The Oscars Seth McFarlane Entertained, but the Show Dragged

Everyone was nervous about Seth, and while his opening number started a bit slow, and got off to a bumpy start I think he did a great job as the emcee.  I am going to steal a line from my friend Karl who said "it was the perfect perfect blend of class and crass." The opening bit with Shatner was great, MacFarlane knows how to to bring that hilariously awkward pop culture reference into the mix.  Watching Channing Tatum, and Charlize Theron was magnetic, then see Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Daniel Radcliffe soft shoe was fun as well.

Throughout the show Seth throughout some jokes with edge relating to Lincoln's death (too soon), a Chris Brown/Rihanna joke, and one of the best jokes introducing Christopher Plummer with a Sound of Music joke.  Although Christopher Plummer gets this award shows Grumpy Old Man Award! In contrast opening the show and getting Tommy Lee Jones to laugh was hilarious, maybe expected, but brilliant.

Music was the central focus of the show, and paying tribute to the role music plays in film, and while it was fun to see Catherine Zeta Jones lip sync, Jennifer Hudson steal the night, the Lis Miserables cast sing better than they did in the film (except Russell Crowe), Shirley Bassey's tribute to Bond with Goldfinger, Adele, and Norah Jones singing their perspective Best Song nominees, and Babs paying tribute to the great Marvin Hamlisch. Whew, I got tired just typing that.

I think it was a bit tacky not having all the Best Song nominees performed on the show, have them all performed or none of them, and my money is on none of them.  I love Babs, and Marvin Hamlisch but this post in memoriam was not needed.  While I love movie music this lacked focus.  Oh how can I forget the awkward closing number, just say good night, some of us on the east coast have work in the morning.

Along with songs with no pay, the tribute to the Bond was wasted, and fell flat.  It was cool to see the clips of the different films, but what was the point?  The marketing on this was off the charts, but they did not reunite the Bonds after Shirley Bassey's number.  Having Adele perform later and not be connected to this made no sense.  Damn you Pierce Brosnan for backing out of this!

With the winners/presenters/speeches let's look at this from a Good, Bad, Ugly Perspective

The Good 

Ang Lee winning director (although I would have preferred Zeitlin), but his win was better than one for Spielberg.  Lee's film was a technical marvel and his direction was great.

The speech from Innocente was the best of evening, celebrating art.

Lincoln winning more than just one award for Daniel Day Lewis (Production Design as well)

Silver Linings Playbook only winning one award, and Harvey could not buy them anymore, including a win for DeNiro.

Speeches from Daniel Day Lewis and Jennifer Lawrence were good!  DDL had me tearing up because he seemed really appreciative, then had me in stitches when he talked about his and Meryl's freaky Friday with Margaret Thatcher in Lincoln.  Even though J-Law tripped you could tell just appreciative she was and, it was sweet to wish Emanuelle Riva a Happy Birthday!

Ted and Mark Wahlberg were the only entertaining duo who presented, glad he only did his Ted schtick, loved this!

The Bad 

The Django wins, sorry Waltz is a lead, and that is Quentin's worst screenplay (even worse than Jackie Brown)

Anne Hathaway's speech (and outfit) while her win isn't the worst (although Field or Hunt deserved it more) she had all this time to practice, and prep, but she just never nailed it, and I still am not a huge fan.

Most of the presenters who tried to do something were mediocre, I guess at Oscar if you can't hack it just present

The Ugly 

Zero Dark Thirty winning only one award in the sound category when it was the best film of the year

Les Miserables winning 3 Oscars!

Beasts of the Southern Wild going home empty handed, criminal

In a year with so much upset potential these awards were incredibly predictable, and boring, I got 23 out of 26 right (only missing Production Design, the Sound tie, and Documentary Short)

Paul Rudd and Melissa McCarthy were beyond lame, they will not be hosting anytime soon.

The Cool 

Having Michelle Obama present Best Picture with Jack Nicholson, may be one of the oddest/coolest things I have ever seen.

Ben's sheer genuine appreciation while accepting Best Picture, Grant Heslov is in the not cool category, we realize Argo was directed by Affleck, the Academy knows!!

I did not place Argo's win into any categories, because I like and respect the film, but I am not sure it fits within any of these categories.  

Academy Award Week 2013: The Conclusion, My Predictions

Best Picture 

Argo 

Amour

Beasts of the Southern Wild 

Django Unchained

Les Miserables

Life of Pi 

Lincoln

Silver Linings Playbook

Zero Dark Thirty

In past years Lincoln would have been the obvious choice, incredible pedigree, and film that feels important (director, screenwriter, composer etc).  Yet this year history is going to be made an a film without a director nomination is going to win for the fourth time in Academy history, and for the first time since 1989.  I think Argo winning is one of the biggest sure things of the night.  If a film was going to spoil, the only one with momentum is Silver Linings Playbook.

