The 84th Annual Academy Awards: Predictions

No rants, no opinions on what should win, just predictions: 

Best Motion Picture of the Year: The Artist

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role: Jean Dujardin for The Artist

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role: Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role: Christopher Plummer for Beginners

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role: Octavia Spencer for The Help

Best Achievement in Directing: Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen: Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash for The Descendants

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year: Chico & Rita

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year: A Separation

Best Achievement in Cinematography: The Artist

Best Achievement in Editing: Hugo

Best Achievement in Art Direction: The Artist

Best Achievement in Costume Design: The Artist

Best Achievement in Makeup: The Iron Lady

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score: Ludovic Bource for The Artist

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song: Man or Muppet by Bret McKenzie for The Muppets

Best Achievement in Sound Mixing: Hugo

Best Achievement in Sound Editing: Hugo

Best Achievement in Visual Effects: Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White, Daniel Barrett for Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Best Documentary, Features: Joe Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky for Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory

I haven’t seen anything in the other categories so no predictions. They are:

Best Documentary, Short Subjects

Best Short Film, Animated

Best Short Film, Live Action

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The Tenth Best Picture Nomination

There has been much debate for the reasons and merits of having ten nominees in the best picture category. Having any number between five and ten makes a certain sense in the event there are no more than five suitable movies. The selection of nine when many worthy movies have been overlooked does however seem bizarre. Here are the nominated movies ranked in order of my preference (*denotes unranked as I haven’t seen the film):

The Artist
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
The Descendants
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
The Help
War Horse
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close*

Had there been ten nominations which would be the tenth selection? Here are my suggestions, many of which would be ranked above the nominated films:

Drive
The Guard
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
We Need to Talk About Kevin
The Skin I live in
Shame

Which would you chosen as the tenth nomination?

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1st Annual Groovers Movie Awards

Three years to the day after my first ever post (incidentally about the upcoming Oscars) I am here to announce the 1st Annual Groovers Movie Awards. No nominations, just winners. Ten categories, most of which are the same or similar to those in other awards. The award itself named the “Dom” is modelled after a Dom Pérignon bottle (you need to watch Fandango to understand the relevance) and will remain virtual unless Moët want to step in as a sponsor me.

Best Movie:

The Artist: A virtually silent black and white movie with a 1.37:1 aspect ratio about the end of the silent movie era doesn’t sound very exciting. The result is totally stunning, charming and funny. The overwhelming favourite for the pest picture Oscar. 

Best Director:

Martin Scorsese for Hugo: Martin Scorsese’s love letter to cinema is a stunning film beautifully made and even achieving the seemingly impossible task of making 3D work. 

Best Actress:

Tilda Swinton for We Need to Talk About Kevin: Missing out to Meryl Streep at the BAFTAs and completely overlooked by the Oscars, Tilda Swinton was my only contender for best actress.

Best Actor:

Brendan Gleeson for The Guard: Missing out to Jean Dujardin for The Artist in Golden Globes and pretty much overlooked by other awards, Brendan Gleeson reminded us what a great actor he is.

Best Screenplay:

Lynne Ramsay & Rory Kinnear for We Need to Talk About Kevin: Notable not only for how well written it is, but for what a tough job it must have been given the unusual structure of the source novel.

Best Foreign Language Film:

The Skin I live in: Winner of the BAFTA for Best Film Not in the English Language but not submitted for the equivalent Oscar (Spain chose to submit the as yet not released in the UK, Black Bread) sees Auteur Pedro Almodóvar at his bizarre best.

Best Documentary:

Senna: Not only the best documentary of the year, but the best documentary I have seen in many years.

Best Looking Movie:

Melancholia: An amalgam of many awards including Cinematography, Production Design and Art Direction. Melancholia wins the award for being the most beautiful looking movie of the year.

Movie Stars of the year:

Best actor and actress awards age given for the for individual outstanding performances but the movie star of the year award is given for an outstanding performances in multiple films in a year:

Jessica Chastain (The Help, The Tree of Life, The Debt, Take Shelter)

Michael Fassbender (Shame, X-Men: First Class, A Dangerous Method, Jane Eyre)

Fandango Award:

Fandango was writer/director Kevin Reynolds debut (and best) feature, and the first notable movie for star Kevin Costner. It gives its name to this award for the best breakout filmmakers of the year. The award is shared between two movies that interestingly were both co-written by their director and star:

Nick Damici and Jim Mickle for Stake Land

Mike Cahill and Brit Marling for Another Earth

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2012 BAFTA Awards

With just a couple of days to go until BAFTA Awards here are my thoughts on who I think will win and who I would choose.

