Oscars 2012: The Shocks and Thoughts

WINNERS IN RED (IF YOU SOMEHOW COULD'NT TELL)








BEST PICTURE:
* The Artist
* The Descendants
* Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
* The Help
* Hugo
* Midnight in Paris
* Moneyball
* The Tree of Life
* War Horse

DIRECTING:
* Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)
* Alexander Payne (The Descendants)
* Martin Scorsese (Hugo)
* Woody Allen (Midnight in Paris)
* Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life)

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE:
* Jean Dujardin (The Artist)
* Demian Bichir (A Better Life)
* George Clooney (The Descendants)
* Gary Oldman (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)
* Brad Pitt (Moneyball)

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE:
* Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady)
* Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs)
* Viola Davis (The Help)
* Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)
* Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn)

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:
* Christopher Plummer (Beginners)
* Kenneth Branagh (My Week with Marilyn)
* Jonah Hill (Moneyball)
* Nick Nolte (Warrior)
* Max von Sydow (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close)

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:
* Octavia Spencer (The Help)
* Berenice Bejo (The Artist)
* Jessica Chastain (The Help)
* Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids)
* Janet McTeer (Albert Nobbs)

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY):
* The Descendants (Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash)
* Hugo (John Logan)
* The Ides of March (George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon)
* Moneyball (Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin, Stan Chervin)
* Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Bridget O'Connor, Peter Straughan)

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY):
* Midnight in Paris (Woody Allen)
* The Artist (Michel Hazanavicius)
* Bridesmaids (Annie Mumolo, Kristen Wiig)
* Margin Call (J.C. Chandor)
* A Separation (Asghar Farhadi)

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
* A Separation (Iran)
* Bullhead (Belgium)
* Footnote (Israel)
* In Darkness (Poland)
* Monsieur Lazhar (Canada)

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM:
* Rango
* A Cat in Paris
* Chico and Rita
* Kung Fu Panda 2
* Puss In Boots

ART DIRECTION:
* Hugo
* The Artist
* Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2
* Midnight in Paris
* War Horse

CINEMATOGRAPHY:
* Robert Richardson (Hugo)
* Guillaume Schiffman (The Artist)
* Jeff Cronenweth (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)
* Emmanuel Lubezki (The Tree of Life)
* Janusz Kaminski (War Horse)

COSTUME DESIGN:
* Mark Bridges (The Artist)
* Lisy Christl (Anonymous)
* Sandy Powell (Hugo)
* Michael O'Connor (Jane Eyre)
* Arianne Phillips (W.E.)

FILM EDITING:
* Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)
* Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)
* Kevin Tent (The Descendants)
* Thelma Schoonmaker (Hugo)
* Christopher Tellefsen (Moneyball)

DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE):
* Undefeated
* Hell and Back Again
* If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
* Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
* Pina

MAKEUP:
* The Iron Lady
* Albert Nobbs
* Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE):
* Ludovic Bource (The Artist)
* John Williams (The Adventures of Tintin)
* Howard Shore (Hugo)
* Alberto Iglesias (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)
* John Williams (War Horse)

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG):
* "Man or Muppet" from The Muppets
* "Real in Rio" from Rio

SOUND MIXING:
* Hugo
* The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
* Moneyball
* Transformers: Dark of the Moon
* War Horse

SOUND EDITING:
* Hugo
* Drive
* The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
* Transformers: Dark of the Moon
* War Horse

VISUAL EFFECTS:
* Hugo
* Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2
* Real Steel
* Rise of the Planet of the Apes
* Transformers: Dark of the Moon

DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT):
* Saving Face
* The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement
* God Is the Bigger Elvis
* Incident in New Baghdad
* The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED):
* The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
* Dimanche/Sunday
* La Luna
* A Morning Stroll
* Wild Life

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION):
* The Shore
* Pentecost
* Raju
* Time Freak
* Tuba Atlantic

Well there they are folks...








