TRASH IN MY EYE Reviews

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Why "Toy Story 3" is Nominated for "Adapted Screenplay Oscar" and Not "Original Screenplay"

I've seen this question asked around the Internet quite a bit. Screenplays for sequels are considered adaptations because they are based on the original story or, in this case, film. Toy Story 3 uses characters featured in Toy Story and Toy Story 2 and it is, of course, a sequel.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

2011 Oscar Nominations Complete List

Earlier today, I posted the 83rd Academy Award nominations, but I made each category a separate post. Well, here is the complete list as one long post.

Best Picture
“Black Swan” Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver and Scott Franklin, Producers
“The Fighter” David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg, Producers
“Inception” Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers
“The Kids Are All Right” Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray, Producers
“The King's Speech” Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, Producers
“127 Hours” Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and John Smithson, Producers
“The Social Network” Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
“Toy Story 3” Darla K. Anderson, Producer
“True Grit” Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
“Winter's Bone" Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers

Directing
“Black Swan” Darren Aronofsky
“The Fighter” David O. Russell
“The King's Speech” Tom Hooper
“The Social Network” David Fincher
“True Grit” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

Actor in a Leading Role
Javier Bardem in “Biutiful”
Jeff Bridges in “True Grit”
Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network”
Colin Firth in “The King's Speech”
James Franco in “127 Hours”

Actor in a Supporting Role
Christian Bale in “The Fighter”
John Hawkes in “Winter's Bone”
Jeremy Renner in “The Town”
Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right”
Geoffrey Rush in “The King's Speech”

Actress in a Leading Role
Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right”
Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole”
Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter's Bone”
Natalie Portman in “Black Swan”
Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine”

Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams in “The Fighter”
Helena Bonham Carter in “The King's Speech”
Melissa Leo in “The Fighter”
Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit”
Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”

Animated Feature Film
“How to Train Your Dragon” Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
“The Illusionist” Sylvain Chomet
“Toy Story 3” Lee Unkrich

Art Direction
“Alice in Wonderland” Production Design: Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Karen O'Hara
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1” Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
“Inception” Production Design: Guy Hendrix Dyas; Set Decoration: Larry Dias and Doug Mowat
“The King's Speech” Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Judy Farr
“True Grit” Production Design: Jess Gonchor; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh

Cinematography
“Black Swan” Matthew Libatique
“Inception” Wally Pfister
“The King's Speech” Danny Cohen
“The Social Network” Jeff Cronenweth
“True Grit” Roger Deakins

Costume Design
“Alice in Wonderland” Colleen Atwood
“I Am Love” Antonella Cannarozzi
“The King's Speech” Jenny Beavan
“The Tempest” Sandy Powell
“True Grit” Mary Zophres

Documentary (Feature)
“Exit through the Gift Shop” Banksy and Jaimie D'Cruz
“Gasland” Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic
“Inside Job” Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
“Restrepo” Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
“Waste Land” Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley

Documentary (Short Subject)
“Killing in the Name” Nominees to be determined
“Poster Girl” Nominees to be determined
“Strangers No More” Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon
“Sun Come Up” Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger
“The Warriors of Qiugang” Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon

Film Editing
“Black Swan” Andrew Weisblum
“The Fighter” Pamela Martin
“The King's Speech” Tariq Anwar
“127 Hours” Jon Harris
“The Social Network” Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter

Foreign Language Film
“Biutiful” Mexico
“Dogtooth” Greece
“In a Better World” Denmark
“Incendies” Canada
“Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi)” Algeria

Makeup
“Barney's Version” Adrien Morot
“The Way Back” Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
“The Wolfman” Rick Baker and Dave Elsey

Music (Original Score)
“How to Train Your Dragon” John Powell
“Inception” Hans Zimmer
“The King's Speech” Alexandre Desplat
“127 Hours” A.R. Rahman
“The Social Network” Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Music (Original Song)
“Coming Home” from “Country Strong” Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
“I See the Light” from “Tangled” Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
“If I Rise” from “127 Hours” Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
“We Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3" Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

Short Film (Animated)
“Day & Night” Teddy Newton
“The Gruffalo” Jakob Schuh and Max Lang
“Let's Pollute” Geefwee Boedoe
“The Lost Thing” Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann
“Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)” Bastien Dubois

Short Film (Live Action)
“The Confession” Tanel Toom
“The Crush” Michael Creagh
“God of Love” Luke Matheny
“Na Wewe” Ivan Goldschmidt
“Wish 143” Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite

Sound Editing
“Inception” Richard King
“Toy Story 3” Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
“Tron: Legacy” Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
“True Grit” Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
“Unstoppable” Mark P. Stoeckinger

Sound Mixing
“Inception” Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick
“The King's Speech” Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley
“Salt” Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin
“The Social Network” Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
“True Grit” Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland

Visual Effects
“Alice in Wonderland” Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1” Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
“Hereafter” Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell
“Inception” Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
“Iron Man 2” Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
“127 Hours” Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
“The Social Network” Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
“Toy Story 3” Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
“True Grit” Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
“Winter's Bone” Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

Writing (Original Screenplay)
“Another Year” Written by Mike Leigh
“The Fighter” Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson; Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
“Inception” Written by Christopher Nolan
“The Kids Are All Right” Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
“The King's Speech” Screenplay by David Seidler

The awards will be handed out Sunday, February 27, 2011 and broadcast on ABC.

http://www.oscar.org/

Review: "Takers" Brings Heat

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 8 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux

Takers (2010)
Running time: 107 minutes (1 hour, 47 minutes)
MPAA – R for intense sequences of violence and action, a sexual situation/partial nudity
DIRECTOR: John Luessenhop
WRITERS: Peter Allen, Gabriel Casseus, John Luessenhop, and Avery Duff
PRODUCERS: Jason Geter, William Packer, and Tip “T.I.” Harris
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Michael Barrett (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Armen Minasian

CRIME/DRAMA/ACTION

Starring: Idris Elba, Paul Walker, Matt Dillon, Chris Brown, Hayden Christensen, Michael Ealy, T.I., Jay Hernandez, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Zoe Saldana, Steve Harris, Gaius Charles, Johnathan Schaech, and Glynn Turman

Arriving in theatres last August 2010, Takers is an ensemble crime drama that focuses on a seasoned team of professional bank robbers and the hard-nosed detective that is hunting them. Though not great, Takers is nonetheless an exciting little heist movie that manages to walk its own way, while showing its influences.

Gordon Cozier (Idris Elba), John Rahway (Paul Walker), A.J. (Hayden Christensen), and brothers Jake Attica (Michael Ealy) and Jesse Attica (Chris Brown) are a highly-organized team of bank robbers. They describe themselves a “takers,” because they see something they want and they take it. After shocking Los Angeles with their latest heist, they plan to lead a life of luxury for a long time before taking on their next job.

They get a surprise, however, from former team member, Dalonte Rivers A.KA. Ghost (Tip “T.I.” Harris). Caught in a previous robbery five years earlier, Ghost received an early release from prison and is on parole. Claiming he harbors no ill will towards his former teammates, Ghost convinces them that now is the right time to strike an armored car carrying $20 million. The “takers” carefully plot out their strategy and draw nearer to the day of the heist, but their activities have brought a reckless, rule-breaking police officer named Jack Welles (Matt Dillon) closer to learning their identities. As Welles and his partner, Eddie Hatcher (Jay Hernandez), get closer, things get crazy and new players move into the game.

Early on in the film, I recognized Takers as a sort of urban contemporary take on Michael Mann’s influential heist flick, Heat (1995), but Takers isn’t the complex and insightful character study that Mann’s film is. Takers’ characters are either shallow (John, A.J.), potential poorly executed (Ghost), or well-developed, but shorted on time (Jack Welles, Gordon Cozier).

Takers moves quickly and has a cool, slick visual manner befitting an L.A. crime film. Gripping set pieces open the film, straddle the film’s middle, and close the film, all of which make this work very well as an action movie. Takers is a thrill to watch. It’s a shame that the writing on the character side isn’t stronger, because that is pretty much what keeps Takers from being an exceptional action and crime film. Still, Takers is better than most recent crime films, and I wouldn’t mind seeing a sequel or even a prequel.

7 of 10
B+

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

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2011 Oscar Nominations: Best Picture

Best Picture

“Black Swan” Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver and Scott Franklin, Producers

“The Fighter” David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg, Producers

“Inception” Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers

“The Kids Are All Right” Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray, Producers

“The King's Speech” Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, Producers

“127 Hours” Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and John Smithson, Producers

“The Social Network” Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and Ceán Chaffin, Producers

“Toy Story 3” Darla K. Anderson, Producer

“True Grit” Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers

“Winter's Bone" Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers