Oscar Predictions 2012: Acting

Let's take a look at the acting categories.

Best Supporting Actor

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

This has been a lock for quite some time and is probably the lock of the night. Jonah Hill never really had a shot this year and Nick Nolte's performance wasn't going to gain any traction despite Warrior being under appreciated. Christopher Plummer has been a Hollywood great for some time and still remains statue-less. With a brilliant performance as a recently out widower he was fantastic in Beginners. Then all of a sudden people remembered that Max von Sydow is also old and doesn't have an Oscar so he looked to be gaining some support but I don't think it will matter as Plummer is the more deserving of the two. And while this was previously mentioned in the comments section by a good friend it is worth repeating how Albert Brooks and Patton Oswalt took their snubs to twitter.

Best Supporting Actress
Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
Bérénice Bejo, The Artist
Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids
Jessica Chastain, The Help
Octavia Spencer, The Help

I know how boring, another lock. The Help's success is directly based off the performance of Spencer and Viola Davis. Spencer has already walked away with an arm full of awards for her performance plus she actually deserves the award. Creeping up behind her is Bérénice Bejo from The Artist, but for her to win would be a huge upset. It may surprise you that I think Bejo is in a better position to upset than Melissa McCarthy who stole the show in Bridesmaids but we all know the Academy hates comedies already, plus she won an Emmy for her movie performance so that has to count for something. While I think McCarthy and Spencer did equally well in their respective movies Spencer should have an easy win of it.

Best Actress
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

Why won't they let poor Meryl Streep alone, haven't they done enough to her psyche. Forcing her to sit in the front row year after year and knowing she is going to lose. It looks like now she is in second place following the front runner Viola Davis. While Streep may have won the BAFTA award and the Golden Globe for The Iron Lady, Davis won the critics’ choice and SAG award. And doesn't playing Margret Thatcher seem like her begging to win. They may be knotted up in Oscar precursors but it appears Davis has more support from The Academy. Viola Davis will be the 14 th person to beat out Streep for the Oscar.

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

Finally a category that is still up for grabs. With both George Clooney and Jean Dujardin having won a golden globe for their performance this is really anyone's race. Dujardin may have the slight advantage having won the SAG award. Since the race is so close we could actually look at the performances themselves. Both men starred as men who were broken and beaten down in their story. No matter how hard you looked it still seemed like Clooney with all his Clooney charm playing the part rather that Matt King on the screen. Dujardin has the advantage of being an unknown but he also had to convey all of his emotion via expression. You still got what he was thinking without more than 5 words spoken and that to me speaks to a better performance. I believe that Dujardin deserves the win more so I'm going with him as my pick.

Tomorrow we'll give a look at Best Picture.

Oscar Predictions 2012: Part 1

Here is the problem with this year's award ceremony. It was a down year for movies. Last year there were so many good movies to pick from (and they still went with the obvious choice in the King's Speech). After that they showed their age leaving movies like Drive and 50/50 off the ballots. Meanwhile love them or hate them movies like Tree of Life and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close were nominated for best picture because of the way the voting is structured. So with some big snubs and with so few movies to choose from it seems like everything is pretty much locked up but we'll take a look at eight of the biggest categories. Today I'll take a look at the writers and directors

Best Adapted Screenplay
Alexander Payne, Jim Rash, and Nat Faxon, The Descendants
John Logan, Hugo
George Clooney, Grant Heslov, and Beau Willimon, The Ides of March
Aaron Sorkin, Steven Zaillian, and Stan Chervin, Moneyball
Peter Staughan and Bridget O'Connor, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

It looked like at one point Hugo could win the award but has since been taken over by the Hawaiian wave that is The Descendants. With a win from the WGA and major last minute surge overall The Descendants have been creeping up the Oscar ballots. Typically the Academy likes to recognize only one writer rather than a team for whatever reason. But Alexander Payne has been receiving much of the adulation for the movie, including this blog, more so than his contributors so that may give it the advantage. Moneyball probably deserves the award though as Sorkin was able to take a book that was completely unfilmable and turn it into an Oscar contender full of quick dialogue and a story that can be enjoyed by the non sports fan. That is talent.

