Los Angeles Film Festival

The Los Angeles Film Festival closed yesterday-- Clint Eastwood's Jersey Boys was the closing night film.  Here are the winners of the fest, this year celebrating their 20th Anniversary.

Stray Dog, the new documentary from Winter's Bone director Debra Granik

Narrative Award (for Best Narrative Feature)
Man From Reno, directed by Dave Boyle
 
Documentary Award (for Best Documentary Feature)
Stray Dog, directed by Debra Granik

LA Muse Award
Los Ángeles, directed by Damian John Harper

Best Performance in the Narrative Competition
The Ensemble Cast of Recommended by Enrique, directed by Rania Attieh and Daniel García

Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature
The Young Kieslowski, directed by Kerem Sanga

Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature
Meet the Patels, directed by Geeta V. Patel and Ravi V. Patel

Audience Award for Best International Feature
Someone You Love, directed by Pernille Fischer Christensen
Country: Denmark

Award for Best Narrative Short Film
The Runaway, directed by Jean-Bernard Marlin. France

Award for Best Documentary Short Film
The Queen, directed by Manuel Abramovich. Argentina

Award for Best Animated/Experimental Short Film
Butter Lamp, directed by Hu Wei. China/France

Audience Award for Best Short Film
The Gunfighter, directed by Eric Kissack

Audience Award for Best Music Video
“Turn Down For What”, Lil Jon and DJ Snake; directed by Daniels
Music: Lil Jon & DJ Snake

Critics Choice Television Awards

COMEDY

BEST SERIES: Orange is the New Black
BEST ACTOR: Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory
BEST ACTRESS: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Andre Braugher, Brooklyn Nine-Nine
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: (tie) Allison Janney, Mom; Kate Mulgrew, Orange is the New Black
BEST GUEST PERFORMER: Uzo Aduba, Orange is the New Black

DRAMA

BEST SERIES: Breaking Bad
BEST ACTOR: Matthew McConaughey, True Detective
BEST ACTRESS: Tatiana Maslany, Orphan Black
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Bellamy Young, Scandal
BEST GUEST PERFORMER: Allison Janney, Masters of Sex

MOVIE/MINISERIES

BEST MOVIE: The Normal Heart
BEST MINISERIES: Fargo
BEST ACTOR: Billy Bob Thornton, Fargo
BEST ACTRESS: Jessica Lange, American Horror Story: Coven
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Matt Bomer, The Normal Heart
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Allison Tollman, Fargo

OTHER

BEST REALITY SERIES: Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey
BEST REALITY (COMPETITION SERIES): Shark Tank
BEST REALITY HOST: Neil deGrasse Tyson, Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey
BEST TALK SHOW: The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon
BEST ANIMATED SERIES: Archer  

How to Train Your Jump Street 2

A battle of the sequels 2014 edition!  On one corner of the ring stands 22 Jump Street, the meta-ier than thou sequel to the already pretty meta 2012 comedy 21 Jump Street, an improbable critical and commercial success based on that 80s television show that famously steered Johnny Depp away from teen beat matinee idol mode.  On the other side stands How to Train Your Dragon 2, the second outing of the 2010 animated hit that is the gold standard in every way for DreamWorks Animation.  Let's get ready to rumble.

1. 22 Jump Street- $60 million (opening weekend)
2. How to Train Your Dragon 2- $50 million (opening weekend) 
3. Maleficent- $19 million / -44% / $163.5 million total
4. Edge of Tomorrow- $16.1 million / -43% / $56.6 million total
5. The Fault in Our Stars- $15.7 million / -67% / $81.7 million total
6. X-Men: Days of Future Past- $9.5 million / -37% / $205.9 million total
7. Godzilla- $3.1 million / -48% / $191.3 million total
8. A Million Ways to Die in the West- $3 million / -58% / -$38.9 million total
9. Neighbors- $2.4 million / -53% / $143 million total
10. Chef- $2.2 million / -13% / $14 million total 

In the end, the R-rated, college bound hijinks of Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill overruled a bushel of dragons (and Cate Blanchett, a superhero in her own right who voices a character in the Dragon sequel.)  Never fear, Dragon fans (I myself was absolutely besotted with it- a review to come up soon, I hope!) as surely the film will hold well throughout the summer.  Hopefully, it will snatch an Oscar as well but that's getting ahead of ourselves.  What did you see this weekend?

