“…and one day the sun will come out and you’ll realize that this is where your life is.”
Saoirse Ronan(Atonement, The Lovely Bones) stars in this charming tale as Eilis, a 20-something Irish immigrant who came to Brooklyn for a better life – helmed by acclaimed theatre director John Crowley with a screenplay by Nick Hornby (An Education, Wild) the story is set against the backdrop of 50s New York, based on Colm Toibin’s book of the same name .
The film tells a simple yet poignant story about love. Eilis, an Irish immigrant who is stricken with feelings of loneliness and alienation having been away from home and all that she holds dear; finds herself falling for the city once strange to her and falling for a guy who taught her that “home” isn’t really a place but a feeling.
Ronan gave the performance of her career and years from now, this is one of the roles that history will use when they trace the steps by which Ronan became a great actor – she is alive and heartbreaking, she has the ability to make the audience care for her and make them feel what she feels. That’s why when Tony (Emory Cohen) comes along, I was just glad and was smitten alongside her. Speaking of Tony, the casting of this film is something that’s very commendable too not only for the main roles but also the supporting cast around them (Dohmnall Gleeson, Jim Broadbent, Julie Walters) even the girls at her boarding house were sublime as they exchange witty banters during their dinner scenes.
Aside from the cast, the direction and dialogue were impeccable; Crowley and Hornby conveyed a poignant narrative with subtle yet impactful transitions and exchange of thought, both of which served the film really well in telling a universal feeling of love and longing thus making this gem of a film an instant classic. Brooklyn is one of the year’s finest and I will even go so far as to say that this, for me is the best of 2015. What can I say? It’s a film for the ages!
I can’t wait to see it again! So please, do yourself a favor and watch it – Brooklyn opens on select theatres starting today.
*Disclaimer: I haven’t seen The Revenant & Spotlight yet so there’s a SLIM chance that Brooklyn will move to 2nd or 3rd best film of 2015 for me. I’ll be sure to update it if ever! 🙂
Since her memorable turn as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo back in 2011, Rooney Mara (Side Effects, Her) has become one of Hollywood’s new generation’s most recognizable face with her classic good looks, her gamine figure and crazy talent to boot; yet despite her astronomical rise to fame, she managed to remain a mystery and keeps us guessing on what she’ll do next.
Her best red carpet looks in (L-R) Givenchy & Michael Kors
On the red carpet however, Rooney wears almost exclusively black and white with occasional splashes of blush tones favoring fashion houses like Givenchy, Chanel and Alexander McQueen. Although she doesn’t experiment much on her color of choice, she still keeps it interesting by playing with the silhouette of her dress – she’s been seen rocking frilly frocks, cut-out couture, structured straight-from-the-runway looks etc.
My 3 favorite LBDs among her many! (L-R Givenchy, Balenciaga, Michael Kors)
Her uniform: LBDs!
Black is the new black
Her best LBDs this season (L-R Lanvin, Alexander McQueen & Chanel)
True to her “fashion girl” status, she pulled all the stops during her press tour for her new film Carol (more on this soon) opposite Cate Blanchett (another fashion girl) so imagine the parade of glorious dresses they wore – from Cannes, London to New York, Los Angeles and all the stops in between. And with the buzz that the film generated, it can be said that there’s still so much to come this awards season!
McQueen! McQueen! McQueen!
Black and White!
Whiteout: Balenciaga, Giambattista Valli & Alexander McQueen
On anybody else, these would look “bridal” but Rooney rocks white like no one else, no wonder why she favors it! (L-R Givenchy, Lanvin, Givenchy)
Can’t wait to see what she wears next week during the SAG awards, then the BAFTA’s and finally, the Oscars!
*She can be seen next on Kubo and the Two Strings, Una, The Secret Scripture, Lion and an Untitled Terence Malick film all coming out this year! And here’s hoping that we get to see the long-overdue sequel to the Dragon Tattoo!
