After “Lincoln” and “Silver Linings Playbook,” the latest Oscars-cited movie to hit local screens is Quentin Tarantino’s “Django Unchained.” It’s interesting to note that, quite inadvertently, the timing of the film’s local release has made it a sort of “companion piece” to “Lincoln.”
Before Peter Lorre and Sidney Greenstreet, the screen villain moviegoers most loved to hate was Basil Rathbone. He had a knack for acting, but World War I interrupted his rise to fame. He was trained as a Shakespearean actor before he was noticed by Hollywood.
Quite without planning to, I did something unique and potentially instructive last month: Only a couple of days before the Oscars, I inadvertently caught the 2013 Independent Spirit Awards on the Blink channel.
Leonardo DiCaprio says filming violent scenes like in “Django Unchained” doesn’t deter him from wanting his movies to be great art.
The biggest and most unexpected winner at last week’s Academy Awards was Ang Lee, who trounced Steven Spielberg in the Best Director race with “Life of Pi,” vis-a-vis Spielberg’s “Lincoln,” which was generally expected to romp off with the directing and Best Picture trophies, but did no such thing because the topmost plum went to “Argo,” instead! —So, “Lincoln” was the evening’s top loser,—a most undeserved fate.
Among its many virtues, “Silver Linings Playbook” provides student actors with a wide range of exceptional performances, from lead to cameos, to learn from. The film’s writer-director, David O. Russell, has an unusual gift for creating acutely believable, strongly motivated and empathetic characters.
While we’re disheartened that Jun Lana’s “Bwakaw,” the country’s entry to this year’s Best Foreign Language Oscar derby, didn’t make the Academy’s official five-nominees list, it’s nonetheless hard to discredit the entries that did make the cut—because, when we saw all five entries last month, we noted how unique each of them was. Moreover, foreign language films need to be seen because they introduce us to issues and cultures that are different from the ones we’re familiar with.
Some of the biggest stars in the world laughing, weeping, babbling away (one of them approaching incoherence) as they met only accredited media men from all over the world, your columnist included. We witnessed all of that backstage at the Oscars Sunday night (Monday in Manila).
Oscar Awards host Seth McFarlane dished out a lot of jokes—some flew, some fell flat.
Our man in Hollywood, Ruben V. Nepales, described the Oscars red carpet in four words: “Crazy … pandemonium as usual.” And he took us all there, to the front row.
Hollywood veteran Steven Spielberg left the Oscars empty-handed for the second year running, despite his film having the most nominations for Tinseltown’s top awards show.
Relatives of the young Afghan star of “Buzkashi Boys” expressed more pride than disappointment upon learning on Monday that the Oscar-nominated movie didn’t win.
