2012 Oscar Crosstalk

by Lani and A.J.

With the Academy Awards just two weeks away, Cinema Then and Now co-bloggers Lani and A.J. sat down to discuss our impressions of the nominees: who deserves to win, who was overlooked, and who shouldn't even be on the short list. And to help out anyone with an Oscar pool, we've listed our picks for who will win next Sunday. (You can see a full list of the nominees at Oscars.go.com.)

Lani: I think we both agree that compared to last year's Oscar contenders, this year's slate of nominees is a bit underwhelming. And some of our favorite films were ignored for Best Picture or overlooked completely.
AJ: There are some nominees this year which I think are very deserving, but most are "just okay."

Lani: Well, let's get down to specifics: Best Picture. There's not one nominee here which I feel particularly strongly about. My favorite film of the year and your number one, Drive, is not nominated. However, of the nominated films I have the most affection for The Artist.
AJ: I am rooting for The Artist or Midnight in Paris. I would be alright with Hugo winning. The film I don't want to win is The Descendents because it is just an okay Alexander Payne movie. It was okay, but there is better stuff out there and I would be disappointed if it won any awards, especially Best Picture.
Lani: It is not even Alexander Payne's best movie! For what is basically a character study about a family in crisis, I didn't think the main character was fleshed out enough. Overall the film is fine, but not outstanding. Any big surprises or "huh?" moments?
AJ: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close for Best Picture. I thought it might get nominated since it was directed by Stephen Daldry, and all of his previous films have been nominated for Best Picture. However, it wasn't incredibly well-received by critics and I did not enjoy it either. It's frustrating because every time one of Daldry's films is nominated I feel like another, more deserving film is pushed out of the running. My other reaction was "Moneyball, really?"
Lani: I am surprised that anyone felt that strongly about Moneyball, even though we both enjoyed it.

Lani: So, from your previous comment I take it Payne is not your favorite for Best Director, either.
AJ: No, he's not. If I had my way, Tomas Alfredsson would win Best Director for his work on Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. He used every nuance of cinema to tell a rather complicated story. In less capable hands it could have been clunky and confusing. But Alfredsson was not nominated.
Lani: With the exception of Michel Hazanavicius, who really tried something "new" with The Artist, the nominees are four good, solid directors who are just doing what they do and not really stretching. Some people felt that Hugo was a departure for Martin Scorcese, but he has always been a versatile director.
AJ: Yes, people forget that Scorcese made Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Kundun, The Age of Innocence. He doesn't just make gangster films. I agree that the only one of the nominated directors who went beyond expectations is Hazanavicius.
Lani: Doing something new is not, of itself, a reason for an Academy Award. However, I think he rose to a challenge with The Artist and he has a good chance to win.
Lani: For me the big "huh?" was Jonah Hill's Best Supporting Actor nomination for Moneyball. I did not think it was a bad performance, but it was not remarkable in any way; he wasn't even the best supporting actor in Moneyball! Chris Pratt as Scott Hatteberg made a bigger impression than Hill. I was actually imagining other actors playing Hill's part while I was watching the movie!
AJ: When you look at the list of Supporting Actor nominees - Kenneth Branagh, Nick Nolte, Christopher Plummer, Max Von Sydow, and Jonah Hill - there is definitely a sense of "one of these is not like the others."
Lani: Christopher Plummer is certainly the favorite here and deservedly so. He was wonderful in Beginners.
AJ: This year I feel like Plummer could also have been nominated for his role in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Even though it was a small role, his character is what really go me invested in the film's central mystery.
Lani: Someone who I would've liked to have seen nominated was Viggo Mortensen for A Dangerous Method.
AJ: Viggo the Shark! As you said in your "Favorite Performances" post, he is "stealth acting." Even when he's playing a famous figure like Sigmund Freud, you lose awareness that Mortensen is playing a role; everything he's doing is subtle.

Lani: In the Best Actor category, I'm glad to see Gary Oldman for Tinker Tailor and Jean Dujardin for The Artist.
AJ: Oldman is too good for his own good. He becomes unrecognizable from role to role, and I think people forget how great he is!
Lani: However, I don't think he's going to win.
AJ: It is another very subtle performance - it's not a performance you can "see." Jean Dujardin has a much flashier role since he is playing a bigger-than-life movie star.
Lani: That's true, but Dujardin also has many small moments which give his character depth. George Clooney may win, but, to echo your sentiments about The Descendents, this is just another good performance by Clooney. He is a dependably solid actor, but this performance did not distinguish itself above any other of his performances.
AJ: That is how I feel about Brad Pitt in Moneyball. He is good here, but he is always good. There is nothing surprising in this performance.
Lani: A big omission in this category, in my opinion, is Brendan Gleeson who gave a really strong performance in The Guard. I also thought that film had a great screenplay; it really did something different with the buddy-cop genre and it was very witty, even the villains had great lines complaining about the stupid low-lifes they have to work with as drug dealers.
AJ: I agree, Gleeson was definitely deserving of a nomination. He managed to remain incredibly likable playing a character who says, among other things, "racism is part of my culture."