“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”
In The Big Short, someone did the math, others checked the numbers and as it turned out, the person was right and the system was corrupt. In the hands of any other filmmaker, this film will fall flat but in the hands of Adam McKay(Anchorman, The Other Guys), the story about the financial crisis of 2007-2008 thrives. It doesn’t hurt too that he has Christian Bale, Steve Carrell, Ryan Gosling and Brad Pitt leading his ensemble cast.
The Big Short is based on the accounts of real people revolving around the discovery of Michael Burry (Bale) of how unstable the housing markets are in America and predicted that the market will collapse in no time; Jared Vennett (Gosling) also had the same belief and as the story progresses it turned out that they were right thus causing millions of people losing not only their jobs but their homes.
The film is such a lighthearted take on a disturbingly problematic situation. It all sounds so boring when you just read about it but to actually see it unfolding in front of you and realizing just how massive the dishonesty will make you think what kind of people commits such fraudulence at the expense of so many losing everything they have. At first, the pace of the film can be a little too much because of the jargons you have to remember to understand the plot but after a few minutes you get used to the energetic pace, the many cutaways and you’re finally caught up. Speaking of cutaways, McKay did such a brilliant job by taking pieces of history together, put them in brief successions and help viewers piece all those information to form a clearer perspective on the narrative of the film. And if you’re ever worried about how you can cope with the finance and banking jargon, there’s a few celebrity cameos (think pop star, famous chef, Suicide Squad) who can slightly help you make sense of the all too complicated situation.
I was perfectly happy watching my set of TV series (Game of Thrones, Downton Abbey, Silicon Valley, Modern Family, Homeland and House of Cards) when 2015 introduced a surge of phenomenal new shows to watch so naturally I had to keep up and add Quantico, Blindspot, UnReal and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt into the mix. With so many great shows available now and the reason why the last 5 Emmy seasons are so crowded and competitve more than ever, you would think network producers would take a break and slow down with green lighting one pilot after another but fortunately for us, binge-watchers the TV gods has sent another batch of promising new shows to choose from and here are the 5 shows I can’t wait to get my binge on!
HBO: Martin Scorsese – You can count on me to always get excited in whatever the legendary filmmaker and master auteur does. Vinyl (February 14) stars Bobby Cannavale (Blue Jasmine, Spy, Boardwalk Empire) and Olivia Wilde (Her, House) stars as husband and wife against a music-induced backdrop of the 70s.
Showtime: The network that brought us most notably, Homeland and Shameless has another surefire hit show under their belt, Billions (January 17)which will see stars Damian Lewis (Homeland, Bnad of Brothers) and Paul Giamatti (Straight Outta Compton, Love & Mercy) take on power and politics surrounding the mad world of Wall Street.
Netflix: I swear, Netflix is just a gift that keeps on giving! As if their roster of original series aren’t enough, they come up with a show that really got my anglophile self giddy; The Crown (no specific date yet) is a biographical show circling around the early life of then, Princess Elizabeth. Count me in!
Netflix: Along with The Crown, the streaming network also have in their upcoming line-up a comedy created by Judd Apatow – there isn’t any specific plot lines yet all we know is that it’s a comedy and it’s titled Love (February 19). I’m sold!
Hulu: Another emerging original content provider is Hulu which already has a solid line-up of comedies available (Difficult People, Casual) but 11.22.63 is what I am most excited to see. It stars James Franco as he travels through time to prevent the assassination of American President Kennedy.
The 73rd Golden Globe Awards is presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) and honors the best in film and television of 2015. As we have witnessed from the past, the Globes is arguably the most relaxed, loose and crowded awards ceremony every year because of the overflowing drinks and tightly packed tables that makes for a night of surprises and drunken speeches but this year proved to be a little bit more tame but it was a great night nonetheless!
Ricky Gervais, funny man and notorious king of controversial comedy was host of the show for three consecutive years and is now back and kicking with a beer on one hand and that signature dry humor he’s known for on the other. The host kept things playful, holding nothing back as he took jabs at the expense of his A-list crowd; no one was proven safe particularly Mel Gibson whom the host called out for his drinking problem and anti-semitic rant so it’s a good thing that the original Mad Max just happily played along.
The Hollywood veteran took the jabs in stride
On The Martian being categorized as a Comedy:
To be fair, The Martian was a lot funnier than Pixels. But then again, so was Schindler’s List.
