Yesterday, the nominees for the 84th Annual Academy Awards were announced. It was a great year for film. When I say that, I don't mean it was nine months of filth and three months of quality movies, but it was a nice spread of great films from late spring to the present, which are being honored with nominations. As usual, I'll give my two cents over who should get the Oscar in the categories of acting, directing, and best film whilst griping about who was left out of the category (0r not).
Best Actress in a Supporting Role:
Berenice Bejo- The Artist
Jessica Chastain - The Help
Melissa McCarthy - Bridesmaids
Octavia Spencer - The Help
Janet McTeer - Alfred Nobbs
The best supporting actor/actresses are usually dead set after the Broadcast Film Critics have made their choices. In this case, Octavia Spencer is sure to win as the rebellious housemaid in The Help as her performance had a mix of sass, attitude, and heart that blended well with the rest of the cast. No doubt that she will get the top honor.
Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh - My Week With Marilyn
Jonah Hill - Moneyball
Nick Nolte - Warrior
Christopher Plummer - Beginners
Max von Sydow - Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Winner: Christopher Plummer gave an incredible performance in Beginners as a widower who reveals to his son (Ewan McGregor) that he is gay on top of struggling with terminal cancer. His performance is calm as his presence is on and off screen. Plummer, whose career has ranged from classic roles in The Sound of Music to The Insider, gives a subtle and heartfelt performance to a film that is luckily getting more recognition since its under-the-radar release last summer.
Who got left out?: Patton Oswalt for Young Adult. Although Jason Reitman's film is flawed in its storytelling, Oswalt gives a dark and funny performance as a former high school student who shares a few glasses of home-brewed bourbon with Charlize Theron.
Best Actress:
Glenn Close - Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis - The Help
Rooney Mara - The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady
Michelle Williams - My Week with Marilyn
Winner: Viola Davis for The Help. Davis gave a remarkable performance as Aibileen Clark, a housekeeper to the head of a racist family in Mississippi, circa 1963. She doesn't grandstand, yet sets the tone for a woman wanting respect, whilst holding on to her dignity.
Grips and Tangents: The Hollywood Foreign Press renewed my hatred (what else is new) for awarding best actress to Meryl Streep. She already has two on her shelf on top of the Kennedy Center Honor she received last month for a performance that has British film critics baying over and American audiences squirming over her role as Margaret Thatcher. Don't get me wrong, she succeeded with imitating Thatcher, but Oliver Stone would've made a more bombastic biopic than what was on screens last month.
That being said, the biggest robbery of this year was Tilda Swinton not getting nominated for her stunning performance in We Need To Talk About Kevin. It was bad enough she didn't get praise by the Broadcast Film Critics or the Golden Globes, but could the Academy have given some clemency for giving Swinton the nomination?
Best Actor:
Demian Bichir - A Better Life
George Clooney - The Descendants
Jean Dujardin - The Artist
Gary Oldman - Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Brad Pitt - Moneyball
Winner: Its boiled down to either Clooney or Pitt in the eyes of those who didn't hit the independent theaters last month (No offense to the performances they gave on screen). However, I think Gary Oldman deserves the Oscar for his chilling portrayal as George Smiley in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Oldman's timbre has ranged from being Sid Vicious, Dracula, to a drug dealer who thinks he's black, yet has not received one nomination. The subtlety and intonation in his voice sounds like he's reciting Shakespeare, rather than John le Carre. If anything, Oldman deserves the honor rather than the aforementioned actors.
Best Director:
Woody Allen - Midnight in Paris
Michael Hazanavicius - The Artist
Terrence Malick - The Tree of Life
Alexander Payne - The Descendants
Martin Scorsese - Hugo
Winner: If only they awarded all the nominees for the great films they've produced this year. If I had to chose, its a neck-to-neck race between Hazanavicius and Scorsese for both films paying homage to the origins of film history, an age before sound came into the picture. If Scorsese wins, I'm sure The Artist will win Best Picture and vice versa. Either that, or it could be clean sweep. However, in my hearts of hearts, it would be nice to see Malick in the flesh holding an Oscar.
Best Picture:
The Artist
The Descendents
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse
Winner: It can boil down to either The Artist, which would be the first silent film (well, almost silent film) to win an Oscar for Best Picture in over 80 years, or Hugo. There is no dead set winner in this category since the blend of nominated films have been worthy of the praise each has received.
Well, tune in on February 26th to either agree or disagree with my picks, or write your choices for the illusive statue; the stuff dreams are made of (or damaged).
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
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