Halfway Mark: Worthy Oscar Contenders from the first Half of the Year

Today officially marks the halfway point of 2014, if you can believe it. I don't know about the rest of you but I feel as if this year has been a blur, and I can say that about a lot of the movies that have come and gone through the last few months.

There has been only one movie from this year, thus far, that's challenged anything on my top 10 list from last year (a truly banner year in film unlike one we've had in awhile). That being said, there are truly some memorable performances, and even details about those films that were standouts, even if the overall product wasn't as great as its little pieces.

So read on, to see a few worthy contenders I feel deserve to remain in the conversation come awards season time.

Under the Skin is Unlike Anything You Will Ever See; A Modern Masterpiece in Every Way

It’s been 10 years since Jonathan Glazer’s last film, “Birth” starring Nicole Kidman, opened to maddeningly polarized reviews. “Under the Skin”, his third feature, marks his return to the film world. Glazer had planned to direct the film after the release of his debut feature, “Sexy Beast” back in 2000, and originally co-wrote the film to star Brad Pitt as one of two aliens disguised as farmers. However, he ended up choosing to instead tell the story from an alien’s perspective of society, and decided to make that alien a female, scrapping the Brad Pitt character. 

Scarlett Johansson, dressed in a shaggy yet short, brunette wig complete with a fur coat, skinny jeans and cute heels, portrays the mysterious female alien (her name is never given). She drives around various towns and areas in Scotland in her white van, stopping every so often to talk to lonely men walking the streets. Her story for stopping is different with every man she stops for. Sometimes she tells them she’s running an errand, sometimes she’s lost, but no matter what she tells them she’s doing, her intent is to get them into her van, and home with her. Though it’s never explicitly stated, reading between the lines will tell you that there is a promise of sex, which excites her potential suitors. Once their inside, however, it’s clear that sex is not what’s going on. 

Sofia Coppola's "Marie Antoinette" is Still A Masterpiece 8 Years Later

"Lavish imagery and a daring soundtrack set this film apart from most period dramas; in fact, style takes precedence over plot and character development in Coppola's vision of the doomed queen."
- Rotten Tomatoes' consensus of Marie Antoinette.

Riding high off of explosive critical acclaim for her Oscar winning film "Lost In Translation" (Coppola won Best Original Screenplay, and was also nominated for Best Director, the 3rd woman ever to be recognized in that category) expectations were high for her next project. It's fair to say, the expectations themselves were unreachable; no matter what Coppola did, it would have been unfairly held next to Lost In Translation and picked apart for not being as good.

So when "Marie Antoinette" premiered at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, the tepid reaction was (in a sense) predictable. The film was given a limited release and expanded, and then underperformed. Though it won an Oscar for Best Costume Design, it was quickly forgotten about and dismissed as a "failure".

When I first watched the film in middle school, I recall being dazzled in a way that no film had dazzled me before. Yes, the imagery was gorgeous (as it always is in a Sofia Coppola film). But what truly enchanted me the most was the innovative storytelling. With Marie Antoinette, Sofia Coppola takes the dull biopic genre and turns it upside down, taking a whole new approach to telling the story of the doomed Austrian princess turned French Queen.

ScarJo Continues Career Renaissance with Luc Besson's "Lucy"

As I mentioned months before, it seems ScarJo is experiencing something of a revival in her career. It kicked off with her enthusiastic, full-bodied performance in Joseph Gordon-Levitt's "Don Jon" and followed her to Oscar buzz for her voice only performance in Spike Jonze's "Her" as an Operarting System named Samantha.

Now, Johansson is back with 3 pictures, each more different from the next. Besides her much raved about work in "Under the Skin" that will be released this weekend, she's got Captain America 2 next week where she will reprise her strong-willed Black Widow character. And if that wasn't enough, she's headlining an action thriller directed by Luc Besson (Leon: The Professional) entitled "Lucy".

Sofia Coppola's "The Little Mermaid"?

Variety reports that "Lost in Translation" and "The Bling Ring" director is in negotiations to direct the upcoming adaptation of the famous story.

Scarlett Johansson Makes Men Disappear in Under the Skin

Johansson follows up Don Jon and Her with a completely different performance as a man-eating alien. 

Scarlett Johansson is having something of a career renaissance lately, and I couldn't be happier about it. After a "better than advertised" performance in Joss Whedon's "The Avengers" in 2012, Johansson followed up with back to back great turns in Joe Levitt's "Don Jon" and Spike Jonze's "Her'. In both films, Johansson acted with ferocious energy that hasn't been seen since before her career slump, post- Lost in Translation Oscar buzz (remember when she won a BAFTA for Leading Actress that year?).

Fact of the matter is, after uninspired choices like "The Nanny Diaries" or "The Island", Johansson is back to making very inspired and brave acting choices, and overall seems very excited about the performances she's giving (unlike sleepwalking through roles like "The Black Dahlia" or "The Other Boelyn Girl").

She was (unfairly) overlooked for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar (an award she should have won) this year for her voice-work (yes, she's that good as just a voice) in Her, but that doesn't seem to be stopping her from choosing tricky roles and delivering energetic performances.

So that's why I (and others) are thoroughly excited about her next film; Johansson will appear as the lead in Jonathan Glazer's "Under the Skin", distributed by A24 (the same company who distributed Spring Breakers and The Bling Ring). In the film, Johansson plays a beautiful alien searching for men, or rather their flesh.

What if "Her" Wasn't ScarJo?

By now, I'm sure you're all very familiar with the concept of Spike Jonze's film, Her. The newly divorced and very lonely Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) installs a new Operating System (voiced by Scarlett Johansson). After getting to know each other on a frighteningly intimate level, the 2 embark on a relationship with one another. Yes, cue the "nerd dating his computer jokes" that I've already heard way too many times. But what Jonze does here is really magical, it's a love story that is able to transcend its premise and be relatable to anyone who has ever fallen in love before.

The movie works mainly because of Scarlett Johansson's beautiful and sensual voice; it's hard not to fall in love with her yourself. I found myself forgetting she was just a voice throughout the film. It's one of the best performances of the year, and Johansson doesn't even need her body!

But what if Samantha the OS was a different Samantha... a Samantha we learned to love many years ago, who is beautiful and sensual... in her own special way? What if it was Kim Catrell's Samantha Jones from Sex and the City?

Below is the trailer which casts a completely different Samantha for Theodore (and us) to fall in love with. And at the bottom I've included the original trailer so you can compare the two.

Enjoy

Utah Critics Association Champion Adele Exarchopoulos & Scarlett Johansson

Best Picture:

1. Gravity
2. 12 Years A Slave

Best Director:

1. Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity
2. Steve McQueen, 12 Years A Slave

Best Actor:

1. Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years A Slave
2. Oscar Isaac, Inside Llewyn Davis

Best Actress:

1. Adele Exarchopoulos, Blue Is the Warmest Color
2. Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine & Sandra Bullock, Gravity

Precursor Buzz: Could Scarlett Johansson get an Oscar Nomination for "Her"? & Other Recipients.

Scarlett Johansson has had an interesting career ever since her she burst onto the scene. She gained indie cred and acclaim with roles in "North" and "Ghost World", but her breakout role in Sofia Coppola's "Lost In Translation". She unexpectedly won the BAFTA award for Best Leading Actress (though she missed out on the Oscar), and turned in another acclaimed performance in the little seen "Girl With The Pearl Earring", and again in Woody Allen's "Match Point".