85th Oscar Award Picks

I know, I'm down to the wire on my picks this year, but in my defense I didn't see my last "actually has a chance" nominated film till just last weekend, that being Zero Dark Thirty. Anyway, let's get right to it then.

Best Picture
Let's just cut the crap. Prior to the "let's nominate 10 films so we have stuff that more people are familiar with" move of several years ago you could always narrow this category down to about 3 actual contenders anyway. This year is no different. Out of 9 nominees only 3 have a chance and those are: Lincoln, Zero Dark Thirty, and Argo.

My personal pick and my prediction in this category are both the same: Argo

Out of the three viable films, Argo is the most successful, the most accessible, and the most likely to have lasting appeal. There is no doubt that it's a tough field this year. Both Zero Dark Thirty and Lincoln are excellent films as is Silver Linings Playbook as well, but while the Zero Dark Thirty formula won for Katherine Bigelow with The Hurt Locker before, it's going to miss this year. When it comes to Lincoln ... well, I'll get to that when I talk about Best Director.

Argo is both crowd and critic pleaser and I think the Academy is going to give it top honors here.

Pick: Argo

Actor in a Leading Role
This is unfortunately an easy one. It's unfortunate because Bradley Cooper and Joaquin Phoenix both delivered exemplary performances in their respective films, but when all is said and done, Daniel Day-Lewis' portrayal of Abraham Lincoln was both riveting and as close to historically accurate (based on what we know of Lincoln's mannerisms and even his speaking voice) as we're likely to see.

I'd love to give this to Joaquin Phoenix, but I have to give it to Daniel Day-Lewis. He really earned it.

Pick: Daniel Day-Lewis

Actress in a Leading Role
I can't think of a decision between best actress nominees in recent year that has been as difficult as the one between Jessica Chastain and Jennifer Lawrence. Both performances were brilliant in their own way, yet so different. I'm glad they were in separate categories for the Golden Globes thus allowing them both to win, but for the Oscar it's literally going to have to be a coin toss for me.

Ultimately my pick will have to be Jessica Chastain as much as I adore Jennifer Lawrence. If anything, the Academy knows Lawrence is a rising star and she'll be in this position again. That's not to discount Chastain however. She is the sole character anchor for Zero Dark Thirty and she's amazing in the role. I don't think there is a single human emotion that she doesn't get to absolutely nail.

Pick: Jessica Chastain

Actor in a Supporting Role
This is another tough one, because there are plenty who are going to want to give this to Tommy Lee Jones for Lincoln, but while I feel his performance was excellent, it wasn't anymore than I normally expect from him. Others (like myself) may want to see Phillip Seymour Hoffman get this prize for his brilliant role in The Master, but for all it's nominations I'm afraid the film isn't going to win anything this year.

That leaves us with Christoph Waltz for Django Unchained, a decidedly different role than the one that won him this award for Inglourious Basterds a few years back, but just as well portrayed. This could be a category I lose if the Academy decides to go with Tommy Lee, but I have to go with Waltz on this one.

Pick: Christoph Waltz

Actress in a Supporting Role
OK, so I didn't see Les Mis, but I heard that Anne Hathaway was excellent in it. The problem here is that I did see Lincoln and Sally Field gives the performance of a lifetime as Mary Todd Lincoln and for her ... that's saying quite a bit.

I love Anne Hathaway, but I have to go with my gut here. I have to go with what I've seen and I have to back Sally Field on this one. If anything, I feel that Les Mis was luke warm enough among many critics to give me justification here.

Pick: Sally Field

Directing
Spielberg. I mean really ... in this list of Directors there is no other choice. Yes, there are some great films here. David O. Russell did an amazing job with Silver Linings as did Benh Zeitlin with Beasts of the Southern Wild, but let's face facts, under any other director (and with any other cast) Lincoln would have been  no more than a History Channel documentary.

Spielberg made that film and I can think of no one more deserving of this award.

Pick: Steven Spielberg

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
This is not an easy one, especially with The Life of Pi having been one of those books that was deemed "unfilmable". Even so, I have to go with Argo on this one. While I haven't read the source material I know enough about film to see how they adapted it while both staying true to the original text and making a compelling motion picture. This is not an easy task and Argo accomplishes it without my ever thinking twice.

Pick: Argo

Writing (Original Screenplay)
I (and the Academy) usually seem to give this award to new screenwriters, but given the nominees this year, I have to go with Tarantino. If you've never read a Tarantino script then you're very much missing out. There's a reason this man has won this award before, his scripts tend to stand on their own as masterpieces and with this year's field, I'm guessing he's got the upper hand again.

Pick: Quentin Tarantino

Animated Feature Film
There are two rules to this category:

1. Never vote against Studio Ghibli
2. Never vote against Pixar

Brave wins ... 'Nuff said?

Pick: Brave

Cinematography

While there is a decent field in this category this year, I have to go with The Life of Pi. While each of the nominated films contain excellent cinematography, I think that The Life of Pi represents the biggest cinematographic challenge and therefore will gain the respect and votes of the Academy here.

Pick: The Life of Pi

Costume Design

Never vote against the period piece and if the period piece is a musical ... doubly so: Les Mis ... easy

Pick: Les Miserables

Editing

This is usually a category I steer away from because I'll be damned if I know what the Academy thinks good film editing is. This year I'm willing to go out on a limb and pick Argo for this category for one reason and one reason alone: the last 20 minutes of the movie. If you can find me a more tense 20 minutes among the other nominees this year, then more power to you, but that final sequence made this film and editing played a HUGE part.

Pick: Argo

Foreign Language Film

You may have noticed that one of the films in this category has shown up in several other categories as well, including the overall Best Picture category. This is the Academy using the Oscars as a sort of bully pulpit and passive aggressively suggesting that American movie makers might think about taking a look at what's going on over seas for some inspiration. I don't necessarily disagree with them, but this is the only category that Amour is going to win tonight.

Pick: Amour

Make-up and Hair Styling

This is normally another category I don't follow, but given that there is a period piece musical this year, this is an easy one: Les Mis

Pick: Les Miserables

Music (original score)

Of the three films I saw in this category this year I don't recall the scores jumping out at me particularly, but that's often the case here. I'm going to go with the buzz on this one though and say that The Life of Pi gets it.

Pick: The Life of Pi

Music (original song)

This is another damn toss up category like Best Actress. You're basically looking at either Adele for the Skyfall theme or Les Mis because it's a musical and this is kind of its category. Given some of the critical panning of Les Mis and the fact that Adele's star is still on the rise, I'm going to lean in her direction and say that Skyfall gets this one.

Pick: "Skyfall" by Adele

Production Design

I may be deluding myself, but I think this is an easy one this year. Despite the excellent production design of the other nominees, it takes a little something extra for a musical and therefore like costuming and make-up before it, this award should go to Les Mis.

Pick: Les Miserables

Visual Effects
This is usually the one award where a summer blockbuster can be seen winning outside of  the technical awards given out prior to the show. This year however one of the nominees is also one of the Best Picture nominees as well. Given the fact that The Life of Pi features a CG main character along side a flesh and blood actor and succeeded enough to be nominated for Best Picture, I have to pick it for this category despite a very competitive field this year.

Pick: The Life of Pi

Top 5 Films of 2012

I say it every year, but this time I mean it “what a shite year for movies”. I honestly don’t know what the problem is anymore because it’s not just Hollywood, even the independent films were lacking this year. Are there no good scripts out there? Is the creative talent pool running dry? Have we run out of things to say?

Overall I didn’t see as many movies as I should have in 2012 and so far 2013’s movie-going outlook appears to be slim as well. Of the movies I did see I don’t recall being blown away by anything. A good litmus test of how much impact a movie has made with me is whether I decide that I need to own it on home video or not and there were precious few movies in 2012 that I felt met that criteria. Even among my Top 5 there are few I feel I need to own although I’d certainly be interested in seeing them all again.

