Oscar Opinions: War Horse (2011)

So I'm still pondering the greatness of Malick's Tree. Gallop with me on my thoughts of War Horse. Well, it's my bad that I was too lazy to write some other Oscar Opinions, but finally, I did it.

THOUGHTS:
I wrote a review for my school newspaper, and you can read my review below.

"Have you ever been close to something, even attached? That’s Albert’s situation in Spielberg’s War Horse, about Joey the horse’s life on the WWI battlefield. The beginning starts of almost like an unfunny comedy, with flimsy dialogue and unfitting music. As the war evolves, the film improves rapidly to an incredible war film. The film could be a masterpiece, but the first 30 minutes hurt the film’s chance of perfection."

The stuff is true. What is posted above is 100% true. I hated the beginning, and I could see why people didn't like it, like Christy Lemire.

And the nominees are...

Go Tree of Life! Go Artist! Go Help! Go Descendants! Go Hugo! Extremely Loud can suck it!

BEST PICTURE
The Artist – Thomas Langmann, Producer
The Descendants – Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close – Scott Rudin, Producer
The Help – Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers
Hugo – Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers
Midnight in Paris – Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers
Moneyball – Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt,Producers
The Tree of Life – Nominees to be determined
War Horse – Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers

Actress in a Leading Role
Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis, The Help
Rooney Mara, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Michelle Williams, My Week with Marilyn

Actor in a Leading Role
Demián Bichir, A Better Life
George Clooney, The Descendants
Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Brad Pitt, Moneyball

Actress in a Supporting Role
Bérénice Bejo, The Artist
Jessica Chastain, The Help
Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids
Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer, The Help

Actor in a Supporting Role
Kenneth Branagh, My Week with Marilyn
Jonah Hill, Moneyball
Nick Nolte, Warrior
Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Max von Sydow, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Directing
The Artist, Michel Hazanavicius
The Descendants, Alexander Payne
Hugo, Martin Scorsese
Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen
The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
The Descendants, Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
Hugo, Screenplay by John Logan
The Ides of March, Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
Moneyball, Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin, Story by Stan Chervin
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Screenplay by Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan

Writing (Original Screenplay)
The Artist, Written by Michel Hazanavicius
Bridesmaids, Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
Margin Call, Written by J.C. Chandor
Midnight in Paris, Written by Woody Allen
A Separation, Written by Asghar Farhadi

Animated Feature Film
A Cat in Paris, Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
Chico & Rita, Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
Kung Fu Panda 2, Jennifer Yuh Nelson
Puss in Boots, Chris Miller
Rango, Gore Verbinski

Art Direction
The Artist
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
War Horse

Cinematography
The Artist, Guillaume Schiffman
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Jeff Cronenweth
Hugo, Robert Richardson
The Tree of Life, Emmanuel Lubezki
War Horse, Janusz Kaminski

Costume Design
Anonymous, Lisy Christl
The Artist, Mark Bridges
Hugo, Sandy Powell
Jane Eyre, Michael O’Connor
W.E., Arianne Phillips

Foreign Language Film
Bullhead, Belgium
Footnote, Israel
In Darkness, Poland
Monsieur Lazhar, Canada
A Separation, Iran

Documentary Feature
Hell and Back Again, Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth
Liberation Front, Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky
Pina, Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel
Undefeated, TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas

Film Editing
The Artist, Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
The Descendants, Kevin Tent
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
Hugo, Thelma Schoonmaker
Moneyball, Christopher Tellefsen

Makeup
Albert Nobbs, Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight and Lisa Tomblin
The Iron Lady, Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland

Music (Original Score)
The Adventures of Tintin, John Williams
The Artist, Ludovic Bource
Hugo, Howard Shore
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Alberto Iglesias
War Horse, John Williams

Music (Original Song)
“Man or Muppet,” The Muppets, Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
“Real in Rio,” Rio, Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown, Lyric by Siedah Garrett

Georgia Critics love Trees and Brad Pitt.

So, for the first time in a long time, a critic group gave The Tree of Life a sweep. The winners below.

Best Picture: “The Tree of Life”

Best Director: Terrence Malick, “The Tree of Life”

Best Actress: Juliette Binoche, “Certified Copy”

Best Actor: Brad Pitt, “Moneyball”

Best Supporting Actress: Jessica Chastain, “The Tree of Life”

Best Supporting Actor: Brad Pitt, “The Tree of Life”

Best Original Screenplay: Woody Allen, “Midnight in Paris”

Best Adapted Screenplay: Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin, “Moneyball”

Best Foreign Language Film: “Certified Copy”

Best Animated Film: “The Adventures of Tintin”

Best Documentary: “Senna”

Best Ensemble: “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”

Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki, “The Tree of Life”

Best Art Direction: Jack Fisk, “The Tree of Life”

Best Original Score: John Williams, “War Horse”

Best Original Song: Bret McKenzie, “Man or Muppet,” “The Muppets”

Breakthrough Award: Jessica Chastain

Excellence in Georgia Cinema: “Sahkanaga”

Roger Ebert writes about the Oscars.

