Hollywood’s big night

Tonight is a big night in old Hollywood.

Following all the buzz that surrounded the Oscars this year, odds are that’s going to be an interesting night. There are some really good movies nominated for Best Picture, new names in the Best Actress category, predictable names on the Best Actor side, directors that can make history this year and some very good screenplays that moved us in 2015. 

Hail, Caesar! (2016) – Review

If there’s something I like more than watching movies is watching movies about the movie industry. So, Hail, Caesar!

Story’s like this: “Head of Physical Production” Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin) works to keep the good image of the stars from the studio he works for.

Quentin Tarantino by Alex Majoli, 2007

Via The Red List

Clothes on film – Part 5

The `blue jeans, white shirt` line goes way back to the birth of the American teenager in movies. In 1955 Nicholas Ray was directing the movie that would become an eternal reference for teen dramas and rebellion – Rebel Without a Cause, starring James Dean, Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo.

The laid-back attitude that James Dean shows as the troubled young man Jim Stark is a solid rock in the history of teen cinema, a source of continuous inspiration for everything that appeared after – from John Hughes’ teen comedies to the geeky productions released after 2000.

Not only the attitude, but the entire presence of the character turned Dean into an icon.

The Big Short (2015)

One more Best Picture nomination checked.

The Big Short, based on the bestselling book released by Michael Lewis in 2010, deals with a serious subject that was already depicted in several movies in the past few years – the 2008 financial crisis. 

Latest PR crisis in Hollywood leads The Academy to some changes

Right after The Academy announced this year’s nominations in the 24 categories on January 14th, the movie industry quickly reacted to the lack of diversity on the Oscars scene. For the second year in a row, no actor or actress of color were nominated to the Oscars, although there were some powerful performances that could have been taken into consideration.

Source: http://tinyurl.com/j3cg57n

Many actors and directors reacted to the issue and announced that they won’t attend this year’s ceremony. Host Chris Rock was even advised to boycott the ceremony on February 28th.

An interesting opinion was Viola Davis’, who says that the problem is not with the Oscars, but with the movie making system that is right now in Hollywood – there are not enough movie roles for people of color.

Every year there are some serious snobs at the Oscars, turnin the awards season into weeks lasting conversations and theories. Personally, I was sad to see Straight Outta Compton receiving only one nomination – Best Original Screenplay, especially after receiving serious nominations from all the guilds – Producers Guild Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards, Writers Guild Awards. But that’s my opinion.

Anyway, after the movie industry slammed the Academy for the second year in a row all-white Best Actor and Best Actress line-up, yesterday it was announced that the voting system of the Academy will suffer some changes: “The Board’s goal is to commit to doubling the number of women and diverse members of the Academy by 2020.”

The members come from various branches – producers, writers, actors, directors, publicists and so on, and their ages vary from early 40s to late 60s. Every year people react to movies being snubbed or movies being nominated for no reason, blaming the “old Academy members who are used to seeing movies from old perspectives.”

This being said, The Academy noticed a crisis coming up and chose to ensure the movie industry that the system of the most important awards show will soon change.

If until now members were elected for life, no matter if they continued or not to work in the industry after becoming members of the Academy, and they could vote every year to choose the Oscar winners,  “beginning later this year, each new member’s voting status will last 10 years, and will be renewed if that new member has been active in motion pictures during that decade. In addition, members will receive lifetime voting rights after three ten-year terms; or if they have won or been nominated for an Academy Award.”

These and a few other changes are being made starting this year. But until then, The Academy Awards will be interesting to watch. I’ll make time for some predictions in a few weeks, especially since these days I’m reading so many “clever” opinions on how an actor is going to get an Oscar because his movie is receiving I don’t know how many nominations in who cares what categories. I noticed most people seem to know everything about movies every year around the time of the Oscars.

Cheers.

Source: http://tinyurl.com/jr66k7x

 

My childhood movies – Part one

I’ve always loved movies.

When I was little I always read the TV magazine to be up to date with every movie that was on. And sometimes true events were happening.

DiCaprio and Kate Winslet – the first actors of my life

When Titanic (1997) was on, my brother and I would stay awake all night to watch Jack and Rose on the ‘huge boat’. We were very young, maybe 6 or 7 years old and Dicaprio and Kate Winslet quickly became my favorite actors. It was really funny, because they were the first actors I remember to have ever seen in a movie and Titanic is the first movie I’ve ever watched. So back then I didn’t really know other actors…

When I saw Leo DiCaprio later in Romeo and Juliet (1996) and my mom told me that he didn’t die in real life I was shocked. But at the same time very happy because, let’s face it, every 7 year old in my generation was in love with him after watching Titanic.