1. Argo
Brilliant casting, brilliant script, brilliant directing; Argo hit all the right marks. This is a film that could have been plodding and arduous or extremely overwrought, but Affleck and crew found the perfect pitch with which to make this story feel both historically accurate and dramatically compelling. The final half hour of this film was the most tense I’ve felt in a movie theater in quite some time and I loved every minute of it. I’m glad that Affleck recently confirmed that he is not planning on running for senate anytime soon, because as a director I think he’s really coming into his own if Argo is any indication.

2. The Cabin in the Woods
I’m not one of those Joss Whedon apologists. I love Firefly, but Buffy never did it for me and Dollhouse (while I enjoyed it) fell flat in many respects. I say this so you understand that I can view Whedon’s work objectively unlike say ... Bruce Willis, who can do no wrong in my eyes. When it comes to horror I’m more a fan of the meta aspects than I am the genre tropes. I like Romero’s work because of his social commentary. I like Evil Dead 2 and From Dusk Till Dawn because of their gratuitous, almost satirical gore and genre exploitation. The Cabin in the Woods is the ultimate meta horror film, but if it were just the script that served to sell it then it wouldn’t have worked. Instead, every aspect of this movie comes together like clockwork in order to sell the story and serve the meta-narrative with a payoff that is totally worth the price of admission.

3. Wreck-It Ralph
Based on several of the critic’s reviews of this film I have to assume that if you don’t have a history with or affinity arcade gaming then much of this film’s charm misses the mark. As someone with an extensive gaming background, this movie hit the sweet spot for me both in terms of subject, art direction, script, and acting. Yes, the cameo’s and inside jokes were clever and entertaining, but I felt the film did a great job of being more than just gamer kitsch and in telling a classic tale in a modern trapping of overcoming adversity while being true to oneself.

4. Chronicle
The trailers for this film almost ruined it for me. It really wasn’t the film’s fault either, rather it was the fact of there having been several “moody teenagers with super powers” movies over the last few years that were nothing more than excuses to hook young, beautiful actors up to wires and try to catch a crossover dude-brah and comic geek audience. It wasn’t until I looked past the “yo bro, I can fly!” surface layer of Chronicle that I realized there was something of substance there. While this isn’t a complex movie and the found footage/faux documentary style (while appropriate) was stretched to the limits of believability, the message and the execution remains un-muddled and works in the film’s favor. The end result is a distilled, but successful version of Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira a modern classic using super powers as a metaphor for adolescence and the difficulties of responsibility associated with becoming an adult.

5. The Master
Out of all the films that I saw in 2012 this is the one that I’ve probably thought about the most after leaving the theater. This is a heavy, layered piece of art that is worthy of both discussion and repeated viewing. The Master is what an art house film should be. This is the kind of movie that asks a lot of the audience both while they are in the theater and after they leave. Most audiences don’t like to have to work that hard for a film and for those people there is still a compelling narrative, expertly acted and directed, although somewhat cryptic in its resolution. For the braver moviegoer, The Master rewards deeper inspection and dissection and provides a wealth of detail and subtext to be explored.

Thoughts: Moonrise Kingdom

Does anyone else feel like Wes Anderson is just going through the motions these days? Moonrise Kingdom was good, but it just felt like it was a paint-by-numbers version of how to make a Wes Anderson movie:

• Wide-angle shots ... check
• Cross-section cutaway sets ... check
• Symmetrical compositions ... check
• Vibrant, deliberate color palette ... check
• Semi-detached yet resonant dialogue delivery ... check
• Looks/sounds/feels like it's set in the the mid 60's whether it actually is or not ... check
• Slow motion scene set to music that punctuates turning point in the plot or a major character moment ... check

This isn't the first time I've been critical of Anderson. The first time I saw both The Life Aquatic and The Darjeeling Limited I didn't think I liked either of them very much, but as time went on and the movies sank in, I grew to appreciate them a great deal. I don't expect Anderson to ever make a film as brilliant and resonant as The Royal Tennenbaums again (you'd have to be a robot not to be moved by that film), but I kinda feel like he's just phoning it in on Moonrise Kingdom.

Maybe it's that the film isn't for me, maybe it's a movie for tweens, but I never connected with any of the characters and so the film just became for me a series of Wes Anderson directed scenes that (while amusing) had little impact. The only character I really felt anything for was Ed Norton's scout master and only then because he got to a point where he had something to prove. The bare scraps of plot for all the other characters never really go anywhere, but I don't end up caring because I was never properly introduced to them to begin with. Even two leads and their apparently star-crossed young love are neither properly introduced nor built upon in any meaningful way.

In the end, Moonrise Kingdom feels like a Wes Anderson picture puzzle. All the pieces are there and they fit together to make pleasing enough image, but it's not something you're going to frame and put on your wall. When you're done with Moonrise Kingdom you'll forget about it and move onto something else. Maybe Anderson has gotten too wrapped up in his own style or maybe Owen Wilson (who was not involved with the writing of this film as he has been on past Anderson projects) is a bigger part of the Wes Anderson equation than I previously gave him credit for. In either case, Moonrise Kingdom was entertaining, but forgettable in the long run.

Quick Thoughts - Prometheus

I'll have my final E3 report up later, but I wanted to give some quick thoughts on Prometheus while they're still fresh in my mind.

Ultimately, you should go see this movie, but realize that while the production is magnificent, the same cannot be said of the script. If you are willing to comb through the details of the film in search of rumored symbolic elements then you may have a better opinion of this film, but regardless those elements do not excuse the script for it's flaws.

It's a well-made movie though and more head-scratching than disappointing. It should make for a very interesting Blu-Ray, assuming it gets the proper bonus features.

Oscar Roundup 2012

56% accuracy this year. This is becoming a trend with me. I miscalculated Hugo's technical award chances, went out on some shakier limbs with my Best Actor/Actress picks (though I was fully aware of what I was doing), The Academy pulled a fast one on my by changing up the usually sure thing category of Costume Design and not giving the award to a Victorian/Elizabethan period piece, and no one saw Dragon Tattoo winning for editing ... I can't blame myself for that one at least.

84th Oscar Awards Picks

It's that time of year again and after a couple years of less than stellar picks on my part I'm hoping to boost my average this year with a more accurate list of predictions. Let's get right to it then:

Best Picture
Three years in and I still find the expansion of this category to include 10 nominees to not only be a waste of time for consideration purposes, but for the audience as well. Even when there were only 5 nominees, chances were that 2 or 3 of them didn't have a shot anyway, now there's even more fluff to sort through. Let's boil this down to the 3 movies that have a chance: The Artist, Hugo, and The Descendants.  Both The Artist and The Descendants come into the fray with Golden Globe wins for Best Picture and while Hugo didn't win big, it came out of that awards show with some buzz as well, though it seems to have faded. Now I may have been expecting too much from The Descendants based on Alexander Payne's prior works, but I wasn't as taken with it as some. In my opinion he's much better at character pieces than the straighter sort of drama/comedy that The Descendants ended up being. The Artist on the other hand was a movie I had no expectations for other than what had been generated by the buzz surrounding the film and I was not only pleasantly surprised, but thoroughly entertained on several different levels. If I'm going to be honest however, neither of these films is my personal choice for Best Picture this year, but the film I chose wasn't nominated: Drive. Regardless, I have to go with The Artist in this category. It would be a bold move for the Academy to award a film that (being both black & white, and silent) doesn't have immediate appeal to a large segment of the movie-going public. The Academy is no stranger to bold moves however. Add to this the fact that the Oscars (like The Artist) are a celebration of the art and artistry of film throughout the ages and The Artist is a no-brainer.

Pick: The Artist

Actor in a Leading Role
Smart money in this category should be on Clooney and  Dujardin due to their Golden Globe wins, but adding Gary Oldman to the list of potentials would not be a bad move. Personally I think when you stack Clooney's performance in The Descendants up against Dujardin in The Artist there's no question that Dujardin wins, but once you consider Oldman, it becomes a much more interesting field. Something tells me to bet on Oldman for this one as much as I think Dujardin has a great shot. Oldman's performance was subtle and measured in Tinker, Tailor and while that makes it difficult to judge versus Dujardin's pitch-perfect silent era mugging, I think Oldman tips the scales due to his experience, lengthy career, and having been snubbed before. Giving Oldman the Oscar here is very much like giving Scosese the Oscar for The Departed. More an acknowledgement of a career than a specific role.

