Detroit documentary 'Searching for Sugarman' gets Oscar nod

Emma Stone and Seth MacFarlane

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences award nominations are in and there were a few surprises. 

A still from the Life of Pi

Ang Lee's groundbreaking movie Life of Pi about a young man who survives a disaster at sea and is hurtled into an epic journey of adventure and discovery along with another of the ship's survivors, a fearsome Bengal tiger earned almost as many Oscar nods as Lincoln. Steven Spielberg's Lincoln, about the 16th president and his battle to end slavery, earned 12 nods including best picture. Life of Pi was second with 11 nominations, including best picture, best director and best adapted screenplay.

A still from Beasts of the Southern Wild

Also a nice surprise to everyone, except Oprah, who featured the Beasts of the Southern Wild's first-time director Benh Zeitlin and breakout star Quvenzhané Wallis on OWN - thus creating the Hollywood buzz surrounding the film. Wallis, 9, earned a nomination for best actress, becoming the youngest person ever in that category. 

Along with the good news came a few disappointments including the exclusion of Quentin Tarantino and Kathryn Bigelow from the best director nominations. Tarantino's Django Unchained and Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty, respectively - received best picture nominations. 

Still from Searching for Sugar Man

Michigan movie fans are cheering the not-so-surprising Oscar nod for Searching for Sugar Man. The documentary tells the incredible story of Rodriguez, the greatest '70s rock icon who never was. Discovered in a Detroit bar in the late '60s by two celebrated producers struck by his soulful melodies and prophetic lyrics, they recorded an album which they believed would secure his reputation as the greatest recording artist of his generation. In fact, the album bombed and the singer disappeared into obscurity amid rumors of a gruesome on-stage suicide. But a bootleg recording found its way into apartheid South Africa and, over the next two decades, he became a phenomenon. The film follows the story of two South African fans who set out to find out what really happened to their hero," according to the summary by Rotten Tomatoes. "Their investigation leads them to a story more extraordinary than any of the existing myths about the artist known as Rodriguez."

The following list of nominees were announced by Seth MacFarlane and Emma Stone. MacFarlane famous for being The Family Guy mastermind and writer/director of the comedy Ted, will host the Oscars, which are scheduled for Feb. 24 on ABC-TV. 

Best Picture

• * "Amour" Nominees to be determined
• * "Argo" Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck and George Clooney, Producers
• * "Beasts of the Southern Wild" Dan Janvey, Josh Penn and Michael Gottwald, Producers
• * "Django Unchained" Stacey Sher, Reginald Hudlin and Pilar Savone, Producers
• * "Les Misérables" Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward and Cameron Mackintosh, Producers
• * "Life of Pi" Gil Netter, Ang Lee and David Womark, Producers
• * "Lincoln" Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers
• * "Silver Linings Playbook" Donna Gigliotti, Bruce Cohen and Jonathan Gordon, Producers
• * "Zero Dark Thirty" Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow and Megan Ellison, Producers

Actor in a Leading Role

• * Bradley Cooper in "Silver Linings Playbook"
• * Daniel Day-Lewis in "Lincoln"
• * Hugh Jackman in "Les Misérables"
• * Joaquin Phoenix in "The Master"
• * Denzel Washington in "Flight"
• Actor in a Supporting Role
• * Alan Arkin in "Argo"
• * Robert De Niro in "Silver Linings Playbook"
• * Philip Seymour Hoffman in "The Master"
• * Tommy Lee Jones in "Lincoln"
• * Christoph Waltz in "Django Unchained"
• Actress in a Leading Role
• * Jessica Chastain in "Zero Dark Thirty"
• * Jennifer Lawrence in "Silver Linings Playbook"
• * Emmanuelle Riva in "Amour"
• * Quvenzhané Wallis in "Beasts of the Southern Wild"
• * Naomi Watts in "The Impossible"

Actress in a Supporting Role

• * Amy Adams in "The Master"
• * Sally Field in "Lincoln"
• * Anne Hathaway in "Les Misérables"
• * Helen Hunt in "The Sessions"
• * Jacki Weaver in "Silver Linings Playbook"

