Oscars 2012 Winners Predictions! And Winners!

It's coming! It's coming! As usual, I'm up for some hot predix with my friend Griz. We've been doing this for as long as Maru has been in existence. Maybe. Wait, how old is Maru again? Speaking of whom:

via icanhazcheeseburger

Alright, here we go: Me / Griz / Actual win

BEST PICTURE - The Artist
Will Win: The Artist / The Artist
Alternate: The Descendants / The Descendants
My Pick of the lot: The Artist / Moneyball

BEST DIRECTOR - Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Will Win: Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist / Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Alternate: Martin Scorses, Hugo / Martin Scorses, Hugo
My Pick of the lot: Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist / Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life

BEST FOREIGN FILM - A Separation
Will Win: A Separation / A Separation
Alternate: In Darkness - Holocaust movie! / In Darkness
My Pick of the lot: A Separation, though I haven't seen the other ones except Footnote / Abstain due to not having seen any

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE - Rango
Will Win: Chico & Rita / Rango
Alternate: Rango / Chico & Rita
My Pick of the lot: Anything but Kung Fu Panda 2 / Rango

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE - Undefeated
Will Win: Undefeated / NO CLUE
Alternate: Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory / NO CLUE
My Pick of the lot: Pina - I haven't seen this, but omg have you seen the trailer? / NOPE

BEST ACTOR - Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Will Win: Jean Dujardin, The Artist / Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Alternate: Brad Pitt, Moneyball / George Clooney - The Descendants
My Pick of the lot: Jean Dujardin, The Artist / Brad Pitt, Moneyball

BEST ACTRESS - Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Will Win: Viola Davis, The Help / Viola Davis, The Help
Alternate: Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady / Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
My Pick of the lot: Michelle Williams, My week with Marilyn / Rooney Mara, The girl with the dragon tattoo

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS - Octavia Spencer, The Help
Will Win: Octavia Spencer, The Help / Octavia Spencer, The Help
Alternate: Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids / Bérénice Bejo, The Artist
My Pick of the lot: Jessica Chastain, The Help / Jessica Chastain, The Help

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR - Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Will Win: Christopher Plummer, Beginners / Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Alternate: Max Von Sydow, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close / Nick Nolte, Warrior
My Pick of the lot: Anyone but Jonah Hill, the WTF nomination of the season. / Abstain - the only one I've seen is Jonah Hill and I'm not rooting for him to win

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY - Midnight in Paris
Will Win: Midnight in Paris / Midnight in Paris
Alternate: The Artist / The Artist
My Pick of the lot: A Separation, though Margin Call would be nice, too. / Midnight in Paris

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY - The Descendants
Will Win: The Descendants / The Descendants
Alternate: Moneyball / Moneyball
My Pick of the lot: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy / Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY - Hugo
Will Win: The Tree of Life / The Tree of Life
Alternate: The Artist / Hugo
My Pick of the lot: The Tree of Life / The Tree of Life

BEST EDITING - The girl with the dragon tattoo
Will Win: The Artist / The Artist
Alternate: The Descendants / Hugo
My Pick of the lot: The girl with the dragon tattoo / Moneyball

BEST ART DIRECTION - Hugo
Will Win: Hugo / Hugo
Alternate: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 / The Artist
My Pick of the lot: Hugo / Hugo

BEST SOUND EDITING - Hugo
Will Win: Hugo / War Horse
Alternate: The girl with the dragon tattoo / Transformers: The Dark of the Moon
My Pick of the lot: Drive, please let it win the only nomination it got / Transformers: The Dark of the Moon

BEST SOUND MIXING - Hugo
Will Win: Hugo / War Horse
Alternate: The girl with the dragon tattoo / Hugo
My Pick of the lot: The girl with the dragon tattoo / Transformers: The Dark of the Moon

BEST SCORE - The Artist
Will Win: The Artist / The Artist
Alternate: Hugo / Hugo
My Pick of the lot: Hugo / The Artist

BEST SONG - The Muppets
Will Win: Man or muppet, The Muppets / Man or muppet, The Muppets
Alternate: Real in Rio, Rio (duh?) / Real in Rio, Rio
My Pick of the lot: Man or muppet / Man or muppet, The Muppets

