"How can I be satisfied when everything's so overrated..."

As I began looking more at my challenge this year, I have begun to believe that it's going to be a little more attainable than last year. I, reluctantly, reissued my Netflix membership only because of this year's nominees ten are already on DVD and two of the documentaries are on the instant option. Last year I also was unaware until it was too late of the option to watch the nominated shorts on iTunes or whenever Shorts International were distributing the shorts to theaters shortly before the ceremonies. I am hoping this will happen again, according to the website this appears to be so.

This year I will be discussing the films by category instead of by individual film and will choose probable winners vs. those that I predict would actually take over the prize. Recently I finished watching Midnight in Paris and The Descendants (overrated, hence the Less Than Jake reference) so I've rounded out quite a few of the categories in the competition already. See below for my reviews.

Best Director

 Should win: Michael Hazanavicius, The Artist- The first time Oscar nominee wowed audiences on the festival circuit this year with his bold take on the silent film genre now nominated ten times. This love note to the films of the past made with wit and humor I was lucky enough to see at Telluride. Hazanavicius's fresh vision has given something that general audiences and cinephiles can both appreciated and that should be appreciated

Will win: Michael Scorcese, Hugo- With his win for The Departed and five other nominations, the Oscar vet seems to have a slight edge in this competition only because he is Scorcese and people within the industry love him. Mea culpas for neglecting him in the past and voters wondering how many more Marty still has in him could also be a factor in his win. Scorcese's 3D win would also vouch for artistic use of the third dimension with other directors and making ticket sales more bankable, something studio heads would love as a result of this year's decreasing sales reports.

Best Original Screenplay

Should win: Asghar Farhadi, A Separation- Another film that I was fortunate about seeing at Telluride this year was this gem of an Iranian film. A foreign film with subtitles coming in at a little over two hours sounds like a good nap time but I was quite shocked by how taken I was with the film. The writing and story plot are suspenseful and keeps you second guessing who to trust within the context of the characters. I was standing ten feet away from Werner Herzog when I heard him tell Farhadi that the film was "the best he'd seen since The Bicycle Thief" so there must be something to this film.

Will win: Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris- The man has has 3 Oscar wins (2 for Annie Hall and 1 for Hannah and Her Sisters) but has been nominated 21 times. Let me repeat, TWENTY ONE. My parents hated the film but then again, you have to like Allen in order to understand and love this film. Audiences seemed to like it and the all-star cast are encouraging. Midnight being Allen's highest grossing film to date should snag him the Oscar and ratio of wins to nominations.

Best Editing

Should win and Will win: Thelma Schoonmaker, Hugo- Some of the categories I am not too familiar with the criteria on how they will be judged so for the most part I will be making blind guesses. I'm assuming that Hugo will win based on the fact that it is the only 3D movie on the list. I do think the film is a tad bit too long but the only real competitor would be The Artist.

Best Art Direction

Should win: Stuart Craig and Stephanie McMillian, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2- This is another instance of not knowing too much about the category but I would like to see a win for this film. Craig and McMillian have worked on all of the Harry Potters films and think they deserve something for their fantastic vision. 

Will win: Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo, Hugo- Nominated for nine Oscars with 2 wins, I think Ferretti and Lo Schiavo will take the win on this one. It also helps that the film overall has been nominated a ton.

More to come! 21 down, 39 to go

2012 Oscar Nominations - also known as "what the what?!"

This morning the gorgeous star of the upcoming Hunger Games films, Jennifer Lawrence, announced this year's long awaited 2012 Oscar nominations. There is a ton of backlash and there very well should be. First off, I think the most heinous of all would be the Best Picture nomination for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Rotten Tomatoes currently has this particular film at a 48% rating. Mathematically speaking, that means that a little more than half of the people that saw the film did not like it while the next lowest rated film was The Help at 76%, meaning three out of four people like the film.  It is completely irrational that a film that ranks so low is up for Best Picture of the year especially since the Academy changed their rules the year that gave the ten picks more flexibility. Five percent of the voters must vote for a film in order to be eligible for a Best Picture nomination. Therefore, five percent of people in the Academy are complete dumbasses, excuse my language.

Here are some of the snubs that have been cited over the course of the day by myself and a few other cinephiles.

1. Michael Fassbender in Shame, he showed a lot of... emotion in this film (nudity jokes always welcome!)
2. The Adventures of Tin Tin in the animated category despite the fact that it won the Golden Globe and is really awesome, 
3. Tilda Swinton in We Need To Talk About Kevin being neglected for Rooney Mara in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Noomi Rapace did it better, just saying)
4. Ryan Gosling was not recognized for three highly acclaimed roles (Drive, The Ides of March and Crazy, Stupid, Love)
5. I personally would like to say how disappointed I was in the lack of awards the last few years for the Harry Potter series. David Yates did a hell of a job helming the last four films and its a true shame that they never recognized it.
6. Albert Brooks as his dark turn in Drive also has been said to be a snub though I have yet to see the film

I am loving the Octavia Spencer and Melissa McCarthy poopy nominations for Best Supporting Actress as well as the recognition of Demian Bichir in A Better Life which I have yet to see but hear is wonderful. "La Luna" by Pixar is a truly wonderful short as well as the documentary Pina really shows off its 3D chops. I also agreed with giving A Separation a nomination for Original Screenplay.

