Oscar-nomics: Supporting Actress Prediction

While I have had my complaints about most categories thus far, I am slightly less annoyed with this one (a little change of pace, less hate or at least an attempt on my part). There have been many strong female performances this year, one of which I thought stood out amongst the list. While I do think there was a major snub, the performance wasn't gaining momentum, so oh well. My major problem is right actress, wrong movie, and its pretty obvious when you think about it. I will go into this more later, but for now lets talk about the other nominees:

Bérénice Bejo: The Artist
I like this nomination, she does a great job in the film as a fan and possible love interest to Jean Dujardin in the film. Having had an already built rapport between the two and the director, her acting is quite fluid. She brings a level of charm and quirkiness to the role, while also being able to bring some emotional depth to the more dramatic scenes. She is the perfect match for Jean Dujardin, and is a strong contender, but has gained little momentum towards a win. It is possible that she could get picked up with a possible Artist Sweep, but for now I'm predicting she will be on the outside looking in.

Jessica Chastain: The Help
This is my favorite nominee, but not my favorite nomination. While I do feel she did fine work in The Help, she did even better work in the Tree of Life. I think that had she gained momentum for the latter film, she would've gained serious momentum for a win for a couple of reasons, many of which more than likely hurt her chances now. For starters, had she received a nomination for the Tree of Life, we would be seeing two films showcasing her range as an actress. She would also not need to worry about vote-splitting, which in this situation would hurt her more than Octavia Spencer for the same film. Since they share most of there screen time together, you already see the other actress' performance through their oscar nomination. So, with that in mind, this nomination puts her more in a severe disadvantage so while I want her to win, it is just not in the cards.

Melissa McCarthy: Bridesmaids
While I didn't care for the film all that much outside of McCarthy's performance, I don't think it was a nomination worthy performance. While we do see some true comedic chops, something you don't see enough of, I don't think this was something that should've gained awards attention. I think this was just a performance that was put in the right situation of awards momentum to get her pass to the Kodak. That being said, I really would put her in the bottom half of this list in terms of actually winning. The nomination is truly the award here.

Janet Mcteer: Albert Nobbs
This is something where I felt like she would be what I call "awards filler." Not to belittle her performance, she really dives into the skin of a transgender and truly makes the performance her own. The fact of the matter is that she has little to no chance on winning. While the film received a few other nominations, it was not a terribly well liked film and will more than likely end up empty-handed. Also, the performance has gained little momentum, like several other of her fellow nominees, so the nomination is the reward.


Indeed, no one has quite topped:















Octavia Spencer: The Help
Personally, I wouldn't have picked this performance as a winner, but its hard to bet against it at this point. She has won the Critic's Choice, Golden Globe and SAG so the Oscar is a forgone conclusion at this point. It is deserving, she shows a lot of range with this performance, showing true emotions in the tense scenes while also giving the show some comic relief moments. Its a deserving performance, not my first pick, but nonetheless ladies and gentlemen, I give you your Oscar winner here.



Will Win: Octavia Spencer The Help
Runner-up: Berenice Bejo The Artist

Should win: Jessica Chastain The Help (Even though it should be for Tree of Life)
Should've been nominated: Carey Mulligan Shame

Oscar-nomics: SAG Winners

Well, it certainly seems that the Help had a fun night. Not only did it take the Best Cast (and justifiably so), it also took the obvious Best Supporting Actress and less obvious Best Lead Actress, and I am thrilled about that. I liked the film ok, but Davis was my favorite part so to see her win was huge (a sign of things to come at the Oscars perhaps?). In the men's corner, one widely expected and one not so expected winners were chosen. Plummer has this, I am wary about Von Sydow, but this is really Plummer's to lose he has been set up to take this in every way possibly. Dujardin's win is a bit surprising, but I think it was just as much of a possibility as Pitt or Clooney, and I'm cool with it, a lot of the film works mainly because of him (Bejo also made the film great, but truth be told its Dujardin's film). I am glad this wasn't terribly predictable as the past awards have been, at least the Artist isn't completely steamrolling the competition. Still, I won't say this hurt the Artist or really aided the Help to being a contender, but still nice to see it get some love outside of Davis or Spencer. Here is the list of winners, now back to my Oscar predictions:

Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer Beginners
Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer The Help
Best Female Lead: Viola Davis The Help
Best Male Lead: Jean Dujardin The Artist
Best Cast: The Help

Review Catch-up

Hey guys, so as you know, I haven't really done much movie reviewing this summer. That isn't to say I haven't seen movies, I've seen plenty. I have just not gotten around to writing about them, which is kind of sad considering I once saw like 4 movies within a week, and my half time report really didn't do most of them justice (aside from my love for Win Win and Tree of Life). So, I decided to quickly go over some of the films I have seen within the past month, and if I forget one it probably wasn't worth it then. So, with that in mind, lets take a look at them. Oh, and I also realize that since this is a review of more than one film, I'm not going to explain the films so much as attach their IMDB pages, because lets face it, IMDB is one of the best sites out there (shameless plugging from yours truly). SO, here we go:

Crazy Stupid Love
Thoughts: I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. There are some problems with the editing of the film, but I am a stickler for stuff like that and music. The cast is in top form, I particularly like how Steve Carrell stretches out from his usual roles and delivers something original and unique, for him at least. I also like his relationship with both Ryan Gosling and the always wonderful Julianne Moore. The plot twist about 3/4 of the way into the film is hysterical and the reactions I heard during the film from the audience definitively seemed to agree with me, it was pretty sweet. It does move pretty fast at the beginning, maybe a little too fast as far as pacing goes, but it mellows out and finds just the right tune. I gave this a bit of a higher rating than I think I would generally have given a film, but being that this is a Rom-com that I enjoyed (which is no easy feet mind you), I give the team behind this kudos for giving Carrel something other than simply being the comic relief (something that plagued the disappointing Date Night last year).
Rating: A-

Captain America
Thoughts: Now, I was a rather big fan of Thor, but I think it was aided by the fact that it was a summer opener. Had I seen it later in the summer, I might have had a different opinion on it, and I think that's where we find Cap. Now, it wasn't bad, but it was a tad too generic for it to really stand out. Now, at parts in the film the generic tone was actually well used, but the first part of the film really suffered from it, and I didn't feel like the second film completely saved it. Now, I do think Chris Evans makes a good superhero, but they don't give us much of a reason for him to be "Captain America." The generic tone was so dense that he felt more like "Captain Generic." I do reccomend the film for director Joe Johnston's (the underrated Jurassic Park 3, yea I said it) fun action sequences and Tommy Lee Jones naturally strong performance in the film.
Rating: B

Cowboys and Aliens
Thoughts: If I were in my fall movie season mode I would have found so much wrong with this film. Being in my summer movie mind set, however, I found enough to thoroughly enjoy it and recommend it. Daniel Craig gives a very Clint Eastwood-esque performance, but he kind of disappears in some scenes to the point where we forget about him, but he's good when he's around, same goes for the legendary Harrison Ford. Story could have used some tweaking, especially in the scifi section of the film. Still, I am a sucker for westerns, and they get that part of the film down fairly well, so I recommend it, if not for being a fun summer film.
Rating: B+





The Help
Thoughts: I was worried that this would play out as too much of a feel good and not enough of a lesson on how dark segregation was at the time. Roger Ebert called it a safe film about a volatile subject, and I have to agree with him on that. Now, I did enjoy it, it wasn't as safe or as annoyingly feel good as some films that have come out in the past couple of years (the insanely annoying Blind Side comes to mind). The cast makes up for the films shortcomings, particularly Viola Davis (who deserves oscar attention mind you), and Octavia Spencer. Emma Stone was good, but the script didn't give her much to flesh out. Which might be another problem, who exactly was the lead. While the obvious answer is Stone, Davis gives a stronger presence that makes you feel like she is the lead. Will this hurt her come awards season? Right now though, I'm calling her an early favorite and that this film is good, but it definitely could've been so much more with a less safe script.
Rating: B+

Midnight in Paris
Rating: I was surprised as to how much I truly enjoyed this film. I found it to be really funny and authentic, something we don't get enough of now a days in films. Woody Allen has had a rough patch as far as filmmaking these past couple of years. This could be his shot at getting back into the awards mix since Match Point back in 2006. His script is amazing, and the cast he has is spectacular. Owen Wilson is very charming in the lead, Marion Cotillard is beautiful and effective and Cory Stoll nearly steals the movie as Ernest Hemingway, I would love to see a film about him anytime. The cameos of famous 1920's artists were also really fun, but I am bias since some of my favorite authors and artists are from that era (particularly F. Scott Fitzgerald, played wonderfully by Tom Hiddleston of Thor fame, and his counterpart Zelda played by Allison Pill from Milk and Scott Pilgrim). My favorite though, by far, is Adrien Brody (who has so far done no wrong in my book) as the legendary Salvador Dali, yet another person I wouldn't mind watching a movie or simply hanging out with. There were many moments that had me laugh out loud, such as Wilson's character suggesting ideas to legendary/controversial Luis Buñuel, and parts made me really long to be in the 1920's with Gil (Wilson). I could go on about the amazing cast, Kathy Bates as the great Gertrude Stein is another notable role of awesomeness, but I will just stick with the fact that I hope this one gets a SAG nomination for best cast. All in all, great film, deserving of Oscar attention, particularly Original Screenplay, among others. This is definitely one of the years best and is simply a delight to watch.
Rating: A