Will Win: Argo 

Should Win: Zero Dark Thirty

Spoiler (If any): Silver Linings Playbook

Best Lead Actor 

Daniel Day-Lewis-Lincoln

Bradley Cooper-Silver Linings Playbook

Hugh Jackman-Les Miserables

Joaquin Phoenix-The Master

Denzel Washington-Flight

I honestly do not have much to say about this category, DDL is the biggest lock for the win of the evening.

Will Win: Daniel Day-Lewis-Lincoln

Should: Daniel Day-Lewis or Joaquin Phoenix

Best Lead Actress

Jessica Chastain-Zero Dark Thirty

Jennifer Lawrence-Silver Linings Playbook

Emanuelle Riva-Amour

Quvenzhane Wallis-Beasts of the Southern Wild 

Naomi Watts-The Impossible 

Could be the hardest or one of the easiest categories to predict of the evening.  If you look at the precursor awards they are pretty evenly spread with one actress having the slight edge.  Jennifer Lawrence has the edge with SAG, and the Golden Globe.  SAG is the trump card.  Jessica Chastain won at BFCA, and the Golden Globes, and Emanuelle Riva won at BAFTA.  May the Odds be ever in Jennifer Lawrence favor!  Jennifer Lawrence seems like the safe bet, mainly because she has It girl status, great performance, and Harvey behind her.  Riva is the bigger spoiler, age and admiration for the film could help her.  I also think people are underestimating Chastain, and she has a real shot.  So who will win?  I am going to go with the predictable.

Will Win: Jennifer Lawrence-Silver Linings Playbook

Should Win and Spoiler: Emanuelle Riva-Amour

Spoiler: Jessica Chastain-Zero Dark Thirty

Best Supporting Actor 

Alan Arkin

Robert DeNiro-Silver Linings Playbook

Tommy Lee Jones-Lincoln 

Phillip Seymour Hoffman-The Master 

Christoph Waltz-Django Unchained

Please Click Here to see analysis: http://eternalthoughtsofkevinsmind.blogspot.com/2013/02/academy-award-week-2013-best-supporting.html

Will Win: Christoph Waltz-Django Unchained

Should Win: Tommy Lee Jones 

Spoiler: Robert DeNiro-Silver Linings Playbook

Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams-The Master

Sally Field-Lincoln

Anne Hathaway-Les Miserable

Helen Hunt-The Sessions

Jacki Weaver-Silver Linings Playbook

This win and the win from Daniel Day-Lewis are the biggest sure things of the night!

Will Win: Anne Hathaway-Les Miserables

Best Director

Michael Haneke-Amour

Ang Lee-Life of Pi

David O. Russell-Silver Linings Playbook

Steven Spielberg-Lincoln

Benh Zeitlin-Beasts of the Southern Wild

Please Click Here to See my Analysis http://eternalthoughtsofkevinsmind.blogspot.com/2013/02/academy-award-week-best-director-no.html

Will Win: Ang Lee-Life of Pi

Should Win: Benh Zeitlin-Beasts of the Souther Wild

Spoiler: David O. Russell

Best Adapted Screenplay

Argo

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Life of Pi

Lincoln

Silver Linings Playbook

Long ago it was thought Lincoln had a strong hold on this category, but turn out Lincoln may be running third here.  This is a race between Argo and Silver Linings Playbook.  I think Argo has this because it wont at the WGA, a major victory.  Silver Linings Playbook won this award at BAFTA though to so watch out!

Will Win: Argo 

Should Win: Lincoln

Spoiler: Silver Linings Playbook

Best Original Screenplay 

Amour

Django Unchained

Flight

Moonrise Kingdom

Zero Dark Thirty

Please Click Here to see my Analysis: http://eternalthoughtsofkevinsmind.blogspot.com/2013/02/academy-award-week-2013-best-original.html

Will Win: Django Unchained

Should Win: Moonrise Kingdom

Spoiler: Amour 

The Rest....

Best Foreign Language Film: Amour

Best Animated Feature: Brave

Best Documentary: Searching for Sugar Man

Best Production Design: Anna Karenina 

Best Cinematography: Life of Pi 

Best Costume Design: Anna Karenina 

Best Film Editing: Argo

Best Make-Up and Hairstyling-Les Miserables

Best Original Score: Life of Pi

Original Song: Skyfall

Best Sound Editing: Life of Pi

Best Sound Mixing: Les Miserables

Best Visual Effects: Life of Pi

Best Animated Short: Paperman

Best Documentary Short:  Open Heart

Best Live Action Short: Curfew 

Academy Award Week (2013):Should the Oscars Add More Categories?

My friend Keith shared an article with me from flavorwire.com, about the Academy adding more categories.  throughout the years this topic has been brought up countless times.  People talk about adding categories as a way to spice things up, and provide more films with the opportunity to compete at the Oscars.  

