My Movies Awards Nominees Nonsense

WOS Reviews Reviews

The 84^th Academy Award Nominations

Well here we are with the nominations. All in all, a very American selection as we are wont to do. I know all of you are wondering what I think of the nominations and since you didn’t ask, I’ll give you my thoughts on them. Besides, I think this list will be obsolete pretty soon. I’ll stick to things I kind of know about or to the categories that I pay most attention to.

Let’s face it, we haven’t seen ANY of the films nominated for Best Animated Short Film or Best Documentary Short Film because we go to the f*cking AMC multiplex to see our movies or we queue them up on Netflix…. All right?

And here we go….

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

I think Drive” has a shot at this with its car chases, but will not be surprised when “Transformers” pulls off the win…

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, Dave 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

If “Transformers” could be nominated, then I would like to point to this case of “Fast Five” being snubbed.

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 Grossman and Alex Henning
• "Real Steel"
  Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan 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 Butler and John Frazier

Pretty sure “Rise…” will get this one: Andy Serkis and all. This is probably the best way to acknowledge his contribution, as part of the whole team creating a visual effect, which, unfortunately, the character of Caesar was…. Like it or not fanboys, Caesar was a visual effect….

Animated Feature Film

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

I am rooting for “Rango” with ILM and Roger Deakins behind it. It is also the only one I’ve seen on this list. Wouldn’t it be surprising and kind of cool for “Puss in Boots” to win…?

Foreign Language Film

• "Bullhead" Belgium
• "Footnote" Israel
• "In Darkness" Poland
• "Monsieur Lazhar" Canada
• "A Separation" Iran

I have not seen ANY of these films. But from my lowest-common-denominator position in society, I have only heard of “A Separation” due to all the great reviews, so I am assuming it to be the shoe-in….

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

Of all of these I have seen only “Pina” which is one, a Wim Wenders film and two, the best use of 3D in a film, ever. Sorry dudes, it’s not about digital armies of somethings and others charging at each other amidst the explosions…. It’s about the choreographies of Pina Bauesch. Sorry. Pretty sure it will not win due to trees being cut down or urban life triumphs or whatever.... Anything but dance!

Film Editing

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

Try as they might, they cannot make popcorn-munchers care about film editing…. At all….

Makeup

• "Albert Nobbs"
  Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston 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

“Harry Potter”. It’s got to win for something. Right?

Art Direction

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

I’m guessing “The Artist” because Hollywood likes to pat itself on the about how it knows its own history…. And you will root for it because you like to pat yourself on the back because you know a little bit about film history/industry….

You know, the same reasons “Hugo” could win….

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

“The Tree of Life” is my pick. But “Dragon Tattoo Woman” will win because Fincher. Forget Croneneweth. It’s all Fincher’s doing….

Music (Original Score)

• "The Adventures of Tintin" John Williams
• "The Artist" Ludovic Bource
• "Hugo" Howard Shore
• "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" Alberto Iglesias
• "War Horse" John Williams

Cool as he’s been, John Williams is just playing the same seven riffs these days, right?

“Tinker Tailor” has a very cool soundtrack and is my pick. But I really think “The Artist” will get it because that is the whole movie’s soundtrack…. And, for the aforementioned reason of self-congratulatory back-patting….

Music (Original Song)

• "Man or Muppet" from "The Muppets" Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
• "Real in Rio" from "Rio" Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown Lyric by Siedah Garrett

“Man or Muppet” should win, but if the “Rio” song wins, this category deserves to go away….

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

• "The Descendants" Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
• "Hugo" Screenplay by John Logan
• "The Ides of March" Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
• "Moneyball" Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin Story by Stan Chervin
• "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" Screenplay by Bridget O'Connor & Peter Straughan

You know what, I hope "Tinker Tailor" wins but I think "Moneyball" will because the strength of industry favorites Zaillian and Sorkins, like those guys never won anything before....

Writing (Original Screenplay)

• "The Artist" Written by Michel Hazanavicius
• "Bridesmaids" Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
• "Margin Call" Written by J.C. Chandor
• "Midnight in Paris" Written by Woody Allen
• "A Separation" Written by Asghar Farhadi

"A Separation", calling it.... "Bridesmaids"?!?!?

Actor in a Leading Role

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

I am really hoping Gary Oldman wins this. He was astounding a George Smiley, an aged OSS agent. For all the times he has been overlooked (cough* James Gordon*cough) this one would not only be an apt acknowledgement of his work but very much deserved for the role. The dude does not speak for nearly 20 minutes into the movie and it’s almost all him for that time and when he does, he is George Smiley….

Clooney’s won because “Ah-merrahk-ah”.

Actor in a Supporting Role

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

Christopher Plummer. Branagh is the long shot and my pick, but this is Plummer’s award.

Actress in a Leading Role

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

Michelle Williams is my pick because not only does the Academy Awards reward the portrayal of other cultural icons, (no matter how undeserved *cough*Ray*cough*) but in this case, she completely nailed the role making Marilyn a person split from her iconic other.

Actress in a Supporting Role

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

Octavia Spencer. Might as well reward “the help….”

Directing

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

No surprise who I’m rooting for here: Malick. I am a 100% Malick convert. I avoided him mostly due to the godlike status handed him at film school. What the fuck do film students know, about anything…? But he put together one of the most talked about films, most visually inspiring, thought-provoking, divisive and glorious films in the last decade, or almost ever…. Malick.

But I don’t see him winning because the other four are favorites in their respective genres. Or Scorsese will win because we want to justify liking a 3D kids film....

Best Picture

• "The Artist" Thomas Langmann, Producer
• "The Descendants" Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers
• "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" Scott Rudin, Producer
• "The Help" Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers
• "Hugo" Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers
• "Midnight in Paris" Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers
• "Moneyball" Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers
• "The Tree of Life" Nominees to be determined
• "War Horse" Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers

The plain fact is that “Extremely Loud…”, “War Horse” maybe “Midnight in Paris” and most definitely “The Help” do not deserve to be nominated. “Moneyball” all right, it’s a spin on the sports genre and a well-crafted film. I’m pulling for “The Tree of Life” because of the reasons I’m rooting for Mailck.

This year belongs to “The Artist”. Mainly, because it is the quirky industry movie but it is safe enough in story and “foreign” enough for academy members to look smart about to carry the win.

Or “The Descendents”. Safe, predictable and Clooney.

That is it for this year. I’ll get the feeling that I am all wrong this year. But to be different, if in the off chance that I am right, I will NOT gloat about it on Facebook AFTER the awards show.

Until next time….

©2012 Ernest M. Whiteman III