Several Oscar Nominated Films Reviewed by Now Playing Podcast
The Academy Award nominees have been announced, and Now Playing Podcast has reviewed (or will soon be reviewing) several nominees!
Boyhood, directed by Richard Linklater, is one of the leading films of the year. The film earned six nominations; only three films beat that number this year. The film, which Linklater filmed over a span of 12 years, is up for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Ethan Hawke), Best Supporting Actress (Patricia Arquette), Best Editing, Best Director, and Best Screenplay!
Our review of is film will be posted at NowPlayingPodcast.com on Feb 10, but we start leading up to that next week! Starting January 20th we begin reviewing Linklater’s Before trilogy of films: Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, and Before Midnight — all directed by Linklater and starring Ethan Hawke.
Big Hero 6 is up for Best Animated Film. Do the Now Playing Hosts agree? That review is out now at NowPlayingPodcast.com (additionally Feast is up for Best Animated Short and we discussed that in our Big Hero 6 review as well!)
Interstellar was blocked from the big categories but did get Best Production Design, Best Visual Effects, Best Score and, most unexpectedly, Best Sound Editing and Sound Mixing (did they hear that film right???? Were the screener DVDs mixed differently??) . That review is up now in the Now Playing archives, along with every other film Christopher Nolan has reviewed!
Guardians of the Galaxy may have won top spot in the 2014 box office, but the Academy only nominated Marvel’s blockbuster film in two technical categories: Best Makeup and Hairstyling and Best Visual Effects. (I rewatched the film over the holidays and that the film did not get Best Costume Design is a travesty–those outfits were intricate and varied). You can hear our review of this film now!
Also nominated for Best Visual Effects were Captain America: The Winter Soldier and X-Men: Days of Future Past, both of which we reviewed as part of our ongoing Marvel Movie Retrospective.
Now Playing Podcast donors who took part in our Spring Donation Drive also heard our review of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, but that review is no longer available as the donation drive has completed.
The full list of nominees for The 87th Annual Academy Awards are:
Best Picture
- American Sniper
- Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
- Boyhood
- The Grand Budapest Hotel
- The Imitation Game
- Selma
- The Theory of Everything
- Whiplash
Actor in a Leading Role
- Steve Carell for Foxcatcher
- Bradley Cooper for American Sniper (Hear us discuss Cooper in our reviews of Guardians of the Galaxy and The Midnight Meat Train)
- Benedict Cumberbatch for The Imitation Game (Hear us discuss Cumberbatch in our review of Star Trek Into Darkness)
- Michael Keaton for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (Hear us talk about Keaton playing a different winged hero in our reviews of Batman and Batman Returns, and he also featured in the remake of Robocop)
- Eddie Redmayne for The Theory of Everything
Actress in a Leading Role
- Marion Cotillard for Two Days, One Night (Hear us review her turn as the evil Talia al Ghul in The Dark Knight Rises and also her role in Christopher Nolan’s Inception)
- Felicity Jones for The Theory of Everything (We discussed her blink-and-you-miss-it turn in The Amazing Spider-Man 2)
- Julianne Moore for Still Alice (We recently reviewed Moore for her role in the remake of Carrie, as well as her work in Next and Hannibal)
- Rosamund Pike for Gone Girl (Hear us discuss this former Bond Girl’s work in Die Another Day)
- Reese Witherspoon for Wild
Actor in a Supporting Role
- Robert Duvall for The Judge
- Ethan Hawke for Boyhood (Hear us discuss Hawke in the upcoming Now Playing Before Sunrise Retrospective Series, starting Jan. 20!)