On introducing Matt Damon:
He’s also the only person that Ben Affleck hasn’t been unfaithful to.
On all-female reboots of classic films:
This is brilliant for the studios, because they get guaranteed box office results and they don’t have to spend too much money on the cast.
FUMBLE: Before I go on to the highlights of the show, let’s just get a few fumbles out of the way shall we? Some may say that Gervais’ jokes were a little too crass, I think we can all agree that crass works better than a cringe-inducing comment and that’s exactly what famed director Quentin Tarantino committed, I wouldn’t go into details but let’s just say that once he made the “ghetto” reference and the camera pans to the audience’s reaction, it was an ugly sight.
FUMBLE: One thing that I enjoyed while watching the proceedings was the pairings of the presenters but one pair didn’t quite impressed me and obviously, nominee for YouthJane Fonda, this cringe-worthy moment was courtesy of Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill but mostly Hill involving a sketch about the bear from The Revenant which to say the least got if nothing, a few forced laughs from the crowd.
HIGHLIGHT: Fortunately, the highs supercedes the lows so as I previously mentioned, the HFPA did good when it comes to the pairings of presenters this year – Mark Wahlberg & Will Ferrell, Kate Hudson & Kurt Russell etc. each pair brought along their own flavor. There’s J.Law & “A.Schu”demonstrating what BFFGoals means, America Ferrera & Eva Longoria making it clear that they are not Gina Rodriguez & Eva Mendes respectively, Ken Jeong & Kevin Hart presented themselves as potential children of Brangelina and then there’s the unlikely pair of Amber Heard & Jamie Alexander who charmed they’re way through a technical malfunction.
HIGHLIGHT: And then there’s the pairing that got everyone screaming, drooling and fanning themselves, I’m talking about the pairing of The Big Short costars Ryan Gosling & Brad Pitt. Who knew the Golden Globe stage could contain so much prettiness?
HIGHLIGHT: Speaking of pretty, Leonardo DiCaprio just won the internet in more ways than one, first he nabbed the coveted award for Best Actor for The Revenant, got a standing ovation and gave a beautiful speech in return and then he was spotted in a tight hug with Titanic leading lady Kate Winslet making everyone nostalgic and well, go nuts. If you think that’s all, only Leo could pull off a “how to win in life trifecta” by giving Lady Gaga a face that’s worthy of a thousand memes!
WINNERS:
Best motion picture, drama
“The Revenant”
Best motion picture, musical or comedy
“The Martian”
Golden Girl: Brie Larson beams as Best Acress, Drama winner
Talented Mr. Damon: He won for Best Actor in a Comedy
DENZEL: Recipient of the 2016 Cecil B. Demille Lifetime Achievement Award
Overdue: Leonardo DiCaprio stands proud as Best Actor, Drama winner
Two in a row: Alejandro G. Iñarritu director of The Revenant took home another award
Pulling a Cher: Lady Gaga in shock as she won for American Horror Story
Hey there: Dapper Oscar Isaac looks on to his Globe
HFPA Favorite: Jennifer Lawrence won her 3rd Globe for Joy
Shocker: No one was more surprised to win more than Kate Winslet
Best screenplay, motion picture
Aaron Sorkin, “Steve Jobs”
Best original score, motion picture
Ennio Morricone, “The Hateful Eight”
Best motion picture, animated
“Inside Out”
Best original song, motion picture
“Writing’s on the Wall,” “Spectre”
Best motion picture, foreign language
“Son of Saul”
Best television series, drama
“Mr. Robot,” USA
Best television series, musical or comedy
“Mozart in the Jungle,” Amazon Video
Best television limited series or motion picture made for television
“Wolf Hall,” PBS
Best performance by an actor in a television series, drama
Jon Hamm, “Mad Men”
Best performance by an actor in a television series, musical or comedy
Gael García Bernal, “Mozart in the Jungle”
Best performance by an actor in a supporting role in a series, limited series or motion picture made for television
Christian Slater, “Mr. Robot”
Best performance by an actress in a TV series, drama
Taraji P. Henson, “Empire”
Best performance by an actress in a supporting role in a series, limited series or motion picture made for television
Maura Tierney, “The Affair”
Best performance by an actress in a television series, musical or comedy
It’s that time of the year! When stars descend to The Beverly Hilton to walk the red carpet decked in sparkling jewels and designer creations. The 73rd Golden Globe Awards honors the best in film and television and that one night a year where the women of Orange is the New Black rub elbows with the cast of Downton Abbey or Khaleesi could end up in a photo with Leo DiCaprio (hey, a girl can dream!) And this year, Ricky Gervais is back as the host so really, anything can happen but more of that later!
