Oscar picks

A few hours before the Academy Awards, here are my picks for the major categories. I hafta say, I've done a very poor job of consuming the supposedly creme de la creme films this past year. Except for DRIVE and Dujardin, I really don't feel all that passionately about any film or category below. Should've been more DRIVE. No TROLL HUNTER. No INTO THE ABYSS. No THE GUARD. No TABLOID. No SUCKER PUNCH...

There are two columns of checkboxes next to each nominee. The first one is for who/which film I think will win the award. The second is for whether I've seen the film or not.

If I've got something to say about my choice or the nominees, it'll appear after the nominees. It'll probably be very vague and I'll avoid anything spoilery.

And the nominees are...

[PREDICTED WIN] [SEEN IT]

BEST PICTURE
[X]......[X]......“The Artist”
[ ]......[X]......“The Descendants”
[ ]......[ ]......“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”
[ ]......[ ]......“The Help”
[ ]......[ ]......“Hugo”
[ ]......[X]......“Midnight in Paris”
[ ]......[X]......“Moneyball”
[ ]......[X]......“The Tree of Life”
[ ]......[ ]......“War Horse”

THE ARTIST is irresistibly charming, but if you turn your head slightly, it might be cloying. I did not turn my head slightly. I wish I'd seen WAR HORSE. I can imagine Spielberg doing amazing things with the story, but I just can't make that call not having seen it and having seen THE ARTIST. Wouldn't be surprised if it won, tho. I'm just not seeing what others see in THE DESCENDANTS. MIDNIGHT IN PARIS is another charmer - very fun, but a little thin on substance.

COSTUME DESIGN
[X]......[ ]......“Anonymous”
[ ]......[X]......“The Artist”
[ ]......[ ]......“Hugo”
[ ]......[ ]......“Jane Eyre”
[ ]......[ ]......“W.E.”

Shakespeare's always got great costumes, right?

ORIGINAL SONG
[X]......[ ]......“Man or Muppet” from “The Muppets”
[ ]......[X]......“Real in Rio” from “Rio”

I can't believe I still haven't seen THE MUPPETS. *sigh*

LEADING ACTOR
[ ]......[ ]......Demián Bichir in “A Better Life”
[ ]......[X]......George Clooney in “The Descendants”
[X]......[X]......Jean Dujardin in “The Artist”
[ ]......[X]......Gary Oldman in “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”
[ ]......[X]......Brad Pitt in “Moneyball”

I think I saw Brad Pitt do his best work this year in MONEYBALL and TREE OF POOP, but I think that THE ARTIST couldn't have happened without Dujardin.

DIRECTING
[X]......[X]......“The Artist”
[ ]......[X]......“The Descendants”
[ ]......[ ]......“Hugo”
[ ]......[X]......“Midnight in Paris”
[ ]......[X]......“The Tree of Life”

It's just ridiculously charming, and altho I have little firsthand experience with silent films, FEELS so authentic and of the time and style. I'm gonna give Mr. Director-man the credit for that. Altho it brought some very real family relationships, interactions, and rituals to big screen life, I think TREE OF POOP fails to use them to evoke the kind of message and observation/s that the director wished to convey.

ANIMATED SHORT FILM
[ ]......[X]......“Dimanche/Sunday”
[ ]......[X]......“The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore”
[X]......[X]......“La Luna”
[ ]......[X]......“A Morning Stroll”
[ ]......[X]......“Wild Life”

I loves me some Pixar! A wonderfully realized rite of passage story that also explains the waxing and waning of the moon. The two brooms are just a crazy and perfect visual win. One among many. My next pick would've been "Sunday." The others are all a distant third. "Morning Stroll" has an ingenious concept behind it, but the styles it adopted for its second and third segments were just a little too much. I felt like the near-future bit tripped over itself while showing off. I know the temptation to throw everything you can into an animated short is difficult to resist, but its typically for the best. "Flying Books" was a sweet idea, but with an overlong execution. An end card mentioned that the film was dedicated to two people who had spent their lives making books come alive (paraphrasing, I think that was the message), added a welcome additional dimension to the experience, but I wish some of that could have been injected at the start.

SUPPORTING ACTOR
[ ]......[ ]......Kenneth Branagh in “My Week with Marilyn”
[ ]......[X]......Jonah Hill in “Moneyball”
[X]......[ ]......Nick Nolte in “Warrior”
[ ]......[X]......Christopher Plummer in “Beginners”
[ ]......[ ]......Max von Sydow in “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”

Going w the gut and picking the grizzled guy. Last thing I saw him in on the big screen was THIN RED LINE, by Terrence Malick. He's great, if somewhat despicable, in that.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
[ ]......[ ]......“Hell and Back Again”
[ ]......[ ]......“If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front”
[ ]......[ ]......“Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory”
[X]......[ ]......“Pina”
[ ]......[ ]......“Undefeated”

I don't see a LOT of documentaries, but I usually end up seeing at least one that makes it as a nominee. Boo. Boo on me. I was way off my game in 2011. *sigh* PINA because it's 3-d filmmaking applied to dance. Reviewing the other titles, I can't remember reading or seeing a trailer for any of them. Foo. Why isn't THE INTERRUPTORS here?

LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
[ ]......[ ]......“Pentecost”
[ ]......[ ]......“Raju”
[ ]......[ ]......“The Shore”
[?]......[ ]......“Time Freak”
[ ]......[ ]......“Tuba Atlantic”

Total guess. Couldn't make any of the showtimes for this at the Kendall. Foo.