- Edward Norton for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (We reviewed Norton’s work in Fight Club, plus his one-and-done turn as The Incredible Hulk)
- Mark Ruffalo for Foxcatcher (We first discussed this star of 13 Going on 30 in our review of Shutter Island, as well as his work replacing Norton as The Hulk in The Avengers and Iron Man 3)
- J.K. Simmons for Whiplash (We reviewed the Farmer’s Insurance salesman for his role of J. Jonah Jameson in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man films)
Actress in a Supporting Role
- Patricia Arquette for Boyhood (We reviewed her first big-screen role in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors)
- Laura Dern for Wild
- Keira Knightly for The Imitation Game
- Emma Stone for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (We reviewed her performances in both of the Amazing Spider-Man films)
- Meryl Streep for Into the Woods
Animated Feature Film
- Big Hero 6
- The Boxtrolls
- How to Train Your Dragon 2
- Song of the Sea
- The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
Cinematography
- Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
- The Grand Budapest Hotel
- Ida
- Mr. Turner
- Unbroken
Costume Design
- The Grand Budapest Hotel
- Inherent Vice
- Into the Woods
- Maleficent
- Mr. Turner
Directing
- Alejandro G Iñárritu for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
- Richard Linklater for Boyhood
- Bennett Miller for Foxcatcher
- Wes Anderson for The Grand Budapest Hotel
- Morten Tyldum for The Imitation Game
Documentary Feature
- CitizenFour
- Finding Vivian Maier
- Last Days in Vietnam
- The Salt of the Earth
- Virunga
Documentary Short Subject
- Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1
- Joanna
- Our Curse
- The Reaper (La Parka)
- White Earth
Film Editing
- American Sniper
- Boyhood
- The Grand Budapest Hotel
- The Imitation Game
- Whiplash
Foreign Language Film
- Ida
- Leviathan
- Tangerines
- Timbuktu
- Wild Tales
Makeup and Hairstyling
- Foxcatcher
- The Grand Budapest Hotel
- Guardians of the Galaxy
Music – Original Score
- The Grand Budapest Hotel
- The Imitation Game
- Interstellar
- Mr. Turner
- The Theory of Everything
Music – Original Song
- “Everything is Awesome” from The Lego Movie
- “Glory” from Selma
- “Grateful” from Beyond the Lights
- “I’m Not Gonna Miss You” from Glen Campbell…I’ll Be Me
- “Lost Stars” from Begin Again
Production Design
- The Grand Budapest Hotel
- The Imitation Game
- Interstellar
- Into the Woods
- Mr. Turner
Short Film – Animated
- The Bigger Picture
- The Dam Keeper
- Feast
- Me and My Moulton
- A Single Life
Short Film – Live Action
- Aya
- Boogaloo and Graham
- Butter Lamp (La Lampe au Beurre de Yak)
- Parveneh
- The Phone Call
Sound Editing
- American Sniper
- Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
- The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
- Interstellar
- Unbroken
Sound Mixing
- American Sniper
- Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
- Interstellar
- Unbroken
- Whiplash
Visual Effects
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier
- Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- Interstellar
- X-Men: Days of Future Past
Writing – Adapted Screenplay
- American Sniper by Jason Hall
- The Imitation Game by Graham Moore
- Inherent Vice by Paul Thomas Anderson
- The Theory of Everything by Anthony McCarten
- Whiplash by Damien Chazelle
Writing – Original Screenplay
- Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) by Alejandro G Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. and Armando Bo
- Boyhood by Richard Linklater
- Foxcatcher by E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman
- The Grand Budapest Hotel by Wes Anderson, Story by Wes Anderson and Hugo Guinness
- Nightcrawler by Dan Gilroy
Now Playing goes live for ‘Kingsman’ review
For the first time in its 8-year history, Now Playing Podcast will review a film live and give listeners the chance to interact with its hosts, Venganza Media officially announced on Saturday.
The live breakdown of director Matthew Vaughn’s spy thriller Kingsman: The Secret Service is set for 9:30 p.m. EST on Feb. 17. It will be followed by a Q&A with hosts Arnie Carvalho, Jakob Brewster, and Stuart Atkinson, which listeners will be able to access via a live stream on the Now Playing Podcast website. The hosts have also promised some surprising announcements on the show about a new project for Now Playing Podcast.
Now Playing recording sessions have been known to last several hours (the raw cut of 2012’s Alien 3 review clocked in at 3 hours and 30 minutes), so an edited version of the review will also be made available for listeners who can’t stay up too late. There is no plan to release the Q&A or the unedited recording as a podcast; those are for the listeners who are able to attend the live broadcast.
Kingsman was adapted from 2012’s “The Secret Service” comic book series. Originally set for a U.S. release in November, its debut was pushed to Feb. 13, forcing Now Playing to shuffle its schedule, but opening a window to review the film with listeners in live attendance.
Carvalho, who has hosted live shows for Venganza’s Star Wars Action News and Marvelicious Toys podcasts, said the process requires four computers running simultaneously in the recording studio.
“I feel like Scotty on the Enterprise during these shows,” he said. “My office is strung up like a Christmas tree with the amount of cables running through here.”
With the addition of a live show, Now Playing continues to tinker with the format of its weekly podcast. Recent examples include November’s bonus review of the documentary Plastic Galaxy (a mash-up with Star Wars Action News) and the brilliantly edited but trippy “reverse review” of Christopher Nolan’s Memento.