First Look at 'Birdman'

"Orange is the New Black"- Hit Me With Your Best Shot

Welcome back to Litchfield Correctional Facility.  The second season of Netflix's Orange is the New Black was unveiled last Friday and my cup runneth over.  I tried my hardest to savor this zesty treat and watch gradually to fully appreciate this special show.  That didn't go over very well-- this is, after all, such a singular and highly addictive series.  I binged and binged rather hard, nearly devouring Season Two.  While I process and settle, The Film Experience is running "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" for Season Two.

Orange is the New Black may not be the most expressive show visually, but it may just be the most humanistic, and when you feature the best and most diverse ensemble cast in all of television, you don't need any artificial showiness to throw about.  The show hardly needs any fussiness what with the vivid, beautifully multi-dimensional women at its center.  It lies in the sharp writing, wonderfully realized black comedic/lightly tragic tone and the pitch perfect performances of it's expertly realized cast.  Their faces, in all their diverse wonder, are expressive enough.

Which is why my favorite shot of Season Two is such an incredibly simple one.  It comes from Episode 8 ("Appropriately Sized Pots") and features my Season Two MVP-- Miss Rosa (majestically and gracefully played by Barbara Rosenblat.)  It's a bullish claim, since the spark of Orange of the New Black has from the very beginning been its generosity with its rich ensemble, so much so that best-in-show honors change sometimes within scenes.  For now, I stick with it.  Miss Rosa was merely on the periphery of the first season, but in heartbreaking and joyous fashion, embodies the spirit and fire that makes Orange is the New Black so special in the first place.  An older woman dying of cancer and stuck in prison for what she knows will only be a short time left.  Rosa is a crank, a truth-teller, and yet so full of life and love and joie de vivre that it spills out in unexpected and beautifully modulated moments.  Episode 8 tells her story-- flashing back to when she was a fiery and beautiful spitball turned on by the lure of robbing banks and sharing kisses with her partners.  The shot above sees Rosa in the happy throes of nostalgia.  It's short, but sweet.

More on Orange is the New Black soon.

Seattle International Film Festival

GOLDEN SPACE NEEDLE AWARD FOR BEST FILM: Boyhood- directed by Richard Linklater (US)

• First runner-up: Life Feels Good- directed by Maciej Pieprzyca (Poland)
• Second runner-up: How to Train Your Dragon 2- directed by Dean DeBlois (US)
• Third runner-up: The Fault in Our Stars- directed by Josh Boone (US)
• Fourth runner-up: Big in Japan- directed by John Jeffcoat (US)

BEST DIRECTOR: Richard Linklater, Boyhood
BEST ACTOR: Dawid Ogrodnik, Life Feels Good
BEST ACTRESS: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood 
BEST DOCUMENTARY: Keep on Keepin' On- directed by Alan Hicks (US)
BEST SHORT FILM: Fool's Day- directed by Cody Blue Snider (US)
LENA SHARPE AWARD FOR PERSISTENCE OF VISION: Bound: Africans Versus African Americans- directed by Peres Owino (US)

Weekend Box Office

1. The Fault in Our Stars- $48.2 million (opening weekend)
2. Maleficent- $33.5 million / -51% / $127.3 million total
3. Edge of Tomorrow- $29.1 million (opening weekend)
4. X-Men: Days of Future Past- $14.7 million / -54% / $189.1 million total
5. A Million Ways to Die in the West- $7.1 million / -57% / $30 million total
6. Godzilla- $5.9 million / -50% / $185 million total
7. Neighbors- $5.2 million / -35% / $137.8 million total
8. Blended- $4 million / -50% / $36.5 million total
9. Chef- $2.6 million / +36% / $10.3 million total
10. Million Dollar Arm- $1.8 million / -49% / $31.1 million total

FURTHER DOWN
Belle- $0.7 / -39% / $7.5 million total
The Other Woman- $0.4 / -65% / $82.2 million total
Captain America: The Winter Soldier- $0.4 / -30% / $255.8 million total
Words & Pictures- $0.2 / +276% / $0.5 total
The Grand Budapest Hotel- $0.2 / -36% / $57.7 million total
Ida- $0.2 / -4% / $1.2 million total
Obvious Child- $0.08 (opening weekend)- $27,000 per screen
Night Moves- $0.05 / +135% / $0.08 total
Only Lovers Left Alive- $0.02 / -50% / $1.6 million total

Oy!  Things are mighty strange in movie theater land when a Tom Cruise action flick gets trounced at the box office by a teen weepie and the second weekend of Angelina Jolie's Maleficent.  While it's great that "women's pictures" ruled the box office two weeks running (hopefully the online think pieces on the subject won't be too nauseating), I have to personally give Edge of Tomorrow a little bit of credit-- it's more lithe and fun than it has any right to be, plus Emily Blunt is a total badass, so there.

