First Annual Underrated Film Awards Winners (2012)

Most Underrated Technical Aspects of Film (Writing, Direction, Editing etc)

Jacqueline West's Costume Design for Argo

Reinhold Heil, Johnny Kilmek, and Tom Tykwer's Original Score for Cloud Atlas
Terrence Davies Direction for The Deep Blue Sea

The Visual Effects Team for The Impossible
Arthur Max's Production Design for Prometheus

Martin McDonagh's Screenplay for Seven Psychopaths 

The Winner is Arthur Max's Production Design for Prometheus

Most Underrated Performances of 2012

Emma Watson-The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Liam Nesson-The Grey

Edith Scob-Holy Motors

Michael Fassbender-Promethues

Seth Rogen-Take this Waltz

Rebel Wilson-Pitch Perfect

The Winner is Emma Watson-The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Most Underrated Films of 2012

21 Jump Street
The Cabin in the Woods

End of Watch 

Middle of Nowhere

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Safety Not Guaranteed 

Seven Psychopaths 

The Winner is...Middle of Nowhere

The First Annual Underrated Film Awards (2012)

What does it mean to be underrated? More often than not there are numerous films which people define as "underrated" meaning people often underestimate the value of the film.  A film often becomes under estimated because a studio may not pay enough for marketing causing a low box office, and while critics like the film the film gets no push.  While critics may bring up their names, these nominees are underrated in my book because there are not enough folks singing the praises of the films, performances etc.

Most of time this is the reason films end up within this bracket.  Every year there are a good amount of films, performances, and even the technical aspects of films, which fall into these brackets.  Here is my first annual Underrated Awards, for films released in 2012.

What films were the most under appreciated this year? There were certain names you heard all the time, Argo, Silver Linings Playbook, Lincoln and so on.  While all of these are great films which films were not talked about enough?  Or which films should have had a wider release?  The Independent Spirit Awards and critics awards attention are not enough for most of these films.  This list may be defined as the best you have not seen, but this boils down to underrated in a general sense of things (before you all argue with me).

Most Underrated Films of 2012

21 Jump Street
The Cabin in the Woods

End of Watch 

Middle of Nowhere

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Safety Not Guaranteed 

Seven Psychopaths 

(Middle of Nowhere)

Most Underrated Performances of 2012

Emma Watson-The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Liam Nesson-The Grey

Edith Scob-Holy Motors

Michael Fassbender-Promethues

Seth Rogen-Take this Waltz

Rebel Wilson-Pitch Perfect

(Emma Watson-The Perks of Being a Wallflower)

Most Underrated Technical Aspects of Film (Writing, Direction, Editing etc)

Jacqueline West's Costume Design for Argo

Reinhold Heil, Johnny Kilmek, and Tom Tykwer's Original Score for Cloud Atlas
Terrence Davies Direction for The Deep Blue Sea

The Visual Effects Team for The Impossible
Arthur Max's Production Design for Prometheus

Martin McDonagh's Screenplay for Seven Psychopaths 

If I Picked the Oscar Nominees......

Best Picture
Amour
Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild 
Holy Motors
Lincoln
Looper
The Master
Moonrise Kingdom
Skyfall
Zero Dark Thirty

Best Director                                                                               
Ben Affleck-Argo
Kathryn Bigelow-Zero Dark Thirty
Michael Haneke-Amour
Paul Thomas Anderson-The Master
Benh Zeitlin-Beasts of the Southern Wild

Best Lead Actor 
Phillip Seymour Hoffman-The Master
Dennis-Lavant-Holy Motors
John Hawkes-The Sessions
Daniel Day Lewis-Lincoln
Joaquin Phoenix-The Master

Best Lead Actress
Jessica Chasstain-Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence-Silver Linings Playbook
Emanuelle Riva-Amour
Quevenzhane Wallis-Beasts of the Southern Wild
Rachel Weisz-The Deep Blue Sea

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin-Argo
Jason Clarke-Zero Dark Thirty                                       
Dwight Henry-Beasts of the Southern Wild
Tommy Lee Jones-Lincoln
Bruce Willis-Moonrise Kingdom

Best Supporting Actress
Emily Blunt-Looper
Ann Dowd-Compliance
Sally Field-Lincoln
Anne Hathaway-Les Miserables
Helen Hunt-The Sessions

Best Adapted Screenplay
Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Lincoln
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Silver Linings Playbook

Best Original Screenplay
Amour
The Cabin in the Woods
Looper
The Master 
Moonrise Kingdom                                              
                                                                                                
Best Foreign Language Film
Amour
Holy Motors
Rust and Bone 

Best Cinematography
Beasts of the Southern Wild 
The Master
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Skyfall

Best Costume Design
Anna Karenina 
Cloud Atlas 
Lincoln
Moonrise Kingdom
Mirror Mirror 

Best Film Editing                                                              
Argo
Cloud Atlas
The Master 
Zero Dark Thirty
Skyfall

Best Makeup and Hair Styling
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Lincoln
Snow White and the Huntsmen
                                                                                                        
Best Original Score 
Argo 
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Lincoln 
The Master 
Moonrise Kingdom

Best Production Design
Anna Karenina 
Cloud Atlas 
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Moonrise Kingdom

Best Sound Editing
Argo
The Avengers
Life of Pi
Skyfall
Zero Dark Thirty

Best Sound Mixing                                                      
The Avengers 
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Skyfall
Zero Dark Thirty 

Best Visual Effects      
The Avengers
Life of Pi 
Looper
Prometheus
Skyfall                                                                                                 
                                                                                                 

The Writer's Guild gets Predictable with Ineligibility

This year's nominees for the Writer's Guild of America (WGA) were a bit predictable, especially after they ruled many films ineligible. I also say this because for the first time in a long time I predicted all of the nominees. 

