OSCAR 2011: The Winners and Why

Last night's Academy Awards was, to say the least, surprising, but not necessarily in a good way. In fact, I have to admit I would have been a lot happier if we had absolutely no surprises. Realistically, that didn't happen, and we got plenty of shocking moments that simply didn't need to happen. "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" took home an Oscar for the absolute worst aspect of the film. "Hugo" took awards for technical aspects that simply didn't support it, all the while I was reminded of how soulless a feature Scorsese's latest was. But if there's a single win that defines the disappointment I feel this morning, it's Meryl Streep winning Best Actress.

From the very start of the evening, we saw Viola Davis absolutely working it on the red carpet, and I couldn't have felt happier for her. This was her night, and the Academy refused to recognize it. If she had taken the stage, last night would have been absolutely perfect in my memory. I don't blame Meryl Streep for winning. You have to blame the Academy for simply making the wrong decision and not voting on what's simply better and more deserving. Meryl Streep didn't need another award, but even more than that, her getting countless awards for performances like this is like giving Adam Sandler an Oscar for "Jack and Jill" because he was great in "Punch-Drunk Love" in the past. For the most part, however, I was pleased with what was predicted to win "The Artist"s wins were extremely heartfelt, and "A Separation" was just a great moment.

THE LISTS: My 5 Favorite Oscar Wins

I could go on about how this Oscar season has been a treacherous road from the start, or some other jargon you've heard dozens of times before and will likely hear dozens of times again. However, I felt applied towards a list for this occasion, and one that strays on the much more optimistic side of things. I've been watching the Academy Awards since March 24th, 2002, when the biggest award I remember was "Shrek" winning Best Animated Feature. Of course, the young mind will only remember that which is acquainted well with it, but since then I have had plenty of significant Oscar moments based on the phenomenon of who won.

In picking out five, I felt inclined to strip away the facade of what was most overwhelmingly deserving. As such, Heath Ledger's Best Supporting Actor win for his knife-edge performance in "The Dark Knight" didn't make the cut, because I didn't feel the moment. Everyone knew it was going to win, but to the point where nobody really cared as much as they should have when it happened. To me, this list always had to be about the passion I felt for the winners, sometimes at that moment, and others massively in retrospect. This night marks ten years in the game, however inadvertently, and I doubt a win will surface that disrupts one of these, but I remain optimistic that it will.

AWARDS 2011: Indie Spirit Winners

Well no, I can't say that really worked out to well for my predictions. With hopes for "Drive", "Take Shelter", and "Shame" to pick up some well deserved accolades this afternoon, none of that happened. The result was a decidedly indifferent afternoon of doling out awards to "The Artist", "The Descendants", "Beginners", "My Week with Marilyn", and... well, whatever. Point is, this simply did not do, and that's all I have to say about that.

Best Feature: "The Artist"

Best Actor: Jean Dujardin ("The Artist")

Best Actress: Michele Williams ("My Week with Marilyn")

Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer ("Beginners")

Best Supporting Actress: Shailene Woodley ("The Descendants")

Ranking 2011's Oscar Nominated Films

I've had the feeling that I saw less Oscar nominated movies this year than in previous years. Not so. In fact I feel less complete in Oscar knowledge this year than in previous years when I had seen more films nominated. This year, it scales out to 24, only 5 of which I'd profess to truly love, and only one of those is nominated where it most matters. "Drive" only has one nomination to its name. The worst film I saw of the bunch, until today, was "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2", and it has three, which I suppose is somewhat deserving, but it only repeats the Academy's favoritism towards glitzy, gaudy, and obvious.

If nothing else, this gives me an outlet for ranking some of the other films that didn't make the cut past the top 20. I have no doubt people will think I'm crazy in ranking "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" above "The Tree of Life", "The Descendants", and "The Adventures of Tintin", but for the life of me I had more of an experience in Michael Bay's rampant actioner than I did with those that rank lower than it. Anything lower than 20, I did not like, so the majority of the films nominated that I've seen, I do enjoy them. I think that they are rather good. It doesn't change the fact that there are better films out there that simply aren't being represented here, and that's a shame.

