Personal Oscar Choices: 1995

Best Picture: Se7en (just about the perfect thriller. Pitch-perfect performances, a great sense of atmosphere, a hellishly good soundtrack, and just overall great direction makes this one of the most immersive motion pictures of the 1990's, and by far my favourite film of 1995.)

Nominees: Dead Man Walking, Toy Story, Before Sunrise, Babe, Braveheart, Apollo 13

Best Director: David Fincher, Se7en

Nominees: Tim Robbins (Dead Man Walking), Mel Gibson (Braveheart), Ron Howard (Apollo 13), Richard Linklater (Before Sunrise)

Best Actor: Ian McKellen, Richard III

Nominees: James Earl Jones (Cry, the Beloved Country), Morgan Freeman (Se7en), Sean Penn (Dead Man Walking), Nicolas Cage (Leaving Las Vegas)

Best Actress: Susan Sarandon (Dead Man Walking)

Nominees: Julie Delpy (Before Sunrise), Elisabeth Shue (Leaving Las Vegas), Emma Thompson (Sense and Sensibility), Mira Sorvino (Mighty Aphrodite)

Best Supporting Actor: Richard Harris, Cry, the Beloved Country

Nominees: Raymond J. Barry (Dead Man Walking), Alan Rickman (Sense and Sensibility), Don Cheadle (Devil in a Blue Dress), Kevin Spacey (Se7en)

Best Supporting Actress: Kate Winslet (Sense and Sensibility)

Nominees: Famke Janssen (Goldeneye), Lois Smith (Dead Man Walking), Joan Allen (Nixon), Madeline Stowe (Twelve Monkeys)

Best Adapted Screenplay: Dead Man Walking

Best Original Screenplay: Before Sunrise (technically speaking these sorts of scenes would come across as incredibly pretentious in the wrong hands, but the script for this whole series is great so no problems in that regard.)

Best Cinematography: Braveheart

Best Film Editing: Se7en

Best Sound: Se7en

Best Music: Braveheart

Best Costumes/Styling: Braveheart

Best Production Design: Braveheart

Retroactive Castings: Sicario, Back to the Future

Sicario (1980's version directed by John Carpenter)

Kate (Emily Blunt): played by Veronica Cartwright

 Cartwright, as one could see from her work in Alien, was unparalleled back in the day for her ability to play characters completely out of their depth. Her work in that masterpiece of horror would fit her very nicely into this descent into hell.

Alejandro (Benicio del Toro): played by Raul Julia

 One of the most underrated actors of all-time, Julia would be the perfect choice for a 1980's Alejandro as he was always best in roles where he could both underplay (in this case the menace) and have a bit of fun (with the enigmatic quliaties) at the same time

Matt (Josh Brolin): played by James Woods

 Woods' energy as an actor would be perfect for the amiably incisive approach of Matt Graver, as he'd be properly charismatic while at the same time with a certain sleaziness to his manner, which has always been Woods' speciality.

Reggie (Daniel Kaluuya): played by Howard Rollins

 As he showed with his marvellous performance in Ragtime Rollins was brilliant at being the reactive figure in films, and would fit perfectly in with this very classic sort of supporting role who reflects what effect Kate's degradation of character has on those close to her.

Steve (Jeffrey Donovan): played by Bill Paxton

A loudmouth obnoxious guy who fires gun? 80's Bill Paxton is well up for it.

Ted (John Bernthal): played by Kurt Russell

Small role for sure, but would be funny to see Russell in a Carpenter film cameoing in such a small role, against type. Though I have to say, he would've been a perfect 1990's Matt for a 1990's Sicario.

Back to the Future (2010's version directed by Robert Zemeckis again, god forbid they make a remake but just for fun...)

Marty (Michael J. Fox): played by Emory Cohen

He's charming (just watch Brooklyn people, very, very charming), got a similar appeal to Fox as an actor, a star on the rise, he could definitely pull this off.

Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd): played by John Malkovich

I considered Nicolas Cage, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Jenkins, and all manner of great character actors, but in the end I could think of no one better to take on the role of Doc Brown than the great John Malkovich, king of endearing craziness.

George McFly (Crispin Glover): played by Adam Driver/Paul Dano

Depending on the tone the film would take, George McFly could be played either way. I think Driver would give him more of an old-fashioned, low-key, affably humorous and pathetic approach, whereas Dano would be more manic, Crispin Glover-esque, far more mannered. Both would be fun to watch.

Lorraine Baines (Lea Thompson): played by Claire Foy

I thought she was tremendously entertaining in playing a complete bitch in Wolf Hall so naturally she'd be a perfect fit for sweet Lorraine Baines, right? The basis I'm going with this casting is that Foy, from what I've seen her in, is quite the chameleon in terms of being timid/over the top, and I think she has enough talent to pull this tricky role off.

