2013 – Moviewallas

Episode 215 – The Book Thief / Philomena

Moviewallas

It’s Episode 215 of Moviewallas! In this episode we discuss:

– The Book Thief

– Philomena

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 30:16 — 28.0MB)

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Episode 214 – The Hunger Games: Catching Fire / The Broken Circle Breakdown

Moviewallas Podcast Review Reviews

It’s Episode 214 of Moviewallas! In this episode we discuss:

– The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

– The Broken Circle Breakdown

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 34:23 — 31.7MB)

What’s in a Name | Review

Directors Moviewallas Opinion Review Sneak Peek

How many times have you heard the phrase “If you want to stay friends with someone, stay away from religion or politics”? Well, in the movie What’s in a Name, we get to experience both during an intimate evening with a group of family and friends. Written and directed by the talented duo Alexandre de la Patelliere and Matthieu Delaporte who adapted this delightful film from their highly successful stage play, What’s in a Name tells the story of a slick real estate agent Vincent who is about to enter into fatherhood. During a dinner with family and childhood friends he announces the name of his future son, however a discussion about the scandalous moniker explodes into a feisty debate that brings the group’s past bubbling to the surface albeit with hilarious, dramatic and altogether unbelievable results.

What’s in a Name is an enchanting heart warming and often too realistic window into how relationships with family and friends evolve over time. It explores the roles we play in a group and the grudges and opinions we harbor about each other that most of us never share. Just what would happen if we could tell others what we really thought about them and their life choices?

Natural and convincing performances from a talented cast including Patrick Bruel, Valérie Benguigui, Charles Berling, Guillaume de Tonquedec and Judith el Zein elevate this movie from a family melodrama into a witty and surprising black comedy that makes you feel like you really are that fly on the wall of this rather dysfunctional yet clearly affectionate group of people who argue with each other like it’s a national sport. The smartness of this movie is further showcased by its ability to share Parisian life and attitudes to class, sexual orientation and political leanings.

The dialogue is witty, punchy and hard hitting at times but you are never far from a smile, a giggle or belly laugh whilst being equally moved by the writers’ ability to distill human behavior and basic emotions that if allowed to come to the surface reduce us all to six year olds in a playground

This charming movie, which has already been a huge hit in France, will be opening in theatres in the US on Friday 13^th December and will also be available on VOD. Check local listings

https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/whats-in-a-name-le-prenom/id625282414?ign-mpt=uo%3D4

2013 San Diego Film Critics Society winners announced

Moviewallas

Members of the San Diego Film Critics Society gathered this morning to take the nominations from yesterday to the next step. Votes were cast in each of the categories below. And several categories needed subsequent run-off voting. And here are the winners! The wealth was spread wide. And I would say the group got it right for the most part.

Best Film: HER

Best Director: Alfonso Cuarón, GRAVITY

Best Actress: Cate Blanchett, BLUE JASMINE

Best Actor: Oscar Isaac, INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS

Best Supporting Actress: Shailene Woodley, THE SPECTACULAR NOW

Best Supporting Actor: Jared Leto, DALLAS BUYERS CLUB

Best Original Screenplay: Spike Jonze, HER

Best Adapted Screenplay: Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke, BEFORE MIDNIGHT

Best Foreign Language Film: DRUG WAR

Best Documentary: THE ACT OF KILLING

Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki, TO THE WONDER

Best Animated Film: THE WIND RISES

Best Editing: Christopher Rouse, CAPTAIN PHILLIPS

Best Production Design: Catherine Martin and Karen Murphy, THE GREAT GATSBY

Best Score: Arcade Fire, HER

Best Ensemble Performance: AMERICAN HUSTLE

Kyle Counts Award: Destin Daniel Cretton (Director, SHORT TERM 12)

San Diego Film Critics Society announces its 2013 nominations for best of the year

Moviewallas

It is the time of the year when film review groups around the country start announcing their year-end picks in the major categories. The New York Film Critics Circle bestowed their best picture prize on AMERICAN HUSTLE, a soon-to-be-released Scorcese-esque caper film set in the 70’s, the latest from director David O. Russell (SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK, THE FIGHTER). The National Board of Review picked HER, the wistful new Spike Jonze film set in a not so distant future, and about a man who falls in love with the his computer operating system. With those two groups out of the gate first, many other reviewer groups have followed in the past few days. And so far, the winners have been blissfully inconsistent, which promises to make for an exciting awards-season.

The San Diego Film Critics Society (of which Moviewallas is a member) announced this afternoon their nominations in all of the top categories. The voting occurs tomorrow morning and the winners in each category will be declared later in the day. We will be sure to post the final winners here, but below are the top five picks in each category (nominations), which may help guide your movie watching plans over the holiday break.

