oscar movies – The Popcorn Waltz

The Martian: Thanks for not killing anyone, not even Sean Bean!

Adi’s TL;DR We’ll have to write the shit out of this!

Sahil’s TL;DR Don’t forget duct tape when you go to space.

When you think of sci-fi films, let me be more specific ‘outer space’ sci-fi films, what comes to mind? Aliens, alien worlds, most obviously, space exploration (all Star Trek fans say Yay!), and everything in the middle from philosophy (think Interstellar) to outlandish drama (think Armageddon) to horror (you thought we wouldn’t remember Event Horizon!). Among these our celestial neighbor (not the moon, the other one) has a special place with 29 films to its name, if you go by this Wiki article. Some worthwhile and some better in space than on your hard drive!

The Martian is somewhat of a formula ‘outer space’ sci-fi movie, giving sci-fi buffs a healthy dose of all things they dig, but with a twist. A first for this genre, The Martian practices reckless optimism, way more positive than any other space movies made before. There are no crazed aliens out to get you, or robots cut loose, or scientists with dark ulterior motives and even the planet is not out to kill you, at least for most sols! So you may wonder what’s in the movie when all these rich plots of the past have been dropped? Well don’t go losing all hope so soon! The Martian is the story of an astronaut beating all odds with his unconventional survival tactics, peppered with a healthy dose of wit and humour.

Here’s some basic dope on The Martian. The movie is based on a book by Andrew Weir, that was never supposed to be a book in the first place. The Martian was a hobby project, where regular episodes were posted on a blog. Andrew Weir put together the book on public demand and published it as a PDF on Amazon at an attractive price of 99c. Within a couple of weeks, Andrew Weir had a publisher and a movie deal with Ridley Scott! If that’s not an american fairy tale, what is?! The Martian is another one of Ridley Scott’s sci-fi fantasies, backed by bigger, brighter visuals than ever before. The long spanning shots of Mars’s surface (Wadi Rum in Jordan) are absolutely fabulous and for that the credit goes to the cinematographer, Dariusz Wolski.

The Martian’s won a bunch of awards already this season, including the Best Actor in a comedy or musical for Matt Damon and Best Picture comedy or musical at the Golden Globes. Whether it’s really a comedy or not can be debated – but the film has undeniable humor and some seriously funny one liners, that we’re sure will enter the ‘movie quoters’ lexicon. After all, who can resist the urge to say – ‘In your face, Neil Armstrong’! Drew Goddard can take a bow for this and many such brainwaves through the film. The Martian has 7 Academy nominations including Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay – all of which points at it’s fantastic reception with the Academy. Interestingly it did not change Ridley Scott’s luck with the Academy, who did not win a nomination for Best Director. Clearly, Ridley Scott is to directing what Leonardo Di Caprio is to acting, if you go by the Oscars!

‘Mainly starring’ Matt Damon and one helluva ensemble cast, Jessica Chastain, who should be named Murph forever, Jeff Daniels (Harry for life), Sean Bean (Boromir – appearing to be shady, but ultimately good guy), Chiwetel Ejiofor (stoic Solomon), The Martian should have won all outstanding cast awards this year. But that wasn’t to be, because all the screen time and Ridley Scott’s off screen time was spent on building Matt Damon’s character. This is evident with nearly all good lines going to – you guessed it – Matt Damon! Way to go, Scott & Goddard. And this is perhaps the biggest problem with The Martian. It’s funny, it’s got great lines, Matt Damon really holds your attention, but the supporting cast is literally the wallpaper in the room that no one’s paid any attention to and that kinda sucks, given how awesome it could have been.

The movie begins with a not-so-novel plot, with a space mission gone awry (like Gravity, Apollo 13, Sunshine) and an astronaut left behind in space. Just when you’re thinking, ‘I’ve seen this before’, Matt Damon makes you sit up by performing an intestinal surgery and kicks off things with a round of laughs. And suddenly this seemingly tragic film turns into the tale of a character who is talking to cameras, trying to grow potatoes, romping around a planet all by himself and cracking one liners like ‘I’ll have to science the shit out of this’ and ‘Mars will come to fear my botany powers’! The movie isn’t a laugh riot but it definitely has it’s funny moments sprinkled rather generously.

