...those pesky #1's...

Metacritic keeps a tally of votes from top 10 lists. They did it two years ago, they did it last year, and their doing it this year. Last year, The Tree of Life trumped because it had 23 total first and second place votes. The Artist had 20 votes. Both became Best Picture nominees. Two years ago, The Social Network and Winter's Bone both were on top. Both became Best Picture nominees. This year, Zero Dark Thirty tops with 34 first and second place votes. Does this say anything about being nominated? No, since ZDT is basically a lock for a nomination. But second place, The Master, has 24 top slot seats. Does this say anything about being nominated? No, but it's a good sign that if The Master is doing well on top 10's, Academy members with similar tastes would also put it at equal heights. Same with #3 on the list, another Anderson film, Moonrise Kingdom. It has 15 mentions on #1 and #2 spots. These are the coveted spots needed for a Best Picture nomination. Still, there are Academy members with similar tastes as these top 10 folk, so this MUST be accounted for. I don't think The Master and Moonrise Kingdom stand as much a chance as Lincoln, but please don't be surprised if both are nominated.

You can read the discussed list here.

Malick's next wonder is titled and rated.

If people ask me my most anticipated film this year, it's a three-way tie between The Dark Knight Rises, The Master, and Untitled Terrence Malick Project. Until now.

Malick, a very enigmatic and quality-over-quantity filmmaker, is slamming and going in reverse. Last year he brought us the masterful The Tree of Life, and this year is bringing us To the Wonder.

Wonder is rated R, for sex/nudity. I won't be surprised if it's shopped around at Cannes, or makes a splash in Venice. If it comes out this year or next, I'm psyched either way.

2012 Cannes!

I've been eagarly awaiting this year's Cannes Film Festival ever since The Tree of Life won big last year. Unfortuantely, this year's lineup is... disappointing.

There's a healthy amount of english-language films in the festival, including On the Road, Moonrise Kingdom, Cosmopolis, Killing Them Softly, The Paperboy, Mud, and Lawless.

I'm mainly disappointed by the lack of Malick and PT Anderson, or a suprise screening of Prometheus. On the bright side, I'm happy that Cosmopolis made it, and am still rooting for Moonrise Kingdom. Full competition below.

Masterpieces Classics: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

Yes, I realize that this film is of recent release, and that may not define it as a classic. But, I cannot deny the film of being a masterpiece because it simply is one. Its future uncertain, but I hope that as I age, I will hear the word "Benjamin Button" and "Classic" used in the same sentence.

I'm sure that most of you know what the story is, but for those who don't, here follows. Benjamin Button, born an old man in the Jazz era, ages backwards. You see his life and history revolve around him, and most of all, his relationship with a dancer named Daisy.

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.

Oscars Analysis

So last Sunday was the Oscars. Am I mad? Slightly. Am I disoppointed? Slightly. But did I laugh? Yes, I did. Billy Crystal was quite an improvement over Anne Hathaway, and I'm not counting Franco because he really didn't host. On my predictions I posted, I decided to list the 8 big categories: Best Picture, Director, Acting, and Writing. I only missed one, and that was Meryl Streep for Best Actress. Throughout the show, I was shocked with the Hugo success. I though it would only win Best Sound Editing and Sound Mixing. Stealing cinematography The Tree of Life? Really?

Anyways, I analyzed the list of winners, and saw that Hugo and The Artist both nabbed 5 awards. The Overrated Iron Lady was the only other film to get more than one award, taking Best Makeup and Best Actress. And I though The Help would be the other film to get more than one!

In the Best Editing, I was surprised with Dragon Tatoo's success. It was snubbed for Best Picture and Best Score, and I thought the music was the year's most badass. Judging from the trailer's, Tattoo looks like it was snazzily edited, but its win was still a surprise.

I did some predictions on the Oscar website, and I got 17 right out of 24. The main ones I missed were Best Cinematography and Actress, and got a 70.83% overall. Not bad for my second year, and last year I got a 54.16%, so I'm shooting for the stars for next year.

Oscar Opinions: Moneyball (2011)

Another homerun by Bennett Miller.

QUICK OPINIONS:
The film itself is actually very basic. What it is is Billy Beane, manager of the Oakland A's, is trying to make a better team. Problem is, that the team is 'under 50 feet of crap'. Beane brings in Peter Brand, a newly graduated stats freak. Peter thinks that a cheap team is possible, and they just need to find the 'misfit toys'. It's as most critics put it, 'a baseball movie that is for people who don't like baseball'.

I found out about this movie almost a year ago, and I put it on the top of my Oscar predictions, next to The Tree of Life. I was very happy that the film got a nomination. I cannot wait for Miller's next film, with Steve Carrell, Foxcatcher. No it's not the best film of the year, but it's one of. 'B+'

The Tree of Life wins at the ASC!