The most recent category which was added to the main ceremony was the Best Animated Feature film category.  With an increasing number of quality animated features being released, the Academy created a parallel category to the Best Foreign Language Film category.  People were citing that amazing films like Shrek, Toy Story 2, and so on were being snubbed in the Best Picture category so they created this new category to compensate.  While I still do not fully support this category I think it's a necessary evil.  I will be shocked the day I see an animated film win the actual Best Picture prize.  Prior to the increased number of nominees only one film made it into the Best Picture race, Beauty and the Beast.  Past films like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Lion King, Shrek, and Wall-E were snubbed.  When the the number of nominees increased two other films were nominated in the Best Picture category Up, and Toy Story 3.

So does a genre category solve the problem of recognition or further the problem?  The answer is both.  I think many Academy voters now feel as though by having the category they can feel proud about honoring the great animated films released every year.  This is an important thing, and films like Spirited Away, Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, and Persepolis (just a nominee) would not have any other form of recognition.  Yet there is an inherent problem with that logic.  

Voters goes for the most intense, dramatic tales because they think those are the most "Oscar worthy."  Films like Moonrise Kingdom, which was snubbed from Best Picture this year, are often not nominated in the Best Picture category.  This year's slate of Best Picture nominees are all great (minus Les Miserables) but are also incredibly depressing.  The only films with "laughs" are Argo and Django Unchained, although you may have laughed at Russell Crowe's singing, I know I did.  So do you add more genre categories to spice things up, and give more films a chance?  Let's look at the categories flavorwire.com creates.

Best Ensemble

Pro-Appreciating the acting is important

Con-Who gets the Oscar?  Does every member of the cast get one, the goal of the Oscars is prestige, and this takes away that element

Verdict: Do Not Add this Category

Best Comedy

Pro-Comedy is rarely honored at the Oscars, and as I stated above this is one depresing slate of Best Picture nominees this year

Con-This silos comedies into a separate but equal type situation like animated, and foreign language films.

Verdict: One of the stronger possibilities, I just do not think this solves the problem, and Oscar voters need to appreciate comedy more!

Best Debut Film, Performance

Pro-I added the performance part, this could be a great way to honor rising stars and directors.

Con-Why single out directors and performers, what about breakthrough screenwriter, editor, etc. and again this creates more Oscars making them less special to achieve.

Verdict: Not a bad one, but I am hesitant on how this would/could work, what makes you new, like Best New Artist at the Grammy's.  I can see Harvey Weinstein abusing this one.

Best Casting

Pro-Casting director's rarely get much recognition, and they often put together the great casts.

Con-Sometimes this process is a bit murky as to how much this person actually defines the cast, and does this position really warrant an Oscar?  

Verdict: I would take this as a consolation for Best Ensemble, but this is a less exciting way to change to the Oscars.

Best Soundtrack

Pro-There are so many soundtrack, which transcend the score of a film, and I think the music that is put together in a film is one of the most important elements.  Think Kill Bill (both of them), Garden State, 500 Days of Summer, Forrest Gump.  This would be a great idea

Con-None

Verdict: This is the best idea, and should be considered!

Best Stunts/Choreography

Pro: While these are very different they represent some of the most important work done in film today, and should be recognized in some capacity.  While I do not want Step Up (choreography) to be a nominee, I do think that either of these categories could work.

Con: These two would have to be separated, and would there be enough to make nominees in choreography?

Verdict:  I would be down for these in a special honor capacity or if they could figure out a cool way to do them.

The last two seem like a joke although they only intended number eight as one.  They are Best Action Sequence, and Best Female Director.  With regard to Best Action Sequence, I say, this is not MTV presents the Oscars.  I do however like their jab at the Academy with regard to Best Female Director, how did the Academy not nominate any of the women who directed fantastic films this year?

One thing is for certain the Academy does need to look at their process, they can't tell their members how to vote, thus forcing them to name a comedy a Best Picture nominee, but it's time to assess, and think should there be new categories, or revisions, and if so how should they be done.

The Oscar Race (so far) a Video Entry Part 1

Seth MacFarlane Named Oscar Host for 2013

Throughout the 2000s the Academy Awards have seen a variety of hosts.  From the Steve Martin and Billy Crystal stylings to Jon Stewart and Chris Rock.  Let's just try to forget about Ann Hathaway and James Franco.  Today the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) has announced that Seth MacFarlane creator of Family Guy, America Dad, and writer/director for this year's hit film Ted will host the Academy Awards.

I would say that this choice falls within the Chris Rock/Jon Stewart category, bold, but not an outrageous concept.  MacFarlane has not done much award show hosting (televised that is); he however was the first host for this year's first episode of Saturday Night Live, and did a fantastic job.  MacFarlane was also a recent presenter at this year's Emmy Awards.  Here are the things I have learned from both his Saturday Night Live stint, his job as an Emmy presenter, and his other work that will be great for the Oscars:

1) MacFalane is great at not only voice work (like within his animated series) he is also great at impressions.  I hope his Ryan Lochte comes to the Oscars.

2) Although I had always known he was a good singer, I am excited to see what his blend of Comedy/musical talent will bring to the Oscars.

3) He does not follow the norm/rules, it was clear he did not go to rehearsal for presenting at the Emmy Awards he made a big flub

4) More importantly he is clever and thinks quickly on his feet and provided some great laughs when he presented.

