Thursday, February 23, 2012

Final 2011 Oscar Predictions: Bare-Knuckle Brawl Edition

I know, I know, one more post and I'll be out of your hair for another year. As chance would have it, last year I wrote all my final Oscar predictions at once so as to avoid writing a paper. Well, it's Oscar time, and once again I've got a paper to write. Admittedly, this time it's about Robocop, not Confucianism, but that doesn't really matter. So I can continue to put off coming up with something about what Robocop has to say about the state of manhood, I'll just get down to it. This year, the top prizes might be easy to predict, but below the line, two films are gearing up for a heavy-weight deathmatch, prepared to wantonly slaughter any other movie that gets in their way. You'll see what I mean in a bit. For now...

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

Ok, so The Artist is going to win. I wish I could spend a little more time analyzing, but it's just not necessary. The Artist has won every major prize, has momentum that's just about impossible, and is backed by Oscar-campaign giant Harvey Weinstein. People just love this movie, and are willing to throw every piece of possible hardware its direction. Writing about possible upsets just seems silly. Hugo is undoubtedly the Big Bad in the room, and The Descendants has rallied some support of late, but both are ultimately too weak to topple this year's champ.
Will Win: The Artist
Could Win: Hugo
Should Win: The Tree of Life
Should Have Been Here: Weekend

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

Generally speaking, when there's a Best Picture contender as strong as The Artist, it's really, really difficult to come up with a convincing argument against the film's director being rewarded as well. Such is the case this year. Hazanivicius has a couple (fairly insignificant) knocks against him: he's French, he's not known in this country for anything other than The Artist, and Martin Scorsese's lifetime-achievement-esque campaign is waiting in the wings with the year's most-nominated film. Scorsese did win the Golden Globe over The Artist, but I really doubt that'll happen again.
Will Win-Michel Hazanivicius, The Artist
Could Win-Martin Scorsese, Hugo
Should Win-Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life
Should Have Been Here-Nicholas Winding Refn-Drive

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

In what will surely become a repetitive argument, if it isn't already, it's just dangerous to bet against The Artist too much this year. Clooney looked the frontrunner at the beginning of the awards circuit, but Jean Dujardin has since surged to the top of the ladder, winning a Golden Globe, a SAG award, and a BAFTA (British equivalent of an Oscar). He's talented, memorable, and charming as all get-out. Clooney's still got a chance, but it's not a great one. I'd love for some residual Brad Pitt love to surprise us all Sunday night, but that's not very likely.
Will Win: Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Could Win: George Clooney, The Descendants
Should Win: Brad Pitt, Moneyball
Should Have Been Here: Ryan Gosling, Drive

Best Actress
The nominees:
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

Finally, something that at least looks like a race (however small a race it may be). Ignore Close and Mara; they won't score here. This is a dead heat between Viola Davis and Meryl Streep. Davis is in the lead: she's in a well-liked best picture nominee, everyone loves the performance (even the people who don't like The Help), and she's seen as a respected actress finally getting her due. All Meryl's got going for her is the "she hasn't won in 29 years" argument, which just won't be compelling enough to snare her the gold this year. Watch Michelle Williams: if Davis and Streep are close enough to cancel each other out, Williams' Marilyn Monroe burlesque will be the performance that benefits.
Will Win: Viola Davis, The Help
Could Win: Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Should Win: Viola Davis, The Help
Should Have Been Here: Charlize Theron, Young Adult

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

Battle of the Elderly--2012: Extremely Locked and Incredibly Obvious. Branagh, Hill, and Nolte are all out: they're too not-showy, detested, and drunk, respectively. This comes down to Plummer and Von Sydow. Ok, who am I kidding, this comes down to just Christopher Plummer. I've heard murmurs of Von Sydow stealing the "let's reward him before he we bury him" sentiment, but it just isn't happening. Sorry, Bergman films. Von Sydow's career will have to be the reward instead.
Will Win: Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Could Win: Max Von Sydow, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Should Win: Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Should Have Been Here: Corey Stoll, Midnight in Paris

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

Like Supporting Actor, this one's all but decided. Octavia Spencer's going to walk to the podium on a carpet of poop-filled dessert. You could argue that having two women from The Help will cause a vote split, opening the way for The Artist, but that argument didn't work last year applied to The Fighter, and I don't see it working this year either. Similarly, you could argue that The Artist's steamroller is going to flatten everything in its way. Possibly, but if The Artist fails to land anywhere, it'll be in this category.
Will Win: Octavia Spencer, The Help
Could Win: Berenice Bejo, The Artist
Should Win: Jessica Chastain, The Help
Should Have Been Here: Rose Byrne, Bridesmaids

Best Original Screenplay
The nominees:
The Artist
Bridesmaids
Margin Call
Midnight in Paris
A Separation

Ignore three nominees right away--Bridesmaids, Margin Call, and A Separation are just along for the ride. This category comes down to the inevitable (albeit silent) Best Picture winner trading blows with a universally loved witty, verbal Woody Allen script. I wouldn't fault you for picking The Artist here: the best picture winner hasn't lost in screenplay since Million Dollar Baby in 2004. That being said, I'm giving Allen the edge. To most voters, screenplay=dialogue, and The Artist has, you guessed it, no dialogue, whereas Midnight in Paris sounds and plays like every writer's dizziest daydream come true. Either film could take the win, however.
Will Win: Midnight in Paris
Could Win: The Artist
Should Win: Midnight in Paris*
Should Have Been Here: Weekend
*note that I haven't seen A Separation, so "should win" here means "should win out of the four nominees I've seen."

Best Adapted Screenplay
The nominees:
The Descendants
Hugo
The Ides of March
Moneyball
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

I imagine this is a three-way race. Despite their relative merits, The Ides of March and Tinker Tailor won't have the support to go all the way. That leaves three choices: The Descendants sounds fairly literate in the theater, and is (apparently) a loved film that voters might want to recognize somewhere, but its script is the source of most of the film's problems. Hugo is, arguably, the best picture runner-up, which has to help, but it's admittedly not much of a writer's showcase. Finally, Moneyball is a fantastic, verbal script, and Moneyball seems to have more support than originally anticipated. So who to choose? It's a nail-biter, and any of these three winning wouldn't surprise me, but I've got to give the slight edge to former winner Alexander Payne, whose Descendants script has experienced a recent uptick in popularity, winning the Writers Guild and USC Scripter awards.
Will Win: The Descendants
Could Win: Moneyball
Should Win: Moneyball
Should Have Been Here: Drive

Art Direction
The nominees:
The Artist
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
War Horse

This award seems like a more obvious pick than it ought to. Hugo's got to win here, right? It's a beloved film and the design elements are absolutely stunning. What it's got going against it is The Artist and all its momentum, which you'll find is the case for at least half of these craft categories. I think Hugo's bright colors and huge sets will KO The Artist's subtler designs. If there is, however, a solid challenger, it's gotta be Harry Potter: surely some Academy members will feel like giving the whole series a pat on the back for its consistently wonderful production design.
Will Win: Hugo
Could Win: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Should Win: Hugo
Should Have Been Here: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Costume Design
The nominees:
Anonymous
The Artist
Hugo
Jane Eyre
W.E.

This category is really tough, in that all five movies could conceivably win. Anonymous fits this branch's recent paradigm, which is to say that it's the sort of British royalty costume porn that has been rewarded in this category with only one exception since 2006. The Artist is impressive and the Best Picture front-runner, but black-and-white movies don't triumph here (voters like pretty colors). The pretty color argument works in favor of Hugo, whose costumes are bright, fun, and memorable. If voters feel like going for period British costumes but don't feel like voting for a terrible movie, they can take the classy route and go for Jane Eyre, but the film might be too small to be remembered or seen by enough voters. Finally, W.E. won the Costume Designers award, but I just don't think enough Academy Members will have seen and/or liked this movie to give it a statue. This is easily one of the toughest calls of the night, but I'm going with pretty colors for the win.
Will Win: Hugo
Could Win: Anonymous
Should Win: Jane Eyre
Should Have Been Here: Immortals

Visual Effects
The nominees:
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Hugo
Real Steel
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Real Steel

I'd like to think this race is all sewn up; those Weta-made apes are so impressive. That being said, I feel like this category is primed for an upset. Here's an easy place to give a consolation prize to Harry Potter without toppling a more well-loved title, or, if voters are feeling bland, they could just vote for the only prestige flick in the lineup and go with Hugo. I think I'll stick with the monkeys, but I could very well be wrong.
Will Win: Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Could Win: Hugo
Should Win: Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Should Have Been Here: The Tree of Life

Makeup
The nominees:
Albert Nobbs
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
The Iron Lady

Here's an easy one. Generally, the Academy loves transformative elderly work, and The Iron Lady provides plenty of that. Harry Potter's got a chance to steal, but I figure Meryl Streep's old-lady teeth will carry the day here.
Will Win: The Iron Lady
Could Win: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Should Win: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Should Have Been Here: Immortals

Film Editing
The Artist
The Descendants
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Moneyball

Here's another category where any nominee could take it. Generally, Best Picture threats take this category, which helps The Artist, The Descendants, and Hugo, but when they don't it goes to a well-made action/genre pic, which helps The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and every now and again they go with the structurally complex work, which helps Moneyball, and they do love their veteran editors, which helps Hugo. So it's tough to pick one, is the point. When this category provides a tough choice, always go with the Best Picture frontrunner. It's the safe guess.
Will Win: The Artist
Could Win: Hugo
Should Win: The Artist
Should Have Been Here: Drive

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

Like many of the craft categories this year, cinematography provides a difficult choice with no clear winners. The Artist is gorgeous, but is black and white, and (as said before) voters love pretty colors. Hugo has plenty of bright colors and looks very nice, but might not be overtly showy enough. The Tree of Life is clearly the best, with the most eye-catching lensing, but it might be too weird for the Academy, and Tree cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki has a great record for losing at the last second. A lot of people (myself included) find War Horse's cinematography fairly ridiculous, but it does have lots of sunsets and exterior shots and the like, which uneducated voters love. So who takes it? I wish I could vote for the best, but I just don't think it'll happen. I'll probably kill myself if War Horse wins, though.
Will Win: Hugo
Could Win: The Tree of Life
Should Win: The Tree of Life
Should Have Been Here: Drive

Original Score
The nominees:
The Adventures of Tintin
The Artist
Hugo
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
War Horse

This one's a far easier call. Scoring a silent movie is a very difficult endeavor which makes The Artist completely unique in this category. Howard Shore already has a few Oscars, so they probably won't be falling over themselves to reward Hugo, and John Williams is really going to have to knock things out of the park to get another Oscar, which takes War Horse and Tintin out of the running.
Will Win: The Artist
Could Win: Hugo
Should Win: The Artist
Should Have Been Here: Hanna

Sound Mixing
The nominees:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Moneyball
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
War Horse

Ok, so Dragon Tattoo is too subtle and prickly to win. Ditto Moneyball. I'd say Transformers had a shot, but the Academy obviously hates this franchise. If the first one couldn't win, this one certainly won't. That means this is down to Hugo and War Horse. War Horse has all the elements this branch typically goes for: war, horse, loud noises, etc., but for some reason, Hugo has become the front-runner, winning most of the sound prizes out there. It's a decidedly atypical winner (ie it's not very loud), but I think it's got this category in the bag.
Will Win: Hugo
Could Win: War Horse
Should Win: War Horse
Should Have Been Here: The Tree of Life

Sound Editing
The nominees:
Drive
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
War Horse

Ok, pretty much it's the same argument here as the other sound category. Only difference is that I can very easily imagine a split between Hugo and War Horse, i.e. each movie takes one sound award. If War Horse gets one, it's sound editing. That being said, I'm just not confident enough in a split to take War Horse here.
Will Win: Hugo
Could Win: War Horse
Should Win: Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Should Have Been Here: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Original Song
The nominees:
"Man or Muppet"-The Muppets
"Real in Rio"-Rio

This category is so silly this year. Muppets win easily.
Will Win: "Man or Muppet"-The Muppets
Could Win: "Real in Rio"-Rio
Should Win: "Man or Muppet"-The Muppets
Should Have Been Here: "Pictures in My Head"-The Muppets

Animated Film
The nominees:
A Cat in Paris
Chico and Rita
Kung Fu Panda 2
Puss in Boots
Rango

This one needs no commentary. No way anything other than Rango wins.
Will Win: Rango
Could Win: Puss in Boots
Should Win: Rango
Should Have Been Here: Winnie the Pooh

Foreign Language Film
The nominees:
Bullhead-Belgium
Footnote-Israel
In Darkness-Poland
Monsieur Lazhar-Canada
A Separation-Iran

I'd love to say A Separation, hailed as a modern masterpiece, has this in the bag. If this category's good for one thing, though, it's giving modern masterpieces the finger. So what could take the gold? Footnote won an award at Cannes, but I don't think it's emotional enough. In Darkness is about the Holocaust, which this category loves, but it might be a little too grim for voters (they like their Holocausts inspiring). Monsieur Lazhar is apparently emotionally uplifting, which is pretty crucial here. And Bullhead, which is apparently about castration, can probably safely be ruled out. I honestly think A Separation can take the win here, if only because none of its competitors have enough support to get rid of it. None of them check enough sentimental/manipulative/bad movie boxes, so A Separation wins by default. I bet they'll hate giving this movie to a good movie for once.

Will Win: A Separation
Could Win: Monsieur Lazhar
Should Win: (Abstain) ( I haven't seen any of these, sorry)

Documentary Feature
The nominees:
Hell and Back Again
If A Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Pina
Undefeated

This category is insanely difficult, not least because I've only seen two of these. Every nominee's got a good argument for it, but I'll rule out a couple: If a Tree Falls is too boring and Pina is too weird. Hell and Back Again might win, but I hope it doesn't, because it's pretty routine and not terribly well-made. Paradise Lost is probably the fruntrunner, given its relevance in the news (the murder case it's been profiling was just acquitted), but I'm going with Undefeated. It may be low-key, but it's got an emotional punch and it's been campaigning hard recently.
Will Win: Undefeated
Could Win: Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Should Win: (abstain. again.)

There we have it. For those keeping score at home, here are the movies I'm predicting to score more than once:
The Artist-5
Hugo-5
The Help-2

We'll see how things go, I suppose! Any last minute predictions/preferences?

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Best of 2011, Part 5: My Dream Oscar Ballot

Alright, here's the end of the Best of 2011 kudos. Today, I'm just going to wrap everything up with my dream Oscar ballot, y'know, get everything in one nice, easy-to-read place, in case reading lists for hours on end just doesn't do it for you. No commentary, just nominees with the winners in bold. I'll put asterisks next to actual Oscar nominees so you can get an idea of just how much I think the Academy screwed things up this year.
(Note: I'm going to do 9 best picture nominees, because that's the number the Academy has this year. Sorry, Jane Eyre. You'd be #10.)