The two best nominees of the bunch for me are nominations for Looper, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower, two of the best screenplays this year.  Listed below are the nominees, but who could and will unseat the winners?  Statistically speaking 2 films are always replaced.

Original Screenplay:

"Flight," Written by John Gatins; Paramount Pictures

"Looper," Written by Rian Johnson; TriStar Pictures

"The Master," Written by Paul Thomas Anderson; The Weinstein Company

"Moonrise Kingdom," Written by Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola; Focus Features

"Zero Dark Thirty," Written by Mark Boal; Columbia Pictures

Look for Looper and Flight to be the most vulnerable at the Oscars, Django Unchained and Amour are major contenders in this category.  These two latter films also have better shots at Best Picture nominations.

Adapted Screenplay:

"Argo," Screenplay by Chris Terrio; Based on a selection from "The Master of Disguise" by Antonio J. Mendez and the Wired Magazine article "The Great Escape" by Joshuah Bearman; Warner Bros. Pictures

"Life of Pi," Screenplay by David Magee; Based on the novel by Yann Martel; 20th Century Fox

"Lincoln," Screenplay by Tony Kushner; Based in part on the book "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln" by Doris Kearns Goodwin; DreamWorks Pictures

"The Perks of Being a Wallflower," Screenplay by Stephen Chbosky; Based on his book; Summit Entertainment

"Silver Linings Playbook," Screenplay by David O. Russell; Based on the novel by Matthew Quick; The Weinstein Company

While the same statistic holds true with Adapted Screenplay, this could actually be the five.  Although have some suspicion Beasts of the Southern Wild will replace Perks.  

Documentary Screenplay:

"The Central Park Five," Written by Sarah Burns and David McMahon and Ken Burns; Sundance Selects

"The Invisible War," Written by Kirby Dick; Cinedigm Entertainment Group

"Mea Maxima Culpa:" Silence in the House of God, Written by Alex Gibney; HBO Documentary Films

"Searching for Sugar Man," Written by Malik Bendejelloul; Sony Pictures Classics

"We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists," Written by Brian Knappenberger; Cinetic Media

"West of Memphis," Written by Amy Berg & Billy McMillin; Sony Pictures Classics

Oscar Roundup 2012: Ineligibility Shades Writer's Guild Nominees, and eventual Oscar Screenplay Nominees

As the field narrows, the Globes announced, SAG announced, the critics lists out, and the Oscar ballots due, the Guild Awards may less and less of an impact of awards season.  The Writer's Guild Awards are one of the least successful precursors, mainly because they rules a good amount of scripts ineligible, and thus prevent a clear indicator of a stronger percentage of nominees.

Let's look at the past two years statistics:

2011

Original Screenplay (WGA on Left, Oscar on Right)

Win Win	The Artist
Bridesmaids	Bridesmaids
50/50	A Separation
Young Adult	Margin Call
Midnight in Paris	Midnight in Paris

Adapted Screenplay

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo	The Ides of March
The Help	Tinker Tailor Solider Spy
Moneyball	Moneyball
The Descendants	The Descendants
Hugo	Hugo

In 2011 only 2 films matched in the Original Screenplay category, and three within the Adapted category, most of the discrepancies came because of ineligibility.  This ineligibility problem has happened year after year, and proves to make predicting these categories challenging.

2010

Original Screenplay

Black Swan	The King’s Speech
Please Give	Another Year
Inception	Inception
The Kids are all Right	The Kids are all Right
The Fighter	The Fighter

Adapted Screenplay

I Love You Phillip Morris	Winter’s Bone
The Town	Toy Story 3
The Social Network	The Social Network
127 Hours	127 Hours
True Grit	True Grit

2001

 Original Screenplay

Moulin Rouge	Memento
The Man who Wasn’t There	Amelie
Gosford Park	Gosford Park
Monster’s Ball	Monster’s Ball
The Royal Tenenbaums	The Royal Tenenbaums

Adapted Screenplay

Black Hawk Down	Shrek
Bridget Jone’s Diary	In the Bedroom
A Beautiful Mind	A Beautiful Mind
Ghost World	Ghost World
Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring	Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring

Looking at 2010, and 2001 both years seem to follow that strong pattern that only 3 out of 5 nominees make it to the Academy Awards, so what films are the likely nominees this year?
WGA Original Screenplay Nominees

Zero Dark Thirty

Moonrise Kingdom

Looper

Flight

The Master

Strong Ineligible Contenders
Django Unchained
Amour
The Intouchables
The Impossible
Middle of Nowhere

Look for these to be the top five at the WGA, but come Oscar time Looper either Flight or The Master will be replaced with Amour, and Django Unchained. The Oscars typically have a foreign language 

nominee in this category, and they are not going to ignore this aspect of Django.

WGA Adapted Screenplay Nominees
Lincoln
Argo
Silver Linings Playbook
Life of Pi
The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Strong Ineligible Contenders
Beasts of the Southern Wild
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
The Deep Blue Sea
Les Miserables 
Rust and Bone

Look for Perks to be the unfortunate casualty here, being replaced by Beasts of the Southern Wild.  Fans of this film will want Benh Zeitlin to get some major attention, and unfortunately this is the most realistic place for him to be nominated.  This is going to be the first time in 4 years most of the nominees line-up.