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SmartFilm 1st Annual Oscar Prediction Contest (UPDATED)

by Posted in Awards

 

I’ve been getting a lot of buzz from readers requesting an Oscar Prediction contest for my readership and since nothing is better than good ol’ fashion competition come place your wagers for the noche of February 24th. Duke it out amongst yourselves to call which way these coveted 24 slots will turn and become the Ultimate Oscar Predictor.

 

To make it all a little more interesting, I have a mystery prize for the winner (barring a ten-way tie)… and yes, the prize is a DVD. You have almost two weeks to make your get your ducks in order and place your bets so don’t cop out here. And try and get as many people in on this as possible- the more the merrier.

In addition to a prize, the winner will get a shout out on the site and will generally be recognized as uber cool by pretty much everyone.

I’ll have my predictions up the night of the 22nd after the final submission and we’ll let this all play out. Make sure to check out my live blog on Oscar night itself as I’ll be keeping tally of which contest submissions are looking golden and whose catching the snubs.

The Rules

  • You must submit your predictions by Friday, February 22nd Saturday, February 23rd at Midnight.
  • Only one submission per person.
  • Only submissions placed via page comment (at the bottom of this page) will count. Do not post on the SmartFilm Facebook wall or send me an email or message. Your predictions are only valid if they’re in the right spot. 
  • Vote for every category in order to win. While it’s all well and good to only care about the primary battlefields, if you only submit predictions for Best Performers and Pic/Director, you’ll miss out on all the other categories and will have a small shot at winning.

The Contenders

Best Picture
Amour
Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Django Unchained
 Les Misérables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty

Best Director
Michael Haneke “Amour”
Benh Zeitlin “Beasts of the Southern Wild”
Ang Lee “Life of Pi”
Steven Spielberg “Lincoln”
David O. Russell “Silver Linings Playbook”

Best Actor
Bradley Cooper “Silver Linings Playbook”
Daniel Day-Lewis “Lincoln”
Hugh Jackman “Les Misérables”
Joaquin Phoenix “The Master”
Denzel Washington “Flight”

Best Actress
Jessica Chastain “Zero Dark Thirty”
Jennifer Lawrence  “Silver Linings Playbook”
Emmanuelle Riva  “Amour”
Quvenzhané Wallis “Beasts of the Southern Wild”
Naomi Watts  “The Impossible“

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin “Argo”
Robert De Niro “Silver Linings Playbook”
Philip Seymour Hoffman “The Master”
Tommy Lee Jones  “Lincoln”
Christoph Waltz “Django Unchained”

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams “The Master”
Sally Field “Lincoln”
Anne Hathaway “Les Misérables”
Helen Hunt “The Sessions”
Jacki Weaver “Silver Linings Playbook”

Best Animated Film
“Brave” Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman
“Frankenweenie” Tim Burton
“ParaNorman” Sam Fell and Chris Butler
“The Pirates! Band of Misfits” Peter Lord
“Wreck-It Ralph” Rich Moore

Achievement in Cinematography
“Anna Karenina” Seamus McGarvey
“Django Unchained” Robert Richardson
“Life of Pi” Claudio Miranda
“Lincoln” Janusz Kaminski
“Skyfall” Roger Deakins

Achievement in Costume Design
“Anna Karenina” Jacqueline Durran
“Les Misérables” Paco Delgado
“Lincoln” Joanna Johnston
“Mirror Mirror” Eiko Ishioka
“Snow White and the Huntsman” Colleen Atwood

 Best Documentary
“5 Broken Cameras”
Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi
“The Gatekeepers”
Nominees to be determined
“How to Survive a Plague”
Nominees to be determined
“The Invisible War”
Nominees to be determined
“Searching for Sugar Man”
Nominees to be determined

Best Documentary Short Subject
“Inocente”
Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine
“Kings Point”
Sari Gilman and Jedd Wider
“Mondays at Racine”
Cynthia Wade and Robin Honan
“Open Heart”
Kief Davidson and Cori Shepherd Stern
“Redemption”
Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill

Achievement in Film Editing
“Argo” William Goldenberg
“Life of Pi” Tim Squyres
“Lincoln” Michael Kahn
“Silver Linings Playbook” Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers
“Zero Dark Thirty” Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg

Best Foreign Language Film
“Amour” Austria
“Kon-Tiki” Norway
“No” Chile
“A Royal Affair” Denmark
“War Witch” Canada

Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling
“Hitchcock”
Howard Berger, Peter Montagna and Martin Samuel
“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”
Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater and Tami Lane
“Les Misérables”
Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell

Original score
“Anna Karenina” Dario Marianelli
“Argo” Alexandre Desplat
“Life of Pi” Mychael Danna
“Lincoln” John Williams
“Skyfall” Thomas Newman

Original song
“Before My Time” from “Chasing Ice”
Music and Lyric by J. Ralph
“Everybody Needs A Best Friend” from “Ted”
Music by Walter Murphy; Lyric by Seth MacFarlane
“Pi’s Lullaby” from “Life of Pi”
Music by Mychael Danna; Lyric by Bombay Jayashri
“Skyfall” from “Skyfall”
Music and Lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth
“Suddenly” from “Les Misérables”
Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg; Lyric by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil

Achievement in Production Design
“Anna Karenina”
Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”
Production Design: Dan Hennah; Set Decoration: Ra Vincent and Simon Bright
“Les Misérables”
Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Anna Lynch-Robinson
“Life of Pi”
Production Design: David Gropman; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
“Lincoln”
Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson

 Best Animated Short Film
“Adam and Dog” Minkyu Lee
“Fresh Guacamole” PES
“Head over Heels” Timothy Reckart and Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly
“Maggie Simpson in “The Longest Daycare”” David Silverman
“Paperman” John Kahrs

Best Live Action Short Film
“Asad” Bryan Buckley and Mino Jarjoura
“Buzkashi Boys” Sam French and Ariel Nasr
“Curfew” Shawn Christensen
“Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw)” Tom Van Avermaet and Ellen De Waele
“Henry” Yan England

Achievement in Sound Editing
“Argo” Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn
“Django Unchained” Wylie Stateman
“Life of Pi” Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton
“Skyfall” Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers
“Zero Dark Thirty” Paul N.J. Ottosson

Achievement in Sound Mixing
“Argo”
John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Jose Antonio Garcia
“Les Misérables”
Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes
“Life of Pi”
Ron Bartlett, D.M. Hemphill and Drew Kunin
“Lincoln”
Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Ronald Judkins
“Skyfall”
Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell and Stuart Wilson

Achievement in Visual Effects
“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”
Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and R. Christopher White
“Life of Pi”
Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott
“Marvel’s The Avengers”
Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams and Dan Sudick
“Prometheus”
Richard Stammers, Trevor Wood, Charley Henley and Martin Hill
“Snow White and the Huntsman”
Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould and Michael Dawson

Adapted Screenplay
“Argo” Screenplay by Chris Terrio
“Beasts of the Southern Wild” Screenplay by Lucy Alibar & Benh Zeitlin
“Life of Pi” Screenplay by David Magee
“Lincoln” Screenplay by Tony Kushner
“Silver Linings Playbook” Screenplay by David O. Russell

Original Screenplay
“Amour” Written by Michael Haneke
“Django Unchained” Written by Quentin Tarantino
“Flight” Written by John Gatins
“Moonrise Kingdom” Written by Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola
“Zero Dark Thirty” Written by Mark Boal

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Trailer for 'The Shining' Documentary ROOM 237

by Posted in Trailers

http://athenacinema.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Room-237-Quad.jpg

I’m gonna let this one speak for itself. All you need to know that Rodney Ascher‘s Room 237, a conspiracy-laden documentary, explores the many theories of one of the greatest films of all time, The Shining. Room 237 is a careful exploration of everything Shining and has earned great repute from critics and diehard fans of Stanley Kubrick’s classic psychological slasher and has garnished a super fresh 96% on Rotten Tomatoes.

