Oscar Best Picture Winner 1997: Titanic

BY: ORANGECHAIR
We all know the film, we all know the plot and most of all, we all know the song. As of a few days ago, I have finally seen the film all the way through. Now before the eye rolling and gasping can begin, let me assure you that I had seen most of the film but I had watched it piece mail. After seeing it all the way through I have to admit, I actually really enjoyed Titanic.

Quick recap of Titanic for those of you who live under a rock. Told in a flashback format, the film begins with an excavation team in present day (when the film was made of course) searching for the sunken wreck of the Titanic. Led by Brock Lovett (Bill Paxton) it becomes clear that they are looking for The Heart of the Ocean, a giant diamond rumored to have sunk with the ship. The team recovers a picture showing a woman wearing the diamond and find to their advantage that the woman in the picture is still alive. She gets in contact with them and tells the story of her time on the Titanic. The bulk of the film tells the story of Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet) and Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio). From different worlds, Rose arrives on the Titanic a member of a wealthy family with her extremely wealthy boyfriend Caledon “Cal” Nathan Hockley (Billy Zane) while Jack wins his ticket with his friend Fabrizio De Rossi (Danny Nucci) in a poker game. Rose lives in first class while Jack resides in third. The two probably would have never met if Jack hadn’t been at the right place at the right time. On the verge of suicide when realizing how unhappy she is in life, Jack manages to pull Rose back on board the ship before she jumps and romance is born.

The romance between Jack and Rose is a classic, overplayed romance but it worked perfectly in this film. Two people from different worlds fall in love and learn to love each other even more as they try to traverse they respective worlds together. Jack is invited into Rose’s world as a result of saving her life in the form of a dinner with the ship’s High Class patrons. Though Cal and Rose’s mother (Frances Fisher) do all they can to embarrass Jack, he manages to survive the dinner with grace, charm and dignity. After his foray into the upper class, Jack brings Rose to the underbelly of the ship to a third class party. Loud, crazy and unsophisticated, the exact opposite of what Rose is used to, she fits in perfectly, dancing and drinking with the rest. While this romance, where two people from different social circles preserve their love against all odds, is extremely overplayed, it worked out perfectly in this film. Not only did it serve to frame character development, it really showed the variety of life, status and wealth that existed on the giant cruise ship. All walks of life had gathered and were at times force to commingle on the Titanic.

I enjoyed watching this film but I also had a number of fundamental flaws with it, most of which can be traced back to director James Cameron trying to do too much. Prior to working on Titanic, Cameron had made a number of brilliant action films including Terminator and Alien, aptly proving himself as a skilled director. With Titanic, Cameron seemed to be much more scatterbrained. His work with the camera was impeccable, filling the film with perfectly orchestrated shots and scenes. What I didn’t like about the direction of the movie was that Cameron wasn’t able to decide if he wanted to make a drama or an action film. Instead he made a drama film, then he made an action film, then he smashed them together, making one confused film that ran too long. There was also a lack of character development throughout the film. Jack and Rose had great character development but there were a number of other characters that got lost in the shuffle of the film. There were a number of characters in both the upper and lower class that served as anchors, not really doing anything but giving us a face to focus on when the scene involved those classes which to me seems like a waste of time. In my opinion many characters fell into the background of the grand sets and the special effects that made up the last hour of the film. The only side character that I found to be memorable at all was Margaret Brown (Kathy Bates) and only then because Kathy Bates doesn’t have the ability to be on screen without making an impression.

In 1997, Titanic went head to head with L.A. Confidential, As Good As it Gets, Good Will Hunting and the Full Monty and came out victorious with an Oscar Best Picture win and didn’t stop there. Taking a staggering eleven Oscar wins, including a win for James Cameron in Best Directing, the film still holds the record for most Oscar wins along with Ben-Hur and the Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King. While I didn’t want to like the movie that much, I have to admit that it is a well done film. I give Titanic a 7.5 out of 10. It may be a little bit long but it is worth seeing.

