Nerd Culture Podcast

Episode #81 features:

Popcorn Junkies Special – In Memory of Harold Ramis & Phillip Seymour Hoffman: Groundhog Day / Ghostbusters / Almost Famous / Capote

Special: Our Picks & Predictions for the 2014 Academy Awards

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Groundhog Day blu-ray
Ghostbusters blu-ray
Almost Famous blu-ray
Capote blu-ray

The nominations for the 2014 Academy Awards have been announced and to be honest, there were few surprises, except perhaps the exclusion of Saving Mr Banks. And, although there was no doubt that 12 Years A Slave would be included, I believe the number of nominations are excessive. I know that this is a controversial opinion, but I believe that film is highly over-rated.

And, on a side note, how the hell can Star Trek: Into Darkness be nominated for visual effects?! The use of fake Lens Flare should automatically exclude your film from any nominations! 🙂

2013 featured some great films, and some exceptionally strong performances, so I don’t envy the Academy members’ task to choose the best of the best from the list below.

Continuing the tradition from last year, I’ve included my Picks (who I want to win) & Predictions (who I think will win) for the winners of Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress & Director in the list below.

Best Picture
American Hustle
Captain Phillips
Dallas Buyers Club
Gravity
Her
Nebraska
Philomena
12 Years a Slave
The Wolf of Wall Street

My Pick: Her
My Prediction: 12 Years a Slave

Best Actor
Christian Bale, American Hustle
Bruce Dern, Nebraska
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street
Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club

My Pick: Leonardo DiCaprio
My Prediction: Leonardo DiCaprio

Best Actress
Amy Adams, American Hustle
Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
Sandra Bullock, Gravity
Judi Dench, Philomena
Meryl Streep, August: Osage County

My Pick: Cate Blanchett
My Prediction: Cate Blanchett

Best Supporting Actor
Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips
Bradley Cooper, American Hustle
Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave
Jonah Hill, The Wolf of Wall Street
Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club

My Pick: Barkhad Abdi
My Prediction: Jonah Hill

Best Supporting Actress
Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine
Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle
Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave
Julia Roberts, August: Osage County
June Squibb, Nebraska

My Pick: Lupita Nyong’o
My Prediction: Jennifer Lawrence

Best Director
David O. Russell, American Hustle
Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity
Alexander Payne, Nebraska
Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
Martin Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street

My Pick: Martin Scorsese
My Prediction: Steve McQueen

Click More for the rest of the nominations (more…)

Episode #45 features:

Round Table:  The 85th Academy Awards

Round Table:  Our favourite Soundtracks / Themes

And an awesome Competition thanks to our friends at All Star Comics!

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For this edition of Spotlight On… I’ll be covering the Best Film nominees for this years Academy Awards. That’s right, I’m watching them so that you don’t have to! We’ll be covering winners in our Academy Awards special on episode #45 so join us then!

Note: As of this time I haven’t seen Amour or Beasts of the Southern Wild yet.

Argo

Released: 2012

Directed by: Ben Affleck

Written by: Chris Terrio (screenplay), Joshuah Bearman (article)

Starring: Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston & John Goodman

Plot: A dramatization of the 1979-1980 joint CIA-Canadian secret operation to extract six fugitive American diplomatic personnel out of revolutionary Iran.

For: Very well directed. Affleck is a far better director than he is an actor / The Argo read through is awesome, I would love to see this actually get made (but of course it won’t) / Mark steps up to the plate at the airport / Alan Arkin is awesome (as always)

Against: Not as gripping as I expected. It is entertaining but could have been so much more. For example, instead of chasing the plane down at the airport (which apparently never happened) why not just radio the plane from the tower and demand that they not take off?

Favourite Scene: The Argo read through, and every scene with Arkin.

Rating: 4 Lukes

Django Unchained

Released: 2012

Directed by: Quentin Tarantino

Written by: Quentin Tarantino

Starring: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Samuel L. Jackson

Plot: With the help of a German bounty hunter, a freed slave sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner.

For: Some very funny scenes / Has the usual Tarantino flair / Waltz and DiCaprio are magnificent

Against: Ridiculously over the top – typical over-blown Tarantino production / It is at least 45 mins too long / The soundtrack is unbearable / What is up with the horse dance at the end?! / Nowhere near as funny or clever as it thinks it is / Unfortunately Tarantino has reached a point that no one has the spine to tell him when he is over doing it, which this film desperately needed. It is unlikely that he will ever return to the brilliance of his earlier films.

Favourite Scene: Collecting the Bill Sharp bounty / Candie goes ballistic at dinner / Meeting Big Daddy

Rating:  2.5 Lukes

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The nominees for this years Academy Awards are out and there are some interesting additions, and drama causing omissions.

I’m going to list the nominees for the major categories, and include both my prediction for who will win, as well as who I want to win.

This is a long post so click More for the nominees and my picks

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