And the Nominees Are...

Nominees for the 82nd Academy Awards:

Best Picture
“Avatar” James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
“The Blind Side” Gil Netter, Andrew A. Kosove and Broderick Johnson, Producers
“District 9” Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, Producers
“An Education” Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers
“The Hurt Locker” Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Nicolas Chartier and Greg Shapiro, Producers
“Inglourious Basterds” Lawrence Bender, Producer
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, Producers
“A Serious Man” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Producers
“Up” Jonas Rivera, Producer
“Up in the Air” Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, Producers

Actor in a Leading Role
Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart”
George Clooney in “Up in the Air”
Colin Firth in “A Single Man”
Morgan Freeman in “Invictus”
Jeremy Renner in “The Hurt Locker”

Actor in a Supporting Role
Matt Damon in “Invictus”
Woody Harrelson in “The Messenger”
Christopher Plummer in “The Last Station”
Stanley Tucci in “The Lovely Bones”
Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds”

Actress in a Leading Role
Sandra Bullock in “The Blind Side”
Helen Mirren in “The Last Station”
Carey Mulligan in “An Education”
Gabourey Sidibe in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
Meryl Streep in “Julie & Julia”

Actress in a Supporting Role
Penélope Cruz in “Nine”
Vera Farmiga in “Up in the Air”
Maggie Gyllenhaal in “Crazy Heart”
Anna Kendrick in “Up in the Air”
Mo’Nique in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”

Animated Feature Film
“Coraline” Henry Selick
“Fantastic Mr. Fox” Wes Anderson
“The Princess and the Frog” John Musker and Ron Clements
“The Secret of Kells” Tomm Moore
“Up” Pete Docter

Art Direction
“Avatar” Art Direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Kim Sinclair
“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” Art Direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro; Set Decoration: Caroline Smith
“Nine” Art Direction: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Gordon Sim
“Sherlock Holmes” Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
“The Young Victoria” Art Direction: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Maggie Gray

Cinematography
“Avatar” Mauro Fiore
“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” Bruno Delbonnel
“The Hurt Locker” Barry Ackroyd
“Inglourious Basterds” Robert Richardson
“The White Ribbon” Christian Berger

Costume Design
“Bright Star” Janet Patterson
“Coco before Chanel” Catherine Leterrier
“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” Monique Prudhomme
“Nine” Colleen Atwood
“The Young Victoria” Sandy Powell

Directing
“Avatar” James Cameron
“The Hurt Locker” Kathryn Bigelow
“Inglourious Basterds” Quentin Tarantino
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels
“Up in the Air” Jason Reitman

Documentary (Feature)
“Burma VJ” Anders Østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller
“The Cove” Nominees to be determined
“Food, Inc.” Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein
“The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers” Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith
“Which Way Home” Rebecca Cammisa

Documentary (Short Subject)
“China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province” Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill
“The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner” Daniel Junge and Henry Ansbacher
“The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant” Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert
“Music by Prudence” Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett
“Rabbit à la Berlin” Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra

Film Editing
“Avatar” Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron
“District 9” Julian Clarke
“The Hurt Locker” Bob Murawski and Chris Innis
“Inglourious Basterds” Sally Menke
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Joe Klotz

Foreign Language Film
“Ajami” Israel
“El Secreto de Sus Ojos” Argentina
“The Milk of Sorrow” Peru
“Un Prophète” France
“The White Ribbon” Germany

Makeup
“Il Divo” Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano
“Star Trek” Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow
“The Young Victoria” Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore

Music (Original Score)
“Avatar” James Horner
“Fantastic Mr. Fox” Alexandre Desplat
“The Hurt Locker” Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
“Sherlock Holmes” Hans Zimmer
“Up” Michael Giacchino

Music (Original Song)
“Almost There” from “The Princess and the Frog” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
“Down in New Orleans” from “The Princess and the Frog” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
“Loin de Paname” from “Paris 36” Music by Reinhardt Wagner Lyric by Frank Thomas
“Take It All” from “Nine” Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
“The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)” from “Crazy Heart” Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

