The 84th Academy Awards are tonight. Or, in the UK, at 1:30am. After finally seeing all nine of the Best Picture nominees and many of the other films represented in other categories, I now present my predictions and commentary!
In order that they will be announced tonight:
Cinematography
★ Emmanuel Lubezki, Tree of Life
Bob Richardson, Hugo
Jeff Cronenweth, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Guillaume Schiffman, The Artist
Janusz Kaminski, War Horse
I think this is a sure win for ‘Tree of Life,’ although all are strong worthy options here (except ‘War Horse’). ‘We Need to Talk About Kevin’ should have made the cut though.
Art Direction
★ Hugo
The Artist
War Horse
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2
Midnight in Paris
My favorite category! ‘Hugo’ deserve to win, and all deserve to be nominated, except maybe ‘Harry Potter.’ This is the one category for which ‘War Horse’ deserved recognition.
Costume Design
Anonymous
★ The Artist
Hugo
Jane Eyre
W.E.
I don’t see a clear winner here, so why not give another award to ‘The Artist.’ That said, it could easily go to any of them, and for some reason I keep thinking it will be ‘Jane Eyre.’ Maybe because that film isn’t really recognized anywhere else and it’s the kind of thing that could snag Costumes.
Best Makeup
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
★ The Iron Lady
Albert Nobbs
Wouldn’t it be funny if this were the only Oscar Harry Potter ever won? But no. It has to be ‘The Iron Lady’ here – it should be recognized if Meryl Streep isn’t. More on that in a bit. By why no ‘J Edgar’ nomination?
Foreign Language Film
★ A Separation (Iran)
In Darkness (Poland)
Footnote (Israel)
Bullhead (Belgium)
Monsieur Lazhar (Canada)
I haven’t been able to see any of these, but ‘A Separation’ looks like a no brainer. It’s too bad that ‘La Piel Que Habito’ (‘The Skin I Live in’) from Spain and ‘Shi’ (‘Poetry’) from South Korea were not entered for consideration (not sure if ‘Shi’ would have qualified for 2011 instead of 2012 though).
Supporting Actress
★ Octavia Spencer, The Help
Jessica Chastain, The Help
Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids
Berenice Bejo, The Artist
Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
Another no brainer category: definitely Octavia Spencer. Her performance was one of my favorites of the year overall, so I will be very happy to see her win. Jessica Chastain was also brilliant in ‘The Help,’ but I think her nomination should have been for ‘Tree of Life.’ Perhaps because ‘The Help’ was driven by so many strong female performances hers didn’t stand out as much as when she was the representation of women in ‘Tree of Life.’ I’m glad Melissa McCarthy got a nod here, and kind of glad that Shailene Woodley did not.
Editing
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
★ The Artist
Moneyball
The Descendants
I really want this to go to ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,’ but Best Picture and Editing usually go hand in hand. It would be my second favorite award to Art Direction, but it’s always so predictable. That said, I’m happy ‘The Social Network’ was able to grab it last year – while ‘Dragon Tattoo’ was brilliant, it wasn’t nearly as brilliant as last year’s Fincher.
Sound Editing
★ Hugo
Drive
War Horse
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Transformers
Can ‘Drive’ win something please? I do not understand the Sound categories at all and don’t know if I ever will. I loved the ‘Drive’ score, but it didn’t have enough original material to qualify for the Score category. So…sound? :) But no, I’m going to be safe and put ‘Hugo’ for both categories, hoping against a ‘War Horse’ upset.
Sound Mixing
★ Hugo
Moneyball
War Horse
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Transformers
*apparently after the Sound category presentations we are rewarded with a Cirque du Soleil performance!*
Documentary Feature
★ Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Undefeated
Hell and Back Again
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
Pina
Haven’t seen any of these, but I just read Paradise Lost so maybe that’s why it’s sticking out to me…
Animated Feature
★ Rango
Kung Fu Panda 2
Puss in Boots
Chico & Rita
A Cat in Paris
My second least favorite category. I’m particularly bitter this year since they shut out ‘Tintin’ which had the best animation I’ve ever seen. To be fair, of the nominees I’ve only seen ‘Rango.’ The story is weak, but the concept is promising, as are the voice actors. And Roger Deakins. I’ll think of it as a belated ‘True Grit’ cinematography award.
