Oscars 2016

Complete List of the 2016 Oscar Winners:

Best motion picture of the year:

“Spotlight” (WINNER)

“The Big Short”

“Bridge of Spies”

“Brooklyn”

“Mad Max: Fury Road”

“The Martian”

“The Revenant”

“Room”

Performance by an actor in a leading role:

Leonardo DiCaprio in “The Revenant” (WINNER)

Bryan Cranston in “Trumbo”

Matt Damon in “The Martian”

Michael Fassbender in “Steve Jobs”

Eddie Redmayne in “The Danish Girl”

Performance by an actress in a leading role:

Brie Larson in “Room” (WINNER)

Cate Blanchett in “Carol”

Jennifer Lawrence in “Joy”

Charlotte Rampling in “45 Years”

Saoirse Ronan in “Brooklyn”

Achievement in directing:“The Revenant” Alejandro G. Iñárritu (WINNER)

“The Big Short” Adam McKay

“Mad Max: Fury Road” George Miller

“Room” Lenny Abrahamson

“Spotlight” Tom McCarthy

Performance by an actor in a supporting role:

Mark Rylance in “Bridge of Spies” (WINNER)

Christian Bale in “The Big Short”

Tom Hardy in “The Revenant”

Mark Ruffalo in “Spotlight”

Sylvester Stallone in “Creed”

Performance by an actress in a supporting role:

Alicia Vikander in “The Danish Girl” (WINNER)

Jennifer Jason Leigh in “The Hateful Eight”

Rooney Mara in “Carol”

Rachel McAdams in “Spotlight”

Kate Winslet in “Steve Jobs”

Original screenplay:

“Spotlight” Written by Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy (WINNER)

“Bridge of Spies” Written by Matt Charman and Ethan Coen & Joel Coen

“Ex Machina” Written by Alex Garland

“Inside Out” Screenplay by Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley; Original story by Pete Docter, Ronnie del Carmen

“Straight Outta Compton” Screenplay by Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff; Story by S. Leigh Savidge & Alan Wenkus and Andrea Berloff

Adapted screenplay:

“The Big Short” Screenplay by Charles Randolph and Adam McKay (WINNER)

“Brooklyn” Screenplay by Nick Hornby

“Carol” Screenplay by Phyllis Nagy

“The Martian” Screenplay by Drew Goddard

“Room” Screenplay by Emma Donoghue

Best animated feature film of the year:

“Inside Out” Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera (WINNER)

“Anomalisa” Charlie Kaufman, Duke Johnson and Rosa Tran

“Boy and the World” Alê Abreu

“Shaun the Sheep Movie” Mark Burton and Richard Starzak

“When Marnie Was There” Hiromasa Yonebayashi and Yoshiaki Nishimura

Best documentary feature:

“Amy” Asif Kapadia and James Gay-Rees (WINNER)

“Cartel Land” Matthew Heineman and Tom Yellin

“The Look of Silence” Joshua Oppenheimer and Signe Byrge Sørensen

“What Happened, Miss Simone?” Liz Garbus, Amy Hobby and Justin Wilkes

“Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom” Evgeny Afineevsky and Den Tolmor

Best foreign language film of the year:

“Son of Saul” Hungary (WINNER)

“Embrace of the Serpent” Colombia

“Mustang” France

“Theeb” Jordan

“A War” Denmark

Achievement in cinematography:

“The Revenant” Emmanuel Lubezki (WINNER)

“Carol” Ed Lachman

“The Hateful Eight” Robert Richardson

“Mad Max: Fury Road” John Seale

“Sicario” Roger Deakins

Achievement in visual effects:

“Ex Machina” Andrew Whitehurst, Paul Norris, Mark Ardington and Sara Bennett (WINNER)

“Mad Max: Fury Road” Andrew Jackson, Tom Wood, Dan Oliver and Andy Williams

“The Martian” Richard Stammers, Anders Langlands, Chris Lawrence and Steven Warner

“The Revenant” Rich McBride, Matthew Shumway, Jason Smith and Cameron Waldbauer

“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan and Chris Corbould

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score):

“The Hateful Eight” Ennio Morricone (WINNER)

“Bridge of Spies” Thomas Newman

“Carol” Carter Burwell

“Sicario” Jóhann Jóhannsson

“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” John Williams

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song):

“Writing’s On The Wall” from “Spectre” (WINNER)

Music and Lyric by Jimmy Napes and Sam Smith

“Earned It” from “Fifty Shades of Grey”

Music and Lyric by Abel Tesfaye, Ahmad Balshe, Jason Daheala Quenneville and Stephan Moccio