The science in the movie, although dubious in places, like flying ‘Iron Man’ style in space, or crazy storms on Mars or having gyms in impractically large and luxurious space ships, is pretty tight for the rest of it, making it fairly plausible. Counting and rationing food supply, hacking plant growth, making water, are all reasonably realistic and thought through. But honestly, the science isn’t as important as the attitude in The Martian, which is summed up by what Mark Whatney says towards the end of the movie to a batch of students, ‘You do the math, you solve one problem…Then you solve the next one. And then the next. And if you solve enough problems, you get to come home’.

NASA was consulted every step of the way in the making of the film and it’s featured prominently throughout, with The Martian’s release date closely coinciding with NASA’s announcement of water on Mars (no coincidence according to us). Interestingly, reputation management is a noticeable theme in the movie, where the PR head (played by Kristen Wiig) of NASA is shown in most discussions surrounding the ‘retrieval’ of Mark Whatney. Not what you’d expect in sci-fi films, but suggestive of how everyone needs strong image management in today’s world and a rather amusing injection of realism in the movie.

Abba, David Bowie (RIP), Donna Summers, Thelma Houston – all make an appearance in The Martian. Considering this film is based in 2035, all this music is pretty darn old and no wonder Mark Whatney feels the way he does about it! Watching him dance along to Donna Summer’s ‘Hot Stuff’, right after he figures how to keep himself warm in the truck is one fun scene. The film ends with Gloria Gaynor’s ‘I will survive’, which should have been Matt Damon’s mantra in the film! It totally sums up his survival tale and the song captures the euphoria of the film, leaving you with a sense of elation.

Here’s our ‘one standout moment’ from The Martian. It wasn’t easy to pick one for both of us, so we picked two instead. First for the love of LOTR, the Elrond scene is pretty damn cool, especially making Boromir/Sean Bean explain what it was to the ‘non-nerdy PR girl’, and losing his cool like he did in the actual ‘council of elrond’! Our second pick is perhaps the closest the film gets to sentimentality when Mark Whatney is finally rescued by Murph and the first thing he says to her is ‘It’s good to see you…You have terrible taste in music’. The Martian ain’t a hyperbolic tale of heroic survival but a practical, scientific and witty one.

Our final take on the film

Let us know what were your favorite moments in The Martian, in comments below or tweet us @ThePopcornWaltz.

Until next time, keep the popcorn tub handy.

Adi & Sahil

P.S.Interested in more science in The Martian, watch this amazing Screen Junkies video and subscribe to them for more awesome movie magic!

To be or not to be, Carol.

Carol is perhaps the ‘artsiest’ (we know it’s not a word!) of all Oscar nominations this year. It isn’t the most riveting film you’d come across, but one crafted with incredible finesse, showcasing the gaze of two lovers on each other, and an enchanting performance by Cate Blanchett. It’s a slow film, that takes it’s own sweet time to build, but the intensity is what keeps you hooked.

Here’s some basic dope on Carol. The screenplay, written by Phyllis Nagy over 11 years (heck yes!) is an adaptation from a novel called ‘The Price of Salt’ by Patricia Highsmith. If that doesn’t get you a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, then what does?! Todd Haynes directed Carol beautifully to cinema screens and into the hearts of critics and has had a fabulous award season with many directorial accolades coming his way. Carol was selected to compete for the Palme d’Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, where interestingly Rooney Mara shared the Best Actress award.

Well, the Academy didn’t seem as taken with Carol, and it missed out on both Best Picture and Best Director nominations and that’s a shame. We watched The Martian recently and thought, if that’s a Best Picture nominee, there’s no way Carol didn’t make the cut! But we gotta say, this is true to the history of Academy awards, where there is little celebration for women lead films (think The Iron Lady, Erin Brockovich, Julie & Julia) or movies that explore homosexuality (think Philadelphia, Milk). And Carol is both, so guess that ain’t really a winning combination. These films mostly find recognition through the stellar work done by actors, that convinces a largely conservative, male led Academy to acknowledge their work (think Natalie Portman for Black Swan, Sean Penn for Milk, Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady, Tom Hanks in Philadelphia). In similar fashion, Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara have both been nominated for Best Actor in a leading and supporting role, respectively. Most such films are either ignored or at best get a nomination for the coveted – Best Picture and Director awards.

