Every great film should seem new every time you see it. – Roger Ebert
All posts by Engagingculture
Name That Movie #3
2016 Oscar Nominations
When you are talking about the Oscars (or the Academy Awards as they are more officially called), there are really 6 awards that stand out as the most important of the night. Nobody is talking around the water cooler at work about who got nominated for Best Documentary Short or Best Sound Mixing. That is not to say that those aren’t important films, roles and awards, they just aren’t as sexy as the top 6. Those 6 are:
- Best Picture
- Best Actor
- Best Actress
- Best Supporting Actor
- Best Supporting Actress
- Best Director
But we can’t throw any of them aside, because they are all critical, even you Hair and Makeup. But I wonder if they have ever thought about treating the ceremony like a heavyweight fight. You have your undercard with all of the technical, foreign, documentary, and short films, then the atmosphere changes as we move into the final few highly coveted awards. I would argue that there should be a handful more that elicit just as much respect and attention.
- Best Original Screenplay (And Adapted Screenplay to a lesser extent)
- Best Cinematography
- Best Original Score
- Best Animated Feature*
- Best Documentary Feature*
- Best Foreign Feature*
*I believe that all three of these categories should be done away with and rolled into the Best Picture race. The Best picture should be the best of all categories. Documentary filmmakers shouldn’t aspire to make the best documentary, but rather, the best film possible.
With all of that said, here are the 2016 Nominations for all of the various categories. You can also print a ballot here and play along in the Oscars Challenge with me and your other Facebook friends, you do like me on Facebook right… You could win $1000 and a trip to the 2017 Oscars! I will be breaking down my picks of these top categories in later posts. Find out if your picks were correct on Sunday, February 28th at 7pm EST on ABC.
In Memorium: Alan Rickman (1946-2016)
I don’t really feel like blathering on about Alan Rickman’s acting achievements. I feel like all of you know how amazing he was, and he will live forever in his many, varied roles. Please take a few moments to look through the pictures below. Think about your favorite of his roles. Leave a comment to tell me how you remember him best.
You can tell by the banner image that my favorite of his roles is actually in Kevin Smith’s Dogma. He appropriately plays the Metatron, the voice of God. I love that deep, gravelly voice. That is why I posted this from Family Guy:
Rest in Peace Alan. You will be missed.
Name that Movie #2
Name that Movie #1
Denzel Washington – Top 5 Performances
If you are a fan of the awards scene like I am you probably saw that Denzel Washington took home the Cecil B. DeMille Award for Lifetime Achievement at the Golden Globes on Sunday. I think he is very deserving of this honor and so I have narrowed down what I consider to be his top 5 performances. In each case, the title of the film is a link to Roger Ebert’s Original review of the film.
If you missed it, you can watch a great montage of his films and his acceptance speech (warning: His speech is endearing, but he is mostly rambling because he forgot his glasses).
5. Glory (1989)
Let me know if you agree with my Top 5 in the comments below. Maybe you are a big fan of Man on Fire, John Q, Philadelphia, or The Book of Eli, or maybe you think Denzel is overrated and you don’t like him at all. That is fine, you are entitled to your opinion, but I dare you to tell him to his face.
In Memoriam: David Bowie (1947-2016)
Roger Ebert – Labyrinth – 1986:
Roger Ebert – The Man Who Fell to Earth – 2011:
The world lost one of its true creators this weekend. David Bowie was a perpetual outsider, ahead of the curve. He made a career and a life out of living outside the norm as an alien, a misfit, a sexual adventurer, a faraway astronaut. His first film, The Man Who Fell to Earth has become a cult classic. I regret to say that I have not seen it, but hope to rectify that shortly. In the film, he plays an alien from a drought-stricken planet who journeys to Earth in search of water. Ebert remarks, “Bowie, slender, elegant, remote, evokes this alien so successfully that one could say, without irony, this was a role he was born to play.” Ebert remarked about meeting David Bowie and about his quality as an actor.
