SUMMER BREAK....

I would be starting a new series to commemorate the 80th Anniversary of the Academy Awards titled: OSCAR'S ACTING GIANTS
in which several films starring Academy Award winners and nominees will be selected, reviewed and blogged

HOWARDS END (1993)

Directed by James Ivory

Encounter of three social classes of the England at the beginning of the century : the victorian capitalists (the Wilcoxes) considering themselves as aristocrats, whose only god is money ; the enlightened bourgeois (the Schlegels), humanistic and philanthropist ; and the workers (the Basts), fighting to survive. The Schlegel sisters' humanism will be torn apart as they try both to softly knock down the Wilcox's prejudices and to help the Basts

Nominated for 9 Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Art/Set Decoration, Best Oginal Score and Best Costume Design

Won 3, Best Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Art/Set Decoration

Until 2007's win by Helen Mirren (The Queen), Emma Thompson was the last British Winner of the Best Actress Academy Award

DVD Special Features

None

Z (1969)

Directed by Costa-Gavras

Costa-Gavras chronicles the overthrow of the democratic government in Greece. When a liberal politician is murdered in an attack during a peace demonstration, the right wing established figures in the military and the police try and hide not only their parts in it, but try to cover up the murder as well. The prosecutor must act as a detective in order to go through the cover up. While historically accurate, it is told as a combination mystery and thriller.

Nominated for 5 Academy Awards, Best Picture, Best Foreign Language Film, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Film Editing

Won, 2, Best Foreign Language Film(Algeria) and Best Film Editing

DVD Special Features

THE QUEEN (2006)

Directed by Stephen Frears

Using a superb script by Peter Morgan, Stephen Frears details the time from the election of Labour Party Prime Minister Tony Blair (Michael Sheen) to that momentous international outpouring of grief and love that followed the tragic death of Princess Di in 1997, showing the bifurcation of response between the Royals and the People as represented by Blair. Instead of the insensitive cold figure that the world witnessed as Queen Elizabeth II, Mirren shows us that the woman who is Queen actually had feelings for her grandchildren, a respect for her station as royalty, and was gradually responsive to the cry of the people via Blair's influence, allowing the world to pay proper tribute to a heroine. The ogres in the Balmoral Castle were in fact Prince Phillip (James Cromwell) and the Queen Mum (Sylvia Syms) abetted by the very proper Robin Janvrin (Roger Allam) and Diana's ex husband, The Prince of Wales, (Alex Jennings).

Nominated for 6 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score and Best Costume Design

Helen Mirren won every single accolade of the season leading up to the Academy Award for Best Actress

DVD Special Features:

The Making of The Queen

Audio Commentary with Director, Stephen Frears and Writer, Peter Morgan

Audio Commentary with British Historian and Royal Expert, Robert Lacey, Author of Majesty