5) His loves using popular culture references, and uses them well, which will be great fodder for the Oscars

MacFarlane is a smart choice in my book; he will bring in audience that may not typically watch the show without lowering the quality of the humor (too much).  I think this a bold choice, and proves that AMPAS is willing to step outside the box, and change things up.

Silence is Golden as the Academy Awards Pay Tribute to Why We Love the Movies

At tonight's Academy Award ceremony 9 time host Billy Crystal brought back the days of classic 
Hollywood, and made some great jokes about the Kodak Theatre.  Crystal reminded viewers that in a year that paid homage to Hollywood's past there is beauty in film.  Crystal's opening schtick remains the same, there is a video montage that included him kissing George Clooney and inserting himself into some of the most memorable films from 2011; he also did a song where he talked about all of the Best Picture nominees.  Even though his routine was the same Crystal showed his true colors and why he is one of the best Oscar hosts of all time; he is a master host.


Here are my own personal awards I would hand out for the nights show:


Best Presenter: Emma Stone-Like Ann Hathaway a few years ago, this girl showed a room full of Hollywood big wigs that she is one of the funniest people working today who deserves to work even more than she does.


Best Skit-Christopher Guest, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Jennifer Coolidge, and Fred Willard act as a focus group for 1939's Wizard of Oz-This skit proves why these are some of the funniest working people today.  The chemistry they have just works, and it was one of my favorite moments of the evening.


Most Unnecessary Moment-Crique du Soleil-I am tired of Award shows thinking they need something hip like this to make the show "cool."  This routine did not work when the Daytime Emmys did it a few years ago and it was not needed tonight.  Hint Brian Grazer, Cirque du Soleil does appeal to the younger viewers it appeals to those old people Billy Crystal kept joking about.


Best Speech (tie) Meryl Streep and Octavia Spencer-These two women hit it out of the park.  Octavia's speech made me emotional and award shows never really do that.  I felt her surprise and genuine gratitude.  Streep finally winning her third trophy had me actually clapping, and yelling, and her speech showed that even in her surprise she is one classy broad.


The theme of the night was remembering the old, and why people love movies.  One of my other favorite moments from the night was getting past Oscar winners/nominees and a few other actors thrown in for good measure talking about the emotional heft movies bring, their first experience at the movies, what movies do to them, and saw on.  This was an incredible way to tie in the theme of the evening.  Even though the Oscars appeal to that average age of their winners 62 as Billy joked, they still put on one of the classiest shows of the year which honor some of the best films of the year.


Two films tied for the most trophies, The Artist and Hugo.  Hugo cleaned up in the technical categories winning five trophies winning best art direction, cinematography, sound mixing, sound editing, and visual effects.  The Artist won two awards in the technical genre best costume design and best original score, but it also took home three of the top prizes Best Picture, Best Director, and Jean Dujardin won for Best Lead Actor.  These two films pay tribute to the beginning of film and honor the nostalgic theme of the show.  The Artist is the first silent film to win Best Picture since the  first year of the Academy Awards.


The biggest nail biter of the night was the Best Actress category.  Going into the night many people were predicting Viola Davis because of her SAG win, but even in my predictions I had a hunch that Meryl would win.  Meryl Streep did in fact win, and took home her first Oscar trophy in exactly 30 years.  The last time Meryl won was for her role in Sophie's Choice.  While I loved Davis, I was incredibly happy Meryl finally had another Oscar to add to her mantel.


In the supporting categories the predicted winners Christopher Plummer won for Beginners and Octavia Spencer won for The Help.  These two had long been predicted from the beginning of the awards season.  In the screenplay categories Midnight in Paris won for Best Original Screenplay and The Descendants won for Best Adapted Screenplay.  


After a so-so year in film I was still mesmerized by this wonderful night, and happy to welcome Billy Crystal back into my living room, or well my friend's living room.  Listed below is the entire winner's list.

Best Picture-The Artist
Best Actor-Jean Dujardin-The Artist
Best Actress-Meryl Streep-The Iron Lady
Best Supporting Actor-Christopher Plummer-The Beginners
Best Supporting Actress- Octavia Spencer-The Help
Best Director-Michel Hazanavicious-The Artist
Best Adapted Screenplay-The Descendants
Best Original Screenplay-Midnight in Paris
Best Foreign Language Film-A Separation
Best Animated Feature-Rango
Best Documentary-Undefeated
Best Art Direction-Hugo
Best Costume Design-The Artist
Best Cinematography-Hugo
Best Editing-The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Best Make-Up-The Iron Lady
Best Original Score-The Artist
Best Original Song-Man or Muppet
Best Sound Mixing-Hugo
Best Sound Editing-Hugo
Best Visual Effects-Hugo
Best Animated Short-The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
Best Documentary Short-Saving Face
Best Live Action Short-The Shore

Academy Awards Week (Conclusion): Predictions

Best Picture
The Artist
The Descendants
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse 

Will Win: The Artist-This film has this in a landslide, it should not, but no one seems to like any of the other films enough this year.  The problem is it seems like no one loves this film either, but it has the hip factor of being a silent film.
Spoiler: The Descendants-Ironically the most nominated film Hugo is in third place.  The Descendants has been doing well at the box office, but it will have to settle for a screenplay win.