Animated Feature Film

• * "Brave" Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman
• * "Frankenweenie" Tim Burton
• * "ParaNorman" Sam Fell and Chris Butler
• * "The Pirates! Band of Misfits" Peter Lord
• * "Wreck-It Ralph" Rich Moore

Cinematography

• * "Anna Karenina" Seamus McGarvey
• * "Django Unchained" Robert Richardson
• * "Life of Pi" Claudio Miranda
• * "Lincoln" Janusz Kaminski
• * "Skyfall" Roger Deakins

Costume Design

• * "Anna Karenina" Jacqueline Durran
• * "Les Misérables" Paco Delgado
• * "Lincoln" Joanna Johnston
• * "Mirror Mirror" Eiko Ishioka
• * "Snow White and the Huntsman" Colleen Atwood

Directing

1. * "Amour" Michael Haneke
2. * "Beasts of the Southern Wild" Benh Zeitlin
3. * "Life of Pi" Ang Lee
4. * "Lincoln" Steven Spielberg
5. * "Silver Linings Playbook" David O. Russell

Documentary Feature

• * "5 Broken Cameras"
• Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi
• * "The Gatekeepers"
• Nominees to be determined
• * "How to Survive a Plague"
• Nominees to be determined
• * "The Invisible War"
• Nominees to be determined
• * "Searching for Sugar Man"
• Nominees to be determined

Documentary Short Subject

• * "Inocente"
• Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine
• * "Kings Point"
• Sari Gilman and Jedd Wider
• * "Mondays at Racine"
• Cynthia Wade and Robin Honan
• * "Open Heart"
• Kief Davidson and Cori Shepherd Stern
• * "Redemption"
• Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill

Film Editing

• * "Argo" William Goldenberg
• * "Life of Pi" Tim Squyres
• * "Lincoln" Michael Kahn
• * "Silver Linings Playbook" Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers
• * "Zero Dark Thirty" Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg

Foreign Language Film

• * "Amour" Austria
• * "Kon-Tiki" Norway
• * "No" Chile
• * "A Royal Affair" Denmark
• * "War Witch" Canada

Makeup and Hairstyling

• * "Hitchcock"
• Howard Berger, Peter Montagna and Martin Samuel
• * "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"
• Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater and Tami Lane
• * "Les Misérables"
• Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell

Music (Original Score)

• * "Anna Karenina" Dario Marianelli
• * "Argo" Alexandre Desplat
• * "Life of Pi" Mychael Danna
• * "Lincoln" John Williams
• * "Skyfall" Thomas Newman

Music (Original Song)

• * "Before My Time" from "Chasing Ice"
• Music and Lyric by J. Ralph
• * "Everybody Needs A Best Friend" from "Ted"
• Music by Walter Murphy; Lyric by Seth MacFarlane
• * "Pi's Lullaby" from "Life of Pi"
• Music by Mychael Danna; Lyric by Bombay Jayashri
• * "Skyfall" from "Skyfall"
• Music and Lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth
• * "Suddenly" from "Les Misérables"
• Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg; Lyric by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil

Production Design

• * "Anna Karenina"
• Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
• * "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"
• Production Design: Dan Hennah; Set Decoration: Ra Vincent and Simon Bright
• * "Les Misérables"
• Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Anna Lynch-Robinson
• * "Life of Pi"
• Production Design: David Gropman; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
• * "Lincoln"
• Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson

Short Film (Animated)

• * "Adam and Dog" Minkyu Lee
• * "Fresh Guacamole" PES
• * "Head over Heels" Timothy Reckart and Fodhla Cronin O'Reilly
• * "Maggie Simpson in "The Longest Daycare"" David Silverman
• * "Paperman" John Kahrs

Short Film (Live Action)

• * "Asad" Bryan Buckley and Mino Jarjoura
• * "Buzkashi Boys" Sam French and Ariel Nasr
• * "Curfew" Shawn Christensen
• * "Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw)" Tom Van Avermaet and Ellen De Waele
• * "Henry" Yan England

Sound Editing

• * "Argo" Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn
• * "Django Unchained" Wylie Stateman
• * "Life of Pi" Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton
• * "Skyfall" Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers
• * "Zero Dark Thirty" Paul N.J. Ottosson