Best Original Screenplay
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Annie Mumolo and Kristin Wiig, Bridesmaids
J.C. Chandor, Margin Call
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
Asghar Farhadi, A Separation

Wouldn't you love to see Bridesmaids win, well I would but if you had to go with a nostalgic pick that vote would probably be going to Midnight in Paris which seems like a lock for the award. It has the rare quality of being a movie that should win and many experts are predicting to win. If for nothing else you had to enjoy the conversations from Ernest Hemingway and Salvador Dali. Although with a big night predicted from Michel Hazanavicius don't be surprised if this movie takes this award with all the momentum the movie has gathered.

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

What a group of talented directors this year. Yes Malick is a weird guy, but Badlands is frickin bad ass. Then again he has dinosaurs in his movie so he is probably out of any serious contention. Scorsese made a wonderful movie about movies, and the Academy loves self promotion, plus he ventured far out of his comfort zone. Payne and Allen went the opposite direction and told a story they have told before but both do a really good job telling it. Frankly any of these directors are deserving but all of the momentum seems to be surrounding Hazanavicius and with a win from the DGA and favored to win the big award he seems like a lock to win for best director.

Tomorrow we'll take a look at the acting category.

Ghost Rider 2: Spirit of Vengence

There was no way anyone thought that Ghost Rider 2: Spirit of Vengeance was going to be anything more than a bad movie. The only debate was if it was going to be so bad that it was good or that it was going to be just terrible. It had all the tools to be the former, I'm just not quite sure if the movie got there. As long as you don't get bogged down by things like acting, cohesiveness or consistency then there is a chance you may find the trashy fun in Ghost Rider 2 that I'm sure it was supposed to have.

Nicolas Cage returns as The Ghost Rider the superhero that always had the potential to be cool, just not if it was reigned in by a PG-13 rating. He sold his soul to Satan and now is consumed by this demon who hunts down evil men for the devil. The back story seems more or less irrelevant but the directing duo of Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor does do something fun with it by animating the story to give the movie more of the comic book feel. Once they cut back to present day they can go right into the action. That may be the only thing they get right in the whole movie.

Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor are the same duo who brought you Crank 2. I never saw that movie though because I believe Crank had a pretty solidified ending where there was no coming back from. Well apparently I was wrong so it is clear that these two have no problem dealing in the ridiculous including having the Rider piss fire. If any of you saw the trailer this may have been the moment where you laughed to yourselves and thought this may be a fun movie to see. While that scene may have been intended for more, it is such a throwaway moment that there is no doubt in my mind they put it in there just for the sake of the trailer.

Cage seems to only be putting in half effort in this one. You may be saying to yourself how does an Academy Award winning actor who has agreed to do whatever movie he can to pay off his massive tax bills put in even less effort? Well if there is one thing that ole Nic has become known for it is when he flies off the handle, and that seems to be the only time he puts in any effort into the movie. Add that to the fact that when Blaze became the rider he didn't need to show up at all thanks to CGI. Cage phones this movie in from the get go and that is saying a lot considering the movies he has been doing

They did everything they possibly could to ruin this movie, they made it PG-13, they shot it all in Eastern Europe to keep the budget low, they got rid of any semblance of recognizable actors they had from the original and of course they added an annoying child to the plot line. There are some of you that I'm sure will still find a way to enjoy the movie. But I think my head would have hurt less if I had left the 3D glasses off the whole movie. D-

The Descendants

After winning the Golden Globe for Best Drama The Descendants have to be one of the front runners to walk away with Best Picture along with several other awards in the big night. If The Artist represents everything that is happy and good, than The Descendants may be the exact opposite. The difference in tone may decide which film walks away with the statuette. The Descendants is both funny and devastating and captures the moments in life we fear the most with eloquence.

George Clooney stars as Matt King a working father who at his best considers himself second rate. After his wife is injured in a boating accident within the opening sequence of the movie he needs to step up and be something more to his family. All the while he and his cousins hold the fate of some of Hawaii's last bit of land in their hand as they are the direct descendants from Hawaii's last ruling family.

Clooney turns out of his best performances for the troubled father. Think Up in the Air, but that character in the third act. Don't get me wrong he is still playing Clooney in the movie, but with a definite lack of togetherness and cool. He plays the character effortlessly which makes the performance that much more believable and heartbreaking. He allows his character to bumble a little bit, to be awkward, because that is normal people would react. Matt King doesn't have all the right answer or the right moves and often makes mistakes, and that's what makes the character so endearing and relatable.

