Once the Oscar noms come out, I'm sure I'll gleeful about some inclusions, pissed at some snubs, outraged at the undeserving noms, and wistful for those that never had a chance. And then I'll pick the ones I think will win, and which I think should win, and root for my favorites.
But what if I could pick all the nominees myself?
I certainly haven't seen everything that has come out this year. There are many films which I'm sure are some of the best of the year that I never got to; White Material, I Am Love, the Tillman Story, Restrepo, Get Low, Rabbit Hole, Vincere, Ghost Writer, A Prophet, Dogtooth, Applause, Mother, Another Year, Incendies, Beyond.
I mean, if you look at every picture which has received a nomination for Best Picture from a critics guild, that's 47 different films right there, excluding docs and foreign films.
So, given what I have seen, here's what I'd pick (nominees, alternates for your consideration, and notable omissions of the films I have yet to see):
Best Picture
Winter's Bone
Inception
The Social Network
Black Swan
The Fighter
Girl with a Dragon Tattoo
Fish Tank
Red Riding: 1974 (hey, Carlos is getting foreign film nods from a bunch of guilds. Although, yes, it is ineligible for an Oscar. But these are MY awards.)
Never Let Me Go
Animal Kingdom
Notable Omissions; Blue Valentine, True Grit, 127 Hours, Ghost Writer, The Town
Best Popcorn Film (those genre flicks worth your time, if not critical love)
Cell 211
Perrier's Bounty
Red, White and Blue
Predators
The Killer Inside Me
The Crazies
Red Hill
Kick Ass
Tucker and Dale vs. Evil
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Notable Omissions; Red, Machete.
Best Actress
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone
Katie Jarvis, Fish Tank
Noomi Rapace, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Carey Mulligan, Never Let Me Go
Notable Omissions; Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine), Lesley Manville (Another Year), Anne Hathaway (Love and Other Drugs), Hye-Ja Kim (Mother), Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole).
Best Actor
Colin Firth, The King's Speech
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Colin Farrell, Ondine
Andrew Garfield, Red Riding: 1974
Noah Taylor, Red, White, and Blue
Alternates; Jim Carrey (I Love You, Philip Morris), Mark Wahlberg (The Fighter), Kodi Smit-McPhee (Let Me In).
Notable Omissions; James Franco (127 Hours), Ryan Gosling (Blue Valentine), Tahar Rahim (A Prophet), Edgar Ramirez (Carlos), Robert Duvall (Get Low), Jeff Bridges (True Grit), Jim Broadbent (Another Year), Aaron Eckhart (Rabbit Hole), Ciaran Hinds (the Eclipse), Vincent Cassel (Mesrine). *phew*.
Best Supporting Actress
Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom
Mila Kunis, Black Swan
Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Juliette Lewis, Conviction
Dale Dickey, Winter's Bone
Alternates; Chloe Moretz (Kick Ass), Amy Adams (The Fighter), Marion Cotillard (Inception).
Notable Omissions; Olivia Williams (Ghost Writer), Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit), Dianne Wiest (Rabbit Hole), Rosamund Pike (Barney's Version).
Best Supporting Actor
Andrew Garfield, The Social Network
Michael Fassbender, Fish Tank
John Hawkes, Winter's Bone
Christian Bale, The Fighter
Armie Hammer, The Social Network
Alternates: Brendan Gleeson (Perrier's Bounty), Tom Hardy (Inception), Kieran Culkin (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World), Michael Shannon (the Runaways), Geoffrey Rush (the King's Speech), Sam Rockwell (Conviction), Ben Mendelsohn (Animal Kingdom).
Notable Omissions; Jeremy Renner (the Town), Matt Damon (True Grit), Edward Norton (Stone), Pierce Brosnan (Ghost Writer).
[Ed. note: I know, I know. I didn't include Sam Rockwell in my top 5. Quelle Horreur. He was good. He's always good. He wasn't given as much material to work with as one would have hoped. So when it comes down to the last spot, Armie Hammer had a more impressive role overall.]
Best Director
Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
David Fincher, The Social Network
Christopher Nolan, Inception
Debra Granik, Winter's Bone
Andrea Arnold, Fish Tank
Alternates; David O. Russell (the Fighter), Lena Dunham (Tiny Furniture).
Notable Omissions; the Coens (True Grit), Danny Boyle (127 Hours), Roman Polanski (Ghost Writer), Derek Cianfrance (Blue Valentine), Mike Leigh (Another Year).
Best Screenplay - Original
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
Ondine
Fish Tank
Notable Omissions; Buried, Blue Valentine, The Square, Four Lions, Another Year.