Best Actor
Damien Bichir-A Better Life
George Clooney-The Descendants
Jean Dujardin-The Artist
Brad Pitt-Moneyball
Gary Oldman-Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Will Win-Jen Dujardin-He won at the Globes and SAG; he is a like able unknown, and like Roberto Benigni who had traction late in the game he will win this award and be part of the The Artist sweep.
Very Close Second-George Clooney-Clooney won a lot of critics awards and the Globe (drama); he is well liked, but I could see him championing for votes for Pitt and Dujardin.
Spoiler: Brad Pitt-He is the only person to star in two Best Picture nominees (in this category) and he gives his best performances in years.

Best Actress

Glen Close-Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis-The Help
Meryl Streep-The Iron Lady
Rooney Mara-The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Michelle Williams-My Week with Marilyn

Will Win: Meryl Streep-This is a very very very close race between Streep and Davis.  I would not be surprised to hear either woman's name called.  At the moment Davis has the edge, and I keep going back and forth on who will win.  Right now I will go with Streep.

Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh-My Week with Marilyn
Jonah Hill-Moneyball
Nick Nolte-Warrior
Christopher Plummer-Beginners
Max Von Sydow-Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Will Win-Christopher Plummer; he has won everything else there is no way he will lose.

Best Supporting Actress
Berenice Bejo-The Artist
Jessica Chasstain-The Help
Melissa McCarthy-Bridesmaids
Janet McTeer-Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer-The Help

Will Win: Octavia Spencer-Like Plummer she has won most things leading up and will surely follow suit tonight.

Best Director
Woody Allen-Midnight in Paris
Michel Hazanavicious-The Artist
Terrence Malick-The Tree of Life
Alexander Payne-The Descendants
Martin Scorsese-Hugo

Will Win: Michel Hazanavicious-The Artist-He will join the sweep for The Artist.  I thought Scorsese had a shot at one point, but that faded.  If anyone could spoil her I could see Malick winning the way Polanski did when The Pianist slowly prevented Chicago from being a bigger winner.

Best Adapted Screenplay-The Descendants
Best Original Screenplay-Midnight in Paris
Best Foreign Language Film-A Separation
Best Animated Feature-Rango
Best Documentary-Pina
Best Art Direction-Hugo
Best Costume Design-Hugo
Best Cinematography-The Tree of Life
Best Editing-The Artist
Best Make-Up-Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Best Original Score-The Artist
Best Original Song-Man or Muppet
Best Sound Mixing-Hugo
Best Sound Editing-Hugo
Best Visual Effects-Hugo (no film nominated for Best Picture has lost)
Best Animated Short-La Luna
Best Documentary Short-The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom
Best Live Action Short-The Shore

Academy Awards Week: My Oscar Nominations

Here are the nominees I would have put forth for tomorrow's ceremony, along with the winners bolded.

Best Picture

Drive

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Hugo

Martha Marcy May Marlene

Midnight in Paris

Moneyball

A Separation

Shame

Take Shelter

The Tree of Life

Best Actor

George Clooney-The Descendants

Jean Dujardin-The Artist

Michael Fassbender-Shame

Gary Oldman-Tinkor Tailor Soldier Spy

Michael Shannon-Take Shelter

Best Actress

Viola Davis-The Help

Elizabeth Olsen-Martha Marcy May Marlene

Meryl Streep-The Iron Lady

Tilda Swinton-We Need to Talk About Kevin

Michelle Williams-My Week with Marilyn

Best Supporting Actor

Albert Brooks-Drive

John Hawkes-Martha Marcy May Marlene

Nick Nolte-Warrior

Brad Pitt-The Tree of Life

Christopher Plummer-Beginners

Best Supporting Actress

Jessica Chastain-Taking Shelter 

Janet McTeer-Albert Nobbs

Carey Mulligan-Shame

Octavia Spencer-The Help

Shaileen Woodley-The Descendants

Best Director

Woody Allen-Midnight in Paris

Asghar Farhadi-A Separation

Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist

Terence Malick-The Tree of Life

Nicholas Winding Refn-Drive

Martin Scorsese-Hugo

Best Adapted Screenplay

The Descendants

Drive

Moneyball

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

We Need to Talk About Kevin

Best Original Screenplay

Martha Marcy May Marlene

Midnight in Paris

A Separation

Take Shelter

Win Win

Best Foreign Language Film 

A Separation

Best Animated Feature Film 

Rango

Best Art Direction

The Artist

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Hugo

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Best Cinematography

Drive

Hugo

Melancholia

Shame

The Tree of Life

Best Costume Design

The Artist

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Hugo

Jane Eyre

W.E.