Best Picture
The Artist*
Beginners
Bridesmaids
Drive
Hanna
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Martha Marcy May Marlene
The Tree of Life*
Weekend

Director
Andrew Haigh-Weekend
Michel Hazanivicius-The Artist*
Terrence Malick-The Tree of Life*
Nicholas Winding Refn-Drive
Joe Wright-Hanna

Actor
Tom Cullen-Weekend
Jean Dujardin-The Artist*
Michael Fassbender-Shame
Ryan Gosling-Drive
Brad Pitt-Moneyball*

Actress
Viola Davis-The Help*
Kirsten Dunst-Melancholia
Elizabeth Olsen-Martha Marcy May Marlene
Charlize Theron-Young Adult
Kristen Wiig-Bridesmaids

Supporting Actor
Albert Brooks-Drive
Tom Hardy-Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Brad Pitt-The Tree of Life
Christopher Plummer-Beginners*
Corey Stoll-Midnight in Paris

Supporting Actress
Rose Byrne-Bridesmaids
Jessica Chastain-The Help*
Angelica Huston-50/50
Melissa McCarthy-Bridesmaids*
Carey Mulligan-Shame

Original Screenplay
Beginners
Bridesmaids*
Martha Marcy May Marlene
Midnight in Paris*
Weekend*

Adapted Screenplay
Drive
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Jane Eyre
Moneyball*
The Muppets

Art Direction
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2*
Hugo*
Immortals
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
X-Men: First Class

Costume Design
The Artist*
Captain America: The First Avenger
Hugo*
Jane Eyre*
Immortals*

Visual Effects
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2*
Hugo*
Rise of the Planet of the Apes*
Transformers: Dark of the Moon*
The Tree of Life

Makeup
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2*
Immortals
Thor

Film Editing
The Artist*
Drive
Hanna
Senna
The Tree of Life

Cinematography
The Artist*
Drive
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo*
Hanna
The Tree of Life*

Original Score
The Artist*
Attack the Block
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Hanna
The Skin I Live In

Sound Mixing
Drive
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Mission: Impossible--Ghost Protocol
The Tree of Life
War Horse*

Sound Effects Editing
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Mission: Impossible--Ghost Protocol
Rango
Transformers: Dark of the Moon*
War Horse*

Original Song
"Fake I.D."-Footloose
"Life's a Happy Song"-The Muppets
"Pictures in My Head"-The Muppets
"So Long"-Winnie the Pooh
"Star Spangled Man"-Captain America: The First Avenger

Just for fun, here are my nominees for the Animated/Foreign/Documentary categories. It's worth noting that my opinion in these categories is pretty pointless, given that I've seen 5/6/6 movies that fit each category, respectively. So that means every animated film I've seen gets nominated, and only one foreign/doc gets left off. Hey. Buy for what's worth...
(note, I am going to list these in order of preference, to give this last tiny post at least some semblance of relevance.)

Animated Film
Winnie the Pooh
Rango*
Rio
Kung Fu Panda 2*
Cars 2

Foreign Language Film
Pina-Germany
Trollhunter-Norway
The Skin I Live In-Spain
Vincent Wants to Sea-Germany
I Saw the Devil-South Korea

Documentary Feature
Bombay Beach
Senna
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Pina
Project Nim

There we have it. Another movie year gone. I imagine you'll hear from me again briefly next week, so I can offer up some final Oscar predictions. Until then, thanks for reading! Hopefully all these silly lists inspire you (or anyone) to go watch some good movies!

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Best of 2011, Part 4: Craft Categories

Alright, it's my last big list post for this year, but it's a big one. Today, we're covering just about everything that goes into movie making that isn't done by people whose names you'll recognize. Before we get started, I suppose I ought to define these categories for you:
Art Direction: Production design: creating, designing, and building the world in which the movie takes place. Generally associated with set-building, but also stretches to conceptual aspects
Costume Design: ...The design of the costumes.
Visual Effects: Special Effects. CGI, models, etc.
Makeup: ...makeup.
Film Editing: Editing the movie: cutting in some places, lengthening in others. Generally responsible for the rhythm of a film, as well as keeping continuity and making sense of the plot.
Cinematography: In layman's terms, how pretty the movie is. Screen composition, lighting, camera techniques, etc.
Original Score: Music composed for the film itself.
Sound Mixing: Blending the four film sound elements (dialogue, sound effects, ambient noise, music) to create a coherent overall mix.
Sound Effects Editing: creating the sound elements and sound effects heard in the film.
Original Song: Songs written specifically for the film.

Let's get going, shall we?

Art Direction
5. X-Men: First Class-an inspired, goofy, heightened take on the Kennedy era. The swanky strip-club, Xavier's mansion, and the futuristic-looking submarine core all stick out.
4. Immortals-Ancient Greece repurposed as a brightly colored nightmare. Extra points for that utterly bizarre temple-labyrinth.
3. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy-An immaculate collection of cold, boxy spaces. Every set on this film looks and feels like a tastefully decorated prison.
2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2-The wizarding world with which we're all so familiar by now morphs into a fascist, battle-torn wasteland. Whoever came up with the look of Hogwarts' big magical bubble deserves something special.
1. Hugo-Hugely extravagant, delightfully colored and lived in spaces; that huge, fairy-tale train-station, the maze of clockwork and pipes, Papa Georges' more restrained living space, and, of course, the recreations of the turn-of-the-20th century film studios. It's hard to deny how wonderful this movie looks.

Honorable Mention: the height of the Hollywood elite in The Artist

Costume Design
5. Hugo-Though less ornate and impressive than the sets, Hugo's costumes are still inventive and character-defining, adding another level of eye candy. Respect must be given to the wonderful costumes made for the film-making flashbacks.

4. The Artist-Spotless finery for the 1929 1%. George Valentin's favorite tuxedo is memorable, as are Peppy Miller's collection of fancy flapper dresses.

