2011: A Year in Film Prologue

Yeah, I suppose I should finish my 2010 list first but Photoshop is mostly disagreeing with me. So. I thought it’d be fun to see how well I can predict this year’s Oscar race.

After all, it’s a very exciting year for film with the return of a LOT of quote/unquote great directors: Scorsese, Spielberg, Cronenberg, Fincher, Eastwood, Almodovar, Soderbergh, Allen, Crowe, Payne, Von Trier, Salles, Polanski; Academy favorites Daldry, Reitman, Clooney; indie darlings Tomas Alfredson, Duncan Jones, Lynne Ramsay, Andrea Arnold, Cary Fukunaga, Kelly Reichardt, Steve McQueen and my personal loves Terrence Malick, Sarah Polley, Tarsem Singh and Wong Kar Wai. Just looking at that list of names makes me very happy. And I may even be forgetting a few. At the very least, the director race is going to be a nail-biter. Thankfully, no Tom Hoopers here. but of course, that’s debatable. XD

okay, so. exciting year. (as always, there are a few films with uncertain release dates–Daldry’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and Polanski’s God of Carnage [it's been retitled to Carnage but bleh. this title's better] might be pushed to 2012 but we’ll see. In the meantime, let’s just assume they’re all getting released in time). I’ll just do the major ones namely: Picture, Director, Actor, Actress because I’ve been trying to make up my mind about screenplay and it’s just not happening. lol. anyway, here’s goes…

Best Picture
1. J. Edgar, Clint Eastwood
2. The Ides of March, George Clooney
3. War Horse, Steven Spielberg
4. The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick
5. Hugo Cabret, Martin Scorsese
6. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, David Fincher
7. Young Adult, Jason Reitman
8. The Iron Lady, Phyllida Lloyd
9. A Dangerous Method, David Cronenberg
10. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Stephen Daldry

alternates:
We Need to Talk About Kevin, Lynne Ramsay
On the Road, Walter Salles
Moneyball, Bennett Miller
Super 8, JJ Abrams
God of Carnage, Roman Polanski
Martha Marcy May Marlene, Sean Durkin

movies I’d want to be nominated but probably won’t:
Take this Waltz, Sarah Polley
Meek’s Cutoff, Kelly Reichardt
Shame, Steve McQueen
Melancholia, Lars von Trier
Wuthering Heights, Andrea Arnold
The Grand Master, Wong Kar Wai

Some internet predictions are already putting Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life as this year’s Best Picture front-runner but has the Academy ever loved atmospheric, existentialist pieces? They’re never really kind to movies they don’t understand. But at the very least it’ll get nominations (and hopefully wins?) for the long overdue Alexandre Desplat (original score) and Emmanuelle Lubezki (cinematography.) I mean Children of Men and The New World are two of the most memorably shot films in history, if not the best of the decade. And have you seen the trailer? Gorgeous isn’t a good enough word to describe it.

other possible nominations: best original screenplay, best director, best supporting actor (Sean Penn), best supporting actress (Jessica Chastain), best visual effects (rumor has it there’ll be dinosaurs y’all. Dinosaurs!)

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Best Director
1. Clint Eastwood, J. Edgar
2. Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life
3. George Clooney, The Ides of March
4. Steven Spielberg, War Horse
5. David Fincher, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

alternates:
er, see the intro of this post

people I’d want to be nominated but probably won’t:
women :/

gosh, it was almost impossible to pick. I almost want to predict Daldry but with so many names, his record of Oscar noms will probably be broken. I’m crossing my fingers that they finally give Fincher the Oscar as an apology for him losing to Hooper (it still hurts, dammit!) but then it means Malick won’t get it. oh, the dilemma.

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Best Actor
1. Leonardo DiCaprio, J. Edgar
2. Ryan Gosling, The Ides of March
3. Michael Fassbender, A Dangerous Method
4. Brad Pitt, The Tree of Life
5. Johnny Depp, The Rum Diary

alternates:
Michael Shannon, Take Shelter
Ralph Fiennes, Coriolanus
George Clooney, The Descendants
Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

people I’d want to be nominated but probably won’t:
Michael Fassbender, Shame
Michael Fassbender, Jane Eyre
Michael Fassbender, X-men First Class (lol, jk.)
Tony Leung Chiu Wai, The Grand Master

It’s the year of Michael Fassbender, obviously, with 5 movies coming out he has to be nominated for at least one thing. Everything points to a nod for playing Jung in David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method (likewise his fellow actors Viggo Mortensen and Keira Knightley.) I’m guessing right now he’ll be lead but we’ll see. Of course the race will probably be between the “overdue”-but-at-least-he’s-not-a-grieving-widower-this-time Leonardo DiCaprio and the-greatest-actor-of-his-generation-who-was-ridiculously-snubbed-last-year Ryan Gosling. Also, Brad Pitt may be actually be supporting but it seems that they’re pushing his face more on the marketing rather than Sean Penn’s. I don’t blame them really.

Best Actress
1. Meryl Streep, Iron Lady
2. Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
3. Tilda Swinton, We Need to Talk About Kevin
4. Rooney Mara, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
5. Michelle Williams, My Week with Marilyn

alternates:
Keira Knightley, A Dangerous Method
Charlize Theron, Young Adult
Rachel Weisz, The Whistleblower
Sandra Bullock, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

person I’d want to be nominated but probably won’t:
Abbie Cornish, W.E.

Is it wishful thinking putting Tilda Swinton up there? Her best work’s been consistently snubbed the past 2 years (Julia, I am Love). But she’s TILDA SWINTON so she probably doesn’t need another Oscar anyway. The front-runner is obviously Meryl Streep with Glenn Close, um, close behind. Rooney Mara has a role of a lifetime in Lisbeth Salander so unless she’s epically bad at it then she’ll probably get at least a nom. Michelle Williams actually has two other films coming out: Meek’s Cutoff and Take This Waltz but playing Manilyn Monroe seems more baity.

And speaking of snubs that still hurt, Abbie Cornish needs better movies. Give her better movies, Hollywood!

Etc…

Tarsem Singh has always made visually stunning films (The Cell, The Fall) so maybe Immortals will finally have the Academy taking notice. I’ll be glad if Sarah Polley at least gets a screenplay nod for Take this Waltz. Another movie I’d like to get a screenplay nod: Crazy, Stupid, Love. If Hollywood stops being ageist then Christopher Plummer (Beginners) and Vanessa Redgrave (Coriolanus) have the supporting race in the bag. And finally, I’m hoping Wong Kar-Wai’s The Grand Master wins Best Foreign Film. But that’s just me being biased. XD

p.s. forgot to say NO PIXAR!!!! #notafan, lol. So far Rango’s the front-runner but I don’t really know much about the animation race this year aside from the fact that it’s basically all sequels! Where’s Miyazaki when you need him? :/

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