I'm still ALIVE

I'm still alive!

Uni is back, best actress is nearly ready.

Bear with.

Best Director

CONTINUING my own film awards. Bear with me, I still have to get out best actor and best actress before sunday! eeeek!

 

Here is BEST DIRECTOR:

 NB - The Morgan Nominees for Best Poster are here, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Moonrise Kingdom and The Cabin in the Woods are my three absolute favourite posters this year.

 

What a year for directing, so many exciting things going on promising so much cinematic joy for the future.

Best Ensemble

The Oscar nominations are here, I will blog about them in time, (possibly live blog the actual ceremony?) - the only categories I nailed in my predix were best actress (sorry, Cotillard, I knew it) and best picture (minus my no guts, no glory pick for skyfall) - everything else was a bit of a clusterfuck as expected - SO happy to see Benh Zeitlin recognised though, so so so happy!

The Morgans: Best Ensemble:

 

Book Review 2: Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn

I was curious about this critically acclaimed crime novel, as it was written by a former writer of Entertainment Weekly magazine and was interested to know just how someone writing about Britney's latest video or Angelina's latest dress could switch to writing a novel about marriages, depression and murder.

My curiosity was well-rewarded in this riveting tale of a marriage gone horribly, horribly wrong. Amy and Nick are a successful, beautiful, wealthy couple who have been married for five years, when Amy disappears. What follows is the hunt for Amy which takes the reader on a journey from the depths of Nick's mind to the media hype surrounding the case of the supposedly innocent wife with a husband that can't stop smiling every time her disappearance is mentioned.

From the opening sentence, where Nick is discussing the shape and feel of his wife's head and how easy it would be to destroy, I was hooked. It is darker than anything I've read of late and isn't for people who are looking for a summer escape. However, if you're looking for a gripping mystery, with the world's darkest treasure hunt, multiple red herrings and an entire cast of unlikable characters, who somehow you end up rooting for, despite your base instincts and one certain twist halfway through the book that leaves you absolutely breathless and will keep you up until the sun comes up, then this is for you.

It has already been commissioned as a movie, with Reese Witherspoon on board and Gillian Flynn has several other crime novels that flew under the radar, check them out and stay tuned for big things from this former entertainment writer, she's got talent.

Title: Gone Girl
Author: Gillian Flynn
ISBN: 9780297859383
Published: 2012
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson

 - Morgan, Remuera Library

Book Review One: The Dead of Summer, Camila Way

It's summer so I thought why not pick a good murder mystery with summer in the title - that and the blurb of this book, "This summer everything will change. By the end of summer, three will be dead" intrigued me and seemed to be right along my theme of summer reading: "Seriously Disturbed Crime Novels".

This time, we're following 13 year-old Anita, a Pakistani girl whose mother has recently died & the family has shifted to London and is falling apart. Her father is disintegrating into alcoholism and her siblings are growing up and ignoring her, only ever referring to her as the "nit". Left to her own devices, she befriends the local outcasts: Dennis, her classmate who has severe mental difficulties & Kyle, a psychotic boy on the verge of adolescence whose sister vanished a year before. In the blistering heat and with a trickling feeling of impending doom building at every corner, they become "sort-of" friends, dependent on Kyle's mood. However, by the end of the summer three children will die at one of their hands, leaving Anita the sole survivor of the infamous "London Cave Murders" of 1986.

The story of the summer of 1986 is told through Anita narrating their summer to her counsellor, seven years later. She is deeply traumatised by what she witnessed and what the killer put her through in the cave and only feeds you little pieces of information, interspersing it with her summer of adolescence prior to the murders & her burgeoning love for the deeply troubled Kyle. There are twists and turns throughout and the ending is one of the most shocking this year, but looking back, it all makes sense, in a very dark and disturbing way.

What a cracker of a debut novel, slithering and seething through you, giving you the chills even though the heat is constantly highlighted. Anita is a deep character, so beautifully described and so hopelessly lost and Way's graphic writing really draws you into the time & era. With sickening twists and a very bleak feel to the entire novel, this isn't for anyone - it is for someone wanting to be challenged as they read, yet still enjoy reading a truly good mystery that's from an author who promises she has a lot more to give. I absolutely loved it, it thrilled, chilled and inspired me to seek out more.

Next time, I promise something a little more fun.

Academy Award Predictions 2013

Academy Award Predictions 2013

In around about 12 hours, we will know who the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have decided to honour for the film year of 2012.

Here is my best stab in the dark at who/what the hell is going to be nominated - it will be very interesting to say the least!

Best Picture:

Supporting Actress of the Year

The Morgan's Awardage Continues 

- The Supporting Ladies

Best Supporting Actress is always my favourite category, its full of the interesting parts and there are so many variables. Best Actress is interesting, but there are generally fewer candidates and less interesting parts than you'll find in Best Supporting Actress. Take for example the potential nominees this year, including Nicole Kidman as a prisoner obsessed trashy southern belle in The Paperboy, Judi Dench as M in Skyfall, Amy Adams as the Lady Macbeth in The Master. There's more potential for dynamite performances, limited screen time often enabling them to work it for all its worth.

The following ladies constitute the best scene-stealers, supporting ladies and cameos that blew me away this year - bearing in mind I haven't seen Les Mis and Lincoln, where the two front-runners in this category come from.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS 2012

Another brilliant year for the ladies, so many to choose from, of course, barely any of these will be noticed come oscar nomination morning, but here at least, I can give them their dues. My nominees include a newcomer, a breakout comedian, a veteran dame, an american great, underrated star and a european goddess.