“Manta Ray” from “Racing Extinction”

Music by J. Ralph and Lyric by Antony Hegarty

“Simple Song #3” from “Youth”

Music and Lyric by David Lang

“Til It Happens To You” from “The Hunting Ground”

Music and Lyric by Diane Warren and Lady Gaga

Achievement in costume design:

“Mad Max: Fury Road” Jenny Beavan (WINNER)

“Carol” Sandy Powell

“Cinderella” Sandy Powell

“The Danish Girl” Paco Delgado

“The Revenant” Jacqueline West

Achievement in makeup and hairstyling:

“Mad Max: Fury Road” Lesley Vanderwalt, Elka Wardega and Damian Martin (WINNER)

“The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared” Love Larson and Eva von Bahr

“The Revenant” Siân Grigg, Duncan Jarman and Robert Pandini

Achievement in film editing:

“Mad Max: Fury Road” Margaret Sixel (WINNER)

“The Big Short” Hank Corwin

“The Revenant” Stephen Mirrione

“Spotlight” Tom McArdle

“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey

Achievement in sound editing:

“Mad Max: Fury Road” Mark Mangini and David White (WINNER)

“The Revenant” Martin Hernandez and Lon Bender

“The Martian” Oliver Tarney

“Sicario” Alan Robert Murray

“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” Matthew Wood and David Acord

Achievement in sound mixing:

“Mad Max: Fury Road” Chris Jenkins, Gregg Rudloff and Ben Osmo (WINNER)

“The Martian” Paul Massey, Mark Taylor and Mac Ruth

“Bridge of Spies” Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Drew Kunin

“The Revenant” Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño, Randy Thom and Chris Duesterdiek

“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” Andy Nelson, Christopher Scarabosio and Stuart Wilson

Achievement in production design:

“Mad Max: Fury Road” Production Design: Colin Gibson; Set Decoration: Lisa Thompson (WINNER)

“Bridge of Spies” Production Design: Adam Stockhausen; Set Decoration: Rena DeAngelo and Bernhard Henrich

“The Danish Girl” Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Michael Standish

“The Martian” Production Design: Arthur Max; Set Decoration: Celia Bobak

“The Revenant” Production Design: Jack Fisk; Set Decoration: Hamish Purdy

Best animated short film:

“Bear Story” Gabriel Osorio and Pato Escala (WINNER)

“Prologue” Richard Williams and Imogen Sutton

“Sanjay’s Super Team” Sanjay Patel and Nicole Grindle

“We Can’t Live without Cosmos” Konstantin Bronzit

“World of Tomorrow” Don Hertzfeldt

Best documentary short subject:

“A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness” Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (WINNER)

“Body Team 12” David Darg and Bryn Mooser

“Chau, beyond the Lines” Courtney Marsh and Jerry Franck

“Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah” Adam Benzine

“Last Day of Freedom” Dee Hibbert-Jones and Nomi Talisman

Best live action short film:

“Stutterer” Benjamin Cleary and Serena Armitage (WINNER)

“Ave Maria” Basil Khalil and Eric Dupont

“Day One” Henry Hughes

“Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut)” Patrick Vollrath

“Shok” Jamie Donoughue

Welcome to the family, Nkala!

Nkala

Pachyderm Reviews is happy to announce that we are now the foster parent of sweet little orphan Nkala. Born in March of 2013 and rescued in June of 2013, he is named for the Game Management Area where he was rescued. A big thank you to everyone who helped us take this step. Those who contributed to our GoFundMe will each be mailed your very own copy of Nkala’s adoption certificate. We love you, Nkala!

“In June 2013 ‘Nkala’ was discovered as he wandered alone and distressed among cattle, after his family herd had been driven away from agricultural land and unfortunately they did not return for their lost calf. After hearing GRI’s community radio show (which featured the Elephant Orphanage Project) the people living near Nkala Game Management Area notified Zambia Wildlife Authority and GRI of this little elephant and a rescue team was rapidly deployed to his aid.

At that time Nkala was only three months old and so was in desperate need for milk. He was stabilized at the EOP Kafue Release Facility (only 1.5 hours away by road) before being flown to the EOP Lilayi Elephant Nursery where he received a high level of care around the clock, including milk feeds every three hours!

After losing his mother and herd he was initially traumatized and during his first month of care he often looked depressed and struggled to socialize with the other orphans. Over time, with consistent affections from his keepers and surrogate her, good nutrition and routine in his life (regular bush walks and mud baths) he settled into like at the Nursery and has fully integrated amongst the orphan herd.”