For now, let’s focus on the red carpet and there’s only three things you need to know: colors, sparkles and unkempt hair!
What better way to kick things off than with the night’s big winner and everyone’s best friend, Jennifer Lawrence who won for her film Joy by director you guessed it, David O. Russell who also happened to be her date for the gathering. We saw the conclusion of the mega blockbuster franchise of The Hunger Games but it seems like JLaw isn’t quite ready to give up the role yet as she showed up as the girl on fire in a fiery cutout creation by again, you guessed it Dior (duh).
From one Jennifer to another, Jennifer Lopez surprised everyone with a look that was so erm.. un-J.Lolike. The American Idol judge and presenter looked like a movie star in a color she described as “mustard, marigoldy yellow” designed by Giambattista Valli which was accessorised with Chopard jewels and a bold lip.
Aside from splashy colors, sequins also made quite the appearance at the bash with last year’s Best Actress Julianne Moore showing up in a sequined Tom Ford with Mr. Tom Ford himself accompanying her on the red carpet! The navy blue dress which featured an open-back and a cut-out neckline complimented her signature red locks and her alabaster skin.
Another actress who’s also feeling sparkly was golden girl (literally!) Brie Larson, star of Room, breakout artist of the year and Golden Globe winner tonight showed up in a custom Calvin Klein creation which showcased her toned tummy, svelte arms and just basically #bodygoals.
Also showing off her enviable figure was presenter Olivia Wilde who wore a custom Michael Kors creation, this would’ve been my favorite look of the night if it wasn’t for her matching eye make-up (oops) but the rest of the look works for me. She can be next seen in the upcoming Martin Scorsese HBO series.
For my favorite of the night, Cinderella and perennial English rose Lily James cascaded down the red carpet in a beautiful dress by Marchesa – now, some might say that it’s a bit bridal but I beg to differ because it reminded me more of a swan than of a bride plus her disheveled hair and the smokey eye make-up helped too!
Following in Lily’s lead are more stars wearing white and others who showed up in blush tones (another trend of the night).
(L-R) Taraji P. Henson in Stella McCartney, Eva Longoria in Georges Hobeika, Alicia Vikander in Louis Vuitton, Laverne Cox in Elizabeth Kennedy
(L-R) Taraji P. Henson in Stella McCartney, Eva Longoria in Georges Hobeika, Alicia Vikander in Louis Vuitton, Laverne Cox in Elizabeth Kennedy
Full disclosure, these were the looks that I liked but not a single one of it really blew me away I was expecting Cate Blanchett or Alicia Vikander to do that but to no avail and unfortunately it’s a no Emma Stone/no Marion Cotillard year too so… ANYWAY! They better bring it on the Screen Actors Guild!
The stars from both TV and film have gathered at the People’s Choice Awards and with them comes a wave of sparkly and sequinned black numbers (with few exceptions) that make for a stylish red carpet event that’s a feast for the eyes!
Kicking things off is Vanessa Hudgens in a Kayat dress that features a low-neckline and a thigh-high slit, the High School Musical alum was there to present an award and to promote her forthcoming broadway debut in Grease as the modern-day Rizzo.
Credit: People.com
Scream QueenLea Michele also showed up on the red carpet in a daring look by Elie Saab – the mini dress showcased her physique and featured strategic cutouts around her décolletage. Her show picked up the award for Favorite New TV Series.
