Verdict: Oscar Nominations 2013

I'm annoyed for many reasons right now. The first, most obvious, is to do with my disgust at a lot of the nominations this year, which I'll come onto. But secondly, and most personally, because my first post of 2013 has to be a bitter, angry one about why the Academy has let me down this year, so much so that I'm not even going to watch the ceremony because I just don't care about any of them.

The Academy has in recent years descended into somewhat of a farce, becoming predictable and sterile and celebrating only a certain selection of films rather than diversifying a bit more. In other words, they're playing it safe, and it's boring.

So many films and performances have been overlooked this year it's unbelievable. Major unexpected snubs were Ben Affleck's work on Argo, who was omitted from both Acting and Directing awards despite the film itself being up for the big one.

On the other hand, people were unnecessarily surprised about some of the categories, expecting films to be included that weren't. Mostly I'm talking about Skyfall, which I never even entertained as to get a nomination in any of the major categories. For one thing, the Academy are probably too scared to do something as "out there" as put a Bond film up for major Oscars. But also, the BAFTA nominations were announced the day before, and if Skyfall was not up for Best Film at the BRITISH film awards then why would the American film awards include it? The same goes for Sam Mendes and Daniel Craig for Best Director and Actor respectively.

Two of my favourite films starring two of my favourite people should have been up. I can't believe that On The Road isn't up for any acting nominations. I know that the film in general divided critics so I wasn't hopeful that it would get any major nods, but whatever you thought about the film, the performances were brilliant. The main trio of Sam Riley, Garrett Hedlund and Kristen Stewart deserve recognition, as well as Viggo Mortensen and Kirsten Dunst. It's ridiculous that it was overlooked. Also the cinematography was stunning and that should have been up for something too.

And also Cosmopolis should have been up for, in my opinion, Best Actor for Robert Pattinson, Best Director for David Cronenberg, Best Supporting Actor for Paul Giamatti, Best Supporting Actress fr Sarah Gadon, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Score. The fact that this film was so overlooked not just in awards season but throughout the whole year makes me unspeakably sad, because it was genuinely incredible, one of the most intelligent, complex films of this year. I should actually do my own awards this year just to honour it, because I can't actually give it enough praise.

I was also quite surprised at the lack of recognition for Hitchcock, which I thought would be mingling up there with the rest of them. This isn't just the Academy, I admit - there's nothing at the BAFTAs either and hardly anything at the Golden Globes - but from what I've heard it's meant to be very good. I thought Helen Mirren would get a Best Actress nod, and maybe the film itself. The same goes for The Sessions, which did in fact get Helen Hunt a nomination but I thought would have got more, but that's probably because it wasn't prolific enough. And also The Hunt, which got rave reception at Cannes this year and I thought was a real contender for nods at the Oscars, but apparently they're ignoring most films that aren't major Hollywood blockbusters. I would have liked real recognition for Mads Mikkelsen who I think is brilliant, and also I think it would have done The Academy a favour to acknowledge a film with such sensitive material. The Master wasn't up for nearly as much as I thought it would be, with exclusions on the Best Director (Paul Thomas Anderson) and Best Film lists, which was again surprising from the amount of buzz around it and the rave reviews it got from critics.

Anyway, I'll crack on with discussing the major awards and pointing out why they're wrong and spoiling the ceremony by revealing the the obvious winners for you all.

Best Film

It will go to either Les Miserables or Zero Dark Thirty because they are the obvious choice. Les Mis is the sort of stylish tragic story the Academy love, though admittedly they haven't held favour with musicals for quite some time. Zero Dark Thirty is the gritty, real-life drama they also appreciate, and you can't overlook the similarities the film has to The Hurt Locker, which of course was also directed by Kathryn Bigelow and about recent wars. However, recent controversy surrounding the film may put it out of favour with the voters, so we'll have to see. I have yet to see any of the nominees (but I plan on seeing Les Mis, Django and Lincoln in the next couple of weeks so look out for reviews of them!) but at the moment I'm just really disappointed at the shortlist.

 

Best Actor

Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln) seems to be the best bet at the moment, with the closest contender probably Joaquin Phoenix for The Master based on the rave reviews he got (but again, the Academy may be a bit peeved with him after his recent comments about them - he basically told them to shove their egotistic ceremony). The curveball here was probably including Denzel Washington (Flight) where one might have expected Jamie Foxx (Django), Mads Mikkelsen (The Hunt) or Ben Affleck (Argo).

