Oscar voting

For a good summary of how the new voting process works: http://insidemovies.ew.com/2012/01/24/oscars-best-picture-why-nine-nominees/

Tidbits and Roundup

So - I covered most of my reactions to the noms in my previous post. My intense displeasure at Extremely Loud usurping Girl with the Dragon Tattoo can be summed up here: http://www.movieline.com/2012/01/20/the-9-most-scathing-critical-responses-to-extremely-loud-incredibly-close/.

To reiterate; I'm thrilled with the Gary Oldman inclusion, and A Separation and Ides of March making it in for screenplay. Sad about the lack of Dragon Tattoo Love, particularly after it's late push nominations at the Producers and Directors Guilds. (How, HOW, does it get an editing nomination and not a best picture nod?!?) Sad about Albert Brooks. Excited about the Animated films. Shocked about the Documentaries. The three best scores of the year; Drive, Hanna, and Dragon Tattoo were shut out.Clearly, the thing I will be cheering hardest for is Muppets for best song. MUPPPETS!!!!


Also, Cleolinda follows the crowd's reactions here: OSCAR NOMINATIONS OMG. Best bits;

@cleolinda: Nothing for SWINTON, although she has the consolation of having already won and also being SWINTON.

@bestforfilm: No nomination for Andy Serkis either... #monkeyist #oscars #2012

@Haunt1013: Watching the live tweets blurting out names and either "HOLY SHIT YEAH" or "FUCK YOU FOR SNUBBING ____" much better than actual awards show.

And via the AV Club; "Brooks’ snubbing made room for Max Von Sydow’s performance as a mute old man in Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, which showed impressive resilience despite mixed—and in some cases, toxic—reviews and zero year-end awards. To his credit, Von Sydow’s work is the best thing about EL&IC, much like lunch at the hospital commissary is the best thing about radiation treatment."

Also Albert Brooks and Patton Oswalt had the best twitter reactions:

@AlbertBrooks: I got ROBBED. I don't mean the Oscars, I mean literally. My pants and shoes have been stolen.

Patton Oswalt here.

As Nikki Finke points out, Sony got the most noms of any studio (Midnight, Moneyball, Dragon Tattoo, 3 of the foreign films, etc.). That is followed by Paramount (Hugo, 4 animated films, Transformers (Paramount! Where is your quality control?!)) and The Weinstein Company (Artist, Marilyn, Iron Lady, W.E., Undefeated).  The Disney, Fox, Universal, WB, Roadside Attractions, Lionsgate, and Summit (With 1! Although with Lionsgate buying Summit, that's 3 altogether!)

Additionally, "indie" films captured 60 of the (what did I say before 119?) nominations. Then again, they are counting Hugo as an Indie. It cost $170m. THAT IS NOT AN INDIE.

Kenneth Branagh is the first actor to be nominated in five categories.

Meryl Streep is the most nominated actor in history. Woody Allen is the most nominated screenwriter. John Williams was just nominated for the 41st and 42nd times. STOP IT ACADEMY.

The changes to the documentary category will probably be welcome next year (NYTimes warning).

Those focused on the snubs: Deadline Hollywood (love the graphic), NYTimes (Dramas from White Men), and Bright Lights (It's a bourgeois town), I Watch Stuff. Best quote from that last one; "Best Visual Effects: Transformers 3 versus Real Steel. Rendering giant CGI robots is now the visual effects equivalent of playing retarded."

And if you think I'm pissed with the way the nominations went, check this out.  

The Oscar noms

And the real deal, ladies and gentlemen. With kibbutzing.

Bolded are the real nominees. Strikethroughs I got wrong.

Best Picture
The Artist
The Descendants
The Help
Midnight in Paris
Hugo
Moneyball

"I'm positive on those six. I think Girl with the Dragon and Tree of Life will take the next two and it will be 8 nominees.