Visual Effects
★ Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Hugo
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Real Steel
Transformers
The visual effects were all ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ had going for it. And James Franco, but that was wasted on bad writing. Anyway, the visual effects were great, Andy Serkis was great – they get my vote.
Supporting Actor
★ Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Kenneth Branagh, My Week with Marilyn
Jonah Hill, Moneyball
Nick Nolte, Warrior
Max Von Sydow, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Christopher Plummer please! Another of my favorite performances of the year. ‘Beginners’ was such an overlooked film (as was its canine star, although he was nominated for a Golden Collar!). So glad Jonah Hill got an unexpected nod.
Score
★ Ludovic Bource, The Artist
John Williams, War Horse
Howard Shore, Hugo
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
The Adventures of Tintin
There weren’t any standout scores for me this year, so I’m happy with whatever. I’m quite happy with the nominees actually – while Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross did a good job with ‘Dragon Tattoo’ it was no where near ‘Social Network’ so it’s okay that they weren’t nominated again. ‘The Artist’ relies on the score for the entire film, so yes, this makes sense.
Song
★ Man of Muppet, Muppets
Real in Rio, Rio
Seriously? Why is this even a category? I liked ‘Rio’ a lot (no animated film nomination though? I guess I can’t really judge having only seen one of the films), but haven’t really taken the time to analyze either song. Nor will I be taking it.
Adapted Screenplay
★ Alexander Payne, Nat Faxton, Jim Rash,The Descendants
John Logan, Hugo
Aaron Sorkin, Steven Zaillian, Stan Chervin, Moneyball
George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon, The Ides of March
Bridget O’Connor, Peter Straughn, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
This is where ‘The Descendents’ will get their recognition. But they shouldn’t. It was at least better than the confused jumble that was ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,’ but not as cleverly woven together as ‘Hugo’ or as sharp and compelling as ‘Moneyball’ (still haven’t seen ‘Ides of March.’ I’m sorry, Ryan.).
Original Screenplay
★ Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Kristen Wiig, Annie Mumolo, Bridesmaids
Asghar Farhadi, A Separation
JC Chandor, Margin Call
Yes Woody Allen! My favorite film of the year deserves something and this is where it will get it. My glee for ‘Midnight in Paris’ shall outshine my fury that ‘Bridesmaids’ is on the list. Unoriginal and un-fun. I hear that ‘A Separation’ deserves to win, but I still haven’t seen it.
Live Action Short
Tuba Atlantic
★ The Shore
Raju
Pentecost
Time Freak
I’m not going to pretend to know anything about this category. At all.
Animated Short
★ The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
La Luna
Dimanche/Sunday
A Morning Stroll
Wild Life
Again, um, yeah. People seem to like ‘Flying Books.’ Okay, that then.
Direction
★ Michel Hanazavicius, The Artist
Martin Scorsese, Hugo
Alexander Payne,The Descendants
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
Terrence Malick, Tree of Life
Best Picture/Best Director rule. Easy.
Actor
★ Jean Dujardin, The Artist
George Clooney,The Descendants
Brad Pitt, Moneyball
Gary Oldman, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Demián Bichir, A Better Life
Clooney and Pitt deserve it more than Dujardin, but they will cancel each other out (Pity. Clooney should win.). Oldman and Bichir should just be happy to be nominated. It was an ‘aw’ moment to see them recognized. Still bitter about Uggie not qualifying though.
Actress
★ Viola Davis, The Help
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn
Rooney Mara, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Glen Close, Albert Nobbs
This should be Meryl Streep’s year,but alas, it is Davis’s. She was great. But the character she played was not nearly as demanding as Streep’s. That’s always the tough thing about these acting categories. Best performance of the year was Tilda Swinton, but that was never going to be Oscar appropriate. My favorite moment of the awards season was hearing Rooney Mara’s name announced for her nomination – so unexpectedly wonderful.
Picture
Midnight in Paris
★ The Artist
Hugo
Moneyball
The Help
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
The Descendants
Tree of Life
War Horse
There is no question. ‘The Artist’ will win. And it should win. I’ve listed the films above in the order that I liked them. Of this list, I think that there should have been only five nominated, cutting off at ‘The Help.’ Kind of a dull year, but still some good films recognized. The theme of the year seems to be nostalgia – cinematic and artistic. The second, less interesting but still powerful, theme is persistence. Those two themes cover all of the films nominated for Best Picture. Except maybe ‘Tree of Life.’ I still just don’t get it.
Happy Oscar night, everyone!