What did you see this weekend?

Tony Award Winners

MUSICALS

MUSICAL: A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder
REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL: Hedwig & the Angry Inch
ACTOR: Neil Patrick Harris, Hedwig & the Angry Inch
ACTRESS: Jesse Mueller, Beautiful-- The Carole King Musical
FEATURED ACTOR: James M. Inglehart, Aladdin
FEATURED ACTRESS: Lena Hall, Hedwig & the Angry Inch
DIRECTION: A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder-  Darko Tresnjak
BOOK: A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder- Robert L. Friedman
SCORE: The Bridges of Madison County- Jason Robert Brown
CHOREOGRAPHY: After Midnight- Warren Carlyle
COSTUME DESIGN: A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder- Linda Cho
LIGHTING DESIGN: Hedwig & the Angry Inch- Kevin Adams

PLAYS

PLAY: All the Way
REVIVAL OF A PLAY: A Raisin in the Sun
ACTOR: Bryan Cranston, All the Way
ACTRESS: Audra McDonald, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill
FEATURED ACTOR: Mark Rylance, Twelfth Night
FEATURED ACTRESS: Sophie Okenedo, A Raisin in the Sun
DIRECTION: A Raisin in the Sun- Kenny Leon
COSTUME DESIGN: Twelfth Night- Jenny Tiramani
LIGHTING DESIGN: The Glass Menagerie- Natasha Katz

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT: Jane Greenwood
REGIONAL THEATER AWARD: Signature Theater
ISABELLE STEVENSON AWARD: Rosie O'Donnell
TONY HONORS FOR EXCELLENCE IN THE THEATRE: Joseph P. Benincasa, Joan Marcus, Charlotte Wilcox

Drama Desk Award Winners

MUSICALS

MUSICAL: A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder
REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL: Hedwig & the Angry Inch
ACTOR: (tie) Neil Patrick Harris, Hedwig & the Angry Inch; Jefferson Mays, A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder
ACTRESS: Jessie Mueller, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
FEATURED ACTOR: James Monroe Iglehart, Aladdin
FEATURED ACTRESS: Anika Larsen, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
DIRECTOR: Darko Tresnjak, A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder
MUSIC: The Bridges of Madison County- Jason Robert Brown
LYRICS: A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder- Robert L. Freedman & Steven Lutvak
BOOK: A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder- Robert L. Freedman
CHOREOGRAPHY: After Midnight- Warren Carlyle

PLAYS

PLAY: All the Way- written by Robert Schenkkan
REVIVAL OF A PLAY: Twelfth Night
ACTOR: Bryan Cranston, All the Way
ACTRESS: Audra McDonald, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill
FEATURED ACTOR: Reed Birney, Casa Valentina
FEATURED ACTRESS: Celia Keenan-Bolger, The Glass Menagerie
DIRECTOR: Tim Carroll, Twelfth Night
MUSIC IN A PLAY: The Glass Menagerie- Nico Muhly

OTHER

REVUE: After Midnight
SOLO PERFORMANCE: John Douglas Thompson, Satchmo at the Waldorft
UNIQUE THEATRICAL EXPERIENCE: Cirkopolis

TECHS

SET DESIGN: Rocky- Christopher Barreca
COSTUME DESIGN: Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical- William Ivey Long
LIGHTING DESIGN: Rocky- Christopher Akerlind
PROJECTION DESIGN: A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder- Aaron Rhyne
SOUND DESIGN (MUSICAL): Beautiful: The Carole King Musical- Brian Ronan
SOUND DESIGN (PLAY): Machinal- Matt Tierney

Precursor to next weeks' Tony Awards, the Drama Desks have been awarded to the best of Broadway.  As a theater lover, but non-New Yorker, are there any readers who can share any insight of the 2014 winners?