The ReelScope

It’s almost Oscar time again! … For those who care anyway. Last week, the nominees were released and as usual, gossip and drama is circulating about believed snubs and underserved nominations. But nevertheless, listed below are the nominees in a few major categories along with which film I expect to win vs. which film I’d like to see win.

Best Picture:

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

My Expectation: The Artist

There is so much hype surrounding this movie, which in case you didn’t know, is a black and white, silent picture. Now I can’t quite judge it fairly because unfortunately, my viewing experience has been limited to the trailer and online sneak peaks. Yet, despite my limited exposure to the movie, I can definitely see the potential for something great.

My Choice: Anything 

Can you really choose a “best” here? I certainly can’t. Now of the nine movies nominated for best picture, I have only seen six: The Descendants, Moneyball, The Help, The Tree of Life, War Horse, and Midnight in Paris. I saw something unique and special in everyone of these movies. Of course, I liked some more than others, but I just can’t seem to choose one winner worthy of such a huge title as “Best Picture”. What about the movies that weren’t even nominated?

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

My Expectation: Jean Dujardin

Playing the lead role in a silent picture in 2012 is quite a task. How far should you annunciate physical mannerisms? How do you not over-act the scenes and still convey emotion? Once again, I’ve only seen the trailer for The Artist, but I still managed to be emotionally affected by the little amounts of footage I’ve seen of his performance.

My Choice: George Clooney

In The Descendants, George Clooney stars as Matt King, a man in a very peculiar situation. His wife has recently died, he is contemplating a difficult financial decision that will affect his entire family, and for the first time, he is the primary parental figure for his children. Clooney masters the emotional spectrum of this movie, convincingly displaying fury, happiness, despair, confusion, and much more.

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

My Expectation & Choice: Viola Davis

Although The Help puts a slight hollywood “feel-good” spin on difficult subject matter, I was very moved by Viola Davis’ performance as the caring and passionate house maid, Aibileen Clark. I imagine playing such a role required much courage.

Actor In a Supporting Roll:

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

My Expectation & Choice: Nick Nolte

Nick Nolte’s performance as Paddy Conlon turns Warrior, an otherwise good film, into a great one. Paddy, a recovering alcoholic, is asked by his youngest son Tommy to train him in preparation for a mixed martial arts tournament. Paddy agrees to train him, mainly because he has suppressed hopes of earning a second chance at fatherhood. Nolte delivers a Grade-A performance here.

Actress In a Supporting Roll:

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

My Expectation & Choice: Octavia Spencer

In The Help, Octavia Spencer stars as a house made with a strong, spunky personality.  We sense this is who she is, and yet even someone as seemingly strong as her is not immune to the degrading, inhumane conditions of Mississippi in the 1960′s. Spencer makes this character something quite special.

Cinematography:

• The Artist
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
• Hugo
• The Tree of Life
• War Horse

My Expectation: The Artist 

Once again, this prediction is based on word of mouth and my limited experience with the movie. However, the small amount of viewing experience I’ve had with The Artist is enough to suggest a wonderful film executed with pleasant style and attention to detail. 

My Choice: The Tree of Life

The Tree of Life’s experimental and unorthodox photography methods with whispering voice overs proved to be tedious at times even for me. However, many of the “cosmic-like” effects were created using rather ingenious methods. Dan Glass, special effects supervisor discussed the shooting process saying, “We worked with chemicals, paint, fluorescent dyes, smoke, liquids, CO₂, flares, spin dishes, fluid dynamics, lighting and high speed photography to see how effective they might be… We did things like pour milk through a funnel into a narrow trough and shoot it with a high-speed camera and folded lens, lighting it carefully and using a frame rate that would give the right kind of flow characteristics to look cosmic, galactic, huge and epic.” Pretty cool if you ask me.

Art Direction:

• The Artist
• Hugo
• Midnight in Paris
• War Horse
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2

My Expectation: The Artist

The film has nine other nominations at the Oscars and judging by the title, one would think the picture has pretty strong chances at winning an award for art direction. But in all seriousness, art direction is about the overall aesthetics and feel of the movie. Considering The Artist is a movie without dialogue that heavily relies on feeling and visual style, it’s no stretch to say it has this category in the bag.

My Choice: Drive

Drive isn’t nominated in this category and this is more than unfortunate. In fact, I believe Drive was ripped off and majorly snubbed in this category as well as a few others, like best picture and best actor. Drive relies heavily on aesthetics and atmosphere and probably consists of the second least amount of dialogue in any movie last year, second only to The Artist. With that being said, the result is very pleasing. A huge disappointment to not see it nominated in more categories.

Directing:

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

My Expectation: Michel Hazanavicius

It takes a lot of guts to write and direct a silent picture in 2012. Yeah, some will argue that Hazanavicius was inadvertently catering to the Academy’s innermost longings for the good-ol’ days of movies, using the silent picture as one big gimmick. But, I find that highly unlikely. I think his courage will be rewarded on Oscar night.

My Choice: Martin Scorsese

Not that Marty needs a golden statue to vouch for his success, but I still think he deserves it. An animated children’s movie doesn’t quite bring Martin Scorsese to mind, yet the success of Hugo proves Scorsese doesn’t have a comfort zone.

Film Editing:

• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
• The Artist
• The Descendants
• Hugo
• Moneyball

My Expectation & Choice: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo:

Dragon Tattoo manages to condense Stieg Larson’s 600 page novel into an exceptional adaptation.  The story covers a period of a half a century and fluidly shifts through time using superimposed images and well executed montage scenes. The final product is masterful.

Music (Original Score):

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

My Expectation & Choice: The Artist

I’m going to assume the Academy will reward The Artist’s score because not only is it reminiscent of old school Hollywood, but it literally carries the weight of the whole motion picture. There is no dialogue. The score to a silent film made in 2012 better be pretty good. This one definitely is. The soundtrack is available for streaming on YouTube.

Writing (Adapted Screenplay):

• The Descendants – Alexander Payne and Nat Saxon & Jim Rash
• The Ides of March – George Clooney and Grant Hesloc & Beau Willimon
• Moneyball – Aaron Sorkin & Steven Zaillian
• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan
• Hugo – John Logan

My Expectation: Hugo

Films that honor movie-making and the overall love for cinema in general are doing well this year. Of all the movies nominated in this category, Hugo is the most infatuated with the art form of movie making and I think the Academy will be won over by that.

My Choice: Moneyball

Michael Lewis’ book is a really compelling piece of dramatic journalism. It truly is fascinating. Before Moneyball, die-hard baseball fans who have read the book were probably hesitant to the idea of a film adaptation. I think Aaron Sorkin and Steve Zaillian did the best they possibly could with the project. It was one of my favorite films of 2012.

Writing (Original Screenplay):

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

My Expectation & Choice: Woody Allen

Woody Allen is notorious for refusing to attend the Oscars, but according to Roger Ebert, the Academy likes him anyway. The protagonist of Midnight in Paris, Gil, is modeled after Woody Allen himself. In Midnight in Paris, Allen channels all of his passions and fascinations involving the city of Paris, literature, art, and music, through Gil. For me, the result was charming, funny, and relatable. Most members of the Academy will probably see eye-to-eye with Mr. Allen on many of the themes presented in his movie, thus resulting in the win for best screenplay.

Visual Effects:

• Transformers: Dark of the Moon
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
• Real Steel
• Rise of the Planet of the Apes
• Hugo

My Expectation & Choice: Rise of the Planet of the Apes

The fluid interaction between the Apes and the humans in this movie is so fluid and captivating (unlike Transformers). I loved it.