Looking to Oscar: Jackson Returns to Middle Earth with the Hobbit

BY: ORANGECHAIR

My dear Frodo, you once asked me once if I had told you everything there was to know about my adventures. Well, I can honestly say I’ve told you the truth, I may not have told you all of it.

All it took was a second of what I have come to called the Shire theme, that light-hearted flute melody that accompanied every happy Hobbit scene in Lord of the Rings, for me to feel right back at home in the Shire. Peter Jackson brings us back to Middle Earth, adapting J. R.R. Tolkien’s prequel of the Lord of the Rings to the big screen. While the film still has very violent and intense content, it is much more light-hearted and humorous than the Lord of the Rings films. Though there is a lot of controversy surrounding Jackson’s approach to the Hobbit, I found the Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey to be immensely enjoyable to watch.

Just like in the novel, the film tells the story in one long flashback, the main character reminiscing about the events of his past. The Hobbit’s main character is Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), a minor character in the original trilogy but the grandfather of the series’ main character Frodo Baggins. The events of the Hobbit tell how Bilbo came to be in possession of the original trilogy’s titular ring and explains how Bilbo became acquainted with the great wizard Gandolf (Ian McKellen).

Set sixty years before the first three films, the Hobbit begins with Gandolf arriving at Bag End. Even though Bilbo doesn’t remember him, Gandolf proves that he knows the Hobbit and his family and decides to force Bilbo into an adventure. Making him the fourteenth member in a group of dwarves, Bilbo and the dwarves set across Middle Earth to the dwarves homeland, The Lonely Mountain. Filled to the brim with treasure, the dwarves were long ago nearly decimated by Dragon Smaug. Taking the Lonely Mountain by force and nearly making the dwarves extinct, Smaug took their treason and made the mountain his new home. Now, without recent sightings of the beast, the dwarves travel across the land to reclaim their home and what is rightfully theirs, battling parties of orcs, Azog the devourer, The Great Goblin, a necromancer and a growing ancient evil all before their final battle against the terrifying Smaug.

The main point of controversy behind this film is Jackson’s decision to turn the Hobbit into a trilogy rather than leaving it one film. As a novel, the Hobbit is shorter than each of the three Lord of the Rings books which does make one wonder how Jackson managed to make three films, each one based on a longer book, but needs three for the shorter Hobbit. Originally the series was meant to be two films, one that looks at the journey across Middle Earth while the sequel chronicles the encounter with Smaug. In the novel, there are many portions where main characters like Gandolf are gone for long periods of time, periods of time that are explained through Tolkien’s many appendices. The third film will make use of these appendices, using them to expand the story.

What is great about the Hobbit is that while we are introduced to many great new characters and locations, a number of locations and characters return from the original trilogy. Most notable out of the newcomers, which includes fourteen dwarves, is the dwarven prince Thorin (Richard Armitage). Thinking he killed the other new comer, the white orc Azog that declared war on Thorin’s family, killing his father and grandfather, Thorin is again forced to face his greatest enemy. A new wizard character enters the story, Radagast the Brown (Sylvester McCoy), one of only five wizard in Middle Earth. Hugo Weaving returns as Elrond along with Cate Blanchett as the elf queen Galadriel and, returning in one of the most stunning and well done scenes in the film, Gollum (Andy Serkis) meets a Hobbit for the first time.

I very much enjoyed this film but not quite as much as I enjoyed the Lord of the Rings. There was something a little more childish about the Hobbit. With some obvious visual inspiration from Guillermo Del Toro, the Hobbit did not pull in many Oscar nominations and none for acting, writing or best picture. Nominations were in visual categories such as Best Achievement in Makeup and Best Achievement in Visual Effects. I give this film an 8 out of 10. It was incredibly fun to return to the Shine once more, especially knowing I will get to be In Middle Earth for two films more.