Short Film (Animated)
“French Roast” Fabrice O. Joubert
“Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty” Nicky Phelan and Darragh O’Connell
“The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)” Javier Recio Gracia
“Logorama” Nicolas Schmerkin
“A Matter of Loaf and Death” Nick Park

Short Film (Live Action)
“The Door” Juanita Wilson and James Flynn
“Instead of Abracadabra” Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellström
“Kavi” Gregg Helvey
“Miracle Fish” Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey
“The New Tenants” Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson

Sound Editing
“Avatar” Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
“The Hurt Locker” Paul N.J. Ottosson
“Inglourious Basterds” Wylie Stateman
“Star Trek” Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin
“Up” Michael Silvers and Tom Myers

Sound Mixing
“Avatar” Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson
“The Hurt Locker” Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett
“Inglourious Basterds” Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano
“Star Trek” Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin
“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson

Visual Effects
“Avatar” Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones
“District 9” Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken
“Star Trek” Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
“District 9” Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
“An Education” Screenplay by Nick Hornby
“In the Loop” Screenplay by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher
“Up in the Air” Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner

Writing (Original Screenplay)
“The Hurt Locker” Written by Mark Boal
“Inglourious Basterds” Written by Quentin Tarantino
“The Messenger” Written by Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman
“A Serious Man” Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
“Up” Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy

http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/82/nominees.html

82nd Academy Awards Make Some Black Film History (A Bits & Bites Special)

For Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire, Gabourey Sidibe becomes only the eighth Black actress to receive a nod for lead actress.

For Invictus, Morgan Freeman receives his fifth acting Oscar nomination. This gives Freeman a tie with Denzel Washington as the black actors with the most acting Oscar nominations. Both Freeman and Washington also have three Oscar nominations for “Best Actor in a Leading Role,” which is the most by any black actor in the “leading role” categories.

With the “best picture” nomination Broderick Johnson receives as a co-producer of The Blind Side, he becomes only the second African-American to receive a “Best Picture” nod. Quincy Jones was the first, for The Color Purple.

The film Precious racked up six nominations and made some history. Director Lee Daniels was nominated for “best director,” becoming only the second African-American nominated in this category and the first since John Singleton for Boyz n the Hood in 1991.

Precious also earned a nomination for best adapted screenplay, which was given to Geoffry Fletcher. He is only the third African American to receive a nod in this category, and the first since Charles Fuller received a “best adapted screenplay” nomination 25 years for adapting his play for the film, A Soldier’s Story.

Precious was also nominated for best picture with nine other films. This is the first time that a film with both a predominately Black cast and a Black director was nominated for “Best Picture.” Lee Daniels becomes only the third African-American to receive a “best picture nomination” (as a co-producer of Precious). Daniels is also the first African-American to receive a “best director” nomination and a “best picture” nomination for the same film.

As a side note, actor Don Cheadle, a producer of Crash, was excluded from receiving a “best picture” nomination for that film and later an Oscar when Crash won “best picture,” because the Academy decided not to recognize his achievement due to a ruling against Cheadle by the Producers Guild of America.

For The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow is also only the fourth woman nominated for “best director” and the first since Sofia Coppola in 2003.

The 82nd Annual Academy Awards will air tonight, March 7th, hosted by Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin.