Biff Tannen (Thomas F. Wilson): played by Miles Teller

I always like Teller more when he's playing someone who's a bit of a douchebag (Whiplash remains his best work precisely because he doesn't sugercoat the unpleasant nature of his character with pseudo-smarmy charm), and Biff Tannen is probably the biggest douchebag in all cinematic history. Go figure.

(Way Too) Early Predictions for Next Year's Oscars

Best Picture

Silence
Hail, Caesar!
Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk
Passengers
Birth of a Nation
The Light Between Oceans
Sully
The BFG

Best Director

Martin Scorcese, Silence
Nate Parker, The Birth of a Nation
Ang Lee, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk
Clint Eastwood, Sully
Steven Speilberg, The BFG
(if he really is undeniably good) Mel Gibson, Hacksaw Ridge (really hoping he makes a comeback)

Best Actor

Michael Keaton, The Founder
Tom Hanks, Sully
Andrew Garfield, Silence
Don Cheadle, Miles Ahead
Woody Harrelson, LBJ
Alternate: Michael Shannon, Midnight Special; Will Smith, Collateral Beauty; Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea

Best Actress

Jessica Chastain, The Zookeeper's Wife
Emma Thompson, Alone in Berlin
Rebecca Hall, Christine
Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins
Alicia Vikander, The Light Between Oceans

Best Supporting Actor

Liam Neeson, Silence
Jude Law, Genius
Richard Jenkins, LBJ
Jack O'Connell, Money Monster
Daniel Bruhl, The Zookeeper's Wife/Brendan Gleeson, Alone in Berlin

Best Supporting Actress

Jennifer Jason Leigh, LBJ (if she doesn't win for The Hateful Eight this year, if she does then...)
Laura Dern, The Founder
Nicole Kidman, Genius
Julia Roberts, Money Monster
Aja Naomi King, The Birth of a Nation

Best Original Screenplay: The Birth of a Nation

Best Adapted Screenplay: Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk

Best Editing: Hacksaw Ridge

Best Cinematography: Silence

Best Visual Effects: The BFG/The Jungle Book/The Legend of Tarzan/Any of the superhero films

Best Sound Editing: The Birth of a Nation

Best Sound Mixing: Silence (hehe)

Best Production Design: Hail, Caesar!

 

Best Costume Design: Silence (I think it's going to be the big film of the year)

Best Makeup/Hairstyling: LBJ

Best Original Score: Silence (it's Howard Shore, come on)

Best Original Song: Something from La La Land I expect.

Propositions for New Bond (Part 2)

1. Aidan Turner

Plot: A young, cynical and extremely alluring Bond infiltrates the ranks of a large mansion said to be hiding one of the most notorious criminals in the world. One of eight guests is not what they seem; but who is the villain in hiding? Alongside his scouring for Blofeld, Bond must also deal with an uncoming brigade of Spectre minions, while racing against time and a ticking bomb...

Director: Michael R. Roskam. He's a great director at making use of confined spaces and mounting tension, and I have a feeling he'd be able to do the action sequences justice too.

007: Aidan Turner
M: Richard E. Grant
Q: Burn Gorman
Miss Moneypenny: Maeve Dormady

The Eight Suspects
The Host: John Hurt
The Host's Wife: Nina Hoss
The Butler: Tim Roth
The Foreign Diplomat: Rose Byrne
The Conman: Toby Kebell
The Doctor: Don Cheadle
The Sage Elder: Donald Sutherland
The German Agent: Daniel Bruhl

2. Tom Hiddleston

Plot: 'Tom goes travelling around the world, taking in exotic views, lounging on beaches, canoodling with beautiful women, oh wait plot well I don't know, I'm just basing this all off on what I know the world wants with a Tom Hiddleston film I mean, a 007 film. Maybe something to do with a big evil plot or something, whatnot.' -- Tom Hiddleston fans.

All jokes aside I think Hiddleston's a tremendous actor and do think that he'd do well with both a lighter or darker version of Bond.

Director: Ben Wheatley. With a bigger budget and his High Rise star Hiddleston I'd love to see how he'd make use of his unsparingly original vision in accordance with Bond's style. His cinematography in films is beautiful so I think he'd be very suited to such a big production.

007: Tom Hiddleston
M: Anthony Hopkins
Q: Liam Cunningham
Miss Moneypenny: Holliday Grainger
Villain: Sam Neill
Henchman: Michael Smiley
Bond Girl: Natalie Dormer

3. Domnhall Gleeson

Plot: With young Gleeson I think the role and film would be more tailored to his more unassuming charm, this might be weird to think about but I'm thinking of a mix between his character in The Revenant, Anna Karenina and The Force Awakens. With the brooding glances of the former, the quiet charm of the middle, the death glares of the latter. Obviously he'd fit himself right into the role of Bond, he's a bit of a chameleonic actor anyway, but I felt like I should explain myself. Anyway, what sort of plot? Well seeing as he's just done The Force Awakens and Ex Machina why not just use a sci-fi scenario, maybe involving a young Bond on his first assignment, terminating a megalomaniac inventor who is creating an underground society of his own (yes, Blofeld as a hacker to RULE THE WORLD and wreck havoc), and only Gleeson Bond can stop him.

