Okay, so I don't know what anyone else thinks, but man this looks terrible. All I see when I hear the celebrity voices coming out of these obvious CG animals is disembodied sounds that don't match the image they're coming from. I suppose you could say this about all of these movies, but why on earth wouldn't you just watch the cartoon if you want to see these characters in action?
Emanuel Lubeski Wins the Top ASC Award for 'The Revenant'
Another guild announces, but this one was no surprise at all, as everyone expected The Revenant to take the cinematography prize from the American Society of Cinematographers, and this happens to be his third consecutive win in the category. It will also be his third win in a row at the Oscars, after having won the last two years for Gravity and Birdman. That will be an unprecedented feat, but voters at the Oscars are voting for the movie, not the cinematographer himself, so you can see how that might happen.
'The Revenant' Wins Best Picture and Director at the BAFTA Awards
Well, there you have it. The Revenant is looking very strong heading into the Oscar race, and even though I said I was betting on the PGA's pick The Big Short...I may be changing my mind. The DGA winner has historically been strongest after all, and that PGA-only stat is still fairly new. It's possible, but with all the technical support, Leo's impending Best Actor win, and Inarritu's inevitable Best Director win- it sure seems like it should be The Revenant now, shouldn't it? Elsewhere, BAFTA can sometimes be helpful in deciding some of the below the line categories- looks like it will be Revenant vs. Mad Max for most of them, but Star Wars now seems all but assured for Visual Effects. I think it's either a Revenant sweep or The Big Short wins 3- Picture, Editing and Screenplay. Still haven't decided which one to bet on yet, but predicting a split has always been risky, so I am now leaning towards The Revenant for everything.
- Best Picture: The Revenant
- Best Director: Alejandro Inarritu, The Revenant
- Best Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
- Best Actress: Brie Larson, Room
- Best Supporting Actor: Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies
- Best Supporting Actress: Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs
- Best Adapted Screenplay: The Big Short
- Best Original Screenplay: Spotlight
- Best Cinematography: The Revenant
- Best Costume Design: Mad Max: Fury Road
- Best Makeup/Hairstyling: Mad Max: Fury Road
- Best Music: The Hateful Eight
- Best Production Design: Mad Max: Fury Road
- Best Sound: The Revenant
- Best Visual Effects: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
- Best Animated Film: Inside Out
- Best Documentary: Amy
- Best Film Not in the English Language: Wild Tales
- Best British Film: Brooklyn
- Best British Animated Short Film: Edmond
- Best British Live Action Short Film: Operator
- Best Debut Film: Theeb
- Rising Star Award: John Boyega
'Spotlight' and 'The Big Short' Split the WGA Awards
WGA was the least exciting guild this year, because everyone has known for months that Spotlight and The Big Short were going to win this, and that both will also win their respective Oscar screenplay categories as well. So this is was the least surprising result of the season, and tells us nothing new about the Oscar race.
- Original Screenplay: Spotlight
- Adapted Screenplay: The Big Short
- Documentary Screenplay: Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
BOX OFFICE 2/12-2/14: 'Deadpool' Shatters Records Over President's Day Weekend
The R-rated Ryan Reynolds starring superhero movie Deadpool blew everything out of the water this weekend with an estimated 135 million opening over the three days, but an expected 150 million over the four day weekend. The huge success of the film was way beyond all expectations and will probably open the door to more R-rated superhero properties now, seeing as it's 20th Century Fox's biggest opening weekend ever, the biggest ever opener for an R-rated movie, and probably quite a few other records that I won't bother to list, because, well, you get it. It's big. Reynolds spent the last ten years of hi life trying to bring this property to the big screen, so this relaunches him back onto the A-list after a decade of flops, but I'm willing to bet he'll be tied to this one character for a long time.
The other new releases, How to Be Single and Zoolander 2, didn't make enough for second place, which went to Kung Fu Panda 3 again, as the other two disappointed, especially Zoolander, which got slaughtered by critics and earned a "C+" Cinemascore. It actually earned just 15 million over the weekend, which is almost the exact same number the first one did back in 2001. The Revenant came in fifth, bringing its new total to 160 million, as it marches towards Oscar glory.
Top 5:
- Deadpool- 135 million
- Kung Fu Panda 3- 19.7 million
- How to Be Single- 18.8 million
- Zoolander 2- 15.6 million
- The Revenant- 6.9 million
Once again, not much to report on in limited release, as the big story this weekend was all Deadpool and what that might do for the other kinds of hero movies in the future. I would say hopefully it means that studios might take more risks with some darker, more original comic book properties, as the great thing about this one is that it couldn't feel less like a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie if it tried, and that includes the so-called more inventive stuff like Guardians of the Galaxy. But you never know. Tune back in next week to see if the biopic Race, the Jesus movie Risen, and the horror movie The Witch, can do anything against Deadpool in its second week, but the answer will probably be no.
Nicholas Hoult and Kristen Stewart Fall in Love in Trailer for 'Equals'
As you should know by now, I have less than zero interest in anything Kristen Stewart ever does- some people just continue to have completely inexplicable careers in movies, and she's one of them. But I do like Nicholas Hoult, probably because I have a soft spot for him ever since About a Boy.
New Look at 'The Huntsman: Winter's War' Features a Battle Between Sisters
This battle of the sisters stuff looks nuts, and the whole idea of the ice sister seems to still be cashing in on the appeal of Frozen after all this time. But the effects don't look too bad, unlike both films it's advertizing the similarities to- Alice in Wonderland and Maleficent. I don't know though. I kinda like the idea of all three actresses in this as warriors, but it still looks essentially dumb, like all these movies have been.