If it is 10 nominees, I'll add War Horse and (sigh) Bridesmaids. Hoping for a Drive or Ides of March spoiler."

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. You have got to be fucking kidding me. Only you, Academy. Only you.


Best Director
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Alexander Payne, The Descendants
David Fincher, Dragon Tattoo
Martin Scorsese, Hugo
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris

"Terrence Malick, Tree of Life, and Nicolas Winding Refn, Drive, as spoilers. I think Steven Spielberg is out. Then again, were ballots due before the PGA honors?"

*sniff* ILU David Fincher!

Best Actress
Rooney Mara
Viola Davis
Meryl Streep
Michelle Williams
Tilda Swinton

"Glenn Close as spoiler. *sigh* I'd like to put SWINTON as spoiler, since she has an oscar already, but I'm just not sure Glenn Close is ever going to get it. Dragon Tattoo has surged, and both Albert Nobbs and Iron Lady are not good films around a central performance. I don't see Glenn getting in. Probably. She and Rooney Mara are close."

Hey! I should have gone with my gut.

Best Actor
George Clooney
Brad Pitt
Jean Dujardin
Michael Fassbender
Gary Oldman

"Yup. I think the recent nods for Gary Oldman and the fact that J. Edgar has completely faded means Leo is out. Still, Leo for a spoiler, and Michael Shannon. (I just don't see Ryan Gosling or Demian Bichir.)"

Wow - the SAG nom has it! Yay for not all being white. Boo for the lack of the Fassbender!

Best Supporting Actress
Octavia Spencer
Melissa McCarthy
Berenice Bejo
Jessica Chastain
Shailene Woodley

"Janet McTeer and Vanessa Redgrave as spoilers. Janet McTeer and Shailene Woodley are awfully neck in neck. Hmmm..."

Woo Janet McTeer! I like her.

Best Supporting Actor
Christopher Plummer
Albert Brooks
Keneth Branagh
Jonah Hill
Nick Nolte

"Max Von Sydow as spoiler, although the vitriol directed at Extremely/Incredibly Close/Loud (or whatever) is so intense that I think it puts him out. Ben Kingsley as a more likely spoiler. I don't see Andy Serkis getting it, but wouldn't that be lovely?"

I... what the fuck?!? ALBERT BROOKS!

The other categories after the jump:

Predicting the Oscar Noms

As I was saying before, does anyone understand this? Seriously; I don't get it. If 5% of the submitted first place votes gets you a nomination, surely that must mean ten nominees. 3,000 people are not going to all put the Artist first, right? (RIGHT?) Couldn't 300 put War Horse, 300 put Tree of Life and so on and so forth? And if more than 10 films earn 5%, is that when the second and third ranked films weigh in? I'm confused.

I'll make up my own awards of what I think SHOULD be nominated later, but what do I think will actually make the cut tomorrow morning? Here we go:

Best Picture
The Artist
The Descendants
The Help
Midnight in Paris
Hugo
Moneyball

I'm positive on those six. I think Girl with the Dragon and Tree of Life will take the next two and it will be 8 nominees.

If it is 10 nominees, I'll add War Horse and (sigh) Bridesmaids. Hoping for a Drive or Ides of March spoiler.

Best Director
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Alexander Payne, The Descendants
David Fincher, Dragon Tattoo
Martin Scorsese, Hugo
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris

Terrence Malick, Tree of Life, and Nicolas Winding Refn, Drive, as spoilers. I think Steven Spielberg is out. Then again, were ballots due before the PGA honors?

Best Actress
Rooney Mara
Viola Davis
Meryl Streep
Michelle Williams
Tilda Swinton

Glenn Close as spoiler. *sigh* I'd like to put SWINTON as spoiler, since she has an oscar already, but I'm just not sure Glenn Close is ever going to get it. Dragon Tattoo has surged, and both Albert Nobbs and Iron Lady are not good films around a central performance. I don't see Glenn getting in. Probably. She and Rooney Mara are close.