So Roger Ebert is unanimously the greatest film critic of all time. That's my opinion too, with the late Gene Siskel in a close second place. Anyway, Roger has written an article about whole enchilada, his opinion on what will be nominated and what won't be. What's funny is that he left off War Horse, and instead put Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Funny, that man is, but War Horse is losing some big momentum, and is sinking faster than a... well.... I can't think of a metaphor right this minute. You can read the article here:

American Society of Cinematographers Nominees

The following is nominated for the American Society of Cinematographers. No War Horse? Good.

Guillaume Schiffman, AFC (The Artist)
Jeff Cronenweth, ASC (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)
Robert Richardson, ASC (Hugo)
Hoyte van Hoytema, FSF, NSC (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)
Emmanuel Lubezki, ASC, AMC (The Tree of Life)

North Texas Film Critics Winners!

Spielberg suck-ups below:

BEST PICTURE
War Horse

BEST DIRECTOR
Martin Scorsese / Hugo

BEST ACTOR
George Clooney / The Descendants

BEST ACTRESS
Viola Davis / The Help

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christopher Plummer / Beginners

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Octavia Spencer / The Help

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Janusz Kainski / War Horse

BEST ANIMATED
The Adventures of Tin Tin

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Being Elmo

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
A Separation (Persian: جدایی نادر از سیمین,Jodái-e Náder az Simin)

War film analysis

I have yet to see War Horse, and as I type, I'm watch The Thin Red Line on my laptop. First off, there's no battle scene in this film that can challenge the opening in Saving Private Ryan, a film that came out the same year, and they both competed for Oscar hot-seat. However, The Thin Red Line is much more human than Spileberg's epic, and Malick's film, when it meanders, does it well.

PGA Nominees Announced!

FOR BEST PRODUCTION:

THE ARTIST
Producer: Thomas Langmann

BRIDESMAIDS
Producers: Judd Apatow, Barry Mendel, Clayton Townsend

THE DESCENDANTS
Producers: Jim Burke, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
Producers: Ceán Chaffin, Scott Rudin

THE HELP
Producers: Michael Barnathan, Chris Columbus, Brunson Green

HUGO
Producers: Graham King, Martin Scorsese

THE IDES OF MARCH
Producers: George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Brian Oliver

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
Producers: Letty Aronson, Stephen Tenenbaum

MONEYBALL
Producers: Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz, Brad Pitt

WAR HORSE
Producers: Kathleen Kennedy, Steven Spielberg

84th Oscars: Best Picture Nominees

If you were to ask anyone who the Oscar front runner is, you'll hear The Artist, The Descendants, or even Moneyball. (Yes, I'm talking about Sasha Stone,). The fact that there is no real front runner is a delight, and makes the game a real guess.

I'm going to say there is about a 5% chance of Bridesmaids being nominated. I'm extending the margin just in case it happens. I would also put a 3% chance on J. Edgar, because... it's not that good. Drive would have a 15% chance, despite it's goodness.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Gee, I'm giving it a 50/50 chance. (The movie 50/50 is getting a 1% chance, even though it looks good,). One of my last articles, Extreme Loss and Incredible Crap? is unfairly titled, but EL&IC is losing chances with a now 65% tomato-meter. It's pretty much holding on by Daldry and Hanks. Horn's performance is too divisive.

Speaking of divisive, The Tree of Life (My favorite movie of 2011!). It's quite divisive, just read the RT reviews here. It has a 61% audience approval rating, but an 84% Critics Rank. Either way, I think with Daldry's loss, the year's best film will become a nominee. I'm giving it a 75% chance of being nominated.

On the note of 75, that's the RT score for The Help. It's probably the year's "Audience picks" nominee, one that parents at home probably saw. I'm not going to lie, but I actually liked it quite a bit. It's a good flair of comedy and drama, and I really want Viola Davis to win Best Actress. In fact, I think the performances keep the whole film afloat. They are hard to ignore, so... 90% chance of being nominated in my book.

Over Christmas Break, I want to see The Descendants and The Artist, the two real front runners. There was a third, War Horse, but it's losing chances. The Descendants, 99.9%. The Artist, 100% (My bet to win,). War Horse, 95%.

In fact, if you want to be nominated, be different. The Tree of Life and The Artist are probably the most different films out of the bunch. The former being more divisive.