The Oscars - My Winners

So you should all be aware that last night was the Academy Awards, and the Internet is full of lists of winners, so I'm going to do my own take on it with my own categories! Just for a bit of fun.

Best Photobomb

Well there's really only one winner here! It has to be Benedict Cumberbatch doesn't it, his photobomb of U2 went viral faster than you can say his name!

Best Dancer

Meryl Streep always deserves to win something, so this time should be no different. Her shoulder-shimmy during Pharell Williams' performance of Happy was a definite highlight!

Best Selfie

OK OK this one is obvious, but I just wanted to include it. OF COURSE the winner is Ellen's selfie featuring, well, just about everyone.

Best Reaction to Pizza

Ellen ordering pizzas was pretty funny in itself, but Jennifer Lawrence's reaction was even better. She looked so pleased!

Best Presenter

In this instance I mean award presenter (Ellen would win Best Host every time). The winner is Bill Murray for his mention of his friend Harold Remis which I thought was very heartwarming.

Best Acceptence Speech

This one is tied. Lupita Nyong'o gave a beautiful and eloquent speech, so she definitely deserves this, but also Cate Blanchett deserves it too, for getting her feminist on and telling people that female-lead films aren't a niche market. You tell 'em Cate!

Best Reaction to Winning an Award

This one goes to Steve McQueen, bless him, he was so nervous/happy when 12 Years A Slave won Best Picture he could barely speak, but his jump at the end was brilliant. There's someone who really deserved and appreciated it.

And now the final award....

Best Leonardo DiCaprio

Poor Leo's lack of an Oscar has caused the internet to go crazy. He was up against tough competition this year, and even though his performance in Wolf of Wall Street was absolutely brilliant he lost out to Matthew McConaughey. So here's your own award Leo, just for you!  

Review - Her

Spike Jonze's latest offering, in it's very simplest form, is a story of love and loss, but if there's one thing Her certainly isn't, it's simple.

The film is set in the not too distant future, Joaquin Phoenix plays Theodore Twombly, a writer for BeautifulHandwrittenLetters.com. Theodore's world, as is everyone's in this age, is entirely technology dominated. Although Theodore spends much of the beginning of the film fanaticising about his ex-wife Catherine (Rooney Mara) he is alone most of the time. Even his friend Amy (Amy Adams) doesn't see him very often, and his other human interaction is limited. It is around this time we meet the most up to date operating systems OS1. OS1 is a Siri-esque operating system that learns, adapts, has intuition and grows emotionally. Theodore's selected OS is Samantha (Scarlett Johansson) and from here on out, Theodore's feelings find him blurring the lines between what's really real and what isn't.

At first Samantha is simply helpful, but as she grows and becomes more aware, so does her relationship with Theodore and once romantic acts begin to be played out, everything feels very unnerving. Even as you see Theodore with other humans, he's never as at ease with them as he is with his OS. There are so many layers to the film, so many things it could be saying, possibly a commentary on people's relationships with technology, or people's relationships with each other. Essays could easily be written about the messages in Her.

Purely on face value though, it is a beautiful film. Soft lighting, gorgeous colours, great camera angles, but it's not a film to really be taken on face value alone. It is certainly thought provoking, a film that will cause differences of opinion and that is by no means a bad thing. I think personally, what was so unsettling, is that out if every A.I film I've seen, Her is certainly the most realistic, and that idea of what society could potentially become is quite scary! 

It is definitely not a film for everyone but it's definitely a great film to go and see, I do highly recommend it.