Blog Archives
Oscar Vault Monday – Midnight in Paris, 2011 (dir. Woody Allen)
I’ve written a lot about Woody Allen over the last few years and I’m sure I’ll be writing about him for many more years to come. He doesn’t always hit the mark, but when he does, he hits it better than just about anyone. Case in point: 2011’s smash hit Midnight In Paris. It may well be in my top five favorite of Woody Allen’s many films. Part of this has to do with my love of Paris in twenties (and the fact that pretty much everything mentioned in the film was something I studied in college) and partly because of the experience I had when I first saw it. I had just moved back to San Francisco (like, literally THAT DAY) and I went to see it with my roommate and one of my good friends (who was visiting from Florida!) and it had been raining and the showtime we wanted to go to was sold out so we had to wait an hour in the lobby and it was the most perfect experience I could have asked for. There’s a lot of things to write about with this film, but I’ve decided just to focus on a few facets of it that I really love. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, winning one: Best Art Direction, Best Original Screenplay (won), Best Director and Best Picture. The other films nominated for Best Picture in 2011 were: The Descendants, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, The Help, Hugo, Moneyball, The Tree of Life, War Horse and winner The Artist.
Movie Quote of the Day – Midnight In Paris, 2011 (dir. Woody Allen)
Man Ray: A man in love with a woman from a different era. I see a photograph!
Luis Buñuel: I see a film!
Gil: I see an insurmountable problem!
Salvador Dalí: I see a rhinoceros!
“Midnight In Paris,” “The Descendants” Win WGA
Woody Allen won for his original and Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash won for their adapted screenplay. It looks like The Descendants is primed to win at next Sunday’s Oscars (Moneyball is the only real threat). I wouldn’t say Midnight In Paris is a lock because The Artist was not eligible for the Writer’s Guild Awards, and it has been winning things left and right. I really hope, though, that the Academy follows suit and Woody gets his third (yes, he’s only won twice for his writing, though his latest nomination was his 13th in the category) writing win.
Cinema Fanatic’s Favorite Fifteen Films of 2011
While, for me, 2011 was not as a great a year in cinema as 2009 (many of the films I loved from that year I didn’t get to see until Jan of 2010, but still), I found myself loving more films this year than I did last year. In fact, you may notice that although I claim this is a list of fifteen films, it in fact contains sixteen films. There is one tie and I will explain my choice when I get to it. Last year before the year ended I managed to watch 53 new releases; this year I saw 57 (which is kind of pitifully low when you consider how many new-to-me films I saw this year; but that’s neither here nor there and you have to wait until tomorrow to read about that cinematic odyssey). I want to point out that my top five films have not changed since October, but the ten (eleven) that follow have been shifted and adjusted many, many times since then. Probably when I rewatch those films late on this list might still evolve some. I also want to mention that there were at least two films that I wanted to see before the end of the year that I was not able to see (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn); as always, there is no way to know whether those films would have even made the list had I seen them, but I wanted to point out that I’ve yet to see them so that comments of “where is ***?!” didn’t ensue. Okay, enough chatter, on to the list.
2011 Golden Globe Nominations
Best Motion Picture – Drama
- The Descendants
- The Help
- Hugo
- The Ides of March
- Moneyball
- War Horse
Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
- 50/50
- The Artist
- Bridesmaids
- Midnight In Paris
- My Week With Marilyn
Best Actor – Drama
- George Clooney – The Descendants
- Michael Fassbender – Shame
- Leonardo DiCaprio – J. Edgar
- Ryan Gosling – The Ides of March
- Brad Pitt – Moneyball
Best Actress – Drama
- Glenn Close, – Albert Nobbs
- Viola Davis – The Help
- Rooney Mara – The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
- Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady
- Tilda Swinton – We Need To Talk About Kevin
Best Actor – Musical or Comedy
- Jean DuJardin – The Artist
- Brendan Gleeson – The Guard
- Joseph Gordon-Levitt – 50/50
- Ryan Gosling – Crazy, Stupid, Love.