I almost want Four Lions to win as a write-in, just for its audacity.
Best Screenplay - Adapted
The Social Network
The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Winter's Bone
Red Riding: 1974
Alternates; I Love You Philip Morris, Never Let Me Go, The Killer Inside Me.
Notable Omissions; True Grit, The Town, Rabbit Hole
Best Foreign Film
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Cell 211
(both ineligible for oscars).... and....um. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest?
I may not have seen enough films in this category this year. Let's say Dogtooth, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, and A Prophet (nominated last year) for the other nominees and Simple Simon, Beyond, Incendies, Mother, I Am Love (ineligible for the Oscar), Hadewijch, Of Gods and Men, White Material, Carlos (ineligible), Applause, The Edge, Life Above All, and Undertow as the alternates.
Best Animated
Nada. Despite my deep love for animation, I have seen none of these films. I... don't know what happened this year.
Best Documentary
Ditto as foreign films. Marwencol FTW!
So let's go with Exit Through the Gift Shop, the Tillman Story, Restrepo, and A Film Unfinished, with Winnebago Man, Gasland and Last Train Home as alternates. I can't watch Inside Job. I just can't.
Best Visual Effects
Inception
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
TRON
Harry Potter 7a
Alice in Wonderland
Notable Omissions; Monsters, Narnia, Prince of Persia.
I have yet to see any shorts (hmmm.... when do those group showings occur?), so let's skip those.
Best Costumes
Black Swan
Alice in Wonderland
King's Speech
Surely other people wore costumes. Hmmm... TRON? Can I give an award for getting Garrett Hedlund into that getup? Inception? People wore pretty things in that.
Notable Omissions; True Grit, Burlesque (SEQUINS!!!), I Am Love, the Tempest, Agora, Made in Dagenham.
Best Art/Production Design
Bunny and the Bull
Inception
Black Swan
TRON
King's Speech
Alternates; Harry Potter 7a, Shutter Island
Notable Omission; I Am Love
Best Makeup
Alice in Wonderland
Black Swan
Harry Potter 7a
Notable Omissions; True Grit, Splice, the Wolfman, the Tempest, Burlesque? Who wore makeup this year? I can't fill this category.
Best Cinematography
Black Swan
Inception
Never Let Me Go
Harry Potter 7a
Winter's Bone
Alternates; The Fighter, The Social Network, Shutter Island, Let Me In.
Notable Omissions; True Grit, I Am Love, 127 Hours, Sweetgrass, Monsters.
Best Editing
Inception
The Social Network
Black Swan
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Shutter Island
Notable Omissions; 127 Hours, The Town.
Best Song
(AKA: who do I want to watch during the show - it's like who gets a grammy nomination!)
You Haven't Seen the Last of Me (Burlesque). CHER!!! PLZ WEAR BOB MACKIE, K? THNKS.
Eclipse (Eclipse). Much as I hate to nominate anything having to do with Twilight, I really do like Metric.
Bound to You (Burlesque). (Christina Aguilera)
Life During Wartime (Life During Wartime). (Devendra Banhard & Beck)
What Part of Forever (Eclipse). (Cee-Lo Green)
Your other song options (FYI); If I Rise - 127 Hours (Dido - I like this one alright), I See the Lights - Tangled (Mandy Moore), There's a Place for Us - Narnia (Carrie Underwood), Better Days - Eat Pray Love (Eddie Vedder - ditto; also not bad), Chanson Illusionist - The Illusionist (Sylvain Chomet). The last one isn't a Belleville Rendezvous, but it's cute.
I almost wish I could throw on Avril Lavigne's song from Alice in Wonderland or Gwyneth Paltrow's Coming Home from Country Strong, just to see them both get schooled by Cher and Cristina Aguilera. Because I'm cruel like that.
Best Score
TRON: Legacy - Daft Punk [Ed: WHY is this not getting more attention? I LOVED it.]
The Social Network - Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
The Fighter - Michael Brook
Inception - Hans Zimmer
Black Swan - Clint Mansell
Alternates; King's Speech - Alexandre Desplat, Alice in Wonderland - Danny Elfman, Harry Potter 7a - Alexandre Desplat, Never Let Me Go - Rachel Portman.
Notable Omissions; True Grit - Carter Burwell, Ghost Writer - Alexandre Desplat, 127 Hours - A. R. Rahman.
Best Sound Mixing & Editing (I know the one has to do with recording sound effects and background, and the other has to do with volume/mixing/etc., but.... I'm grouping them.)
Inception
Black Swan
The Social Network
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Shutter Island
Alternate; Iron Man 2.
Notable Omission; True Grit.
No comments:
Post a Comment