 The 2012 Academy Awards are over and the awards season has definitely ended with a bang. I personally found myself looking very excited for the show ever since those sweet n sour nominations were announced.

So in the end, how did it all turn out? I've decided to list some of thoughts of the show starting with...

The Host


Ever since it was announced that Billy Crystal would host this year's show, I was pretty extatic. I have always thought of him to be the absolute best Oscar host of his time and he always manages to infuse his trademark wit and best picture parodies seamlessly. This year for me was no exeption. Crystal delivered comepletly for me and I think he made the best oscar host the show has had in the past 4 years (since Hugh Jackman). He was deadpan during his opening number showcasing the 9 best picture nominees and his opening montage video had me bawling.  I already knew that this was one aspect of the show that would deliver, so I really don't think there's any need to continue discussing this. Crystal was great.

The Expected

The biggest problem with the past 7 shows(ever since the horrible Crash won) is that they are way too predictable. Last year, I was able to predict 22 out of the 24 categories including all the acting categories. This year however was a little different as I managed to predict 20 out of the 24 categories. But that's still just 4 Oscars. As far as acting goes, the likes of Christopher Plummer, Jean Dujardin and Octavia Spencer were easy calls from the beginning. Though unlike last year, I was completely fine to let them sweep the season unlike last year's Melissa Leo.

The Picture/Director categories were easy calls as well with the lovely but overrated Artist taking both categories on Oscar night. I can't say Im unhappy, though it would have been much more satisfying to see Hugo or Moneyball win since Drive and Dragon Tattoo weren't nominated. Of course it was also an easy call for Hugo's production design and The Artist's costume design and score. Also nice to see Woody Allen win Original Screenplay, it was a bit surprising to see him top Michel Hazanavicius but I wouldn't count it as a complete surprise.

The Unexpected


Meryl Streep winning Best Actress!!! WHAT!!!

Now I knew that see did have a strong chance of winning ever since she won the BAFTA but I consider it a complete travesty that deprived Viola Davis off her first Oscar. Call me pessimist but was it really that necessary to give Meryl Streep her 3rd Oscar? As much as I admire her work in Iron Lady which overall was a pretty terrible film in my humble opinion, Viola davis was a whole other level in The Help (which is also a movie I feel wasn't as good as people are saying it is) This was easily the biggest shock of the night, and the most disappointing.

One of the best surprises came in the form of Hugo winning 5 Oscars. I predicted 3, but I was overjoyed to hear its name called out for Visual Effects and cinematography. For a second there I thought it might just nab Best Picture. Also, on the topic of Visual Effects and Cinematography, despite being happy for Hugo to get these, I was very surprised not to hear Rise of the planet of the Apes and The Tree of Life not being called out in their respective categories. Apes easily was the most visually stimulating film of the year and Tree of Life was so magnificently shot, I thought it was a shoe in for the Oscar.

Also it was surprising to see the little known Undefeated to edge out Paradise Lost 3 for documentary. All of the films were great but that was quite a surprise. Still a shame to see Project Nim not on that list.

Now my favorite surprise of the night was for a relatively "smaller" Oscar, but an essential win for any film hoping to win Best Picture and that's Best Film Editing. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, one of my favorites of the year taking home this Oscar. This win once again reminded me that the Oscars really do look for the absolute best out of their nominees and don't just give the best picture winner or nominee the Oscar. keep in mind, this is the first time since 2008 that a non-Best Picture nominee has won this award and considering how much I liked the film, it was a glorious feeling to see Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter win their second consecutive Oscar and becoming the only editing team to ever do so.





Overall 

Well, there you have it. My thoughts on how it all went down on Oscar night. Overall, I was pleased with the show even if it was a tad too predictable. But I really can't say Im excited for next year's show. We are currently even before the possibilites phase, well maybe there's Sundance but its no call right now. More movie reviews to come!