Indie Spirit Awards Predictions

Let me emphasize that the Indie Spirit Awards are usually the fun about Oscar weekend. We could get to the tailend of this weekend and have that not be true. This could be a relatively boring rehash of "The Artist"s usual success, and that's fine, but we have the Oscars for that. Which is why I am far and away going for "Drive", "Martha Marcy May Marlene", "Take Shelter", and "Shame" to clean up this evening. Will it happen? probably not. It's a bit of a strain to think that "The Artist" would only take home one award. But let's dare to be adventurous this weekend, shall we? Isn't that so much more fun?

Now there are obviously places where I know that what I want to win isn't going to win. "50/50" has a certain chance in the screenplay category, as does "Beginners". J.C. Chandor's "Margin Call" could snap up the debut director/writer credits, which would be a massive shame. Michelle Williams could snatch up actress, and Jean Dujardin is more than likely for Actor. But I'm game with thinking that this could be so delightfully up in the air this particular year. Or maybe not, but "Black Swan" and "Winter's Bone" both took home some deserving wins last year. I'm hoping for the rush of the new to beat out the nostalgia of the old.

And Here We Go: Final Oscar Predictions

In officially nailing down my final predictions, or in other words, the bets I'm going to be calling on Oscar night, I realized something rather fortunate. In the context of most of these categories, I'm rather fine with the winners. I rather love "The Artist", for all its wit and mindful pastiche, and it certainly stirred emotions in me a great deal more than any of the other contenders this year. I'm sure there are categories in which I'd rather "The Artist" win, but I don't have it down. The primary one, for me anyway, is cinematography, but I'm going to play the optimist in saying that the faith so many have put on "The Tree of Life" all season hasn't been wasted.

But I even have "The Artist" down for Original Screenplay, echoing the choice the BAFTAs made. I imagine that they're not going to look too superficially at it as undeserving because it's a silent film. And yes, I'm assuming "Midnight in Paris" will go home emptyhanded. Much as I enjoyed it, that's something I expect to happen. The performance categories are irreversible at this point, almost depressingly so in terms of that search for surprise. But let's reflect, shall we? This year, 82-year-old Christopher Plummer, who had not been nominated until last year, will receive his first, and deserving, Academy Award.

It'll be the first time two black actresses win in the same year, the second time two black performances win in the same year, but the first time the two winners would be from the same film. The first time was between Forrest Whitaker of "The Last King of Scotland" and Jennifer Hudson of "Dreamgirls". I don't mean to make it seem like more than it is, but this year is distinctly less prejudicial against race, age, or nationality. After all, a French comedy filmed silent and in black and white is about to sweep the major categories, and land Jean Dujardin with an Oscar. Maybe it's worth noting it as the first time a French man wins Best Actor. I think it is.

OSCAR 2011 PREDICTIONS: Best Picture

This is the absolute last race that anybody wants to talk about, because we all know inevitably what it's going to be. "The Artist" is going to win, and I still feel decidedly undecided in respects to that win. Why the hell do I feel that way? Because even though I love "The Artist" more than any other film in this category, I am still rather looking for some kind of adventurous buzz from the Oscars. I want something exciting to happen that will radiate vibes and talks to be bandied about for weeks. For several weeks, I did not have a film that I really wanted to champion. I look at the list of nine, and I honestly don't care enough about really any of them. Not even "The Artist".

Then last Friday I revisited "Moneyball", Bennett Miller's math-behind-baseball film that was well liked back in September, but lost its heat since then. It's easy to flash an indifferent eye its way, and in fact in many other situations I would. But I keep on circling back to a line that I believe defines the situation that the Academy Awards happen to be in right now. "I know these guys. I know the way they think, and they will erase us. And everything we've done here; None of it will matter." In going across every single category, I find the films that will win are never the ones I'd want. I don't have any feeling of satisfactions about the group that the Academy assembles as the best in these particular fields.