This year there are 60 films nominated, only 2 more than last year and granted I can count correctly, and I have seen 19 of them including:
The Help, The Artist, Hugo, Moneyball, The Tree of Life, War Horse, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Iron Lady, Bridesmaids, Puss in Boots, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2, Anonymous, Jane Eyre, Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, Pina, A Separation, The Adventures of Tin Tin, La Luna, and Margin Call.

Let it begin!

Golden Glob...zzz.....zzzz....zzzzz

I've waited to write about the Globes because I honestly didn't really know what to think about them this year. Firstly, I was incredibly bored. If they were going to reel in Ricky Gervais that much, they might as well have gotten a different host to make more people angry and thoroughly entertain us, the American public. DANCE MONKEYS DANCE. The most entertaining part of my night was seeing all of the hilarious tweets pop up on my Twitter feed. Shout out to a family friend Kerry for an incredibly laugh out loud series of tweets and text messages (little people jokes not excluded).

Secondly, no sweeps to keep me watching (3 wins for The Artists doesn't quantify as a sweep in my mind) and a lot of super safe bets as winners. I mean, come on, George Clooney? Though I haven't seen The Descendents yet, the buzz at Telluride was very mixed and the reviews are saying the same therefore I also don't understand the Best Drama win. I was also very confused about My Week With Marilyn being classified under the Comedy or Musical category. Seth Rogan even scoffed when announcing Michelle Williams' nomination for in "that hysterical comedy" My Week With Marilyn. As much as I love Marty Scorcese, I don't really think that Hugo should be considered the the Best Director winner either. Michel Hazanavicius or Woody Allen I would closer presume to be contenders in the Oscar race but we shall see in a little over a week.

Now, a small moment to divulge into the fashion. My favorites of the night would have to be Claire Danes, Emma Stone (not so secret girl crushes, thanks to Homeland and Easy A) and Helen Mirren (how I hope to look when I'm her age).

 

Fashion train wrecks? Madonna (ask Helen Mirren for some advice), Jessica Biel (looked like she was wearing my grandma's doily) and Amanda Peet (same as Jessica Biel). I am not even going to disgrace this post by posting the pictures. Check it out if you want to make yourself feel better about yourself.

Nine more days until the nominations! Gotta sign off now. Revenge is about to take over my attention span.

And so it begins....

One of my lovely Telluride Student Symposium-ites brought it to my attention that the SAG (Screen Actors Guild of AMURICAH) Award nominations came out yesterday. The ceremony which takes place on January 29th is one of the main indicators of what the Oscars will have in terms of the acting category. There are some surprises and some not so much. Megan McCarthy recognized in the supporting actresses category and the whole cast of Bridesmaid being recognized for Outstanding Cast. There is a Best Actor nod given to Carlos Galindo for A Better Life which  I have heard little to nothing about but based on the trailer it seems as though it could get some Oscar sympathies later on in the season. I'm going to assume that The Artist will clean up these awards though but we shall see.

Out this morning as well are the Golden Globes' nominations and this year they have further proved how much I think that it's not even worth my time. Somehow in the crazy universe that is the Globes, Megan McCarthy does not get a supporting actress nod and Jessica Chastain gets one for The Help? Can someone please explain this logic to me? I mean Jessica was good but it further proves how much award shows really don't appreciate comedy. No surprises with the Best Picture nominations in either category with the exception of switching out My Week with Marilyn for Crazy, Stupid, Love in the Best Comedy/Musical category. I'm also loving the double nominations for Ryan Gosling for Ides of March and Crazy, Stupid, Love (watch out Clooney!) and for Kate Winslet for both the TV mini series Mildred Pierce (quite possibly the most depressing thing I have ever seen) and Carnage.

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No Fincher nomination for The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo which I have no problem with since Fincher seems like a complete jerk but I guess I shouldn't judge a director by his over inflamed ego.

I am also confused as to why Cars 2 got a nomination at all. Everyone knows that Pixar dropped the ball with this one, maybe to give others a chance at winning animation awards. I think it was a pity nomination on the part of the Globes and will definitely not be winning with other wonderfully made films such as Arthur Christmas and The Adventures of Tin Tin (Spielberg directed = surefire win).

Little to nothing for A Dangerous Method, thank god. Keira Knightly thoroughly crushed my love for her with that ridiculous Russian accent. My old apartment use to do Russian accents for kicks and giggles (an incredibly long and silly story) so seeing as our silly, non-trained accents sound similar if not better than Keira's means there is a problem. Cronenberg, where were you to rein her in?!

