ABOUT LAST NIGHT - Review By Greg Klymkiw - With Steve Pink's re-imagining of the Mamet play taking box-office and critics by surprise, it might be worth taking a look at Edward Zwick's re-imagining of the Mamet play from the 80s. Or, maybe not.

About Last Night (1986) *
dir. Edward Zwick
Starring: Demi Moore, Robe Lowe, James Belushi, Elizabeth Perkins

Review By Greg Klymkiw

About Last Night is atrocious. In spite of this, it provides a few delights. First and foremost, the film offers ample exposure to Demi Moore’s naked body, which is quite splendid to gaze upon with its lithe, youthful, and pre-boob-job-pre-child-bearing-milk-sack-udder-creation-perfection.

One also gets to eyeball a nude Rob Lowe and marvel at his perfect bum that is, not surprisingly, much nicer than Miss Moore’s and designed to both worship and penetrate. Finally, we are occasionally treated to shots, unexceptional though they are in both composition and lighting, of the great city of Chicago, which, even when poorly photographed, makes us long to make a pilgrimage to the Windy City and stay forever.

Aside from the aforementioned, about the only reason to see About Last Night is to study exactly HOW it could have been a good movie, to longingly contemplate the original source material that is David Mamet’s play “Sexual Perversity in Chicago” and imagine a world where something resembling a good movie director, as opposed to the no-talent hack that is Edward Zwick, took Mamet’s words and displayed them cinematically, yet reverentially upon the screen.

Zwick reduces Mamet’s glorious, strangely universal and viciously funny play to a simple boy-meets-girl-gets-girl-loses-girl-and-gets-girl-back scenario aimed squarely at that empty generation that embraced the Brat Pack of St. Elmo’s Fire as romanticized cinematic reflections of themselves. The only thing worse would be to do the same thing with the even more repulsive generation of today. Wait a minute. Didn't Steve Pink do that? Yeah, but at least he did it a whole lot better.

Mamet’s play yielded a dramatic examination of relationships between young and women in a pre-Generation-X world that somehow predicted the Gen-X experience and furthermore proposed the notion that we can apply as many labels as we’d like to various eras, but that ultimately, the differences between men and women do not really change with time. Mamet’s play is universal. Zwick’s film is dated. One is alive. The other is dead.

This is no surprise with Zwick at the helm. In spite of the fact that he was able to pinch out a loaf of decent celluloid with Glory, one could argue that only a complete bonehead would have failed with such stirring subject matter as a Civil War picture focusing on Black soldiers.

Alas, Zwick’s other “accomplishments” are not as stellar as the aforementioned war epic. His big screen efforts are mostly humourless, clunky, turgid costume dramas like Legends of the Fall, The Last Samurai and his entry in the Holocaust sweepstakes, Defiance or worse, his dumb socially conscious action pictures like Courage Under Fire, The Siege and the execrable Blood Diamond which prove that even a no-talent can get pictures repeatedly green-lit based solely on subject matter that must appeal to left-leaning studio heads.

Zwick’s primary small-screen accomplishment was the creation of the popular, but annoyingly dated “dramedy” that stills sends shivers down my spine when I think about it, the reprehensibly twee “thirtysomething”.

What this all adds up to is a severe watering-down of Mamet’s delicious savagery. Not only that, it’s incompetent to boot. Zwick takes the opening of the play, a magnificently nasty bit of dialogue between the brutish Bernie (James Belushi) and the slightly more sensitive Danny (Rob Lowe) wherein the former recounts a Penthouse-Forum-styled tale of his sexual exploits. Even now, the language has the power to provoke and entertain. The way Zwick presents the scene is jumpy, confused and frankly, a just plain crude barrage of “guy talk”. Zwick idiotically presents the continuous conversation over a series of different locations. His intent was to obviously “open up” the dialogue – to render it “cinematic” as opposed to leaving it visually intact and (oooohhhhh, dirty word…) “theatrical”. What this does, however, is confuse the focus and detract from the story and conversation’s natural rhythm. Instead of moving the action forward through dialogue which, in and of itself is already action-oriented, Zwick sledgehammers us with unnecessary location changes and, of course, completely unnecessary cuts. All this contributes to destroying Mamet’s great dialogue and curiously, make the characters seem one-dimensional instead of extremely layered.

Uselessly “opening up” theatrical scenes in a movie are the hallmark, knee-jerk touch of true hacks. Rather than trusting the original author’s intent, a buckshot approach to visually presenting the material is used. “Opening up” is extremely unimaginative. In the flawed, but eminently watchable adaptation of Peter Schaffer’s Equus, Sidney Lumet allowed Richard Burton to sit at a desk uttering purple verbal ruminations directly into the lens. This was nothing if not “cinematic”. When Mike Nichol’s adapted Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? he wisely kept most of the action centered on George and Martha’s den of verbal savagery and the only opening up that falls on its face are the few scenes outside of their physical domain – most notably the action in the car and the roadside bar. And of course, one cannot forget James Foley’s simple, effective and extremely subtle opening up of Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross.

Nothing so subtle exists in the world of Mr. Zwick. From the abovementioned opening sequence and onwards, the picture simply gets worse. In addition to spotty performances (especially and surprisingly from a forced, bombastic Belushi and the always sickening Elizabeth Perkins), we’re hogtied to a soundtrack score bearing some of the more grotesque 80s pop tunes.

Interestingly, the play’s original title, “Sexual Perversity in Chicago” was dropped when it was discovered that many venues refused to carry advertising with a title like that. So from that point on, it became known as About Last Night.

This must continue to be a blessing for Mamet.

“About Last Night” is available on Blu-Ray from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

IN FEAR - Review By Greg Klymkiw - Anchor Bay Entertainment Canada releases Blu-Ray day-and-date with Raven Banner's Sinister Cinema unveils tense thriller from Ireland that'll have you on the edge of your seat.

Anchor Bay Entertainment Canada has released a first-rate Blu-Ray transfer of the Sundance Festival Midnight hit In Fear, a scary and exceptionally well-photographed thriller. Colour and clarity during daytime sequences is stunning, but it's the dusk, deep night and dawn footage of the tense shocker that really take, front seat (pun intended since a good 60% or so of the action takes place in a moving car after the sun goes down). The movie and fine transfer are the main thing here. The only extra is a brief 12 minute behind the scenes featurette which provides some extremely interesting background material about director Jeremy Lovering's unique approach in making the film, BUT DO NOT WATCH IT BEFORE YOU SEE THE MOVIE.

