OSCAR 2011 PREDICTIONS: Supporting Actress

The supporting performance races are prime examples of what's so dull about this Oscar year. It's not as much about who wins as it is about who was eligible for consideration. There are precious few here who even scratch the surface of consideration in my book. I'm not at all sure how Janet McTeer made it into this bracket, but there's absolutely no enthusiasm heading her way. Melissa McCarthy is different, because the only reason she's here is because the enthusiasm of the public willed her into a nomination. No real chance of winning, but it's a consideration that many are thankful for. Myself, I would have been pleased if Rose Byrne were the proper nomination, but I guess it's too much to expect people go for the better performance over the louder one.

Berenice Bejo is here because of "The Artist", and she doesn't really belong here. There's nothing extraordinary about her performance. All the same, I have absolutely nothing against her, and she does ordinary and typical pretty well, all things considered. But really, it's the ladies from "The Help" that we're talking about here. Don't worry about them cancelling each other out. They know who they're voting for, and it's the underwhelming Octavia Spencer. Don't get me wrong. She's nice and funny, but not to the level necessary for a win. I thought Jessica Chastain was much more deserving for her performance, but I thought even more that she should have been nominated for "Take Shelter" instead, a film which got no love from the Academy. But we dried out tears a long time ago. Now we're just rolling our eyes.

OSCAR 2011 PREDICTIONS: Best Makeup

Another year goes by, and we get another slate of easy throwaways for the squandered makeup category. At this point, I don't really know what they're qualifying as strong makeup, or if they even have any knowledge towards such. I can get this out of the way in one paragraph. Somebody explain to me where the skill is in the useless and purposeless plastering on "The Iron Lady" or "Albert Nobbs". The former will win, almost certainly, but with no real reason for such. "Harry Potter" is there just as a little bit of merit for their series finale. It could win, as having the strongest work there, but it's too hard to care in a category with this little real skill.

Will Win: "The Iron Lady"

Should Win: "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2"

Should Really Win: "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy"

For Your Anticipation: Look at the Chocolates

How do you determine what films looks the worst? Think of everything you like about a movie, and find the film that has absolutely none of that. I can confidently say that "Albert Nobbs" has absolutely nothing that I find good in a film. An unbelievable hack at the as-it-stands unbelievable premise, though one which was done to much greater skill with "Tomboy". Bland and old style British setting, with absolutely no flair or sense of wonder. Gross sentimentality, and all this along with the fact that you would never believe for a second that Glenn Close is a man. I simply could not be desiring this less, and I'm very glad decided against seeing it back at Telluride by the Sea.

AWARDS 2011: Annual WGA No-Want List

It's that time of year again, when the Writers Guild of America decides to be prissy little bitches and kick out any film that doesn't abide by their numerous and illogical rules. As such, they aren't a truly reliable precursor in the Oscar fray, and they actually serve just to alienate themselves from the rest of the awards season. But it's still worth some interesting conversation on who didn't make the cut this year. The most high profile film is probably "The Artist", which makes sense on the grounds that that might've been a slim screenplay based on the lack of dialogue. But there's also no sense in the numerous other films to be kept out the competition.

In the original screenplay field, "The Artist", "Beginners", "The Iron Lady", "The Lady", "Margin Call", "Martha Marcy May Marlene", "Melancholia", "Rango", and "Take Shelter" were shelved. In the counterpart adapted field, "Albert Nobbs", "Carnage", "Jane Eyre", "My Week with Marilyn", "Sarah's Key", "The Skin I Live In", and "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" got the shaft. While it doesn't much shake the latter race, it does make us wonder what's left for the former. The Best Picture contender most likely to make it in for Original Screenplay here would probably just be "Midnight in Paris". Hell, I'd count on that for the win. Adapted Screenplay, it's pretty much the same game as it was before.

"Albert Nobbs" Trailer

I wisely skipped out on the opportunity to see "Albert Nobbs" at Telluride by the Sea a few weeks back, because I just wasn't that interested in it. In retrospect, I'm not too ecstatic about seeing "Le Havre" and "A Dangerous Method" that weekend. By the looks of things, this was a proper omission. I didn't see anything inspiring in early clips of Glenn Close's performance, and I still don't. It doesn't seem weak, but it doesn't seem at all interesting. Not one second I believed she's a man, but there's nothing interesting about the performance. I just don't care.