Go Lubezki! His acclaimed cinematography has won at the American Society of Cinematographers Awards, or ASC. Here's hoping for Oscar gold!

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

ICS Nominees!

The International Cinephiles Society has announced their nominees! A Separation leads the pack.

PICTURE
• Certified Copy
• Drive
• Hugo
• Margaret
• Meek’s Cutoff
• Melancholia
• Mysteries of Lisbon
• A Separation
• The Tree of Life
• Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
• Weekend

DIRECTOR
• Asghar Farhadi – A Separation
• Abbas Kiarostami – Certified Copy
• Terrence Malick – The Tree of Life
• Nicolas Winding Refn – Drive
• Raoul Ruiz – Mysteries of Lisbon

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
• Certified Copy
• House of Pleasures
• Le Havre
• Le Quattro Volte
• Mysteries of Lisbon
• Of Gods and Men
• Poetry
• A Separation
• The Skin I Live In
• Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

ACTOR
• Tom Cullen – Weekend
• Michael Fassbender – Shame
• Peyman Moaadi – A Separation
• Chris New – Weekend
• Michael Shannon – Take Shelter

ACTRESS
• Sareh Bayat – A Separation
• Juliette Binoche – Certified Copy
• Elizabeth Olsen – Martha Marcy May Marlene
• Anna Paquin – Margaret
• Yun Jung-hee – Poetry

SUPPORTING ACTOR
• Albert Brooks – Drive
• Shahab Hosseini – A Separation
• Michael Lonsdale – Of Gods and Men
• Brad Pitt – The Tree of Life
• Christopher Plummer – Beginners

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
• Jessica Chastain – Take Shelter
• Jessica Chastain – The Tree of Life
• Leila Hatami – A Separation
• Carey Mulligan – Shame
• J. Smith-Cameron – Margaret

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
• Certified Copy – Abbas Kiarostami
• Margaret – Kenneth Lonergan
• Midnight in Paris – Woody Allen
• A Separation – Asghar Farhadi
• Weekend – Andrew Haigh

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
• Drive – Hossein Amini, James Sallis
• Moneyball – Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin, Stan Chervin, Michael Lewis
• Mysteries of Lisbon – Carlos Saboga, Camilo Castelo Branco
• The Skin I Live In – Agustín Almodóvar, Pedro Almodóvar, Thierry Jonquet
• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Bridget O’Connor, Peter Straughan, John le Carré

CINEMATOGRAPHY
• Drive – Newton Thomas Sigel
• Melancholia – Manuel Alberto Claro
• The Mill and the Cross – Lech Majewski, Adam Sikora
• Mysteries of Lisbon – André Szankowski
• The Tree of Life – Emmanuel Lubezki

EDITING
• Drive – Matthew Newman
• Martha Marcy May Marlene – Zachary Stuart-Pontier
• Mysteries of Lisbon – Carlos Madaleno, Valeria Sarmiento
• A Separation – Hayedeh Safiyari
• The Tree of Life – Hank Corwin, Jay Rabinowitz, Daniel Rezende, Billy Weber, Mark Yoshikawa

PRODUCTION DESIGN
• Hugo – Dante Ferretti
• The Mill and the Cross – Marcel Slawinski, Katarzyna Sobanska-Strzalkowska
• Mysteries of Lisbon – Isabel Branco
• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Maria Djurkovic
• The Tree of Life – Jack Fisk

ORIGINAL SCORE
• Drive – Cliff Martinez
• Hanna – Tom Rowlands, Ed Simons (as The Chemical Brothers)
• Mysteries of Lisbon – Jorge Arriagada
• The Skin I Live In – Alberto Iglesias
• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Alberto Iglesias

ENSEMBLE
• Bridesmaids
• Margaret
• Midnight in Paris
• Mysteries of Lisbon
• A Separation
• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

ANIMATED FILM
• The Adventures of Tintin
• Rango
• Winnie the Pooh

DOCUMENTARY
• The Arbor
• The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu
• Nostalgia for the Light
• Pina
• Senna

BEST PICTURE NOT RELEASED IN 2011
• Alps
• Century of Birthing
• Declaration of War
• The Deep Blue Sea
• Elena
• Faust
• The Kid with a Bike
• Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
• This Is Not a Film
• The Turin Horse

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”

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)

NSFC Winners!

BEST PICTURE
*1. Melancholia – 29 (Lars von Trier)
2. The Tree of Life – 28 (Terrence Malick)
3. A Separation – 20 (Asghar Farhardi)

BEST DIRECTOR
*1. Terrence Malick – 31 (The Tree of Life)
2. Martin Scorsese – 29 (Hugo)
3. Lars von Trier – 23 (Melancholia)

BEST ACTOR
*1. Brad Pitt – 35 (Moneyball, The Tree of Life)
2. Gary Oldman – 22 (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)
3. Jean Dujardin – 19 (The Artist)

BEST ACTRESS
*1. Kirsten Dunst – 39 (Melancholia)
2. Yun Jung-hee – 25 (Poetry)
3. Meryl Streep – 20 (The Iron Lady)

National Society of Film Critics: How much is it worth?

