Scott Lazes

Tag: tv

  • My 2013 Oscar Ballot

    oscars-2013
    Daniel Day Lewis, Jennifer Lawrence, Anne Hathaway and Christoph Waltz at the 85th Academy Awards

    For the first time in my life, I saw every movie that was nominated for Best Picture by the Academy Awards before the ceremony aired on television. That said, I didn’t see all of the movies that were nominated, so I will limit my picks to the categories of which I’ve seen at least the majority of the nominations.

    Best Picture:

    Silver Linings Playbook – Best movie I’ve seen in a long time. At no point was I bored. I cannot say that for any of the other films that were nominated.

    Best Actor in a Leading Role:

    Joaquin Phoenix for The Master – Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix in The Master is one of the finest acting pairings in the history of cinema. Period.

    Best Actress in a Leading Role:

    Jennifer Lawrence for Silver Linings Playbook – Kudos to the Academy for awarding Jennifer Lawrence her first Oscar – well deserved.

    Best Actor in a Supporting Role:

    Philip Seymour Hoffman for The Master – Please refer to my comment in the Best Actor category. I didn’t stutter.

    Best Actress in a Supporting Role:

    Anne Hathaway for Les Misérables – Anne Hathaway goes HAM in Les Mis. She couldn’t not win this one.

    Best Cinematography:

    Claudio Miranda for Life of Pi – Again, a no-brainer. The only possible rival in this category was Beasts of the Southern Wild, which unfortunately took home ZERO awards.

    Best Directing:

    David O. Russell for Silver Linings Playbook – Since the director is responsible for all the parts of a film, I personally believe that the director of the Best Picture should win for Best Directing, hence my choice for David O. Russell.

    Film Editing:

    Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers for Silver Linings Playbook – I could write an entire post about the editing in Silver Linings Playbook. It’s exquisite and a huge part of what makes this particular movie so wonderful.

    Best Music (Original Score):

    Mychael Danna for Life of Pi – I don’t really have much of an opinion in this category, so I’ll trust the Academy on this one.

    Best Music (Original Song): 

    Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth for Skyfall – Adele kills it on “Skyfall.” But beyond her performance, I just wanted her to win an Oscar.

    Production Design:

    Alex DiGerlando for Beasts of the Southern Wild – Though it wasn’t nominated in this category, the production design in Beasts of the Southern Wild is a triumph. It’s a pity it wasn’t even nominated.

    Sound Editing:

    Paul N.J. Ottosson for Zero Dark Thirty – I didn’t like the movie all that much, but director Kathryn Bigelow is known for her terrific use of sound, and Zero Dark Thirty is no exception.

    Sound Mixing:

    Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes for Les Misérables – They recorded the singing live, ya’ll. LIVE!!!!

    Visual Effects:

    Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott for Life of Pi – The only possible contender in this category was Beasts of the Southern Wild, which wasn’t nominated…again.

    Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay):

    Tony Kushner for Lincoln – I wasn’t a big fan of Lincoln either, but I can appreciate the writing, which is exceptional and true to the time period.

    Best Writing (Original Screenplay):

    Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola for Moonrise Kingdom – That Moonrise Kingdom was only nominated for Best Writing is a travesty. The Academy could’ve at least thrown Wes Anderson a bone in this category, considering he’s NEVER won an Oscar. The man has contributed too much to American cinema to be snubbed this much.

  • Everything but the Super Bowl

    Last night I went to see Zero Dark Thirty during the Super Bowl. It turned out to be a great decision because hardly anyone was at the theater, and thanks to the good folks at the Internet I got to watch the two best things about the big game – the commercials and Beyonce’s performance – at my leisure.

    The Super Bowl is no doubt a field day for the advertisers that plunge into the land of Super Bowl campaigns – especially now that their content has legs after (and before) it airs on television for $133,333 a second. Clearly it’s worth it, though, considering the 2012 Super Bowl reached nearly twice as many viewers as the second most-watched sporting event of last year – the NFC Championship.

    All of the most popular commercials were at least beautifully made and at most works of brilliance. I was personally drawn to the more absurd ones – namely Doritos’ “Goat 4 Sale” and Oreo’s “Whisper Fight.” And though I’ve historically found Budweiser Clydesdale commercials to fall flat, I think their “Brotherhood” ad was the best dramatic spot of the broadcast:

    Perhaps more fascinating was the level of interactive opportunities that brands nimbly snatched. Moments after the Superdome went (partially) dark during halftime, for instance, some advertisers paid to promote their tweets on search results pages related to the power outage. Tide and Oreo even managed to capitalize on some free advertising, posting clever photos about the outage mere minutes afterward on Twitter.

    There was still, of course, bountiful traditional advertising (i.e. The Lone Ranger‘s pre-game show, Pepsi’s halftime show and Toyota’s post-game show). Incidentally, Beyonce’s halftime performance was great – particularly the use of multimedia screens during her show – excuse me, Pepsi’s show.

    The advertising industry – on its quest to become truly omnipresent – continues to blur the line between art and commerce. We’ve all heard somebody say, “The commercials are the best part of the game,” but never have the two been so hard to differentiate.