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Review: 1966 "Batman" Flick Still Fun

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 100 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

Batman (1966)
Running time: 104 minutes
DIRECTOR: Leslie H. Martinson
WRITER: Lorenzo Semple, Jr. (based upon THE BATMAN character created by Bob Kane and published by DC Comics)
PRODUCER: William Dozier
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Howard Schwartz
EDITOR: Harry W. Gerstad

SUPERHERO/COMEDY/ADVENTURE/FAMILY

Starring: Adam West, Burt Ward, Lee Meriwether, Cesar Romero, Burgess Meredith, Frank Gorshin, Alan Napier, Neil Hamilton, Stafford Repp, Madge Blake, and Reginald Denny

In January 1966, television history was made when the TV show “Batman” debuted. Its blend of camp humor and the large number of celebrities who guest-starred as villains (Roddy McDowall, Milton Berle, Eartha Kitt, Julie Newmar, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Cliff Robertson, and Vincent Price among many) made the show a huge hit with audiences of all ages. A television show based upon a superhero comic book had never been so popular, and “Batman” spawned one of the biggest pop culture fads of that time which included a slew merchandising and memorabilia. Starring Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin, the series last three seasons (120 episodes) and gave birth to a 1966 feature film, simply titled, Batman, which was released to theatres in between the first and second seasons of the show.

In the feature film, Batman (Adam West) and Robin (Burt Ward) face not one, not two, and not three foes, but four of them combined together as the United Underworld, a quartet of the most diabolical super-villains: the Penguin (Burgess Meredith), the Joker (Cesar Romero), the Riddler (Frank Gorshin), and the Catwoman (Lee Meriwether). Their plan to hold the world hostage involves using a secret invention that instantly dehydrates people and reduces them to small piles of dust. They need Batman out of the way, so Catwoman disguises herself as “Kitka,” a sly Soviet envoy who ensnares Bruce Wayne (West) as bait to draw the Caped Crusader into their deadly trap. What they don’t know is that Wayne is Batman’s secret identity. Will Bruce Wayne’s emerging attraction to Ms. Kitka lead to the destruction of Batman? Can the Dynamic Duo save the world? Tune in…

Batman the movie is, like “Batman” the television series, campy – a style of comedy known for being outlandishly amusing and theatrical. The film and series are likely parodies or send-ups of Batman & Robin’s first big screen appearance: the 1943, 13-part movie serial, also entitled Batman. The colorful and garish costumes, over-the-top dialogue, sexual innuendo, the farcical plot, and the kooky action scenes are all a tongue-in-cheek ode to an old favorite of serialized fiction and film – the cliffhanger, which often finds the hero or heroes a second away from certain death via some ridiculous invention or mechanical contraption. When the hero is saved or saves himself, it is always by the skin of his teeth via some totally off-the-wall or silly means, but it is all for fun.

In the last two-and-half decades or so, hardcore fans of the Batman comic books and other superhero comic books have come to revile the silliness of the 1960’s Batman, but silliness and big fun were the point of the series. I don’t think this film is nearly as funny or as enjoyable as the TV show, but it’s a nice, cultural oddity worth a few laughs. Personally, I prefer its take on the Batman costumes, as well as its interpretation of most of the characters, compared to most other screen Batman’s. Its importance to film, TV, and pop culture history remains the search to discover why the TV series became so popular at the time it did.

6 of 10
B

June 23, 2005

Review: "After the Wedding" Offers Stunning Surprises

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 106 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux

After the Wedding (2007)
Running time: 124 minutes (2 hours, 4 minutes)
MPAA – R for some language and a scene of sensuality
2007 Academy Award nominee

Original title: Efter brylluppet (2006)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Denmark/Sweden; Languages: Danish, Swedish, Hindi, and English
DIRECTOR: Susanne Bier
WRITERS: Anders Thomas Jensen; from a story by Susanne Bier and Anders Thomas Jensen
PRODUCER: Sisse Graum Jørgensen
CINEMATOGRAPHERS: Stine Hein, Ole Kragh-Jacobsen, Morten Søborg, and Otto Stenov
EDITOR: Pernille Bech Christensen and Morten Højbjerg

DRAMA

Starring: Mads Mikkelson, Rolf Lassgård, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Stine Fischer Christensen, Christian Tafdrup, Frederik Gullits Ernst, Kristian Gullits Ernst, Mona Malm, Meenal Patel, and Nareel Mulchandani

The Danish film, Efter brylluppet, earned a 2007 Foreign Language Oscar nomination (as a representative of Denmark), and received a 2007 theatrical release under its international English title, After the Wedding. The film follows a Danish expatriate returning to his homeland and learning a life-altering family secret in this emotionally charged drama with a unique twist.