BEST COSTUME DESIGN - The Artist
Will Win: Hugo / Hugo
Alternate: W.E. / The Artist
My Pick of the lot: Don't care, but ok, Hugo / Hugo

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS - Hugo
Will Win: Rise of the Planet of the Apes / Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Alternate: Hugo / Real Steel
My Pick of the lot: Rise of the Planet of the Apes, obviously for Andy Serkis / Rise of the Planet of the Apes

BEST MAKE-UP - The Iron Lady
Will Win: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 / The Iron Lady
Alternate: Albert Nobbs / Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
My Pick of the lot: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 / NOPE

We're not doing Live Action and Animated short categories. Who'd seen them, anyway? Not that I don't want to, but it's not like they're readily screened in theatres?

TALLY:
The Artist - 5 wins (Picture, Director, Actor, Costumes, Score)
Hugo - 5 wins (Cinematography, Art Direction, Sound mixing & editing, Visual effects)
The Iron Lady - 2 wins (Actress, Make-up)
A separation - 1 win (Foreign)
Rango - 1 win (Animated)
Undefeated - 1 win (Documentary)
The Help - 1 win (S. Actress)
Beginners - 1 win (S. Actor)
Midnight in Paris - 1 win (O. Screenplay)
The Descendants - 1 win (A. Screenplay)
The girl with the dragon tattoo - 1 win (Editing)
The Muppets - 1 win (Song)

I got 14/21 = 67% (17/21 with Alternates)
Griz got 13/20 = 65% (17/20 with Alternates)

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Spirit Awards Winners

Best Feature
50/50 - Producers: Evan Goldberg, Ben Karlin, Seth Rogen
Beginners - Producers: Miranda de Pencier, Lars Knudsen, Leslie Urdang, Dean Vanech, Jay Van Hoy
Drive - Producers: Michel Litvak, John Palermo, Marc Platt, Gigi Pritzker, Adam Siegel
Take Shelter - Producers: Tyler Davidson, Sophia Lin
The Artist - Producer: Thomas Langmann *WINNER
The Descendants - Producers: Jim Burke, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor

Glad to see Drive and Take Shelter getting some love from the Indie Awards crowd, but disappointed to see The Artist took it home instead when there are superior pictures in the lot.

Best Director
Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist *WINNER
Mike Mills - Beginners
Jeff Nichols - Take Shelter
Alexander Payne - The Descendants
Nicolas Winding Refn - Drive

At least Alexander Payne didn't win!

Best Screenplay
Joseph Cedar - Footnote
Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist
Tom McCarthy - Win Win
Mike Mills - Beginners
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash - The Descendants *WINNER

D'oh! This was not a very good short list anyway?

Best First Feature
Another Earth - Director: Mike Cahill, Producers: Mike Cahill, Hunter Gray, Brit Marling, Nicholas Shumaker
In the Family - Director: Patrick Wang, Producers: Robert Tonino, Andrew van den Houten, Patrick Wang
Margin Call - Director: J.C. Chandor, Producers: Robert Ogden Barnum, Michael Benaroya, Neal Dodson, Joe Jenckes, Corey Moosa, Zachary Quinto *WINNER
Martha Marcy May Marlene - Director: Sean Durkin, Producers: Antonio Campos, Patrick Cunningham, Chris Maybach, Josh Mond
Natural Selection - Director: Robbie Pickering, Producers: Brion Hambel, Paul Jensen

Good call on Margin Call. I think. Haven't seen Another Earth, In the Family or Natural Selection.

Best First Screenplay
Mike Cahill, Brit Marling - Another Earth
J.C. Chandor - Margin Call
Patrick deWitt - Terri
Phil Johnston - Cedar Rapids
Will Reiser - 50/50 *WINNER

Uh, serious? With Margin Call in the mix and they picked this mediocre script?