That's where I get off sore. "Moneyball" is a film that's entirely about the undervalued, and it's been greatly undervalued time and again this year. Mind you, it's far from my favorite film of the year, and in fact it didn't even crack the honorable mentions with me. I just adore the message it would send if it did win that impossible win. But I suppose I can't feel too bad about my favorite film of the bunch, "The Artist", winning on Sunday either. I just get annoyed with what they've fill the categories with this year. There is a far better group of nominees that have been criminally overlooked in this particular year. It seems so easy to make the right decision, but this year they just fouled up as hard as ever.

OSCAR 2011 PREDICTIONS: Director

I know that not a lot of people want Michel Hazanavicius to win, but setting aside their love for any number of the other directors below, did any of them do really extraordinary work? Not in the slightest. Woody Allen has never been one of directorial brilliance. His films are often reliant on his writing and the actors at work. Terrence Malick comes close, as you can't help but respect the ideas he has being thrown around, even if they don't align specifically with you. Scorsese's direction, though often lovely, is utterly inert this time around, and we don't get any of the flare he gave us in the past. And Alexander Payne? Seriously? Do we even have to discuss this? It's Hazanavicius' relatively extraordinary and playful direction that takes the championship here.

For Your Anticipation: Nowhere Left to Go

I feel really bad for Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston. I think we're all of similar opinions that these actors really deserve much better than either of them are liable to get anytime soon. It's kind of ironic for both of them to be in a film like "Wanderlust", because they are in the exact same position. They are stuck in a routine of tedium, playing up these senselessly raunchy comedies as best they can until something better comes along. Paul Rudd at least has a better comedic outlet coming along later this year in "This is 40". Jennifer Aniston, in the meantime, is still on the waiting list for something to come along and snatch her up from tedium. I hope it happens. I am of the opinion of not wanting her to spend the rest of her career in freefall.

OSCAR 2011 PREDICTIONS: Lead Actress

I am usually much more enthusiastic regarding this particular race, because the women so often transcend the talent of their male counterparts in the top categories. Not so much this year, which only really yields two good performances. Does that mean that I count Michelle Williams, Meryl Streep, and Glenn Close as bad performances in their respective films? Absolutely, yes. "Albert Nobbs" contains nothing appealing to an entertainment or quality seeking audience, and it ultimately serves to give Glenn Close this nomination. Same goes for "The Iron Lady", and it seems like these films are only created now to give Meryl Streep these catapults towards awards.

And amongst the two films Michelle Williams has done this year, it's her more obvious performance that is getting the massive portion of the heat. Something as dry as the work she does in "Meek's Cutoff" isn't likely to gain many supporters in the Academy. So that leaves Viola Davis and Rooney Mara, and I'll admit that I won't be too ornery about Viola Davis winning. She gave a strong performance that had me invested from the start of "The Help", even if the film didn't match up. Although, her endurance throughout her career doesn't change that I'd be absolutely ecstatic if Rooney Mara won for "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". It was a performance that solidified her place in this business, as I know it would when I was already a fan of her a year previous for "The Social Network".

For Your Anticipation: I want you to live in it

Tyler Perry continues to be an enigma to me, though not quite in a good way. The man has had success for reasons I am not quite privy to, and he puts out roughly two films each year that are indistinguishable from one another. I don't distinguish matters of plot, characters, or even actors at this point. Whether there are strong performances being lifted out of these films is beyond the effort I am willing to put in to seek one of these out. This week's film is called "Good Deeds", but I honestly don't think the title matters so much as his name.

For Your Anticipation: He was Sleeping

This forthcoming weekend is a complete wash, containing a myriad of films I have no intention of watching now or ever. "Gone" just happens to hold the most animosity from me due to how many times that horrifically bad trailer played in front of me at a theater. It barely has a plot attached to it, as exposed by the abrupt title. Tack onto that the fact that Amanda Seyfreid can't actually act, and you have your film.