Be Careful What You Wish For: Lubezki's First Oscar?

"Oscar giveth. Oscar taketh away."

I've said it often and each year the phrase reasserts its truthfulness. One might also substitute this with "Be careful what you wish for." Oscar maniacs know this warning well. They beg for a first Oscar for Winslet or a third for Streep, for example, and then those things come true and no one is really satisifed with the way it came to pass. And that's just two recent examples. I don't much believe in "locks" in Oscar races in the way most pundits and Oscar fans do -- especially pre-Christmas locks. Upsets do happen, fates don't align, narratives don't take hold and so on. But if there's one or two Oscars this year that I feel are most probable at this juncture, yea even unto lock-dom, it's not Best Actress Cate Blanchett (though she's in third place for "most likely"), but the visual effects and cinematography of Gravity. 

Famed DP Emmanuel Lubezki is a true genius not just a "genius" in the overindulgent fandom sense. His work is exquisitely lit and beautifully composed but never in quite the same way, each time his light beautifully enveloping and serving the film at hand.  If you think of it like vocal range he's a Mariah Carey/Cyndi Lauper 4 octave diva while most other DPs, even the really fine ones, are closer to the standard 2 octave pop stars. I've wanted him to win the Oscar so many times and I still consider it insane that he lost for both Children of Men (2006) and The Tree of Life (2011).

Oscar Trivia, Computer Trouble, and more after the jump

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Monty & The Seasons First Oscar Screeners

Monty, my beloved gray furball, is the web's original cat Oscar pundit. So once again we beg his feline proclamations. They are usually mysterious and non-committal but there are also the unambiguous dismissals,  100% prescient predictions and dumb blunders... just like any pundit might make.

The first screeners of the season arrived last night: indie hit Mud and Sarah Polley's documentary hopeful Stories We Tell. I presented them to him. Which would Monty favor?

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Countdown to Carrie: "When There's No One"

I'm not suggesting that I want to see Chloe Grace Moretz in a musical (God, no) but wouldn't it be great if the impending Carrie remake (October 18th) were an adaptation of the infamous flop stage musical instead or just a retread on hallowed cinema ground? At least then it would have a reason for existing.

Here's the beautiful Alice Ripley, famous to Broadway fans as one half of Side Show's siamese twin stars and the lead in the mental illness musical Next To Normal (which also needs to be a movie, right?) and singing Carrie's 11th hour amazement "When There's No One" on Seattle TV. The stage musical, which we've written about before when it played here in NYC recently, is playing there this month so Seattle readers take note and let us know if you go to the show!) This number is the signature showstopper from cracked mamma Margaret White, a role originated by Betty Buckley on stage (who neatly also co-starred in the Brian dePalma classic... albeit not in the same role.)

It's hard to picture Julianne Moore belting that out but I hope the movie star at least does it for friends at karaoke for a laugh.

Curio: Capturing Gravity

Alexa here. Like many, I saw Gravity this weekend in all its IMAX 3D glory. I was astounded by the experience, since it is as close as I'll ever come to a spacewalk.  Yet, like Nathaniel, I was underwhelmed by what remained. As I watched Sandy's floating tears I thought, Finding Nemo was subtler in conveying this, "just keep swimming" and all that. But, wow, space, man! 

by Peter Stults

With that in mind, here's a selection of alternative posters for the film...

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Jessica Chastain ♥ Viola! Does Jessica Chastain ♥ Gravity?

Hayden, a faithful reader, commenter, and fellow actressexual, alerted me to Jessica Chastain's latest love-fest on Facebook. That girl does emote with girlie gusto and I love her for it (as previously noted).  I follow her so I'm not sure how I missed this one but if I were Sasha Stone at Awards Daily I'd be feeling pretty spectacular that such a great actress described me as "amazing". No world class actress ever said that about me [commence sobbing]...

I was busy picturing Jessica Chastain in an astronaut suit when I read this status update. Picturing Jessica Chastain in movies she's not in is an AMAZING time waste. Try it some time. After I was done with that I realized that Jessica said nothing about Gravity in this post, despite the link to Sasha's article. Maybe she hasn't seen it because if she had wouldn't she have said so?

Meanwhile Hayden was busy obsessing over the last sentence. He writes:

It really bothers me when people IN the industry talk about Viola Davis' career like some charity case. *cough* meryl *cough* But especially since Viola Davis is such a non sequitur to what Chastain was even talking about.

It's like she shouted "Mandy Patinkin, holla" at the end of her post.

LOL. 'Mandy Patinkin, holla' -- voiced by Claire Danes for her first Homeland win -- is surely one of the greatest things ever uttered in an acceptance speech and I think of it EVERY time that I see Mandy Patinkin being awesome. Which is often, in fact, since he is. I've loved him since the skinny-dipping in Yentl and that didn't even turn out to be the highlight of his cross-platform career.

Are you watching the new season of Homeland? This tweet made me laugh so hard last night...

They just gave Claire Danes Thorazine on #Homeland just to stop her from acting.

— Mick LaSalle (@MickLaSalle) October 7, 2013

Regarding Viola Davis...

Listen... I say what Jessica Chastain said all the time and it's true that it's a charity case. BUT NOT FOR VIOLA.

This charity is for audiences because she's a freaking GREAT actress and we need much more of her than Hollywood seems willing to give. Put her back in a spacesuit actually and we'll talk again. She was so good in Solaris in a typically small role. Remember that? Honestly I'd watch her in anything. Even when the movie is terrible (*cough* Beautiful Creatures) and her role is thankless, I'm happy to be watching her. 

P.S. If you missed my post on Jessica & Viola's latest collaboration, Eleanor Rigby, check it out.

P.P.S. Wow is this post a ramble. Viola. Mandy. Homeland. Facebook. Sasha Shout Outs. So much to discuss. Go!