• Best Film
• Who I think will win: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
• My Choice: The Artist
• Other nominees: The Descendants, Drive, The Help

• Alexander Korda Award for Outstanding British Film of the Year
• Who I think will win: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
• My Choice: We Need to Talk About Kevin
• Other nominees: My Week with Marilyn, Senna, Shame

• Best Actor
• Who I think will win: Gary Oldman for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
• My Choice: George Clooney for The Descendants
• Other nominees: Jean Dujardin for The Artist, Michael Fassbender for Shame, Brad Pitt for Moneyball

• Best Actress
• Who I think will win: Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady (2011)
• My Choice: Tilda Swinton for We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011)
• Other nominees: Bérénice Bejo for The Artist, Viola Davis for The Help, Michelle Williams for My Week with Marilyn

• Best Supporting Actor
• Who I think will win: Kenneth Branagh for My Week with Marilyn
• My Choice: Christopher Plummer for Beginners
• Other nominees: Jim Broadbent for The Iron Lady, Jonah Hill for Moneyball, Philip Seymour Hoffman for The Ides of March

• Best Supporting Actress
• Who I think will win: Octavia Spencer for The Help
• My Choice: Jessica Chastain for The Help
• Other nominees: Judi Dench for My Week with Marilyn, Melissa McCarthy for Bridesmaids, Carey Mulligan for Drive

• David Lean Award for Achievement in Direction
• Who I think will win: Tomas Alfredson for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
• My Choice:Lynne Ramsay for We Need to Talk
• Other nominees: Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist, About Kevin, Nicolas Winding Refn for Drive, Martin Scorsese for Hugo

• Best Screenplay (Original)
• Who I think will win: The Artist (2011): Michel Hazanavicius
• My Choice: The Guard: John Michael McDonagh
• Other nominees: Bridesmaids: Annie Mumolo, Kristen Wiig, The Iron Lady: Abi Morgan, Midnight in Paris: Woody Allen

• Best Screenplay (Adapted)
• Who I think will win: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: Bridget O’Connor, Peter Straughan
• My Choice: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: Bridget O’Connor, Peter Straughan
• Other nominees: The Descendants: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash – The Help: Tate Taylor – The Ides of March: George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon – Moneyball: Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin

• Best Cinematography
• Who I think will win: War Horse: Janusz Kaminski
• My Choice: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: Jeff Cronenweth
• Other nominees: The Artist: Guillaume Schiffman – Hugo: Robert Richardson – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: Hoyte Van Hoytema

• Best Editing
• Who I think will win: Senna: Gregers Sall, Chris King
• My Choice: Senna: Gregers Sall, Chris King
• Other nominees: The Artist: Anne-Sophie Bion, Michel Hazanavicius – Drive: Matthew Newman – Hugo: Thelma Schoonmaker – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: Dino Jonsäter

• Best Production Design
• Who I think will win: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: Maria Djurkovic, Tatiana Macdonald
• My Choice: The Artist: Laurence Bennett, Robert Gould
• Other nominees: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2: Stuart Craig, Stephenie McMillan – Hugo: Dante Ferretti, Francesca Lo Schiavo – War Horse: Rick Carter, Lee Sandales

• Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music
• Who I think will win: The Artist: Ludovic Bource
• My Choice: The Artist: Ludovic Bource
• Other nominees: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross – Hugo: Howard Shore – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: Alberto Iglesias – War Horse: John Williams

• Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer
• Who I think will win: Tyrannosaur: Paddy Considine, Diarmid Scrimshaw
• My Choice: Tyrannosaur: Paddy Considine, Diarmid Scrimshaw
• Other nominees: Attack the Block: Joe Cornish – Black Pond: Will Sharpe, Tom Kingsley, Sarah Brocklehurst – Coriolanus: Ralph Fiennes – Submarine: Richard Ayoade

A note on my selection. I have seen all the nominations mentioned above. The categories I haven’t mentioned are either because I haven’t seen the enough of the nominated movies or else I’m not that bother red about who wins. A could of categories I would like to mention are Best Film not in the English Language and Best Documentary, I have only seen one movie in each (The Skin I Live In and Senna) but as they both made it to my top ten movies list of last year, I would love to see them win.

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2011 Films

All the films I saw at the cinema in 2011 ranked in order of preference:

1. Hugo
2. Drive
3. The Guard
4. Black Swan
5. Senna
6. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
7. True Grit
8. We Need to Talk About Kevin
9. Midnight In Paris
10. The Skin I live in
11. The King’s Speech
12. Moneyball
13. Stake Land
14. Kill List
15. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
16. Another Earth
17. Melancholia
18. Warrior
19. 127 Hours
20. The Way
21. Julia’s Eyes
22. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
23. Troll Hunter
24. 50/50
25. Source Code
26. Submarine
27. Super 8
28. 13 Assassins
29. A Lonely Place To Die
30. The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec
31. The Adjustment Bureau
32. X-Men: First Class
33. Thor
34. Captain America: The First Avenger
35. Limitless
36. My Week With Marilyn
37. The Inbetweeners Movie
38. Take Shelter
39. The Rum Diary
40. Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2
41. The Ides Of March
42. Real Steel
43. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
44. Fair Game
45. Never Let Me Go
46. Blue Valentine
47. Tree Of Life
48. The Lincoln Lawyer
49. The Help
50. In Time
51. The Awakening
52. Sucker Punch
53. Fast Five
54. Hanna
55. Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark
56. Wuthering Heights
57. Contagion
58. The Fighter
59. Paul
60. Animal Kingdom
61. NEDS
62. Rabbit Hole
63. One Day
64. John Carpenter’s The Ward
65. Drive Angry
66. The Beaver
67. Beginners
68. Bridesmaids
69. Red State
70. Cowboys and Aliens
71. Rise of the Planet of the Apes
72. The Conspirator
73. The Art of Getting By
74. I am Number Four
75. Fright Night
76. Henry’s Crime
77. Blitz
78. Priest
79. Red Riding Hood
80. Oranges and Sunshine
81. Faster
82. 1920 The Battle of Warsaw
83. Win Win
84. Colombiana
85. Water for Elephants
86. Immortals
87. Battle: Los Angeles
88. 30 Minutes or Less
89. Hereafter
90. Biutiful
91. The Mechanic
92. The Thing
93. The Three Musketeers
94. Anonymous
95. Tomorrow, When The War Began
96. The Debt
97. Green Lantern
98. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1
99. Footlose
100. Justice
101. Attack the Block
102. Apollo 18
103. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
104. Unkown
105. Scream 4
106. The Silent House
107. The Eagle
108. The Resident
109. Season of the Witch
110. Transformers: Dark of the Moon
111. The Hangover: Part II
112. Sanctum

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Movie of the Month: November

A dozen movies seen at the cinema this month, but which is the movie of the month?

Contagion: a multi stranded story based around the spread of an unknown and deadly virus. The ensemble cast is fantastic and the writing and direction are sublime resulting in a perfectly paced and watchable movie.

In Time: Taking the idea of “time is money”, this is a high concept Sci-Fi movie, it has its problems but it also has some great ideas and an attractive and likeable young cast.

The Help: Given the hefty subject matter of race relations in Americas at the time of the civil rights movement it is a surprisingly lightweight movie. The story is highly manipulative and contrived, however none of these things really matter as the movie is highly watchable and entertaining thanks to fantastic performances from the largely female cast.

The Awakening: an old-fashioned ghost story, if you know my thoughts on horror, you will know that “old-fashioned” is a compliment not an insult. There are a few twists and turns in the plot but nothing spectacular, the real draw is Rebecca Hall who caries the movie virtually on her own proving her star credentials.

Wuthering Heights: a dark and brooding movie that reminds us that Emily Brontë’s story is far bleaker and less romantic than popular opinion would have you believe. The photography is stunning and the acting outstanding.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1: Depending on your point of view, splitting the final twilight movie in two is either the only way to do justice to the seven hundred and something pages of the source novel or a cynical attempt to squeeze as much money as possible out of the “Twihards”. Given the way the movie drags I would suggest the latter is true.

Immortals: a silly action movie that comes somewhere between Clash of the Titans and 300. Surprising entertains and with great visuals. It is a perfect example of a disposable popcorn movie, isn’t a great and I’m not rushing to see it again but enjoyed it while I was watching it.

The Rum Diary: A Johnny Depp movie based on a Hunter S. Thompson novel and directed by Bruce Robinson; you can’t help compare it to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Withnail & I. sadly it isn’t as good as either but Depp is as brilliant as ever and I could watch Amber Heard all day long!

Justice: If you have seen the trailer for the latest movie of the Nicolas Cage conveyor belt you have seen the movie, that’s all there is! Predicable and lightweight but not actually a bad film. Guy Pearce makes a great villain.

Moneyball: with a screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin you expect a compelling story and snappy dialogue, I am happy to report both are present and are helped by Brad Pitt’s second great performance of the year. Reminiscent in part to The Social Network (also written by Sorkin) and that has to be a good thing.

Take Shelter: As a regular family man starts having apocalyptic visions he prepares for the impending doom and questions his own sanity in equal measure. A haunting movie that will stay with you long after it ends, elevated by the performances of Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain.

My Week With Marilyn: The true story of 23-year-old Colin Clark’s experience on the set of The Prince And The Showgirl starring Marilyn Monroe and Sir Laurence Olivier (who also directed the movie). Directed with a light touch reminiscent of the best of Monroe movies but the best thing about it is the fantastic acting, Kenneth Branagh is brilliant as Olivier, Michelle Williams is even better as Monroe.

I was still thinking about the film I would name the movie of the month as I was putting this together, eight of the twelve movies were genuine contenders, but the movie of the month is:

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