Tech Noir

After several months off from this blog, I have decided to come back and try to continue this experiment more regularly than has been used of late. Recently had some terrifc changes in my life and things are moving in a much better direction now. Hopefully I can use that momentum to keep this blog going and continue my love of movies and that includes writing and reading about them. What better day to return to the blog than the one where the nominations for Oscar are announced. Now I have wrestled with the idea of the Oscars and what they mean to me and I think I can honestly say while I enjoy the specatacle of the Oscar awards show ultimately it is a meaningless thing even for film fans. Being someone who loves movies I do that mostly subjectively and we all have our favorites and least favorites or we downright hate a movie (although filmctritic Hulk says never to HATE a movie). Judging movies in a competitive form like the Oscars do really is a fool's game. How can someone say this movie is better than that one? It is all subjective. And I suppose if you see the Academy as a collective with a single thought or purpose this is just another person with an opinion. A large, televised opinion, but opinion none the less.

So with that in mind, here are the list of nomninees for 2012.

BEST PICTURE
"War Horse"
"The Artist"
"Moneyball"
"The Descendants"
"The Tree of Life"
"Midnight in Paris"
"The Help"
"Hugo"
"Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"

I have seen 3 out of these 9. I need to do some catching up. As it is , Midnight in Paris is my favorite of the given nominees. And probably my personal favorite of the year. Looking forward to the Artist as that looks like a love letter to a bygone era if ever there was one. The Artist and Hugo are both movies that love movies and the Academy LOVES that. They like to give awards to movies that celebrate themselves. So it could go either way for that. My money is on the Artist.

And a big 'WTF?' to Stephen Daldry and his movies. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close looks like typical Oscar bait. What is so special about this guys movies? His movies ALWAYS get nominated. Why? Nothing he has made is anything more than masturbatory Oscar pablum. No, I havent seen it. And yes I will see it at some point, but come on already.

Notable abscensces from this list:

Melancholia
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Contagion
Young Adult
Beginners
Hanna Bridesmaids (comedies get no love from Oscar)

And NOTHING for Andy Serkis? The Academy is going to have to face facts soon and realize that motion capture acting IS acting. And some do it better than others. And then there is Andy Serkis. Andy is a true artist pushing the performance into the future. From his Gollum to Kong and now Caesar in Rise of the Apes, Andy is truly making art with each one of his performances. Now the question is where does that recognition fit into an award? I admit for all the credit I give Andy you also have to recognize the digital efx artist who put the visuals onto what Andy brings them. Regardless Andy needs to get recognized sooner or later for sure.

LEAD ACTOR
Demián Bichir, "A Better Life"
George Clooney, "The Descendants"
Jean Dujardin, "The Artist"
Gary Oldman, "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy "
Brad Pitt, "Moneyball"

I think this is Oldman's year. At least I hope so.

LEAD ACTRESS
Glenn Close, "Albert Nobbs"
Viola Davis, "The Help"
Rooney Mara, "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo "
Meryl Streep, "The Iron Lady"
Michelle Williams, "My Week With Marilyn"

Rooney was great in the decent adaptation of GWTDT. Michelle Williams also did a nice job as Marilyn but the movie was just ok. At this point Meryl should just be retired from being nominated as it just takes away from someone else who may deserve the attention. Yeah Meryl is ALWAYS great, we get it. Thanks Academy. I'm not sure who will take it at this point.

BEST DIRECTOR
Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist"
Alexander Payne, "The Descendants"
Martin Scorsese, "Hugo"
Woody Allen, "Midnight in Paris"
Terrence Malick, "The Tree of Life"

Thank God Stephen Daldry didnt make it on here. My money is on Hazanavicius. Feel like the Artist is the one to beat right now. But that could change in a months time. Malick did some great things in the impressionistic Tree of Life. But I think that film is too much for the Academy voter. Scorsese still could pull this out.

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Kenneth Branagh in "My Week with Marilyn"
Jonah Hill in "Moneyball"
Nick Nolte in "Warrior"
Christopher Plummer in "Beginners"
Max von Sydow in "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"

This is Christopher Plummer's year to win. Sorry Nick. And yes you can now refer to Jonah Hill as an "oscar nominated" actor.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Bérénice Bejo in "The Artist"
Jessica Chastain in "The Help"
Melissa McCarthy in "Bridesmaids"
Janet McTeer in "Albert Nobbs"
Octavia Spencer in "The Help"

I have not seen Berenice in the Artist yet and I can already tell from the ads she will probably make me fall in love with her. All the other ladies in this group did some terrific work and Jessica Chastain seemed to be in dozens of films this year. I think Melissa McCarthy as funny as she was is a novelty nomination unfortunately. The two Help noms might cancel each other out which could allow Janet Mcteer or Bejo grab the award.