[He] has an enviable urbane charm. I met him once, and rarely have been so impressed by someone’s poise. If he hadn’t been a rock star he could have had success as an actor, playing roles such as those given to James Fox or William Hurt. Bowie demonstrated that in such films as “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence,” “Absolute Beginners,” “The Hunger” and “Labyrinth.” … He is … Other. Apart. Defined within himself.
Besides his progressive, challenging, and remarkable body of work, Bowie also gifted us with his son with Mary Angela Barnett, Duncan Jones, who I believe is one of the most promising up and coming directors working today. He directed two sci-fi thrillers, Moon (2009) and Source Code (2011). Bowie has had such an impact on our popular culture and he held such respect from such a wide array of people, receiving memorial tweets from people like Madonna, Astronaut Tim Peake, Kanye West, and even the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby. The world will be a slightly less interesting place with him gone.
As I have read and heard so many people speaking fondly of him, I felt compelled to share my first memory of David Bowie. It was in the 1986 film Labyrinth, I was too young to remember seeing it when it first was released, but I recall renting the film from our local video store and watching raptly as a Sarah (Jennifer Connelly) struggled on a magical adventure to rescue her brother from Bowie’s deceptions as the goblin king Jareth.
Bowie joined forces with Muppet creator Jim Henson, special-effects guru George Lucas, and screenwriter Terry Jones of Monty Python fame to produce this fantasy which reminds me of a strange blend of The Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, and Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are.
It was a great work of Jim Henson and very ambitious. To my young mind it was a swirling and thrilling adventure. Unfortunately, I think I may have lost some of the youthful exuberance that I once possessed, because upon a re-watching a year or two ago, I was amazed at how meandering and drawn out the film is without good reason. It is longer than it should be and is lacking enough of a coherent plot to keep me attached. However, I may still dust it off again, if just to hear the soundtrack as Jareth himself composed and performed a number of songs for the film. Farewell Major Tom, God’s love be with you.
[spotify id=”spotify:user:spotify:playlist:7MQd3rOe8kuP2KDjtuiynJ” width=”300″ height=”300″ /]
Contact (1997)
Roger Ebert – First Review – 1997:
Roger Ebert – Great Movies Review – 2011:
I watched the 1997 film, Contact, again last night and I, like Ebert, was struck with its boldness as it seeks to weave together politics, faith, and science. As an HR Manager, I have advised employees that they would be better off not discussing those topics in the workplace because they are too controversial. I spent years speaking about faith as a pastor and I am unashamedly and evangelically Christian.
However, many people don’t know that before I was called into ministry, my desire was to be a scientist. I was vacillating between organic chemistry and theoretical physics particularly quantum mechanics. I have always had a deep love for science. I seek to observe our world much like I observe movies, to look beyond the visuals to mine deeper. I seek to find truth and beauty wherever it may be found and in whatever way it may be conveyed.
As a scientist, I must concede that there is a possibility that our universe and everything in it is not the production of an Intelligent Designer. But I have experienced something so magnificent and awe-inspiring that it continually reminds me of both my insignificance and my value. I cannot deny this and it will forever shape the way that I look at the world.
I think it is important to say that I don’t agree with Roger Ebert on everything. But I believe that he would agree with me on this. Whether you are an atheist, an agnostic, or a person of faith, I encourage you to watch this film. It is beautiful, heartbreaking, majestic, and rich. If you let it speak to you, I don’t think you will walk away unchanged. And what more can we ask of a film than that?
Quantum of Solace (2008)
Roger Ebert – Original Review – 2008
I have no particular rhyme or reason by which I am choosing these movies. I wish that Ebert’s website had a random review button, but since it doesn’t, I am looking through them alphabetically and then grabbing one that catches my eye. Today I choose the 22nd installment of the James Bond Series from 2008, Quantum of Solace. Ebert was not a fan of this film. He pretty much eviscerates it because it fell short of what he believes a Bond film is supposed to be. 2 stars.
What did you think of the film?
[polldaddy poll=4082653]