Jacob Pederson (Mads Mikkelson, who played “Le Chiffre” in the 2006 version of Casino Royale) runs an orphanage in India for children who would otherwise likely end up as child prostitutes, but the orphanage is failing. He travels to Copenhagen, Denmark to meet a self-indulgent billionaire businessman named Jørgen Hansson (Rolf Lassgård), who has made the offer of generous donation. Jørgen insists on meeting Jacob as a condition for getting the money, but Jørgen represents everything Jacob has come to abhor. When Jacob arrives in Denmark, he discovers that Jorgen is attaching an ever-growing list of demands to his donation.

Jørgen suddenly invites Jacob to his daughter, Anna’s (Stine Fischer Christensen) wedding, where Jacob also meets Jørgen’s wife, Helene (Sidse Babett Knudsen). Getting introduced to Jørgen’s family further complicates the matter of the so-called gift, but for all the surprises that await Jacob at the wedding, it is after the wedding that the biggest shocks come.

Early on, After the Wedding comes across as a somewhat cool and aloof foreign film, but around the 30-minute mark it becomes an emotionally powerhouse of family melodrama. As the machinations and family history reveal themselves, the film becomes something of a sordid potboiler, unusual for a family drama that isn’t also a soap opera.

Director Susanne Bier masterfully mixes quality acting and raw emotions with a series of fiercely-staged intimate and personal confrontations between characters that would be uncomfortable to witness in real life. (Johan Söderqvust’s haunting score serves Bier’s goals quite well.) The film’s fault lies in that the story requires the audience to have an intimate knowledge of the characters and of the characters’ closeness with one another, but the script largely leaves the characters as mysteries or ciphers.

After the Wedding boldly addresses issues of mortality, control, and devotion. Bier doesn’t pretend that even the strongest and deepest love between two people is a perfect thing. It can be as messy and ugly as it can be beautiful and sustaining. When films deal with relationships in such a frank and candid fashion, they are treating their audiences with respect.

7 of 10
A-

NOTES:
2007 Academy Awards: 1 nomination for “Best Foreign Language Film of the Year” (Denmark)

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

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Countdown to Oscar 2010: The Independent Spirit Awards 2009

The Independent Spirit Awards or Film Independent’s Spirit Awards were founded in 1984 and are awards dedicated to independent filmmakers. The Independent Spirit Awards 2009 announced its nominees in December 2009. The winners were announced on March 5, 2010.


Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire won five Independent Spirit Awards: best picture, director, screenplay, actress, and supporting actress. That is one short of the record of six held by Fargo, Sideways, and Stand and Deliver.

Winners (in bold) and nominees:

Best Film (Best Feature)
Precious

(500) Days of Summer
Amreeka
The Last Station
Without Name (Sin nombre)

Best Director
Lee Daniels – Precious

Ethan and Joel Coen – A Serious Man
Cary Joji Fukunaga – Without Name (Sin nombre)
James Gray – Two Lovers
Michael Hoffman – The Last Station

Best Actor (Best Male Lead)
Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart

Colin Firth – A Single Man
Joseph Gordon-Levitt – (500) Days of Summer
Souleymane Sy Savane – Goodbye Solo
Adam Scott – The Vicious Kind

Best Actress (Best Female Lead)
Gabourey Sidibe – Precious

Maria Bello – Downloading Nancy
Nisreen Faour – Amreeka
Helen Mirren – The Last Station
Gwyneth Paltrow – Two Lovers

Best Supporting Actor (Best Supporting Male)
Woody Harrelson – The Messenger

Jemaine Clement – Gentlemen Broncos
Christian McKay – Me and Orson Welles
Ray McKinnon – That Evening Sun
Christopher Plummer – The Last Station

