66th Directors Guild of America nominees announced!

With all the guilds announcing their nominations in the weeks leading up to the Oscar nominations, things are definitely getting interesting and hopefully a clearer picture is starting to emerging this awards season.  The Directors Guild of America announced their feature film nominees for 2014 and their prestigious list features three first time honorees, one with his second nomination and one living legend with his eleventh (yes, eleventh!).  Alfonso Cuarón, Paul Greengrass, Steve McQueen, David O. Russell and Martin Scorsese are all nominated for the 66th annual awards which will be given out on January 25th, 2014.  The ceremony will be hosted by actress Jane Lynch. 

Here are the nominees and their details:

ALFONSO CUARÓN - Gravity (Warner Bros. Pictures)

Mr. Cuarón’s Directorial Team:

• Unit Production Manager: David Siegel (Arizona Unit)
• First Assistant Directors: Josh Robertson, Stephen Hagen (Arizona Unit)
• Second Assistant Director: Ben Howard

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


PAUL GREENGRASS - Captain Phillips (Columbia Pictures)
Mr. Greengrass’s Directorial Team:

• Unit Production Managers: Todd Lewis, Gregory Goodman
• First Assistant Director: Chris Carreras
• Second Assistant Directors: Nick Shuttleworth, Mark S. Constance

This is Mr. Greengrass’s first DGA Award nomination.


STEVE McQUEEN - 12 Years A Slave (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Mr. McQueen’s Directorial Team:

• Unit Production Manager:  Anthony Katagas
• First Assistant Director: Doug Torres
• Second Assistant Director:  James Roque Jr.
• Second Second Assistant Director: Sherman Shelton Jr.
• Additional Second Assistant Director: Nathan Parker

This is Mr. McQueen’s first DGA Award nomination.


DAVID O. RUSSELL - American Hustle (Columbia Pictures)
Mr. Russell’s Directorial Team:

• Unit Production Managers: Shea Kammer, Mark Kamine
• First Assistant Director: Michele ‘Shelley’ Ziegler
• Second Assistant Director: Xanthus Valan
• Second Second Assistant Director: Jason Fesel
• Location Managers: David Velasco, Guy Efrat (New York Unit)

This is Mr. Russell’s second DGA Award nomination.  He was previously nominated in this category for The Fighter in 2010.


MARTIN SCORSESE - The Wolf of Wall Street (Paramount Pictures)

Mr. Scorsese’s Directorial Team:

• Unit Production Manager: Richard Baratta
• First Assistant Director: Adam Somner
• Second Assistant Director: Francisco Ortiz
• Second Second Assistant Director: Jeremy Marks
• Additional Second Assistant Director: Scott Koche
• Location Manager: Nils Widboom

This is Mr. Scorsese’s eleventh DGA Award nomination.  He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film in 2006 for The Departed, and has also been nominated in that category for Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), Goodfellas (1990), The Age of Innocence (1993), Gangs of New York (2002), The Aviator (2004) and Hugo (2011). Mr. Scorsese also won the DGA Award in 2010 for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Television for Boardwalk Empire and he was nominated for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary for George Harrison: Living in the Material World in 2011.  In 1999, Mr. Scorsese was presented with the Filmmaker Award at the inaugural DGA Honors Gala, and he was honored with the DGA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003.

Movie Review: Captain Phillips

Whenever I see the tagline, 'Based on a true story,' my interest is always peaked.  Captain Phillips is based on the experiences of Captain Richard Phillips in his book A Captain's Duty.  In April 2009, en route to Mombasa on a routine voyage as captain of Maesrk Alabama, Phillips faced a hijacking attempt that lead to him being held hostage by four Somali pirates.

I should point out that playing the role of Phillips is Tom Hanks who played the everyman hero before in films.  His portrayal of a captain trying to protect his ship and crew is the main reason to watch the film. The second is leader of small band of pirates, Muse (Barkhad Abdi) who has real purpose in his actions from the first moment we see him onscreen.  He holds real malevolence his eyes as he has a determination to prove himself and really hijack the American ship. 

The standoff between him and Phillips as they both try to accomplish their goals is fascinating. Captain Phillips tries to get him to see reason while Muse indirectly gives his backstory while they talk.  He's also trying to get by and make something of his life.  These sequences had the most impact in this story for me.

The film opens well with parallel storylines of Phillips and Muse building towards that eventual meeting on the ship when the Somali take over the ship.  The tension builds and builds until the standoff where eventually Phillips is taken hostage in the lifeboat by the pirates.  Here I felt the sequences went on a little too much for me. It could also be that because of director Paul Greengrass' documentary style of jerky shots and closeups in the tight space of the lifeboat became too claustrophobic and I had quite the headache afterwards. 

With much of the action on the choppy seas and the moving camera did not gel well together for me.  In fact, when the action moved to the US Navy and the SEALs getting involved, the movie began to shift focus again. The film is strongest when it features on Abdi and Hanks.  Many will be surprised to find sympathy towards the pirates in certain scenes as well.

There are many such instances of piracy that get featured on news stories in television and newspapers. But seeing it unfold over the screen is a bit of shock as how these pirates in small boats can overpower a ship as big as the Maesrk Alabama. Just as shocking is the way in which the hostage situation eventually ended.  Tom Hanks delivers yet another strong performance in his career, if you see the film, it should be for his and Abdi's performances. 

Directed by Paul Greengrass; Written by Billy Ray; Based on the book by Richard Phillips and Stephan Talty; Cinematography by Barry Ackroyd; Editing by Christopher Rouse; Music by Henry Jackman

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