Tag: Spike Lee

OSCARS!

By mumofthreedevils on January 23, 2019 • ( Leave a comment )

So yesterday saw the official Oscar nominations announced.
I am a little excited AGAIN!
BlacKkKlansman has got 6 nominations!

However, it has lots of competition. Some of it good, some of it great and some of it there, simply because of the mood of the Oscars over the last few years. I won’t say anymore about that because whatever I say will be taken the wrong way and I can’t be hassled with the backlash.

Anyway, I will be doing my best to see all of the ‘Best Picture’ nominations before the ceremony on the 24th February. I haven’t been doing particularly well with that over the last few weeks as life has just been getting in the way.
Today I’ve woken up with a streaming cold and hacking cough and I ache all over! which means I probably won’t be making it to the cinema on my three days off this week either!

So far I’ve seen 4 of the 8 nominated movies and as with the BAFTA nominations, I will just be listing the ones I have an interest in.

Best Picture
Black Panther
BlacKkKlansman
Bohemian Rhapsody
The Favourite
Green Book
Roma
A Star is Born
Vice

Of course, BlacKkKlansman is totally getting my support for this one. It has already lost to ‘Roma’ at the Golden Globes and that is one I still have to watch. Might even do it today.
BlacKkKlansman is just inspirational, heartbreaking and infuriating and so well done that in my opinion, deserves a BIG win.

Black Panther was an inspired movie and a credit to the Marvel family and it ‘should’ have been up for a ‘Visual Effects’ award….. but a Best Picture award? Mmmm, seriously?
Fabulous casting however, and can’t wait to see what they do with the next one. I found the story-line to be quite weak and in some places, the visuals a little over powering. (Please do not chew my head off! That is simply my opinion.)

Bohemian Rhapsody is a wonderful film, and I can see Rami walking away with the Oscar for his portrayal of Freddie Mercury but the film as a whole just doesn’t quite cut it for me next to BlacKkKlansman.

Green Book is a ‘surprising’ favourite.
I saw this at a secret screening a while ago, a few weeks before it went on general release. With no idea what we were going to be watching, the whole audience did a collective ‘WTF’ when the title came on screen before everyone dived onto their phones to IMDB what we were about to watch.
It may have taken a little time getting into it, but it was certainly worth sticking with and I will quite happily watch it again.

The rest I need to catch up on, but I am sick to death of the ‘Star Is Born’ soundtrack playing on the radio whenever I get into my car, and it is now putting me off seeing it!!

Actor in a Leading Role
Christian Bale – Vice
Bradley Cooper – A Star Is Born
Willen Dafoe – At Eternity’s Gate
Rami Malek – Bohemian Rhapsody
Viggo Mortensen – Green Book

My money is on Rami Malek! But there is strong competition in Christian Bale and Viggo Mortensen.

Actor in a Supporting Role
Mahershala Ali – Green Book
Adam Driver – BlacKkKlansman
Sam Elliot – A Star is Born
Richard E. Grant – Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Sam Rockwell – Vice

Mahershala Ali won the Golden Globe for this one but I really want to see Adam Driver snatch the Oscar for this one this year. Unfortunately, as a first time Academy nominee, with some well loved and established actors in the lineup, I think I may be disappointed this year.

Directing
BlacKkKlansman – Spike Lee
Cold War – Pawel Pawlikowski
The favourite – Yorgos Lanthimos
Roma – Alfonso Cuaron
Vice – Adam McKay

I have only seen BlacKkKlansman in this category.
Alfonsi Cuaron won the Golden Globe but I really hope Spike gets this one!

Adapted Screenplay
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs – Joel and Ethan Coen
BlacKkKlansman – Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott and Spike Lee
Can You Ever Forgive Me? – Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty
If Beale Street Could Talk – Barry Jenkins
A Star Is Born – Eric Roth, Bradley Cooper and Will Fetters

It HAS to be BlacKkKlansman. The story is so outrageously unbelievable but so totally relevant to this day, which is highlighted at the end of the film.
Spike and the team have done a wonderful job of portraying the subject matter with just the right amount of humour, which makes, what could be heavy going, a lot easier to stomach, right up until they punch you in the gut with the last few minutes!!

Animated Feature
Incredibles 2
Isle of Dogs
Mirai
Ralph Breaks the Internet
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Spiderman-Man: Into the Spider-Verse all the way.
I can’t see how Isle of Dogs is STILL getting any acclaim. Hopefully this will be the last we see of it.

Original Score
Black Panther
BlacKkKlansman
If Beale Street Could Talk
Isle of Dogs
Mary Poppins Returns

If BlacKkKlansman loses to Isle of Dogs, I will never watch the Oscars again!! (Well I will, but my faith will be totally smashed)

Film Editing
BlacKkKlansman
Bohemian Rhapsody
The Favourite
Green Book
Vice

Of course, there are no prizes for guessing my prediction.
It’s BlacKkKlansman all the way or nothing.