Pick: Gary Oldman (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy)

Actress in a Leading Role
Well damn. How the hell do you even begin to pick in this category. Even if you just boil it down to Streep, Mara, and Williams, it's still near impossible to pick. My personal pick is Rooney Mara, whose performance in Dragon Tattoo was both compelling and haunting, but I'm coming from a place where I was waved off from seeing The Iron Lady and never got around to My Week With Marilyn so I don't have first person accounts to work from. I think streep had good buzz going into the Golden Globes, but then audiences actually saw The Iron Lady and didn't really care. I'm going to throw my lot behind Williams here as much as I want Rooney Mara to win it, but I would not be surprised to see Viola Davis come out of what I personally perceive to be "nowhere" in this category either.

Pick: Michelle Williams (My Week With Marilyn)

Actor in a Supporting Role
Why is it that the supporting actor and actress awards always seem to pick from movies I haven't seen? My problem in this specific category is that while I did see Moneyball, Jonah Hill doesn't have a chance. I almost get the feeling that this nomination is the Academy giving him a hint: reminding him that he's got broader range than dick jokes. If you take him out of the equation all I'm left with having seen is Christopher Plummer in Beginners. What makes it really tough for me to judge this (besides the fact that Plummer won the Globe in this category) is that I adored Beginners so I fear that there is some bias here on my part. Still, I have no reason not to pick him therefore Plummer it is.

Pick: Christopher Plummer (Beginners)


Actress in a Supporting Role
Traditionally this is one of my worst categories. Even more so than the men's category it seems that I never see any of the films that people get nominated from when it comes to Supporting Actress. I'm not even going to question it with this one though. With two actresses from The Help nominated it seems a fairly smart thing to pick one of them therefore I'm going with the one that won the Globe: Octavia Spencer

Pick: Octavia Spencer (The Help)

Animated Feature Film
Really? No Tintin? OK. Having seen none of these, I'm at a loss, especially given two films on the list I hadn't even heard of. I have to go with Rango though. Out of the 3 films on this list that I have heard of, this is the only one that seemed even remotely Oscar-worthy and that numerous people told me to see.

Pick: Rango

Cinematography
This is a loaded list this year. You can probably remove War Hose and Dragon Tattoo right away, but you're still left with 3 potential winners, each of them visually brilliant in their own way. I've heard decent buzz surrounding Hugo for this category, but personally I have to wonder if The Artist isn't actually a better achievement. Hugo is beautiful, but I think The Artist's faithful take on late 1920's/ early 1930's film technique is more alluring in the end. I think Hugo may have Art Direction tied up, but I have to give Cinematography to The Artist. Oh and Tree of Life loses simply for making me watch that same damn trailer for a year ... a trailer that screamed "give me an Oscar". Sorry ... no Oscar for you!

Pick: The Artist

Art Direction
As I said above, I think Hugo get this one. The Artist may be in a position to upset, but if things go the way I think they will, the split between Cinematography and Art Direction is going to go in my favor.

Pick: Hugo

Costume Design
NEVER BET AGAINST AN ELIZABETHAN OR VICTORIAN PERIOD PIECE! I've gone against my own advice once and that was the only time I didn't win this category. Not this time! Jane Eyre wins!

Pick: Jane Eyre

Directing
Well let's just get rid of Terrance Malick immediately. While pretentious excess certainly has it's place in the Oscars, I don't see Malick's Tree of Life winning him this category at all. I honestly think this may be between Michael Hazanavicious, Alexander Payne, and Scorsese. Personally I think it would be a shame to give it to either Payne or Scorsese though, mainly because they've previously made better films that deserved this award much more. I do however know that this did not stop the Academy from giving Scorsese the Directing award for the mess that was The Departed several years back. Given the above and with Hazanavicious having won the Director's Guild Award, I think he's got to be my front runner here.

Pick: Michael Hazanavicious (The Artist)

Documentary Feature
Documentary Short
Here's where we start getting into the categories based on films I didn't see at all and unlike some people, I simply don't pick in categories like this.

Film Editing
This is probably between Hugo and The Artist, but similar to the Cinematography category, I think The Artist is the bigger achievement here. Hugo may be well edited, but The Artist is well edited and accomplished the task of fitting an era-specific editing style as well. To me that is the greater achievement.

Pick: The Artist

Makeup
I know nothing about film makeup except that it's not easy making someone look natural under those lights, therefore I have no pick here.

Music (Original Score)
Oh come on! This has to go to The Artist. As a "silent" film the score is a HUGE part of the narrative and expressive element of the movie. Other films may have excellent scores in this category, but The Artist's score is the only one that could also have been nominated for Actor in a Supporting Role as well.

Pick: The Artist

Music (Original Song)
It's a 50/50 shot here, but when the chips are down I bet on Muppets every time.

Pick: "Man or Muppet" from The Muppets

Short Film (Animated)
Short Film (Live Action)
Every year I mean to get out and see the Short film showcases and the various theaters in the cities in which I have lived, but I never manage to do so. I'm just lazy I guess. That being the case, I have no picks here.

Sound Editing
Sound Mixing
I'll just be honest and tell you that when it comes to sound editing and mixing in film, I have no idea what's good and what's not. When it comes to music I definitely have my opinions on what a well mixed album sounds like, but in film it's just an element I've never paid much attention to.

Visual Effects
Take a moment at let these nominees sink in. The first thing you want to do is get rid of any notion that Transformers will win. Sure, the robots may be technically impressive, but they work horribly for film on so many levels. You can drop Real Steel too, but it really is an honor just to be nominated. This leaves you with Hugo, Harry Potter, and Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Like most technical awards, it comes down to the challenge and the level of achievement. When you take that into account I think the most obvious choice is Rise of the Planet of the Apes. The film gave itself the task of creating believable CG primates that people could relate to and accomplished this goal brilliantly. If Harry or Hugo took this award instead, I wouldn't be surprised, but I would be disappointed. I think the apes have this one locked up. The lawgiver has spoken!

Pick: Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
This is a tough one here. On one hand The Descendants was a better movie, but on the other Moneyball took a non-narrative book and adapted it for the screen in a way that was both compelling and still true to the source. My personal feeling is that Moneyball wins this and I know I'm going against some buzz by saying this. Ultimately I think it's the better choice and I'm willing to accept losing this category because of it. Also ... I can't vote against Sorkin, I just can't.


Pick: Aaron Sorkin, Steven Zaillian & Stan Chervin (Moneyball)

Writing (Original Screenplay)
If Director goes to Hazanavicious, then it's hard not to give this one to Woody Allen and with the exception of a surprise rally for Bridesmaids, I don't see how this is not a two nominee category this year. I'm going to throw my weight behind Allen though. Even though there is a certain challenge in writing for silent film, I think Woody's pedigree and his Golden Globe win make him the better choice this year.

Pick: Woody Allen (Midnight in Paris)

83rd Oscar Awards Predictions

It's that time again and since there really isn't any reason to complain about the fact that there was a dearth of good films this year (since it just seems to be the status quo now), let's get right to my predictions.






Best Picture
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are Alright
The King's Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter's Bone

I guess I can't blame The Academy for expanding this category, after all the Golden Globes have two Best Picture categories with 5 nominees each, why not broaden the field. Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on your viewpoint) the Oscars are not the Golden Gloves so several of these films (while it's nice to be nominated) never had a chance of winning to begin with. Toy Story 3, 127 Hours, The Kids Are Alright ... sorry, you never had a chance. That leaves us with 7 possible nominees.