LEADING ACTRESS
[ ]......[ ]......Glenn Close in “Albert Nobbs”
[ ]......[ ]......Viola Davis in “The Help”
[ ]......[X]......Rooney Mara in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
[ ]......[ ]......Meryl Streep in “The Iron Lady”
[X]......[ ]......Michelle Williams in “My Week with Marilyn”

I like Michelle. She won a GG for this. I think it's funny that if you didn't know who Glenn Close was, and only read "Glenn Close in ALBERT NOBBS" there's no reason for you to think that the movie would be focused on the life of a cross-dressing woman. =)

DOCUMENTARY SHORT
[ ]......[ ]......“The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement”
[?]......[ ]......“God Is the Bigger Elvis”
[ ]......[ ]......“Incident in New Baghdad”
[ ]......[ ]......“Saving Face”
[ ]......[ ]......“The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom”

Total guess. Elvis!

SOUND EDITING
[X]......[X]......“Drive”
[ ]......[X]......“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
[ ]......[ ]......“Hugo”
[ ]......[X]......“Transformers: Dark of the Moon”
[ ]......[ ]......“War Horse”

DRIVE is awesome. And memorable for its squishy explosions of violence juxtaposed with singsongy music and extended silences. I refuse to give the Michael Bay TRANSFORMERS franchise anything.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
[X]......[X]......Bérénice Bejo in “The Artist”
[ ]......[ ]......Jessica Chastain in “The Help”
[ ]......[ ]......Melissa McCarthy in “Bridesmaids”
[ ]......[ ]......Janet McTeer in “Albert Nobbs”
[ ]......[ ]......Octavia Spencer in “The Help”

She is like a sexy Carol Burnett in this. And that's a good thing. You should check out the OSS117 films for more of Bejo and Dujardin. =)

FILM EDITING
[ ]......[X]......“The Artist”
[ ]......[X]......“The Descendants”
[ ]......[X]......“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
[ ]......[ ]......“Hugo”
[X]......[X]......“Moneyball”

SOUND MIXING
[ ]......[X]......“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
[ ]......[ ]......“Hugo”
[ ]......[X]......“Moneyball”
[ ]......[X]......“Transformers: Dark of the Moon”
[X]......[ ]......“War Horse”

ANIMATED FEATURE
[ ]......[ ]......“A Cat in Paris”
[ ]......[ ]......“Chico & Rita”
[ ]......[ ]......“Kung Fu Panda 2”
[ ]......[ ]......“Puss in Boots”
[X]......[X]......“Rango”

It's has some of those annoying anthropomorphized animals otherwise living in our real world logic issues that always bug me when the movie's over, but it is a pretty wonderfully crazy western at heart, and I dig me some crazy westerns. I loved Rango's vision/encounter with the Spirit Of The West. His cheeky identity and the choice of talent to voice him (Olyphant) were a great treat for me. =)

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
[ ]......[ ]......“Bullhead”
[ ]......[ ]......“Footnote”
[ ]......[ ]......“In Darkness”
[ ]......[ ]......“Monsieur Lazhar”
[X]......[ ]......“A Separation”

From everything I've heard - an excellent film.

VISUAL EFFECTS
[ ]......[X]......“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2”
[ ]......[ ]......“Hugo”
[ ]......[ ]......“Real Steel”
[X]......[X]......“Rise of the Planet of the Apes”
[ ]......[X]......“Transformers: Dark of the Moon”

I ate up the new APES movie. It's hard to determine if it is as awesome as I think it is, tho, cuz it pushed a lot of my love-for-the-original-movies buttons, y'know? Eat it, TRANSFORMERS.

ART DIRECTION
[X]......[X]......“The Artist”
[ ]......[X]......“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2”
[ ]......[ ]......“Hugo”
[ ]......[X]......“Midnight in Paris”
[ ]......[ ]......“War Horse”

MAKEUP
[X]......[ ]......“Albert Nobbs”
[ ]......[X]......“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2”
[ ]......[ ]......“The Iron Lady”

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
[ ]......[X]......“The Descendants”
[ ]......[ ]......“Hugo”
[ ]......[X]......“The Ides of March”
[X]......[X]......“Moneyball”
[ ]......[ ]......“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”

The movie got me interested in a story about baseball stats. That's some pretty good writing.

CINEMATOGRAPHY
[X]......[X]......“The Artist”
[ ]......[X]......“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
[ ]......[ ]......“Hugo”
[ ]......[X]......“The Tree of Life”
[ ]......[ ]......“War Horse”

ORIGINAL SCORE
[ ]......[X]......“The Adventures of Tintin”
[X]......[X]......“The Artist”
[ ]......[ ]......“Hugo”
[ ]......[X]......“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”
[ ]......[ ]......“War Horse”

I remember marveling at the adventure-ness encoded in the John Williams score as I watched TINTIN, but as a silent film, the score of THE ARTIST did a lot more work, and quite successfully.

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
[ ]......[X]......“The Artist”
[ ]......[ ]......“Bridesmaids”
[ ]......[X]......“Margin Call”
[ ]......[X]......“Midnight in Paris”
[X]......[ ]......“A Separation”

Again, from everything I've heard.

That's all I've got. I'm probably gonna be sitting out most of the wingding this year. I've got dinner plans and then, I dunno... Maybe I'll go see a movie. =)

Keep on keepin on~