Alice Englert - Jane Campion's Daughter
SPLATTERED IN BLOOD!

In Fear (2013) ***
Dir. Jeremy Lovering
Starring: Alice Englert, Iain De Caestecker, Allen Leech

Review By Greg Klymkiw

Being trapped deep in the Irish countryside - well, nowhere, really - there's probably nothing more fill-a-load-in-your-drawers scary than being lost in a strange rural maze as the sun is going down and that maybe, just maybe, you've inspired the wrath of some half-ton-driving drunken louts encountered earlier at a pub.

The future of indie cinema is HORROR

Such is the dilemma facing Lucy (Alice Englert) and Tom (Iain De Caestecker) as they drive to a musical festival. They're not quite a couple yet, but there's definitely a spark between them - so much so that when Tom suggests they veer off the road to a quaint, old hideaway hotel he's found on the internet for a night of romance before continuing on - Lucy agrees. Though she's feeling like things are moving a trifle too fast, they clearly have a solid rapport. Little does she know, however, that they'll be needing to move a whole lot faster than a mere "trifle" and it's going to have nothing to do with romance.

It turns out the hotel is located on a huge tract of gated land and includes a fairly long drive into deep, ominous woods. Alack and alas, their cel phone and GPS coverage cuts out which is not going to bode well as they plunge into a strangely circuitous series of roads with confusing signs and worse, the overwhelming sense that someone or something is out there. Strange sightings occur - mostly of the red-herring variety, but the couple's fear still hits them in exponential zaps.

Gas is getting low and Lucy not only suspects it might be the inbred young lads they've had some sort of altercation with in the nearby pub prior to beginning their journey, but that Tom had some words with them privately which really pissed them off. When she demands he come clean, whatever romantic spark once existed, pretty much fizzles. As the sun goes down, fear and tension builds as they get more and more lost. There's still no sign of a hotel and no matter which way they go, they wind up at the same strange old shack with an ominous "get the fuck away from here" No Trespassing sign.

And then they see someone. This is no red-herring.

Narratively, neither our main characters, nor we, the viewers, really know what's out there. Maybe it's the louts from the pub, but MAYBE it's something far more threatening. Maybe it's simply the fear of being caught in a maze of deep woods or maybe it's the fear turning to paranoia about the couple's respective motives and loyalties to and/or for each other.

Maybe, it's just the dark.

For the first half of the film, we're dazzled by Lovering's superb direction, the natural qualities of his actors and the highly skillful mise-en-scene which keeps a good deal of the action in the car. The film is also nimbly shot and cut and there are any number of moments that might require the audience's use of "Depends". The aforementioned unique approach to shooting the film contributes not only to the extreme levels of terror, but is also a testament to the brilliant performances of Englert (so wonderful in Ginger and Rosa) and De Caestecker. I will not spoil this for you. Try to avoid reading anything about the movie, OTHER than this piece before you see it. I've noticed far too many scribes belching out this info. And I reiterate - don't watch the Behind the Scenes extra until AFTER you see the movie.

For a good chunk of In Fear's running time, the antagonist is fear itself. This works beautifully and points to something that has all the makings of a minor genre classic. Though the narrative takes a clumsy turn in the last half, it doesn't completely detract from the movie's wham-bam qualities. In fact, some of it works quite well within the tropes of the genre. There are a few visceral scares, a good amount of jolting violence and one brilliantly, terrifyingly rendered set-piece involving a knife placed to the back of one of the heads of our protagonists as the vehicle careens wildly through the pitch black night on the mud roads during a torrential rain. (There's also a great performance from Allen Leech, whose high-pitched laughs rival those of the tricycle-riding lout in Sam Peckinpah's Straw Dogs.)

In Fear delightfully force-feeds us several table-spoon-sized dollops of scares, but it doesn't change the fact that the movie does slightly cheat us out of a direction that might have truly satisfied. The final third of the picture feels vaguely for nought. The literal evil, it turns out, seems quite banal and a real letdown. The big surprise reveal is not all that surprising and most egregiously, the film peters out into some kind of existential nonsense that makes little in the way of story comprehension and is certainly a head-scratcher in terms of the film's thematic elements.

In spite of this disappointment, the movie does bode well for future output from its clearly talented director and most importantly, it will still bristle the scare-nerves in thine sphincter.

Given that it's a thriller, one cannot argue with that.

In Fear is an Anchor Bay Entertainment Canada release. You can buy it (and other great Anchor Bay titles) here by clicking directly on the links below, and in so doing, contribute to the ongoing maintenance of The Film Corner.

In Fear is presented for one special night only as part of Raven Banner's superb cross-Canada monthly Sinister Cinema series of macabre offerings from all over the world.

In Fear takes place Thursday, March 13 at 7:30pm in 28 theatres.

The venues are as follows:

Scotiabank Theatre Chinook - Calgary, AB
Scotiabank Theatre Edmonton - Edmonton, AB
Cineplex Cinemas Saint John - Saint John, NB
Cineplex Cinemas Avalon Mall - St. John's, NL
Cineplex Odeon Victoria Cinemas - Victoria, BC
SilverCity Riverport Cinemas - Richmond, BC
Galaxy Cinemas Nanaimo - Nanaimo, BC
Cineplex Odeon International Village Cinemas - Vancouver, BC
Colossus Langley Cinemas - Langley, BC
SilverCity Polo Park Cinemas- Winnipeg, MB
SilverCity Sudbury Cinemas- Sudbury, ON
Galaxy Cinemas Regina - Regina, SK
Galaxy Cinemas Saskatoon - Saskatoon, SK
SilverCity Fairview Mall Cinemas - Toronto, ON
Cineplex Odeon Winston Churchill Cinemas - Oakville, ON
Cineplex Cinemas Yonge -Dundas Cinemas - Toronto, ON
Cineplex Odeon Eglinton Town Centre Cinemas - Scarborough, ON
Cineplex Cinemas Queensway and VIP - Etobicoke, ON
Colossus Vaughan Cinemas - Woodbridge, ON
Cineplex Cinemas Mississauga - Mississauga, ON
Coliseum Ottawa Cinemas - Ottawa, ON
SilverCity Gloucester Cinemas - Ottawa, ON
Cineplex Cinemas Bayers Lake - Halifax, NS
Cineplex Odeon Forum Cinemas - Montreal, QC
Cineplex Odeon Devonshire Mall Cinemas - Windsor, ON
Galaxy Cinemas Waterloo - Waterloo, ON
SilverCity Hamilton Cinemas - Hamilton, ON
SilverCity London Cinemas - London, ON

Additional screenings for In Fear
have been added to Cineplex Cinemas Yonge-Dundas:
March 14, 15, 17, 18 and 19.

