"TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION" Super Bowl Spot

Aaaaand the expectations come back down to Earth.

For awhile the buzz on "AGE OF EXTINCTION" was that it was going to be some kind of serious departure from the previous installments: Not just a whole new cast (only Optimus Prime and Bumblebee are returning) but a different tone and storyline that may or may not involve time-travel and The Dinobots. But eventually, it became a little clearer that the motif here is less "fresh start" and more "we should do one of these, but partially set in China because for whatever reason China looooooooooves the TRANSFORMERS movies:"



Still, those do seem to be Dinobots, albeit blown up to Godzilla scale and monster-ized (I thought the two-headed guy with the wings might be one of the Terrorcons, but it's Swoop); which is a very Michael Bay-sounding approach: "Can we make the T-Rex BIGGER? Also scarier?" It'll take more than the lack of LaBeouf to really sell me on this, but Optimus Prime riding a robot dinosaur is a hell of a start. Also: The big ship thing at the very beginning and the unnamed robot turning into a turret-canon = Unicron and Galvatron?

2014 Writers Guild Awards Winners

Last night the guild had their award ceremony and have a bit of an issue about winners and will share with you.

Original screenplay went to Her. No doubt that the story in Her is original, different and perhaps shows what could happen or is happening right now with humans and gadgets, so if honor is given for those reasons then is okay. But if one movie truly disappointed me from this award season is Her as I didn't enjoy movie as whole, did not like Joaquin Phoenix performance and well, according to me, there were too many holes in plot. If you ask me this award should have honored Blue Jasmine or Dallas Buyers Club. Sigh. But now we know what some of AMPAS voters like.

Adapted screenplay went to Captain Phillips. Have not read the book that was object of this adaptation but if you consider the flow of the movie, have to say that I do not find nothing outstanding in this movie. Alright is a good movie, good as typical American entertainment that shows some stuff that is credible and perhaps illuminates on what could be happening with pirates. That's it if you haven't seen fantastic Kaprigen (A Hijacking) which is more than a hundred percent more-tense, with excellent performances and more realistic in a civilized world where you do not send an army to solve a very intricate/complex human/business problem.  Surely group and AMPAS voters have not seen or do not recall great Danish film by Tobias Lindholm.  Unfortunately in this category and from those nominated I have no preference as find all nominations with remarkable flaws against original material or simply, I did not enjoy the movie flow, so anyone could have win and ... did.

Extremely pleased with Guild honoring Sarah Polley for her incredibly good Stories We Tell.

Winners are in *BLUE and to check winners in all categories go here.

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1/3/14
Today the Writers Guild of America East and West announced the nominations for outstanding achievement in writing for the screen during 2013.

Winners will be honored at awards ceremony on Saturday, February 1, at simultaneous ceremonies in Los Angeles (JW Marriott L.A. LIVE) and New York City (Edison Ballroom).

The Nominees

Original Screenplay
Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell for American Hustle
Woody Allen for Blue Jasmine
Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack for Dallas Buyers Club
*Spike Jonze for Her
Bob Nelson for Nebraska

Adapted Screenplay
Tracy Letts for August: Osage County, based on his play
Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke for Before Midnight, based on characters created by Richard Linklater and Kim Krizan
*Bill Ray for Captain Phillips, based on the book A Captain’s Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS, and Dangerous Days at Sea by Richard Phillips with Stephan Talty
Peter Berg for Lone Survivor, based on the book by Marcus Lutrell with Patrick Robinson
Terence Winter for The Wolf of Wall Street, based on the book by Jordan Belfort

Documentary Screenplay
Jeremy Scahill and David Riker for Dirty Wars
Sara Lukinson and Michael Stevens for Herblock - The Black & The White
Janet Tobias and Paul Laikin for No Place on Earth
*Sarah Polley for Stories We Tell
Alex Gibney for We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks

To check nominees in TV, New Media, and Radio go here.  I believe is the first year in recent history that there is no controversy as nominees seem to be for films that have all the award season buzz; not like last year when there were too many films with writers out of the union, so could not be considered for their award.