John Cassavetes Award
Bellflower - Writer/Director: Evan Glodell, Producers: Evan Glodell, Vincent Grashaw
Circumstance - Writer/Director: Maryam Keshavarz, Producers: Karin Chien, Maryam Keshavarz, Melissa M. Lee
Hello Lonesome - Writer/Director/Producer: Adam Reid
Pariah - Writer/Director: Dee Rees, Producer: Nekisa Cooper *WINNER
The Dynamiter - Writer: Brad Inglesby, Director: Matthew Gordon, Producers: Kevin Abrams, Matthew Gordon, Merilee Holt, Art Jones, Mike Jones, Nate Tuck, Amile Wilson

What is this?

Best Female Lead
Lauren Ambrose - Think of Me
Rachael Harris - Natural Selection
Adepero Oduye - Pariah
Elizabeth Olsen - Martha Marcy May Marlene
Michelle Williams - My Week with Marilyn *WINNER

YAY! It sucks that the awards season so far for best actress has been all about Viola Davis vs. Meryl Streep. Awesome to see Michelle winning something.

Best Male Lead
Demián Bichir - A Better Life
Jean Dujardin - The Artist *WINNER
Ryan Gosling - Drive
Woody Harrelson - Rampart
Michael Shannon - Take Shelter

Ah well, no Gosling for Indie. Fassbender should've been nominated here though. What a SHAME.

Best Supporting Female
Jessica Chastain - Take Shelter
Anjelica Huston - 50/50
Janet McTeer - Albert Nobbs
Harmony Santana - Gun Hill Road
Shailene Woodley - The Descendants *WINNER

Wow. How did Jessica Chastain lose this one? Ridiculous.

Best Supporting Male
Albert Brooks - Drive
John Hawkes - Martha Marcy May Marlene
Christopher Plummer - Beginners *WINNER
John C. Reilly - Cedar Rapids
Corey Stoll - Midnight in Paris

Eh, haven't seen Beginners so no comment.

Best Cinematography
Joel Hodge - Bellflower
Benjamin Kasulke - The Off Hours
Darius Khondji - Midnight in Paris
Guillaume Schiffman - The Artist *WINNER
Jeffrey Waldron - The Dynamiter

It was good, but not that great?

Best Documentary
An African Election - Director/Producer: Jarreth Merz
Bill Cunningham New York - Director: Richard Press, Producer: Philip Gefter
The Interrupters - Director/Producer: Steve James, Producer: Alex Kotlowitz *WINNER
The Redemption of General Butt Naked - Director/Producers: Eric Strauss, Daniele Anastasion
We Were Here - Director/Producer: David Weissman

Where's Project Nim?

Best International Film
A Separation (Iran) *WINNER
Melancholia (Denmark/Sweden/France/Germany)
Shame (UK)
The Kid With a Bike (Belgium/France/Italy)
Tyrannosaur (UK)

So there's the best category at the Spirits.

Piaget Producers Award
Chad Burris - Mosquita y Mari
Sophia Lin - Take Shelter *WINNER
Josh Mond - Martha Marcy May Marlene

OK.

Someone to Watch Award
Simon Arthur - Silver Tongues
Mark Jackson - Without *WINNER
Nicholas Ozeki - Mamitas

HM.

Truer Than Fiction Award
Heather Courtney - Where Soldiers Come From *WINNER
Danfung Dennis - Hell and Back Again
Alma Har'el - Bombay Beach

SURE.

Robert Altman Award
Margin Call - Director: J.C. Chandor
Casting Director: Tiffany Little Canfield, Bernard Telsey
Ensemble Cast: Penn Badgley, Simon Baker, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Mary McDonnell, Demi Moore, Zachary Quinto, Kevin Spacey, Stanley Tucci

I wholeheartedly agree. Fantastic cast. Very deserving of this special mention.

via HollywoodReporter

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Kids re-enact Oscar Best Picture Nominees

There is no way the actual ceremony tomorrow is going to be funnier that this. So, so spot on.

"This movie is about ??? nature." "Wait, this is supposed to be my voice over." "A dinosaur!"
"If I find out where this key goes, may be I'll understand why this movie was nominated for an Oscar."
"By the way, your shirts are really ugly."
"Puppy"
"Quiet! This isn't about you anymore."
"What kind of Scorsese movie is this?"
"I must be some f**king horse!"

via jest.com

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Cinemap's 2011 Year in Review

'TIS WAS THE YEAR OF ...

