Roger Deakins - Unbroken
Robert Elswit - Inherent Vice
Hoyte van Hoytema - Interstellar
Bruno Delbonnel - Big Eyes
Robert Yeoman - The Grand Budapest Hotel (seriously, enough snubbing this guy already)
alternates:
Creig Fraser - Foxcatcher
Jeff Cronenweth - Gone Girl
Guillaume Schiffman - The Search
Emmanuel Lubezki - Knight of Cups (or the other Malick)
Basically this, with The Story of Princess Kaguya or some other foreign film possibly taking the place of Book of Life.
Disney and Laika are both on a roll (I really hope Laika gets to win soon, they deserve it), Dragon 2 doesn't even need to be as good as the first one to be worthy of a nom, and TLM looks perfectly safe at this point.
I'd say Taxi Driver is at least as dark, but yeah, I know what you mean. One of the things that made me love it was how balanced it was, the movie isn't shy of being very grim and serious, but it also moves with energy, is hugely entertaining in spots (the I. B. Bangin' scene killed me), Cage and Arquette's relationship is instantly heartwarming and the uplifting ending feels earned. The overall tone is just about perfect.
I was shocked when I found out the budget here was $55 million. I get that Cage was bankable back then, but how could anyone read the script and believe this movie would be big enough to bring back that budget?
It was always going to be divisive, and it doesn't surprise me that it got basically lost among all the more hyped/controversial adult films of late 1999. People will rediscover it, though, like they are already doing with The King of Comedy and After Hours.
One of the best films I've seen recently, and a good candidate for Scorsese's most underrated movie. An electrifying, powerful trip with a handful of great, distinctive performances from Cage, Arquette, Rhames, Sizemore, Goodman and Cliff Curtis. Would probably make a hell of a triple feature with Taxi Driver and After Hours.
Why does it matter how much TGBH will do in the long run? Whether it finishes with $30m or $60m or anything in between, it's having an unprecedented opening.
That's pretty much the platform release equivalent of TA's OW record. From The Master's $147k to over $200k (even if not, over $180k seems guaranteed) just like that. Unless Inherent Vice goes limited I don't see this beaten for another couple of years.
Recently he got out of it twice in a row with Ben Button and TSN. Then there's House of Cards. Besides, each one of his thrillers is pretty distinctive, and at least two (Seven and Zodiac) are fantastic films that also couldn't be more different from one another.
Scorsese's Bringing Out the Dead might be my favorite Cage movie. (But, I have yet to see Vampire's Kiss, Wild at Heart, or Adaptation). The man is great in it too, although his performance is more quiet and sympathetic and less "Cage Rage".
It's about time Mulligan got nominated again.
I kinda wonder about Kidman in Queen of the Desert. Since it's Herzog it likely won't be a very conventional biopic, but it could also be good enough to draw attention. And Kidman was great in (and got nominated for) Rabbit Hole just three years ago, so we know she can still bring it.