First things first, let's eliminate Winter's Bone. I really liked this movie, but it's too obscure and too subdued to win an Oscar. This is a film for the critics awards and definitely worth watching. Inception may be this year's anomaly in that it was both popular and very well made, but it's not Oscar material in this category, not with this competition. The Fighter somehow generated Oscar buzz around the time of it's release, but let's get something straight: the only thing this movie has going for it are two stellar performances by Amy Adams and Christian Bale. Everything else about this film was boilerplate from start to finish. True Grit was a great film, well written, well directed, and well acted, but it's a remake and I don't see a remake, no matter how good winning this category. Similar to Inception, it's just not going to happen against this competition. That leave us with 3 actual contenders.

While The Social Network will live on as a true modern period piece, artfully accomplished against great odds by both cast and crew, I don't see it winning this category despite some of the recent buzz and a Golden Globe win. Black Swan is my personal pick for Best Picture of the year, but I think this bird flies just a little too high over Oscar's head to win. Certainly one of Aronofsky's best films to date and a must see for this year, but it's just too artsy to win here. The King's Speech is going to take this category for one simple reason, it's well rounded. The film is well made, well, acted, well written, and well directed, artsy in a classic Hollywood style, approachable by a broad audience, and quite simply endearing. Add in the fact that it's been getting Oscar Buzz for a couple months now and you're got my pick.

Pick: The King's Speech.

Actor in a Leading Role
Javier Bardem (Biutiful)
Jeff Bridges (True Grit)
Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network)
Colin Firth (The King's Speech)
James Franco (127 Hours)

You couldn't ask for a more difficult choice this year. These are all brilliant performances. I've got to go with Colin Firth in The King's Speech though. Momentum has to be considered when picking the Oscars and I think this film has it, especially after he won the Golden Globe in this category. Honestly though, if any one of these actors won this category I would not be surprised.

Pick: Colin Firth

Actor in a Supporting Role
Christian Bale (The Fighter)
John Hawkes (Winter's Bone)
Jeremy Renner (The Town)
Mark Ruffalo (The Kids Are Alright)
Geoffrey Rush (The King's Speech)

This is between Geoffrey Rush and Christian Bale and having seen both performances, I have to give this to Bale. Rush was good, but Bale was brilliant. I was seriously reminded of DeNiro or Pachino in their prime, simply remarkable.

Pick: Christian Bale

Actress in a Leading Role
Annette Bening (The Kids Are Alright)
Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole)
Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone)
Natalie Portman (Black Swan)
Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine)

This was a shitty year for Women in film. All you have to do is take a look at the Men's roles vs. the Women's and try to avoid the gaping chasm between them. First off, why was The Kids Are Alright nominated for anything? This film played out like a bad Lifetime movie and before anyone says I'm being unfair to a Women's film, any defense of this film as some kind of standard bearer of Women's or lesbian rights or viewpoints is simply patronizing. I didn't see Rabbit Hole, although I heard it was good. Neither did I see Blue Valentine, but you can blame the awful, touchy-feely, date movie trailer for that. Jennifer Lawrence was excellent in Winter's Bone. Conveying emotion in a loud, raucous movie is easy, doing so in a subdued film like Winter's Bone takes talent. When it all comes down to it though, if this award doesn't go to Natalie Portman, I'm going to riot. Portman owned her role in Black Swan in a way I have seen few actors do before. Not only did she succeed in overcoming the challenges of the script, but also of the production. The camera is rarely not on Portman throughout the course of the film and when it is on here it is primarily in close up. If Portman hadn't so nailed this performance it would have been relevant immediately on screen and I saw nothing but perfection.

Pick: Natalie Portman

Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams (The Fighter)
Helena Bonham Carter (The King's Speech)
Melissa Leo (The Fighter)
Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit)
Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom)

This is a category I usually count on getting wrong, usually because the nominees are from movies I haven't seen. This year, with the exception of Animal Kingdom, I've seen all these performances. Still, this is a tough one. The Golden Globe went to Melissa Leo, but I personally think that Amy Adams was better in The Fighter, although this could be bias because I have a huge crush on Amy Adams. Helen Bonham Carter was good as usual, but she really didn't do anything in The King's Speech except be British and regal. I think this is between Melissa Leo and Hailee Steinfeld for True Grit and I'm going with Steinfeld. There are two reasons for this 1) she did a really good job and 2) I think The Academy likes giving awards to kids when they can. Remember when Anna Paquin won for The Piano. Best. Acceptance. Speech. Ever.

Pick: Hailee Steinfeld

Animated Feature Film
How to Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
Toy Story 3

Maybe I'll be surprised this year, but usually there is a pretty reliable way to win this category: don't bet against Pixar.

Pick: Toy Story 3

Art Direction
Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 1
Inception
The King's Speech
True Grit

This is one of those categories where it's usually a bad idea to vote against the period piece and we kind of have two here in The King's Speech and True Grit. I've got to go with The King's Speech though.

Pick: The King's Speech

Cinematography
Black Swan
Inception
The King's Speech
The Social Network
True Grit

I have to believe this is between Black Swan and Inception. While they both had their own unique challenges in shooting, I have to go with Black Swan. There are technical awards for Inception to win, Black Swan should get one for old fashioned camera work and for really using the frame as a story telling device.

Pick: Black Swan

Costume Design
Alice in Wonderland
I Am Love
The King's Speech
The Tempest
True Grit

You almost always have to vote for the Victorian era period piece, since we don't have one this year (and Alice in Wonderland doesn't count) we go with the closest approximation, that being The King's Speech.

Pick: The King's Speech

Directing
Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan)
David O. Russell (The Fighter)
Tom Hooper (The King's Speech)
David Fincher (The Social Network)
Joel and Ethan Coen (True Grit)

For my money, this is between Aronofsky, Fincher, and the Coen Brothers. Fincher won the Golden Globe, and the Coen Brothers were in rare form on True Grit, but I have to vote my conscience here and give it to Aronofsky. I may lose this category, but if they aren't going to give Aronofsky best picture they should give him director. Now ... all this goes out the window if I'm wrong about Best Picture. The directing in The King's Speech was impressive to the degree where Hooper would get this award, even though Picture and Director Oscars almost always go hand in hand. If The Social Network wins instead then this may very well go to Fincher.

Pick: Darren Aronofsky

Documentary Feature
Documentary Short Subject

I didn't see any of these so it would be a crap shoot to pick here, therefore I abstain.

Film Editing
Black Swan
The Fighter
The King's Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network

Editing is such a nuanced art and I've never really been able to discern a pattern in this category, therefore I've got to go with my gut. I'm picking Black Swan in this category.

Pick: Black Swan

Foreign Language Film

Having not seen any of these I abstain

Makeup
Barney's Version
The Way Back
The Wolfman

In the absence of a Victorian era period piece, go for the monster movie.

Pick: The Wolfman

Music (original score)
How to Train Your Dragon
Inception
The King's Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network

No ... Inception isn't going to win because the "BWONG!" track playing over the trailer became an internet meme. This is often a difficult category to pick, but based on the Golden Globe winner and some careful thought I really think The Social Network has a chance here. I also think it will be amazing to see Trent Reznor accept an Academy Award.

Pick: The Social Network

Music (original song)
Coming Home (Country Strong)
I See the Light (Tangled)
If I Rise (127 Hours)
We Belong Together (Toy Story 3)

I think the only time I was ever sure of a choice in this category was in 2008 when "Jai Ho" was nominated from Slumdog Millionaire. I didn't see any of the movies here, but I'm going to go with Toy Story 3 because hey ... it's Randy Newman, why not?

Pick: We Belong Together (Toy Story 3)

Short Film (animated)
Short Film (live action)

I'm abstaining from these categories as well since I didn't see any of these, not that I didn't have a chance to, I just didn't.

Sound Editing
Sound Mixing

I'm skipping these as well. I just don't know enough about sound or how the Academy tends to vote in these categories to make any sort of educated guess.

Visual Effects
Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Hereafter
Inception
Iron Man 2

I would be really surprised if Inception didn't win this, I mean seriously.