Check Toronto local listing for confirmed dates and times.

OUT OF THE FURNACE - DVD/BLU-RAY review By Greg Klymkiw - Chilling Neo-Noir Crime Thriller set in the Rust Belt is now available in a beautifully transferred Blu-Ray/DVD combo from VVS Films. Rich for discovery by those who missed it theatrically and highlighting stunning shot-on-35mm cinematography.

Christian Bale, Woody Harrelson: Malevolent Bedfellows

Out of the Furnace is one of the best crime pictures in a long time - one of such unremitting violence and bleakness, yet imbued with a strange muted malevolence tempered by considerable humanity - that it's alternately surprising it received as wide a theatrical release as it did in early December of 2013 and did not, given the pedigree of its director, lay claim to far richer critical accolades and awards consideration that it so richly deserved.

Thankfully, it can be rediscovered by discriminating audiences in the gorgeously transferred new DVD/Blu-Ray combo from VVS Films. The film is gorgeously shot on actual 35mm FILM STOCK by ace cinematographer Masanobu Takayanagi, and while this was definitely pleasing theatrically on a big screen, audiences will be equally wowed by the look on Blu-Ray. Blu-Ray is definitely the way to go with this one right now and I urge people to see it this way rather than on far inferior modes of delivery like V.O.D. and/or digital download and streaming. The package is competitively priced and the film offers such riches that it's a movie worth owning to experience more than once. For me, the film is often enough in such cases, but for fans of added value material, you'll find a few items of interest such as as series of featurettes detailing subjects like "Inspiration: The Stars Of Out Of The Furnace Reveal What Inspired Them To Become Actors" (a bit too EPK-like for my taste), "A Conversation With Co-Writer-Director Scott Cooper" (decent enough, but I'd really have preferred a detailed commentary track since Cooper clearly has a gift for discussing filmmaking), "Crafting The Fight Scenes" (if this sort of thing interests you) and "The Music Of Out Of The Furnace" (of which I might have preferred a more in-depth analysis of). In a completely and utterly perfect world, a commentary with Cooper and Takayanagi which focused solely on the extraordinary look of the film would have tantalized me to no end, but it is sadly not to be since none of these companies ever hire ME to produce all their extra features. (Insert smiley face here.) The movie, is ultimately the thing, and you get that here in spades.

Out of the Furnace (2013) ***1/2
Dir. Scott Cooper

Starring: Christian Bale, Casey Affleck, Woody Harrelson,
Willem Dafoe, Sam Shepard, Zoe Saldana, Forest Whitaker

Review By Greg Klymkiw

When a movie opens with Woody Harrelson at a drive-in theatre forcibly shoving a wiener down his date's throat and then, after smashing her face repeatedly against the dashboard he barrels out of the vehicle to savagely beat a man who tries to come to the woman's rescue, you know beyond a shadow of any doubt where you are.

Hell.

It has another name in America - it's the Rust Belt, the grey, dirty and dreary cities and towns of Pennsylvania that belch endless clouds of poison smoke into the sky from the steel factories providing the lion's share of employment to the dazed citizenry unlucky enough to live there. Save for working in the mills that slowly kill you and/or signing up for military duty in the Middle East, the only other real employment is in the dark underworld that permeates the tattered fabric of this septic tank of despair.

There are plenty of bars and off-track betting parlours to numb the pain of living.

And there's violence. Plenty of it.

Director Scott (Crazy Heart) Cooper's fine, muted crime drama from a screenplay he adapted from an original script by Brad Ingelsby takes us through familiar territory, but it does so in ways wherein the eruptions of extreme cruelty come when you least expect them. The tropes of the genre are employed, but you never quite know how they'll manifest themselves and this might be one of the picture's greatest strengths. An atmosphere of hopelessness pervades the world of the film and even when Russell, a mill worker (deftly underplayed by Christian Bale) tries to make a good life for himself, events conspire to keep dashing his simple, reasonable hopes for something resembling a future. His brother Rodney (Casey Affleck) is a desperately shell-shocked soldier with three horrific tours of duty in Iraq (and a fourth pending). His solace is in gambling and his future in underground bare-knuckle boxing.

Amidst the empty storefronts of Braddock, Pennsylvania and in the dank, empty home where the brothers' Dad dies a painful death from the effects of working the mill his whole life, Russell and Rodney's lives will soon cross paths to be inextricably linked with the psychopathic thug Harlan DeGroat (Harrelson) and the tough, but strangely amiable bar-owner (and bookie) John Petty (Willem Dafoe). To say things get grim is an understatement.

Out of the Furnace is a heartbreaking portrait of an America on the verge of total collapse. Ironically, it's set on the eve of Barack Obama's victorious ascension to the presidency in 2008, but any shred of hope is dashed by the reality of a country that's been battered by a genuinely villainous corporate New World Order that is intent upon driving an even bigger wedge between rich and poor. What's left is an ever-increasing class of the working poor and the insidious element of low-level thuggery and crime.

The movie is finally unrelenting in painting a portrait of a grimy world not unlike the real Old West, where senseless acts of violence can be met with vengeance, but nothing about the retribution is sweet.

Director Cooper delivers a picture that'll be hard for audiences to face, but the end result will haunt them long after the lights comes up and strangely, they'll feel richer for having seen this journey rather than the myriad of empty extravaganzas littering the movie screens. Though the movie is saddled with an unfortunate love-interest and subplot involving Zoe Saldana, it survives this ho-hum intrusion upon a world that otherwise feels intrinsically male - where the traditional roles applied to men continue to permeate a savage, desperate existence.