This Week On Netflix: Hugo

BY: ORANGECHAIR

“If you’ve ever wondered where you’re dreams come from, you look around…..this is where they’re made”-Georges Melies

Hugo is the closest thing I’ve ever seen to a live action classic Disney film. Disney has made live action films and some classic Disney films, like Peter Pan and 101 Dalmatians, have been turned into live action films but none of them were able to truly capture the feel and texture of a Disney classic. The film Enchanted managed to capture the classic Disney feel but then sent it into the real world, allowing it to mix with the grit and grime of New York City. It made for a great film but lacked the purity that I attribute to Disney. Hugo however, though it had nothing to with Disney, was a classic Disney cartoon come to life.

Based on a book titled The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, the bulk of the film takes place in a train station in 1930’s Paris, except for a few flashbacks and two or three forays out into the world beyond the station. The film centers around a young man named Hugo Cabret (Asa Buttefield). Trained by his father (Jude Law) and his drunken Uncle Claude (Ray Winstone) to make and fix clocks, Hugo begins to take care of the clocks in the station. When his father passes away and his uncle disappears, Hugo continues to fix the clocks, living in the walls of the station alone, attempting to avoid Station Inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen) and his dog who will send Hugo to the orphanage. Before he passed, Hugo and his father were working to fix an automaton, a broken mechanical man. Hugo becomes obsessed with fixing the automaton, hoping that fixing it will result in a final message from his father that will allow Hugo to make some sense of his death.

To fix the automaton, Hugo has resorted to “borrowing” parts from a toy shop in the station run by Georges Melies (Ben Kingsley). After Georges catches Hugo stealing, he decides to allow Hugo to work off his debt. As the two work together, we see the old, depressed and dejected Georges light-up a little bit, seeming somewhat happy for the first time all film. Hugo eventually meets Georges’ God-daughter, Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moretz), an adventure hungry girl. Immediately becoming friends, the two embark on adventures together. Hugo eventually notices a key hanging around Isabelle’s neck, a key that is the final piece needed to get his automaton working. As the two begin to explore the origin of the automaton and the key, they are pulled into an adventure that uncovers the truth about Georges Melies tragic yet triumphant past.

This film had every aspect of a classic Disney film from the seemingly enchanted, grand settings to a villain dead set on stopping the story’s hero. The visual effects in this film were stunning, turning what could have a been a simple train station into a mystical world of shining gears and secret passage ways. Sacha Baron Cohen was perfectly cast as the villain, constantly chasing Hugo with his trusty dog side kick in scenes that are cartoonish and intense at the same time. The thing that makes me call this a classic Disney film the most was the feeling I got from watching it: profound joy. The film was a fairy tale within a fairy tale. Hugo and Isabelle are traveling through their own fairy tale while uncovering the fairy tale that is Georges’ past.

Without giving away too much I want to touch on how the plot of Hugo is immersed in the history of film. Ben Kingsley’s character is based a real film director of the same name. Directing and acting in a number of different films, Melies is most famous for his film Le Voyage dans la Lune (A Trip to the Moon), made in 1902, which plays a central role in Hugo. Hugo takes a look at the true purpose of cinema, to create magic and wonder. Films can do amazing things and take you to amazing places and should be appreciated as such.

Nominated for an Best Picture in 2011 and earning 5 Oscars, including Best Cinematography and Best Visual Effects. I expected to like this film but I did not expect to be completely entranced by it. A visually stunning fairy tale with some fabulous actors, Hugo is one of the best films available on Netflix Instant Queue. Family friendly and with entertainment for everybody, I give this film an 8 out of 10.

Oscar Best Picture Winner 1984: Amadeus

BY: ORANGECHAIR
It is unfortunate that an eighties one hit wonder by Falco came out with the same name as the 1985 Best Picture Winner Amadeus. In my opinion, the word Amadeus is generally related to that tune that so easily sticks in your head which is pathetic for two reasons. The first reason is simply because that word should bring to mind Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The other reason is because it pushes the film Amadeus into the background. I went into Amadeus thinking the film was a joke, based on what I had heard about it, and was happily surprised when it was a brilliant film.