Best Film Editing

Drive

Hugo

Martha Marcy May Marlene

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

The Tree of Life

Best Original Score

The Artist-Ludovic Bource

Drive-Cliff Martinez

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo-Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2–Alexander Desplat

Hugo-Howard Shore

Best Make-Up

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 

Hugo

The Iron Lady

Best Sound Editing

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Hugo

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

The Tree of Life

Best Sound Mixing

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Hugo

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

The Tree of Life

Best Visual Effects

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Hugo

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Thor

Academy Awards Week: Best Adapted Screenplay

Welcome to Academy Award week!  I will be taking an in depth look at some of the categories that make the Academy Awards tick.  The first category is Best Adapted Screenplay. The Adapted Screenplay prize is one of the most coveted awards of the night.  This award honors films who have adapted source material from books, plays, television shows, short plays, and even other films. If an original film has a sequel good enough to make it in the screenplay category (I do not think it has ever happened) they would have to be nominated in the Best Adapted Screenplay category because the film would be based on the first film.

Throughout the years this award has become incredibly competitive as more and more films seem to be based on other material.  While the quality in the Best Original Screenplay category seems to peak and valley every year, the Adapted Screenplay category has seemed to stay strong picking screenplays with strong writing, which are based on some solid material.  The interesting thing about this year has been that it feels as though Hollywood did a much better job with the original work than it did with adapting screenplays.  While the five nominees as pretty strong this year, picking five original screenplays seems to have been a tough task.

Past winners in this category have been It Happened One Night (1934), Gone With the Wind (1939), Casablanca (1942), To Kill a Mockingbird  (1962), The Godfather (1972), and The Silence of Lambs (1991).  Although 5 out of the 6 of these films are Best Picture winners only about 35 films out of the 83 years went on to win Best Picture.  The Adapted Screenplay trophy tends to go to well written films like Sideways (2004), which the Academy like but to enough to win the Best Picture category.  Many times the the screenplay awards become a consolation prize, and I think history will repeat itself again this year, ironically with another Alexander Payne film.

The nominees for this years Best Adapted Screenplay category are:

The Descendants-Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash
Hugo-John Logan
The Ides of March-George Clooney, Grant Heslov, and Beau Willimon
Moneyball-Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zaillian, Stan Chervin
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy-Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan

This past weekend The Descendants gained a lot of ground in this category winning both the Scripter and the WGA for Best Adapted Screenplay.  Winning the Scripter does not always mean you will win Oscar, mainly because its decided by USC, but winning at the Writer's Guild and Scripter is a pretty good sign.  The Descendants is nominated for 5 Oscars, and while Clooney was a favorite to win Best Actor in the beginning it looks like Jean Dujardin will be swept up in The Artist sweep.  This Best Adapted Screenplay will be a consolation prize for this film.

What about the other nominees?  Moneyball would be my personal pick, it's one of the sharpest screenplays this year.  Moneyball is also written by two of the best screenwriters today, which makes sense.  If a film is going to spoil it's going to be this one.  Tinker Tailor is an impressive screenplay because it has taken an incredibly long book that was made into mini-series at one point and makes one great film.  Ides has a decent screenplay, but it has no shot.  I am not a huge fan of Hugo's screenplay, in fact I think it is one of the weaker elements of this film.  Hugo's wins will come in some of the technical categories.

Will Win: The Descendants
Should Win: Moneyball

The 84th Annual Academy Award Nominations: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly, Surprising, and Seeing into the Future

Today at 8:30 am EST/5:30 PST the Academy Award nominations were announced by Academy Award nominee from last year Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone) Tom Sherak the President of the Academy of Motion Picture Art and Sciences (AMPAS) or the Academy.

The Good

The Tree of Life and 3 nominations-Whether you love it, hate it, or well no matter what you feel, this film deserves respect.  While I myself stated it was a bit self indulgent for about 10 minutes, the film is still amazing.  Tree was largely ignored by many of the guilds, and the globes.  The only group who actually included it were the critics, way to go!  This was the best thing I saw this morning.

Hugo leading the nominations with 11-There is a lot of support for this film and it scored one more nomination than The Artist.  While I respect The Artist, I do not love it, it reminds me of The King's Speech last year (but better).  Scorsese took things in a different direction, and I am proud of his success.

Rooney Mara, Melissa McCarthy, Gary Oldman-These three names may not have been expected, sure they had some love from the Globes and SAG, but they were not locks.  Oldman did not have much of anything.  I have to say I love Mara's performance.  McCarthy is breath of fresh air, even with her leg up in the air.  These two woman could not be more different, and their performances are on completely different spectrum, but I am happy for them both.  Oldman stole Fassbender's spot, which is sad, but he is great in Tinker Tailor.

A Separation and Margin Call in the screenplay categories- The screenwriters know good work, and I glad they picked these films.  This year has not had the strongest screenplays.  The funny thing is that this year's original screenplays were much stronger than the adapted screenplays.

The Bad

No Dragon Score-The exclusion of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo from Best Picture and Director does not bother me.  While the film is solid I would not place it as of the 10 best films of the year.  The film had a lot of strong technical aspects like the cinematography and editing (which it was nominated for), but the score was ignored?  Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross provided one of the best scores of the year, and took home the trophy last year for The Social Network.  How did this fail?

