If I Ruled the World: My Picks of the Year

I think you meant Carey Mulligan...

          Yes, it's the week of Oscar nominees and Oscar gripes. Nobody got what they deserved (besides Moneyball and Rooney Mara) and, yes, it's all political and self-congratulatory. What did we expect? This is the 84th time we've gotten nominations. After 84 times of being burned, who should we even be mad at? If film awards were really for the most artistically daring and skillfully presented works, what would this year really look like?

        Well, have no fear. I'm taking this awards season into my own hands. These are the real winners, here (In my opinion, obviously.) I ain't got the politics. 

       Also, before we start, I should note that I have not yet seen The Artist, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, A Separation, Shame, and Albert Nobbs. 

Let's get this show on the road. 

Best Female Supporting Performance

          

          Jessica Chastain has had an incredible year in film. She was the embodiment of grace in Terrence Malick's Tree of Life, a woman trying her best to be the embodiment of grace in The Help, and the best supporting performance of the year in Take Shelter. While Chastain's many performances could have all ended up on this list, I choose Take Shelter for its high demands. Chastain had to act against the mighty tower of superhuman skill that is Michael Shannon. And she completely stole the show. Her performance is powerful and honest, and by far the best supporting performance of the year. 

Other Nominees:

Charlotte Gainsbourg in Melancholia

Carey Mulligan in Drive

Shailene Woodley in The Descendants

Chloe Moretz in Hugo

Best Male Supporting Performance

          John Hawkes terrified audiences everywhere in last year's Winter's Bone, and I was eager to see what came next. And boy, did he deliver. Hawkes is mesmerizing in Martha Marcy May Marlene. I believe everything he says as if I'm one of his devotees in the film's cult. Hawkes is one of those rare performers that can say everything he needs to say with a look. Here's hoping he continues down this line of terrific script choices. 

Other Nominees: 

Patton Oswalt in Young Adult

Jonah Hill in Moneyball

Albert Brooks in Drive

Ryan Gosling in Crazy Stupid Love

Best Screenplay

          Say what you will about Diablo Cody's other endeavors, Juno and Jennifer's Body. Talk about her sentimentality, or her reluctance to break free of a certain style over substance, or her "quirky" dialogue. But when you see Young Adult, I promise that you will be blown away. This is some of the most mature and confident writing I've seen in a very long time. Cody's film, inexplicably marketed as a comedy, is one of the saddest movies I have ever seen in my life. Stripped from the screenplay is any of the charm, the quirk, the smugness of her previous work. All we are left with is a lonely, depressed alcoholic trying to come to terms with her meaninglessness. The work is dark, haunting, melancholy, and excellent. One of the best screenplays in a long time. And absolutely what Sofia Coppola wishes she could do, but clearly can't. 

Other Nominees: 

Aaron Sorkin and Steve Zaillian, Moneyball

Sean Durkin, Martha Marcy May Marlene

Lars Von Trier, Melancholia

Jeff Nichols, Take Shelter

Dan Fogelman, Crazy Stupid Love

Best Cinematography

         

          Call it boring, pretentious, endless, rambling, or silly. On some days I'd agree with you. But take one look at any frame of this fantastic film, and you'll see that Emmanuel Lubezki's work in The Tree of Life is nothing short of miraculous. This is the most beautiful movie I have ever seen. Any screenshot of this movie could be framed on my wall as a perfect piece of art. Seeing this movie in the theater was one of the greatest movie experiences of my life, if only for those amazing creation shots. 

Other Nominees:

Manuel Alberto Caro, Melancholia

Jody Lee Lipes, Martha Marcy May Marlene

Janusz Kaminski, The Adventures of TinTin

Newton Thomas Sigel, Drive

Wally Pfister, Moneyball

Bob Richardson, Hugo

Alwin H. Kuchler, Hanna

Best Leading Female Performance

          Kirsten Dunst blew me away in Lars Von Trier's elegant, devastating Melancholia. Every second with her on screen is electric, dynamic, fascinating. Dunst, who I've never really thought much of as an actor before this film, has officially solidified herself as one of my favorites. With just one movie. She's that good, here. Dunst takes great material and makes it excellent. I love her performance in this movie. 

Other Nominees: 

Elizabeth Olsen in Martha Marcy May Marlene

Rooney Mara in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Charlize Theron in Young Adult

Viola Davis in The Help

Best Leading Male Performance 

         

           Michael Shannon's performance in Take Shelter is not only my favorite performance, of any kind, all year, but it is one of my favorite performances of all time. He is so convincing, so scary, so effortlessly terrifying in this role that I will have a hard time seeing him as anything else. Shannon works with his eyes, his body language, and silence to craft an intense and emotional performance that is unlike anything I have ever seen. Go see this movie. Now. Michael Shannon is unbelievable. 

Other Nominees:

Ryan Gosling in Drive

Brad Pitt in Moneyball

George Clooney in The Descendants

Asa Butterfield in Hugo

Best Director

          Nicolas Winding Refn had already made a name for himself with Bronson, the Pusher trilogy, and Valhalla Rising before his outstanding Drive, but nothing could have prepared me for what he did with the film. The material itself is quite barebones and minimalistic -- the screenplay based on a novella of the same name that consists mostly of interior monologue. But Reft, after meeting with Ryan Gosling and listing to REO Speedwagon, found a way to make the film something more. With impressionistic cinematography, long takes of silence punctuated by unspeakable violence, and performances from some of the best actors working today, Refn turned Drive into the must see movie of the year. The style, the performances, the soundtrack, the story. Everything works, here. And it's because of Refn's skill as a filmmaker that it all came together so well. 