Pick: Inception

Writing (adapted screenplay)
127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter's Bone

This is a three horse race between Winter's Bone, True Grit, and The Social Network. With the fact that The Social Network won the Golden Globe and Aaron Sorkin being an amazing writer, I have to give him the award here.

Pick: The Social Network

Writing (original screenplay)
Another Year
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are Alright
The King's Speech

Ok, I don't see The Fighter winning because it should be considered an adaptation if you ask me, since it's based on a true story. I've already expressed my confusion regarding The Kids Are Alright, so that leaves 3 choices, none of which are written by first timers who tend to get recognized by this award more often than not. I'm really kind of stuck on this one, but I'm going to go with The King's Speech simply because I'm giving it recognition elsewhere.

Pick: The King's Speech

I did pretty bad last year in my predictions, less than 60%, but traditionally I'm usually up around 80% accuracy. This year I'm really not sure. It really comes down to whether or not The Social Network's Golden Globe win carries over or not. If it does, then I'm sunk. If it doesn't then things will likely go my away across the board for the most part.

Link: How Pixar Bosses Saved Their Employees from Layoffs

How Pixar Bosses Saved Their Employees from Layoffs
"Today, Pixar may be a multibillion dollar company seemingly capable of doing no wrong in the box office, but in its early days as Lucasfilm’s computer animation division, its future was far from certain. Indeed, in the mid-’80s, some at Lucasfilm doubted the value of computer animation, and the division faced deep layoffs. Then, its two heads, Alvy Ray Smith and Ed Catmull, saved it in a positively Pixaresque way."


Now that's what I call leadership.

Link: Godzilla Movie Gets Monsters Director Gareth Edwards

Godzilla Movie Gets Monsters Director Gareth Edwards: "

"It’s back to the drawing board for Tokyo’s greatest thunder lizard as the upcoming Godzilla reboot gets a new director, Monsters‘ Gareth Edwards, and a new writer, as yet still unrevealed."



 As a kid my Dad instilled two things in me above all else

1. A love of music
2. A love of Godzilla

By the time high school rolled around I had seen every Godzilla movie ever made available in the states and while my interest began to wane at that time and I've since lost track of the franchise, the big green guy still has a special place in my heart. Having seen Gareth Edwards film Monsters and having been very impressed with it not only because of its effects, but also its writing and directing, I am looking forward to seeing what he can bring to the king of movie monsters. Certainly he can do better than that Ferris Bueller vs Godzilla nonsense we got in the late 90's.

Review: Black Swan

I'm bad at reviews, specifically the part where you summarize the movie without giving everything away and still make it interesting to read. That being said, I'm not going to review Darren Aronofsky's latest film Black Swan, I will however comment on several aspects of it.

Let's get one thing straight right from the start here, Black Swan isn't a film about Ballet. It's a film where ballet figures heavily, but Black Swan is as much about ballet as Kubrick's 2001 is about space. This is a film about identity, obsession, and madness, themes Aronofsky has proven himself adept at depicting in the past to great effect. Unlike his previous effort, the character portrait piece The Wrestler, Black Swan sees Aronofsky concentrating less on the physicality of the character and more on the metaphysical and succeeds with almost Bergman-esque precision. Black Swan is ultimately a unique thriller where the protagonist's ultimate rival is herself. Aronofsky deftly ramps up the tension throughout the film primarily through the constant use of close-ups, creating not only a claustrophobic effect in the viewer, but also affixing our gaze almost interminably to the character of Nina's face. Natalie Portman deserves all the praise she gets for this role as she completely owns the broken creature that is Nina and succeeds in the challenging task of making us feel both compassionate and uncomfortable as she loses her grip on her own sense of self in pursuit of perfection as the titular Black Swan. In addition to the close ups and the stellar performances from Portman, Kunis, and the entire cast, Aronofsky's use of score and deft editing techniques feels more at home here than in any of his previous films. The last 20 minutes alone were a tangle of quick edits reminiscent of Aronofsky's oft-times difficult to watch Requiem for a Dream.

In the end, Black Swan was a film that left me with a grin on my face and a lot to analyze in my head and was one of only a handful of films I've seen this year that I would consider to be truly Oscar worthy. It's better late then never I presume, but I suppose this year we're going for caliber over quantity. There are still a few awards nominees for me to check out yet this year, but if Black Swan is any indication, the studios saved the best for last in 2010.

Film Review - The American

I just got back from seeing the American and it was startlingly good. I must admit I didn't expect much going into it other than that the idea of George Clooney as an assassin couldn't be bad. What could have been another fast-paced, Bourne-style shoot-em-up, ended up being something else entirely: a slow-paced, deliberate thriller; practically bereft of dialogue, yet mesmerizing.

This type of assassin film like Leon (aka The Professional) isn't about a man who kills for a living, it's about an artist, a master. These films are about a man who has honed his craft so well that it has swallowed him whole, such that he has no life beyond the work except perhaps a single antithetical hobby (with Leon it was old movies, with The American it was butterflies). The assassin/artist remains locked in this life of endless mastery of craft until he is snapped out of it by an outside force, a woman.

The American follows the old tropes well, but it does so in such a deliberate manner. There is nothing wasted in this film. Every line of dialogue, every shot, is loaded, but subtly so. This is not a film for those with wandering attention spans, The American demands your attention just as much when it is saying nothing as it does during the few true action sequences. In the end this is a movie for critics and film students though. The average moviegoer is unlikely to appreciate the artistry of a film like this. Even when Tarrantino does "deliberate" and "methodical" he's usually doing it while cramming a ton of dialogue in the scene. Watching The American is at times like reading a comic book without words, it's the same art form, but it requires more from the audience and the filmmaker.

I don't know quite what to compare this movie to. It reminds me of Leon in the basic theme of the assassin, but has far less outright action. I suppose it invoked images of The Third Man, yet even that's not 100% correct although as far as correlations go it's likely more apt. At any rate, if you're looking for something different and you like this brand of assassin fiction as I do, then you owe it to yourself to see The American.

Adaptation vs. Translation

I just saw Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and loved it. As a fan of the comic since the first book dropped 6 years ago I couldn't be happier with how the film adaptation came out. Even with all the liberties taken in the film, especially in a few of the fight scenes, I thought it was excellent. In fact you might say that it was because of the liberties that were taken that I liked the film so much. Allow me to explain:

Watchmen was a comic book work held dear by many and though it had been spoken of in the past, until Zack Snyder came along, no attempt to adapt it for the screen had ever succeeded. Such adaptations are often met with apprehension by fans of the original work and for good reason. People have an attachment to Watchmen and other non-mainstream properties and if that property is going to be brought to a larger audience, they want it to retain it's integrity. They don't want the thing they're passionate about sullied in the eyes of the masses by an inferior adaptation. With Watchmen it was a simple choice, either do it as faithfully as possible or don't do it at all. The fans were too rabid, the backlash would have been devastating. An adaptation wouldn't do, only a big screen translation.

Watchmen the film recreated the comic with at least 90% accuracy and while others were thrilled at the chance to see their beloved story so faithfully recreated in a new medium, I left the theater with really no opinion at all other than that it was a very faithful translation. Scott Pilgrim on the other hand, while it had faithfully translated scenes, was more of an adaptation and I was much more excited after having seen it. The difference for me between an adaptation and a translation is that while a translation is attempting to faithfully recreate the language of one medium in another medium while losing as little fidelity as possible, an adaptation takes liberties in order to do things in the destination medium that cannot be done in the source medium thus making both valid. Watchmen the book is a great book while Watchmen the movie is a great translation of that book. Scott Pilgrim the book is a great book while Scott Pilgrim the movie is a great movie based on that book. See what I'm getting at?

Watchmen the movie didn't take any real liberties with the source material, it didn't do anything in order to make the story a better movie, it just translated what was already there onto the screen. Honestly there was no choice. Watchmen was too big and too tight a narrative to take liberties with. The choice was make the movie or don't and having seen the movie I don't see the point, I'd rather read the book. It's the same for me with Sin City or The Road. Scott Pilgrim remains very faithful not only in theme but in characters, setting, and even certain scenes, but it takes liberties that make it a better movie and that makes the movie not just an image of the source material, but an entity in and of itself.