No Swinton, or Fassbender-Swinton is amazing in We Need to Talk About Kevin, and her in over Close is something I would challenge.  While I have not seen Close's performance she looks wooden and unemotional.  Fassbender had four amazing roles this year, but his best work was in Shame.  These are two performances the Academy will be kicking themselves for not nominating in the future.

The Ugly

War Horse and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close-Proof that the new Academy Awards system is a joke!  Before I say anything I have to say I have to say these are the only two Best Picture winners I have not seen.  A friend of mine has seen both and told me War Horse is not bad, it is just one of the best films of the year, and Loud is just not good and overwrought.  I do not want to see Loud at all, I think the film looks manipulative. I am choosing the word manipulative because the film appears to try and control your emotional experience more than in any other film.   I will see these films at some point, and prove myself right.

Drive gets one nomination-Is this a joke?  The Academy has pulled some dumb things, but only giving Drive one nomination in Best Sound Editing, and even snubbing Albert Brooks for Max Von Sydow is a huge mistake.

Take Shelter gets nothing! This film was flawless and has my pick for Best Actor and Supporting Actress this year.  Michael Shannon should have received a nomination, and Jessica Chatain should have been nominated for this film instead.

The Surprising


The Help gets only 4 nominations-  I expected The Help to have 8 nominations.  The nominations I expected but it did not receive were in screenplay, song, editing, and costume design.  The Help has three acting nominations, and a nomination for Best Picture.  This proves that support of this film is waning.   The Help is tied with The Descendants, Midnight in Paris.

Damien Bichir and Max Von Sydow-Even though Bichir had a SAG nomination for Best Actor, I figured that was a fluke.  I am excited to see the film, it looked wonderful.  Von Sydow is a veteran and well respected but received no pre-cursor nominations, I was shocked to see his nomination.

Looking ahead with the nominations announced, and bypassing my own bias, what happens next?  Who wins, will there be any surprises?

Hugo and The Artist appear to have the most support.  If Martin Scorsese wins the DGA, then Hugo will be a real threat.  Hugo has the most nominations this year with 11, and statistically speaking the film with the most nominations wins Best Picture.  For example The King's Speech had the most last year, but this is not always the case.  Many films have won without this statistic like A Beautiful Mind, The Departed and even Slumdog Millionaire (in recent years).  The Artist has ten nominations, and with such strong support for two films there will bound to be smaller win totals for the actual Best Picture winner.  Right now the The Artist is out front.

In the acting categories I think Best Actor is between Clooney Dujardin and Brad Pitt is a spoiler.  The Screen Actor's Guild will clear up this race.  The unknown Bachir and Dujardin may cancel each other out.  It seems as though each of them has a decent base of support but neither of them will take down the Clooney.

I have been predicting Viola Davis to win Best Actress at the Screen Actor's Guild Awards.  The Help received the most nominations, and has a great deal of support.  Many people thought it would be a threat in the Best Picture race.  Today's nominations prove that to not be true.  Where does this leave Viola Davis.  I am putting Davis out ahead slightly; she is in a Best Picture nominee, but look for Streep to provide a lot of challenge.

Today's Best Picture nominations prove that this system is out of touch, and two weak nominees weigh down the fact that great things did happen.  I am not thrilled with this year's nominees, but here's to hoping the Academy picks wisely.

Academy Award Predictions

I know I have been posting a lot about award shows, but tis the season.  Once the Academy Awards have happened, things will slow down on the awards front, but here are my predictions.

Best Picture
The Artist
The Descendants
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo-x (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close)
The Help 
Hugo
Midnight in Paris 
Moneyball
The Tree of Life 
War Horse


7 out 9-But I only predicted 8


Best Actor
George Clooney-The Descendants
Jean Dujardin-The Artist 
Michael Fassbender-Shame x (Damien Bichir-A Better Life)
Gary Oldman-Tinker Tailor Solider Spy
Brad Pitt-Moneyball


4 out 5 


Best Actress
Viola Davis-The Help
Rooney Mara-The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep-The Iron Lady 
Tilda Swinton-We Need to Talk about Kevin x (Glen Close Albert Nobbs)
Michelle Williams-My Week with Marilyn


4 out 5


Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Brannagh-My Week with Marilyn
Albert Brooks-Drive x (Max Von Sydow-Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close)
Jonah Hill-Moneyball
Nick Nolte-Warrior
Christopher Plummer-Beginners


4 out of 5


Best Supporting Actress
Berenice Bejo-The Artist
Jessice Chasstain-The Help 
Melissa McCarthy-Bridesmaids
Janet McTeer-Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer-The Help


5 for 5 


Best Director 
Woody Allen-Midnight in Paris
David Fincher-The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Terrence Malick-The Tree of Life)
Michel Hazanivicius -The Artist 
Alexander Payne-The Descendants
Martin Scorsese-Hugo 


4 out of 5 


Best Adapted Screenplay
The Descendants
The Help x - (Ides of March)
Hugo
Moneyball
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy 


4 out 5 


Best Original Screenplay
The Artist
Beginners x (Margin Call) 
Bridesmaids
Midnight in Paris 
A Separation


4 out 5 


Best Art Direction
The Artist 
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 
Hugo
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy x (Midnight in Paris)
War Horse


4 out 5 


Cinematography
The Artist 
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo 
The Tree of Life 
War Horse


5 for 5!