Other Nominees:

Lars Von Trier, Melancholia

Sean Durkin, Martha Marcy May Marlene

Steven Spielberg, The Adventures of TinTin

Kelly Reichardt, Meek's Cutoff

Martin Scorsese, Hugo

Bennett Miller, Moneyball

Joe Wright, Hanna

Best Film of the Year

          Despite his insistence that he's a Naze. Despite his inability to have a charming persona in public, Lars Von Trier really is one of the great living directors. Dancer in the Dark, Breaking the Waves, Antichrist, Dogville, and Europa are all masterpieces. And then, even further up the spectrum, there is Melancholia. This is the movie Trier has been trying to make for over twenty years, and he has finally done it. It has his dark humor, his knack for pulling incredible performances from his female stars, his gorgeous cinematography, his ever-present need for some kind of gimmick (another planet in the sky!), and signs of his devastating depression. Melancholia is a near-perfect movie. The best film of the year. 

Other Nominees: 

Drive

Young Adult 

Moneyball

The Tree of Life

Martha Marcy May Marlene

Take Shelter

The Adventures of TinTin

Hugo

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The Descendants

Crazy Stupid Love

Insidious 

Hanna

Who are some of your picks for the year? Let me know in the comments or on Facebook!

Good Job, Us!

Christian Bale as Dickie Eklund in The Fighter

    
     While I'm a huge fan of Oscar predicting (and the award giving itself, if I feel it's deserved), I must admit that the whole process is sort of like, pardon my English, watching people masturbate. Woody Allen said it best in Annie Hall when he said that people in Los Angeles don't do anything but sit around and hand out awards. "World's Greatest Dictator: Adolf Hitler," he quips before he turns his car into a bumper cart.
     Well, as you could have guessed, the Oscar nominations have come out today and the arguments began, absolutely immediately, about who was snubbed and who was falsely rewarded the "nom" as people who call themselves "insiders" like to say. All of this is very interesting for about ten seconds. That is, the amount of time it takes for the brain to realize that it is watching the world's most expensive senior superlatives section of the school yearbook. Does it not feel to anybody else like we're watching an employee of the month awarding ceremony?
     The problem about this feeling I have in my gut is that it is coupled with another feeling. Perhaps an ever truer feeling that pulls me, paradoxically, into the depths. I love the Oscars. It is like the Superbowl, and I love both of the teams. I love the spectacle, the nominations, the speeches, the long, boring montages, and the arbitrarily stuffy atmosphere of it all.
     I know that it is absurd, but I love it.
    
      With that said, I'm going to ask you guys how you feel about the nominations. Personally, I'm pretty satisfied with what has been acknowledged. I have yet to see Winter's Bone and The Kids Are All Right, but I have heard that those films are great and good respectively.

"Really? Not even editing?" Joseph Gordon-Levitt said.

  
  The Shockers

• Whaaaa? Inception gets no editing nomination? 
• Say what you will about the plot, characters, narrative, or ideology of Christopher Nolan's giant budget sci-fi mindbender, but I think we can all agree that the dream-within-a-dream-within-a-dream-within-a-dream conceit worked mighty well given the convoluted script behind it. This film was well-paced and never confusing, which is a huge feat for a film that is, at times, absurdly complicated. If any award is to be handed over to this movie, it should be editing. So of course we get a nomination for The King's Speech in that category. Speaking of which--
• King's Speech gets more nominations than any other film with 12. 
• Alright, I guess that sort of debunks the whole Social Network thing we had going there. Don't get me wrong, I thought The King's Speech was an absolutely charming movie, but it seems strange that the academy, after nominating so many young names would choose to go for a more contemporary film. No, they're going with the stiff upper lip British drama based on a true story. Way to be predictable, Academy, sheesh. 
• True Grit's Hailee Steinfeld nominated for supporting actress. 
• Not really a shocker, as we all expected her in this category, but it still makes me mad. She is clearly the protagonist of that film. She is in every scene and guides the entire picture. However, she is young, not very famous, and has to make room for Anette Benning. If Natalie Portman had played the same role, with the same amount of screen time, it would have been best actress. No question. Oh well, as is life. 

Any excuse will do if it means I can use this image

Pleasant Surprises

• Amy Adams and Melissa Leo get nods for The Fighter. 
• I really did not see both women getting nominated. Melissa Leo's performance is, I think, the more note-worthy of the bunch. There is a scene between Christian Bale and Melissa Leo in that film that involves window-jumping, car singing, and lots of crying that should win an award all in itself. But hey, if the academy wants to give my favorite movie of the year some credit, go right ahead. 
• True Grit gets 10 nominations after receiving zero recognition from the Golden Globes
• This shocker is a pleasant one, much like the Amy Adams surprise. I feel, strangely enough, like I am sometimes the lone defender of the Coen's new film. It's an adaptation of a novel that spawned a famous John Wayne film. It's a tough sell, especially for the image savvy audience they have built for themselves over the past couple of decades. But that film truly deserves the honor of everything it gets. 
• David O. Russell receives best director nod over Danny Boyle
• For the past month it has been a close race between Boyle and Russell for that final spot in the directing shortlist. As a fan of both directors, I was rooting for both men, but as you all know, The Fighter holds a very special place in my heart. I'm glad that Russell got his directing nod, but I bet Lily Tomlin is playing a different tune...

What do you guys think about the nominations? Pleasant surprises? Shockers? Lets talk.