The Buglisi Dance Theatre - a Review

So Sunday I went to see the performance of http://www.buglisidance.org/  The First performance was entitled ‘Requim”.  In a 20 minute performance, the curtain opened to reveal five female dancers rising up from the ground, backs facing the audience.  The gowns they wore seemed shredded, their backs exposed.  I was close enough to witness the cut but sinewy muscle that flexed with every small motion.  Unlike anything I’ve seen before, the dancers ranged from the young beginners to the seasoned, and older, veteran.  The seemed to express emotions of being tortured and torn.

The second performance was entitled “Letters of Love on Ripped Paper.”  This 40 minute dance piece displayed difference styles of dance all the while love letters were narrated over music.  It seemed fitting that I saw this performance given that Valentine’s Day was earlier in the week.  The thing I found most odd was the fact that the dancers danced barefoot.  The choreography was inspired by Martha Graham.  A most unusual style using the upper torso as the primary vehicle of expression.

EARLY OSCAR PREDICTIONS

BEST PICTURE
*= saw it
*Black Swan (want to win)
*The Fighter
(will win)The Social Network
*The King's Speech
Toy Story 3
*Inception
True Grit
*The Kids Are All Right
127 Hours
*Winter's Bone

BEST ACTOR

(will win)Colin Firth, The King's Speech
Javier Bardem, Biutiful
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
James Franco, 127 Hours
Jeff Bridges, True Grit

BEST ACTRESS

(will win)Natalie Portman, Black Swan
(possible contender)Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone
Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right


BEST DIRECTION
David Fincher, The Social Network
The Coen Brothers, True Grit
Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
David O. Russell, The Fighter(will win)Tom Hooper, The King's Speech

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
(will win)Christian Bale, The Fighter
John Hawkes, Winter's Bone
Jeremy Renner, The Town
Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right
Geoffrey Rush, The King's Speech

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
(will win) Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Amy Adams, The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter, The King's Speech
Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit
Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Another Year, Mike Leigh
(will win)The Fighter ;Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson;
Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
Inception, Christopher Nolan
The Kids Are All Right, Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
The King's Speech, David Seidler


BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
127 Hours by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
The Social Network by Aaron Sorkin
Toy Story 3 by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
True Grit by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Winter's Bone by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini


BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Toy Story 3
How To Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Biutiful
DogTooth
In A Better World
Outside The Law
Incendies

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Exit through the Gift Shop
Gasland
Inside Job
Restrepo
Waste Land

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
Killing in the Name
Poster Girl
Strangers No More
Sun Come Up
The Warriors of Qiugang

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT
The Confession
The Crush
God of Love
Na Wewe
Wish 143


BEST ANIMATED SHORT
Day & Night
The Gruffalo
Let's Pollute
The Lost Thing
Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

BEST SOUND EDITING
Inception, Richard King
Toy Story 3, Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
Tron: Legacy, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
True Grit, Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
Unstoppable, Mark P. Stoeckinger

BEST SOUND MIXING

Inception, Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick
The King's Speech, Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley
Salt, Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin
The Social Network, Ren Klyce, David Parker Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
True Grit, Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland

BEST ART DIRECTION
(will win) Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Inception
The King's Speech
True Grit
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Black Swan, Matthew Libatique
(will win) Inception, Wally Pfister
The King's Speech, Danny Cohen
The Social Network, Jeff Cronenweth
True Grit, Roger Deakins
BEST MAKEUP

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
(will win) Alice in Wonderland, Colleen Atwood
I Am Love, Antonella Cannarozzi
The King's Speech, Jenny Beavan
The Tempest, Sandy Powell
True Grit, Mary Zophres


BEST FILM EDITING
Andrew Weisblum, Black Swan Pamela Martin, The Fighter (will win)Tariq Anwarr, The King's Speech Jon Harris, 127 Hours Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter, The Social Network

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Alice in Wonderland Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
Hereafter, Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell
Inception, Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
Iron Man 2, Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick

The Kings Speech - a Movie Review

So last night me and a movie lovin’ friend went to see “The Kings Speech”.  The true story of The Duke of York’s ascension to become King George the XI., played by Colin Firth (nominated for Best Actor) and his battle with overcoming a crippling stammer.  The story follows his early, embarrassing attempts at public speaking.  His wife intervenes by hiring a slightly unorthodox speech therapist, played by the brilliant Jeffrey Rush (nominated for best supporting actor.)
Brilliant performances in this film, although the cinematography  seemed abit dark and straining on the eyes.  A better film that I had originally thought.  Strong competition for the Oscar race.

Blue Valentine - a Movie Review

And so tonight I went to see “Blue Valentine” starring Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling as a flesh and blood family living in Pennsylvania.  The story starts out present day with the married couple, alcoholic husband as his wife trying to raise their daughter and keep the peace in their household.

The story has flashbacks which show the audience how they met and fell in love.  Michelle Williams character is an only child in a dysfunctional family.  Nightly she sits in a house where her parents hate one another and its one verbally abusive night after the next.  Her only saving grace is school and the relationship with her disabled grandmother.

In a chance meeting she and Gosling meet and he pursues her without abandon. 

The performances in this film were outstanding.  Michelle Williams was nominated for her role and rightly so.  You never get the sense she is acting or more to the point over-acting as too many actresses tend to do.  Ryan Gosling is always at his best (ever seen Half Nelson?)  rent that there’s a film worth seeing.  He is a young Sean Penn without all the shitty movies Sean Penn had to make before he got it right, lol.

The direction was excellent it was done so in a way that you felt like an intruder watching moments that were never meant to be seen by an outsider.  At the start of their marriage you could feel their hopefulness and promise and in the end you could feel the yearning amidst the pain and nightmare that was unfolding.

Gritty, moving and I think worth seeing, I enjoyed this film.