Best Costume Design
The Artist
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 x (Anonymous)
The Help x (W.E.)
Hugo
Jane Eyre


3 out 5 


Editing 
The Artist 
The Help x (The Descendants) 
Hugo 
Moneyball 
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo


4 out 5 


Best Original Score
The Artist
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo x (The Adventures of Tin Tin)
Hugo
War Horse
W.E. x (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)


3 out 5 


Visual Effects
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Hugo
Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol  x (Real Steel)
Rise of the Planet of the Apes 
Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon


4 out of 5 


Nomination Tally (Top Totals)
The Artist with 11 (Actual total is 10)
Hugo with 11 (Spot on!)
The Help with 8 (only 4 nominations -severely under performed)


60 Out of 74 (81 Percent)

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5? How Many Best Picture Nominees Will There Be?

The Academy Awards have had changed the number of nominees for their Best Picture Award throughout its history. 1927/28 had three nominees.  From 1929-1931 there were five nominees.  From 1932-1943 there were ten nominees.  The most consistent period of time was 1944-2008 where the Academy went back to five nominees.  2009 and 2010 both went back to the 10 nominees.  This year based on the the new rules listed below there is no set specific number of nominees.

New Rules for Best Picture nominees

1. A Reminder List of all eligible motion pictures shall be sent with a nominations ballot to all active and life members of the Academy who shall vote in the order of their preference for not more than five pictures.


2. The pictures receiving the highest number of votes shall become the nominations for final voting for the Best Picture award. There may not be more than ten nor fewer than five nominations; however, no picture shall be nominated that receives less than five percent of the total votes cast.

3. The individual(s) who shall be credited for Academy Award purposes must have screen credit of “producer” or “produced by.” Persons with screen credits of executive producer, co-producer, associate producer, line producer, produced in association with or any other credit shall not receive nominations or Academy statuettes. The nominees will be those three or fewer producers who have performed the major portion of the producing functions. The Producers Branch Executive Committee will designate the qualifying producer nominees for each of the nominated pictures. The committee has the right, in what it determines to be a rare and extraordinary circumstance, to name any additional qualified producer as a nominee.

4. Final voting for the Best Picture award shall be restricted to active and life Academy members.

The key piece of information listed above is in section 2 which states that a Best Picture nominee must have five percent of the total votes cast.  This means that when Academy Award members are voting a film with a significant number of number one votes will get a Best Picture nomination.  Sounds overly complicated!  You are probably asking why not set a specific number?  I like the variable, but I think this just creates inconsistency.

So how many nominees will their be, and what will they be?  Two films are a lock, The Artist and The Descendants, which each won Best Film at The Golden Globes.  Hugo, The Help, and Midnight in Paris are also locks, they have a lot of support from the Globes, and the guild awards.  This makes five.  The next question is will their be more?  Dave Karger from Entertainment Weekly has stated he thinks there will be only five.  While I appreciate his rationale, I think he is incorrect about the number.  The number five is out!

What other films have a shot at the Best Picture nomination? Bridesmaids, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,The Ides of March, Moneyball, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and War Horse.  Let's start with ten nominees and work back to the five to figure out the most likely scenario.  With Eleven options, and potentially The Tree of Life as as twelfth, what would the ten nominees be?  This is the simplest scenario to predict.

10 nominees
The Artist
Bridesmaids
The Descendants
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Help
Hugo
The Ides of March
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
War Horse

Predicting the the tenth nominee is the toughest thing to do.  I would say the weakest films are Bridesmaids, The Ides of March, and War Horse.  Bridesmaids has a lot of guild support, and War Horse has the second most.  I would say the tenth nominee is between Ides and Tinker.  Ides is more traditional fair while Tinke did impressively at BAFTA.

9 nominees


The Artist
Bridesmaids
The Descendants
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Help 
Hugo
Midnight in Paris 
Moneyball
War Horse



8 nominees

The Artist
The Descendants
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Help 
Hugo
Midnight in Paris 
Moneyball
War Horse


7 nominees

The Artist
The Descendants
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Help 
Hugo
Midnight in Paris 
Moneyball


Picking 10 is going to be tough, but when you get down to 6 nominees it's even harder.  What gets eliminated from the 7 is it Moneyball or The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo?  I am going to take cop out answer and state that there will be no less than seven nominees (if I had to pick I would get rid of Dragon Tattoo.)  My prediction is 8 nominees, and it will be the eight I picked.  I would love to see War Horse get booted off the list, but I do think it will end up as a Best Picture nominee.