Lani: On to the actresses...I wasn't surprised by any of the nominations except Jessica Chastain for The Help. I thought she was a bright spot, but Octavia Spencer and Viola Davis have been getting most of the attention for that film. Chastain was so ubiquitous in 2011, it seems like the Academy just wanted to throw her a bone for a year of consistently good work.
AJ: I think her performance in The Tree of Life was just as deserving, maybe more so.
Lani: However, the race in this category seems to be between Spencer and Melissa McCarthy from Bridesmaids. Both actresses are playing broad characters, but McCarthy is getting that label more than Spencer, probably because Bridesmaids is more of a straight comedy than The Help. Just take a moment to consider that either way the Oscar will likely go to a performance in which poop played a prominent role.
AJ: I feel like Michelle Williams should be in the Supporting Actress category rather than Lead. My Week with Marilyn is about Colin Clark, the young man who meets Marilyn Monroe. Marilyn doesn't have a storyline of her own, all of her scenes are with Clark.
Lani: It is sort of the opposite situation with Berenice Bejo, who is really the co-lead in The Artist. Her character, Peppy Miller, has her own substantial story arc; however, she's nominated in the supporting category.
Lani: In the Best Actress category, the frontrunners are definitely Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady and Viola Davis for The Help.
AJ: This could be an interesting category because there is not a heavy favorite, it could go either way. Davis has already won several awards, but Streep did win the Golden Globe. Plus Streep is doing an accent and it's a biopic, two factors which the Academy likes to reward.
Lani: I felt like this wasn't a strong year for female roles. If I had to come up with a list of nominees, I don't think I could have named five. However, I do think Charlize Theron's performance in Young Adult was overlooked.

AJ: The Best Adapted Screenplay award should go hands-down to Tinker Tailor. The previous TV miniseries of this story was 7 hours, so the fact that the screenwriters condensed it down to less than 2 hours, while still keeping it interesting and thrilling, is quite an achievement - especially for a story which revolves around people looking at paperwork.
Lani: I have read the novel, and the story has been changed in many ways for the film. But it still works - and that is what an adapted screenplay should do. I wouldn't be scandalized if Moneyball won in this category either.
AJ: With writers like Steve Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin working on the script, you expect quality.
Lani: They took a potentially dry subject and made an engaging story out of it.
AJ: Unlike The Ides of March, which took a potentially relevant topic - a presidential race - and made it seem pointless.
Lani: I think it is a bit ridiculous that The Artist has been nominated for Best Original Screenplay. Even the actors admit that they didn't have real dialogue and sometimes were just saying gibberish! Bridesmaids may have a chance in this category since there is a lot of goodwill toward that movie. However, I have a feeling there is going to be an Artist sweep.
AJ: My pick for Original Screenplay would be Midnight in Paris. Woody Allen's take on the Jazz Age and nostalgia was very clever.
Lani: In the technical categories, I am shocked that Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol was overlooked. These are the categories where quality action movies, like The Bourne Ultimatum, usually get some recognition. I think it was deserving of recognition for editing and even Best Director for Brad Bird. It is a very well-put together film, combining innovative action scenes with humor and traditional spy-craft. The action scenes are not only coherent, but interesting to watch. Compare that to Transformers: Dark of the Moon, which is nominated for sound editing, sound mixing, and special effects. The Transformers franchise is consistently criticized as noisy, incoherent messes, yet those films get Academy recognition.
AJ: In Ghost Protocol special effects are definitely being used, but it is done in a seamless way and that deserves to be recognized. Tree of Life didn't get an editing nomination, but I think the editing is what makes that movie.
Lani: I think that Tree's cinematography is what stands out. Even people who didn't like the movie have to admit that the imagery is beautiful and the camera is offering really interesting points of view.
AJ: My pick for that category is Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - for the bleakness, the grays and whites of the landscape. It creates the perfect mood for that story.

What will win:
Best Picture - The Artist
Best Director - Michel Hazanavicius
Best Actor - Jean Dujardin
Best Actress - Viola Davis
Best Supporting Actor - Christopher Plummer
Best Supporting Actress - Octavia Spencer

Possible upsets:
Best Picture - Hugo
Best Director - Martin Scorcese
Best Actor - George Clooney
Best Actress - Meryl Streep
Best Supporting Actor - No one, Christopher Plummer is a sure thing.
Best Supporting Actress - Melissa McCarthy

My Favorite Performances of 2011

by Lani

It is awards season in Hollywood and everyone with an opinion about film is chiming in with their "best of the year" picks. To continue the tradition I began last January, I've compiled a list of my favorite performances from all the films I saw during the previous year. My list comes with the caveat that I have not seen every notable film of 2011; however, when the statuettes are handed out at Sunday's Golden Globes and next month's Oscars, I hope to see awards in the hands of the actors listed below.

