2012 Academy Awards Predictions

My predictions in red.

Best Picture

"The Artist"

"The Descendants"

"Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close"

"Hugo"

 "Midnight In Paris"

 "The Help"

 "Moneyball"

 "War Horse"

 "The Tree of Life"

Definitely want to see The Artist get this one.  The only other ones I’ve seen are Hugo, Moneyball, and The Tree of Life and The Artist beats them hands down.  Would love to have seen Paddy Considine’s little indie Tyrannosaur up for this category but is it too British?

Best Actor

 Demian Bichir, "A Better Life"

 George Clooney, "The Descendants"

 Jean Dujardin, "The Artist"

 Gary Oldman, "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"

 Brad Pitt, "Moneyball"

Would love to see Dujardin get this but I have a feeling Clooney might take it.  Brad Pitt hasn’t got a hope and I’m honestly not sure why he’s nominated.  Would also be nice to see Oldman take the stage but I think it's unlikely.

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"

Ashamed to say I haven’t seen a single one of these.  I hear it’s between Streep and Davis.  Would love to see anyone but Streep win it because she’s had her fair share of awards and there’s a lot of hate inside me for Maggie T.  Olivia Colman deserves this award for her performance in Tyrannosaur though.

Best Director

Woody Allen, "Midnight in Paris"

Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist"

Terrence Malick, "The Tree of Life"

Alexander Payne, "The Descendants"

Martin Scorsese, "Hugo"

Hope Hazanavicius gets this.  Malick lost the plot (haha literally), Marty’s direction of the young actors isn’t his best.  

Best Supporting Actor

Kenneth Branagh, "My Week With Marilyn"

Jonah Hill, "Moneyball"

Nick Nolte, "Warrior"

Christopher Plummer, "Beginners"

Max Von Sydow, "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"

I go with what I’ve heard and what I’ve heard is this has Plummer’s name all over it.  The only one I’ve seen is Moneyball and Hill hasn’t got a chance in hell and again, I’m not even sure why he’s nominated.  Surely Albert Brooks deserved a nod for Drive.

Best Supporting Actress

Berenice Bejo, "The Artist"

Jessica Chastain, "The Help"

Melissa McCarthy, "Bridesmaids"

Janet McTeer, "Albert Nobbs"

Octavia Spencer, "The Help"

Bejo was great, McCarthy was hilarious and sweet but it would be nice to see The Help get something and I hear Spencer is fantastic.  I’d really like to see McCarthy get it and open the way for more comedy in the Oscars.

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"

Not sure how Bridesmaids wangled a place here despite it being a good film.  Would love to see The Artist get it but I reckon the main competition is from Woody.

Best Adapted Screenplay

Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash, "The Descendants"

John Logan, "Hugo"

George Clooney, Grant Heslov, "The Ides of March"

Aaron Sorkin, Steven Zaillian,  "Moneyball"

Bridget O'Connor, Peter Straughn, "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy"

This is a really strong category and one of the hardest to call.  I could see any of these winning.  I reckon the frontrunners are The Descendants, Hugo and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.  However if Moneyball will win anything, then this will be the one.

Best Animated Feature

"A Cat In Paris"

"Chico & Rita"

"Kung Fu Panda 2"

"Puss in Boots"

"Rango"

Desperately hope this will go to Rango even though it’s the only one I’ve seen.

Best Foreign Feature

"Bullhead" (Belgium)

"Footnote" (Israel)

"In Darkness" (Poland)

"Monsiuer Lazhar" (Canada)

"A Separation" (Iran)

Another category where I shamefully haven’t seen a single nominee.  Heard a lot about A Separation though and so would put my money on that.

Best Cinematography

"The Artist"

"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"

"Hugo"

"The Tree of Life"

"War Horse"

Despite my lack of fondness for the film, The Tree of Life definitely deserves this.  But then again, Fincher’s films are always beautifully shot.  And I have to say Hugo looked incredible too with some amazing use of 3D.  But Tree of Life will surely get it.

Best Documentary Feature

"Hell and Back Again"

"If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front"

"Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory"

"Pina"

"Undefeated"

I’d like to see Paradise Lost 3 get this, kind of as recognition for the achievement of the whole trilogy.  Then again I hear good things about Hell and Back Again.

Best Film Editing

"The Artist"

"The Descendants"

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"

"Hugo"

"Moneyball"

Got to be between Hugo and TGWTDT.  I hope Fincher’s film gets it, pretty much just for edting of the teaser trailer.