Best Actress

Jennifer. Bloody. Lawrence. People need to stop going crazy about her. The inclusion of her on this list made me so angry the other day I had a massive rant on Twitter for about 8 hours. I like The Hunger Games, okay? I just don't like her, and I think she's a massively overrated actress. If she wins, I'll never watch the Oscars again and the Academy will have lost all respect from me. I would like to see Jessica Chastain get it for Zero Dark Thirty, but we'll have to see. It's pretty much between those two, though. Well done too to Emmanuelle Riva (Amour) and Quvenzhane Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild) for being the oldest and youngest nominees respectively in this category, that's quite an achievement. Wallis especially makes me question what I've done with my life if she's nine and has been nominated for an Oscar.

Best Director

Affleck. Bigelow. Tarantino. Hooper. Where are they on this list? I understand that with five to ten Best Film nominees and only five Director slots, some people are going to miss out, but really, the wrong ones did. I don't understand this at all. David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook), really? I can't even say anything else because I'm so surprised and annoyed about the inclusions and exclusions on this list. Affleck has just won a Golden Globe! I would have put money on Bigelow and Tarantino being up. And Tom Hooper has famously been revolutionary with Les Mis by making his cast sing live, apparently with good results. The outcome of this strange list is harder to call than some other categories this year, but I'll go for Spielberg (Lincoln) or Michael Haneke (Amour).

Best Supporting Actor

I do like the line-up in this category (I know, I'm giving praise!) and I also like the fact that every nominee has already won this award. I don't know why, since maybe some newcomers should have been included, but anyway. The smart money is on Phillip Seymour Hoffman (The Master) but I wouldn't rule any of the contenders out this year. I was expecting Leo DiCaprio to be nominated over Christoph Waltz if one of them was going to be up from Django, but I'll have to reserve judgement on that until I see it. I also personally think Garrett Hedlund should be up for On The Road, or Paul Giamatti for Cosmopolis, but hey, apparently the Academy and I are not on the same wavelength here.

Best Supporting Actress

It will go to Anne Hathaway. It's the most obvious result in recent Oscar memory, I don't even know why they bothered to nominate anyone else when they're all going to get overlooked anyway. It's another classic Academy view that actresses should suffer for their work (if losing weight and cutting off your hair is "suffering") and that they like tragic stories more than anything else. At least now maybe Hathaway will stop being so unbelievably desperate for recognition. And hey, maybe it will make her more interesting, because right now I find her to be the human equivalent of beige, i.e. so incredibly dull it makes me want to hurt myself to not look at or listen to her. Apparently, it should go to Amy Adams for The Master (but I'm just parroting what other people are saying, I haven't actually seen for myself), but really it's irrelevant, because it's not going to happen.

Best Adapted Screenplay

Not too sure about this one, because it depends what the Academy members are thinking when they're voting. It could go to Lincoln if they're feeling patriotic, or Life of Pi, which was the supposedly "unfilmable film", or Silver Linings Playbook because apparently they're in love with that. I don't think Argo is in with a chance because they seem to be ignoring this, sadly. Personally I think Perks of Being a Wallflower should be there, because I did not see a better page-to-screen adaptation this year. I think the problem with both screenplay awards is that they forget it's about the script and focus on the finished movie, which really kind of rejects a lot of films which may actually have better scripts than those nominated.

Best Original Screenplay

I thought for sure this was going to Zero Dark Thirty, but now based on all the incoming reviews and the fact that it won the Golden Globe last Sunday, I'd have to say now it's going to Django Unchained. Which I'm happy about, because any nod for Tarantino is a bonus in my eyes. He is the best writer/director of his generation and I'm glad he's still getting credit where it's due. Again though, a lot of these I can't comment on because I haven't actually seen them, but since the Academy seem to be celebrating the prolific films this year, I think Django's got this.

Danny Leigh of  BBC Film 2013 basically summed up the main points here, give him a watch. His hatred of Silver Linings Playbook is particularly apparent and he makes an interesting point about Kathryn Bigelow too. Also what he says about the inclusion of foreign and indie films is completely true. Ranting starts around the 13:25 mark (he's just wrapping up talking about The Sessions):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01pz82d/Film_2013_Episode_2/

So the question is, will you be tuning in? I know I certainly won't be staying up to watch something I really don't care that much about. If there's a highlight show I might flick over to that but honestly, this "hooray for Hollywood" attitude they have going on right now is getting on my nerves too much to tolerate.