 

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Han Solo and Boba Fett Films Now on The Star Wars Platter

by Posted in Movie Announcements

 

Ok, I promise from here on out I won’t be exclusively reporting Star Wars news anymore but this one is just too big to pass up. As of yesterday, a Yoda spinoff was reportedly in the pipes but today’s news is much, much more important- a pair of spin-offs for fan favorites Han Solo and Boba Fett. [EW]

Any true fan of the Star Wars saga will list Han and Boba Fett amongst their favorite characters so the prospect of a spin-off for these guys is a good move to get butts in the seat but it’s also inherently risky.If they give Han Solo an origin story in the same vein as they did with Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker in the prequels, they’ll risk sacrificing both his and the original franchise’s coolness, dealing a damaging blow to the relative worth of the franchise. But if they manage to pull it off, you could have an entire stand alone series on the side.

With Disney coming out and confirming that these stand alone movies are a go just yesterday [RopeofSilicon], you can hold the salt and take these things with some real credence.

“There’s been speculation about some standalone films in development, and I can confirm to you today that in fact we are working on a few standalone films. [Lawrence] Kasdan and Simon Kinberg are both working on films, derived from great Star Wars characters that are not part of the overall saga. So we still plan to make Star Wars 7, 8 and 9 roughly over a six year period of time, starting 2015. But there are going to be a few other films released in that period of time, too.”

What we know so far about this proposed spin-offs is that they will take place between the original trilogies. Expect to see an even rogue-ier Han Solo swindling and smuggling his way across the galaxy, wracking up some debt with Jabba the Hutt, fighting off bounty hunters and probably even making that legendary Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs. Casting advice: Ryan Gosling…the man’s a rogue.

As for Boba Fett, we can probably assume that his feature would focus on bounty hunting and wearing space suits and jetting Slave 1 across the galaxy. Considering that Boba Fett didn’t really ever say a word in the original series, they’re really gonna have to do more than let him run rampant in his iconic suit. Casting advice: Denzel Washington…because it would be awesome to see that mask come off and have Denzel Denzeling all over the place.

 While I find the prospect of these spinoffs potentially promising, I’m gonna hold my breathe until we see a lot, a lot, a lot more information.

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Star Wars Rumor Du Jour: Yoda Standalone Movie

by Posted in Movie Announcements
 

The Star Wars rumor mill is buzzing again, this time on Yoda focus it shall. Ain’t It Cool News has reported the scoop that the Dagobah dwelling halfling will be getting an origin story all of his own per the massive four billion dollar Disney buyout which gave them exclusive rights to anything and everything Star Wars.

WithJJ Abrams confirmed to direct Episode 7 of the new trilogy and a rumoredZack Synder Star Wars/Samurai mash up, this just goes to show that Disney is really throwing all that it’s got at their newly acquired property.

While I’d admit to being a little interested to see the roots of the lil green waddler, an entire movie with Yoda’s wacky syntax might just be a little much. Add that to the fact that Yoda would be a CGI lead character in a live action movie and the house of cards is already a little more than wobbly. However, if Disney worked a little magic and put this Yoda project under the capable hands of Pixar, we might have quite a prospect on our hands.

I’m just hoping Disney doesn’t follow Yoda’s philosophy of — “Try not. Do or not do, there is no try” — because I’d really rather see them actually try and not just do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQ4yd2W50No
What do you think, would you rather see a Star Wars Origins: WolverYoda or see the franchise focus on some new unexplored characters? Or better yet, a featurette on a carbonite-encapsulated Han Solo all done in dream sequence. Hey, at least it’s not Roots 2: JJ Binks.

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Marvel's GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY Finds Superhero in Chris Pratt

by Posted in Casting News

 

You might know Chris Pratt from NBC’s hit comedy, Parks and Recreation, as shoe-shining extraordinaire slash undercover, and make believe, FBI agent Andy Dwyer but get ready to know him in a whole new capacity as he has snagged the lead role for Marvel‘s Guardians of the Galaxy.

Pratt will assume the role of Peter Quill, or Star-Lord, the leader of the Guardians. Since this feature is more focused on a team of heroes, a la Avengers, rather than a one-off character, a la Iron Man, except to see the cast fill out quite a bit.

The casting of Pratt, whose got a keen sense for comedy relief,  seems to suggest that Marvel will try and go more the Tony Stark route with this intergalactic ensemble of superheros, a risky maneuver that seems likely to pay off.

Although Pratt’s no stranger to the big screen, this will definitely be his most forward and high profile Hollywood role. Up to this point Pratt’s expertise outside of the prime-time television realm seems to be having small roles in acclaimed films. He recently had a bit part in Zero Dark Thirty as a member of the Navy SEAL team and also played a resurrected ball player in last year’s Moneyball.

Directed by James Gunn, Guardians of the Galaxy will be part of Marvel’s Phase Two and will deal with a group of space warriors who eventually are set to team up with the Avengers. Considering that one of the Guardian members is a gun wielding talking raccoon named Rocket Raccoon, you can see why this property is a tad on the risky side.

Seeing that Pratt has proved to be diverse in his roles, juggling comedy, drama and action, and has a built in fan base with men and women alike for Parks and Recs, his casting seems like a really smart move on Marvel’s part. What do you think? Can Chris Pratt be your hero…baby?

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DGA Award Winners Muddle Oscar Odds

by Posted in Awards

 

The DGA‘s are pretty much the last indication of the Hollywood Award season and with a year that’s been particularly tricky to call, these awards leading up to Oscar night are more important than ever. This brings us to tonight’s awards with the DGA, or Director’s Guild of America. The big win of the night though belongs to Ben Affleck who won Best Feature Film for Argo.

The DGA awards are exclusively for the men and women behind the cameras so don’t be surprised to see Best Actor and Actress and all that jazz left off here. Consisting of, you guessed it, directors from America, this elite group certainly knows best when it comes to directing and chooses winners from amongst themselves as well as newcomers to the industry.

Historically, the DGA’s have been a strong predictor for Best Director which in turn lends lots of creedence to a film winning Best Picture. In the history of the DGA awards, the directorial winner of Best Feature Film has gone on to snag the Best Director Oscar all but six times. Since the DGA began in 1948, that’s quite a track record. 

Of those six who didn’t make the cut, there were 1968’sThe Lion in Winter Oliver where Anthony Harvey won the DGA but Carol Reed won the Oscar for Oliver. 1972 had Cabaret director Bob Fosse take the Oscar while Francis Ford Coppola won the Oscar for The Godfather, 1985’s Out of Africa had Sydney Pollack win the Oscar but lost to Steven Spielberg for The Color Purple when it came to the DGAs, 1995’s fan favorite Braveheart which won Mel Gibson a Best Directors award come Oscar night while the DGA went another direction and awarded Ron Howard for Apollo 13 snagged Best Director come Oscar night, 2000’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon won Ang Lee a DGA but auteur Steven Soderbergh scooped up the Oscar for Traffic and finally the DGA awarded Rob Marshall for Chicago over the Academy’s pick The Pianist where infamous Hollywood ex-communicatee Roman Polanski won Oscar gold.

Ben Affleck and his film Argo have gone on a fiery winning streak which is only solidified by tonight’s win. He’s also taken gold home for Best Picture at the PGAs, snagging both Best Pic and Best Director at the Critics Choice Award and the Golden Globes, a Best Ensemble Cast at the SAG awards amongst a slew of other more minor wins. Barring an unprecedented mass scale write in campaign, Affleck still stands ineligible for a Best Director win because of his lack of a nomination. At this point in the same, Affleck would seem to be the obvious choice so making the Oscar prediction sans him makes it all that much more unpredictable.

It’s no surprise to see Game Change continue on a good roll where Rian Johnson, who also directed this year’s epic Looper, won for one of my favorite shows on television, Breaking Bad. Newcomer Lena Dunham took home another win for the inaugural episode of the new HBO hit, Girls while another until recently unknown Malik Bendjelloul conquered in the documentary department.

Below you’ll find the nominees with the winners highlighted in bold.

FEATURE FILM

BEN AFFLECK Argo
(Warner Bros. Pictures)

KATHRYN BIGELOW
Zero Dark Thirty
(Columbia Pictures)
 
TOM HOOPER
Les Miserables
(Universal Pictures)
 
ANG LEE
Life of Pi
(20th Century Fox)

STEVEN SPIELBERG
Lincoln
(DreamWorks Pictures/Twentieth Century Fox)

DOCUMENTARY FILM

MALIK BENDJELLOUL
Searching For Sugar Man
 
KIRBY DICK
The Invisible War

LAUREN GREENFIELD
The Queen of Versailles

DAVID FRANCE
How To Survive A Plague

ALISON KLAYMAN
Ai WeiWei: Never Sorry

DRAMATIC SERIES

RIAN JOHNSON
Breaking Bad, “Fifty-One”
(AMC)
  
MICHAEL CUESTA
Homeland, “The Choice”
(Showtime)

JENNIFER GETZINGER
Mad Men, “A Little Kiss”
(AMC)

LESLI LINKA GLATTER
Homeland, “Q & A”
(Showtime)
 
GREG MOTTOLA
The Newsroom, “We Just Decided To”
(HBO)

MOVIES FOR TELEVISION AND MINI-SERIES

JAY ROACH
Game Change
(HBO)

 GREG BERLANTI
Political Animals, “Pilot”
(USA Network)

PHILIP KAUFMAN
Hemingway & Gellhorn
(HBO)

KEVIN REYNOLDS
Hatfields & McCoys
(History)
 
MICHAEL RYMER
American Horror Story: Asylum, “Dark Cousin”
(FX)
 

COMEDY SERIES

LENA DUNHAM
Girls, “Pilot”
(HBO)
 
LOUIS C.K.
Louie, “New Year’s Eve”
(FX)

MARK CENDROWSKI
The Big Bang Theory, “The Date Night Variable”
(CBS)

BRYAN CRANSTON
Modern Family, “Election Day”
(ABC)
 
BETH MCCARTHY-MILLER
30 Rock, “Live from Studio 6H”
(NBC)

MUSICAL VARIETY

GLENN WEISS
66th Annual Tony Awards
(CBS)

 MICHAEL DEMPSEY
12-12-12: The Concert for Sandy Relief
(Multiple Networks/Cable Outlets)

DON ROY KING
Saturday Night Live with Host Mick Jagger
(NBC)

DON MISCHER
84th Annual Academy Awards
(ABC)

CHUCK O’NEIL
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, “#17153”
(Comedy Central)

REALITY PROGRAMS

BRIAN SMITH
Master Chef, “Episode #305”
(Fox)

TONY CROLL
America’s Next Top Model, “The Girl Who Becomes America’s Next Top Model”
(CW)

PETER NEY
Face Off, “Scene of the Crime”
(Syfy)

J. RUPERT THOMPSON
Stars Earn Stripes, “Amphibious Assault”
(NBC)

TIM WARREN
Ink Master, “Episode 103”
(Spike TV)

DAYTIME SERIALS

JILL MITWELL
One Life To Live, “Between Heaven and Hell”
(ABC)

ALBERT ALARR
Days Of Our Lives, “11895”
(NBC)