Best Original Score

"The Adventures of Tintin"

"The Artist"

"Hugo"

"Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy"

"War Horse"

Another sure win for The Artist.

Well all will be revealed tomorrow so until next year, adios awards season.  Bring on the silly summer blockbusters!  

Anyone putting money on the Oscars?  What do you think of these predictions?  Any underdogs that I'm neglecting?  Spill your thoughts in the comment section...

2011 List #7: Missed opportunities

I don't get to the cinema nearly as much as I'd like.  As a result it would be silly for me to do a Top 10 of 2011 list at this stage, particularly as I have so many excellent sounding films to consume.  Here are the top 10 films of 2011 I still need to see.  As you can see, most of these films are in many people's top 10 lists.  Until I see these, I cannot make the all-important decision on my favourites of the year.

In alphabetical order:

A Seperation (Iranian divorce drama critics and bloggers have been raving about)

Drive (Violent, stylish, great music and Gosling and Mulligan- hope this lives up to expectations!)

Incendies (Bleak, twisty Oscar-nominated family drama)

Moneyball (Love Pitt and Hill, sounds like a sports movie with a difference)

Senna (love a good documentary and this has been very highly rated by many)

Snowtown (sounds like a very difficult watch, just the way I often like it)

Take Shelter (one man's descent into madness, right up my street)

The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo (unnecessary remake of a film that I thought was ok but this is Fincher)

Troll Hunter (love a bit of found footage, especially when it's done effectively)

Tyrannosaur (Paddy Considine directs, Peter Mullan stars, loads of awards, must be good)

There's a few more that might have a shot but, from what I've read and who directs them, are less likely to make my top 10 I suspect.  These include; We Need to Talk About Kevin, The Skin I live In, Melancholia Contagion and Midnight in Paris.  The love that these films have been getting is huge and I have seen them in many best of the year lists so depite not being a big Almodovar or Woody Allen fan, I am keen to catch them before making my own top 10 of 2011 list.

Then again I might be wrong and I might well have already seen my favourite films of the year.  Perhaps Bridesmaids, Animal Kingdom, Attack the Block, Submarine, True Grit, 127 Hours and Rango will all remain in the top 10 films I have seen this year.  We shall see.



Therefore, please wait in barely concealed anticipation as I Love That Film unleashes it's Best of 2011 list... (cough)... sometime in the future.  Let's meet back here in December 2012 and I might be done!  I hereby declare my new year resoultion is to get to the cinema more this year.  Stop relying on Lovefilm to deliver me DVD's and Blu-rays months after the films have left the cinemas and get out and catch them on the big screen as they were intended.  Anyone else feeling that there's a few films you are ashamed to say that you have outrageously missed last year?

Pointless or Perfection?

David Fincher. Director of classics Fight Club and Seven. Director of multiple academy Award winner The Social Network. Director of great films Zodiac and Panic Room. Director of um... other films, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Alien 3 and The Game.

But now comes Fincher's remake of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo:



Why remake a film from 2009? Because it's Swedish, subtitled and you've got to read it! Like Let The Right One In/ Let Me In and Infernal Affairs/ The Departed before it, this is another Hollywood cash-in to piss off fans of the original and delight people who don't read films.

Wierdly, Fincher's even kept Swedish accents in this one. Rooney Mara looks as though she may be as cool as Noomi Rapace when playing icon Lisbeth Salander but still, isn't this completely pointless to people who can read?

This is an outrage! Why must Americans remake anything with foreigners in it? Can they really not stand the sight of the rest of us?

But Fincher's a legend, a genius, a perfectionist. Does this mean he wants to perfect the 2009 Swedish version? Is he going to put his own stamp on it? Is he going back to the source book? It doesn't look like it. It looks beautifully shot (as you'd expect from Fincher and his obssessive and controlling collaborations with cinematographers) and the score sounds like a treat (continuing his collaboration with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross). But the original was dark enough and I can't see how much darker Fincher can make it. The poster is sexed up from the original and the cast look great but no better than the original cast.

With all the projects Fincher has circled in the past, including Fertig and Rendevous with Rama, it seems a shame to be wasting all us Fincher fans' time on a pointless remake. I hope this wasn't the biggest pay cheque. I hope this is Fincher trying to bring us something fresh out of a story he thought needed to be told perfectly. I hope this lives up to the promise of the trailers and finally gives us some indication of why it needed to be remade!