3. Jane Eyre-Both attractive and serviceable, Jane Eyre's costumes are period-specific, beautiful to look at, and define the characters inside them. Note how rigid and dark the threads of Jamie Bell and Sally Hawkin's characters are, compared to the (relative) flippant prowling-wear of Michael Fassbender's Rochester.

2. Captain America: The First Avenger-These clothes are just so much fun. Though everyone will remember the uniform-evolution montage, I find myself recalling the intentionally somewhat silly fusion of accurate 50s garb with the idealized world of comic women. No real women in the military looked like that, but the movie can certainly be forgiven for wanting them to look like that anyway.

1. Immortals-The late, great Eiko Ishioka turns in stellar work, as usual. Her designs gleefully pass the boundaries of hopelessly ludicrous and emerge on the other side as brilliant fairy-tale creations. The golden armor of the gods, the Oracles' absolutely absurd travelling clothes, and the animal-esque designs of King Hyperion's lieutenants; this movie has it all. And I haven't even mentioned what may be the best collection of fantastically goofy headwear this side of just about anything.

Honorable Mention: The fashionable, muted tones of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Visual Effects
5. Transformers: Dark of the Moon-Though the movie sometimes has trouble integrating its humans into the mayhem realistically, the mayhem is admittedly incredibly well-rendered.

4. Hugo-Hugo recreates the Paris of the 1920s with a wickedly fantastical slant, conjuring a world both plausible and completely fictionalized.

3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2-The high point of this series' effects. The magical shield and its subsequent bombardment and destruction are some of the most eye-popping visuals.

2. The Tree of Life-This film details the creation of the entire universe, from the formation of solid matter and the infinite reaches of space, down to the nucleus of a single cell. It's incredibly gorgeous work, and its snub from the Oscars in this category is nothing less than a sin.

1. Rise of the Planet of the Apes-As beautiful as The Tree of Life's effects were, I can't deny the extraordinary technical prowess of Weta Digital's latest offering. It grabs motion-capture technology as we know it and warps it into something much, much better. Those monkeys look almost too realistic, and the level of detail afforded the motion-capture actors is simply unbelievable.

Honorable Mention: The big ol' boxing robots in Real Steel

Makeup
3. Thor-giving Anthony Hopkins the weight of eons in his beard and face, giving each god some silly and identifiable look, and creating frost-giant prosthetics so convincing most people probably assumed they were CGI.

2. Immortals-the most improbably attractive gore this side of a Park Chan Wook movie. Extra points for titans that look like burn victims, realistically war-wounded soldiers, and (assumably) at least $20,000 spent on personal manscaping.

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2-Voldemort's creepy noseless visage, Bellatrix's impossibly poorly-groomed head, goblins straight out of Grimm, hulking werewolves, and battlefield-related carnage. Remind me why this series hasn't been noticed more for its makeup?

Honorable Mention: the uncanny aging effects in The Iron Lady

Film Editing
5. Paul Tothill-Hanna-Pulse-pounding rhythms, incorporating the film's various long takes with more frenetic rhythms without once losing forward momentum.

4. Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanivicius-The Artist-Good comic timing is tough. Doing it without aural cues is even tougher. The Artist zips along, focusing on all the right places, and (generally) pruning where necessary.

3. Chris King and Gregers Sall-Senna-Senna sifts through a labyrinthine collection of hours and hours of sports footage and crafts an impeccable narrative construction.

2. Hank Corwin, Jay Rabinowitz, Daniel Rezenda, Billy Weber, Mark, Yoshikawa-The Tree of Life-Though it appears unformed on the surface, the editors of The Tree of Life managed to compress almost infinite footage of infinity itself into a finely observed tone poem whose seemingly disparate sequences are fluidly integrated into the whole.

1. Mat Newman-Drive-Drive's editing allows for the most delicate balance of the year, intertwining moments of quiet tenderness with the most tensely realized style of the year, interspersed with flawless action scenes. Drive works like a perfect Swiss watch of film craftsmanship.

Honorable Mention-the insistent, driving rhythms of Moneyball. It was really, really hard for me to leave this out of the top five, but you've got to make cuts somewhere.

Cinematography
5. Jeff Cronenweth-The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo-Brooding, frigid, and singularly uninviting, Cronenweth's lensing captures a world as unfriendly to look at as it is to live in.

4. Alwin H. Kuchler-Hanna-brashly confident, exquisitely choreographed camera work, mixed with surprisingly captivating compositions and colors. Like a storybook come to ghastly, unnatural life.

3. Guillaume Schiffman-The Artist-Some of the smartest visual choices of the year, combined with sumptuous black and white, all in service of telling a story almost entirely through visual cues.

2. Thomas Newton Segel-Drive-skillfully deployed slow-motion, eye-catching symmetrical compositions, and evocative noirish lighting. Drive looks like the a pulp-serial detective turned inside-out who has wandered onto a macabre music-video.

1. Emmanuel Lubezki-The Tree of Life-Lubezki makes yet another convincing argument for himself as greatest working cinematographer. The Tree of Life is heartbreakingly beautiful, capturing images both incredibly grand and impossibly intimate images. The world through his camera is both instantly recognizable and delightfully impressionistic. This film walks through the world like a faded but fondly recalled memory.

