Oscar Watch 2011 Predictions & Wrap-Up

My annual run up to the Oscars is officially complete. For the third time in 4 years, I've seen all the Best Picture nominees, something I'm geekily proud of. I will freely admit, however, this year's "accomplishment" didn't really fulfill me in the way last year's did. I'll get into that after I present my list.

To create this list, I ranked all sixteen films I saw for this project in order, 1-16, ignoring what was actually nominated for Best Picture or not. I then went through my list to come up with my offical Best Picture nominee rankings, but opted to leave the list as-is when I looked at the results. 

Without further adieu...

timmmc.com's Official Oscar Watch 2011 Rankings
Best Picture nominees indicated with an asterisk 

1. The Artist*


2. 50/50


3. Drive


4. The Descendants*


5. War Horse*


6. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo


7. The Ides of March


8. The Help*


9. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close*


10. J. Edgar


11. Midnight in Paris*


12. The Iron Lady


13. Moneyball*


14. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part II


15. Hugo*


16. The Tree of Life*

Yes, The Artist is the best film of the 2011 for me, by quite a margin. Did I love it so much because of what it was, something so new and so fresh to me? Maybe. I'm only speaking the obvious when I say silent films just aren't made much anymore. But The Artist is more than just a silent movie: it's a very funny comedy with a whole lot of heart, something I happen to appreciate a ton. The performances were wonderful, the screenplay funny and unpredictable, the direction spot-on, everything. Without a doubt, to me, this is a film that deserves every accolade it's recieved and will recieve. And it will recieve quite a bit come the Oscars ceremony, I'm sure of it.

Looking through the rest of the list, I have to say... WTF, Academy? I understand nominations for some of the nominees, and, hell, I even understand some of the glaring snubs (in my opinion). But The Tree of Life or Hugo nominated? Really? I'm sure I could go back through 2011 and find at least 5 other films I'd consider nominating over either of those two. I'd also consider Moneyball to be in this WTF category. I find it disappointing how mediocrity is rewarded.

As I discussed in my open, I didn't find this year's project as fulfilling as year's past. Last year, I enjoyed comparing The Social Network and The King's Speech in my head, coming up with pros and cons of each, thinking over which film was better made, all that good stuff. This year? Not so much. The Artist was a clear winner for me. Last year, the project led me to watch a whole bunch of great films... this year was filled with disappointing mediocrity, or worse.

Some other predictions (only half-hearted, as I admit to not seeing all the nominees in most categories)...

• Best Actor: in a two-man race between George Clooney and Jean Dujardin, I have to go with Clooney... but I haven


• Best Actress: I haven't seen Albert Nobbs or My Week With Marilyn, but I love me some Viola Davis. That said, Meryl Streep was a force as Maggie Thatcher, and she's past due...


• Supporting Actor & Actress: I haven't seen enough of the performances to really judge. Of the ones I HAVE seen though, I'd go with Max von Sydow & Bérénce Bejo.


• Director: Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist


• Adapted Screenplay & Original Screenplay: again, I haven't seen all the nominees, but The Ides of March and Midnight in Paris of the ones I have seen. 

But, anyhoo, there you have it. It's been real, 2011 film year. Here's to hoping 2012 is more like 2010!

Oscars Review

Well, the Oscars telecast was certainly a mixed bag.

Hosts Anne Hathaway and James Franco
I found Anne Hathaway to be a charming, cute host…. nothing game changing, but she certainly did the trick. James Franco, however? Aside from his foray into drag, every time he opened his mouth, the bit fell flat and the segment dragged. He almost seemed to be under the influence of… something. Safe to say that hosting a live event like this is not his strong point.