Call me biased, because I obviously am, BUT, BlacKkKlansman is an amazing film. If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s now available on DVD and streaming services. Go see it.

Now that is done, I am going to go and die on my sofa for the afternoon.
Streaming eyes, hacking cough, aching all over, getting worse by the hour.
Think sleep may be eluding me tonight too.

AWARDS SEASON

By mumofthreedevils on January 5, 2019 • ( Leave a comment )

Here it is, awards season has started.
There are a multitude of awards over the next few months, but the important ones for me are, The Golden Globes, The Baftas and the Academy Awards or Oscars.

The Golden Globes are actually tomorrow evening in the US but, as usual, there are no UK TV channels airing them, so I will have to make do with news reports and Youtube clips over the following days.

There are some good films in the nominations but the ones I am most interested in are as follows….

Best Motion Picture – Drama
Black Panther
BlacKkKlansman
Bohemian Rhapsody
If Beale Street Could Talk
A Star Is Born

As much as I would love to see BlacKkKlansman walk away with the top award, it is up against some big movies, although it does have the ‘artsy’ edge that the voters like, so who knows?

Best Director
Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born
Alfonso Cuaron, Roma
Peter Farrelly, Green Book
Spike Lee, BlacKkKlansman
Adam McKay, Vice

In my eyes, the winner of this one will be Spike Lee. He’s done an amazing job telling an unbelievably true story and gives it just the right amount of humour before slapping you in the face with a gob smacking ending.

Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born
Willem Dafoe, At Eternity’s Gate
Lucas Hedges, Boy Erased
Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody
John David Washington, BlacKkKlansman

John David Washington, son of Denzel Washington, is a chip off the old block, and I have no doubt we will be seeing a lot more of him in the future, however, I suspect Rami Malek will be walking away with this one after his stunning performance as Freddie Mercury.

Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Mahershala Ali, Green Book
Timothee Chalamet, Beautiful Boy
Adam Driver, BlacKkKlansman
Richard E Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Sam Rockwell, Vice

This one is tearing me part. I am split between Adam Driver in BlacKkKlansman and Timothee Chalamet in Beautiful Boy.
Both gave outstanding performances in two films based on true stories.
However, Mahershala Ali is also fabulous in Green Book!!
Then there are two outstanding actors left in the nominations in Richard E Grant and Sam Rockwell and I haven’t seen their movies yet so I can’t comment on the performances.
This one could literally go to anyone!! Although I am still rooting for Adam Driver…….. and Timothee Chalamet!

After the Globes come the BAFTAs and the Oscars.
This is where things get a bit confusing. Follow carefully.

Jan 7th – The Nominations voting for the OSCARS begins
Jan 9th – The BAFTA nominations are announced
Jan 10th The BAFTA final voting opens
Jan 14th – The OSCARS nominations voting closes
Jan 22nd – The OSCARS nominations are announced
Feb 8th – BAFTA voting closes
Feb 10th – BAFTA awards ceremony
Feb 12th – OSCARS final voting opens
Feb 19th – OSCARS final voting closes
Feb – 24th – OSCARS awards ceremony

So as you can see, with the BAFTA awards right before the final voting for the OSCARS, the BAFTAs can have a bit of an effect on the outcome of voting for the Oscars.

ALMOST THERE!

By mumofthreedevils on December 6, 2018 • ( Leave a comment )

So we’re coming to the end of another year and what a year it’s been.
My university course has been the driving force for the entire year, taking up all my free time and my sanity with family life taking a bit of a back seat. Any chance of getting out and having some fun has been grabbed with both hands.

Anyway, the academic writing and exams has now finished and I’m relieved to say I’ve passed it all.
Now I just have to complete my placements and get all my skills documents and portfolio signed off before confirmation of an overall pass (hopefully) at the beginning of March.
I can now breath a little bit as the pressure has been taken off of home life and I can finally get back to the things I love to do.

Speaking of which…….

Awards season is just about upon us and I am happy to announce that my man, Adam Driver, has already been nominated for one!!

The 2019 Golden Globes nominees have just been announced and BlacKkKlansman has received 4 nominations for Best Motion Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor.

As a Best Movie nominee, it has some strong competition with ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and ‘A Star Is Born’ also having nominations.

Best Actor nominee, John David Washington, who is the lead in ‘BlacKkKlansman’ and was brilliant, is unfortunately being outshone this year by Rami Malek who has received the nomination for his stunning portrayal of Freddie Mercury in ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’.