Favorite Male Performance: Brendan Gleeson, The Guard

The success of this film rests squarely on the burly shoulders of its lead character, a gruff, eccentric policeman in a small Irish village. Sgt. Gerry Boyle is selfish and caustic. He antagonizes anyone who gets in his way and purposely annoys his superiors. However, he may be the only person who really knows what he's doing. If Gleeson's performance didn't work, the movie wouldn't work. So it's a good thing he is brilliant.

Favorite Female Performance: Charlize Theron, Young Adult

Theron's character Mavis Gary, a depressed novelist who returns to her hometown in a desperate attempt to rekindle her high school romance, is not a likable person and she remains irredeemable throughout the film. It is to Theron's credit that Mavis does not come off as a one-dimensional bitch. I wasn't exactly rooting for Mavis - she's trying to break up a happy marriage; but as her behavior became more and more deluded, I was hoping for her to at least see the error of her ways. The subject matter can get a little dark, but Theron proves to be adept at comedy, striking just the right tone. I love a good sneer (see Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network, 2010), and the look of disgust on Theron's face as she drives down her hometown's main drag pretty much clinched her a spot on this list.

Favorite Ensemble - Male: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

With a complex plot and characters who traffic in secrets and deception, this film couldn't afford to have one performance out of step. The story isn't told so much through dialogue as through tone of voice, body language, and eye contact. Led by a perfectly understated Gary Oldman, the cast shows you everything need to know and leaves you wanting more. And kudos to Tom Hardy for once again showing up mid-film, releasing a musky blast of charisma, then returning us to our regularly scheduled program (see Inception, 2010).

Favorite Ensemble - Female: Bridesmaids

I could single out Kristen Wiig's dexterous physical comedy or Rose Byrne's deft restraint or Melissa McCarthy's manic energy, but the cast was great across the board. In an ensemble comedy like this, there are usually a couple characters who get all the jokes; however, each cast member, from the late Jill Clayburgh as Wiig's dotty mother to Melanie Hutsell as a hapless tennis partner (with no lines!), got a laugh from me.

Favorite Dog, TIE: Uggi, The Artist and Cosmo, Beginners

In each of these films, the dog isn't just there to look cute in reaction shots (though they are both quite adorable); these dogs are integral supporting characters who add heart and charm to each of their films. Yes, maybe Uggi and Cosmo (pictured, right) were thinking of sausages rather than "acting," but how can I say no to that face...you're such a good actor, yes you are...

Favorite Silent Performance: Jean Dujardin, The Artist

It is Uggi's co-star Dujardin who does the emotional heavy-lifting as a silent movie actor struggling against the advent of sound. I cannot confirm whether Dujardin was also thinking of sausages during crucial scenes, but if he was that technique is really working.

Favorite Near-Silent Performance: Ryan Gosling, Drive

Gosling's unnamed driver doesn't say much, but he doesn't have to when a look will suffice.

Favorite Swedes: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Most of the actors in this film aren't actually Swedes, they just play them in the movies. The mystery at the heart of this film is the hook that got me to buy a ticket, but the assemblage of fantastic actors in small roles - including Stephen Berkoff, Donald Sumpter, Joely Richardson, Julian Sands, and Goran Visnjic - kept me enthralled.

Favorite Enchanting French Woman: Marion Cotillard, Midnight in Paris

Cotillard, playing a fashion designer in 1920s Paris, defines the word "lovely." In this role being beautiful and charming would have been enough, but Cotillard brings thoughtfulness and depth as well. It is easy to understand why every man she meets is entranced.

Runner-up: Mélanie Laurent, Beginners

I was captivated by Laurent in Inglourious Basterds in 2009, and she is just as interesting here (albeit in a wildly different film) playing an independent-minded actress who tentatively falls in love.

Special Award for Stealth Acting: Viggo Mortensen, A Dangerous Method

Viggo the Shark strikes again. Mortensen's performance as Sigmund Freud illustrates his ability to glide through a scene with a quiet, strong presence. He doesn't seem to be doing anything special, then suddenly, he goes in for the kill and you realize he's been sizing you up the whole time.

MVP of the Year: Christopher Plummer, Beginners and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Christopher Plummer has been acting for almost 60 years, but it wasn't until late in life that he started to get really juicy roles. He got his first Oscar nomination in 2009; I hold out hope that he'll earn another this year for his graceful performance in Beginners. He gets my MVP award for that performance, as well as his strong work in Dragon Tattoo.

Runner-up: Mark Strong, The Guard and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

The first time I noticed Mark Strong I dubbed him "British Andy Garcia;" however, after a string of excellent supporting performances I've learned his name and I'm not likely to forget it.

Others of note: Keira Knightly, A Dangerous Method; Corey Stoll, Midnight in Paris; Giovanni Ribisi, The Rum Diary; Kathy Burke, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy; Patton Oswalt, Young Adult; Albert Brooks, Drive; Vincent Cassel, A Dangerous Method; James McAvoy, X-Men: First Class