"Out of the Furnace" is available in Blu-Ray/DVD combo from VVS Films. Feel free to order the film (and other great VVS Films titles) directly from the links below, and in so doing, support the ongoing maintenance of The Film Corner.

My American Brothers & Sisters can order directly from the links below, & in so doing, support The Film Corner HERE:

THE BANSHEE CHAPTER - DVD Review By Greg Klymkiw - Prepare to crap your pants when you see this movie!

THE BANSHEE CHAPTER is now available on DVD from levelFILM and guess what? I have finally succumbed to running movie giveaways on my site. Thanks to the fine folks at District PR, someone finally offered a title I not only love, but feel strongly enough about running a giveaway contest here at The Film Corner. THE FULL DETAILS on the contest are below. Hint: You'll need to actually read the review and do some work to win, but it'll be worth your while if you do. The DVD itself is a gorgeous transfer of a super-creepy, crap-your-pants sci-fi-horror-film and having just watched the DVD, I can declare unequivocally that the movie held up magnificently on a second viewing. I enjoyed it so much, I'll definitely partake of subsequent viewings.

THE BANSHEE CHAPTER won Film Corner accolades of the highest order. It was one of my TOP PICKS at Adam Lopez's 2013 Toronto After Dark Film Festival and also secured a spot on the Film Corner's TEN BEST HORROR FILMS OF 2013 list.

Without further delay, here's the review, and don't forget to play the skill-testing Trivia Challenge down below to WIN you very own FREE DVD copy of THE BANSHEE CHAPTER.

Synopsis:

A journalist (Katia Winter) searches for an old college chum (Michael McMillian) who disappears after experimenting with the same mind altering drugs actually used in secret experiments conducted by the American government during the 50s and 60s. She teams up with an irascible alcoholic druggie (Ted Levine) who is modelled - not at all loosely - upon the late "Fear and Loathing" author Hunter S. Thompson. What they discover is far more horrifying than anything, anyone could ever possibly imagine.

Babe-o-licious star Katia Winter displays
her exquisitely large mouth
designed especially for
SCREAMING!!!!!

The Banshee Chapter (2013)
Dir. Blair Erickson ***1/2
Starring: Katia Winter, Ted Levine

Review By Greg Klymkiw

On a level of pure visceral horror, The Banshee Chapter could be the most terrifying movie of the past decade. This relentlessly intense first feature by writer-director Blair Erickson creeps about with a slow burn, mounting steadily with each passing scene until it begins tossing the tried and true shock cuts when you least expect them. After each and every wham-bam of a cinematic sledge hammer to the face, I found myself literally clutching my chest, gasping for breath and croaking out, repeatedly: "Jesus Christ!" There's absolutely no denying the sheer force and directorial skill on display, however, the shocks are earned by an utterly horrific backdrop.

One of the scariest elements in the movie is the use of "numbers stations" within the context of some supremely creepy story beats. Numbers stations are well known to shortwave enthusiasts as the ultra-ominous broadcasts of code-like messages using a combination of spoken numbers and gibberish - usually uttered by disembodied voices of mostly women or even more hair-raisingly, children. Often assumed to be coded signals from various nations' espionage agencies, conspiracy theorists believe that many of them go well beyond the purview of mere government code and perhaps represent something even more insidious. Given that The Banshee Chapter goes out of its way - not only to scare the crap out of us, but to give us an acute case of the willies, it's safe to say we're treated to some of the most viciously vulpine assaults upon our collective psyches.

Katia Winter discovers something that makes her happy she's wearing "DEPENDS"

There's no two ways about this film's effectiveness as a shocker and that it's also blessed with a phenomenal, delightful and delectably over-the-top rendering of Hunter S. Thompson (let's not kid ourselves) by the legendary Ted (Silence of the Lambs' "Buffalo Bill") Levine. It's also a blessing that we get the super-hot babe Katia Winter delivering a more-than-credible performance as an online journalist who is driven, for once, not so much for the story, but to get at the truth behind the disappearance of a friend, but to also confirm and confront a nagging feeling that her feelings for her pal involve those of unrequited love.

The blasts of radio frequencies, the use of real stock footage and recreated "stick footage" and yes, all the diarrhea-inducing shock cuts combine beautifully to throw us aboard a roller coaster ride of terror we are often begging to be let off of. Everything that contributes to the movie's success as a pure horror film of the highest order are indeed present.

I think it's also important to note that the movie has more shock-cut scares per capita than anything released in years. Some critics might make the mistake of crapping on these as "cheap" scare tactics, but they can just shove their collective heads and snobby noses back up their respective assholes as far as I'm concerned. There's nothing "cheap" about this tactic. In fact, it was a stylistic tool invented by one of the greatest pioneers of horror in cinema history, the legendary chief of the genre division at the old studio R.K.O. Pictures.

The first time this sort of scare ever occurred was in 1942's The Cat People, that wonderful collaboration twixt Lewton, Jacques Tourneur and DeWitt Bodeen. When the shock came in that film, audiences all over the world filled their drawers. Lewton repeated the shock throughout several of his classic films and there was nothing cheap about it because it not only scared people, but was rooted within the whole notion of scaring people with the unknown, the dark and shadows and was also a natural tool within the storytelling itself. (The shock comes during the "walk in the park" sequence and what causes us to jump is what directors and crew - for decades afterwards - would refer to as "The Bus" whenever shots were being set up for eventual use in shock cut sequences. See the movie - most of you probably haven't - and you'll see why all the stalwart old crew hacks called these scenes "The Bus".)

The only time the scare is "cheap" is when there's nothing else in the picture. This is hardly the case with The Banshee Chapter since it pretty much never relies on overt violence or bloodletting, but comes from elements that are not only unique to the narrative, but are perfectly in keeping with the sense of pure paranoia that infuses Erickson's fine picture.

This, I think, however, is why it's a bit disappointing that the consistency in terms of visual storytelling seems somewhat arbitrary. We never are sure what perspective Erickson favours. At times, we feel like we're following a documentary film made by our leading lady, at other times, it feels like someone else's documentary, while yet again, the movie engages in the tropes of "found footage".

Do you really want to know what's being extracted here
and why
and how
it will be used?
Yeah, I thought not.

