2016 OSCAR POSTERS

‪#‎2016Oscars‬ ‪#‎Oscars‬ ‪#‎AcademyAwards‬ ‪#‎OscarsNominations‬‪#‎OscarsPosters‬ ‪#‎Movies‬ ‪#‎Films‬ ‪#‎MovieAwards‬

CATE BLANCHETT’S CAROL LEADS INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS
Earlier on Tuesday the nominations for the 31st Film Independent Spirit Awards were announced, with Todd Haynes’ lesbian love story CAROL scoring a leading six nominations. Both lead stars Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara will be facing off in the Best Female Lead category. Other nominees in this category include Brie Larson for ROOM, Bel Powley for THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL, and Kitana Kiki Rodriguez for TANGERINE.

Tailing behind Carol are BEASTS OF NO NATION with five nominations and SPOTLIGHT with four. All the three films will compete in the categories of Best Feature and Best Director. In the running for these two major categories as well is Charlie Kaufman’s adult animated comedy-drama ANOMALISA. THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL, IT FOLLOWS, JAMES WHITE, MEDITERRANEA, ROOM and SONGS MY BROTHER TAUGHT ME each landed three nominations. BONE TOMAHAWK, THE END OF THE TOUR, HEAVEN KNOWS WHAT, and MANOS SUCIAS each scored two nominations. Jessica Chastain was earlier named the honorary chair at this year's awards, joining past honorary chair holders like Kerry Washington, Tom Cruise, Benecio Del Toro and Angela Bassett.

#FilmIndependentSpiritAwards #IndependentSpiritAwards #CarolFilm #CarolMovie #BeastsOfNoNation             #SpotlightFilm #SpotlightMovie #RoomFilm #RoomMovie #BrieLarson #Anomalisa #CateBlanchett #RooneyMara #TheDiaryOfAteenageGirl #ItFollows #JamesWhite #Mediterranea #SongsMyBrotherTaughtMe #BoneTomahawk #TheEndOfTheTour #HeavenKNowsWhat #ManosSucias #JessicaChastain #TomCruise #KerryWashington #AngelaBassett #FilmAwards #MovieAwards

OSCAR MOMENTS - Alejandro González Iñárritu & Birdman

“The ones who live in Mexico, I pray that we can find and build the government that we deserve. The ones that live in this country, who are just part of the latest generation of immigrants in this county, I just pray they can be treated with the same dignity and respect as the ones who came before and built this incredible immigrant nation"

- Alejandro González Iñárritu, accepting his Oscars for Best Director for Birdman. Beating his toughest competition Richard Linklater (Boyhood), Iñárritu became the second consecutive Mexican director to win the best director Oscar. Last year, Alfonso Cuaron won for Gravity. Both Iñárritu & Linklater have gone head to head this awards season for their films in both the Best Director, Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay categories where Linklater won for his directing at Golden Globes, BAFTA & Critics' Choice Award, whilst Iñárritu took home the top prize at the Directors Guild Awards apart from tonight's win at the Academy Awards 

#alejandroGonzalezInarritu #inarritu #oscars #oscars2015 #bestDirector #filmAwards #director #directing #birdman #richardLinklater #boyhood #SAG #criticsChoiceAwards #goldenGlobes #BAFTA

OSCAR MOMENTS - Graham Moore & The Imitation Game

"Alan Turing never got to stand on a stage like this and look out at all of these disconcertingly attractive faces, and I do, and that’s the most unfair thing, I think, I’ve ever heard. So in this brief time here, what I want to use it to do is to say this - when I was sixteen years old I tried to kill myself because I felt weird, and I felt different, and I felt that I did not belong. And now I’m standing here, and I would like this moment to be for that kid out there who feels she’s weird or she’s different or she doesn’t fit in anywhere. Yes, you do, I promise you do - Stay different, and then when it’s your turn, and you’re standing on this stage, please pass the message to the next person that comes along"

- Graham Moore, receiving his first Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, beating contenders American Sniper, The Theory Of Everything, Whiplash & Inherent Vice

#grahamMoore #oscars #oscars2015 #filmAwards #bestAdaptedScreenplay #adaptedScreenplay #theImitationGame #drama #americanSniper #theTheoryOfEverything #whiplash #inherentVice

OSCAR MOMENTS - Patricia Arquette

"To every woman who gave birth, to every taxpayer and citizen of this nation, we have fought for everybody else’s equal rights, it’s our time to have wage equality once and for all, and equal rights for women in the United States of America"