28th Annual ASC Awards Winners

Last night the group had their award nominations and as expected -at least by me- Gravity won the top award.

Awards are not yet at the official site here but eventually they will be; but if you wish to check winners in other categories go official Twitter here.

Winners are in *BLUE.

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1/16
Yesterday the ASC announced a new award, ASC Spotlight Award, created to recognize outstanding cinematography in features and documentaries typically screened at film festivals, internationally or limited theatrical release, which as you readers know are my kind of movies.

The inaugural nominees are:

*Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lenczewski for Ida
Mark Lee Ping Bing for Renoir
Camille Cottagnoud for Winter Nomads

The award will be given along with the others awards on February 1st at the Hollywood & Highland Ray Dolby Ballroom.

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1/8
Today the American Society of Cinematography announced their nominations and to everybody's surprise there are seven (7) films nominated thanks to a three-way tie that increased the number from the usual five.

As last year, BAFTA category and ASC nods are the same with the exception of the two additional ones, Prisoners and The Grandmaster.

The Nominees for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography

Sean Bobbitt for 12 Years a Slave
Barry Ackroyd for Captain Phillips
*Emmanuel Lubezki for Gravity
Bruno Delbonnel for Inside Llewyn Davis
Phedon Papamichael for Nebraska
Roger Deakins for Prisoners
Phillippe Le Sourd for The Grandmaster

To check official press release go here and to learn nominees in television categories announced last December go here. Have to comment that The Grandmaster has outstanding cinematography but as far as I remember Prisoners did not impress me with remarkable cinematography even do I liked Denis Villeneuve first English-language feature film; still believe that Gravity could win this category -by far.

No Case Too Small

I've observed before that the Disney Company, despite being founded by (and named for!) the guy who practically invented comodifying nostalgia, has been slow to the party in trading on the nostalgia-market for it's own properties. But they're making up for lost time now, with a specific focus on icons especially prized by now-grown Gen-X/Y fans (see: live-action "Sleeping Beauty" focused on fan-fave baddie Maleficent). Now, they've innevitably cast their gaze on the other cash-cow of their legendary 90s Renaissance: "The Disney Afternoon."

90s kids? You're getting a live-action "RESCUE RANGERS" movie.


For those born post-90s, Disney's big weekday/after-school TV "thing" in that era was reworking old characters into then-modern genre frameworks a'la "DUCKTALES." "RANGERS" (which started out as a "RESCUERS" update) was a mystery/action/cop riff built around a team of rodent crimefighters led by the chipmunk duo who'd originated as B-listers in the original Mickey etc. shorts. The new project is an origin story (the series had a feature-length multi-episode pilot) based on a pitch from director Robert Rugan, a commercial director most famous for a Durex Condoms viral ad.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go find out which god I have to please and how to get a "DARKWING DUCK" movie out of this...

67th Bodil Awards Award Winners

Today the Danish Film Critics group had their award ceremony and can't deny that I'm very pleased with what the group honored as top awards went to The Hunt and Nymphomaniac.

Winners are in *BLUE. To check winners at official site go here, available only in Danish.
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1/8/14
Recently the Filmmedarbejderforeningens (Denmark's National Association of Film Critics) announced their nominations for this major Danish film awards and not surprisingly Jagten by Thomas Vinterberg and Nymphomaniac by Lars von Trier lead with six (6) nominations each. Definitively agree with Jacob Wendt, chairman Denmark's Film Critics Association, when he says that 2013 was a "dynamite" year for Danish cinema as was truly good but also very explosive!

Most interesting for me is to find who is honored with a nomination from the "star" crowded movie Nymphomaniac and yes it's kind of surprising to find Uma Thurman, Stacy Martin (first time acting) and Jamie Bell, while is NO surprise to find Charlotte Gainsbourg and Stellan Skarsgård.  Have no doubt when I say that from 2013 the best Danish movie (and one of the best world cinema) is Jagten.