This lack of consistency might well have been an intentional attempt to always be shifting the perspective, but it's an experiment that usually doesn't pay off successfully because it seldom feels right. Whenever the question of what we're watching crosses our collective minds, we're yanked out of the forward trajectory and forced to regroup. Not that the intent is a bad one - it just doesn't always work and that's a bit of a shame. In retrospect, I have to sadly, if not grudgingly admit that this experiment and/or just plain inconsistent mise-en-scene is what keeps the movie from creeping into what could have been the territory of a pure horror classic. In spite of this, though, the scares are there - they're brutal as all get out - and I have no doubt Erickson will continue to deliver goods of an ever-higher artistic achievement. These are serious quibbles, but they don't take away my faith in his talent or the ultimate quality of the film (and my highest recommendation).

Most importantly, none of this changes the fact that I soiled a pair of pants and boxers that needed to go straight into the laundry after I saw The Banshee Chapter. Next year, I think I might need to attend the Toronto After Dark Film Festival adorned with some "Depends" - kind of like those pathetic gamblers at the casinos.

Hell, maybe distributor levelFILM and/or publicity firm District PR should cut a promotional tie-in with the Depend® brand. I give this idea to both entities - FREE OF CHARGE. Use it!

"The Banshee Chapter" was an Official Selection of the Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2013 and now available on DVD via "levelFILM".

THE GREAT "BANSHEE CHAPTER" FILM CORNER TRIVIA CHALLENGE TO WIN YOUR VERY OWN - FREE - DVD COPY OF "THE BANSHEE CHAPTER"

COURTESY OF: levelFilm, District PR and yours truly at The Film Corner. Here's what you need to do. Each day, for five days, I will add one Trivia Challenge Question related to the film being reviewed. At the end of five days, email all your answers with "BANSHEE" in the subject heading to klymkiwfilmcorner[at]yahoo[dot]ca. The first person to get all five questions right, will win this DVD.

And now, here's Question Number 1:

I refer to the historic innovator of the shock-cut in horror movies by name in the review, but I only refer to this individual by a last name. What is the first and last name of this brilliant head of RKO's horror division?

And now, here's Question #2:

So, you've answered Question 1 and identified the individual who innovated the shock-cut in horror movies and was the head of RKO's horror division. What famous multi-Academy-Award-winning producer did this person mentor and toil under for many years as a script editor, ghost writer, creative consultant and general assistant?

And now, here's Question #3:

Okay, so now you've answered Questions 1 and 2. You now know the name of the man who innovated the horror movie shock-cut we know and love and you've identified the name of the ridiculously famous and brilliant producer our man worked for (before becoming head of RKO's horror division), but now I'm going to really make you work. When our man worked for this famous producer, he was ordered to write up a few scenes depicting the suffering of wounded soldiers. Our man was so angry at the famous producer, he intentionally wrote (uncredited, of course) a scene that was essentially one long shot that was so huge, so expansive, so utterly un-doable and one that would have cost the entire sum of one low budget feature at the time. Our man knew for sure the scene would never be shot. The famous producer, however, was insane and LOVED the idea so much that he DID shoot it and it became one of the most famous shots in movie history. What was the name of this ultra-expensive, wildly popular epic feature that is still the biggest grossing film of all time (adjusted for inflation, of course)?

And now, here's Question #4:

Here's an easy one for you. In The Banshee Chapter, Ted Levine plays a Hunter S. Thompson-like madman. He played another kind of madman in The Silence of the Lambs. What's the name of the character in Jonathan Demme's thriller?

And now, what you've all been clamouring for - Question #5:

What is the full title of the classic fantasy film directed by the legendary low-budget director of the 50s and 60s (immortalized by John Goodman in Joe Dante's Matinee) who was famous for implementing wacky gimmicks in the cinemas showing his horror, sci-fi and fantasy films, but who also, in his final years, directed and produced a series of very serious, highly acclaimed genre pictures that were in the same cutting edge tradition as the new wave of low budget genre films being made now - like The Banshee Chapter? Hint: The full title of our mystery picture includes two "Z" letters.

So email your answers "BANSHEE" in the subject heading to klymkiwfilmcorner[at]yahoo[dot]ca. The first person to get all five questions right, will win the DVD The Banshee Chapter.

In the meantime, here are some fine levelFILM titles you can buy and if you buy 'em by directly clicking on the links below from amazon.ca, amazon.com and amazon.uk then you'll be contributing greatly to the ongoing maintenance of THE FILM CORNER:

ALAN PARTRIDGE - Review By Greg Klymkiw - The corporate branding of radio gets justifiable comic jabs. Steve Coogan is so funny he makes you forget that the sum of the picture's parts are greater than the whole.

STEVE COOGAN
proves once again why he's ever-so CLEARLY
one of the FUNNIEST men IN THE KNOWN UNIVERSE.

Alan Partridge (2013) **1/2
Dir. Declan Lowney
Starring: Steve Coogan, Colm Meaney

Review By Greg Klymkiw

Several notable elements, including a decent story idea, a fair whack of solid laugh-lines, a couple of knee-slapping physical comedy set pieces, plus the winning presence and performance of the picture's star, co-writer and creator Steve Coogan in the title role, all promise a tremendous tickler of the funny bone. The parts, however, prove greater than the whole. However, IF YOU LOVE STEVE COOGAN (and if you don't, you are bereft of brain and/or a sense of humour) you'll have a good time watching Alan Partridge.

Playing a sickeningly obnoxious disc jockey at a British seaside radio station, Coogan is, as per usual, a marvel. He manages to take a character which, by rights, would normally prove to be utterly detestable. By adding just the right (and subtle) smidgens of human shadings, he allows us to root for the borderline repulsive persona he occupies. In fact, it's a character Coogan and his UK fans know very well since he's been playing the wisecracking ingrate of the movie's title in a variety of mediums for over 20 years.

Alan Partridge, however, is the character's first official foray into feature film and one its makers no doubt hoped might make decent inroads into the North American marketplace. This, for now, is probably not in the cards. It's a pity, that the movie just isn't all that good. This is a drag, because the material is brimming with potential, but little else.

Even the most mainstream radio broadcast entities used to have something resembling personality on a corporate level as well as in the myriad of on-air styles and voices. Now, with endless conglomeration and idiotic "branding" and streamlining, audiences are being shovelled the horse shit of less and less choice. The station Partridge and his mates work for is vaguely milk toast-ish, but then, so are many of its listeners. A corporate takeover results in the firing of a folksy Irishman on the late night shift (Colm Meaney) and his subsequent armed hostage taking at the opening night party of the newly branded station puts Partridge in the unenviable position of being the key go-between for both sides.

The situation has a great deal of potential for mining the material for considerable substance and satire, but the flaccid direction by TV-camera-jockey Declan Lowney lets much of it down. As funny as much of the movie is, it's scattershot in all the wrong ways. It either needed the kind of in-your-face sledgehammer of a Sidney Lumet type or the roiling acidity of Lindsay Anderson or perhaps even, a gentler Ealing Comedy touch (soft on the outside, razor-sharp on the inside) - something the Scottish director Bill (Local Hero) Forsyth used to be so good at.

Instead, Alan Partridge is all over the place and suffers for it. The lack of a strong directorial voice and vision undercuts everything the movie seems to want desperately to do. Even Coogan is haphazardly directed here. When he's on, he's on, but when he's off, he's usually unnecessarily over the top and needed someone to reign him in and glean all the gold he can so amply deliver. (Coogan's great turn in Hamlet 2 is a perfect example of how he needs to be handled.)

Still, there are laughs to be had when Coogan hits the nail on the head with several of the film's zingers. "Never insult Muslims," Partridge warns his co-host. "Christians are fine and the Jews, a wee bit, but never Muslims." This, of course, is in response to an equally funny bit where an on-air caller is encouraged by Coogan's sidekick to promote peace in the Middle East by merging Judaism and Islam to yield "Juslims".

There's a screamingly funny bit when a station employee hides in a closet during the hostage taking and upon discovery reveals he's used his lunch box to take a crap in. Needless to say, when it's tossed out the window, the teams of Swat guys scatter when the lunchbox full of excrement lands at their feet.

After spinning one of several album cuts he and Meaney have to dig out of a storeroom since the new owners of the station have completely revamped the playlists, Coogan crows: "You can keep Jesus Christ. You just heard Neil Diamond - truly the 'King of the Jews'".

There are plenty of decent laughs to be had, but far too much of the movie feels like its clodhopping about to its predictable and unsatisfying conclusion. The movie needed a director - one with a firm hand, craft and a voice. Alas, this doesn't exist and the movie suffers for it.

Alan Partridge is currently in theatrical release via Video Services Corp. (VSC) It'll be worth a spin once it hits DVD, but until then, it offers up very little incentive to see on a big screen.

Here is a lovely selection of VSC (Video Service Corp.) titles you buy directly from the links below, and in so doing, contribute to the ongoing maintenance of The Film Corner:

86th Annual Academy Awards - The Oscars 2014: Ruminations, Predictions, Thoughts by Greg Klymkiw

Best Picture - the nominees

American Hustle: I pretty much detested this movie and its inclusion, while not surprising, is still - to my mind - a disgrace. The detestable David O. Russell reduces this period of shameful American activity of entrapment and sweeping vilification of Arabs to little more than a bargain basement Scorsese-influenced trifle overflowing with caricatures rather than characters.

Captain Phillips: God knows I love Paul Greengrass, but I thought this movie was super dull and frankly, I much prefer the really great film A Hijacking which is much better made and deals with similar subject matter WITHOUT stupid American propaganda elements.

Dallas Buyers Club: God knows I WANTED to love this movie and while Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto are never less than engaging, the movie still resembles a crock o' feel-good for Liberals to think they're getting a dose of what's good for them.

Gravity: There's really not much to enjoy here. Yeah, some of the visual F/X are dazzling, but 2001 still beats the crap out of this in the F/X department. There's also a whack of annoying dialogue, some of it bordering on sickening. There are, however, some nice shots of Sandra Bullock floating around in her skin-tight astronaut undies. The latter is probably, for some, worth the price of admission. I, for one, will not take away that pleasure from anyone.

Her: Easily one of the more sickening movies of the year.

Nebraska: This is a solid movie. Is it great? Far from it.

Philomena: This is a surprisingly good movie, but not something worthy of "best" consideration.

12 Years a Slave: Total Oscar-bait and due to McQueen's sledgehammer direction, a major slog to get through.

The Wolf of Wall Street: A genuinely terrific Scorsese picture that treats Wall Street chicanery with the same aplomb and in a similar fashion as any of his great crime pictures.

Nine movies nominated for Best Picture seems ludicrous. Granted, in its early days, the Academy allowed more than five nominations, but the recent decision to allow up to ten nominees makes the horse race in this category a lot less interesting than when the numbers stay down as they did for so many years.

As for the above nominees, the only movie I'd personally consider amongst this over-stuffed category is The Wolf of Wall Street. Movies that deserve to be in this list, but remaining ignored include The Lone Ranger, Inside Llewyn Davis, Fruitvale Station and Child of God. These four, plus The Wolf of Wall Street would be a total class act, but whoever said the Oscars were a class act?

Based on the sorry-aas list of nominees:

What SHOULD win: The Wolf of Wall Street
What WILL win: 12 Years a Slave

AND THE WINNER WAS: 12 Years a Slave
So far, 1/24

Best Actor in a Leading Role - the nominees

Christian Bale (American Hustle) - Good performance, but he's had better roles than this.

Bruce Dern (Nebraska) - A fine performance in an okay movie. A decent sentimental choice.

Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street) - Leo rocks big time in this!!!

Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave) - A genuinely great performance wasted in a not-so-good picture.

Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club) - He's always worth watching, but man, this picture blows chunks.

I can live with these nominations even though I think Oscar Isaac for Inside Llewyn Davis, Toni Servillo in The Great Beauty, Child of God's Scott Haze, Robert Redford in All is Lost, Michael B. Jordan for Fruitvale Station, Ali Suliman for The Attack and Gabriel Arcand in Le démantèlement ALL, to varying degrees got hosed by their non-nominations.

What SHOULD win: Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave)
What MIGHT win: Bruce Dern (Nebraska)
What WILL win: Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street)

AND THE WINNER WAS: Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)
Going against conventional wisdom did NOT pay off for me here in my prognostications.