There's a bunch of material not present in the Scott Pilgrim movie due both to time and pacing concerns, but you don't miss it and its absence is to be expected anyway. Certain liberties that were taken however (like the completely changed fights with the twins and Gideon and certain smaller liberties taken with other scenes) did nothing to detract from the intent of the source material and helped make the film autonomous. If you like the Scott Pilgrim movie you'll like the comics and if you like the comics you'll like the movie. The best part is that there are different things to like about both and that makes them both valid. Liking either the book or the movie can be completely autonomous, but if you like both you're not just getting one original product and another shadow of that product, you're getting two complete things.

I don't need the Hollywood or the mainstream or whoever to like comics. I don't need comics made into movies to show "them" that we're a valid medium. It's not going to work anyway. If you're going to make a movie of a comic and you can only make a Watchmen-style translation then just don't do it, you're not adding anything to it. If you have a property like Scott Pilgrim and you can make a movie that is as valid as a movie as the comic is valid as a comic then be my guest, I look forward to it.

Heeey Yooou Guuuys!

I just got back from The Goonies quote-along at the Alamo Ritz in downtown Austin. If you've never been to a quote along, imagine karaoke for movies. Take a movie everyone knows and that everyone has watched dozens of times, add some quote-along text at key moments, and encourage people to talk during the movie. As someone who has seen The Goonies more times than I can count and who can recite much of the script unaided, this was a "can't miss" experience.

There were a lot of great movies around when I grew up: Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Back to the Future, Ghostbusters; movies full of adventure, humor and excitement. While those of us who were born in the final years of what is generally considered Generation X watched and loved these movies, they were mostly geared towards our older siblings and cousins. This didn't stop us from pretending to be Jedi, adventuring archaeologists, time travelers, or paranormal investigators though, but we were always removed by age from ever actually being those things. When The Goonies came along in 1985 the tables turned, it was our time ... it was our time for an adventure movie of our own with kids roughly our own age. And while I love Star Wars, Indiana Jones and the rest, The Goonies will always be the greatest adventure movie of all time for me.

I grew up in what was more or less nowhere Connecticut, in a neighborhood not too conducive to adventure. My parents were fairly protective and I was somewhat timid as well, so my excursions mostly involved my backyard. Compared to my street, my friends lived in much more interesting neighborhoods, with interconnected backyards, small wooded areas, and overall less concrete and traffic. It wasn't until we saw The Goonies that we really realized the full potential for adventure that lurked there however.

Here was a movie about working class kids in anytown, USA that go on a grand adventure virtually in their backyards. The Goonies didn't talk down to us, it didn't hold our hands, it even sweared at us several times, and it gave us an adventure where kids like us (not archaeologists or warrior space monks) were the central characters. These were kids who talked like us dressed like us, and acted like us to the point where it wasn't hard to see a little bit of Mouth, Data, Chunk, and Mikey in our own circle of friends. In our young minds at the time it didn't seem too far outside the realm of possibility that one of our parent's attics might hide a map to buried treasure and that the woods behind my friends houses might sit atop a vast tunnel network filled with booty traps ... I mean booby traps. Adventure wasn't just something for grown ups anymore, adventure was something we could live in our own backyards and live it we did. Sure our group name was different (and changed every week), our nicknames weren't the same, and we didn't need to save our parent's houses from a country club developer, but we felt the call for adventure. And while there was probably a great deal more mischief, and a great deal less danger than The Goonies experienced, it influenced and inspired us nonetheless.

I've run into people later in life who have never seen The Goonies and while there are movies that when I hear this I make that person go out and watch it, this isn't one. For me The Goonies was all about the time and place of being 8 years old in suburbia and my love for the film was only enhanced by mine and my friends attempts to emulate it. Someone who's 32 and watching the movie for the first time just isn't going to get that. For me the Goonies became a part of my life, a part of my world, a part of my DNA, and when I watch it now, from the moment Jake Fratelli breaks out of jail to the moment we see The Inferno sailing off into the distance, I'm 8 years old again traipsing through backyards and thickets of trees in search of adventure (and  maybe buried treasure) in my own backyard.

Action Film Making 101

Action movies (especially creature flicks) are about creating tension and then releasing it through the course of an action sequence. If you look at any of the great creature action flicks from the 70's, 80's, and even the 90's you're likely to see at most  a 60/40 distribution between "action" and "non-action" sequences and perhaps as low as 30/70. A movie like James Cameron's "Aliens" spends the entire first act building towards the doomed mission to the atmosphere processing plant and then makes us wait another while before the next action sequence with Ripley and Newt evading the face hugger. The original Predator makes us watch Arnold prepare his trap for the eponymous alien near the end of the film for what seems like an almost excruciating amount of time, but that tension is relived in the prolonged action sequence that results.

This is what so many of the post-Matrix film makers don't seem to get, so wowed by camera and fx choreography are they that they fill their films with pointless action. At best this type of action film making becomes exhausting for the audience due to lack of rests, at worst it's boring due to lack of tension. The sad part is that for all of the Matrix's fancy camera and fx work, it displays a classic understanding of tension building and release, but some people can't seem to look beyond the obvious in-your-face elements and it seems these are the people getting most of the action scripts in Hollywood these days. These modern action films have all the tension of a Home Run Derby. Yeah it's nice to see a guy hit a home run in the majors; as a display of athleticism it's an impressive feat. When that's all that's happening though, when that is in fact all that is on display, you can't expect it to be very exciting. And that's what happens in so many action films these days. There is a whole crop of film makers pulling off camera moves and fx sequences like tricks at a skate park, but I personally don't watch films for the fx, I'm after a fuller experience.

I recently saw the latest installment in the Predator franchise. Predators suffers from a "works on paper, but not on the screen" premise and has far too many characters for any one to develop, but it doesn't substitute camera and fx choreography for old fashioned in-your-face action. While I can't say it was perfectly executed, the director obviously understands the language of action film making, even if he doesn't speak it fluently. So while I can't praise it as the resurrection of a franchise, it does make me forget about those lame AvP movies, a perfect example of flash over substance film making.

82nd Oscar Awards Predictions

I've been a follower of the Oscars for at least a decade now and predicting the Oscar winners is a favorite sport of the awards show viewing public. I honestly love the Oscars though, I'm one of the few who not only watch it every year, but watch it from start to finish. It's a night designed to glorify the art and artifice of film making and I love film. I hope someday that the game industry's DICE awards achieve the same distinction.

I haven't been keeping track of my prediction accuracy for very long, but in the time that I have I'd say I'm about 80-85% accurate out of the categories I choose predict. What makes predicting the award winners so interesting is that so much of what the academy chooses is about politics. Depending on what's in the offering you may have to ask yourself "is the academy going to make a statement with their choices this year?" and the answer is often yes. Once you've watched enough Oscar ceremonies you begin to see the patterns though and the prediction becomes more interesting for it in my opinion. Anyway, without further ado, here are my predictions for the winners of the 82nd Oscar Awards.

Best Picture
Oh Academy ... this is the year that the Academy has decided it wants to be more pluralist and there are not 5 but 10 Best Picture nomination. Please gentle reader, do not take this as a spur of the moment "there were so many good films this year we just had to choose more" decision. I had heard about this move over half a year ago and it's all about trying to get more people interested in watching the show. If a film like District 9 (which normally would not have been in this category) is up for an award, there is more of a chance that people interested in that type of movie will watch. The thing is, it's not going to win. It was never going to win. Even when there's 5 options there are usually only 3 that stand a chance and such is the case this year. The three films are Avatar, The Hurt Locker, and Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire, it's apparently imperative that you say the ENTIRE title for this one as that's how I have always heard it referred to. And even out of those 3, there's only one choice. Avatar wins this one hands down and I'll tell you why. While normally, a sci-fi epic like this wouldn't get the award nor a nomination, James Cameron crafted a film that EVERYONE saw. There's no denying the film's power even with the debate over it's lack of originality. Whether or not Avatar is the best picture of the year is irrelevant when compared to the fact that EVERYONE saw this movie and it didn't suck. The Academy has no choice but to give it Best Picture simply based on the fact that the public already has. While a movie like The Hurt Locker may be a better film - coincidentally directed by Cameron's ex-wife Gale Ann Hurd - if the Academy gives it to nod to a movie that very few people saw versus the movie that EVERYONE saw then they look out of touch and they lose viewers for next year when everyone says "they never actually pick the best movie for those awards anyway." I like Avatar though and I like Cameron so I don't mind.