Best Feature
*Jagten (The Hunt), Thomas Vinterberg
Nymphomaniac, Lars von Trier
Sorg og glæde (Sorrow and Joy), Nils Malmros
Nordvest (Northwest), Michael Noer
Kvinden i buret (The Keeper of Lost Causes), Mikkel Nørgaard

Best Actress
Sofie Gråbøl in I Lossens time (The Hour of the Lynx)
*Charlotte Gainsbourg in Nymphomaniac
Stacy Martin in for Nymphomaniac
Helle Fagralid in Sorg og Glæde (Sorrow and Joy )

Best Supporting Actress
Anne-Louise Hassing in Jagten (The Hunt)
*Susse Wold in Jagten (The Hunt)
Kristin Scott Thomas in for Only God Forgives
Uma Thurman in for Nymphomaniac
Sonja Richter in Kvinden i Buret (The Keeper of Lost Causes)

Best Actor
Jacob Cedergren in Sorg og glæde (Sorrow and Joy)
*Mads Mikkelsen in Jagten (The Hunt)
Nicolas Bro in Spies & Glistrup (Sex, Drugs & Taxation)
Gustav Dyekær Giese in Nordvest (Northwest)
Stellan Skarsgård in Nymphomaniac

Best Supporting Actor
*Roland Møller in Nordvest (Northwest)
Lars Ranthe in Jagten (The Hunt)
Thomas Bo Larsen in Jagten T(he Hunt)
Jamie Bell in Nymphomaniac
Fares Fares in Kvinden i Buret (The Keeper of Lost Causes)

Best Documentary
Blodets Bånd (Blood Ties), Pernille Bervald Jørgensen and Christian Sønderby Jepsen
Sepideh, Berit Madsen
*Ai Weiwei: The Fake Case, Andreas Johnsen

Best Non-US Feature
The Paradise Trilogy (Paradise: Love, Paradise: Faith and Paradise: Hope), Ulrich Seidl, Austria
The Broken Circle Breakdown, Felix van Groeningen, Belgium
The Great Beauty, Paolo Sorrentino, Italy
*Blue Is the Warmest Color, Abdellatif Kechiche, France
Rust & Bone, Jacques Audiard, France

Best US Feature
Before Midnight, Richard Linklater
Django Unchained, Quentin Tarantino
Frances Ha, Noah Baumbach
Gravity, Alfonso Cuarón
*Beasts of the Southern Wild, Benh Zeitlin

Awards ceremony will be on February 1st at Bremen Theatre hosted by Troels Lyby; also Jesper Langberg will receive an honorary Bodil in 2014. To read nominations at official site go here. Can't help but share here the infamous poster that made the film critics group very well-known this year around the world when they "copied" Nymphomaniac posters with their own members.

4th Les Magritte du Cinéma Award Winners

Today the André Delvaux Academy had their award ceremony and the top winner of the night is none other than Ernest et Célestine, an animated film that has an Oscar nomination that I wish could turn into an Oscar win but believe that other movie by Disney will please more AMPAS members, sigh.

Winners are in *BLUE. To read winners in all categories go here or official site but wait on the second as winners are not up yet.

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1/9/14
A few minutes ago the André Delvaux Academy released the nominations for the fourth edition of this Belgian awards that will have its award ceremony on Saturday, February 1st at Square in Brussels with Emilie Duquenne as the president of this year ceremony.

The fourth film by Frédéric Fonteyne, Tango Libre, leads the race with 10 nominations followed by Vincent Lannoo Au Nom du Films with 7 and Vijay & I with 4 nominations.

