Although the Oscars has a plethora of visuals awards (visuals, editing, cinematography, costume design, makeup, etc.), I will be streamlining it all down to one. The following five nominations are visual masterpieces that took me from my seat and placed me directly into the action. Here is a list of the nominees:
Arrival
Dr. Strange
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
La La Land
Star Wars: Rogue One
In 2015 there was one actor who stood out above the rest. He is one of those actors that you recognize but you don’t really know who he is. That man is none other than Domhnall Gleeson (pronounced Donall). He had major roles in four movies in 2015, all of which were nominated for multiple Oscars. This guy’s agent is the clear MVP of the year.
Here are some of the movies you may recognize him from:
General Hux (Star Wars The Force Awakens)
This is the one he is most famous for. As General Hux, Gleeson was the head of the First Order along with Kylo Ren and Supreme Commander Snoke. As this movie is the highest-grossing film of all-time, it would definitely be his most famous one, but it was actually the third one to come out this year.
Caleb Smith (Ex Machina)
Ex Machina was Gleeson’s first movie of 2015. He worked with Oscar Isaac, who he later worked with again in Star Wars, and Alicia VIkander to create one of the best movies of the year. He played the mild-mannered Caleb Smith, a computer programmer brought out to his boss’ secluded estate to perform the Turing Test on the new form of AI.
Jim Ferrell (Brooklyn)
Brooklyn was one of the most underrated movies in 2015 and even received a Best Picture nomination from the Academy. In the movie, Gleeson plays Jim Ferrell, a rich bachelor who is one part of a love triangle between Eilis (the main character) and the charming Tony back in America. He’s part of the rugby club and just inherited a huge estate from his parents. Who does she choose?
Andrew Henry (The Revenant)
Gleeson’s final movie from 2015 was The Revenant. He played Captain Andrew Henry, the leader of the group. When Leonardo DiCaprio’s character is mauled by a bear, it is his call to tend for him and not “put him out of his misery.” He plays a strong supporting character alongside Tom Hardy which leads to an intense final meeting later in the movie.
Before 2015, Gleeson’s biggest role was playing Bill Weasley in Harry Potter. The Irish actor has one of the most unique names in the business that would rival that of Benedict Cumberbatch. With three movies scheduled to come out over the next year and a half (including Star Wars Episode VIII), we should probably get used to hearing Domhnall Gleeson’s name and make an effort to learn how to pronounce it while we are at it.
Here it is! At long last, the 2015 Movie of the Year. I promised I would get it out before the Oscars and, although I barely have, I finally made it, haha. Who will join Birdman as the second Natie Movie of the Year? As a reminder, here is a list of the nominees:
Beasts of No Nation
The Big Short
Black Mass
Ex Machina
Inside Out
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Room
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Straight Outta Compton
Here it is: a list of nominees for the 10 best movies of 2015. Last year, Birdman edged out Interstellar and it took home the Oscar for Best Picture. Will history repeat itself? Is my winner even nominated for Best Picture? You will find out tomorrow when I post the results but for now here is a list of all the nominees.
Last Year’s winner: Birdman
Nominees:
Beasts of No Nation
The Big Short
Black Mass
Ex Machina
Inside Out
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Room
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Straight Outta Compton
Sorry about the delay everybody! I went straight from class to work to RA duty without any kind of break yesterday so I am catching up on everything today! Here are the nominees for the Best Supporting Actress!
Nominees:
Rachel McAdams (Spotlight)
Helen Mirren (Trumbo)
Daisy Ridley (Star Wars: The Force Awakens)
Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina, The Danish Girl, The Man from U.N.C.L.E.)
Kate Winslett (Steve Jobs)
Not everybody can lead a movie. Sometimes big-name actors have to take a step back and let others take the lead. There were plenty examples of supporting actors stealing the show in 2015. Here are the nominees for Best Supporting Actor.
Nominees:
Christian Bale (The Big Short)
Idris Elba (Beasts of No Nation)
Tom Hardy (Mad Max: Road, The Revenant)
Oscar Isaac (Ex Machina, Star Wars: The Force Awakens)
Michael Pena (Ant-Man)
Not all movies are supposed to be complex mind-benders that make us contemplate life. These movies are the perfect example of fun movies to grab a bag of popcorn and some friends and go see.
The Nominees:
Ant-Man
Jurassic World
Mad Max: Fury Road
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Vacation
Last Year’s Winner: Interstellar
We are living in an age where technology seems to be improving everyday. As a result, movies are starting to look better and more realistic, to the point where CGI and 3D are actually starting to hurt movies more than help them. Here is a list of the nominees for the best visuals in 2015.
Nominees:
Everest
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
When I made my first top five list, it was celebrating the top five soundtrack composers (read that here: http://bit.ly/1DFprh2). I am now starting a new series where I will take a close look at different parts of movie soundtracks (where would we be without them). In the first one, I will be looking at the best epic individual songs from movie soundtracks.
*Disclaimer: No lyrics (a later list in the series)*
#5: The Avengers Theme (The Avengers)
Composer: Alan Silvestri
An epic team-up like the Avengers is going to need an epic theme song to represent them. Alan Silvestri, the brilliant mind behind the scores of Forrest Gump, The A-Team, and Back to the Future franchise, did not disappoint. The theme builds up as we imagine Captain America, Iron Man, and the rest of the team coming together. It’s music like this that gets fans pumped for the upcoming fight.