Sound Mixing

• * "Argo"
• John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Jose Antonio Garcia
• * "Les Misérables"
• Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes
• * "Life of Pi"
• Ron Bartlett, D.M. Hemphill and Drew Kunin
• * "Lincoln"
• Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Ronald Judkins
• * "Skyfall"
• Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell and Stuart Wilson

Visual Effects

• * "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"
• Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and R. Christopher White
• * "Life of Pi"
• Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott
• * "Marvel's The Avengers"
• Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams and Dan Sudick
• * "Prometheus"
• Richard Stammers, Trevor Wood, Charley Henley and Martin Hill
• * "Snow White and the Huntsman"
• Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould and Michael Dawson

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

• * "Argo" Screenplay by Chris Terrio
• * "Beasts of the Southern Wild" Screenplay by Lucy Alibar & Benh Zeitlin
• * "Life of Pi" Screenplay by David Magee
• * "Lincoln" Screenplay by Tony Kushner
• * "Silver Linings Playbook" Screenplay by David O. Russell

Writing (Original Screenplay)

• * "Amour" Written by Michael Haneke
• * "Django Unchained" Written by Quentin Tarantino
• * "Flight" Written by John Gatins
• * "Moonrise Kingdom" Written by Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola
• * "Zero Dark Thirty" Written by Mark Boal
•  

Let's hope there are some surprises among today's Oscar nominations

It's Oscar morning.

That means all of the bets and predictions pertaining to this year’s list of Academy Award nominees are on the table.

As for what names will be called shortly?

It’s anyone’s guess and there’s been plenty of speculation in the past couple of weeks, some it based on performance and some on the buzz surrounding the nominations already chosen for the Golden Globe and People's Choice Awards.

While I agree on many of the choices made by my colleagues during the week – including Ben Affleck’s Argo and Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty for Best Picture, I love surprises.

Suraj Sharma

Wouldn’t it be nice, for example, to hear that Suraj Sharma, whose performance in director Ang Lee's acclaimed film Life of Pi, is one of the reasons it is being considered for best picture, was among those nominated for best actor. 

While no surprise to anyone who saw Perks of Being a Wallflower a nomination for best director and best adapted screenplay for Perks writer/director Stephen Chbosky would be well received. While you’re at it, how about including Perks cast member Ezra Miller in the running for best supporting actor?

Logan Lerman, Ezra Miller and Emma Watson/Perks of Being a Wallflower.

As for absolutes in this year’s Oscar race. I would say, I would be very surprised if actress Jennifer Lawrence's performance in Silver Linings Playbook didn't earn her a spot on the best actress list or actor Daniel Day-Lewis was not among the names listed for best actor nominee. I would also leap to say (bet you a penny even) he’ll be taking Oscar home for his performance as the president in Lincoln.

Soon we'll see!

So many opts for apps makes it tough for parents to choose

Getty Images

If you’re a parent these days -- chances are you’ve been introduced to e-books, apps and gadgets. It’s also likely that you know the value that these tools can have in integrating learning into a child’s play time at home.  The problem many parents are having is -- knowing which ones are right for their family.

“From storybooks to educational games and apps, there are a number of options to choose from, and the countless titles can seem daunting,” according to a report by Beluga Bloo (www.belugabloocom), a branch of Hung Hing Printing Group Limited. Launched in 2011 and with 60 years of experience in the children’s books industry, BelugaBloo’s site features a creative e-bookstore and expansive selection of animated interactive apps and games tailored to children up to age 12. For those parents looking to find the right learning apps for their family -- BelugaBloo’s technology team offers the following tips:

www.belugabloo.com

•  For best results a child must be engaged in the learning process. Look for highly-interactive apps that encourage children to actively participate in an activity and to discover. Apps and even e-books that feature sound recognition and activities such as coloring will help your child’s learning journey while having fun in the process.

•  Stay focused on the purpose so you’re not swayed by popularity. Flashy programs might seem cool and are probably a fun way to pass the time but are they educational? “Apps that inspire the imagination and spark kids’ interest in learning will pay off greater in the long run. For example, ‘Flashcard Beebee,’ features a fun-loving monkey that helps teach the ABCs with cute and colorful animations for each letter of the alphabet,” states the BelugaBloo report. 