Director: Joe Wright. He has great action chops as can be seen in Hanna, he works well with Gleeson, and Vikander, and moreover I'd love to see what sort of long take he'd employ in it.

007: Domnhall Gleeson
Villain: Oscar Isaac (yes I'm being very lazy here)
Henchman: Will Poulter (lazy lazy lazy)
Bond Girl 1: Alicia Vikander (yes, being even lazier)
Bond Girl 2: Rachel McAdams (what can I say, Gleeson just does a great job of generating chemistry with anyone)
M: Brendan Gleeson
Q: Max Von Sydow

4. Bill Nighy

Plot: Think The Dark Knight Returns (the comic book miniseries) with Bond in the Batman role of long-retired badass who comes out of retirement to take down former enemies from his past.

Director: Stephen Frears. The extreme British-ness of this particular cinematic affair would be well suited to his abilities as a director.

007: Bill Nighy
M: (in flashbacks) Tom Wilkinson
Q: Ben Mendelsohn
Moneypenny: Frances Fisher
Blofeld: Richard Jenkins

Tasting Shorthand



http://cdn5.movieclips.com/miramax-films/c/cinema-paradiso-1988/0360779_31933_MC_Tx304.jpg

Time
Year by year
Window fastening shut
Rhyme
Running out.

And with it a fear
'That I have lost out
On that montage
Of'

Espying
Afar
From a window ajar
From quite the wrong side.

Forever tasting shorthand
From others, their
Sweet success and its
Smell

'But dive back
Into looking forth.
This very long sort of longing
Does not bemoan the end.

The window's fastening shut
But there's always another way out.'
The door not forever locked.
There's still life yet in those glances.

Calvin Law

Propositions for the New Bond (Part 1)

 

So apparently, Daniel Craig just isn't interested in playing Bond anymore.

 

If this becomes a reality, who should replace him?

 

What style should the series take?

 

Who should direct in it, star as Bond girl/villain, etc.?

 

Should it be canonical to the Craig series or not?

 

 

1. Chiwetel Ejiofor

Plot: Think The Spy Who Came in From the Cold with a twist. Tone like the Craig series but on a much smaller scale, though there will be action setpieces too. Ejiofor plays a retired 007 who finds himself drawn back into the spy game when told by M to a oversee a MI6 agent's faked 'defection' to a mysterious underground organisation, Spectre, in order to gain intel on them. All is not what it seems, however, when the defection proves to be genuine, and it's up to Bond and the guilt-riddled, drug-addled CIA agent in charge of the defection to figure out how to stop her before she implodes the MI6 from within, and brings about the rise of Spectre. Meanwhile, in the shadow lurks a certain Blofeld...

Director: Steve McQueen. He'd be an inspired choice, having worked with Ejiofor before, honing his knack for stylized long takes and brutal, unsparing visceral impact of shots into action scenes. I'd imagine this film to be set in a very bleak, noir-esque setting so it'd be fascinating to see how McQueen would handle this sort of tone.

007: Chiwetel Ejiofor
MI6 Defector/Bond Girl: Emily Blunt
Henchman: August Diehl
CIA Agent (Felix Leiter, perhaps?): Paul Dano
M: Tom Courtenay
Q: Benedict Wong
Miss Moneypenny: Jessica Brown Findlay
Blofeld: Viggo Mortensen

Budget: USD 80M

2. Ewan McGregor (originally Damian Lewis)

 

 

Plot: Think In Bruges meets The Quiet Man and not wholly deprived of its comic bent either. 007 goes into hiding after a mission goes awry, in M's small Irish hometown. Keeping an eye on him is his boss' secretary and ex-lover, Madam Monepenny. Bond slowly adapts to his surroundings, finding a romantic love interest with a local Irish girl. All good things can only last so long, however, when it is revealed that M hasn't been very forgiving of whatever errors 007 made in his last mission and commands Moneypenny to assassinate Bond...it all turns darkly comic as the little Irish town is turned upside down by a series of unfortunate shootouts and double-crosses.

Director: Martin McDonagh. I hate to be predictable but since this is a Bond film more about the dialogue than action scenes (although as he showed in Seven Psychopaths he can make violence quite compelling in itself too) then he'd be the perfect choice to manage its darkly comic tone.