- Owen Wilson – Midnight In Paris
Best Actress – Musical or Comedy
- Jodie Foster – Carnage
- Kate Winslet – Carnage
- Charlize Theron – Young Adult
- Kristen Wiig – Bridesmaids
- Michelle Williams – My Week With Marilyn
Best Supporting Actor
- Kenneth Branagh – My Week With Marilyn
- Albert Brooks – Drive
- Jonah Hill – Moneyball
- Viggo Mortensen – A Dangerous Method
- Christopher Plummer – Beginners
Best Supporting Actress
- Bérénice Bejo – The Artist
- Jessica Chastain – The Help
- Octavia Spencer – The Help
- Shailene Woodley – The Descendants
- Janet McTeer – Albert Nobbs
Best Director
- Woody Allen – Midnight In Paris
- George Clooney – The Ides of March
- Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist
- Alexander Payne – The Descendants
- Martin Scorsese – Hugo
Best Screenplay
- Midnight In Paris
- The Ides of March
- The Artist
- The Descendants
- Moneyball
Best Original Song – Motion Picture
- “Hello Hello” – Gnomeo and Juliet
- “The Keeper” – Machine Gun Preacher
- “Lay Your Head Down” – Albert Nobbs
- “The Living Proof” – The Help
- “Masterpiece” – W.E.
Best Original Score – Motion Picture
- The Artist
- W.E.
- The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
- Hugo
- War Horse
Best Foreign Language Film
- The Flowers of War (China)
- In The Land of Blood and Honey (USA)
- The Kid With The Bike (Belgium)
- A Separation (Iran)
- The Skin I Live In (Spain)
Best Animated Feature Film
- The Adventures of Tin Tin
- Arthur Christmas
- Cars 2
- Puss In Boots
- Rango
May: 101 New-To-Me Films and One Big Move
So for me the month of May started at the last day of the TCM Classic Film Festival (you can see my coverage of that festival here at YAM Magazine). On that last day I saw one new-to-me film (Night Flight) and one of my all time favorites (West Side Story). What a great way to start the month! I saw less films this month than the other months in 2011 (you can see all those posts here), but I did manage to finally see all 123 film in the combined AFI 100 Years. . .100 Movies lists (the last two I needed to see were The Grapes of Wrath and Intolerance). I did A LOT of subbing towards the end of the month and I also MOVED TO SAN FRANCISCO. Yes, my friends, I am back in the big city. I love it here. My grad school starts up on the 20th, so my film watching will probably decline a little. But I do have big plans to see classic films on the big screen often at the Castro Theatre and I’ll actually be able to see all kinds of new releases. So this is great. The one downside: no. more. TCM. or DVR. This is going to be tough. I love TCM so much. I will miss that channel. I’ll probably go through withdrawal. But enough sadness, on to the 101 new-to-me films I did manage to watch in May.
Woody Allen Blogathon
Woody Allen’s newest feature Midnight In Paris opens in the United States on May 20th, 2011. To celebrate this I’ve started writing about his filmography (having recently finished watching all of his films). You can read the first post here, there are three more to come before the 20th. But on that day I’d also like to do a blogathon, wherein everyone contributes something. It could be on your favorite Allen film, your least favorite, a scene, an actor, anything in relation to Woody Allen and his films. If you’re interested in participating, use one of the graphics below (or make your own!) and post it to your blog with a link back to this post and on the day of I will gather them all together! Your post doesn’t have to be written on the day of the blogathon, just be sure to send me the post before that day, so I can link them all. You can send your links to here: maryag7[at]gmail.com
I look forward to your contributions!
Eight Beautiful Shots From Woody Allen’s “Midnight In Paris”
The trailer for Allen’s newest film leaked earlier today and I just can’t stop watching it. Part of what I love about it is Darius Khondji’s gorgeous shots of Paris. Allen has worked with Khondji before, 2003’s Anything Else (one of the 9 Allen films I still haven’t seen!) The cinematographer has a pretty impressive resume, filled with lusciously shot films, including: Haneke’s Funny Games (2008), Wong Kar-Wai’s My Blueberry Nights (2006), Sydney Pollack’s The Interpreter (2005), Fincher’s Panic Room (2002) and Se7en (1995), Danny Boyle’s The Beach (2000), Polanski’s The Ninth Gate (1999), Alan Parker’s Evita (1996) and Marc Caro & Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Delicatessen (1991). I’ve picked some of my favorite shots from the trailer to share with you.
New Trailer For Woody Allen’s “Midnight In Paris”
Loved this trailer. I like how the Owen Wilson character is clearly the one Allen himself would usually play when he was younger (just look at his costume!) Michael Sheen being a prick? Yes, please. I am just too excited for this film.
You can watch the trailer here at Yahoo! movies.
New Poster For Woody Allen’s ‘Midnight In Paris’
Love, love, love this poster. I have such high hopes for this movie (despite my lukewarm feelings for most of Allen’s recent filmography). Midnight in Paris is set to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on May 11, 2011 before opening in the United States on May 20, 2011.
the diary of a film history fanatic 