My Top 11 Films of '11

Happy new year to all my wonderful followers and readers!

At this time of year, critics tend to post their lists of their favourite films from the last year, and I thought I'd hop on this bandwagon now that I have an appropriate outlet for this. So without further ado, my top 11 films of 2011 (apparently also known as "films most overlooked in 2011").

11. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

As a Gary 'G-Man' Oldman lover, I was anticipating this film because his performance had been so hyped up in it, with many people calling this the role that will finally give him that long overdue Oscar nomination. Suffice to say, I was very impressed with him. He may not win the Academy Award, and possibly won't even be nominated (he's almost guaranteed to win the BAFTA though, because they are the most biased organisation I've seen in the film industry), but it was good. The cast was amazing, and I think actually Benedict Cumberbatch stole it for me, with his incredibly underrated performance. Overall, it was a little disappointing considering all the hype and anticipation, but definitely still worth a watch for anyone who hasn't already seen it.

10. Source Code

This could quite easily have gone either way in how I reacted to this film. A Groundhog Day-esque narrative with a female lead who I wasn't keen on wasn't getting me overly excited for this before I saw it, but damn was it good. Duncan 'Moon' Jones proves again that he is the sci-fi director of the moment, and Jake Gyllenhaal gives a wonderfully moving turn as a confused army pilot forced to ride the same exploding train over and over again to find the bomber. It's one of the smartest action sci-fi thrillers I've seen in a long time.

9. Thor

Easily the second-best superhero film offered this year (see number 7 for my favourite), Thor gave Chris Hemsworth his first proper leading man role, and he does it perfectly. The film blends comedy, action, family fueds and drama wonderfully, and the special effects are mesmerising. But really, the reason this made my top 11 films of this year is because of Tom Hiddleston's Loki, who steals the entire show, and is the loveliest, most misunderstood supervillain ever. The fact he is returning for The Avengers makes me so excited I could bounce around. And I think I did when I found that out. The odd choice of Kenneth Brannagh as director pays off, and I'm a little disappointed he isn't returning for the sequel. But still, enjoy this one, and watch as a very enjoyable prequel to The Avengers in the spring.

8. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2

Surely everyone's most anticipated film of 2011, there was so much pressure on this film to be good, and it mostly didn't disappoint. I've already written a lengthy blog post containing my thoughts on this, so just refer back to that to see what my verdict was. But still, having grown up with Harry, I couldn't wait for this film, and to use the much-overused-but-very-appropriate-phrase, it was the end of an era. There were tears. There were laughs. There was an unwanted amount of disbelief. But I think it would be doing it a discredit to say it wasn't a great way to say goodbye, and for that reason, it made my list.

7. X-Men: First Class

The number 1 superhero movie of the year goes to X-Men: First Class. Absolutely superb acting from the two leads, James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender (we forgive the accent) made it compelling to watch, and it was lovely to see the return of strength to this franchise which had been diminshed somewhat by the previous two offerings. It earned my first five-star review on my blog, with good reason. The plot is engaging, Kevin Bacon clearly relishes in playing a hideous villain, but really it is the chemistry and bromance between McAvoy and Fassbender that seal the deal.

6. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

I haven't done a blog post on this yet and I don't know whether I'll actually get around to doing it, so I'll put my general thoughts here now. Lots of people, including myself, were a bit skeptical when the Hollywood remake of the cult Swedish thriller was announced to be in production, but as more information came through I began to get a little optimistic that maybe it wouldn't be a remake that completely destroys the foreign original and gets completely slated. David Fincher is one of my favourite directors, so that was the first promising tidbit, and then the cast was announced, it was revealed that it was staying true to the books, and it was being filmed and set in Sweden, as the novels state. It's a very dark film that deals with subject matters that made me feel quite uncomfortable at times, and was clearly given an 18-rating here for a reason. But the whole cast are terrific, Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara in particular, and the plot was very engaging. Yes, anyone who's read the book and/or seen the original film (which I must point out, I haven't yet done either) before knows the outcome of the mystery, and actually it was rather predictable once it got to a certain point within the film, but it was very stylish and I hope they do make the sequels, with the original cast and crew. The titles alone - which were very Bond-esque in the fact that they were put at the start of the film overlaid with a cracking song (Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who actually deserve an Oscar for the soundtrack this time, did a great remix of Led Zeppelin's 'Immigration Song') and weird silhouettes of contortionists - deserve a place on the list.