Pick: Avatar

Actor in a Leading Role
I saw one of these films ... ONE. I meant to see the Hurt Locker, but not until after it was already out of theaters and I heard it was good and not the "Rah! Rah! War is great! Let's go kill people with dark skin in the desert!" movie I had assumed it was due simply to the fact that the trailer featured both guns and sand. The one movie I did see (Up in The Air) while good, wasn't Clooney's best ... not that it was bad, I mean it got him nominated after all. If I'm going to go with the buzz this is a two man race between Jeff Bridges and Jeremy Renner and in the end Bridges has the momentum right now so that's the way I'm going.

Pick: Jeff Bridges

Actor in a Supporting Role
Once again, I saw only one of these. It was that kind of year for film, the kind where the best performances were often not also in the best movies and overall good movies were hard to find. I can't even comment on any of performances here that I didn't see because I haven't heard anything about them. That's how bad it's been. These people are nominated for an Academy Award and no one's even talking about them. In the end though I'm going with Christoph Waltz from the one movie I did see, Inglourious Basterds. He honestly did a good job with Tarantino dialogue (he always makes it challenging) and he won the Golden Globe in the category, so there.

Pick: Chrisoph Waltz

Actress in a Leading Role
Now here we have an interesting situation: Sandra Bullock in the one decent role she's picked in the last decade and a newcomer in a challenging role for Gabourey Sidibe in Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire. I say this every year, but this is the category that slips me up most often. For instance, last year I chose Meryl Streep in Doubt over Kate Winslet in The Reader and as the awards show started my mistake dawned on me but it was too late. I think I may have it this year. Bullock won the Golden Globe and there was no lack of Oscar buzz surrounding her performance in The Blind Side, so I'm giving this one to her.

Pick: Sandra Bullock

Actress in a Supporting Role
This is another one that tends to slip me up, but there were some amazing supporting roles for women this year and the nominees are a tough bunch to choose from. Peneloper Cruz is nominated ... again, but I don't think she gets it because Nine wasn't anything big enough to make the Academy forget that they can't be bothered to care about musicals most of the time. Maggie Gyllenhall is always lovely, but I haven't heard anything about this performance and she wasn't in the running for the Golden Globe. Anna Kendrick was good in Up in The Air, but not that good. Monique has the Golden Globe and the buzz, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say she doesn't get the Oscar. For my money the award has to go to Vera Farmiga. She was amazing in Up in The Air, simply amazing. Her performance just resonates in the right way, such that when you get to the twist in her character's plot it hits you in much the same way as it does Clooney's character. This is going to be a close category though.

Pick: Vera Farmiga

Animated Feature Film
I said it last year and I'll say it again. There's a science to picking the best animated feature: if it's before 1995 and there's a Disney movie, the Disney movie wins. If it's after 1995 and there's a Pixar movie, the Pixar movie wins. If there's a movie by Hayao Miyazaki there's a 75% chance it's going to win regardless. This year we have both a Disney movie and a Pixar movie, but come on people ... Up wins it, hands down. I usually don't see non-Miyazaki animated features in the theater, but when I saw the trailers for Up I knew I had to see it and I was not disappointed. Personally I liked it better than Wall-E. Up wins.


Pick: Up

Art Direction
The Academy is purposefully trying to trip me up here. A musical and a Victorian era period piece? This is dangerous ground to tread. Actually everything in this category has potential, so while the movies sucked this year, the art direction was amazing! Against my better judgment however I'm going to go for the musical because other than score/song, all they have going for them is art direction.

Pick: Nine

Cinematography


This category isn't as difficult as art direction luckily. For my money this one narrows down to Inglourious Basterds and Avatar. I have to go with Avatar though because I think the Academy is going to want to recognize the achievement in shooting for physical, digital, and 3D at the same time. I might be wrong, but it's just a gut feeling.

Pick: Avatar

Costume Design
Once again, what are you trying to do to me Academy? This is usually a no-brainer category, pick the period piece or the musical. This year there are 2 period pieces and a musical! Ok, I guess the Coco Chanel movie is a period piece of sorts two, but Victorian always wins over 60's. I'm going to eliminate the musical and the 60's piece right of the bat and choose between the two Victorian flicks. From what I remember of the trailers for Bright Star the costumes were incredibly expressive and I can't picture The Young Victoria being anything more than the standard Victorian royalty fair that usually wins, so my pick is Bright Star.

Pick: Bright Star

Directing


Best Director goes to the director of the Best Picture winner, it's practically a rule and even if Avatar doesn't win Best Picture, Cameron deserves this award. If you remember, at the time Avatar was just coming out there was a lot of buzz about how it was going to change the way that movies are made and I think specifically what people were talking about was composite digital/physical actor movies. Directing actors against green screens is challenging because there's so little to work with. It's one of the reasons why the new Star Wars movies had just stilted acting. Everything was green screened to have digital backgrounds thrown in later and Lucas didn't have the chops or the technique to get real performances out of his people regardless. Cameron was able to in Avatar and he wins this category regardless of how Avatar fares in Best Picture.

Pick: James Cameron

Editing
This is a tough category, especially when I didn't see two of the films. Also, I'm pretty sure that Inglourious Basterds didn't have any editing and played out entirely in real time over several years of my life. I'm going to go with a movie I didn't see though and say Hurt Locker, because I don't think the 3 movies I did see on here will win.

Pick: The Hurt Locker

Music (Original Score)
This is not my best category either, but the Golden Globe when to Michael Giacchino for Up and I think that's a good call based on the selection.

Pick: Up

Music (Original Song)
At least I can narrow this one down to two choices. It's either going to be Nine (because it's a musical) or Crazy Heart, because it's about a guy who plays music. Crazy Heart has both the Golden Globe and the momentum so that's where I'm going.

Pick: "The Weary Kind" Crazy Heart

Visual Effects
Really? Why even have this category this year?

Pick: Avatar

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
Ah ok, back to categories I generally give a shit about. There is however no contest this year. First off, writing awards often go to new screenwriters or first time nominees. Oh and one of the movies literally says it's adapted in the friggin' title. Despite the fact that Up In The Air won the Golden Globe, it wasn't up against this film at the time and I think that makes all the difference.

Pick: Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire



Writing (Original Screenplay)
And original screenplay, a category that very, very often goes to a newcomer, but this year it's tough. I'd say the front runners are The Hurt Locker (written by a newcomer) and Inglourious Basterds (written by a guy who really likes words). Since I did not see The Hurt Locker I'm left at a bit of a disadvantage, but while I have issues with Inglourious Basterds, it was Tarantino's best writing since Pulp Fiction, hands down. I've got to give him the nod.

Pick: Inglourious Basterds

And that's all I've chosen to pick this year. I don't predict everything, because quite frankly there are some categories that I never see any films from until later on, like foreign, documentary and short, and there are some categories I wouldn't even know how to begin predicting like sounding mixing. I get the feeling I'm going to be below 80% accuracy this year though. Once again, it was an awful year for film, with piecemeal productions producing excellent aspects in films that are otherwise unwatchable. I hope 2010 is better and maybe an influx of new scripts will take Hollywood in bold new directions ... or maybe I'll just shut up and watch Iron Man 2.

