EPTI have always been a huge movie fan. My first major in college was drama which I wanted to use to eventually get into the directing/editing side of film making. This love of movies has followed me since as long as I can remember, and almost as long, I have been watching the Academy Awards almost religiously. When I was 10 I got a poster that showed all of the Best Picture winners by year. I used to stare at that poster and memorize winners and years. As I got older, I searched out those films.
My mother used to take us to the local video rental place and I would just walk what few aisles it had scan the covers, see who was in them, and slowly I ran through almost every movie those shelves would hold.
Well, I state this all because the Oscars are coming up, Sunday night, and I was thinking how this year has a very competitive and hard to pick group in almost all of the categories. Now, I have not seen every nominee or film, but I will make my picks based off of what I have seen out of them and what I know of the people involved.
A disclaimer though: I do not really care much about what the Academy actually thinks. I quite often disagree with their choices and think that sometimes they are motivated my personal/social/political ends instead of pure merit. Even then, it is hard to judge art by anyone really you can only use things like awards as a guide or outline, not an actual meaning of anything other than a handful of people agreed on something.
Here are my picks, tell me your picks!
First, some of the technical awards. What I hate is that people quite often associate these with the quality of the movie instead of the quality of the actual technical effect.
Best Visual Effects:
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 – Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler, and John Richardson
Hugo – Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossmann, and Alex Henning
Real Steel – Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Danny Gordon Taylor, and Swen Gillberg
Rise of the Planet of the Apes – Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White, and Daniel Barrett
Transformers: Dark of the Moon – Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew E. Butler, and John Frazier
My Pick:
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Rise of the Planet of the Apes - while not perfect, the way they used mo-cap and really were able to show the eyes and depth of emotion within the apes was wonderful.
Best Film Editing:
The Artist – Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
The Descendants – Kevin Tent
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter
Hugo – Thelma Schoonmaker
Moneyball – Christopher Tellefsen
My Pick:
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The Artist - Editing is especially important in this type of film. It is one of those technical awards that can either be won for creative brilliance or for just plain solid work. The Artist, being done in the silent film style, really needed a fine editing touch and they captured it well.
Best Makeup:
Albert Nobbs – Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnson, and Matthew W. Mungle
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 – Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight, and Lisa Tomblin
The Iron Lady – Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland
My Pick:
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Hard to choose since I have not seen any of these films, but from the trailers and what I know of the artists, I will be rooting for "The Iron Lady." Turing Meryl into Margaret is no simple feat.
Best Costume Design:
Anonymous – Lisy Christl
The Artist – Mark Bridges
Hugo – Sandy Powell
Jane Eyre – Michael O'Connor
W.E. – Arianne Phillips
My Pick:
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Hugo - Sandy Powell already has some Oscars under her belt and Hugo looks phenomenal.
Best Cinematography:
The Artist – Guillaume Schiffman
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo – Jeff Cronenweth
Hugo – Robert Richardson
The Tree of Life – Emmanuel Lubezki
War Horse – Janusz Kaminski
My Pick:
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The Tree of Life - amazing. The mix of styles in film, the way they captured lighting in a mix of times with this layer to each shot, was wonderful.
Best Art Direction:
The Artist – Laurence Bennett and Robert Gould
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 – Stuart Craig and Stephanie McMillan
Hugo – Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo
Midnight in Paris – Anne Seibel and Hélène Dubreuil
War Horse – Rick Carter and Lee Sandales
My Pick:
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Another hard one, but both Hugo and Midnight in Paris looked wonderful artistically. I will have to go with Midnight though on this just because of my personal preference for this film.
Best Sound Editing:
Drive – Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Ren Klyce
Hugo – Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty
Transformers: Dark of the Moon – Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
War Horse – Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom
My Pick:
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Transformers - while I am not a huge fan of these movies, I am a huge fan of Transformers. That being said, I always thought they did a great job with sound effects in these films. The robot sounds and the explosions make for some fun times aurally.
Best Sound Mixing:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce, and Bo Persson
Hugo – Tom Fleischman and John Midgley
Moneyball – Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, David Giammarco, and Ed Novick
Transformers: Dark of the Moon – Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush, and Peter J. Devlin
War Horse – Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson, and Stuart Wilson
My Pick:
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Dragon Tattoo - the awesome job of mixing sounds with Reznor's music added so much to the cold and empty landscape of the film and characters.
The Big Ones:
Best Original Score:
The Adventures of Tintin – John Williams
The Artist – Ludovic Bource
Hugo – Howard Shore
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Alberto Iglesias
War Horse – John Williams
My Pick:
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While John Williams is great and nominated twice, I am going with Howard Shore on this one. John creates great themes, but Howard captures the emotions better as a whole.
Best Original Song:
"Man or Muppet" from The Muppets – Bret McKenzie
"Real in Rio" from Rio – Sérgio Mendes, Carlinhos Brown, and Siedah Garrett
My Pick:
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This is the easiest choice of all. Muppets 4 Life. I laughed my ass off. The Muppets have been nominated multiple times for Song awards, but never won. This is their year!