Best Supporting Actress (Best Supporting Female)
Mo'Nique – Precious

Dina Korzun – Cold Souls
Samantha Morton – The Messenger
Natalie Press – Fifty Dead Men Walking
Mia Wasikowska – That Evening Sun

Best Screenplay
(500) Days of Summer – Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber

Adventureland – Greg Mottola
The Last Station – Michael Hoffman
The Messenger – Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman
The Vicious Kind – Lee Toland Krieger

Best First Screenplay
Precious – Geoffrey Fletcher

Amreeka – Cherien Dabis
Cold Souls – Sophie Barthes
Crazy Heart – Scott Cooper
A Single Man – Tom Ford and David Scearce

Best First Feature
Crazy Heart

Easier with Practice
The Messenger
Paranormal Activity
A Single Man

Best Cinematography
A Serious Man – Roger Deakins

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans – Peter Zeitlinger
Cold Souls – Andrij Parekh
Treeless Mountain – Anne Misawa
Without Name (Sin nombre) – Adriano Goldman

Best Foreign Film
An Education – Lone Scherfig • France/UK

A Prophet (Un prophète) – Jacques Audiard • France
Everlasting Moments (Maria Larssons eviga ögonblick) – Jan Troell • Sweden
Mother (Madeo) – Bong Joon-ho • South Korea
The Maid (La nana) – Sebastián Silva • Chile

Best Documentary
Anvil! The Story of Anvil – Sacha Gervasi

Food, Inc. – Robert Kenner
More Than a Game – Kristopher Belman
October Country – Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher
Which Way Home – Rebecca Cammisa

John Cassavetes Award
Humpday

Big Fan
The New Year Parade
Treeless Mountain
Zero Bridge

Truer Than Fiction Award
45365 – Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross

Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo – Jessica Oreck
El general – Natalia Almada

Someone to Watch Award
Kyle Patrick Alvarez for Easier with Practice

Asiel Norton for Redland
Tariq Tapa for Zero Bridge

Producers Award
Karin Chien for Santa Mesa and The Exploding Girl

Larry Fessenden for I Sell the Dead and The House of the Devil
Dia Sokol for Beeswax and Nights and Weekends

Robert Altman Award
Director and cast of “A Serious Man”

Review: "Sleepy Hollow" Remains a Tim Burton-Johnny Depp Masterpiece

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 111 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Running time: 105 minutes (1 hour, 45 minutes)
MPAA – R for graphic horror violence and gore, and for a scene of sexuality
DIRECTOR: Tim Burton
WRITERS: Andrew Kevin Walker, from a screen story by Andrew Kevin Walker and Kevin Yagher (based upon the “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving)
PRODUCERS: Scott Rudin and Adam Schroeder
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Emmanuel Lubezki
EDITORS: Chris Lebenzon and Joel Negron
Academy Award winner

HORROR/MYSTERY

Starring: Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci, Miranda Richardson, Michael Gambon, Casper Van Dien, Jeffrey Jones, Christopher Lee, Richard Griffiths, Ian McDiarmid, Michael Gough, Marc Pickering, Lisa Marie, Steven Waddington, and Christopher Walken

An Academy Award winner (Best Art Direction-Set Decoration) and recipient of two additional nominations (Best Costume Design and Cinematography), Tim Burton’s film Sleepy Hollow is perhaps the quintessential Tim Burton movie, the film that is the visually summation of the promise he showed in such films as Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, and Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas. Dark, gothic, and moody, it is a bold fairytale told with modern materials but steeped in early Americana.

The tale is a quirky, modern retelling, or (to use a new term) “reimagination” of Washington Irving’s classic tale “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” In this version, Irving’s famous cowardly hero Ichabod Crane is Constable Ichabod Crane (Johnny Deep) whose superiors send him from New York City to Sleepy Hollow, an isolated village in the upper Hudson valley, to investigate a series of murders in which the victims were beheaded. Crane arrives in the village to find the residents mostly hiding behind locked doors and closed shutters. Everyone knows that the Hessian Horseman (this story’s version of the Headless Horseman and played by Christopher Walken), the spirit of dead mercenary, has returned to earth to kill the hapless citizens of the Hollow.