007: Ewan McGregor
Madam Moneypenny: Kristin Scott Thomas
M: Mark Rylance
Henchman: Nathan Jones
Local Irish Girl: Saoirse Ronan
Q: Toby Jones
The Quirky Irish Populace: Bring out ye English, Irish, Scottish character actors

Budget: USD 25M

3. Henry Cavill

Plot: This would definitely have the lightest tone of them all. Think the Roger Moore films but with a bit more dramatic heft, or the Sean Connery ones with an even breezier tone. Some campy moustache twirling villain, M and Q as a comic duo, beautiful locations, and a trio of Bond girls. I'm thinking Debicki against type as the 'supportive' Bond girl who aids Bond in his mission while being a bit quirkily off-kilter, Traue as the villain's moll, and Binoche as a mole within the villain's organisation.

Director: Matthew Vaughan. After watching Kingsman it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to suggest he would do a good job with a more toned down approach to the 007 series.

007: Henry Cavill
The Bond Girl 1: Elizabeth Debicki
The Bond Girl 2: Antje Traue
The Bond Girl 3: Juliette Binoche
The Villain: Jean Dujardin
The Henchman: Matthias Schoenaerts
M: Hugh Laurie
Q: Stephen Fry
Miss Moneypenny: Claire Foy

Budget: USD 140M

4. Idris Elba

 

Plot: Sort of a sequel to On Her Majesty's Secret Service a gritty conspiracy thriller, supplanted by the central plotline of Elba's Bond undertaking a very personal mission to avenge a former lover's murder. He soon realises that extends to something much bigger than his own personal vengeance, his nemesis Blofeld having infiltrated the ranks of the British government, and teams up with a framed, disgraced politician looking to bring down Spectre for her own reasons.

Director: Alfonso Cuarón. Elba has a very Clive Owen-esque sort of appeal and the way Cuarón utilised him in Children of Men as well as just being an all-round fantastic action director when he wants to be, makes him an ideal choice.

007: Idris Elba
The Bond Girl/Disgraced Politician: Ruth Wilson
Blofeld: Liev Schrieber/Jeff Goldblum
Henchmen: Michael K. Williams
M: Brendan Gleeson
Q: Noah Taylor
Miss Moneypenny: Bella Heathcote

Personal Oscar Choices: 2005

Best Picture

Winner: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Nominees: King Kong, A History of Violence, Pride and Prejudice, Batman Begins

Best Director

Winner: David Cronenberg, A History of Violence

Nominees: Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain), Peter Jackson (King Kong), Shane Black (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang), Christopher Nolan (Batman Begins)

Best Actor 

Winner: Viggo Mortenson, A History of Violence

Nominees: Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote), Robert Downey Jr. (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang), Heath Ledger (Brokeback Mountain),  Terrence Howard (Hustle & Flow) Hon. Mention: Jeff Daniels (The Squid and the Whale)

Best Actress

Winner: (tie)  Felicity Huffman, Transamerica and Keira Knightley, Pride and Prejudice

Nominees: Naomi Watts (King Kong), Rachel McAdams (Red Eye), Zhang Ziyi (Memoirs of a Geisha)

Best Supporting Actor

Winner: Clifton Collins Jr. (Capote)

Nominees: Val Kilmer (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang), Ed Harris (A History of Violence), Cillian Murphy (Batman Begins), William Hurt (A History of Violence)

Best Supporting Actress

Winner: Michelle Monaghan, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Nominees: Tilda Swinton (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe), Maria Bello (A History of Violence), Catherine Keener (Capote), Michelle Yeoh (Memoirs of a Geisha)

Best Adapted Screenplay: Pride and Prejudice

Nominees: Memoirs of a Geisha, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, A History of Violence, Brokeback Mountain

Best Original Screenplay: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Nominees: Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were Rabbit, Hustle & Flow, Munich, Batman Begins

Best Cinematography: King Kong

Nominees: Sin City, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Brokeback Mountain, Munich

Best Film Editing: Batman Begins

 

Nominees: Munich, Batman Begins, King Kong, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Best Sound: Batman Begins

Nominees: Hustle and Flow, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, A History of Violence, Sin City

Best Music: Hustle and Flow

Best Costumes/Styling: Harry Potter: The Goblet of Fire

Nominees: Pride and Prejudice, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sin City, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Best Production Design: King Kong

Nominees: Pride and Prejudice, Corpse Bride, Sin City, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Best Visual Effects: King Kong

Nominees: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Goblet of Fire, Batman Begins


Best Animated Film: (tie) Corpse Bride, Wallace and Gromit, Curse of the Were-Rabbit (seriously strong year despite only having 2 films I've nommed, since they're both great films)

 

My Top 10 of the year:

1. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
2. Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were Rabbit
3. Corpse Bride
4. King Kong
5. A History of Violence
6. Pride and Prejudice
7. Batman Begins
8. Munich
9. Hustle & Flow
10. Brokeback Mountain