TELLURIDE BY THE SEA: Titles Announced!

I was worried I'd have to wait another three excruciating hours just to find out what's playing, but was happy to find out at 9 a.m. this morning. So what exactly is so exciting right now? The titles for the Portsmouth, NH mini-festival, Telluride by the Sea, have been announced and narrowed down from the list we were handed yesterday. Which title am I most disappointed about? Steve McQueen's "Shame" is not on the list to appear this year. It's such a shame, no pun intended, as it's the one I've been most eager to see from the festival. On the other hand, I'm not surprised that it isn't here. It doesn't quite fit the mold that the Portsmouth Music Hall has built over the past few years.

So what am I going to be able to see come September 23-25? For one thing "Albert Nobbs", directed by Rodrigo Garcia of last year's "Mother and Child". It's a typical choice, with period influence as well as an Oscar-bait performance from Glenn Close. Can't say I'm surprised, and can't say I'm too interested either. Last year, the weekend kicked off with "Tamara Drewe", and I steered clear of that one. Depending on how critics react to the film this weekend, I might skip out on "Albert Nobbs" as well.

TELLURIDE: Wants & Desires

This week has been made nearly unbearable by the impending announcement of the films slated for the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado. As gratifying as it is, I still have to wait until tomorrow to find out which will be recurring onto Telluride by the Sea in Portsmouth, NH later this month. Of course, I do have my own wishlist of "The Artist", "A Dangerous Method", "Shame", "A Separation", "We Need to Talk About Kevin", and "The Turin Horse" (Recently announced as Hungary's entry for Foreign Language Film). I must admit, I'll be terribly lucky to get just half of those. I could see them skipping out on "Shame", which would be the greatest disappointment, but the most expected. I guess we'll find out tomorrow. Finger's crossed!

· ALBERT NOBBS (d. Rodrigo Garcia, U.S., 2011)

· THE ARTIST (d. Michel Hazanavicius, France, 2011)

· BECOMING BERT STERN (d. Shannah Laumeister, U.S., 2011)

· BITTER SEEDS (d. Micha X. Peled, U.S., 2011)

· BONSÁI (d. Cristián Jiménez, Chile, 2011)

· A DANGEROUS METHOD (d. David Cronenberg, U.K.-Switzerland-U.S.-Canada, 2011)

· THE DESCENDANTS (d. Alexander Payne, U.S., 2011)

· DIANA VREELAND: THE EYE HAS TO TRAVEL (d. Lisa Immordino-Vreeland, U.S., 2011)

· FOOTNOTE (d. Joseph Cedar, Israel, 2011)

· THE FORGIVENESS OF BLOOD (d. Joshua Marston, U.S.-Albania-Denmark-Italy, 2011)

· GOODBYE FIRST LOVE (d. Mia Hansen-Løve, France, 2011)

· LE HAVRE (d. Aki Kaurismäki, Finland, 2011)

· HOLLYWOOD DON’T SURF (d. Greg Macgillivray, Sam George, U.S., 2011)

· IN DARKNESS (d. Agnieszka Holland, Poland, 2011)

· INTO THE ABYSS: A TALE OF DEATH, A TALE OF LIFE (d. Werner Herzog, U.S., 2011)

· THE ISLAND PRESIDENT (d. Jon Shenk, U.S., 2011)

· THE KID WITH A BIKE (d. Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Belgium, 2011)

· LIVING IN THE MATERIAL WORLD (d. Martin Scorsese, U.S., 2011)

· PASSERBY (d. Eryk Rocha, Brazil, 2011)

· PERDIDA (d. Viviana García Besné, Mexico, 2011)

· PINA (d. Wim Wenders, Germany, 2011)

· A SEPARATION (d. Asghar Farhadi, Iran, 2011)

· SHAME (d. Steve McQueen, U.K., 2011)

· THE STORY OF FILM: AN ODYSSEY (d. Mark Cousins, U.K., 2011)

· TARGET (d. Alexander Zeldovich, Russia, 2011)

· THE TURIN HORSE (d. Béla Tarr, Hungary, 2011)

· THE WAY HOME (d. Dr. Biju, India, 2010)

· WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN (d. Lynne Ramsey, U.K., 2011)