Final 'Batman v Superman' Trailer Shows Off Batman in Action
Looks like WB's marketing department finally figured out how to cut a semi-appealing trailer for this film. It may be too late though, as rumors are swirling that the movie is a disaster and the studio's panicking. If this is true, it would be the biggest non-surprise of the year so far, at least for me, but it does put the whole slate of upcoming DC universe films into disarray. If this one sucks who's going to want to see a Justice League movie next year, right?
Matt Damon Returns as "Jason Bourne"
The Super Bowl premiered the first look at the new Bourne movie coming out this summer, and hey it's Matt Damon returning to his signature role, and we can mercifully forget all about Jeremy Renner in The Bourne Legacy. Director of the second and third films Paul Greengrass is back as well, although he surprisingly doesn't look like he's reprising his own signature shakicam style, which became associated with the franchise. I always loved this original trilogy, so I'm excited. This is a sucky title though- seriously, you couldn't think up anything more creative than his just name? How about Bourne Again? Even that seems more obvious that this.
BOX OFFICE 2/05-2/07: 'Kung Fu Panda 3' Stays on Top of Super Bowl Weekend
The box office was slow this weekend, as expected, with none of the new releases making much of an impact, allowing the third Kung Fu Panda movie to stay on top with 21 million. The Coen Brothers' Hail, Caesar only pulled in a paltry 11 million and a dreadful "C-" Cinemascore, so expect a huge dropoff on that one in the coming weeks, while Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was a total bust, coming in with a mere 5 million for the three day frame.
The Nicholas Sparks movie The Choice managed to make it into the top five, but with just 6 million, making it the first Sparks adaptation to make less than 10 million on opening weekend. Meanwhile, Star Wars stuck around in the top five, bringing its new total to a whopping 905 million and crossing the 2 billion mark worldwide, and Oscar hopeful The Revenant earned another 7 million for a 149 million total domestic.
Top 5:
- Kung Fu Panda 3- 21 million
- Hail, Caesar- 11.4 million
- The Revenant- 7.1 million
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens- 6.9 million
- The Choice- 6.1 million
Again this week there's not much to report in limited release, so let's just move on to what's coming next week, shall we? Finally, we have a couple of films with a real chance to break out, and that's Deadpool and Zoolander 2, so we may have a real dude bro audience out in force next week. See you then.
Alejandro Inarritu Makes History By Winning the DGA Two Years in a Row
Wow- we have a real Oscar race, people. For the first time since 2004, every major guild has chosen a different film as the year's best. PGA went with The Big Short, SAG went to Spotlight, and now the all important Directors Guild has gone with Alejandro Inarritu for The Revenant. Which of course means Inarritu is the first person in DGA history to win the award two years in a row, and likely means he will go on to win Best Director at the Oscars. Best Picture however, is another story. If Inarritu wins director, as now seems inevitable, he will join John Ford and Joseph L. Mankiewicz as the only directors in Oscar history to win the award in back to back years. But neither of those director's films won Best Picture two years in a row, so if The Revenant were to win that, it would be unprecedented. It's not impossible, but the signs to me say we're looking at a split year. And in a split year, I still think that the PGA is the most important precursor, simply because they use the same preferential ballot that Oscar uses for Best Picture, and none of these other guilds do. So I'm going to go with The Big Short for Picture and Inarritu for Director- but there is a chance for The Revenant to catch some momentum to make this interesting in the final voting, which hasn't started yet. One of the most unpredictable Oscar years in recent memory.
- Feature: Alejandro Inarritu, The Revenant
- Documentary Feature: Matthew Heineman, Cartel Land
- First Time Feature: Alex Garland, Ex Machina
'Inside Out' Dominates the Annie Awards
The animated feature Oscar has been an open and shut case for months now, and Inside Out's utter dominance of tonight's Annie Awards just laid it out even more plainly. It won just about everything it was up for- one of the biggest nights for any movie at this ceremony in its history, in fact. By the way, I'm rarely invested in this category, but World of Tomorrow won the Best Animated Short here, which I really hope repeats at the Oscars, and if anyone is curious to check that out, it's currently streaming on Netflix. It's a beautiful, visionary short and you won't regret watching it, trust me.
- Best Animated Feature: Inside Out
- Best Animated Short Subject: World of Tomorrow
- Best Animated Feature-Independent: Boy and the World
- Outstanding Achievement, Animated Effects in an Animated Production: The Good Dinosaur
- Outstanding Achievement for Animated Effects in a Live Action Production: Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron
- Outstanding Achievement for Character Animation in a Feature Production: Inside Out
- Outstanding Achievement for Character Animation in a Live Action Production: The Revenant
- Outstanding Achievement for Character Design in an Animated Feature Production: Inside Out
- Outstanding Achievement for Directing in an Animated Feature Production: Pete Docter – Inside Out
- Outstanding Achievement for Music in an Animated Feature Production: Michael Giacchino – Inside Out
- Outstanding Achievement for Production Design in an Animated Feature Production: Inside Out
- Outstanding Achievement for Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production: Inside Out
- Outstanding Achievement for Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production: Phyllis Smith – Inside Out
- Outstanding Achievement for Writing in an Animated Feature Production: Inside Out
- Outstanding Achievement for Editorial in an Animated Feature Production: Inside Out