We’ve seen Carol twice and the standout parts both times have been fairly consistent. The film revolves around the two protagonists – Carol Aird (played by Cate Blanchett) and Therese Belivet (played by Rooney Mara). It’s a tale of these two different women, in age, experience, social class, sexual awareness, sense of self and their twin journeys through the course of the film. We’re shown the world primarily from their vantage points and the cinematography creates this illusion of intimacy throughout the film. Carol’s set in the 1950’s and the sense of a period is reinforced in everything from the artwork to the costumes to the muted colors. This dullness of backdrop is wonderfully contrasted by Cate Blanchett’s bright reds and oranges.

Carol is full of moments, accentuated by its beautiful background score given by Carter Burwell, with a sparseness of dialogue that’s refreshing. When we thought of one standout moment in the film, we both instantly went back to Therese’s first meeting with Carol. Carol is the affluent, meticulously dressed woman, who walks into the toy store with an air of mystery around her. She is instantly the object of desire and we see that in Therese’s gaze. Carol is leaving after the transaction, when she turns and points at Therese’s santa hat and says in stage whisper ‘I like the hat’. In that moment, we were just as smitten as Therese and said out loud ‘Cate Blanchett is frickin’ awesome!’.

Where’s the climax in Carol – is a question we’ve thought a whole lot about and it’s hard to say which moment in the last 15 minutes of the film holds it. Is it the scene at the lawyer’s, which is really the only scene where Carol pours her heart out in as many words or is it when she tells Therese she loves her or is it in Therese’s slow dazed walk towards Carol, who truly looks like a dream? We could not agree on one and maybe that’s how hard it will be for you too 🙂

To us, Carol’s a love story. It’s not talking of activism or rebellion for rebellion’s sake or celebrating the desire to be different – it’s really just showing us how two people met and the turn their lives take. In the choices they make, both forced and otherwise, is a commentary on their lives and times and perhaps by extension our lives and times today. It’s like reading a book, that makes you think and ponder and start a conversation, but not something that enrages you and we really appreciated that. We wonder how different Carol would be, if it was set in the present. It’s really the story of two women choosing happiness, which makes Carol, almost unexpectedly, a triumph of love, of the freedom to be true to your grain.

Adi & Sahil

P.S. We had a lot to say about Carol and so we did! If you’d like to read our individual takes, check out our ‘extended cut’. We’d love to hear your thoughts on the movie and what you loved and what you didn’t. Send us your comments or tweet us at @ThePopcornWaltz. Until next time, keep the popcorn tub handy!

The Oscars Challenge!

As we’ve already established, we love watching films. Which also means that we have a love/hate relationship with the big ‘awards season’. Whether it’s the BAFTA or the Golden Globes, the SAG or the Oscars – each one has been known to have it’s moments when they seem to have completely lost the plot! But that doesn’t stop us from following them year after year. ‘Tis the season to root for our favorites and then feel intense although short lived, spurts of happiness or disappointment depending on the outcome. Whether the awards are fair game or just celebrate the inner circle is a historical debate, we’re definitely not getting into here – but they are surely a source of entertainment, excitement and exuberance.

The other thing these awards always end up doing is giving us an end of year movie watching list, the lesser heard, lesser advertised, outside of Marvel’s superheroes, fast and furious gang films (think Carol, Whiplash, The Pianist). And for the last many many years we’ve tried (unsuccessfully) to watch all films that emerge as contenders before the awards, just so we can say ‘I told you so’ when some of them win and some of them don’t 😉 So this year when we decided to start The Popcorn Waltz – it was only right to begin by undoing the wrong of years past. And we’re gonna do that by playing what we’re calling ‘The Oscars Challenge’, a name born at the lowest pits of our creative thinking :/

This is how it works. We’ve shortlisted 12 of the 20 odd Oscar nominated movies this year, primarily based on whether their trailers looked intriguing, but also how many categories they were nominated in and other logistical details. We have 5 weeks till Feb 28th to watch all 12 of these films, write about them and come up with our predictions. And what’s even better is you can play along! Watch any/all of these films and tell us what you think and when we open the poll for our predictions – please, please vote. It’s a super tight schedule, so let’s get started.

Here’s our list of films, if we’re missing something that’s a must watch let us know and we’ll try our best to incorporate: