During the lead up to this year’s Oscar’s on March 2nd I will be covering a lot of the nominees for the upcoming Academy Awards. This will not be your usual Oscar primer, but in fact more of a “catching up to speed” series. I will be dissecting a major film (a best picture nominee) and one or two smaller films in each installment. I will be going over what the nominees are, and what chances it stands to win. In the last instalment, I covered “Gravity” and “The Great Gatsby”. This time I will be talking about “Dallas Buyers Club” and “Star Trek Into Darkness”.
“Dallas Buyers Club” was directed by the Canadian Jean-Marc Vallee, distributed by Focus Features, and was released on November 22nd. The film has a total of 6 nominations.
– Best Picture- Robbie Brenner and Rachel Winter
– Best Actor- Matthew McConaughey
– Best Supporting Actor- Jared Leto
– Best Original Screenplay- Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack
– Best Hair and Makeup- Adruitha Lee (Hairstylist) and Robin Mathews (Makeup Artist)
– Best Film Editing- Jean-Marc Vallee and Martin Pensa
At first this film seemed like a bit of a long shot to be nominated for Best Picture. As the nominations were getting closer to being announced it seemed to gain traction. Even though Vallee did not receive a Best Director nomination this film is still in the running. Well it sort of is. Having a Best Editing nomination is also crucial to winning and Vallee being one of the editors looks good on the film. Editing sets the pace for the film, without pace a 2-hour runtime can be either fast or slow. An editor decides what takes of the actors to use, which is the difference from using a “shouty” take or a quieter, more intimate take. If a director is at the helm of the edit bay then it is his film from start to finish. Dallas also has a few other things that may seem to make it a contender. The film is a period piece (setting something in the 1980’s is now a period piece) and it deals with a touchy subject matter, the 1980’s AIDS crisis and lower class treatment the gay community dealt with for decades. The film is a fairly traditional drama that tugs at your heart strings. Even without the Best Director nomination I still feel like this is in the top five for the Best Picture category.
What really made this film great were the performances from the two leading men. Matthew McConaughey can now boast to be an Oscar Nominated actor. Only a few short years ago he was starring in mostly Rom-Com fare, like “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” (staring fellow Oscar nominee Kate Hudson, yeah she was nominated once for the very deserving “Almost Famous”) and “The Wedding Planner” with Jennifer Lopez! Ever since his turn in “The Lincoln Lawyer” things have been turning up excellent for old Wooderson (“Killer Joe”, “Magic Mike”, “Mud” etc.). So excellent I would call him a favourite! Although all of the guys nominated deserve to win, so much so that you can make a second list of other leading men and they would all be worthy. McConaughey won a Golden Globe and was also nominated for an Independent Spirit Award, so the hardware is coming in. Leto in one of the bravest roles of recent years absolutely nailed the character of Rayon, the transgendered woman who also suffers from AIDS. Leto isn’t new to potentially controversial parts, acting in “Requiem for a Dream” and “Chapter 27” with some great others starring Lindsay Lohan. In a much less crowded Best Supporting Actor race, Leto is the one to beat. His strongest competition is from Michael Fassbender in “12 Years a Slave”, who’s outcome will depend on how well the film over all will do. Leto, also won a Golden Globe and is nominated for an ISA.
If there is one weak part to the film it is probably the screenplay, but it still managed to score a nomination. One scene McConaughey’s Ron Woodroof is a raging homophobe with anger issues, the next he is spouting his love for the gay community and sweetly romancing Jennifer Garner’s character. The next sentence is a spoiler… you have been warned. After Rayon dies, Woodroof mourns her, then she is never mentioned again. The last third of the film changes direction so easily, you keep expecting that plot line to continue, especially after how much Rayon did for Woodroof. The film also fails to warn about the real dangers of unapproved drugs being taken in lieu of regulated ones. Unless Dallas ends up winning Best Picture I doubt it stands a chance to win this award too.
Looking at the nominees for Best Hair and Makeup you see three very different films. “Dallas Buyers Club”, “The Lone Ranger” and “Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa”. Other than Rayon wearing wigs, that are made to look like she is wearing wigs there isn’t much going on with hairstyling. A lot of people are going through chemo in the hospital so they are bald, but I do not know if wearing bald caps counts as hair. As far as makeup goes, there are bruises and sores that comes the AIDS, but no large prosthetics that you expect from a makeup heavy film. I wonder how this film got the nomination over films like “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” and “American Hustle”.
I think the two actors are the ones that stand the best chances to win, and the other categories will be an all or nothing sort of thing. I have a real soft spot for this film as it really spoke to me, but also because I’ve been a fan of Vallee since he directed the fantastic “C.R.A.Z.Y.” and I always will look forward to his films.
“Star Trek Into Darkness” was directed by J.J. Abrams, distributed by Paramount Pictures and released on May 16th. It only has one nomination.
– Best Achievement in Visual Effects- Roger Guyett, Pat Tubach, Ben Grossmann and Burt Dalton
While the film’s plot lacked the jolt to the heart that the first one did, it was still a very fun ride. The special effects were top notch and its nomination in this category is very deserving. Between space ships going warp speed, with galaxies blurring past them, or transporters having glowing yellow dots swirl around the characters, everything felt real. Another part of special effects is the colour correction to give a film its feeling. Bright hues and rich palates are as much eye candy as watching Benedict Cumberbach (or Alice Eve for the fellas)! This is “Gravity’s” award to lose, but if it is not liked by the voters as much as it may seem there at least three other potential winners, with “Star Trek Into Darkness” leading the way.