Best Actress in a Leading Role - the nominees

Amy Adams (American Hustle) - She's fine here, but the movie stinks and she's done better work elsewhere.

Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine) - I pretty much can't stand her, but Woody got probably the best performance out of her that she's ever delivered (or will ever deliver).

Sandra Bullock (Gravity) - As retarded as The Blind Side was, I thought she was pretty great in that picture. Here, she's cute as all get-out, but pretty annoying anyway.

Judi Dench (Philomena) - No great shakes here, but a solid bit o' Dench.

Meryl Streep (August: Osage County) - Ditto.

This was a pretty woeful year for this category, but there were a lot of great female performances in non-American films like Mira Barkhammer in We Are The Best and Katharine Isabelle in American Mary blow all of these out of the water.

What SHOULD win: Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)
What WILL win: Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)

AND THE WINNER WAS: Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)
So far 2/24

Best Actor in a Supporting Role - the nominees

Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips) - Abdi was genuinely brilliant and managed to be far more sympathetic a figure than Tom Hanks in this generally anti-desperate-acts-of-poor-people piece of crap.

Bradley Cooper (American Hustle) - Sorry. This guy is just sickening.

Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave) - He shore whups real purty-like.

Jonah Hill (The Wolf of Wall Street) - Hill continues to dazzle and this was a lovely performance.

Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club) - I'm in the minority here, it's a great performance, but the role as written feels like Oscar bait engineered to make Liberals feel good.

What SHOULD win: Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips)
What WILL win: Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)

AND THE WINNER WAS: Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)
So far 3/24

Best Actress in a Supporting Role - the nominees

Sally Hawkins (Blue Jasmine) - Solid, non-showy performance.

Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle) - Less sickening than she usually is.

Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave) - Genuinely great performance in a cruddy, overrated movie.

Julia Roberts (August: Osage County) - A solid enough performance in an okay piece o' Southern Gothic.

June Squibb (Nebraska) - This performance knocked me on my ass and I'd love to see her win.

Who SHOULD win: June Squibb (Nebraska)
Who WILL win: Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle)

AND THE WINNER WAS: Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave)
Blew this prediction bigtime.

Best Animated Feature - the nominees

The Croods (Chris Sanders, Kirk DeMicco, Kristine Belson)
Despicable Me 2 (Chris Renaud, Pierre Coffin, Chris Meledandri)
Ernest & Celestine (Benjamin Renner, Didier Brunner)
Frozen (Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, Peter Del Vecho)
The Wind Rises (Hayao Miyazaki, Toshio Suzuki)

I hated all of these except for Frozen and the Miyazaki and since he's planning to retire, I assume…

What SHOULD win: The Wind Rises (Hayao Miyazaki, Toshio Suzuki)
What WILL win: The Wind Rises (Hayao Miyazaki, Toshio Suzuki)

AND THE WINNER WAS: Frozen (Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, Peter Del Vecho)
Reminder to self: Don't go for retiring Japanese Masters of Cinema.

Best Cinematography - the nominees

The Grandmaster (Philippe Le Sourd)
Gravity (Emmanuel Lubezki)
Inside Llewyn Davis (Bruno Delbonnel)
Nebraska (Phedon Papamichael)
Prisoners (Roger A. Deakins)

What SHOULD win: Inside Llewyn Davis (Bruno Delbonnel) or Nebraska (Phedon Papamichael)
What WILL win: Gravity (Emmanuel Lubezki)

AND THE WINNER WAS: Gravity (Emmanuel Lubezki)
So far, 4/24

Best Costume Design - the nominees

American Hustle (Michael Wilkinson)
The Grandmaster (William Chang Suk Ping)
The Great Gatsby (Catherine Martin)
The Invisible Woman (Michael O'Connor)
12 Years a Slave (Patricia Norris)

What SHOULD win: 12 Years a Slave (Patricia Norris)
What WILL win: 12 Years a Slave (Patricia Norris)

AND THE WINNER WAS: The Great Gatsby (Catherine Martin)

Best Directing - the nominees

American Hustle (David O. Russell)
Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón)
Nebraska (Alexander Payne)
12 Years a Slave (Steve McQueen)
The Wolf of Wall Street (Martin Scorsese)

Let's be honest here: The Coen Brothers got royally hosed. So did James Franco and any number of fine directors who made far better movies than most of those nominated.

What SHOULD win: The Wolf of Wall Street (Martin Scorsese)
What WILL win: Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón)

AND THE WINNER WAS: Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón)
So far, 5/24

Best Documentary Feature - the nominees

The Act of Killing (Joshua Oppenheimer, Signe Byrge Sørensen)
Cutie and the Boxer (Zachary Heinzerling, Lydia Dean Pilcher)
Dirty Wars (Richard Rowley, Jeremy Scahill)
The Square (Jehane Noujaim, Karim Amer)
20 Feet from Stardom

Sarah Polley was hosed BIGTIME by not getting nominated here with her great documentary Stories We Tell, but this is a respectable enough list of nominees except for the loathsome 20 Feet From Stardom. While The Square has been getting some heat, there's only one picture here that deserves every imaginable award.

What SHOULD win: The Act of Killing (Joshua Oppenheimer, Signe Byrge Sørensen)
What WILL win: The Act of Killing (Joshua Oppenheimer, Signe Byrge Sørensen)

AND THE WINNER (UNFORTUNATELY) WAS - UGH! - 20 Feet from Stardom

Best Documentary Short

I haven't seen any of these nominees, but one of them is about a Holocaust survivor, so it stands the best chance of winning. Look for The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life (Malcolm Clarke, Nicholas Reed) to collect Oscar.

AND THE WINNER WAS INDEED: The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life (Malcolm Clarke, Nicholas Reed)
So far 6/25

Best Film Editing - the nominees

American Hustle (Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers, Alan Baumgarten)
Captain Phillips (Christopher Rouse)
Dallas Buyers Club (John Mac McMurphy, Martin Pensa)
Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón, Mark Sanger)
12 Years a Slave (Joe Walker)

The work here is - to varying degrees - competent, but Thelma got hosed by not getting nominated for The Wolf of Wall Street and I suspect the predictable winner amongst these nominees will be the undeserving of any accolades Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón, Mark Sanger).