Clooney plays the part of Matt King perfectly, he allows for the awkward moments to seep into his performance. The movie comes off as a perfect balance between dramatic and funny. The Hawaiian backdrop is wonderful juxtaposition to the mundane and depressing he finds himself in. Not every action gets the perfect reaction; sometimes he comes off as downright cruel when facing stressful moments which anyone can relate to in wishing they could take what they said back.

Alexander Payne, who wrote and directed the movie, loves making characters who find themselves on the brink and who are already broken. He did great work in Election, About Schmidt, and Sideways. It is tough to believe this is his first movie since 2004, but Payne knows his strengths and knows the stories that he wants to tell. His experience with lead characters who are imperfect help to drive the best performance out of Clooney and what makes the movie so relatable.

There is a lot in the movie to feel down about, after all the movie opens with Matt King's wife stuck in a coma. His daughters are difficult girls to deal with, his eldest seems to be dating a complete toolbag and the people around him all seem very selfish. But as some people do, the characters tend to use comedy as a way to cope with their grief and that endears us to some of the softer moments in the movie. We see the character lean on each other for strength and it is when people are thrust into difficult situations that we often see them at their best. The characters become more endearing as the movie progresses.

The best performance besides that of Clooney may come from his eldest daughter played by Shailene Woodley. She plays the part of the spoiled brat so well, but when she needs to be she quickly becomes her father most trusted confidant. She makes the transition believable and that is the most important part of the role, she is able to be hated as the movie starts and seamlessly becomes beloved by the time the credits role. Beau Bridges does a great job as well having his character move in the opposite direction. He plays laid back so well that his callousness sneaks up on you. Every member of the supporting cast does a fantastic job of advancing the story and elevating the lead.

Just as the movie is looking to soften up though and place the audience at ease Payne is quick to hit them again and bring down the whole tone of the movie. The movie has a beautiful reality to it, and makes you feel what the actors are going through is genuine. It is rare to have a movie deal with such a depressing reality and give such a honest reaction that you can still walk out of the movie with a feeling of hope. The Descendants walk that line the whole time and on February 26th may be walking away with the best picture award. A-

Oscars 2012: First Thoughts

The Road to Wrestlemani...the Oscars have finally begun. Most would agree it was a pretty weak year in film. There are a score of movies that came out last year which would probably be taking home the award this year. That is just not the case though, so let's take a look at some of the nominations or lack there of

Best Picture
“The Artist”
“The Descendants”
“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”
“The Help”
“Hugo”
“Midnight in Paris”
“Moneyball”
“The Tree of Life”
“War Horse”

With different rules this year one of the biggest questions was how many movies would be nominated in this category. In order to be nominated for best picture the movie needed to receive at least 5% of the vote. Many thought that because the field was weak this year it would lead to fewer nominees. Instead it led to more. With the most surprising selection being “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” followed closely by “The Tree of Life.” Both of these movies left critics and audiences highly divided walking out of the theater. Despite the Academy not normally supporting comedies, I honestly thought that “Bridesmaids” would make it through this year, sadly it was not to be as the combination of Tom Hanks and September 11th seems too strong a pull for the older Academy voters. While it was never going to happen weren’t you kind of hoping to see the final Harry Potter movie get nominated, say what you wish about the series, bit if you put away any bias you may have it was a good movie, and one of the best this year. Not an artistic choice, but a really well done movie.

BEST DIRECTOR
Michel Hazanavicius ("The Artist")
Alexander Payne ("The Descendants")
Martin Scorsese ("Hugo")
Woody Allen ("Midnight in Paris")
Terrence Malick ("The Tree of Life")


Four of the five directors nominated also were nominated for the Director's Guild Award. While it may shock some to see Steven Spielberg off the list, the more surprising diss is without question David Fincher for his take on “The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo.” Spielberg is usually snubbed come awards season, it didn't help that his horse movie wasn't as so much good as it was sentimental. Fincher did terrific work, well maybe not terrific but certainly better than Terrence Malick whose own star couldn’t even understand “The Tree of Life.”

BEST ACTOR
Demián Bichir ("A Better Life")
George Clooney "The Descendants")
Jean Dujardin ("The Artist")
Gary Oldman ("Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy")
Brad Pitt ("Moneyball")

Clooney, Pitt, and Dujardin, were obvious selections and while it seems to be a two man race between Clooney and Dujardin many thought that two of the biggest rising stars in Hollywood would get the nod as well. Without a doubt the biggest snubs of the day came in this category with the exclusion of Michael Fassbender and Ryan Gosling. Gosling had three fantastic performances in “The Ides of March,” “Drive,” and “Crazy, Stupid Love” (which would actually get him a supporting nomination). But Fassbender seemed like the bigger snub of the two, though it makes more sense as Academy voters typically don't support naked men. But seriously has anyone seen “A Better Life’ besides Christoph Waltz?