#4: Driving With the Top Down (Iron Man)
Composer: Ramin Djawadi
Before he was creating the amazing theme song for Game of Thrones (I may not be a fan of the show at all but check out how great this is: http://bit.ly/1khg7kb), Djawadi created the soundtrack for the first movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Entering the movie, superhero fans didn’t know what to expect and he helped use his great music to pump up fans even more. Driving With the Top Down has become Iron Man’s theme and will be remembered as one of the most epic songs from an Avengers movie.
#3: Mind Heist (Inception)
Composer: Hans Zimmer (originally Zack Hemsey)
Zimmer borrowed a great song from Zack Hemsey and turned it into an iconic soundtrack. While this individual song isn’t necessarily in the movie itself (it was the music in the trailer), it quickly became associated with Inception and a form of it is used in almost every trailer released today. Check out the trailer that propelled this song into pop culture: http://bit.ly/1hRDPET
#2: Star Wars Theme (Star Wars)
Composer: John Williams
I know a ton of people are surprised not to see this as the number one song on this list, but the theme for Star Wars falls second on our list (check out the honorable mentions though!). Whenever anybody hears this song, them immediate think of the opening crawl to one of the greatest movie franchises of all-time. John Williams is the greatest composer of all-time and it’s tracks like this that cement him there. It will be a long time before anybody can even begin to rival him (sorry Hans Zimmer).
Honorable Mention
The Imperial March (Star Wars/John Williams)
A Dark Knight (The Dark Knight/Hans Zimmer)
Duel of the Fates (Star Wars/John Williams)
Welcome to Jurassic Park (Jurassic Park/John Williams)
Binary Sunset (Star Wars/John Williams)
Ride of the Valkyries (Apocalypse Now/Carmine Coppola)
#1: Bridge of Khazad Dum (The Fellowship of the Ring)
Composer: Howard Shore
It doesn’t get any more epic than this. This song from Lord of the Rings is in the first installment of the franchise and follows the fellowship as they make their way through the Mines of Moria and battle with the Balrog. It is as epic as they come. Imagine charging into battle with this music blasting in the background. Watch the scene here and tell me the music doesn’t add to it: http://bit.ly/1H1umdb
Which songs do you think were the most epic in movies? Comment and let me know what you think. Check in later tomorrow for the best songs performed from Musicals in movies.
Sometimes even the greatest scripts can be ruined by terrible casting. Some actors just can’t handle certain roles and no amount of great directing can change that. Here is a list of five acting roles that could have been great if they were cast perfectly; however, that is not the case.
#5: Sofia Coppola (The Godfather Part III– Mary Corleone)
As the daughter of the legendary director Francis Ford Coppola, we figured the acting genes would pass on from one generation to the next. We couldn’t have been any more wrong as Coppola’s performance was a major stain on the finale of the Godfather trilogy. Just watch her stale acting in one of the big scenes *spoilers for those of you who haven’t seen it* (http://bit.ly/1bcp1Bg). She is Nicolas Cage’s cousin, so I guess that explains part of it, but this was just a bad performance on her part.
#4: Rosie O’Donnell (The Flintstones– Betty Rubble)
This movie had potential to be a great cartoon-to-live-action movie. For the most part, the acting was great and the movie was just a fun one to watch. Unfortunately, there was one exception that ruined it for many viewers: Rosie O’Donnell. Watch this and tell me that you think Betty Rubble actually sounds upset: http://bit.ly/1bBUyNC. She work well on The View, but The Flintstones is not the movie for her.
#3: Steve Martin (The Pink Panther– Inspector Jacques Clouseau)
This performance was almost downright racist. We get that he was trying to fake a French accent, but it is so terrible that it is actually offensive. Do we really need two minutes of this (http://bit.ly/1dr0KZW)? While the role seems to be perfect for a quirky actor, Martin is definitely not “French” enough for the role. It doesn’t help that the Peter Sellers already nailed the performance in 1963 and there was nowhere to go but down. I thought the movie was funny when I was young, but having rewatched it, the movie definitely seems to be pretty stereotypical and edgy.
#2: Hayden Christensen (Star Wars prequels- Anakin Skywalker)
I am sure most of you are stunned that this isn’t number one on the list. We all wondered what Darth Vader was like as a young adult..it turns out he was a moody dweeb. There were so many ways that George Lucas could have gone with Anakin, but he picked the wrong one. It’s pretty hard to be intimidated by Darth Vader when we remember that he was an annoying, whiny teenager growing up. Christensen’s performance was stale at best. Here is a montage from Revenge of the Sith where we see just how monotone he really is: http://bit.ly/1JhcI25. You are trying to save your wife. SHOW SOME EMOTION!!!!
Honorable Mention:
Jack Black (King Kong– Carl Denham)
Kevin Costner (Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves– Robin Hood)
#1: The Entire Cast of G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (except Ray Park)
Channing Tatum, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dennis Quaid, Rachel Nichols, Christopher Eccleston, and Sienna Miller sounds like a great cast to work with. Too bad G.I. Joe ruined all of it. This movie had some serious star power and a ton of source material to draw from. Instead, we ended up with a B-rate action flick without much of a serious plot. The only redeeming quality is Ray Park (Star Wars: Phantom Menace, X-Men). He does a great job as Snake Eyes and doesn’t even have any dialogue in the film. His action sequences are perfect and his ability to display emotion without us even seeing the slightest bit of his skin is pretty amazing. Just look at this great stunt by Snake Eyes (http://bit.ly/1GDND1g). I look hard for a clip of him reminiscing but couldn’t find it anywhere. The rest of the cast, however, dropped a goose egg as they couldn’t live up to the potential. I won’t even bother discussing how terrible the second movie was.
Who did you think did a terrible job in their role? Let me know what you think the worst casting decision of all-time is.
CinemaStickler 