Best Film
Au nom du fils (In the Name of the Son), Vincent Lannoo
*Ernest et Célestine, Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar
Kinshasa Kids, Marc-Henri Wajnberg
Le monde nous appartient, Stephan Streker
Tango Libre, Frédéric Fonteyne

Best Flemish Coproduction
Brasserie Romantiek, Joël Vanhoebrouck
*Kid, Fien Troch
La cinquième saison, Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth

Best Foreign Film in Coproduction
La religieuse (The Nun), Guillaume Nicloux
*La vie d'Adèle (Blue is the Warmest Color), Abdellatif Kechiche
Les chevaux de Dieu (Horses of God), Nabil Ayouch
Populaire, Régis Roinsard

Best Director
Vincent Lannoo for Au nom du fils (In the Name of the Son)
*Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar for Ernest et Célestine
Frédéric Fonteyne for Tango libre
Sam Garbarski for Vijay and I

Best Actress
Astrid Whettnall in Au nom du fils (In the Name of the Son)
Lubna Azabal in Goodbye Morocco
*Pauline Etienne in La religieuse (The Nun)
Déborah François in Populaire

Best Supporting Actress
Dominique Baeyens in Au nom du fils (In the Name of the Son)
Nicole Shirer in BXL - USA
*Catherine Salée in La vie d'Adèle (Blue is the Warmest Color)
Christelle Cornil in Landes

Best Female Newcomer
Mona Walravens in La vie d'Adèle (Blue is the Warmest Color)
*Pauline Burlet in Le passé (The Past)
Rania Mellouli in Le sac de farine (The Bag of Flour)
Anne Paulicevich in Tango libre

Best Actor
Sam Louwyck in La cinquième saison
François Damiens in Tango Libre
Jan Hammenecker in Tango libre
*Benoît Poelvoorde in Une place sur la terre (A Place on Earth)

Best Supporting Actor
Bouli Lanners in 11.6
Olivier Gourmet in Grand Central
David Murgia in Je suis supporter du Standard
*Laurent Capelluto in Le temps de l'aventure (Just a Sigh)
Renaud Rutten in Une chanson pour ma mère

Best Male Newcomer
*Achille Ridolfi in Au nom du fils (In the Name of the Son)
Bent Simons in Kid
Steve Driesen in Landes
Mehdi Dehbi in Le sac de farine (The Bag of Flour)

Best Screenplay (Original or Adapted)
Fien Troch for Kid
Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth for La cinquième saison
Philippe Blasband and Anne Paulicevich for Tango libre
*Philippe Blasband and Sam Garbarski for Vijay and I

To learn nominees in all categories go official site, available only in French. Unfortunately have seen most of the films but still there are a few that I'm looking forward to see as soon as possible.

What's on WHAT'S ON NETFLIX NOW?

Given the recent bump in visitors (due to some generous readers on Reddit, Facebook, and Twitter--I thank you all), I thought it would be a good idea to revisit an earlier blog entry so that newcomers have a better idea of what this site is about. Yes, the What's New and What's Expiring lists are always going to be a big draw, especially as word continues to spread. But there's also a distinct point of view to them, and especially to the editorial content. It's never been my goal to cover everything and anything that comes to Netflix. Instead I want to bring a sense of curated content, as informed by decades of watching, studying, and (occasionally) making films. So, you may rightly ask:

"What's Your Angle?"

Or: What Kind of Weird Stuff Will You Be Pushing On Us?

In the course of starting this blog, I may have conveyed the idea that these little writeups are aimed at movie buffs and other heavy-duty Patrons of Cinema. That's not actually the case. At least I hope that's not how this comes across.

Maybe it was misleading to have kicked things off with a classic like His Girl Friday. What I really hope to do here is appeal to not just film geeks but average and casual viewers--those who enjoy above-average entertainment but don't always know how to find it. I'm no film buff myself (honest), but as a sometimes-filmmaker trying to understand the intricacies of his craft, my goal has always been to see as much of the good stuff, and as little of the bad, as possible. That's meant developing plenty of blind spots (which is why I don't consider myself a proper "buff"), but what I do know about I feel pretty secure in sharing.

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