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")

A lot of people are surprised that Rooney Mara made the list; I am not one of them. She did well but many of the experts thought that took away from Tilda Swinton for Let's Talk About Kevin. I didn't see this one so can't speak to it. Moving on.

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")

Love that Nick Nolte got nominated for “Warrior.” This was one of my favorite movies of the year and I suggest every guy out there go out and watch this one. This is one of the reasons that Tom Hardy got cast as Bane. The movie was marketed wrong initially, but it had a lot of great action sequences and was a fun watch. I did not think that Jonah Hill was going to get nominated either, but was glad to see him on the list. Now the question is did Albert Brooks deserve the nomination. He certainly was good but I completely forgot about his performance until people kept talking about it which may be the most telling sign of his deserving the honor.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Bérénice Bejo ("The Artist")
Jessica Chastain ("The Help")
Melissa McCarthy ("Bridesmaids")
Janet McTeer ("Albert Nobbs")
Octavia Spencer ("The Help")

It is surprising that Bejo got nominated in this category and not for lead actress, but that was her decision to make as she submits herself into the category. Melissa McCarthy getting nominated was well deserved for her performance and also a way to make up for the fact that her movie didn't make it to the big one. But everyone knows this award will belong to Octavia Spencer by the end of the night.

Best Animated Film
“A Cat in Paris”
“Chico & Rita”
“Kung Fu Panda 2”
“Puss in Boots”
“Rango”

How did Puss in Boots get nominated? And while “Cars 2” didn't make it, and didn't deserve to make it I'm still surprised it didn't make it. This will be the first year in a while that Pixar won't walk away with the major award, which means this field is wide open.

Finally how are there only two songs nominated for Best Song. Man or Muppet will go head-to-head with Real in Rio. But where is the love, for songs from Elton John, Mary J. Blidge, and this year's Golden Globe winner Madonna all being left off the list. Even with the prospect of a Muppet performance at The Oscars it is surprising not to see more nominations, and for that matter where is the love for last year's winner Trent Reznor. His score for “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” is what garnered a lot of the early buzz for the movie. You certainly could take off one of John Williams’s two nominations for scores as that are completely interchangeable and sound like every other Spielberg movie he worked on
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Those were my thoughts. What did you think? Let me know.

Haywire

Steven Sogerbergh has been talking about retiring from the film industry for some time now, that being said this is his 25th film in a little over 20 years. He has never done a movie involving so much fighting as he is usually known for his dark shots and dialogue heavy stories. He is still able to put his own spin on the genre and makes Haywire an enjoyable movie even if it leaves no long lasting impression.

Newcomer Gina Carano stars as a black ops agent seeking revenge after being set-up on her latest mission. She was plucked from television after Steven Soderbergh saw her beating up a woman in a cage. At one point she was ranked number three in her weight class and was referred to as the face of women's MMA. It didn't hurt that she was also listed as number 16 on Maxim's Hot 100 List. Taking all that into account while she is a very talented and blessed woman, acting is not one of her strong suites. Soderbergh seems to understand that and builds up the movie around this fact. She is asked to deliver very little dialogue and instead just be herself whether it calls for total bad ass or drop dead gorgeous. He also puts a litany of huge and talented male counterparts at her disposal to carry any scene and also get lined up for an ass whooping.

It is clear that Steven Soderbergh is one of those directors that can get any actor he wants. With almost no money in his budget he is able to go out there and gather amazing talent to surround his leading lady. He is clearly able to get his actors to do anything he wants as well, he gets Antonio Banderas to put on a horrific beard, Ewan McGregor to sport a dorky looking hair cut, and puts Bill Paxton in a mustache which is always a ridiculous look, with some notable exceptions. The limited dialogue which is important to getting the story across is delivered by men who have more training than Carano. She instead is put in her comfort zone and handles the hand to hand combat throughout the movie with nameless punks along with Channing Tatum and Michael Fassbender. Despite his much larger size her encounter with Tatum still looks believable and her sequence with Fassbender in a hotel room is the coolest in the movie. The opening sequence may be jarring for those who are not comfortable watching a woman get her ass handed to her but as McGregor's character states in the movie "You shouldn’t think of her as a woman. No, that would be a mistake." She knows how to handle herself.