If you would like to get involved with Game Ranger International Elephant Orphanage Project or have an idea for Pachyderm Review’s next fundraiser email us at pachydermreviews@gmail.com

Risen

Risen, 2016

Directed by Kevin Reynolds, 107 minutes

Joseph Fiennes, Tom Felton, Peter Firth, Cliff Curtis

Review by Katherine Scheetz

The Bible epic Risen should not have been marketed as a manhunt, when the eloquence of the film only emerges after the man has been found.

Joseph Fiennes is Clavius, a Tribune on the rise for Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem, who witnesses the crucifixion and then is sent in search of a body, once the sealed (literally with red wax pressed by Roman seals) tomb is emptied. How doe-eyed sidekick Lucius (Felton) can even hear Fiennes’ commands though the husky, testosterone-filled whisper he’s suddenly acquired, is beyond us.

With more animated acting we might have been moved by Clavius’ transformation, but deadpan stares through dark eyelashes does nothing for us. By complete contrast, the comradery of Yeshua’s eleven remaining disciples is buoyant, introduced to us first through Bartholomew (Stephen Hagan), 33 A.D.’s dirty hippy, with a smile eternally slapped across his face. Simon Peter (Stewart Scudamore) also resonates by being presented as refreshingly candid. Curtis preserves the enigmatic character of the outlaw Yeshua with thoughtful lines and kind glances.

With filming locations like Spain and Malta, the arid, patchy landscapes and jagged, sun-bleached rock formations provide a majestic set. The lighting team used their surroundings well by letting firelight throw laughs and shadows against open rock faces. Other notable moments include the ethereal beams of light streaming into Clavius’ cross-examination room and candle light against the crown of thorns.     

But the writing is stale and overemphasized, utilizing every synonym for zealot listed on thesaurus.com. The story itself however, takes a momentous turn 2/3 through when Clavius aids the disciples in a successful escape from Jerusalem. It is, ironically, in these imagined interactions, which follow their journey to the sea of Galilee, that the story finally becomes truthful. It’s not the “epic manhunt” the poster promised, and that may have just saved the film.

Visit our Get Involved page to learn about our previous donations to Game Rangers International Elephant Orphanage Project and visit us again for our next opportunity to give to animal sanctuaries across the globe. 

Deadpool

Deadpool, 2016

Directed by Tim Miller, 108 minutes

Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, TJ Miller, Ed Skrein

Review by Katherine Scheetz

              Ryan Reynolds’ self-deprecating brainchild, Deadpool, is a lesson in patience. Eleven years in the making, he can sleep easy after a $135M opening weekend.

              In case you missed the marketing of Deadpool, which involved poop emojis on billboards and “touch yourself” campaigns for early detection of cancer, then settle back for the opening credits, where “produced by: some asshole,” and “written by: the real heroes here” are set to the sounds of Angel of the Morning by Juice Newton. At that point you understand what you just paid $11.50 for, plus a popcorn and two drinks if you’re a good Valentine’s date.

             

Ex-special forces freelancer Wade Wilson (Reynolds) spends a year falling for equally-as-sardonic Vanessa (Baccarin) when, after proposing with a Ring Pop pulled out of his perfectly-formed ass, he collapses and is diagnosed with terminal cancer. In desperation, he agrees to undergo treatment that will cure the cancer and bonus: give him superhero powers. After months of torture that leave him horribly disfigured, Wilson breaks out of the facility and, thanks to Ajax’s (Skein) threshold mutation therapy, is virtually indestructible and out for revenge under his new pseudonym: Deadpool.

              Director Miller has achieved something groundbreaking with Deadpool - he has preserved the history of a comic book without compromise. His use of slow-motion and 4th wall breaks are just a few of the risks that have paid off.

              TJ Miller, as best friend Weasel, adlibs lines like “You are haunting. You look like an avocado had sex with an older avocado” and that is about as kosher as it gets. Cab driver Dopinder (Karan Soni) is as innocent as daffodil daydreams in his exchanges with Wilson. Rounding off the circle of misfits is Emmy winner Leslie Uggams as Blind Al, Wilson’s blind (no shit, right?), cocaine-loving roommate who assembles IKEA furniture all day long.

Between fat Gandalf, Taken nightmares and the jabs at Marvel, it is a meta-movie reference climax. But do your research, this film is reinventing the R-rated comedy for a reason. If you’re looking for subtly, look elsewhere. That is not Deadpool’s MO.           

Visit our Get Involved page or go directly to our GoFundMe to learn about and donate to the amazing people at Game Rangers International and all they are doing to help orphaned elephants

Hail, Caesar!