After lows of ‘Corn’ series, ‘Now Playing’ looks forward to Nolan films
Artwork for Now Playing Podcast Christopher Nolan Retrospective Series
Now Playing Podcast host Arnie Carvalho once read an email from a listener urging him to review only bad movies because it leads to funnier conversations.
“He said we should just be a comedy show,” the film critic said from his Manhattan hotel room on Saturday, while on a break from covering New York Comic Con.
Did that listener have a point?
“None of us wants that,” Carvalho answered. “We enjoy covering all types of movies, but if we only watched low-rent trash I think our souls would die.”
It’s a marvel he and his Now Playing co-hosts — Stuart Atkinson and Jakob Brewster – even have any life left in them after enduring nine films based on Stephen King’s Children of the Corn.
This week’s review of Children of the Corn: Genesis not only marks the climax of the Corn saga, but also an exhausting exploration of King’s Night Shift collection; more than two dozen reviews of mostly forgettable film adaptations like The Mangler, Graveyard Shift and Trucks.
Few films in the Night Shift series have been worthy of a recommend, but that hasn’t kept hardcore Now Playing listeners from making the show one of the highest rated on iTunes throughout 2014, with seven of the nine Corn reviews appearing in the Top 10 rankings for TV/Film podcasts.
“I really expected listenership to drop off as we got deep in those fields,” Carvalho said. “But our listeners are awesome.”
“I only half-jokingly say more people downloaded our review of Children of the Corn 7 than actually saw Children of the Corn 7.”
With Night Shift in the rear view, Now Playing Podcast launches its next retrospective on Tuesday: A five-episode study of director Christopher Nolan’s filmography, leading up to next month’s Interstellar.
After considering other horror properties to follow Corn — including Hellraiser and The Amityville Horror — Carvalho shifted gears and lobbied hard for a director-focused retrospective, targeting Nolan after Now Playing previously covered his Dark Knight Trilogy and Inception.
“The hosts needed some meatier films to chew on, and I also think listeners want to hear about movies they’ve actually seen,” he joked. “With the good movies we usually can have deeper conversations about filmmaking, themes, and intent.”
“The problem with the Corn series was that by the 9th film there was nothing left to say, it’s like the old joke about the definition of insanity.”
Corn Connection: No stars, but good ‘Now Playing’ links in ‘Corn’ remake
Scanning IMDB resumes for this week’s Corn Connection entry really made me feel old. 
It wasn’t so bad during the first seven films, because I knew most of the “children” in the Corn series had aged by now, and some of them are older than I am. But I got a stark reminder of my age while looking through the credits of the 2009 Children of the Corn remake for this week’s episode of Now Playing Podcast.
But this series is not called “Gettin too old for this #&$%.” So let’s take a look at where you can find the 2009 Corn players in the Now Playing archives.
It wasn’t easy.
Kandyse McClure (Vicky Stanton) – Carrie Retrospective
The biggest “star” with any link to Now Playing Podcast is McClure, who takes over for Linda Hamilton in Corn. If anyone watching the film has that funny feeling she’s been in another poorly-received Stephen King remake, it’s because she also starred as Sue Snell in the 2002 TV movie remake of Carrie.
That film was reviewed in the second entry in Now Playing’s massive Stephen King Retrospective Series. It was only last fall, but since then the show has covered so much King, there should be something to make any fan happy in the archives.
Daniel Newman (Malachai) – Batman Retrospective
The actors in this Corn film are not stars, and they’re not mentioned by name on Now Playing Podcast. But at least the shows are still entertaining.
Newman, who plays Malachai in 2009’s Children of the Corn, played “Thug No. 2 in Basement” in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises. That’s a really good listen in the Now Playing archives, and will help you get ready for the upcoming Christopher Nolan Retrospective Series, which is coming as soon as Arnie, Stuart and Jakob find a way out of the cornfield.
Robert Gerdisch (Preacher Boy) – Superman Retrospective
Gerdisch played Whitney Fordham in 2013’s Man of Steel. I assume that character is similar to the character Whitney Fordman from Smallville, but you never know with Zack Snyder.
Leo Howard (Additional Voices) – G.I. Joe Retrospective
Yes, even doing “additional voices” can count as a connection. And this kid Howard has been on camera, he appeared as “Young Snake-Eyes” in 2009’s G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.
So, for an unimpressive sequel with an unimpressive cast, those are some pretty impressive Now Playing links.
Did we miss anyone? If you spot an actor or actress with a connection to Now Playing Podcast leave a comment and help a fellow listener!
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