It is difficult to determine how accurate a current portrayal of Mozart’s life is considering nobody making the film could have ever met him, but this film painted Mozart in a very interesting light. Juxtaposing Mozart’s brilliance with his increasing madness, the story is told in flashback format. The film opens with elderly composer Antonio Salieri (F. Murray Abraham) attempting to kill himself. Moved to a mental hospital, Salieri is interviewed by a doctor. Trying to kill himself because Mozart’s compositions are remembered while his are not, Salieri recalls when him and Mozart were in their prime. Working for Emperor Joseph II (Jeffrey Jones), Salieri meets Mozart (Tom Hulce) when he is hired to write a symphony. Proving his brilliance and his ignorance of his brilliance, Mozart, within moments of meeting Salieri, takes one of Salieri’s new works and improves it in minutes. From that point on, the film follows Mozart’s career as Salieri attempts to compete with the brilliantly superior man.

Wild, rude and childish, Mozart acts like a spoiled child, knowing that his brilliance can allow him to do whatever he wants. Immediately pushing the envelope, Mozart begins to write a German Opera though most of his superiors believe that to be wildly inappropriate. When Emperor Joseph II backs Mozart’s decision it started Mozart’s life long string of composition output. As he continued to push the envelope, eventually composing an opera based on the tale of Figaro which had been banned from being performed. Mozart continued to grow more and more famous and Salieri continued to grow more and more jealous. Using his connections and the politics of performance, Salieri began to make sure that Mozart’s performances became failures though, seeing every one himself, he admitted they were pure brilliance.

Mozart continued to make a home in Vienna, bringing his wife Constanze Mozart (Elizabeth Berridge), who unconventionally tries to control everything, to live with him. A father’s boy at heart, Mozart’s father ends up visiting. Used to his son doing whatever he is told, Leopold Mozart (Roy Dotrice) is surprised when his son refuses to move back home with him. Leopold lives with Mozart and Constanze briefly until Mozart’s father and wife get into a fight and Leopold moves home. Shortly after returning home, Leopold dies, throwing Mozart into the depths of his madness. His music taking a dark turn, Mozart begins to work on his own projects and refuses anything that could make him money. Seeing the madness as a way to rid himself of Mozart, Solieri dresses in disguise and commissions Mozart to write a requiem for the dead, his own funeral. Mozart throws himself into the work, terrified of the specter-like being Solieri is pretending to be. The film culminates in a beautiful scene where Solieri volunteers to help Mozart, whose health is failing, to finish his final piece. Mozart creates music with his voice, speaking the score for the piece out loud while Solieri desperately tries to keep up. Even at the end, Mozart proves his superiority.

I have talked too long about the plot of the film, which is outstanding, but I want to mention some other amazing aspects that the films delves into. Solieri, a man who sees religion in music, struggles with his belief in God throughout the film. Solieri sees Mozart as a fool and cannot understand why God would give such a fool the gift to show the world God through his music. His entire belief in religion is shaken and destroyed by Mozart’s superiority over him. The performances in the film were outstanding, earning both Tom Hulce and H. Murray Abraham nominations for Best Actor. Abraham ended up winning the Oscar, a win that he deserved very much. Both Peter Shaffen, the film’s writer, and Milos Forman, the film’s director, were honored with their own Best Writing and Best Directing Oscars. The music in the film was also perfect, capitalizing on the use of classical music and filling the score with pieces from Mozart himself.

As far as Best Picture goes, the film went up against Places in the Heart, the Killing Fields, a Passage to India and a Soldier’s Story. I have not seen any of the other Best Picture nominees so I cannot compare them to Amadeus to determine if Amadeus should actually win but the film was certainly good enough to win. Directing, writing and acting were nearly perfect throughout the film, creating a stunningly beautiful and unique portrayal of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s life. As far as this being a well done film I give it a 4 out of 5 and as far as pure entertainment goes I also give it a 4 out of 5 ending with a total of 8 out of 10. Even if you’re not interested in Mozart, this film is worth seeing.