Review: Shutter Island

After nearly a 2 month hiatus from going to the movies - a rather impressive feat for someone like myself who usually see's 2-4 new movies a month - I returned to the stadium seating of the Galaxy Highland theater last night in order to see Martin Scorsese's latest: Shutter Island. Let me start off by saying that Shutter Island makes me feel safe to go back to the movies again. After the most awful Oscar run up in years with nary an award worthy film to be found from September to December, I was left with a serious bad taste in my mouth. Even movies that I had wanted to see such as: The Book of Eli and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnasus, I skipped in order to spare myself the disappointment, and these were films that I had already been prepared to be disappointed by! I simply couldn't go to the theater again and sit through another movie let down. Shutter Island has restored my faith in the industry, at least temporarily.

Shutter Island is Martin Scorsese and Leonardo Dicaprio up their old tricks again. This time it's the 1950's and a couple US Marshals have been called in to investigate a missing patient at an island asylum for the criminally insane. It becomes apparent early on that this isn't going to be any normal investigation and that there may be more going on here than just a missing mental patient. What ensues is a very Hitchcockian psychological thriller, perched precariously on the edge of sanity.

Scorsese is at the top of his game in terms of setting with this film in a way I haven't seen since Gangs of New York. Everything here feels spot on while just off kilter enough to be out of the ordinary, but not out of period. The script, the direction, the acting, and the set design all work together to create the place and the circumstances of this story with no attention to detail spared, a fact audiences will be thankful for 2/3 of the way through the film then they start putting together the pieces of this mystery themselves. There is no dearth of clues either, although you may not recognize them as clues at first glance.

As a frequent movie goer, I've been seeing trailers for this film for about 6 months now, if not more. While I didn't give it much thought, nor did I let it color my experience, I was fairly certain that I had figured out the twist in the plot from the trailers alone and on viewing the movie it turns out I was right. *Spoiler Start* There's a point in the trailer where you see a note that says "who is patient 67?" and then there's cut where Dicaprio asks someone where the 67th patient is or something like that. Well my mind immediately jumps to "Leo is the 67th patient and he doesn't know it" and I was right *Spolier End*; The thing is, getting there really was half the fun and even though I had figured it out, the story didn't hinge completely on simply knowing the twist. Understanding the nature of the twist and the intricacies involved in it ends up being much more important, which is where all those random clues come into play, resulting in many a face palm as people curse themselves for not having seen the connections sooner.

Ultimately, Shutter Island is still just Scorsese being Scorsese. The man has such a love of film that I firmly believe that 90% of the reason he shoots a given script is simply because it allows him to attempt a genre or style that he hasn't done before. He's not always successful, I am speaking of course as the only person who seems to not have liked The Departed, but I think with Shutter Island he gets a chance to play with some new toys while also being very successful at it. In the end, Shutter Island isn't going to win any awards, even if it hadn't been pushed from it's original October 2009 release. Shutter Island is a very good movie however and one that will reward repeated viewings. In an age where horror = torture porn and people are used to scary movies being all about startling sounds and visuals, Scorsese has crafted a creepy, intellectual thriller that manages to jump out and yell "boo" in a much more meaningful and lasting way.

The Best of 2009 (part 1)

I'm starting a "Plenty for All" tradition here tonight, listing my favorites from the past year. These lists are of course culled from things that I read, saw, or listened to and were released in the year 2009. Let's begin.

Best Album of 2009
In any given year I'm likely to be listening to more old stuff that I haven't heard before than newly released albums, but out of the 174 albums I purchased this year, there are bound to be more than a few that were also released this year.

5. Cave In - Planets of Old

An EP, but worthy of mention nonetheless. Cave In is as schizophrenic a band as there has ever been and in their career they've played metal, space rock, pop, psychedelia, and have ultimately arrived at this weird fusion that paradoxically still rocks. "Planets of Old" is very much a continuation of the sound Cave In brought us with 2005's "Perfect Pitch Black", a mix of all the above stylistic influences and a brilliant EP, even if it was only available on vinyl.

4. And So I Watch You From Afar - s/t

I heard these guys on the cover CD to an issue of "Rock Sound" last spring and the track that was offered was more or less a mathy post rock song. When I finally obtained the album as a whole I realized that they were much more. Sounding something like a more metal version of From Monument to Masses except without the electronics, And So I Watch You From Afar may have created a new genre if Stadium Post Rock is a term people will accept. The album is prententious as anything with plenty of reverb and a couple instances of faux live cheering in the midst of songs, but I'll be damned if it doesn't rock, while still being an at times mathy post rock album.

3. From Monument to Masses - On Little Known Frequencies

I didn't even know that this album had been released until I chanced upon it used at CD Cellar in Falls Church Virginia not more than a month after it had hit the shelves. Quite simply this is From Monument to Masses doing what they do best, epic post rock with a mix of live instruments, electronics, and samples.

2. Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown

I had purposefully ignored Green Day until this year when my Dad insisted I borrow "American Idiot" and "21st Century Breakdown" from him. Yes, it's still mainstream rock that gets confused for punk, but it's a concept album and you can't deny that it's catchy.

1. The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love

I had written off The Decemberists after their first major label album "The Crane Wife" failed to impress me. I wrote them off as sell offs and then they released "Hazards of Love" this year and I kept hearing how good it was. Ultimately it was the lure of the concept album that got me to check it out and I was ultimately glad I did.They manage to execute perfectly on all fronts and have created something that while perhaps not a cash cow, will certainly be remembered as a landmark record in the future.

Best Film of 2009
This was an awful year for film, absolutely awful. I was saying the same thing about 2008 as well until the final 4 months of the year produced some amazing films. 2009 had no such saving grace and most of what I've seen this year has been disappointing. One need only look at the lackluster choices for the year end awards to see how bad it is. And it wasn't that there weren't any independent films or daring projects, it's just that most of them weren't that good.

5. Star Trek

I was skeptical as any Trek fan would be, but J.J. Abrahms ended up making one hell of a film that while toying with the origins of the franchise, still managed to preserve the sanctity of all that had come before. One question remains though. What's with all the lens flares?

 4. Zombieland

This movie was an instant classic that could have been an instant flop. After seeing so many trailers for the film I had pretty much written it off. I figured that they were just showing me the most interesting stuff in the trailers and that there wasn't anything else worth watching. Man was I wrong. The Bill Murray scene alone is worth the price of admission. Ultimately, in the genre of Zombie-Comedy, "Zombieland" is second only to "Shaun of the Dead"

 3. Avatar

I would call James Cameron's films a guilty pleasure if the man wasn't so damn good at making films. Yes, he's an action film maker, but unlike Michael Bay, Paul WS Anderson, and their ilk, Cameron understands pacing, emotion, and just how to tell a good story. The effects serve the narrative, with Cameron, not the other way around, even in such an effects laden film as "Avatar". I was not disappointed when I left the theater. Avatar is James Cameron doing what he does best and I hope he doesn't make us wait another 10 years before he does it again.

 2. Goodbye Solo

This is a tough film to describe. It is essentially about a cab driver (Solo) who has a fare that asks him to take him to this park where there's a cliff so he can end his life in a couple weeks. Solo and the man make a deal and the rest of the film sees solo trying to persuade the man not to kill himself, while they both get involved in each other's lives. Yeah ... I'm not doing it justice, because it's really good. Even more astounding is the fact that the cast are non-actors, a bold decision by the director that actually pays of in some marvellously genuine performances.

 1. [500] Days of Summer

If you haven't seen this movie, see it. Maybe I'm biased with this one, because not only have I been in the situation presented in the story before ... I'm ALWAYS in this situation. "[500] Days of Summer" is not a romantic comedy, it's a romantic tragedy where Joseph Gordon-Levitt's main character tragically falls in love with Zooey Deschannel's manic pixie dream girl character and the end result is heartbreak. This movie is about what relationships are really like for nice guys who fall in love with girls who are ultimately, more involved, and more interesting than they are. One would like to think that the main character's efforts towards the end of the film to become more involved and interesting will ultimately pay off, but the movie doesn't bring us quite that far and I can't speak from experience on how that works out yet.

 That's all I've got for now though. I'll be back tomorrow with books, games, and whatever else I can think of to write about.