Tag Archive | "Academy Awards"

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FLICKS: Get Out & Miami Film Festival wraps

Posted on 15 March 2018 by LeslieM

By “Cinema” Dave

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

During the Oscar ceremony, a film that wins a Screenplay award (either Best Adaptation or Most Original) usually goes on to win the Best Picture Award. That did not happen this year as Call Me by Your Name won Best Adaptation (based on the novel by André Aciman) and Get Out won the Original Screenplay, but lost the Best Picture Award to The Shape of Water.

It feels appropriate that The Shape of Water and Get Out are two movies that will be entwined with each other, since they both represent two motion pictures that would regularly be nominated for the Rondo Hatton Award, an honor coveted by Monster Mavens like myself and Guillermo Del Toro in the past. With his recent Oscar win, writer/director Jordan Peele has joined the “Rondo Hatton Appreciation Society” for Get Out. [For more on Rondo Hatton, visit http://rondoaward.com].

A satirical terror flick with comedy overtones, Get Out can be construed as an explanation of a black man’s paranoia. It is the story of an African American named Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) and his white girlfriend Rose Armitrage (Allison Williams). Rose invites Chris to meet her parents in the suburbs. “Wishing that Obama could have had a third term as president,” Daddy Armitrage (Bradley Whitford) and Mommy Armitrage (Catherine Keener) greet Chris warmly.

Behind the smiles, something sinister lies beneath the surface. Mommy Armitrage is a hypnotherapist and she unlocks Chris’ repressed memory. The Armitrage suburban home seems to transform into a gothic Southern Plantation and the African American servants appear to transform into the “Stepford slaves.”

To reveal more, would be a disservice to the shock, surprise and belly laughs found in Get Out. To his director’s credit, Jordan Peele does a great job with the film’s pacing. He fills his quiet scenes with tension that resolve with either a moment of terror or humor. Like Orson Welles, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck (Oscar-winning screenplay writers who lost Best Picture Awards), Jordan Peele will be a force to reckon with for future movie awards seasons.

The 35th Annual Miami Film Festival wraps up this weekend. This festival’s awards will be revealed Saturday Night at the Olympia Theater, with the Historic Alfred I. Dupont Building hosting the night party. Sunday will be the last opportunity to see April’s Daughters on the big screen. Won’t You Be My Neighbor? is a documentary about Professor Fred Rogers, the man who created Mister Roger’s Neighborhood on PBS. While neither film is in contention for a Rondo Hatton Award, both are a fine way to quietly wrap up a St. Patrick’s Day weekend.

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FLICKS: Miami Film Festival will outshine the Academy Awards

Posted on 08 March 2018 by LeslieM

By “Cinema” Dave

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

During the 35th Miami Film Festival (March 9 – 18), Jon Secada, Djimon Hounsou, Paul Schrader, Jason Reitman and Isabelle Huppert will be in town to discuss their latest projects. This festival features a diverse amount of feature films, documentaries and short subjects.

Carry That Weight: A Rockumentary is a short subject of local interest. Filmed with an all Florida crew, this film is Brian J. Letten’s documentary about Mr. Burris, a music teacher at Miami Senior High School, who created Rock Ensemble. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in his third year of college, Mr. Burris taught music from his electric wheelchair.

As a short subject, the film ends and the viewer starts begging for more of the story. Fortunately, Letten is producing a full feature documentary and has earned the support of many of Mr. Burris’ Rock Ensemble students, many of whom are working in the entertainment field in Dade County.

While the re-teaming of Ivan Reitman and Diablo Cody for Tully is garnering most headlines this opening weekend, there are some unique motions pictures being screened, many of them from Latin America. In Spanish with English subtitles, April’s Daughter is a beautiful motion picture which presents dark gothic themes. The film opens with the sounds of people making love. A nude Valeria (Ana Valeria Becerril) emerges from the bedroom and we learn that she is seven months pregnant. Despite living with a matronly sister, Valeria is too immature to raise the baby and their mother April (Emma Suarez) comes to the rescue. Or does she? The strength of April’s Daughter is that character motivations drive this story, which echoes Sir Alfred Hitchcock’s later themes, including Spellbound, Vertigo and Marnie.

While the 90th Annual Academy Awards, which tanked in the ratings, has revealed a culture of smug narcissism, the recent films that I have seen at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival and Miami Film Festival have made me optimistic for the future of filmmaking. These independent filmmakers are presenting good stories, interesting characters and brilliant cinematography on a budget that cost less than Ashley Judd’s Oscar swag bag.

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