•  Can the app be customized? You want an app that allows you to adapt the modes to fit your child’s educational level. Look for apps that have options such as “read to me,” “ready by myself,” “auto play.” Even the games you choose should allow you to create a personalized experience – otherwise your child could become bored, frustrated or both.

•  The ultimate goal is education but in order to help children develop a positive association with learning a good app will also be fun.  Look for modern day twists on classic stories. BelugaBloo’s “Groovy Story of the Tortoise and the Hare,” “The Pig’s Day” and “The Three Little Gators” are all examples of well-loved stories with a fun and modern twist.

• As with anything you buy shop for value. Apps that do double duty are likely to increase the interest of your child and the lessons they are learning. BelugBloo’s “The Drip Drops,” for example, is a series of e-books and games that center on art, colors, reading and creativity while also promoting basic problem solving and positive self-esteem. You might also consider an app that offers lessons in English and say Spanish or French? In this case the child is engaging in an educational activity while also learning a second language.

The Drip Drops

• Consider your child’s interests. Maybe your son loves pirates or dinosaurs. With the market being what it is there’s a good chance you’ll find an app that features a swashbuckler or T-Rex engaged in some kind of educational activity. “Lullaby Piano” is an app that lets music lovers sing and learn how to play some of their favorite nursery rhymes and songs on a digital keyboard.

• The best part about the digital world is that it offers immediate access to user’s feedback. Before you purchase an e-book, game or app check out the reviews and comments from other users. What did they like or dislike? If you have a child with special needs or a specific problem look for a site where you can post a question for other customers. See what other parents and teachers think. Any app that received good reviews from other parents or even teachers will increase the odds that a particular piece of content will appeal to you and your children.

Send your comments or home and garden tips to gina.joseph@macombdaily.com; @gljoseph

The little movie, 'This Is Not A Film' makes Oscar's big list

Filmmaker Jafar Panahi

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that 15 films in the Documentary Feature category will advance in the voting process for the 85th Academy Awards. 

A documentary film is defined as a broad category of visual expression that is based on the attempt, in one fashion or another, to "document" reality.

More real than anyone would care to imagine is Jafar Panahi's, This Is Not A Film, one of the 15 documentary motion pictures to make the Oscar's long list.

While under house arrest, the veteran filmmaker and his comrade, a cameraman who risks punishment himself, turn a depressing-as-hell situation into a powerful message of hope, strength and friendship using the only means at hand (one camera and a cellular phone). Shot over the course of a day in Panahi's Tehran apartment, the two prove victorious in creating the documentary about not being able to make a documentary, and smuggling it out of the country on a flash drive baked in cake. 

Watching the veteran filmmaker draw from his lifelong experience, heart, soul, to create a homemade documentary, which in itself shows the genius of creativity at work against an oppressing regime, was an experience everyone should enjoy.

As with many journalists covering the Toronto International Film Festival, I stumbled across this film by accident -- READ FULL STORY

Two Detroit documentaries make Oscar's long list
 

A scene from Detropia (photo: Loki Films)

Also in the 2012 Oscar Race listed below in alphabetical order by title with their production companies, are:  
* Detropia, Loki Films 
* Searching for Sugar Man, Red Box Films and Passion Pictures in association with Canfield Pictures
* Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, Never Sorry LLC

* Bully, The Bully Project LLC

* Chasing Ice, Exposure

* Ethel, Moxie Firecracker Films

* 5 Broken Cameras, Guy DVD Films and Burnat Films Palestine

* The Gatekeepers, Les Films du Poisson, Dror Moreh Productions

* The House I Live In, Charlotte Street Films

* How to Survive a Plague, How to Survive a Plague

* The Imposter, Imposter Pictures

* The Invisible War, Chain Camera Pictures

* Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, Jigsaw Productions in association with Wilder Film Projects and Below the Radar Films

* The Waiting Room, Open'hood

Members of the academy's documentary branch will narrow the list to five nominees. Nominations come out Jan. 10, with the Oscar show following on Feb. 24.