In a time when fight sequences have become full of quick cuts and body doubles Soderbergh takes a refreshing look. He shoots most of the sequences in long view and wide shots. He also uses long continuous shots to show off just how talented his leading lady is. He cast her for the very purpose of being a believable action hero who could handle the men around her. There is also no music over these sequences, he isn't trying to over-dramatize the scenes and lets the audience hear every hit and grunt. This is Soderbergh's first attempt at a martial arts film and makes it his own allowing the actors to do the heavy lifting instead of over dubbing everything with effects.

Soderbergh's head is clearly involved in the action and not so much the plot. The story is kind of ridiculous so don't try and overly concern yourself with it. Even Len Dobbs, who wrote the story and has worked previously with Steven, boils the plot points down by the end of the movie. It lacks any kind of convincing story to get the audience to care about his characters. The story seems more concerned with the visuals whether it be an action sequence or the background as he takes his movie to various locations across the globe. And if the writing staff isn't worried about the story I wouldn't either, just sit back and enjoy

Haywire is a solid action movie that runs at a brief 90 minutes. Gina Carano does a fine job as the indie-female version of Jason Bourne. It is a fun movie and much of that is clearly attributed to Soderbergh. He does a great job getting what he needs out of everyone on his staff and knows when to take his foot off the gas and let the audience enjoy the view. Plus it is always fun watching a woman kick ass. B-

Contraband

A former thief must commit one last job in order to look after and protect his family, coming out this week Mark Wahlberg stars in The Italian Job. Wait no, that knock off came out in 2003 and was based off a 1969 movie, this knock off is based off a 2008 Icelandic movie. Contraband is actually directed by the star of the original movie, so at least with a larger budget and the experience of working on the same story before the crew should be able to make a well done movie. At its best Contraband is a formulaic genre piece that is something to see if there is nothing else on.

In this version of the movie Marky Mark plays Chris Farraday, a former thief who once had the nickname of Houdini for his ability to get illicit items past customs agents. He has since got out of the game and now installs security systems and comes home to his loving children and wife played by Kate Beckinsale. That is until his wife's brother gets in deep with a man who is not quick to forgive for lost merchandise. He now must commit one final job to get his brother in law out of trouble and protect his family.

This is a far cry from anything worthy of an academy award by Marky Mark. The project seems perfectly tailored to a younger Wahlberg when he was making movies like The Italian Job. The movie though lacked any of the pop he displayed in The Departed or the humor from I Heart Huckabees. He instead reverts back to his comfort zone of principled tough guy rocking tight t-shirts. Which is fine, he does display a level of comfort in the role knowing it is well within his wheel house. Fortunately for everyone he doesn't attempt a New Orleans accent, and instead sticks with his Boston attitude and accent.

Kate Beckinsale is stuck at home playing wifey and offers very little to the role besides playing the damsel in distress. The only performance that really stands out is Giovanni Ribisi as character actor and fill-in bad guy Tim Briggs, rocking out neck tattoos and poorly groomed facial hair to let everyone know his role. His performance is completely over the top but it fits the movie and he is fun to watch. It is also too ridiculous to take him as a serious threat.

Ridiculousness tends to run throughout the movie as each series of event seems to be far too coincidental to do anything but laugh at. Once they make port it seems that the boat is always in a state of shipping off in 10 minutes. It lacks any control of a realistic timeline as there is no way they would be able to get any of these things done in the time they have set out to do it in. This plays a problem as it seems the funky bunch have a laundry list of things to do before heading back, with each event leading up to another even more outlandish task. The problem with the story is it seems the writing staff first wrote an action beat every 10 pages or so and then filled in the rest from there. This may be why any semblance of story seems lost in the jumble; it’s as if they ran out of room to write before they hit another car sequence. Probably the only intentionally funny part of the movie involves the theft of a near priceless Jackson Pollack.

The movie's director Balastar Kormakur tries to raise the stakes by using a lot of shaky camera techniques and quick zooms. All this accomplishes though is an unfocused shot that takes you directly out of the story.

At the very least Contraband knows that it is a genre movie, and doesn't try to be anything more grandiose. It is a mediocre movie that could stand out because in general January is usually a lackluster time for movies. This may not be enough to make you go out and see it immediately but at least you know it is out there. C+