Honorable Mention: Brendan Galvin's crazed, delirious work on Immortals

Original Score (I'll link to my favorite tracks from each movie)
5. Alberto-Iglesias-The Skin I Live In-these violins are almost violent in their passionate intensity. It perfectly fits the grand melodrama on screen.

4. Alexandre Desplat-Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2-Skillfully reconnects to the original music from the first Harry Potter while integrating new themes which match the later film's darker tones. Desplat's orchestrations is fantastic, as usual.

3. Ludovic Bource-The Artist-Bource is saddled with incredibly difficult task of creating a silent film score upon which the film can easily lean, and he does it with style and heart. His jazzy numbers have just the right amount of pep, and his more quiet numbers don't get lost in the shuffle.

2. Steven Price-Attack the Block-Driving, dance-hall beats mix with street sounds and ridiculous synth-tracks to create a sci-fi score that is simultaneously futuristic and a little seedy; just like the movie itself.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LG7TD0p0Zg4 <---that one's my favorite, but this one is also pretty nifty: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awUviTwo8vQ. Really, the whole soundtrack is just one big highlight.

1. The Chemical Brothers-Hanna-Hanna's soundtrack is absolutely instrumental (forgive the pun) in making Hanna the awesome experience it is. Like another character, the music drifts through the movie, making its presence known at crucial periods. Who can forget that beguilingly peppy whistling theme, or the delightfully melodramatic organ sections, or, of course the times when the music devolves into a wild combination of percussion and rhythm?
You ought to familiarize yourself with the whole soundtrack, but if you need to narrow it down:
This one is the most recognizable/most badass: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBmwcuLa1as
This one gives a good sample of the weird but appropriate incongruities the music strikes with the visuals: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eE4_XlnNCcs
And this one might be my favorite. It's not the loudest, or the most obvious, but it's just unbelievably gorgeous: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2To6ymd_rkM

Honorable Mention: the muted trumpets and acoustic guitars of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Special Music Awards
Normally I don't do this, but I have to spotlight two movies for their music.
First, War Horse: it's got some genuinely stirring, powerful music, and that main theme is so lovely. But, because it's John Williams, he starts crescendo-ing in the first five minutes, and he only continues from there. So the music lacks for subtlety, and it NEVER shuts up, but some of the things there are wonderful. For instance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YT59FgzIVfQ, which has got to be one of the prettiest tracks available for consumption this year.
Secondly, The Eagle. Though most of the film is scored with fairly routine period-action music, the credits whip out this doozy of a track, which is hands down one of my favorite musical offerings of the year: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U28W_TyJUhQ. If the whole movie had been scored at this level, I'd probably have it at the #1 spot. Alas, it's relegated to the bargain bin instead.

Sound Mixing
5. Mission: Impossible--Ghost Protocol-That sandstorm, inside the giant computer, the fight in the parking garage; this movie knows exactly how to control chaos.

4. War Horse-Horses! War! Bombs! Horses! I know, I know, I feel a little bad for putting something this desperate for love in the top 5, but I can't deny how accomplished and layered this mix is.

3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2-Harry Potter sound mixes have always been impressive in their own way, but the last installment really brings it here. The battles always sound crisp and clear, despite the maelstrom in which they're taking place.

2. Drive-As usual, when talking about this film, I need to talk about balance. Drive finds the perfect medium between its long stretches of silence and its sudden violent cacophonies.

1. The Tree of Life-Not only does this movie take time to create the universe, it makes it as wonderful to listen to as it is to look at.

Honorable Mention: the giddy insanity of Hanna

Sound Effects Editing
5. War Horse-cavalry charges, never-ending rows of machine guns, and the unpleasant but unmistakable hiss of gas in the trenches.

4. Mission: Impossible--Ghost Protocol-sophisticated gadgets, quick, brutal fights, the slap of sticky gloves against glass 100 stories high, and the year's most surprising car crash.

3. Transformers: Dark of the Moon-I hate this movie with a burning passion, but its effects are astounding, as always. The robots sound organic, and the humans sound robotic. This movie plays like the inside of a robot sex dungeon. ...In a good way.

2. Rango-The sounds of the Old West are repurposed and given their own distinctive voice, and the action scenes remain an impressive standout. The aerial chase in the canyon is still the only scene this year whose sound effects elicited an impressed gasp.

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2-The scale of the events shown, and their aural uniqueness, allowed Harry Potter to take this one in a walk. Specific sounds--Voldemort destroying the shield, snake-on-throat action, a giant hitting a bell with his club--can all be immediately recalled in my memory.

