Directors Guild Nominations!

The Directors Guild of America announced their five top directors on Tuesday for their 65th annual awards.  I'm surprised to see Tom Hooper on the list, I thought either David O. Russell or Michael Haneke would be take the fifth spot.  The winners will be announced on February 2, 2013.  The rest of the nominee are listed below.

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film

BEN AFFLECK

Argo
(Warner Bros. Pictures) 

This is Mr. Affleck’s first DGA Feature Film Award nomination.

 KATHRYN BIGELOW

Zero Dark Thirty
(Columbia Pictures)

This is Ms. Bigelow’s second DGA Feature Film Award nomination. She won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for The Hurt Locker in 2009.





TOM HOOPER

Les Misérables
(Universal Pictures)

This is Mr. Hooper's second DGA Feature Film Award nomination. He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for The King's Speech (2010) and was previously nominated for the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television/Mini-Series for John Adams in 2008.




ANG LEE

Life of Pi
(Twentieth Century Fox)

This is Mr. Lee’s fourth DGA Feature Film Award nomination. He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for Brokeback Mountain (2005) and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) and was nominated for Sense and Sensibility in 1995.

STEVEN SPIELBERG

Lincoln
(Dreamworks Pictures/Twentieth Century Fox)

This is Mr. Spielberg’s eleventh DGA Feature Film Award nomination. He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film three times for Saving Private Ryan (1998), Schindler’s List (1993) and The Color Purple (1985). He was also nominated in this category for Munich (2005), Amistad (1997), Empire of the Sun (1987), E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial (1982), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and Jaws (1975). Mr. Spielberg was honored with the DGA’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000.

3 New Trailers: Zero Dark Thirty, Django Unchained and Hitchcock

The competition at next year's Oscars is going to be fierce.  Just look at the movies that will be going up against each other.  Among them is Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty, a behind-the-scenes look at the top secret stealth mission to capture (at any cost) Osama Bin Laden that shocked the world.  The movie features actors Jessica Chastain, Joel Edgerton, Mark Strong, Chris Pratt and Edgar Ramirez.  Will Bigelow be able to recapture the success of her last film, The Hurt Locker?  Judging by the second trailer released, it looks like extremely interesting with a solid cast of very good actors.  The curiosity factor about the mission might just get the film nominated.  The film is out December 19th in the US just in time for the nominations announcement in early January.

The second trailer of Quentin Tarantino's highly anticipated Django Unchained shows more of the partnership between Django (Jamie Foxx) and the bounty hunter Dr. Schultz (Christoph Waltz) and them going up against Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio) who has Django's wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington). After a long time, DiCaprio is in an anti-hero role.  Could this possibly get him the Oscar after being nominated for it thrice already? He'll face competition from his own cast which also features Samuel L Jackson, Jonah Hill and Don Johnson. Django Unchained opens on Christmas day in the USA and around the rest of the world in January.

And finally, we have Hitchcock, the film about a man "obsessed with murder.'  With a pair of Oscar winners, Anthony Hopkins (virtually unrecognizable) and Helen Mirren play the legendary director and his wife Alma during the making of one of his most famous films, Psycho. I feel this could be hit or miss at the Oscar, it might have a shot at the acting awards but I don't whether it can be nominated for Best Picture against all the other heavyweights which are also due to release in December, like The Hobbit, Lincoln, etc. But it all depends on what number of films ends being nominated for Best Picture. Hitchcock releases late November in USA. 

What I'm Thankful for: Movies Edition

There are many things in life I'm grateful for but I'm always grateful for good movies and great cinema.  It's got the power to cheer you up when you're down and distract you from life's everyday problems and transport you to someplace special.

A little late but still nevertheless, here's what I give thanks for this past year:

• Christopher Nolan and Inception: One of the finest directors working today, Nolan has moved into the auteur category.  He can open a big movie with his name alone, despite having big Hollywood actors in it. This summer's biggest blockbuster, Inception, proved that he is in a league of his own, demanding complete control of his film from Warner Brothers and for having an original script in a sea of sequels and remakes.  Inception was on everyone's lips this summer, how did they do that? How is that possible? Is that real? And how do I get my own totem? (Yeah, that was all me.) Inception is that rare film that keeps you wondering long after you've left the theater.  For my new movie obsession and favorite director, I'm grateful.  Up next, Batman 3 and the Superman reboot, we can't wait.

• How to Train Your Dragon: Why do I love this animated film so? Mainly because it's about two leads, a one-of-kind dragon named Toothless with behavioral issues and a young Viking apprentice named Hiccup with daddy issues.  This unlikely pair become the pride of the Viking village, Berk, and how they do it is the reason why How to Train Your Dragon is my favorite animated film this year.  This movie has what was lacking in previous DreamWorks films, heart!  And it is this fierce heart and an attitude that being different is not necessarily bad that makes this a top movie for kids to watch and enjoy.  Bonus: The soundtrack composed by John Powell is one of the best of year behind only to Inception. 

• Kathryn Bigelow: She broke the glass ceiling and how! Going up against the big juggernaut that was Avatar, the studio system and director, James Cameron, who was also her ex-husband, Bigelow took a gritty independent war movie called The Hurt Locker and turned it into the movie that Hollywood was talking about.  The winner of almost every major directing award (what were you thinking, Golden Globes?), Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win an Oscar and an Director's Guild of America (DGA) award.  For all the little girls who grow up wanting to be behind the cameras rather than in front of it, that's an amazing achievement to look up to.

• Robert Downey Jr: Now this is some comeback story.  A decade ago, Robert Downey Jr. headlining his own True Hollywood Story about his very public addiction problems.  But today, he is a highly respected and sought after actor for so many projects.  There is no genre he can't do.  Comedy (Tropic Thunder, Due Date) to drama (Zodiac, The Soloist) to becoming the ultimate hero Iron Man and leading The Avengers and rebooting how many imagined Sherlock Holmes to be, this is an actor we should be thankful for.  More please!

• Clint Eastwood: He makes us all ashamed to be young and idle.  At 70, he is churning out film upon film per year as an actor, a director, a producer, and composer too.  His past few films have all been Oscar and award contenders and they keep showing us again and again, that his best is yet to come.  Simply amazing!  

• Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio: It's no secret that Leonardo is my favorite actor.  But when he pairs up with his favorite director, he pulls out a performance that's extraordinary.  Shutter Island, the most recent collaboration of Scorsese and Leo, was a masterful film of suspense and thrills.  It shows us once again why Scorsese is America's most legendary directors and why the pair of them always produce movie magic.