), has come up with this brilliant tale of an explorer Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio).
A fur trading expedition in the 1820s; inspired by true events this is an epic adventure, a quest for survival and also a sure favorite in this year’s Oscar.
Directed by Adam McKay, this is a biographical account of the time (mid 2000) when there was a financial crisis in the US, and four individuals decided to fight the greedy banks for their lack of foresight.
Looks like a pretty sure thing for the award ceremony. Watch out!
Adopted from Emma Donoghue‘s famous novel, this is one unique story of a five-year old boy who is told by his loving mother that their 10-by-10 foot ‘room’ is the only world that exists!
Directed by Lenny Abrahamson, a brilliant film that surely is becoming people’s favorite and a likely contestant for the Oscar.
The recently released ever popular addition to the Star Wars franchise and a sudden favorite for the Oscars.
Directed by J.J. Abrams, this film with it’s immense fan following has the potential to be a game changer in the race for this years ‘Best Picture’ Academy Awards.
By the way, this film has recreated the U.S. box office record beating James Cameron‘s Avatar!
Best of Hollywood 2014 – is not at all an easy list to make. 2014 being an awesome year for film-lovers and thanks to Hollywood for giving us such a balanced dose of entertainment; Thrillers, SciFis, Comedies, Love stories War Dramas, Horror flicks and lots of Biographies.
But then again, it’s the time to remember the best performances of this year (no foreign language films included in this list), the awesome directorial ventures, those brilliant visuals and mesmerizing background scores – the films that touched your heart, amazed you and made you fall in love with Cinema (all over again).
It was 1965 and Martin Luther King leaded the epic march from Selma to Montgomery (Alabama), a nonviolent protest demanding for the right-to-vote for all black men and women in the country.
Gone Girl is fast paced film that demands your full attention, a superbly crafted thriller that plunges into the depths of a psychologically twisted marital relationship.
A dangerously realistic, gritty tale based on the concept of our unconscious satisfaction in watching other people’s loss and tragedy. Thanks to the news channels.
Louis Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) – is he a scavenger or a survivor, a psychopath or a potential businessman, a cold-hearted predator or an insane professional?
Wes Anderson’s obsession for perfect production design, bold color schemes, faultless framing and as always the cheeky humor brings out an unique creation. Simply wonderful to watch, probably his best work till date.
A Sci-Fi starring Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathway and Jessica Chastain, Interstellar is a film about space and black holes, about dimensions and relativity; and then again it’s also about love and betrayal.
Eddie Redmayne this year won the Oscar (in the Best Actor category) playing Stephen Hawking’s character with extraordinary authenticity and brilliance. A must watch.
Foxcatcher is a film that tells the tale of two troubled souls, a multimillionaire and a wrestler, both disturbed and consumed by their own ambition and distorted personal lives.
The intense story of Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller), a 19-year-old aspiring jazz drummer and Fletcher (J.K. Simmons), his brutal school music instructor.
Whiplash is a gritty and uncompromising take on ambition and success – it stretches the boundaries of all previous student-mentor relationship based dramas.
A film so real and shot through such an unreal time-span that it gives you the feel of being a part of the journey with this boy Mason (Ellar Coltrane), who was 7 years old when Richard Linklater started filming and 18 when he finally felt it’s time to wrap up.
Brilliant performances by Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley The imitation game is one of the best biographies made last year – a perfect combination of history and good cinema.
Alejandro González Iñárritu is a name associated with some of the best cinemas made in the last two decades; a director responsible for such unique films like Amores Perros, 21 Grams, Babel, Biutiful and now his latest accomplishment – Birdman.
Already won several awards including Golden Globe and BAFTA, Birdman is being nominated in 9 categories for this year’s Oscars!
The film is based on this once-famous actor Riggan (Michael Keaton) who is still remembered as the popular superhero character ‘Birdman’ he played in the past. Now on one hand he is desperately trying to find his stand as an actor in the broadways, and on the other he is having a tough time controlling his ego and maintaining his family ties.
Clever casting as Michael Keaton in his real life has played such an iconic superhero character himself (in the films Batman and Batman Returns). And his acting in Birdman is truly superlative – i think it’s his performance of a life time.
But then, the speciality of Birdman lies in how the film is shot and executed.
The whole film is edited to look like one continuous shot. Hats off to the director of photography Emmanuel Lubezki who made the camera move such effortlessly and make it invisible even in the mirrors!
An effort to make a film look continuous (almost in real time), I doubt if any body has attempted such a tremendous feat since after the year 1948 when Alfred Hitchcock made history with his film Rope where he ingeniously cut the whole film in only 10 shots!
Another special mention is the music of Birdman, the drum score by Antonio Sanchez is simply inseparable from the film; the rhythm and pace of the drum beats perfectly sync with the movements and emotions of the characters. A masterpiece indeed.
Iñárritu through his dark comedy has managed to explore many important issues of our present age – the values of family bondings, the necessity to control our ego, the importance of propaganda in social media, the role of critics and also the eternal question of our human existence and the true meaning behind it.
After watching Birdman one has to admit that beyond the superficial good/bad remarks the film has a certain deeper impact on the audience – an exclusive experience completely different from any other films recently seen.
So as a quote says in the film Birdman – “Have a real experience!” . Please go watch it.
Most anticipated world films of 2014 yet to release. The trailers are convincing enough to make us impatient but all in good time.
Here follows a list of Ten films that promises awesome entertainment. Do enjoy the trailers for now and make sure you don’t miss any of these on the big screen.
Let the fun begin.
1. Sin City: A dame to kill for (releasing on 22nd Aug)