LARRY CARPENTER
General Hospital, “Bad Water”
(ABC)

WILLIAM LUDEL
General Hospital, “Magic Milo”
(ABC)

SCOTT McKINSEY
General Hospital, “Shot Through The Heart”
(ABC)
 

CHILDREN’S PROGRAMS

PAUL HOEN
Let it Shine
(Disney Channel)

STUART GILLARD
Girl vs. Monster
(Disney Channel)

SAVAGE STEVE HOLLAND
Big Time Movie
(Nickelodeon)

JONATHAN JUDGE
Camp Fred
(Nickelodeon)

AMY SCHATZ
Don’t Divorce Me! Kids’ Rules for Parents on Divorce
(HBO)

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Paul Thomas Anderson to Fast Track INHERENT VICE with Joaquin Phoenix

by Posted in Casting News

 

Paul Thomas Anderson, or PTA, has long been known as a slow director. Like fellow auteurs Quentin Tarantino and Wes Anderson, he writes and directs his films so they’re usually long in the pipes and take a high level of meticulous planning. Frequent Anderson collaborator and producer JoAnne Sellar confirmed that PTA’s next film, Inherent Vice, however will begin filming as early as April.

I started reading the novel Inherent Vice nearly three years ago because I’d heard that it was next on PTA’s playlist with Robert Downey Jr. set to star. Instead of moving into production on that project though, he pursued The Master and released it to much critical acclaim but staggeringly low monetary result.

 I myself was not a huge fan of the film per se but found the performances spot on and the cinematography excellent. However, I felt it allowed PTA too much of a chance to haphazardly riff in a stiff-upper lipped, pretentious manner, falling trap to what his films always skirt closely to but never fall victim to.

Review aside, it’s good to hear that PTA will be offering himself a chance at redemption sooner rather than later and will have heir apparent collaborator, Joaquin Phoenix, by his side again. Phoenix is a modern day method actor and certainly has a particular style. His animalistic approach and complete physical and emotional involvement in his role as Freddy in The Master is to be admired but I think he could be even better suited for a PTA film with a more straight-forward linear progression. As for who else will join the cast, you have to expect that some of PTA’s tried and true ensemble will be rushing back for more.

To get more details of what to expect from the movie, check out this brief synopsis from the Thomas Pychon novel–

“Part noir, part psychedelic romp, all Thomas Pynchon- private eye Doc Sportello surfaces, occasionally, out of a marijuana haze to watch the end of an era.”

I liked the tone of the book but the whole meta-noir feel kind of got away from me so I abandoned the book which thankfully leaves me more opportunity to be surprised and hopefully impressed by PTA’s effort.

There is no official release date for Inherent Vice.

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ENTOURAGE Confirmed for Movie Treatment

by Posted in Movie Announcements

HBO‘s Entourage ended its small screen run back in 2011 with a cliffhanger of a series finale. There had been speculation from the get-go of a movie in the pipes but no immediate plans for a follow-up film. That all changed today though as Warner Brothers has given the movie adaptation of the popular television series a green light. [Deadline]

While Entourage never tried to present itself as challenging television, it gained fans for being a  window into the Hollywood dream-scape. Characterized by the epitome of all that is cool- sex, drugs and rock n’ roll – Entourage essentially was every man’s dream-life– our mantasy. Entourage was for men what Sex and the City was for women. We wanted that life. 

Unlike other shows that grab a movie deal over cancellation, Entourage went out on its own terms and the show-runners and cast had decided eight seasons was quite enough. Still, fans of the series will be happy to hear that Adrian Grenier, Kevin Connolly, Jerry Ferrara, Kevin Dillon and Jeremy Piven are all expected to return so Vince, E, Turtle, Drama and Ari Gold will all be back for more.

Series creator and director Doug Ellin will direct the film and also wrote the screenplay. Executive producers Mark Walkberg and Stephen Levinson will remain on for the film as well. While there’s no official confirmation of what the film is likely to be about expect it to pick up where it left off.