AND THE WINNER WAS: Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón, Mark Sanger)
So far 7/24

Best Foreign Language Film - the nominees

The Broken Circle Breakdown (Belgium)
The Great Beauty (Italy)
The Hunt (Denmark)
The Missing Picture (Cambodia)
Omar (Palestine)

This is an excellent list of nominees. Quite a few foreign pictures got hosed for nominations, but ultimately, there's only one that stands a chance.

What SHOULD win: The Great Beauty (Italy)
What WILL win: The Great Beauty (Italy)

AND THE WINNER WAS: The Great Beauty (Italy)
So far 8/24

Best Makeup and Hairstyling - the nominees

Dallas Buyers Club (Adruitha Lee, Robin Mathews)
Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (Stephen Prouty)
The Lone Ranger (Joel Harlow, Gloria Pasqua-Casny)

I love that a Jackass film scores a nomination, but my personal pick would be The Lone Ranger, a terrific movie that got hosed for lack of nominations, lack of critical accolades, lack of decent box-office and a studio that could have done a way better job marketing it. Of course, the winner will go to the overrated precious load of B.S.

What SHOULD win: The Lone Ranger (Joel Harlow, Gloria Pasqua-Casny)
What WILL win: Dallas Buyers Club (Adruitha Lee, Robin Mathews)

AND THE WINNER WAS: Dallas Buyers Club (Adruitha Lee, Robin Mathews)
So far 9/24

Best Original Score - the nominees

The Book Thief (John Williams)
Gravity (Steven Price)
Her (William Butler, Owen Pallett)
Philomena (Alexandre Desplat)
Saving Mr. Banks (Thomas Newman)

None of these nominees are much good, but if I had to pick . . .

What SHOULD win: Philomena (Alexandre Desplat)
What WILL win: Gravity (Steven Price)

AND THE WINNER WAS: Gravity (Steven Price)
So far 10/24

Best Original Song - the nominees

Happy (Despicable Me 2)
Let It Go (Frozen)
The Moon Song (Her)
Ordinary Love (Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom)

This has long been the worst category of them all.

What WILL win: The Moon Song (Her)
AND THE WINNER WAS: Let It Go (Frozen)

Best Production Design - the nominees

American Hustle (Judy Becker, Heather Loeffler)
Gravity (Andy Nicholson, Rosie Goodwin, Joanne Woollard)
The Great Gatsby (Catherine Martin, Beverley Dunn)
Her (K.K. Barrett, Gene Serdena)
12 Years a Slave (Adam Stockhausen, Alice Baker)

How The Lone Ranger got hosed here is beyond me.

What WILL win: Gravity (Andy Nicholson, Rosie Goodwin, Joanne Woollard)
AND THE WINNER WAS: The Great Gatsby (Catherine Martin, Beverley Dunn)

Best Animated Short Film

I've seen none of the nominees, nor have I bothered to find out what any of them are about, so I'll pick a winner based solely on the title: The Oscar WILL go to: Feral (Daniel Sousa, Dan Golden)

AND THE WINNER WAS: Mr Hublot

Best Live Action Short Film

Again,I've seen none of the nominees, nor have I bothered to find out what any of them are about, so I'll pick a winner based solely on the country it appears to be from: The Oscar WILL go to: Pitääkö Mun Kaikki Hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?) (Selma Vilhunen, Kirsikka Saari)

AND THE WINNER WAS: Helium

Best Sound Editing - the nominees

All Is Lost (Steve Boeddeker, Richard Hymns)
Captain Phillips (Oliver Tarney)
Gravity (Glenn Freemantle)
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Brent Burge, Chris Ward)
Lone Survivor (Wylie Stateman)

What SHOULD win: All Is Lost (Steve Boeddeker, Richard Hymns)
What WILL win: Gravity (Glenn Freemantle)

AND THE WINNER WAS: Gravity (Glenn Freemantle)
So far 11/24

Best Sound Mixing - the nominees

Captain Phillips (Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor, Mike Prestwood Smith, Chris Munro)
Gravity (Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead, Chris Munro)
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Christopher Boyes, Michael Hedges, Michael Semanick, Tony Johnson)
Inside Llewyn Davis (Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff, Peter F. Kurland)
Lone Survivor (Andy Koyama, Beau Borders, David Brownlow)

What SHOULD win: Inside Llewyn Davis (Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff, Peter F. Kurland)
What WILL win: Gravity (Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead, Chris Munro)

AND THE WINNER WAS: Gravity (Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead, Chris Munro)
So far 12/24

Best Visual Effects - the nominees

Gravity (Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk, Neil Corbould)
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton, Eric Reynolds)
Iron Man 3 (Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Erik Nash, Dan Sudick)
The Lone Ranger (Tim Alexander, Gary Brozenich, Edson Williams, John Frazier)
Star Trek Into Darkness (Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Ben Grossmann, Burt Dalton)

What SHOULD win: The Lone Ranger (Tim Alexander, Gary Brozenich, Edson Williams, John Frazier)
What WILL win: Gravity (Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk, Neil Corbould)

AND THE WINNER WAS: Gravity (Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk, Neil Corbould)
So far 13/24

Best Adapted Screenplay - the nominees

Before Midnight (Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke)
Captain Phillips (Billy Ray)
Philomena (Steve Coogan, Jeff Pope)
12 Years a Slave (John Ridley)
The Wolf of Wall Street (Terence Winter)

What SHOULD win: The Wolf of Wall Street (Terence Winter)
What WILL win: 12 Years a Slave (John Ridley)

AND THE WINNER WAS: 12 Years a Slave (John Ridley)
So far 14/24

Best Original Screenplay

American Hustle (Eric Warren Singer, David O. Russell)
Blue Jasmine (Woody Allen)
Dallas Buyers Club (Craig Borten, Melisa Wallack)
Her (Spike Jonze)
Nebraska (Bob Nelson)

What SHOULD win: Blue Jasmine (Woody Allen)
What WILL win: Her (Spike Jonze)

AND THE WINNER WAS: Her (Spike Jonze)

Well, there you have it - for what it's worth (and it ain't really worth much, but what else are you doing on a Sunday night?)

So I only guessed 15/24 correctly. All that means is never look to me for handicapping the Oscars. I'm also dreadful at Oscar trivia. I had to look all the winners up to actually do this tally on the morning after.