Blogathon: 6 Degrees of Separation

It's been some time since I wrote anything film related but a tweet overnight from Shane at Film Actually invited me to participate in a blogathon started by Myfilmviews called 6 Degrees of Separation. The rules are simple. Each participant must connect one actor/actress/director/movie to another actor/actress/director/movie in six connections or less. Have a look at what the previous participants have done.

A Fistful of Films
Cinematic Corner
And So It Begins
Surrender to the Void
Movies and Songs 365
The Cinematic Spectacle
Film Actually 

Shane presented me the the task of connecting a director synonymous for his fight against racism with a film that is most famous for it - Spike Lee to The Birth of a Nation. So, here it is.

1. In 2002, Spike Lee directed 25th Hour starring Edward Norton.

2. A year earlier Edward Norton appeared in the underrated The Score with Robert De Niro.

3. Robert De Niro starred in Martin Scorsese's 1991 remake of Cape Fear in which Robert Mitchum, who starred in the original, had a small role. 

4. Back in 1955, Robert Mitchum appeared in The Night of the Hunter with Lillian Gish.

5. Lillian Gish was a darling of the silent era and acted in the controversial the Birth of a Nation.

I'm passing the baton to Jason of the excellent Life Vs Film and tasking him with getting from The Birth of a Nation to Daniel Brühl. Good luck.

2014 Oscar Nomination Predictions

With the awards season already in full swing, we're now on the eve of the nominations for the 86th Academy Awards. As with the 2013 Oscars I'm joining in with Film Actually's annual Oscar prediction competition and as with 2013, I'm going to use my Britishness as an excuse for a poor showing. As my fellow countrymen will know, the likes of The Wolf of Wall Street, Her, Inside Llewyn Davis and Dallas Buyers Club haven't been released in the UK yet so it puts us at a slight disadvantage compared to our American chums. Despite this, I'm going to use my expert film knowledge as well as other award ceremonies as a guide and have a stab at predicting the nominations and winners in 21 of the categories. The list of my predictions is below and my predicted winner is in red.

According to my predictions, 12 Years a Slave will be the winner nominations wise with an impressive (14). Gravity will get (11) with American Hustle on (10), Captain Philips not far behind with (8) and The Wolf of Wall Street and Rush on (5) nominations apiece. 

For the Oscar winners, I'm predicting that Gravity will win a total of (6) awards with 12 Years a Slave taking (5) home and American Hustle (2).

For those who want to keep an eye on awards buzz all year round, head over to Film Actually for up to date and insightful awards news, predictions, rumours and lists.

BEST PICTURE
12 Years a Slave
Gravity
The Wolf of Wall Street
American Hustle
Captain Philips
Philomena
Nebraska

2013 Oscar Nomination Predictions

I'd been planning a short post in January about my Oscar predictions but Film Actually is running a nominations contest which I thought I'd join. What will become immediately obvious to UK readers is that I'm writing this on January 6th, four days before the nominations are announced but up to a month before front runners such as Lincoln, Zero Dark Thirty, Les Miserables and Django Unchained are released in the UK. Therefore a lot of my predictions will be based around guess work or what I'm hearing about those films from the States. I may do another predictions post once the nominations are announced. Until then, here are my 2013 Oscar Nomination Predictions for future generations to laugh at. Click on the titles to read my review.

Most predicted nominations Lincoln (11), Life of Pi (9), Zero Dark Thirty (8), Django Unchained (7), Skyfall and Les Miserables (6), Argo (5), Amour (4).

Additional 12/01/13. Once the nominations were announced I worked out that I predicted 74% of the nominations correctly. 

BEST PICTURE
Argo
Lincoln
Zero Dark Thirty
Life of Pi
Les Miserables
Django Unchained

BEST DIRECTOR
Steven Spielberg - Lincoln
Kathryn Bigelow - Zero Dark Thirty
Ang Lee - Life of Pi
Ben Affleck - Argo
Michael Haneke - Amour

Sunrise

"We're going for a trip across the water, I may not be back for quite some time"

Sunrise or sometimes known by its full title Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans is a multi Oscar winning film from F. W. Murnau, one of the most famed Directors of the silent era. Mixing Murnau’s traditional German Expressionism with Hollywood techniques the film stars George O’Brian as a rural farmer who begins an elicit affair with a glamorous and sophisticated Woman from the City (Margaret Livingston). The City Woman persuades the Farmer that he’d be better off with her in the city and suggests that he drowns his Wife (Janet Gaynor) and makes it look like an accident. Following a last minute change of heart The Man tries to gain his wife’s forgiveness as she herself flees to the city with him in tow.

I’d never heard of this film until a couple of weeks ago when I was searching for Silent Films that I could watch for Eternity of Dream’s Speechless Blogathon. I searched the IMDb Top 250 and found that this was one of the few silent films I hadn’t seen. And boy am I glad I found it. It is not surprising that Sunrise remains so highly regarded today as it is a truly magnificent film.

Movie Confessions Blogathon

I don't usually do these Q and A type things as I like to stick to reviews but as I was browsing some of my favourite blogs I noticed that Eternity of Dream had taken part in this Blogathon created by 2012 Lammie Best Blogathon runner-up My Film Views, a blog I wasn't familiar with but is also very good and worth checking out. So here are my confessions...

Which classic movie don’t you like/can’t enjoy and why?
I'll probably get a few negative comments for this but I don't like Blade Runner. I thought it was really boring. I wanted to like it because I'd always heard how great it was and I like Ridley Scott and Sci-Fi. One day I'll go back and reassess it. I'm also not that keen on The Godfather but love The Godfather Part II.

Which ten classic movies haven’t you seen yet?
Going off the IMDb Top 250 in order I haven't seen...
Casablanca
Sunset Boulevard
North by North West
Citizen Cane
M
Ameile
Chinatown
Some Like it Hot
The Lion King
Rashomon

I admit there are some pretty big omissions in there and trust me I'm trying to rectify it. I only saw Psycho for the first time this week.