Best Actor
George Clooney
Brad Pitt
Jean Dujardin
Michael Fassbender
Gary Oldman

Yup. I think the recent nods for Gary Oldman and the fact that J. Edgar has completely faded means Leo is out. Still, Leo for a spoiler, and Michael Shannon. (I just don't see Ryan Gosling or Demian Bichir.)

Best Supporting Actress
Octavia Spencer
Melissa McCarthy
Berenice Bejo
Jessica Chastain
Shailene Woodley

Janet McTeer and Vanessa Redgrave as spoilers. Janet McTeer and Shailene Woodley are awfully neck in neck. Hmmm...

Best Supporting Actor
Christopher Plummer
Albert Brooks
Keneth Branagh
Jonah Hill
Nick Nolte

Max Von Sydow as spoiler, although the vitriol directed at Extremely/Incredibly Close/Loud (or whatever) is so intense that I think it puts him out. Ben Kingsley as a more likely spoiler. I don't see Andy Serkis getting it, but wouldn't that be lovely?

The other categories after the jump:

War Horse

Or, the Epic epic of epic epicness.

This was a weird film. One, because it is a PG-13 war film. So all of the violence is off-screen or hidden behind objects. It's so strange.

Second, I think it says a lot about the target audience that the previews before this film were not for A Separation or The Deep Blue Sea or some other seerious adult drama. No no. The previews were for Disney nature films about an orphaned chimp and whales in trouble. The obvious, tear-jerker, happy ending, we are going to tug on your heartstrings till they bleed kind of films. Which is pretty much what War Horse is. Did I cry during it? Damn straight. Was it complete emotional manipulation rather than great film making? Yup.

I honestly have not completely wrapped my head around how the new Oscar balloting works, but my sense is that a film with a small, but devoted following (say, the Tree of Life) has a better chance of a nomination than something that is broadly liked, but not loved. The way I understand it, any film that gets 300 first place rankings out of 5,500 ballots will get a nomination. Now, I don't understand why people then think that there will only be 8 nominees, because I could see some dark horses (heh) reaching that number. But, despite War Horse's throwbacks to old-school film making, I think it is out in a year with too many other "nostalgia" films to be ranked as number one on many ballots. I could easily see it being left off the nominations while Tree of Life or Girl with the Dragon Tattoo sneak in. Although they did just have the tribute to Steven Spielberg.... hmmm. Hard to say.

Anyways, I'll take my best stab at predicting the nominees this evening. But War Horse? Meh. It's beautifully crafted, but not great. I'd rather watch a BBC WWI production.

Top films of 2011. Kinda sorta.

I have to start with a confession: I didn't see as many movies as I had wanted to last year. I usually try to post this list by January 15th, in order to get a chance for last minute releases to show up in whatever city I'm in and a few final DVD releases to come out. But the way the last 6 weeks has gone, if I try to catch up on the last dozen films I've been meaning to see, this list might not come out till the Oscars. *sigh*

So - the notable omissions for the year: Tinker Tailor, Young Adult, War Horse, Cold Weather, Win Win, Margin Call, House of Pleasures, Bellflower, 50/50, Beginners, Higher Ground, 3, the Mill and the Cross, the Mysteries of Lisbon, Take Shelter, London Boulevard, Red State, the Princess of Montpensier, Like Crazy, Incendies, Melancholia, the Skin I Live in, Coriolanus, Tyrannosaur, Sleeping Beauty, Weekend, and so on and so forth.

I do have plans to see War Horse, Tinker Tailor (can we say Sherlock withdrawal?), and Mission Impossible in the next couple of days. So... I may have notes on those. We'll see if this week is as crazy as the last few.

Please note that those films most assured of an Oscar nomination at this point; The Descendants, Hugo, The Artist, The Help, and Midnight in Paris, are not to be found on this list. 

Top films of 2011:
1. Drive. Yup. Pretty surprised by this, but, as I've mentioned before, it's been a weird year for movies. The Artist is more or less the one to beat for Best Picture (more on that later), and while it's fine, it isn't something I fell in love with (unlike Winter's Bone or The Hurt Locker). So it turns out the best time I had at the movies this year was high-art pulp. Like many of the films on the list, this one stood out for being visually striking. From my earlier review; "I loved it. It is really, really wonderful. First up, and important to know before watching, there are not many car chases in the film, aside from the brilliantly shot opening. Also, knowing Nicolas Winding Refn's work (and his propensity for filming violence) is probably good. That said, I was just riveted by the whole film. The supporting cast is good, but much of the movie is just an understated performance by Ryan Gosling. Also, the rumors of a bromance between Refn and Gosling must be true, because the movie is framed around Gosling to his best effect in each scene. It reminded me of Meet Me in St. Louis and how lovingly Minnelli filmed Judy Garland. I'm not a huge Ryan Gosling fan (although I think he does good work), but you seriously can't take your eyes off of him here. Hmmm... I'm finding it hard to word this without coming off as a fan girl. What I mean is, this character, the way he is shot, and the performance are all completely compelling. (And I'm sure those women who were fans of the Notebook will appreciate Gosling as eye candy, too.) Furthermore, the movie just exudes cool. The retro 80s pink font in the titles, his varsity jacket and driving gloves, and the slow-burn, taut direction; all of of it is stylish fun. It's an art-house pulp film. It's awesome."

2. Stake Land. My SFIFF review; "I LOVED this film. It is sort of The Road with a supernatural bent, or I've heard it described as a 'post-apocalyptic, vampire western.' And it is scary. Not because of the vampires, although those are good for a few good jump scares, but because of the picture it paints of how America would disintegrate in the wake of an apocalypse. It is horrifying because it feels true. As the protagonist explains, cults pop up everywhere and the religious right goes off the deep end (not that they have far to go, but I digress). It isn't the vampires you have to survive so much as the people. (The main religious cult actually ended up reminding me a bit of the cult that springs up in Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle.) I think everyone likes to think that they'd be able to survive in a post-apocalyptic world, given that it is a popular genre. And while I think I might be able to feed myself and find shelter, the film taps into the primal fear that there isn't anything you'd be able to do against religious fundamentalism-crazy. Could any sense of goodness or culture survive when nutjobs drop vampires from helicopters to cleanse the world of sinners? Anyways, the characters in the film are fabulous. It is mostly about a boy named Martin, who is taken under the wing of a vampire-killer, known only as Mister. Mister schools Martin in the finer arts of vampire killing and survival and along the way they meet up with other survivors. All of the character development is great. And there are some really fun killing vampire parts. But that sense of scary is definitely going to linger"
 
3. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It's impossible not to compare this film to the Swedish original, given how quickly it was remade. My personal take is that there are parts that were left out of each. I liked some of what was kept in the American version and some of what was kept in the Swedish. I personally come down on the Noomi Rapace side of the actress debate. She just came across as more of a coiled fist, whereas Rooney Mara came off as slightly more damaged and vulnerable (much as I loved her aesthetic). What did make the remake come alive for me was David Fincher's direction. Not only do I love the way he directs the production design and cinematography, he managed to keep a long, complex, and splintered story hum along for three hours without losing any tension or momentum. It's a beautifully crafted film, and one which managed to highlight parts that I particularly loved from the book.

4. Another Earth. From my SFIFF review; "This was brilliant. I completely loved it. I don't really know how best to describe it. It's about a woman, Rhoda, who on the eve of being accepted into MIT's astrophysics program, makes a horrible mistake. It is also the same evening that a second Earth is discovered. The film then follows Rhoda as she attempts to atone for what she has done and find a way forward in her life. It's much more a character drama than a sci-fi label might suggest (Moon notwithstanding). Although the second Earth discovery does prompt a myriad of questions and possibilities. What if there is another me out there? Did they make the same choices? What would their life be like? The two leads, William Mapother and Brit Marling (co-writer, co-producer) give absolutely amazing performances. If anything, I wanted more time with the characters - they were just such complete, interesting portraits."