Honorable Mention: world-building stentorian roars in The Tree of Life

Original Song
5. "Star Spangled Man"-Captain America: The First Avenger-a silly, manically peppy pastiche of World War II bond drives. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeTok5A-Efg

4. "Fake I.D."-Footloose-Ok, so it's admittedly country, but it's face-paced, energetic, and a hell of a lot of fun. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wJKxRTBRic

3. "So Long"-Winnie the Pooh-It's quirky, upbeat, and adorable; naturally, it's sung by Zooey Deschanel. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1iwPtdJHsw

2. "Life's a Happy Song"-The Muppets-It's the opening toe-tapper, and it succeeds admirably at both getting our toes and the dancers' toes tapping. It's so joyful that it's basically impossible to frown during this song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZBe7_lE9lE

1. "Pictures in My Head"-The Muppets-Kermit's at his best when he's doing mopey ballads, and the latest Muppets iteration is no exception. Nostalgic, melancholy, accompanied by weepy piano; I just want to run up and give him a hug. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PJ7NlcdIp4

Honorable Mention: the silly/comic powerballad "Man or Muppet" from, you guessed it, The Muppets

Well, that's it for this year, believe it or not. I'll wrap everything up tomorrow with my dream Oscar ballot, but here end the lists. In summation, here are movies with the most nominations:
1. Drive-8
2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2-8
3. The Artist-7
4. The Tree of Life-7
5. Hanna-5
6. Bridesmaids-5
7. Weekend-4
8. Martha Marcy May Marlene-3
9. Jane Eyre-3
10. The Muppets-3

And as far as most wins are concerned, only four movies racked up more than one win:
Drive-3 (Director, Actor, Film Editing)
Weekend-2 (Picture, Original Screenplay)
The Tree of Life-2 (Cinematography, Sound Mixing)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (Makeup, Sound Effects Editing)


Well, where did I go wrong?

Friday, February 17, 2012

Best of 2011, Part 3: Acting

Yup, we're still plugging along over here. Today, let's look at acting. I'll try to include clips of the performances, but no guarantees.

Best Actor
5. Tom Cullen-Weekend
Though it's nigh on impossible to choose between the two leads in this movie, ultimately I went with Cullen, whose portrayal of Russell, the quiet, semi-closeted orphan, provides the still center around which the film revolves. The performance is an achievement in naturalism, never straining too much for effect.

4. Jean Dujardin-The Artist
I kind of thought silent film acting was an entirely lost art, until Jean Dujardin tapped into my life. He's endlessly charming, his comic abilities are fantastic, and he doesn't skip a beat when transitioning into the more traditionally dramatic segments of the film. Dujardin is the glue that holds The Artist together and makes it as charming as it is.

3. Brad Pitt-Moneyball
Some actors let their fame or star persona get in the way of their performance. I love what Brad Pitt does here because he harnesses the movie-star thing he's got going, yokes to his already impressive charisma and acting skills, and creates something surprisingly affecting. While I'm not the film's biggest fan, I can't deny that Brad Pitt absolutely owns this movie. His tired, cynical, eternally youthful-looking baseball coach is almost certainly one of the best performances of his career.
(Again, youtube fails to provide a clip that really showcases the performance, but this one catches him in a rare moment of tenderness, which is nice: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTnIHnawJeI)

2. Michael Fassbender-Shame
Fassbender's got a tricky job here. On the one hand, he needs to portray the farthest gone of addicts; cold, alienating, completely indifferent to everything but his next fix. That being said, his addiction is to sex, so to get that hit he needs to be completely believable as the kind of person who can get a person to bed within an hour of meeting them. That Fassbender can pull off both these qualities at once is pretty unbelievable. The trick is in the eyes, I think. Sure, he's smiling and flirting and buying drinks, but he's got the look of a predator.

1. Ryan Gosling-Drive
Talk about restraint. In the entire running time, Gosling gets maybe 30 minutes of dialogue. Most of this performance he's just watching, waiting, coiled like a snake. The real genius of this performance are the silences themselves; it's incredible how many different thoughts and emotions Gosling can convey with a seemingly blank face. One shot, in which Gosling's character just sits on the couch, perfectly content, knowing he's finally found somewhere that makes him feel like a person, is one that I haven't gotten out of my head, even though I saw this movie more than four months ago. The way he balances this impossible gentleness and cold brutality in his character is just astounding.
Because I said the balancing act was important, here's one nice scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkWiPBX28Ok&feature=related
And here's one brutal scene (sorry for the naked ladies): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7zmYmfa6XQ&feature=related

Honorable Mention: Michael Shannon desperately trying to hold onto sanity and an appearance of normality in Take Shelter

Best Actress
5. Kirsten Dunst-Melancholia
As Lars Von Trier's vessel for apocalyptic depression, Dunst plays a psychic bride-to-be with the sparkle of a mutilated corpse. Her wedding scenes are alternately depressing and morbidly funny as she tries to go through the motions of a happy ceremony, before sinking into some well-earned bathtub wallowing. Dunst is fascinating to watch when she's clinically depressed, but even better in the final scenes when she adopts a sort of bloodthirsty stoicism, romping around the mansion spouting things like "the world is evil, we don't need to grieve for it."

4. Elizabeth Olsen-Martha Marcy May Marlene
This performance feels like fancy china: it's delicate and it's exquisitely wrought and when it breaks it's both terrible and almost uncomfortably fascinating to watch. As a young ex-cultist trying to hide from her past, Olsen brings impressive shades of subtlety and depth to what could have been a paint-by-numbers 'scared girl' role. Instead, she crafts a realistically broken woman whose strangely conditioned behavior sometimes floats to the surface in disturbingly routine ways.