Source: http://tinyurl.com/zp8n39v

“Clint Eastwood. Now that’s a good one”, said my grandfather

Let’s get serious. I remember the first Clint Eastwood movie I have ever watched. And that’s Blood Work (2002), of course. I was sleeping over at my grandparents and I guess I was around 12-13 years old when I noticed my grandfather was really thrilled when seeing Clint on TV. I asked what we were watching and I will always remember him giving the most serious answer: “Clint Eastwood. Now that’s a good one.” And it was. Blood Work might be the movie that made me become so curious about mistery and crime. And as a result, today one of my biggest hobbies is reading about the lives and psychology of serial killers.

Source: http://tinyurl.com/j7xt9xl

My “dearest movies” list

I remember the exact moments when I first saw two of my dearest movies of all time.

Every year, my entire family gathers round at my grandparents’ house on the second day of Christmas. It was one of these days when we decided to watch a movie after lunch. And the movie we found on TV was Sissi – Part One (1955), with Romy Schneider and Karlheinz Böhm. I’ve always been fascinated with history and my love of movies grew 50% that day. Sissi is one of the films I would watch anytime just because of the story. And I actually did watch it for at least 6 or 7 times now.

Romy Schneider as Sissi 

Source: http://tinyurl.com/h3homgz

The second movie is truly beautiful and honest – The Sound of Music (1965). I watched it with my mother and brother for the first time when I was around 12 years old and I had never felt more free and ambitious as I felt when I first watched that movie. It’s beautiful, joyous, and it taught me that everything becomes easier when we learn to do things that we love from time to time. Like singing.

Source: http://tinyurl.com/gksludl

Well, this is the end of part one. I’ll be back with the second part cause there are some more really good pieces that made me love movies so much. And I’m gonna share all of them. Stay tuned, some cool names are coming up next! 🙂

Printre copii la Norm of the North (2016)

Miercuri seară am dat în mintea copiilor și am fost la avanpremiera Norm of the North, povestea unui urs polar (Norm) care are de îndeplinit o misiune grea – trebuie să-și salveze casa.

Cam o oră jumate l-am urmărit trăind aventura vieții lui în New York, ca să oprească o corporație care vrea să construiască un complex de case la Polul Nord. Corporația este condusă de Mr. Greene, un mogul de-a dreptul enervant care-și trimite la Polul Nord directorul de marketing, o tânără pe nume Vera, pentru a supraveghea filmarea unei reclame pentru noul complex rezidențial.

Joy (2015)

Beautiful, real and truly inspirational. I simply loved it.

Via Daily Mail

Golden Globes and some fun Hollywood stories

Tonight 25 awards will be handed to the best actors, directors and productions in TV and film. But there’s been a long road from the first edition of the Golden Globes to the entire experience that is today.

And this long road has seen some truly interesting stories. Here are some fun facts about the ceremony that every year opens the awards season.

1. The Globes have been held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel since 1961.
2. Jamie Foxx is the first person ever to be nominated for three Globes in a single year.
3. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is the only film that won the Golden Globe in all five major categories: Best Motion Picture, Actor, Actress, Director, Screenplay.
4. Five names share the title for most Globes won by a film: Doctor Zhivago (1966), Love Story (1971), The Godfather (1973), One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1976), and A Star Is Born(1977).
5. The oldest Golden Globe winner was 80 year old Jessica Tandy for Driving Miss Daisy in 1990.
6. The youngest Golden Globe winner was 9 year old Ricky Schroder in 1980 for The Champ.
7. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1967) and The Godfather, Part III (1991) each received seven nominations, but lost in every category.
8. The actress with the most Golden Globes is Meryl Streep (8).
9. The actor with the most Golden Globes is Jack Nicholson (6).
10. Marlon Brando refused his Best Actor Globe for The Godfather in 1973 to protest U.S. “imperialism and racism.” He similarly didn’t accept his Oscar statuette.
11. Barbra Streisand holds the record for winning the most Globes (including honorary awards) of any celebrity – 9.
12. The ceremony was founded in 1943 by 21 foreign journalists. The first Golden Globe Awards ceremony was held during a luncheon at 20th Century Fox and had only five categories: Best Motion Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress.
13. Celebrities didn’t start handing out awards until 1958, when the Rat Pack led by Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. rushed to the stage with whiskeys and cigars to give them out.
14. Celebrities didn’t attend the 2008 Golden Globes, when the Writers Guild of America was on strike. The actors wanted to show solidarity. The winners were announced on live news.
15. Since the category was added in 2006, there have been 24 nominees for Best Animated Feature.

Read some more fun facts on Buzzfeed and International Business Times. And I also used this one as a source.

Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. decided to take over the hosting duties on the Golden Globes stage back in 1958

Source: http://tinyurl.com/hcvnvlu

Barbra Streisand at 57th Annual Golden Globe Awards, 2000

Source: http://tinyurl.com/zannmcp