For those that don’t remember, Ari had just pledged his undying devotion to his life and had decided to sacrifice his illustrious career to run off with her and finally be the husband she deserved. Happy ending right? Well in the very closing moments, Ari gets a phone call offering him the position of a major studio head. What was does he go? No one knows. Expect the movie to at least tackle this while also trying to go a little more mainstream, familiarizing newcomers to the characters and their oft-kilter lifestyles.

All we can hope for now is Vince in James Cameron‘s Aquaman.

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EVIL DEAD Makes Cuts to Go from NC-17 to R-Rating

by Posted in Movie Announcements

 

 

 

The notorious NC-17 is both alluring and repelling, the rating alone stands as a statement and a double-dog-dare. While some of our jaded generation may see a film just to see what exactly made it so explicit, most won’t even be able to see it because the bottom line is many theaters just won’t put it on the roster because of said rating. So the unfortunate fact of the matter is a NC-17 stamp kills a film’s chances at the box office. Since money talks, studios avoid that NC-17 like a plague.

This brings us to The Evil Dead which fell at my number five spot for my Most Anticipated Films of 2013. Even The Evil Dead trailer needed a Red-Band rating and the MPAA came down hard on the film, stamping it with the much condemning NC-17 rating. After this initial rating some necessary (to box office results) cuts were made to snag that R-rating for strong bloody violence and gore, some sexual content and language.

This brings up an interesting point of debate: why is the Nc-17 rating unacceptable? If you look at it from a purist perspective, it really is a shame that all NC-17 films are cut down to that R-rating. This isn’t to say that I need to see any egregious violence or explicit porno in my movies but I want to see what the filmmaker intended me to see not a watered down MPAA approved cut.

The whole stigma around the rating is  silly to say the least as there really should be something that’s a step above R. Argo and The Kings Speech for instance are ‘soft’ R ratings. The only reason they snag the R-rating is because of that terrible F-word. Aside from that, they’re perfectly suitable films for any age group.

Other movies like Cronenberg‘s Crash, Tarantino‘s Django Unchained or even Kick-Ass are ‘hard’ R. But they’ve got torrents of blood, excessive language or gaudy nudity. They are not films for children or even certain impressionable teenagers. So what’s with the lack of contrast between these R ratings? In 1969, Midnight Cowboy was given an X-rating because it was not easy material and yet managed to win Best Picture. It was a hard R and it made sense to be in a different class from the Argo‘s and King Speech‘s. Isn’t it more than a little silly that the MPAA doesn’t just make this  distinction between ‘soft R’ and ‘hard R’ more clear with the NC-17 rating? Unfortunately, with the massive stigma surrounding the rating, don’t expect the problem to end anytime soon.

Tangent aside, expect Evil Dead to debut under the audience friendly and theater acceptable R-rating on April 12.

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Hypnotic Trailer and Poster for Danny Boyle's TRANCE

by Posted in Trailers

 

Set under the banner of Fox Searchlight, Danny Boyle‘s Trance offers an hypnotic view of gangs consorting within the art thievery realm. Boyle has a great eye for color and camera composition and, in my opinion, is one of the greatest working directors out there, making anything he does something worth anticipating.

Some of my favorite Boyle flicks include Trainspotting,  Slumdog Millionaire, 28 Days Later and 127 Hours.

Although Trance slipped through the cracks when I was compiling my Ten Most Anticipated Films of 2013, I’d certainly be tossing this one somewhere on that list. IMDB describes the film as follows:

“An art auctioneer who has become mixed up with a group of criminals partners with a hypnotherapist in order to recover a lost painting.”

Starring James McAvoy (Wanted), Rosario Dawson (Sin City) and Vincent Cassel (Black Swan), Trance will hit theaters on March 27.

Have a look at the trailer here:
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKdm-5gbtgo

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