3. Viola Davis-The Help
Viola Davis' performance is inarguably the most important performance to its film this year. Davis takes her character--a tired version of the uneducated, tragically noble black maid who needs a white woman to happen along and save her--and turns her into one of the most interesting, compelling characters on the screen this season. She adds layers of depth and truth and honesty that very obviously weren't written into the script, and completely elevates the movie in the process. Most of The Help's quality (however dubious or relative a term that is in this context) can be traced back to Viola Davis' heavy lifting. She grabs this silly little white-savior movie and refashions it all for herself.

2. Kristen Wiig-Bridesmaids
Here's the funniest performance of the year in the best ensemble of the year. For starters, Kristen Wiig is absolutely hilarious, but never looks like she's trying to be funny. Playing the straight partner to the bigger characters is tough, and stealing laughs from them is even harder. But she also nails the abject depression, the absorbing self-pity, the quietly angry failure of all her endeavors. Kristen Wiig creates an incredibly believable human being, both funny and vulnerable.
1. Charlize Theron-Young Adult
Here's a performance that doesn't want you to like it, and isn't going to work for your approval. Theron has the guts to go for broke with this addled alcoholic heroine, playing as cruelly as possible; she can cut diamonds with that glare of hers. The impossibly large ego, the hellish determination to ruin other people's lives to benefit her own, the way she converses with other people like she's playing at sarcastic bear-baiting, and then that unbelievably brutal and vulnerable breakdown on her old flame's front lawn. This performance has it all, and then some.

Honorable Mention: Meryl Streep's perfromance in The Iron Lady was honestly in the top five, but then I started writing about it, which reminded me that I hate the movie too much to include in a top anything. Meryl was great in it, but not great enough to redeem a quickly sinking ship.

Best Supporting Actor
5. Tom Hardy-Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Cocky, self-assured, casually seductive, and ultimately beaten down and made pathetic. The whole cast shines, but Tom Hardy's newbie spy-in-love lingers.
(No clip, sorry.)

4. Albert Brooks-Drive
Brooks plays this role like a politician who's been given free rein to do anything he likes. He keeps his public relations smile going, even when he's stabbing someone in the eye with a fork.

3. Brad Pitt-The Tree of Life
Pitt is a compelling portrait of bruised masculinity and harsh fatherhood, as a man who lets the world turn him into a violent stranger in his own house.

2. Corey Stoll-Midnight in Paris
Stoll plays Ernest Hemingway, but doesn't go for impersonation. Instead, he plays the man as the complete distillation of his written work: aggressively masculine, sweepingly broad, like how a bear would speak if it were a little tipsy. His performance is far and away the best thing in this movie, though, admittedly, it's better if you're familiar with Hemingway and his writing.
(this clip cracks me up like crazy:

1. Christopher Plummer-Beginners
Here's a delicate, lived-in, finely observed performance from Plummer as an older man who's just come out of the closet. He's sweet, he's funny, he's a little petulant, and he vibrates with a joy for life and a love for his son that nothing can kill. It's a very impassioned, moving performance.

Honorable Mention: Bryan Cranston is a memorable boss/mob connection-cum-father figure in Drive.

Best Supporting Actress
5. Melissa McCarthy-Bridesmaids
Raunchy, somewhat bizarre, blunt to a fault, but full of genuine heart. McCarthy's deserved Oscar nomination was one of the most fun surprises on nomination morning.

4. Carey Mulligan-Shame
The chaotic, explosive Yang to Michael Fassbender's frosty Yin, Mulligan's achingly vulnerable performance is as critical to the success of Shame as Fassbender's more talked-about work.

3. Jessica Chastain-The Help
Chastain's white-trash-turned-society-wife is one of the standouts of The Help's admittedly accomplished ensemble. She's quick, funny, and surprisingly tough, turning (like every woman in The Help has to do) an underwritten caricature into a living, breathing individual.

2. Angelica Huston-50/50
Huston gets approximately 3 scenes in this film, but she completely blows everything else away with her performance as a fussy, overbearing, but ultimately loving mom. She's both hilarious and incredibly moving; her "I only smothered him because I loved him" is one of the movie's funniest one-liners, and if the scene between Huston and Gordon-Levitt before surgery doesn't put a lump in your throat, you're probably not a real person.
Here's the pre-surgery scene. So 50/50's not perfect, but having just watched this scene again (twice), I've realized how totally remiss I was in not including this in the 'best scene of the year' category. So chalk this one up as an honorary member. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG6BWddCJ4k&feature=related

1. Rose Byrne-Bridesmaids
Rose Byrne shows a hitherto-unsuspected comedic gift, turning her role as Helen--a pretentious, competitive Bridesmaid--into just about the funniest thing in an already funny movie. Whether she's toasting in Thai, smiling at her step-kids, or denying that she's an ugly crier, Byrne never once makes a false move.
This clip's long, but worth seeing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qyx4GXdUKrA&feature=related, but if you feel like something shorter, I'll never understand how Byrne's face from 1:23 to 1:32 in this scene didn't earn her an Oscar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBLmb-a-OHI&feature=related

Honorable Mention: Berenice Bejo's spunky, charismatic work in The Artist.

Well, that's it for today, which is a good thing, since I've been writing on this post on and off since around 8:15 this morning. Finding all those clips took a really, really long time. Anyway, what do you think? Where'd I go wrong? Should I have given more slots to Bridesmaids than I did to Hugo, War Horse, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, and The Help combined? I think so, but I could be wrong.*


*totally untrue.