Recently saw War Horse another potential nominee and I am hoping to also catch Beginners and Midnight in Paris within the coming weeks.

I'm so STARSTRUCK

Within the last six months, I have met more "famous people" including actors, actresses, directors and writers than I could have ever even imagined possible. I was always the person that had their back turned as Michelle Obama walked through the American University campus until now. Luck has dealt me some pretty good hands.

My famous people streak started about six months back when I was helping out with a screening at Allied where the writers of a really fantastic film called Insidious was being touted as the next really great horror film. Much to my surprise Leigh Whannell, also known as the guy that created the original Saw, was to attend the screening and participate in a Q&A session after the film. The same happened whenever documentarian Morgan Spurlock came to DC to promote POM Wonderful's The Greatest Movie Ever Sold. He introduced himself to me after I was awkwardly smiling at him by saying "Hi, I'm Morgan". As if I didn't know, good sir!

Telluride obviously takes the cake on celebrity sitings. I got to personally talk to Wim Wenders, Werner Herzog, Lynne Ramsey, Ken Burns, George Clooney, Ty Burrell and last but most certainly not least, the GORGEOUS, smart, personable and most modest Tilda Swinton. When the leaders of my Student Symposium first began asking her questions, they started with "Ms Swinton..." to which she quickly replied "Oh please, call me Tilda". OH OKAY, Tilda.

The past week will go down in my personal history as the week that I not only met Patton Oswalt, comedian, TV side character and surprisingly wonderful dramatic actor, but also the wonderful MERYL STREEP. Yes, you read this correctly. I had the honor and privilege of meeting one of the most well respected and talented actresses in the business. Meryl was in town to promote her new Academy buzzed about film The Iron Lady, which somehow I keep inadvertently combining with War Horse making a completely new movie called The Iron Horse (unknown to me until .02 seconds ago that there was a movie in 1924 called The Iron Horse). Though she was in a frenzy after coming directly from a reception with senators and other DC elite, she took the time to say hello to myself and a few co-workers. I tried really hard not to let me jaw drop or freak out like a 13 year old girl seeing a boy band in concert.

You now may be wondering, where are the pictures? This is what happens when you see all these people in a professional atmosphere. No pictures. Only wonderful memories.

Adding to my list though of potential Academy nominees, I've now seen The Iron Lady, Young Adult and Tree of Life (what a disappointment! Thank you to the lovely Laura Castelli for sitting through dinosaurs with me)

It's beginning to feel a lot like AWARDS SEASON

During my break from my *gulp* last few weeks at American University, I am currently sitting on my lovely living room couch, finishing my third day's turkey dinner feast while watching the Indiana Jones marathon on USA (thankfully excluding the most recent and most disturbing of the Indy series). Simultaneously I begin flipping through my back issues of EW (I know you're thinking, how does she do it all? I don't because I didn't even notice that one Indy movie changed into a different one during this time. But honestly, there isn't much of a difference between the 2nd and 3rd with the exception of Sean Connery, of course. Ramble, ramble. Back to my point). As I read about their current Academy Award guesses for the ceremonies in February, it made me think about this funnily failed project of mine and decided that I am going to attempt this again and here is why:

1. I am graduating college and will actually have time to do it, or so I think.
2. I was lucky enough to be invited to attend the Telluride Film Festival as part of the Student Symposium. I feel that this has given me a bit of a leg up on last year.
3. My internship at Allied Integrated Marketing has also given me access to see some of the most buzzed about films.
4. I might be going slightly crazy.
5. Most importantly, my pride is hurt.

Here is a short list of films that I have already seen that will make it to some category within the awards, in my opinion: The Artist, Pina, The Adventures of Tin Tin, Hugo, The Help, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2, Shame, We Need to Talk About Kevin, The Forgiveness of Blood, The Kid with the Bike, Le Havre, The Help, A Dangerous Method and last but certainly not least, Bridesmaids.

Seriously, can the Academy give a comedic actress the chance? Melissa  McCarthy, you are my hero.

January 24th gives way to the nominations for the February 26th ceremony. Can't wait to see this year's snubs!

Failure. I'm finally facing it.

Hello faithful followers,

I apologize for not having written earlier than this but the combination of Spring Break and school just being coo coo bananas as my dear friend Filley would say have prolonged this inevitable post.

I have failed my blog challenge. It is weird to say out loud, or should I say type out, but the people in my life that I know have already figured this out. The unfortunate inability to find some movies at all, lack of money and overall lack of time has caused my downfall. I feel truly terrible about it because I had made such a big deal about it to everyone and because I really wanted to do this.

For now, I will have to face the music and wait a whole year for the next set of nominations and awards. Since I will already have graduated, hopefully with a job, by the next annual Academy Awards, I anticipate a better effort on my part. Until then, this blog will be a weekly posting on industry updates and shockers. I won't overload this blog post and will write again tomorrow for all you interested in the lastest and greatest in entertainment.