The show itself
I don’t think it’s any secret which awards make for interesting TV: The acting awards, Best Director, Screenplay, Score, Song and, of course, Picture. Obviously, all the other awards are important… but interesting? Not so much. I don’t know about you, but I don’t know what the different between sound mixing and sound editing is, nor do I really care. I’m not saying cut the boring awards from the show completely, no…. but certainly don’t put them all together, one after another. Snoozefest. It almost seemed like tonight’s telecast came in three acts: the first (opening through Best Supporting Actor) and last (Best Director through the end) were interesting, the middle coma-inducing. This seems like common sense to me…

The Awards Outcomes
This year’s awards lacked suspense, really, until the final award. The awards went more or less where I figured they would…. and where I was wrong, they went to my second choice. Yep, I’m patting myself on the back… it’s my blog. Good job, Timm. Thanks, Timm!

Anyhoo, a moderately entertaining Oscars tonight. Soorner or later they’ll put all the pieces together right and create a strong telecast, but until then…. let’s see what random host(s) they’ll get next year!

Aaaand…. this officially finishes Oscar Watch 2010!

Oscar Predictions!

It’s finally Oscar day, so I should probably make my final Oscar predictions, eh?

Oscar Watch 2010 = Complete

After 12 films and 22 hours, 39 minutes, the challenge I call “Oscar Watch 2010” is officially completed. As in 2008, I found this experience to be completely rewarding, an experience I hope to (and plan on!) doing again in 2011. 

On Sunday, before Hollywood’s biggest night, I will post my official recap with all my Oscar picks. Stay tuned!

Oscar Nominations are In!

http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/25/whos-up-for-an-oscar/?hpt=C1

 

Pretty much as I expected…. except THE TOWN being almost completely overlooked. That, my friends, is a crying shame. The film, the director, its star and its screenplay deserves better. 

On that note, looking at the Best Picture nominees… the AFI list was pretty much spot on (adding in THE KING’S SPEECH in place of THE TOWN). Looks like I’ll have to see 127 Hours and Winter’s Bone after all!

Oscar Watch 2010 Wrap-Up

Right around Christmas, I decided to go ahead and do what I did a couple years back: see all of the Best Picture nominees and contenders in time for the Academy Awards. Well, I actually one-upped myself, seeing most of the films widely regarded as contenders before nominations even came out. I’m proud of myself.

Before I get to the official timmmc.com OW2010 List, I must put down something of a disclaimer. I initially used the American Film Institute’s Top 10 of 2010 list as a guideline for my list. While the list isn’t necessarily an accurate indication of which films will be nominated (the 2009 list only featured 5 of the Oscar nominees), it seemed like a good list to build upon. I did omit two films from the list: 127 HOURS (this film did not interest me, and the much talked about climactic scene turns my stomach just thinking about…. so I’ll wait on that one) and WINTER’S BONE (again, the film just did not interest me). In exchange, I added two films of my own to it: A KING’S SPEECH (did not qualify for the AFI awards, as it’s a British film) and BLUE VALENTINE. I had also intended on seeing RABBIT HOLE, but since there are no theatres near me where I can see it… it must wait. 

After the jump, the official timmmc.com OW2010 List, plus my personal locks for Oscar nominations.

A reminder that the Oscars are more about politics than the films they award...

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/blogs/race/kings-speech-beat-social-network-...

 

Not to make this year’s Oscar race into a fight between King George VI and Mark Zuckerberg, but this blog post by THR annoys me. I know it’s the truth, that producers jockey for position and hope to get that last lick in before voting closes…. but still, annoying. Shouldn’t the Best Picture Oscar be about, I don’t know, awarding the best motion picture of the year? All award shows are like this, I’m fully aware, but it’s just so… slimy. 

I have two more movies on my list that I intend to see, hopefully this weekend if I find the motivation: THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT and BLUE VALENTINE. Once I see those two films, hopefully before Tuesday’s Oscar nominations, I’ll post my picks. Fingers crossed!

*For those keeping track, I have indeed struck two movies from the AFI List from my own (preliminary) list: WINTER’S BONE and 127 HOURS. Should the nominations require I see these two, I’ll do it for completists sake, to accomplish what I set out to do, but for now, they are omitted.