I am torn between two actors for the Best Supporting Actor nominations.
Adam Driver has been nominated for his role in BlacKkKlansman and he totally deserves it (not biased in any way, but he was brilliant!)…..BUT…..
Timothee Chalamet has been nominated for his role in ‘Beautiful Boy’, which I haven’t seen yet but I have read the book and after seeing his breakthrough performance in ‘Call Me By Your Name’ last year, I suspect he is going to be tough competition this year, although both of them are up against Sam Rockwell, Richard E. Grant and Mahershala Ali.

Finally, Spike Lee is up for Best Director for his wonderfully dark humoured take on BlacKkKlansman.

This is just the start.
I hope to see this film get a lot more attention and acclaim over the next few months.
Watch this space.

BLACKKKLANSMAN

By mumofthreedevils on August 25, 2018 • ( Leave a comment )

I finally got to see BlacKkKlansman yesterday and I was not disappointed.

There’s always a huge sigh of relief after seeing one of Adam’s new films.
I can’t imagine giving him a bad review.
In this case however, he’s getting a rave review.

John David Washington is definitely a chip off the old block.
Denzel’s son delivers a wonderful performance as Ron Stallworth.

The film is brilliant.
Spike Lee has managed to take an unbelievable story and turned it into a pretty hard hitting film with all the social and political relevance of it’s day back in the 70’s and rammed home the fact that it is all still sadly relevant today.

Spike has managed to take, what is sometimes uncomfortable viewing, and turned it into a serious look at the issues involved and spattered it with just the right amount of humour.

You have to admit, Black man infiltrates Ku Klux Klan, is an unbelievable film pitch right?

Just when you think the film has finished, Spike delivers an ending that leaves the audience completely shocked into silence.

Another Spike Lee masterpiece.
Am I smelling Oscars?
Yes, yes I am.

This film has the potential to get nominations for best film, director, adapted screenplay, costume design, makeup, actor and supporting actor.
We’ll just have to wait and see.

CANNES SUCCESS

By mumofthreedevils on May 19, 2018 • ( Leave a comment )

I am finishing this evening with a quick blog about Adam Driver and Cannes.

Like I’ve mentioned before, Adam has two films screening this year.
The first is the satirical comedy ‘Black Klansman’, a Spike Lee film based on a true story. It received rave reviews and it will be good to see if it wins a Palme D’or.
Fingers crossed.

The second one is the much anticipated ‘The Man Who Killed Don Quixote’.
This film is not in competition and will be closing the festival tomorrow.
It has taken Terry Gilliam almost 30 years to complete as it has been plagued with various production troubles and is currently fighting a legal battle as to who owns the rights.

After a Paris Court ruled in favour of the film being screened at Cannes, it’s official premier will still be tomorrow but it will have a warning at the start stating that the rights to it “are subject to current proceedings”.
The final verdict on the rights issue will be announced on the 15th June and this will ultimately lead to general release if it’s successful.
Again, fingers crossed.
I absolutely cannot wait to see this one and if it gets hung up in a huge rights dispute it may never see the light of day.
That said, it’s actually looking quite likely that the ruling will go in Terry Gilliam’s direction.

And I couldn’t finish this without mentioning just how stunning Adam looked this year.

It’s interesting to note just how short his hair is at the moment considering he’s due to start filming Star Wars Episode 9 in July.
Could Supreme Leader Kylo Ren be getting a more clean cut makeover?
Only another 19 months until we find out!!!! (Quietly sobbing as I wrap things up and go to bed)

CANNES 2018

By mumofthreedevils on April 22, 2018 • ( Leave a comment )

Next month sees the 71st Cannes Film Festival in France and I’m excited to say that my main man, Adam Driver, has not just one, but TWO films being premiered there.
One in Competition and one closing the festival.

The one in competition is Black Klansman directed by Spike Lee.
It tells the true story of Ron Stallworth who was an African-American police officer from Colorado, who actually managed to infiltrate a local Ku Klux Klan and became the head of the local chapter! His story was revealed in a 2006 tell all book of the same name.
That’s as much as I know about it so far. I have no idea what part Adam will be playing.
I’m hoping he will be Ron’s white colleague who went to the meetings in Ron’s place as it wouldn’t feel right if Adam was playing an actual ‘hate filled’ moron.

Anyway, the second film is ‘The Man Who Killed Don Quixote’ directed by Terry Gilliam.
I’ve blogged about this one already and I’ve been waiting a LONG time for it to arrive.

It gets released in France on the same day but there is still no release date for the UK!!

With 2 films at Cannes, I’m hoping that Adam will be in attendance. It makes sense. The timing is just right. It leaves him a couple of months to promote both of these films and have a bit of ‘down’ time before he starts to film ‘Star Wars Episode 9’ in July.

His last attendance at Cannes gave us some beautiful photos.