5. True Grit

One of the most overlooked films of this year, especially when awards season approached last January, was this one. Like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, I'd never seen the original, but as a big fan of the Coen brothers I was excited to see their latest offering, which was brilliant. Jeff Bridges was outstanding as Marshal Rooster Cogburn, and I actually think Hailee Steinfeld deserved the Best Supporting Actress awards over Melissa Leo, but hey, I seem to be one of the only people giving this film the attention it deserves. Unorthodox casting of Matt Damon was pulled off completely, and he was another one who didn't get the recognition he deserved this year, with The Adjustment Bureau also getting overlooked. It's definitely awarded my "Most Underrated Film of 2011" award (that I just made up. The King's Speech probably gets the most overrated award).

4. Black Swan

Yes, the "lesbian ballet film" earns a space in my top 11 this year. Watching it first time round, I was impressed, especially by Natalie Portman who completely deserved her awards for this, but it didn't strike me as being absolutely amazing. After watching it again (and again and again...) though, it was brilliant. Darren Aronofsky should have won all the best director awards for this. The cinematography and special effects are stunning, but really it's the engaging, original script of a mentally unstable athlete striving for glory, which Aronofsky of course has previous experience with, having directed The Wrestler, that really sells the film. It's dark, disturbing, but beautifully made and with an amazing score that I'm actually listening to as I write this. Just don't watch it with your family. Especially your mother.

3. The Fighter

Another film about an athlete striving to succeed! Except of course, this is completely different to Black Swan, and not just in terms of their athletic fields. This is much more of a drama focusing on the complexity of family life and the conflicts between the family members. Mark Wahlberg was snubbed after not getting nominated for this role, though I think his quiet voice of reason in this gets overshadowed by loud, brash but wonderful performances by the supporing cast of Christian 'Jesus' Bale, Amy Adams (in a career-best, I think) and Melissa Leo, with the former and latter of course walking away with many awards. Truly an amazing film to watch; if you haven't seen it yet, do it.

2. Water for Elephants

No, this was not the best film of the year, on my list or many other people's. But it makes number 2 on my list because it really was very special to me. It was based on one of my all-time favourite books, starring some of my all-time favourite actors, and subsequently containing one of my all-time favourite scores. It was my first ever review on this blog, and if that wasn't enough, I also got tickets to the premiere, to walk the red carpet and see it before anybody else. But aside from that, it's the most visually stylish film I've seen this year, and certainly my favourite period-piece. The acting was superb, with Robert Pattinson in particular shining in his first big role since Twilight began. It's no secret that I'm a fan of his, and I was so pleased that he was able to properly showcase his acting ability in this. Also, I think it has been overlooked in the 2012 awards season in terms of the technical side of it: the cinematography is beautiful and the costumes are splendid. I also think I felt every emotion it's possible to feel during a film during this, and I've never cried so much inexplicably watching a film before. I honestly can't even explain why, but the ending sets me off every time I watch this. Kathryn and I were weeping for about half an hour after it finished, and that isn't even an exaggeration; they were cleaning the theatre around us. So, because it was so personal to me, it's ranks as my number two film of the year.

And number one?

1. Super 8

It was the most flawless film of the year. I cannot fault it at all. The acting is amazing, the special effects are stunning, the banter between the young characters is a highlight, and it's so refreshing to have a truly brilliant original script from Hollywood. And what have they done? OVERLOOKED IT. I cannot comprehend how this isn't sweeping the boards. Everything about it is perfect. This is a prime example of the hatred that academies seem to have for sci-fi films. But you forget it's even catagorised as that, because for the most part it's a mystery, a suspense, and a comedy, with a side of tween love-triangle thrown in there. Writer/director JJ Abrams (Lost, Star Trek) is fast becoming one of my favourite directors, and his creativity and originality is incredible. Filled with fantastic one-liners as well, it's suitable for pretty much everyone over the age of 10, and everyone should see it. The fact that I cannot find a fault in it at all, and that it's one of my absolute favourite films ever now, is why it clinches the top spot on my list.

Do you agree? Drop me a comment below and share your thoughts.

See you in 12 months for this year's summary!