Of course, Crane is a man of reason and refuses to believe in the horseman. During the course of his investigation, he takes on a ward, Young Masbath (Marc Pickering), the son of the one Horseman’s victims, and falls for Katrina Anne Van Tassel (Christina Ricci), the daughter of a village elder. But soon, Crane witnesses the evil power of the horseman, and his mind spirals into paranoia. He begins to suspect many former allies of conspiring with the Horseman, but will Crane be able to tell friend from foe in time to stop the Horseman and his co-conspirator in time to save his friends?

The film is fun to watch, and the actors are great. They mix serious thespian chops with just the perfect amount of tongue-in-cheek. I loved the cast, and Johnny Depp, a frequent collaborator of Burton, straddles the comic with the mad. Christina Ricci looks as if she were born with her face to be a Burton film icon, but her performance here is a bit uneven. Miranda Richardson also makes the most of her small part; she is wicked with an air of menace about her that helps her steal every scene in which she appears.

The film is absolutely gorgeous, at that time, probably the finest looking film of the fantasy/horror genre since Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Burton mixes everything together so well; he is truly a visionary and one of the consummate visualists of the last two decades. Hell, he made Sleepy Hollow a much better film than 1999’s Oscar winner for Best Picture, American Beauty.

9 of 10
A+

NOTES:
2000 Academy Awards: 1 win: “Best Art Direction-Set Decoration” (Rick Heinrichs-art director and Peter Young-set decorator), and 2 nominations: “Best Cinematography” (Emmanuel Lubezki) and “Best Costume Design” (Colleen Atwood)


2000 BAFTA Awards: 2 wins: “Best Costume Design” (Colleen Atwood), “Best Production Design” (Rick Heinrichs), and 1 nomination: “Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects” (Jim Mitchell, Kevin Yagher, Joss Williams, and Paddy Eason)

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Review: "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" Has Big Wow Factor

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 114 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
OPENING DATE: July 15, 2005
Running time: 120 minutes (2 hours)
MPAA – PG for quirky situations, action and mild language
DIRECTOR: Tim Burton
WRITER: John August
PRODUCERS: Brad Grey and Richard D. Zanuck
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Philippe Rousselot, A.F.C./A.S.C.
EDITOR: Chris Lebenzon, A.C.E.
Academy Award nominee

FANTASY/ADVENTURE/COMEDY/FAMILY with elements of drama

Starring: Johnny Depp, Freddie Highmore, David Kelly, Helena Bonham Carter, Noah Taylor, Missi Pyle and Annasophia Robb, James Fox and Julia Winter, with Deep Roy and Christopher Lee, Adam Godley and Jordan Fry, Franziska Troegner and Philip Wiegratz, Blair Dunlop, Liz Smith, Eileen Essell, David Morris, Oscar James, and Danny Elfman (vocals)

Author Roald Dahl’s classic children’s book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, was first translated to the screen in 1971 and entitled, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Now, Tim Burton, one of the most vividly imaginative directors of the last two decades, brings the book to the screen again in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Charlie is the most vividly imaginative movie since the Japanese animated film, Spirited Away. If not for a clunky ending, this would be the best film of this calendar year, but as it stands it still is the most beautiful and inventive film of the year to date. Be warned though, this is tasty, but dark, bitter chocolate and might offend lovers of the sweetly, sentimental chocolate of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