Michael Fassbender | Ryan Gosling

X-men: First Class, Shame, A Dangerous Method | Ides of March, Drive, Crazy, Stupid, Love.

Emma Stone | Jessica Chastain

Crazy, Stupid, Love., The Help, Friends with Benefits | The Tree of Life, Take Shelter, The Help, Coriolanus

3D wuz here: 3D took a leap further this year, with some of the best effects since that blue Pocahontas movie came out: Hugo and The adventures of Tintin definitely made it worthwhile to see them in 3D.

Retrospective films for film devotees: Hugo resurrected George Méliès' films, The Artist re-framed silence films, Drive went all 80s, and Le Havre paid breathtaking visual homage to classic French cinema.

Apocalypse now: 2012 is coming, and our filmmakers were very concerned with "the end," as evident in Take Shelter, Contagion, and Melancholia. I'll add Attack the block and Super 8, since they dealt with aliens, and we all know aliens = end of Earth!

Year of the dog: In particular, it was the year of the Jack Russell. The IT dog appeared - and stole scenes from its costars - in The adventures of Tintin, The Artist, Le Havre, and Attack the block.

CINEMAPS' BEST OF

Cinemapsychologia's version of the Oscars ballot, with best director category expanded to 10 - 2011 was that good! (June 13, 2012 edit: added PINA)

Top 10
01. Jodái-e Náder az Simin (A separation; Farhadi, 2011) ****1/2
"Iran's official entry for Foreign Film Oscar is a sophisticated, nuanced, meaningful portrait of Iran as it wrestles class, religion, gender, and the wheel of modernity in the frontier of its people's home."
02. Le Gamin au vélo (The kid with a bike; Dardene & Dardene, 2011) ****1/2
"It was sweet, without the saccharine, tough without the embellishment, and heartbreaking without the melodrama."
03. Drive (Refn, 2011) ****1/2
"Ryan Gosling stamped his "forever" with an impeccable "Driver." This is what cinema with a pulse looks like."
04. Pina (Wenders, 2011) ****1/2
I cried. It's indescribable what watching Pina was like. It was worth every 3D penny I spent on it.
05. Le Havre (Kaurismäki, 2011) ****
"Sometimes, a film is a romanticized version of a dream of a true emotion. This was such a film, and gosh darn what an absolute delight it was."
06. Take Shelter (Nichols, 2011) ****
"Moody, deeply felt portrait of a loving family man's descend into insanity - or is it clarity? Michael Shannon delivered an intricate, intense performance to match Jessica Chastain's best of the year."
07. Attack the block (Cornish, 2011) ****
"This funtastic film was recommended to me by a videostore clerk: "it's like aliens versus the kids from The Wire." What more do you want?"
08. Margin Call (Chandor, 2011) ****
"A clever, well-paced, well-acted account of the beginning of the economic crisis."
09. Melancholia (von Trier, 2011) ****
"A tour de force of a hell-before-the-apocalypse film."
10. Project Nim (Marsh, 2011) ****
"Rise of Planet of the Apes came to life - except, there was no rising, only a heart-breaking web of tragic consequences of misguided human curiosity and short-sighted negligence."

Grin & Pulse
The most fun I had watching a movie this past year
Drive
Attack the block
The muppets
Le Havre
The adventures of Tintin

Director
Jean Pierre Dardenne & Luc Dardenne, Le Gamin au vélo
Asghar Farhadi, A Separation
Nicholas Winding Refn, Drive
Wim Wenders, Pina
Aki Kaurismäki, Le Havre



Jeff Nichols, Take Shelter
 Lars von Trier, Melancholia
Julia Leigh, Sleeping Beauty
Steven Spielberg, The Adventures of Tintin
Joe Cornish, Attack the block

Performances
Ryan Gosling, Drive
Michael Fassbender, Shame
Thomas Doret, Le Gamin au vélo
Michael Shannon, Take Shelter
Sareh Bayat, A separation

