...And the winner ISN'T
Fantastic films that fell short of capturing Hollywood's biggest prize, but were surely happy to be nominated!
CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON 2000
Academy Award nominee for Best Picture, 2000. Two master warriors (Chow Yun Fat and Michelle Yeoh) are faced with their greatest challenge when the treasured Green Destiny sword is stolen. A young aristocrat (Zhang Ziyi) prepares for an arranged marriage, but soon reveals her superior fighting talents and her deeply romantic past. As each warrior battles for justice, they come face to face with their worst enemy - and the inescapable, enduring power of love. Set against 19th-century China's breathtaking landscape, CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON is the action-packed, box office smash from acclaimed director Ang Lee (Sense and Sensibility, The Ice Storm) featuring stunning martial arts choreography by Yuen Wo Ping (The Matrix).
Friday, March 3
Director: Ang Lee
Starring: Chow Yun-fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi, Chang Chen, Lang Sihung, and Cheng Pei-pei.
Runtime: 120 min.
Saturday, March 4
HER 2013
Academy Award nominee for Best Picture, 2013. Set in Los Angeles of the slight future, HER follows Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Pheonix), a complex, soulful man who makes his living writing touching, personal letters for other people. Heartbroken after the end of a long relationship, he becomes intrigued with a new, advanced operating system. Upon initiating it, he is delighted to meet “Samantha” (Scarlett Johansson), a bright, female voice who is insightful, sensitive, and surprisingly funny. As her needs and desires grow in tandem with his own, their friendship deepens into an eventual and unconventional love for each other.
Friday, March 10
Director: Spike Jonze
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Scarlett Johansson, Amy Adams, Rooney Mara.
Runtime: 126 min.
Saturday, March 11
Director: George Miller
Starring: Charlize Theron, Tom Hardy, Nicholas Hoult, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.
Runtime: 120 min.
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD 2015
Academy Award nominee for Best Picture, 2015. From filmmaker George Miller, originator of the post-apocalyptic genre and mastermind behind the legendary Mad Max trilogy, comes this return to the world of the Road Warrior, Max Rockatansky. Haunted by his turbulent past, Mad Max (Tom Hardy -- The Dark Knight Rises) believes the best way to survive is to wander alone. Nevertheless, he becomes swept up with a band of survivors fleeing across the Wasteland in a war rig driven by an elite Imperator, Furiosa (Oscar ® winner Charlize Theron-- Prometheus). They are escaping a Citadel tyrannized by the Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne), from whom something irreplaceable has been taken. Enraged, the Warlord marshals all his gangs and ruthlessly pursues the rebels in the high-octane Road War that follows.
Friday, March 17
Saturday, March 18
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Starring: John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman, Bruce Willis.
Runtime: 154 min.
PULP FICTION 1994
Academy Award nominee for Best Picture, 1994. Jules Winnfield and Vincent Vega are two hitmen out to retrieve a suitcase stolen from their employer, mob boss Marsellus Wallace. Wallace has also asked Vincent to take his wife Mia out a few days later when Wallace himself will be out of town. Butch Coolidge is an aging boxer who is paid by Wallace to lose his next fight. Honey Bunny and Pumpkin are a couple of young lovers and small time thieves who decide they need a change of venue. The lives of these seemingly unrelated people are woven together in a wildly entertaining and exhilarating motion picture adventure that both thrills and amuses.