5. Cave of Forgotten Dreams. From my SFIFF review; "Oh god. This was the film I was most looking forward to in the festival. And it was everything I had hoped it would be. AND SO MUCH MORE! First of all, Werner Herzog got unprecedented access to film inside the Chauvet cave in France, which has the world's oldest cave paintings. And they are stunning. Next, he realized that to properly appreciate the paintings, which make use of the topography of the cave walls, they needed to be filmed in 3-d. This is the first film I've seen that really necessitated the use of 3-d and it is wonderfully done. There are long stretches of the film that are just gazing at these paintings, beautifully filmed, while some wonderful choir compositions play. (A lot of the music was fabulous; some bits got a little too atonal, even for me, but a lot of the pieces were clearly written to play off of the acoustics in a cathedral, and accompanied the space inside a cave really well.) Also - just seeing the stalactites and stalagmites in 3-d is worth the price of admission on its own. So all of that is awesome (in the original sense of that word) and completely makes it a 5 star film. But then - THEN! - the fact that it is Werner Herzog means that you get his incredible musings on the nature of art and humanity. I giggled through long segments of the film. Plus, he gathers up several of the craziest French people he can find, which is just even more wonderful. And while some of the funny bits were clearly intentional, I also think he is just becoming more and more a parody of himself as he ages. It's no wonder he worked with Nicholas Cage on Bad Lieutenant. The postscript to the film might be one of the funniest things I've seen this year."

Played songs

There is an interesting post over at the Awl: What's Your Most Played Song?

It's interesting for a few reasons. One - if you actually want to know what your most played song is in 2011, its going to have to be out of songs added to your playlists in 2011. I don't know how many times I listened to Hysteria by Muse in 2011, because iTunes has been tracking plays since 2008 on that one. So, it isn't really an 'end of 2011 list', as much as your favorite song since your current media player has been keeping track.

Mine, for the record, is I Think I'm Paranoid by Garbage at 205 plays. Now, given that that is iTunes plays on the computer since 2005 and iTunes + iPod plays since about 2008, and the fact that that song came out in 1998, and I think I can hazard a guess that I've probably listened to that song over 1,000 times in more than a decade. (Version 2.0 was the only CD I ever physically wore out from use).

So, then, what I find interesting about this list are the extreme numbers. Is there really no song a music critic has EVER listened to more than 18 times? (Do music critics need silence when they get home?) Or did those with low numbers try to guess play counts of songs only for 2011?

On the flip side, I have to imagine that 1,748 plays of Rolling in the Deep is hyperbole (particularly as it is a song released in January.) But there are some at 300-400 plays, which seems reasonable.

Then again, The Lonely Goatherd at 489? That is made up. (right? RIGHT?!?)

So, for those that I can count for 2011, which were my most played? Here are those that ranked over 60 plays. (Obviously, the club songs tend to get stuck in my head more...)
Glee - Don't You Want Me Baby - 61
Ana Tijoux - 1977 - 61
Adele - Set Fire to the Rain - 62
Gotye ft. Kimbra - Somebody That I Used to Know - 66
Christina Aguilera - Bound to You - 69 (I... don't know.)
Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson - Rock Star - 75
Childish Gambino - Freaks & Geeks - 78
Adele - Rolling in the Deep - 82 
David Guetta ft. Sia - Titanium - 83
Deadmau5 ft. Neon Hitch - I Can't Behave Myself - 84
Lady Gaga - Heavy Metal Lover - 107

Honestly? A little surprised Video Games by Lana Del Rey and You Know What I Mean by The Cults didn't make the cut....