maleficent

[5] Maleficent – Best Costume Design

ANNA B. SHEPPARD
“Maleficent”

Following in the footsteps of “Snow White and the Huntsman” (2011), the Disney film “Maleficent” sets out to turn the animated story of “Sleeping Beauty” into a live action, fantasy adventure film. With that comes not only some wild costumes for title character, Maleficent, but bringing to real life some costumes that were pivotal in the 1959 animated version, including Maleficent’s black gown worn to baby Aurora’s announcement ceremony in which she places a curse on her. Down to every town’s folk and every practical fairy, the costumes are set to the period and highlighted more so on the main characters, including a few standout dresses for Aurora, a progression of outfits for Maleficent as she transitions into a villain, and even the king’s attire for different occasions. Instead of Colleen Atwood, who designed the costumes for “Snow White and the Huntsman,” they went with Anna B. Sheppard, who was previously nominated for her work in “The Pianist” (2002) and “Schindler’s List” (1993). Both of those films would go on to win major awards like Best Director and for “Schindler’s List,” also Best Picture, but Anna was awarded for her work.

What’s its competition? Not only does Anna B. Sheppard have competition in the realm of fantasy films, this year, with “Into The Woods” grabbing a little more support than “Maleficent” with 3 overall nominations. She also has competition as a whole. “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” which has 9 total nominations including Best Picture may put “Maleficent” at a disadvantage from the get-go. Even “Mr. Turner” has more support, with 5 nominations, meaning the Academy is a) going to be focusing on these films more than ones with less nominations and b) making it more likely that these films have bigger support overall, which could result in a win in these smaller categories, especially since they might not be honored in the other categories they are nominated. Since the designs are extravagant, there should not be any counting out of “Maleficent” and for sure it can beat out “Inherent Vice,” but unless it can overcome the popularity of the other nominees, I see little hope for it to win.

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// Produced by Joe Roth // Directed by Robert Stromberg //
// Dated Viewed: Tuesday, January 20th, 2015 // BLU-RAY //  40 films – 34 days //

Shortlisted: 7 Films In Contention for Best Makeup & Hairstyling Oscar

In the smallest category of the Academy Awards, with eventually only three nominees, the Best Makeup & Hairstyling Oscar is still completely up for grabs despite now only having seven films in contention. “The Amazing Spider-man 2” saw Jamie Foxx get the full blue Electro make-over. “Foxcatcher” saw Steve Carrell get the creepy John Du Pont make-over with a prosthetic nose. Several characters including Tilda Swinton were aged for their roles in “The Grand Budapest Hotel”. Zoe Saldana and Batista became entirely new species in “Guardians Of The Galaxy,” one completely green and the other blue and red. Angelina Jolie was given menacing cheekbones in “Maleficent”. The characters in “Noah” were dirtied up. And “The Theory Of Everything” cast was aged as the story progressed.

All of these feats are impressive, but with only three slots open, four of these films are not going to make it to the next round. I expect the category to be “Guardians Of The Galaxy”, “Foxcatcher”, and “The Grand Budapest Hotel”, offering one up to the superhero/fantasy films and two up to the Academy favorites which will be garnering awards in several different categories throughout the night. If anything were to be swapped, I believe the closest fourth place film is “Maleficent,” probably replacing “The Grand Budapest Hotel.

Here’s the complete shortlist:

  • “The Amazing Spider-Man 2″
  • “Foxcatcher”
  • “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
  • “Guardians of the Galaxy”
  • “Maleficent”
  • “Noah”
  • “The Theory of Everything”

Shortlisted: 10 Best Visual Effects Features In Contention For Oscar

Looking at this list of films in contention for the Best Visual Effects nominations shows you exactly how good of a year it was in film, especially where visual effects were concerned. Consisting of three superhero films, four sequels, a reboot, a re-imagining, and one original science fiction fare, this is also a perfect dissection of where the Hollywood blockbuster is at. I question where “Snowpiercer” is on this list, but with such huge competition anyway, it does not really matter.

“Interstellar” is the obvious frontrunner of the group, with most saying it is Christopher Nolan’s award to lose this year. With its revolutionary motion capture performances, I highly expect to see “Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes” in the race too, with Andy Serkis’ performance being mulled over about possible recognition as well. History tells us that “Transformers: Age Of Extinction” and “The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies” are likely candidates to grab nominations, as two of three previous “Transformers” movies and both of the previous “The Hobbit” films have garnered those accolades. That leaves the final spot going to, in my opinion, either “Guardians Of The Galaxy,” which was highly popular this year and does exhibit some of the best visual effects of the year or “Godzilla,” which recreates the iconic behemoth monster. I would lean towards “Guardians,” however” as the rendering of Godzilla was actually panned by many critics.

Here is the fill list of films left in contention:

  • “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”
  • “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes”
  • “Godzilla”
  • “Guardians of the Galaxy”
  • “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies”
  • “Interstellar”
  • “Maleficent”
  • “Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb”
  • “Transformers: Age of Extinction”
  • “X-Men: Days of Future Past”