In the Oscars they always save the Best Picture category till the end of the show. But I shall defy Oscar protocol and begin this post with my thoughts on Best Picture. Ha ha! Can you handle the chaos? This last post is a rag tag group of categories, in no way exhaustive.
Best Picture
"The Artist"
"The Descendants"
"Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"
"Hugo"
"Midnight in Paris"
"The Help"
"Moneyball"
"War Horse"
"The Tree of Life"
First off, what is this nonsense with up to 10 nominations in the Best Picture category? Ugh. You begin to see the most ridiculous films up for best picture. Really “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”? Sentimental malarkey! I was excited to see “Midnight in Paris” on the list. I don’t think it should win, but I really enjoyed this film. I saw it the week after I got back from Paris, and swooned through Allen’s love letter to that magical city. I still want to see both “Hugo” and “The Tree of Life”. “War Horse” is on my maybe list (I’d prefer to see the stage production, which features some amazing horse puppetry) and I enjoyed both “The Help” and “Moneyball”. However, for me it really comes down to “The Artist” and “The Descendants”. And yet, they are such vastly different films that it is challenging to compare them. “The Artist” was beautiful on so many different levels and it was such an interesting experience watching a film almost entirely without sound. It succeeded in being sincere, genuinely funny, gut wrenching, and sweet (but not in an emotionally manipulative way). And to do that without sound? That’s great storytelling. Then there’s “The Descendants”. There were such real emotions in this film. There’s this great scene at the end with George Clooney and Judy Greer that was devastating, watching a woman fall apart with grief, pain and betrayal.
Best Actor
Demian Bichir, "A Better Life"
George Clooney, "The Descendants"
Jean Dujardin, "The Artist"
Gary Oldman, "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"
Brad Pitt, "Moneyball"
I was a little surprised by some of the nominees here. I read that Michael Fassbender was expected to be nominated for “Shame”, but it goes to show that an NC-17 rating can alienate your voters. I actually was completely unaware of “A Better Life”. Brad Pitt did a fine job in “Moneyball” and I have a lot of respect for Oldman, but again, as in the Best Picture category, it comes down to “The Descendants” and “The Artist”. And again, they are such different performances. I’m not the hugest fan of Clooney (I don’t have any beef with him, but neither do I think he’s the cat’s pajamas), but he does such a lovely job in “The Descendants”. They way he contains the grief of his friends and family elicits such true sympathy for his character. There’s a subtlety to his performance that makes his emotions and responses so believable. Dujardin is so charismatic and is able to express so much with his facial expressions, without being campy. Piece by piece, he is torn down throughout the film and you are right there with him. I saw this film that had a terribly acted scene in which there was no emotional progression. The actors went from calm to raging in seconds, but you felt that lack of a movement to those heightened places. Dujardin masters emotional progression and does so without dialogue. Now that’s skills.
Best Original Screenplay
Woody Allen, "Midnight in Paris"
JC Chandor, "Margin Call"
Asghar Farhadi, "A Separation"
Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist"
Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo, "Bridesmaids"
Argh! Another challenging category. At the end of the day, I think Michel Hazanavicius will get the win on this. And I wouldn’t be disappointed if that happened. However, I really do think “Midnight in Paris” is such an original story and deserves more recognition in this category especially. While I loved “The Artist” the story itself is not that innovative (we’ve seen the downfall of a celebrity story many times, of course not with the style and panache of “The Artist”). “Bridesmaids” was a blast, but there definitely were some lagging moments in the story structure. Actually, as I look back on these last few sentences, I realize I just want “Midnight in Paris” to win. It’s probably one of Allen’s more accessible films. With Allen, you tend to either love him or hate him. But “Midnight in Paris” seems to have defied that tendency, as evidenced by it being his most profitable film.
Best Adapted Screenplay
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxton, Jim Rash, "The Descendants"
John Logan, "Hugo"
George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon, "The Ides of March"
Aaron Sorkin, Steven Zaillian, "Moneyball"
Bridget O'Connor, Peter Straughn, "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy"
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2"
"Hugo"
"Real Steel"
"Rise of the Planet of the Apes"
"Transformers: Dark of the Moon"
Harry! He’s gotta win something, right? No love for Harry Potter this year. I’m a little disappointed, but I get it. It just better not be Transformers. I can’t stand Michael Bay.
So, enjoy the Oscars tomorrow, if you plan to watch. What are you most looking forward to? Do you have any Oscar traditions?
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