Charlie Bucket is a poor boy who lives in a rickety, ultra-rundown home with his mother (Helena Bonham Carter) and father (Noah Taylor) and both pairs of grandparents. Charlie is a good-hearted boy, and every night he goes to bed dreaming about what might be inside the great factory he can see outside his window. The factory belongs to the legendary candy maker and chocolatier, Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp). Once upon a time, Charlie’s Grandpa Joe (David Kelly) worked at the Wonka factory; that was before Wonka closed the factory after his employees started selling his candy making secrets to his dastardly rivals. Now, the factory is running again, and Wonka makes a fabulous announcement one day. He will open his factory and reveal all its secrets and magic to five lucky children who find golden tickets hidden inside five randomly selected Wonka Whipple-Scrumptious Fudgemallow Delight bars. Charlie finds the final golden ticket and takes Grandpa Joe with him. They meet the highly unconventional Wonka and discover untold wonder inside the bowels of the factory building. Charlie’s generosity, however, will take him a long way with the irregular and quirky Wonka, and he may be the child who wins the biggest prize of all.

To see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on the big screen makes one realize the incredible amount of work these filmmakers put into getting this film right. I can’t help but appreciate the effort they went through to make a great fantasy film that would appeal to children as well as adults. Forty live squirrels were trained to create an intricate scene. One man played the Oompa Loompas, the workers who run Wonka’s factory – Deep Roy. He did countless retakes to create the separate routines of the individual Oompas with “motion capture animation” doing the rest of the work in bring the diminutive humans to life. Just those two instances alone make me thankful for what I got in this film.

Production Designer Alex McDowell (Fight Club and Minority Report) combined digital technologies with traditional design and created a magical world that previously could only come alive in the mind of a children’s book illustrator. Simultaneously futuristic and classic fantasy, recalling films as diverse as The Matrix and The Wizard of Oz, McDowell creates an interior world for Wonka’s factory that is as mind-bending as The Matrix and is as dreamlike as The Wizard of Oz. Director of Photography and Oscar winner, Philippe Rousselot (A River Runs Through It), continually captures incredible flights of the imagination in cinema. Incredibly, he tops his work from earlier this year, Constantine, with Charlie by making the real, the unreal, and the hyper-real seem so tangible and true.

Johnny Depp gives a daring performance that is so weird it could have been a disaster; in fact, the first time he fully appears on screen, his powdery pallor makes him look like Michael Jackson. Dressed in the costumes of Academy Award winner Gabriella Pescucci (The Age of Innocence), Depp is the most dashing weirdo and creep, and he leads both the children in the film and the ones in the audience through a world that is as outlandish and bizarre as he. Depp, however, is the master of creating quirky leading men among the actors of his generation, and he creates another character that begs to be seen.

The rest of the cast is also good, but Freddie Highmore, who co-starred alongside Depp in Finding Neverland, is a born child movie star. When this flick’s other juvenile stars are onscreen, it’s obvious they are stealing time from Freddie’s Charlie. That is one of the few mistakes that screenwriter John August and Burton make. Charlie seems to have to wait too far in the background for too long while the rest of the children are happily dispatched from the tale. Sometimes it seems as if this film is more Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and less Charlie.

Still Burton has made by far his best film since 1999’s Sleepy Hollow, and this phantasmagorical movie reaffirms our faith his ability to create visionaries fables set in storybook worlds. However, Burton’s worlds are darkly mysterious fantasies instead of the brightly, sunny, commercial pap that passes for much of children’s entertainment now. While Charlie and the Chocolate Factory may go way over children’s heads, Tim Burton’s dazzling visions are truly meant for film lovers, and Charlie is a treat for the family audience and a gift for the rest of us who appreciate this god among directors.

8 of 10
A

NOTE:
2006 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Achievement in Costume Design” (Gabriella Pescucci)

2006 BAFTA Awards: 4 nominations: “Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects” (Nick Davis, Jon Thum, Chas Jarrett, and Joss Williams), “Best Costume Design” (Gabriella Pescucci), “Best Make Up/Hair” (Peter Owen and Ivana Primorac), and “Best Production Design” (Alex McDowell)

2006 Golden Globes: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Johnny Depp)

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