With the NSFC announcing in a few hours, there's only a few things on my mind: playing well at my orchestra function, and The Tree of Life.

You see, if the film wins big here and at the DGA's, it would make the film a lock. NSFC has been giving love to Malick however, giving him Best Director in 1978, and choosing him as a runner-up in 1998.

In 2005, in fact, the NSFC was the only reason Bennet Miller's masterful Capote made the cut in the BP lineup. In fact, come January 20-something, most predicted Walk the Line as the 5th nominee. I'm happy the situation played out like so.

DGA's: The turning point come Oscars.

What do I mean? This has been on my mind for the longest time. Recently, Sasha Stone of AwardsDaily said that Tate Taylor of  The Help will make the cut come Monday. I'm scared.

So today I saw Bridesmaids. I liked it, but to rank it above The Tree of Life at the PGA's? Were the voters high or something? If Terrence Malick makes the cut for Best Director, he will not only save his biographical masterpiece from not making the cut, it will damage Bridesmaids, too. Unless, Bridesmaids take a stake at the #8 spot belonging to Moneyball.

The thing is, if Tate Taylor makes it as Best Director, that would be bad. I mean, The Help was terrific and all, but does Tate deserve it? He could at least make a few more films before we could make a final judgement.

Really, I don't hate Bridesmaids. It can go take a Best Original Screenplay nom for all I care. If director Paul Feig makes it in, though, for Bridesmaids is a Best Picture LOCK!

Why Jessica Chastain could be the most awesome celebrity working today.

Jessica Chastain is probably the breakout star of 2011. But, did you know how cool she is? Here are some reasons why:

1. She works with awesome people. To my knowledge, Chassy is the only person who's made a movie with Al Pacino, Terrence Malick, AND Brad Pitt. Pretty cool.

2. She can tackle a variety of roles.
She announced yesterday that she will do Broadway. She did comedy in The Help. Drama in The Tree of Life, and action in The Debt.

3. She socializes with fans.
Lots of celebrities have Facebook pages, and Chastain is no exception. But, Jessica actually talks to her fans on other wall posts and comments.

Those are just a few reasons why Jessica Chastain just might be the most awesome celebrity.

84th Oscars: Visual Effects Shortlist

The following films will contend for a Best Visual Effects nom.

“Captain America: The First Avenger”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″
“Hugo”
“Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol”
“Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides”
“Real Steel”
“Rise of the Planet of the Apes”
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon”
“The Tree of Life”
“X-Men: First Class”

Online Film Critics Society Winners

Winners for the Online Film Critics Society have been posted. Already leading in the number of nominations, The Tree of Life five awards, and was the only film to get more than one award. The winners posted below.

Best Picture:
The Tree of Life

Best Animated Feature:
Rango

Best Director:
Terrence Malick – The Tree of Life

My top 10 favorite films of 2011.

With 2011 ending in 3 and a half hours, I have decided to post my top 10 favorite films of this year. 2011 was a good year. I had to leave some good films this year. Beginners, Rise of the Planet of the Apes...

10. The Help
09. The Ides of March
08. War Horse
07. Midnight in Paris
06. Drive
05. Moneyball
04. The Descendants
03. The Artist
02. Hugo
01. The Tree of Life

84th Oscars: Best Director Nominees

I'm addicted to checking the score for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Last I've read, it has a 49% on RT, and a 40 on Metacritic. In fact, it's on the brink of being "Generally unfavorable". What I really hope is that the Academy isn't too Daldry bias. Come January, I don't want to hear the film's name being announced. Scratch that, I wouldn't mind Max von Sydow being announced.

A real lock for the Best Director nomination is Michel Hazanavicus, for directing The Artist. I would say his biggest win is at NYFCC, and there are other groups that I am too lazy to name.

Besides him, there are two other big shots: Terrence Malick (I'm not bias,) and Martin Scorsese. I can easily profess that Scorsese is my favorite director, and debatably the greatest of all time. Already he has won the National Board of Review for Hugo and also been nominated for the Golden Globe.

Malick's nomination is nearly as divisive as his film itself. He won at Chicago and LAFCA, but missed at Golden Globes.

I would want to say that if critics were Oscar voters, The Social Network would have won last year, and Nicolas Winding Refn would be a nomination lock for this year. However, I don't see high prospects for Drive, or Refn himself. Bummer.

All in all, Daldry's luck has run out, Scorsese and Hazanavicus are locks, and Malick will probably make it. Alexander Payne needs to step up his game if he wants the nomination, and Woody Allen will duke it out with Spielberg for the last spot. Sounds fun.