Peter Mullan, Tyrannosaur
Aggeliki Papoulia, Alps
Jessica Chastain, Take Shelter
Michelle Williams, My week with Marilyn
Jeremy Irons, Margin Call

Writing
A Separation
Margin Call
Take Shelter
Le Gamin au vélo
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Editing
Drive
A Separation
Take Shelter
Le Gamin au vélo
The girl with the dragon tattoo

Cinematography
Melancholia
The Tree of life
Sleeping Beauty
Drive
Le Havre

Art Direction
Hugo
Le Havre
Sleeping Beauty
The skin I live in
Pina

Effects
Pina
Hugo
The Adventures of Tintin
The Artist
Melancholia

Sound
Drive
Take shelter
The Turin Horse
The girl with the dragon tattoo
Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Score
Pina
Drive
The girl with the dragon tattoo
Melancholia
The muppets

Uncharted (yet to be seen)
Beginners
We need to talk about Kevin
Albert Nobbs
The Iron Lady
Bridesmaids
Chico & Rita

Charted

****1/2
Drive (Refn, 2011)
Le Gamin au vélo (The kid with a bike; Dardene & Dardene, 2011)
Jodái-e Náder az Simin (A separation; Farhadi, 2011)
Pina (Wenders, 2011)

****
Attack the block (Cornish, 2011)
Le Havre (Kaurismäki, 2011)
Margin call (Chandor, 2011)
Melancholia (von Trier, 2011)
Project Nim (Marsh, 2011)
Take shelter (Nichols, 2011)

***1/2
The Artist (Hazanavicius, 2011)
The boy Mir: 10 years in Afghanistan (Grabsky , 2011)
Dernier étage gauche gauche (Top floor, Left Wing; Cianci, 2011)
Happy People: A Year in the Taiga (Herzog & Vasyokov, 2011)
The Muppets (Bobin, 2011)
Shame (McQueen, 2011)
Sleeping Beauty (Leigh, 2011)
Take this Waltz (Polley, 2011)
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Alfredson, 2011)
The tree of life (Malick, 2011)
The trip (Winterbottom, 2011)
We Were Here (Weissman & Weber, 2011)

***
A dangerous method (Cronenberg, 2011)
The adventures of Tintin (Spielberg, 2011)
Alps (Lanthimos, 2011)
Bir Zamanlar Anadolu'da (Once upon a time in Anatolia; Ceylan, 2011)
Buck (Meehl, 201!)
Contagion (Soderbergh, 2011)
The Girl with the Dragon tattoo (Fincher, 2011)
Michael (Schleinzer, 2011)
Midnight in Paris (Allen, 2011)
Miss Bala (Naranjo, 2011)
Moneyball (Miller, 2011)
My week with Marilyn (Curtis, 2011)
La piel que habito (The skin I live in; Almodóvar, 2011)
The Rise of the Planet of the Apes (Wyatt, 2011)
Starbuck (Scott, 2011)
Super 8 (Abrams, 2011)
Tyrannosaur (Considine, 2011)
Weekend (Haigh, 2011)

**1/2
50/50 (Levine, 2011)
A torinói ló (The Turin Horse; Tarr, 2011)
Crazy, Stupid, Love (Ficarra, 2011)
The Descendants (Payne, 2011)
Elena (Zvyagintsev, 2011)
The green hornet (Gondry, 2011)
Hanna (Wright, 2011)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (Yates, 2011)
The help (Taylor, 2011)
He'arat Shulayim (Footnote; Cedar, 2011)
Hugo (Scorsese, 2011)
The ides of March (Clooney, 2011)
Like Crazy (Doremus, 2011)
Martha Marcy May Marlene (Durkin, 2011)
Rango (Verbinski, 2011)
Source Code (Jones, 2011)

**
X-men: First class (Vaughn, 2011)
Bad Teacher (Kasdan, 2011)
Kung Fu Panda 2 (Nelson, 2011)

*
The Adjustment Bureau (Nolfi; 2011)

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Jean Dujardin as villain of everything

Now this is what I'd call an Oscar campaign straight for the heart. Brad Pitt, watch out!

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