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Best Live Action Short Film:
Pentecost – Peter McDonald and Eimear O'Kane
Raju – Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren
The Shore – Terry George and Oorlagh George
Time Freak – Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey
Tuba Atlantic – Hallvar Witzø
My Pick:
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Well, seeing as how I have not gotten to see these as of yet, after seeing trailers and reading about them and the film makers, I will have to root for Time Freak on this one.
Best Animated Short Film:
Dimanche – Patrick Doyon
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore – William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg
La Luna – Enrico Casarosa
A Morning Stroll – Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe
Wild Life – Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby
My Pick:
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Dimanche
Best Documentary - Feature:
Hell and Back Again – Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front – Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory – Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky
Pina – Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel
Undefeated – TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay, and Richard Middlemas
My Pick:
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If A Tree Falls - wonderfully put together story.
Best Documentary - Short Subject:
The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement – Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin
God Is the Bigger Elvis – Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson
Incident in New Baghdad – James Spione
Saving Face – Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom – Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen
My Pick:
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This is simple - God is Bigger than Elvis.
Best Animated Feature:
A Cat in Paris – Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
Chico and Rita – Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
Kung Fu Panda 2 – Jennifer Yuh Nelson
Puss in Boots – Chris Miller
Rango – Gore Verbinski
My Pick:
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Without a Pixar film in the running this year thanks to the stupidity of the "Cars" franchise, this award is up for grabs. I have to go with A Cat in Paris though for its interesting and beautiful visuals.
Best Foreign Language Film:
Bullhead (Belgium) in Dutch and French – Michaël R. Roskam
Footnote (Israel) in Hebrew – Joseph Cedar
In Darkness (Poland) in Polish – Agnieszka Holland
Monsieur Lazhar (Canada) in French – Philippe Falardeau
A Separation (Iran) in Persian – Asghar Farhadi
My Pick:
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Footnote
Best Writing - Original Screenplay:
The Artist – Michel Hazanavicius
Bridesmaids – Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo
Margin Call – J.C. Chandor
Midnight in Paris – Woody Allen
A Separation – Asghar Farhadi
My Pick:
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Being a writer, the screenplay topics are always among my favorites. This year though it should go to Woody Allen for sure. Nothing else is even close in the writing department.
Best Writing: Adapted Screenplay:
The Descendants – Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash from The Descendants by Kaui Hart Hemmings
Hugo – John Logan from The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
The Ides of March – George Clooney, Grant Heslov, and Beau Willimon from Farragut North by Beau Willimon
Moneyball – Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin; Story by Stan Chervin from Moneyball by Michael Lewis
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan from Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré
My Pick:
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This is almost a tie between Moneyball and Hugo. I will have to say Moneyball though because of the excellent writers who put it all together.
Best Supporting Actor:
Kenneth Branagh – My Week with Marilyn as Laurence Olivier
Jonah Hill – Moneyball as Peter Brand
Nick Nolte – Warrior as Paddy Conlon
Christopher Plummer – Beginners as Hal Fields
Max von Sydow – Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close as The Renter
My Pick:
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This is another hard one, as many are. I want so badly for it to go to Max von Sydow as I am such a huge fan of his work, but I think it should and will go to Kenneth Branagh for his wonderful job playing the legendary Olivier.
Best Supporting Actress:
Bérénice Bejo – The Artist as Peppy Miller
Jessica Chastain – The Help as Celia Foote
Melissa McCarthy – Bridesmaids as Megan Price
Janet McTeer – Albert Nobbs as Hubert Page
Octavia Spencer – The Help as Minny Jackson
My Pick:
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Jessica Chastain - but not only for this but also for Tree of Life.
Best Actor:
Demián Bichir – A Better Life as Carlos Galindo
George Clooney – The Descendants as Matt King
Jean Dujardin – The Artist as George Valentin
Gary Oldman – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy as George Smiley
Brad Pitt – Moneyball as Billy Beane
My Picks:
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Oldman deserves an award and should finally win for this one.
Best Actress:
Glenn Close – Albert Nobbs as Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis – The Help as Aibileen Clark
Rooney Mara – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo as Lisbeth Salander
Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady as Margaret Thatcher
Michelle Williams – My Week with Marilyn as Marilyn Monroe
My Pick:
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Again, poor Glenn Close, should not win this year. I am going with Rooney Mara because she did such an transformative job as Lisbeth.
Best Director:
Woody Allen – Midnight in Paris
Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist
Terrence Malick – The Tree of Life
Alexander Payne – The Descendants
Martin Scorsese – Hugo
My Pick:
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Terrence Malick - for sure - hands down. He is the man and this film is beautifully haunting and sympathetic. I am a bit hurt though that Fincher was not nominated in this category for Dragon Tattoo. He deserves a statue for his wonderful body of work as well.
Best Picture:
The Artist – Thomas Langmann
The Descendants – Jim Burke, Jim Taylor, and Alexander Payne
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close – Scott Rudin
The Help – Brunson Green, Chris Columbus, and Michael Barnathan
Hugo – Graham King and Martin Scorsese
Midnight in Paris – Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum
Moneyball – Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz, and Brad Pitt
The Tree of Life – Dede Gardner, Sarah Green, Grant Hill, and Bill Pohlad
War Horse – Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy
My Pick:
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Well, most of the critics are picking The Artist, but I disagree. My heart wants Extremely Loud for both the book and the Director, but the art lover in my has to choose The Tree of Life.