Hail, Caesar!, 2016

Directed by Ethan and Joel Coen, 106 minutes

Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehrenreich, Ralph Fiennes, Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand, Jonah Hill

Review by Katherine Scheetz

This much anticipated golden-age-of-Hollywood comedy exceeds expectations with all the complexity we adore in the Coen Brothers films. Their attention to detail from green milk glass salt and pepper shakers to the Thacker sisters’ (Swinton) moles and layered storytelling keeps our minds working on subtext throughout the film.

Intelligent casting by Ellen Chenoweth made Michael Gambon’s trusted voice our narrator, guiding us through a day in the life of Roman Catholic Capitol Pictures executive Eddie Mannix (Brolin) as he maneuvers the eccentric fires of the film industry. This does not exclude the damn Commies or chatting with the wife about their son’s soccer game.

If we need a reminder that the Coen Brother’s know their craft, they let us know with their nod at an Alfred Hitchcock-esque car follow out to the Malibu coast. Additionally, the intentional decision to begin all their scenes taking place on sound stages without the audience knowing it makes for smooth transitions between the various plot lines. Tight shots let us invest in the scene before pulling out to reveal the director, crew, lights and production team. It’s a devilish play at our reality. The brothers’ seamless writing in Mannix’ diverse religious consult on the depiction of Christ leaves us in stitches.

Meanwhile, the promised sexual prowess between DeeAnna Moran (Johansson) and Joseph Silverman (Hill) is everything Moran’s yankee “fish-ass” demeanor can dream of. McDormand is positively bat-like, tucked into the editing department with a cigarette hanging off her lip. And our hats are off for Ehrenreich as Hobie Doyle, who manages to pull off a tongue-twisting accent-on-top-of-an-accent with cowboy charm. Lest I be remiss to mention the Tatum tap-dancing South Pacific ode to dames. His tan features are contoured to match the suave swing of his voice and we swoon to see him dance again on screen.

Carter Burwell cannot escape the chord progression that is immortalized as Twilight (2008) but with the old school westerns, big band scenes and Latin mass requiems it is easier to disguise. It ends up being a score that reflects its delightfully colorful story.

              This gregarious tribute to the real life Eddie Mannix (of MGM) is well done, memorializing the man as only the Coen Brothers can.

Visit our Get Involved page or go directly to our GoFundMe to learn about and donate to the amazing people at Game Rangers International and all they are doing to help orphaned elephants

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, 2016

Directed by Burr Steers, 108 minutes

Lily James, Lena Headley, Sam Riley, Douglas Booth, Matt Smith, Jack Huston

Review by Katherine Scheetz

              No, this isn’t a cinematic work of art, written with smooth perfection or breaking new ground. By way of parody’s this falls in step with Tucker and Dale vs. Evil (2010) glazed with a dose of Jane Austen’s perceptive and provocative prose. The focus of the film is more on the swirl of British insults, ironic propriety and grossly exaggerated characters, than the zombie gore, which might deter those looking for more R-rated entrails.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies has retained the skeleton of the story easiest to mock: Darcy (Riley) still swims in the lake, Bingley (Booth) is still the more handsome of the two, Mr. Collins (Smith) still dances like the leprechaun, the proposal scene is still the most interesting part, Elizabeth (James) still speaks her mind and a double wedding rounds things off. There’s just…a little more going on. The main plot change is Wickham’s (Huston) reformed zombies at St. Lazarus’ Church outside London, curbing their appetite with pig brain instead of human – not unlike the Twilight (2008) vampires.

              Of the ensemble of attempted caricatures, one performance is dead on. Matt Smith as Mister, excuse me, Parson Collins is just ridiculous. Bloody, bloody ridiculous.

             

Now for a couple complaints from an Austen purest: any self-respecting fan knows, no matter how the story changes, that Lady Catherine De Bourgh (Headley) would never reveal to Elizabeth Bennet that she admires her, even though we all know she does. The failing of writer/director Steers is most apparent however in the character of Mr. Bennet (Charles Dance), who being the instigator of so much of the lighthearted humor in the original, falls flat as a stoic head-of-the-house here. It is a much missed opportunity.

              The biggest blessing of this film is that it’s exposing Austen to those who would never have read her otherwise. Their reactions are delightful to Darcy fumbling out literatures most insulting marriage proposal and daggers being brandished at “barely tolerable” dance partners. For it is a truth universally acknowledged that watching Austen virgins become enthralled is bloody lovely.