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
"A Cat in Paris" Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
"Chico & Rita" Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
"Kung Fu Panda 2" Jennifer Yuh Nelson
"Puss in Boots" Chris Miller
"Rango" Gore Verbinski

Have not seen any of these and where is Tin Tin?? And sorry Pixar, I love you to death but the Academy is right, Cars 2 is not awards material.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
"Bullhead" Belgium
"Footnote" Israel
"In Darkness" Poland
"Monsieur Lazhar" Canada
"A Separation" Iran

Another group I have not seen any of yet. But A Separation has the heat for the award.

DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE)
"Hell and Back Again" Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner"
"If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front" Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman
"Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory" Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
"Pina" Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel
"Undefeated" TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas

DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT)
"The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement" Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin
"God Is the Bigger Elvis" Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson
"Incident in New Baghdad"James Spione
"Saving Face" Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
"The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom" Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
"Dimanche/Sunday" Patrick Doyon
"The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore" William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg
"La Luna" Enrico Casarosa
"A Morning Stroll" Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe
"Wild Life" Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)
"Pentecost" Peter McDonald and Eimear O'Kane
"Raju" Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren
"The Shore" Terry George and Oorlagh George
"Time Freak" Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey
"Tuba Atlantic" Hallvar Witzø Again, lost on all of these.

Will do some research and hopefully see a few before the big night.

ART DIRECTION
"The Artist" Production Design: Laurence Bennett; Set Decoration: Robert Gould
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
"Hugo" Production Design: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
"Midnight in Paris" Production Design: Anne Seibel; Set Decoration: Hélène Dubreuil
"War Horse" Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales

Artist or Hugo, but War Horse could be the, uh, dark horse here.

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Guillaume Schiffman, "The Artist"
Jeff Cronenweth, "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"
Robert Richardson, "Hugo"
Emmanuel Lubezki, "The Tree of Life"
Janusz Kaminski, "War Horse"

GWTDT had some great cinematography as Fincher/Cronenweth always has. Tree of Life is another beauty. But I think Hugo or the Artist will get it.

COSTUME DESIGN
Lisy Christl, "Anonymous"
Mark Bridges, "The Artist"
Sandy Powell, "Hugo"
Michael O'Connor, "Jane Eyre"
Arianne Phillips, "W.E"

All period pieces for costume design as usual. In case you didnt know, W.E. is Madonna's film about the American woman who married the King that abdicated the throne before World War II (which you may recall the story in King's Speech last year) Anonymous is Roland Emmerich's movie that was pushed for Oscar contention. Seriously. Try not to laugh too hard. Well this is the nod it got. This category could go anywhere and it usually does. Ill say Hugo or the Artist.

FILM EDITING
"The Artist" Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
"The Descendants" Kevin Tent
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
"Hugo" Thelma Schoonmaker
"Moneyball" Christopher Tellefsen

Technical awards... I'm not sure. Has Thelma won before? She could take it for Hugo. Though GWTDT was nicely edited too.

MAKEUP
"Albert Nobbs" Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng "The Iron Lady" Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland

Iron Lady and Albert Nobbs both movies about women who have to act like men. Will that nom cancel the two out? I havent seen the HP movie as I gave up on that series a long time ago.

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)
"The Adventures of Tintin" John Williams
"The Artist" Ludovic Bource
"Hugo" Howard Shore
"Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" Alberto Iglesias
"War Horse" John Williams
Another double nom here this time for Williams. Could go any direction. I have no idea.

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)
"Man or Muppet" from "The Muppets" Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
"Real in Rio" from "Rio" Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown Lyric by Siedah Garrett

What the fuck is with 2 noms only? Is that a waste of a category or what? They should dump this category if thats the case. If not then, Muppets please.

SOUND EDITING
"Drive" Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Ren Klyce
"Hugo" Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty
"Transformers: Dark of the Moon" Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
"War Horse" Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom

War Horse could take it away from Hugo.