- Patricia Arquette, calling for gender equality during her rousing acceptance speech for her very first Oscars. it may be her first Oscar nomination & win, but her performance in Boyhood has garnered more than over 30 other accolades, including Golden Globes, SAG, BAFTA & Critics' Choice Awards

#patriciaArquette #oscars #oscars2015 #bestActress #boyhood #filmAwards #moovieGab #actress #genderEquality #goldenGlobes #SAG #BAFTA #criticsChoiceAwards

OSCAR MOMENTS - J. K. Simmons

"Wow, thank you. Thank you to the Academy. Thank you to everyone involved in the making of Whiplash. And I am grateful everyday for the most remarkable person I know - my wife, the wonderful Michelle Schumacher. I’m grateful for your love, your kindness, your wisdom, your sacrifice and your patience. Which brings me to the above-average children - even though I may try their patience more. Joe and Olivia, you are extraordinary human beings. Smart, funny, kind, loving people and that’s because you are a reflection of your mother. And if I may, call your mom, everybody. I’ve told this [to], like, a billion people, or so. Call your mom, call your dad. If you’re lucky enough to have a parent or two alive on this planet, call ‘em. Don’t text. Don’t email. Call them on the phone. Tell ‘em you love ‘em, and thank them, and listen to them for as long as they want to talk to you. Thank you. Thank you, Mom and Dad"

- J. K. Simmons, accepting his first Oscars for Whiplash. his riveting performance has won him more than 30 other accolades,  including the Golden Globes, SAG, BAFTA & Critics' Choice Awards

#JKsimmons #oscars #oscars2015 #bestSupportingActor #whiplash #actor #filmAwards #goldenGlobes #SAG #BAFTA #criticsChoiceAwards #michelleSchumacher #moovieGab

OSCAR MOMENTS - Julianne Moore

“Thank you so much. I read an article that said that winning an Oscar could lead to living five years longer. If that’s true, I’d really like to thank the Academy because my husband is younger than me! There is no such thing as best actress as is evidenced by the performances of fellow nominees. I’ve been honored to be among you every step of the way. I’m so happy. I’m thrilled actually -- that we were able to hopefully shine a light on Alzheimer’s disease. So many people with this disease feel isolated and marginalized, and one of the wonderful things about movies is it makes us feel seen and not alone. And people with Alzheimer’s deserve to be seen, so we can find a cure”

- Julianne Moore, receiving her first Oscar on her fifth nomination for her performance in Still Alice. Moore has also bagged the Golden Globe, SAG, BAFTA & Critics' Choice Awards

#julianneMoore #oscars #oscars2015 #bestActress #stillAlice #actress #filmAwards #moovieGab #SAG #BAFTA #goldenGlobes #criticsChoiceAwards

OSCAR GAB - Actress In A Leading Role

it was an almost unanimous prediction amongst the critics that 5-time nominee julianne moore would nab the oscar for best actress this year, and she did. the strength in her performance in "still alice" had garnered much praise & her chances for winning her first ever academy award was as good as how cate blanchett swept all the major film awards including an oscar last year for "blue jasmine". with this win, moore has in fact joined blanchett in the league of acclaimed actors to be recognized for their excellence in acting, having won the five awards generally considered to be the most important annual awards given for the big screen; namely the oscars, BAFTA, golden globes, SAG and critics' choice award. and why not, i fully agreed with moore taking the award this year. her devastatingly mesmerizing portrayal as a 50-year old linguistics professor diagnosed with inheritable early-onset alzheimer's is to me her career-high performance. it takes away the need for every drama about illness to be staggeringly high in fluctuating emotions, her pain delivered through the her subtleties is equally if not more heartbreaking. the film in fact anchors heavily on moore's performance, and her diminishing journey into alzheirmer's is thoroughly moving. she was my best bet for the actress in a leading role category, kudos!

i can't comment on marion cotillard 's performance as i've not watched "two days, one night". as for reese witherspoon, i think i've said enough about how i feel of her as an actress in my previous post on her nominated role in "wild". suffice to say, it is to me overrated, sad to say that she is one of the actors who the academy seem to have a soft spot for, and her slightly above average performance is definitely not oscar-worthy. the spot could have been given to more deserving performances like essie davis ("the babadook") or julianne moore ("map to the stars").

labelled as UK's fastest-rising screen actress since kate winslet, thanks to her convincing portrayal of jane hawking in "the theory of everything", 31-year old felicity jones received her first ever oscar nomination. in fact, the "sudden stardom" has even irked the english actress that she was recently labelled as a new actress despite having started acting since twenty years ago. i was rather impressed with her performance, having both the appearance and ability to portray jane hawking convincingly as a teenager and then transforming into a wife to stephen hawking. jones tackles jane’s resilient yet soft nature with grit, delivering truly poignant scenes with eddie redmayne. 