Credit: Who Wore What
America’s Sweetheart and star of Our Brand is Crisis, Sandra Bullock skipped the red carpet but there’s no way of skipping her choice of Monique Lhullier lace dress when she came onstage to accept her 1oth Favorite Movie Actress award!
Credit: Awards Show News
Another star who didn’t go black and sparkly was Kate Hudson in a Stella McCartney jumpsuit, I don’t even know what to say anymore because she always looks good!
Credit: Daily Mail
Continuing the trend of the night was Favorite New TV Actress winner and star of my new addiction Quantico, Priyanka Chopra – she made history as the first ever Asian to win a People’s Choice Award and she did so in an amazing dress by Vera Wang.
Credit: Pop Sugar
My favorite look of the night was courtesy of Fifty Shades of Grey actress and Favorite Dramatic Movie Actress winner, Dakota Johnson who also opted out of the red carpet in a matching skirt and top ensemble by Armani. I also love that she had a no-fuss hair making the outfit more fun and young!
The votes had been tallied and the voters have spoken.
The 41st Annual People’s Choice Awards is one of the few award-giving bodies that let’s the public pick the nominees for each category, vote for their favorite and ultimately decide who gets to win the coveted award that’s why you can understand how big of a deal this is for the actors to be nominated because it goes to show that the public in general, actually enjoyed their work.
Sandra Bullock, everyone’s favorite girl and who has won a record 10 times and has been nominated for 17 summed it best on what it feels like to be embraced by the people.
“We all love what we do and we get to do what we do because of you.”
Lady in Red: Sandra Bullock accepting her 10th People’s Choice Award
Lucky 13: Hollywood Icon Johnny Depp accepting his 13th one
Goofy Presenters: Adam Devine and Lea Michele
Front Row: Hugh Dancy and Claire Danes
Backstage Action: Jack Black and Kate Hudson got wacky for the cameras
Furious: Vin Diesel representing his film Furious 7 who nabbed 2 awards
“You have to take care of yourself in order to take care of others.”
This footage of Jada Pinkett-Smith was from an exclusive Red Table Talk interview she did with her daughter Willow; the interview was from three years ago but has now reemerged and has been making the rounds on different social media sites. Now, I don’t think I have to explain who Jada Pinkett-Smith is but for the few others who might not know her, she’s an actress (The Nutty Professor, The Matrix, Magic Mike XXL and most recently Gotham), philanthropist, mother and of course the other half of Will Smith.
In the 6-minute video, she was asked what is seemingly a simple question – How hard is it being a wife and a mother? Her answer sheds a light on what it’s like to constantly search for what it is that makes the people you love happy and at the same time, never forgetting yourself along the way on what makes you happy. Watch the clip, be inspired and learn from this practical and intelligent woman.
The 27th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival aka the official start of the year’s awards season attracted some of the biggest names of Tinseltown. The list of honorees include Christian Bale, Steve Carrell, Ryan Gosling & Brad Pitt and that’s just for one film! They were honored for their work as an ensemble in “The Big Short” but unfortunately Gosling and Pitt couldn’t make it.
The fete featured many highlights all thanks to the honorees who all had one too many drinks before they took to the stage thus resulting to goofy speeches, calling out “horrible castmates” (thanks Steve Carrell) and some onstage dancing action.
Open Arms: Cate Blanchett receiving the Palm Desert Achievement Award from another honoree Saoirse Ronan
“Swedeheart”: Alicia Vikander receives the Rising Star Award
Christian Bale representing The Big Short
Girl Talk: Brie Larson and Alicia Vikander talks backstage
Chummy costars: International Star honoree Michael Fassbender sharing a laugh with Kate Winslet
Icon: Johnny Depp and his Achievement Award
The Martian: Matt Damon received the Chairman’s Award
Face Time: Carol lovers talk before the ceremony
Honorees:
Chairman’s Award:
Matt Damon (The Martian)
Palm Desert Achievement Awards:
Cate Blanchett (Carol) & Johnny Depp (Black Mass)
Spotlight Awards:
Rooney Mara (Carol) & Bryan Cranston (Trumbo)
Ensemble Performance Award:
Cast of The Big Short
International Star Awards:
Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn) & Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs)
the F word 