Visit our Get Involved page or go directly to our GoFundMe to learn about and donate to the amazing people at Game Rangers International and all they are doing to help orphaned elephants

Jane Got a Gun

Jane Got a Gun, 2016

Directed by Gavin O’Connor, 98 minutes

Natalie Portman, Joel Edgerton, Ewan McGregor, Noah Emmerich

Review by Katherine Scheetz

              True to its trailer, which displayed virtually no plot, Jane Got a Gun starts off with a lot of questions.

When Jane’s (Portman) husband Hamm (Emmerich) comes home littered with bullet holes and declaring that the Bishop Boys are coming for them, this inexplicably resilient woman rides off into the unrelenting New Mexico Territory to the house of sullen drunkard Dan (Edgerton) to get help. With so much action right out of the gate we have no reason to give a cow-pie for any of the characters.

It’s a risky, but decisive move for O’Connor, who uses predictably placed flashbacks to unfold Jane’s relations to all the key players in the story. As in classic western fashion, all the bad guys are bad and all the good guys are good, it just takes us a while to figure out who is who, because of the flashback technique. Another benefit to this model is the dimensionality it adds to Jane. Unfortunately, she and her dying husband are the only characters afforded that luxury.

The fictitious town of Lullaby, New Mexico is a classically colorful setting, with the whorehouse, butcher, saloon, gunsmith and coffin maker being the main attractions. There’s a tinkering piano that floats out the swinging doors onto the muddy strip, which compliments an unobtrusive score of trembling camp fire guitar underlain by soulful strings.

Peppered with phrases like “bone orchard” and “perdition” the script is a thesaurus of boomtown slang dropped like chaps in the local brothel. Between that and the heavy-handed attempt at making “story” a theme, very few lines stand out like Edgerton’s wry “Let us hope the Bishop Boys are all very big and fat.”

Storytelling aside, O’Connor has a few moments of visual strength against the cerulean western sky and dusty bonfire light through Jane’s bullet-ridden, one-room homestead.

But all’s well that ends well and with a merciful, Hail Mary ending, the people we eventually come to root for, all ride off into a covered-wagon sunset.

Visit our Get Involved page or go directly to our GoFundMe to learn about and donate to the amazing people at Game Rangers International and all they are doing to help orphaned elephants

The Finest Hours

The Finest Hours, 2016

Directed by Craig Gillespie, 117 minutes

Chris Pine, Casey Affleck, Ben Foster, Eric Bana, Holliday Granger

Review by Katherine Scheetz

              Director Craig Gillespie (Million Dollar Arm) took the kind of story that reminds us there are good people out there and did to The Finest Hours what we all feared would happen when we saw who the producers were: he Disney-ified it. I would have preferred to see the version of this film directed by David Ayer (Training Day).

             

In February of 1952, in the seaside town of Wellfleet, Massachusetts a blizzard turned and waves roiled up to 70 feet. A thirty-six-foot lifeboat manned by four and captained by Coast Guard skipper Bernie Webber (Pine) took off from shore, headed to the wreckage of an oil tanker that had been ripped in half by the storm, in search of survivors.

There are no illusions that this was a suicide mission. Pride caused people to make bad calls and men died. It’s a gritty story and Gillespie through a series of poor decisions that range from caricatured costuming to unimaginative shots, sanded it smooth.

The final straw however is Carter Burwell’s Twilight-esque score. With crashing waves, sleet and snow streaking howling winds and men shouting at each other as the fractured hull of the tanker fills with sea water, this is a loud film. The added sensory of Burwell’s full orchestrations and swells of strings is more headache than harmony. 

Fortunately, the acting performances keep the film bobbing above the water by providing a glimpse at what the actual night might have been like, rather than the Disney night. It’s a very different role for Pine, especially coming from Into the Woods. There’s no charm to him, no glossy, flowing hair flips. When we meet Bernie he is quiet and follows orders. One of the redeeming parts of the film is watching Bernie come into his own, sans his will-not-take-no-for-an-answer woman Miriam (Granger), who seems injected into the story to play the role of figurehead for the for the town’s part in the rescue.

Another strength of the film is actively including the audience in the problem solving, especially on the tanker, which delays its inevitable sinking. Affleck is the initiative here, the morose, unlikable engine room lackey Ray Sybert, whose quick analytics keep the ship in their control long enough to, well, you’ve seen the poster.

              But the skeleton of the story is triumphant and if for no other reason than honoring those involved, it is good that this film was made. Maybe next time they’ll be more honest about it.

             

Visit our Get Involved page or go directly to our GoFundMe to learn about and donate to the amazing people at Game Rangers International and all they are doing to help orphaned elephants