BEST FILM
12 YEARS A SLAVE
GRAVITY
HER
INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS
SHORT TERM 12

BEST DIRECTOR
Alfonso Cuarón, GRAVITY
Destin Cretton, SHORT TERM 12
Joel and Ethan Coen, INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS
Spike Jonze, HER
Steve McQueen, 12 YEARS A SLAVE

BEST ACTRESS
Adèle Exarchopoulos, BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR
Brie Larson, SHORT TERM 12
Cate Blanchett, BLUE JASMINE
Emma Thompson, SAVING MR. BANKS
Sandra Bullock, GRAVITY

BEST ACTOR
Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 YEARS A SLAVE
Joaquin Phoenix, HER
Matthew McConaughey, DALLAS BUYERS CLUB
Oscar Isaac, INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS
Tom Hanks, CAPTAIN PHILLIPS

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Elizabeth Banks, THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE
Jennifer Lawrence, AMERICAN HUSTLE
Lupita Nyong’o, 12 YEARS A SLAVE
Sally Hawkins, BLUE JASMINE
Shailene Woodley, THE SPECTACULAR NOW

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Daniel Bruhl, RUSH
James Gandolfini, ENOUGH SAID
Jared Leto, DALLAS BUYERS CLUB
Michael Fassbender, 12 YEARS A SLAVE
Sam Rockwell, THE WAY, WAY BACK

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Aaron Guzikowski, PRISONERS
Joel and Ethan Coen, INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS
Nicole Holofcener, ENOUGH SAID
Spike Jonze, HER
Woody Allen, BLUE JASMINE

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Billy Ray, CAPTAIN PHILLIPS
Destin Cretton, SHORT TERM 12
John Ridley, 12 YEARS A SLAVE
Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke, BEFORE MIDNIGHT
Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, THE SPECTACULAR NOW

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR
DRUG WAR
NO
THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN
THE HUNT

BEST DOCUMENTARY
20 FEET FROM STARDOM
BLACKFISH
LET THE FIRE BURN
STORIES WE TELL
THE ACT OF KILLING

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Bruno Delbonnel, INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS
Emmanuel Lubezki, GRAVITY
Emmanuel Lubezki, TO THE WONDER
Roger Deakins, PRISONERS
Simon Duggan, THE GREAT GATSBY

BEST ANIMATED FILM
DESPICABLE ME 2
FROZEN
GET A HORSE
THE CROODS
THE WIND RISES

BEST EDITING
Alan Edward Ball, THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE
Alfonso Cuarón and Mark Sanger, GRAVITY
Christopher Rouse, CAPTAIN PHILLIPS
Eric Zumbrunnen, Jeff Buchanan, HER
Joe Walker, 12 YEARS A SLAVE

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Adam Stockhausen, 12 YEARS A SLAVE
Andy Nicholson, GRAVITY
Catherine Martin and Karen Murphy, THE GREAT GATSBY
K.K. Barrett, HER
Michael Corenblith, SAVING MR. BANKS

BEST SCORE
Arcade Fire, HER
Bjorn Eriksson, BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN
Hans Zimmer, 12 YEARS A SLAVE
Hans Zimmer, RUSH
Steven Price, GRAVITY

BEST ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE
12 YEARS A SLAVE
AMERICAN HUSTLE
PRISONERS
SHORT TERM 12
THE WAY, WAY BACK

The Good Road | Review

Directors Film Festivals News Opinion Predictions Review Sneak Peek Trailers

Just what does it take to become India’s entry for the best foreign film category at the Academy Awards 2013? Well, you have to beat out 21 other contenders as newcomer filmmaker Gyan Correa’s film The Good Road has done and in doing so is perhaps the first Gujarati film to have made it. Produced by the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) The Good Road albeit a little controversially has left behind strong films including “The Lunchbox”, “Bhaag Milkha Bhaag”, “English Vinglish”, “Vishwaroopam”, Malayalam film “Celluloid” and Bengali film “Shabdo”.

Correa’s debut movie is an interesting intertwining of three separate stories all set on a highway in Gujarat that come together in a thought provoking climax. A truck driver called Pappu (Shamji Dhana Kerasia) and his side kick (Priyank Upadhyay) are given a task which is not so legal, a middle class family from Mumbai (Ajay Gehi and Sonali Kulkarni) are holidaying in Gujarat with their young son (Keval Katrodia) and a young girl (Poonam Rajput) who is on her way to meet her grandmother unfortunately loses her way and finds herself lured into a roadside brothel.

What the film lacks in depth, is totally compensated for by the Colorful and often breathtaking cinematography care of Amitabha Singh; gaily dressed village women contrasted against a white salt plain, gaudily painted trucks along the highways & vibrant life-filled rest stops and stunning sparse vistas of the Gujarat which are all set to hauntingly beautiful acoustic Gujarati folk music

What I admired most about the movie though was the social narrative that Correa manages to evoke; child prostitution, the class system and the struggles of an often-stressed working class. In addition, the tension created throughout the movie is often intolerable as we watch the decisions of each of the characters play out hoping that nothing too bad will happen to them. Correa who wrote and directed the film also chose to cast locals in the movie, a great decision in my opinion since they add to the authenticity of the movie

The Good Road may not win the Oscars, however it is a journey that will stay with you for some time

The Good Road will be the closing film at The South Asian International Film Festival, presented by HBO running from December 3rd through the 8th