the most interesting and hair-raising performance came from rosamund pike. with david fincher's "gone girl" it was her much bigger break; having started off debuting at the lowest ebb bond-dom in "die another day" and had since then not been given much opportunities, resorting to lower-ends of acting roles in "wrath of the titans" and "jack reacher". her gut-wrenching portrayal as amy dunne in the hitchcockian-thriller is nailed with total gusto. both pike and film are dark, sleek and sexy. 

shouldn't win - reese witherspoon

should win - julianne moore

predicted will win - julianne moore

won - julianne moore

snubbed from nomination - essie davis for "the babadook"

#oscar #bestActress #julianneMoore #felicityJones #reeseWitherspoon #rosamundPike #marionCotillard #wild #goneGirl #stillAlice #theTheoryOfEverything #twoDaysOneNight #filmAwards

OSCAR GAB - Actor In A Leading Role

with julienne moore, JK Simmons & patricia arquette's names more or less engraved on the other 3 trophies before the award seasons started, this year's oscar suspense for the acting categories was basically left depending on the race for best actor.

first off, my take on the lesser-deserving nominations - steve carell & bradley cooper. much of the amusement rilled up about carell's performance in "foxcatcher" to me lies more so on his prosthetic nose, make up & obscured facial expressions which give him a subdued, mysterious & peculiar persona. oscar unfortunately has a weakness for "major transformational" roles in the past, whether every nod was fully worthy remained questionable to me. cooper on the other hand had the opportunity to portray the riveting & distressed chris kyle, the deadliest sniper in US history. there was however nothing particularly strong about his performance. he beefed up (putting on 40 pounds) for the role, still playing a rather ego-heavy &  masculine character which is kind of consistent in many of his previous works, mumbled his way throughout in a thick texan accent. was his acting gripping? it was adequate, but definitely not stunning enough to be oscar-worthy. having said that, i'm probably the only one not raving about cooper in clint eastwood's "american sniper", and we all know he has been one of the academy's favorites in recent years. 

next, who did i predict as the higher probable winner - michael keaton or eddie redmayne. keaton would've probably won every audience's vote for the most entertaining role, having to infuse anger, desperation, bitterness, melancholy, comedy & insanity all in a single story in "birdman". he's been long loved for his roles in "night shift" (1982), beetlejuice (1988) & "batman" (1989 & 1992); "birdman" was hailed as his comeback role, it's his 1st oscar nomination & probably the last chance to win one for this hexagenerian.

latest brit invasion in hollywood, redmayne earned raves for pulling off one of the most challenging & bravest roles in “the theory of everything”. it may be his 1st leading role but for his portrayal as renowned physicist stephen hawking, the 33 year-old committed 4 months to prepare himself, reconfiguring his body with a choreographer’s help to capture hawking at each specific stage of his decades-long battle with ALS. bearing in mind, at least half the time in the film redmayne was subjected to limited means of expression and movement, being wheelchair bound & speaking through a computerized voice, and yet he manages to transmit hawking’s struggle, drive, joy & wit in precision. from the twitching & muscle decay, the awkward walk to the tilting neck, redmayne nailed the part. watching the film, hawking in fact had been reported saying that there were moments when he thought it was himself he was seeing on screen.

coming to the last nominee, and my choice for the win – benedict cumberbatch. everything about the film “the imitation game” dices in both ways, and that is precisely what i love about it. the tale of the mathematician alan turing who broke the german enigma code during world war II is both aching yet inspiring. the same goes with cumberbatch’s portrayal of the genius, imbuing turing in a nuanced but gripping performance. his character is unattuned to the feelings of others, but manages to win our sympathy as he can also be endearing. he will come across as arrogant & egoistic, yet we will be shedding tears for this awkward wiz when he gets prosecuted for his sexuality. all these are achieved only with cumberbatch’s enthralling performance 

shouldn't win - steve carell & bradley cooper

should win - benedict cumberbatch 

predicted will win - michael keaton or eddie redmayne 

won - eddie redmayne 

snubbed from nomination - jake gyllenhaal for "nightcrawler"

#oscar #bestActor #eddieRedmayne #steveCarell #bradleyCooper #michaelKeaton #benedictCumberbatch #theTheoryOfEverything #theImitationGame #foxcatcher #americanSniper #birdman #jakeGyllenhaal #nightcrawler