TOP 10 SHOTS from "Martha Marcy May Marlene"

Apologies for the two day delay, but I deeply had my work cut out for myself when I took on this week's Top 10 Shots piece, mostly because I had to figure out something appropriate for the week, despite "Bombay Beach" being unavailable for relation to "Mayley", another documentary of exceptional cinematography. That fell through, so I thought long and hard on what to branch out to, and there's really nothing out this weekend that even connects to something of strong enough quality for dissection. So I turned my gaze towards something outside the realm of theatrical cinema, and instead went towards the world of television for guidance, as many of us often do.

You may already have heard about "Girls", Lena Dunham's television debut after having success with "Tiny Furniture" on the indie market. I felt somewhat compelled to seek out "Tiny Furniture" itself, but it apparently takes time to get Criterion DVDs shipped out to the local library. Who knew? That might have been the end of it, but the cinematographer on both Dunham's series and film had another prolific cinematography venture this past year in the form of "Martha Marcy May Marlene", directed by Sean Durkin. So if you haven't seen the film, I caution SPOILERS TO ALERT, since I will be getting into details about the film following the jump. In other words, GET THE FUCK OUT THERE AND SEE IT!

AWARDS 2011: DC Critics go for the odd nods

With the awards season in full swing, it's expected for things to start to form in unexpected manners. The DC critics have continued that trend which started at NBR, and we're really starting to consider which films are genuinely the main players of the season. Until "War Horse" garners a genuine win, I think it's becoming more and more plain that maybe it's not the frontrunner we all thought it would be. Perhaps it's just a lower tier player, as it wasn't able to even scratch past "Win Win" or "Drive" in the DC circuit. It's odd enough that Nicolas Refn's film was in there, and that alone sparks another fire in this awards season that's in much need of some personality.

"Win Win", on the other hand, I wouldn't give too much attention based on this nomination alone. If AWARDSit's a trend that continues on to other awards, we'll definitely take it into consideration. After all, if "The Help" is getting buzz, then we can more than expect to see more light indie flicks like this to rise up. You could categorize "Win Win" right along with "50/50" in that respect. A few more pleasant notes are that Fassbender made it into his first Best Actor field for his performance in "Shame", Elizabeth Olsen and Tilda Swinton continue to be of strong presence in Best Actress, and Andy Serkis and Melissa McCarthy are genuinely getting buzz for the supporting categories. In review, we need more critics awards to tell if DC is not completely off their rocker.

BEST FILM

- "The Artist"

- "The Descendants"

- "Drive"

- "Hugo"

- "Win Win"

Carpet-Bagging: Actress Heavyweights Steal the Focus

I'm getting severely sick of the lack of activity on this site, mostly on my own part. It's just that nothing's been happening enough to talk about. It's not until November that things are truly set in motion, though I admit that things seemed to get going a lot sooner last year than they are currently. I guess it's a contrast that's telling of this year, at least in my own opinion. So I decided to get back in the game of guessing, though I've still neglected posting up a full predictions page. There's just so little confidence in the pot, it feels too facetious to make locked in guesses, especially with so much still likely to change, as candidates fall in and out of the race.

However, at least the way things are stacking up currently, the Best Actress race seems to be banal and dismal. One of the new writers at Film Misery, Casey Chapman, recently did his own sizing up of the field, which really drowned my spirits. The field is dominated by performances in films I have little to no interest in seeing. I admit to being delightfully surprised by "The Help", but I hardly feel like Viola Davis is either the strongest performance of the piece or the main focus. She'd have a stronger campaign for Supp. Actress, but it looks like they're pushing the far less likely Octavia Spencer for that field. Don't get me wrong, as I like both performances really well, but they do not belong in shortlist.

And then there's those who don't need to show anything necessarily strong in their films to be considered candidates, those being Meryl Streep and Glenn Close. I think I've earned the right to be more than just skeptical of their films' merits and strengths, not just in terms of their performances. In the first trailer for "The Iron Lady", I was frankly annoyed by Steep's overly fantastical impersonation of Margaret Thatcher. On any given year, I'm railing against her automatic nomination. And Glenn Close has been away for a while now, taking great confidence in this "Albert Nobbs" of hers. Yet her work just seems cold, uninteresting, plain, and dull.

For Your Anticipation: A Teacher and a Leader

Clearly, there are films that I'd much rather be seeing this weekend than "Paranormal Activity 3", and this one is near to the top of that list. When you hear a lot about a film for the entire year, you'll come to that level of anticipation. "Martha Marcy May Marlene" has brewed controversy and acclaim from the expected sectors for each. Every piece of promotion has been holding back a bloodcurdling scream that I can't wait to hear in full. Probably won't get that opportunity until next month, I hear it's well worth the wait.

Theatrical Trailer: Martha Marcy May Marlene

Of the films that debuted at the Sundance Film Festival, Martha Marcy May Marlene struck me as the film I most wanted to see. A lot of people are calling it the Winter's Bone of this year, but this trailer really paints it as something else entirely. The most I was sure about the film was that it was about a girl who has been in a cult and is just now running away from it. The trailer only hints towards each individual plotline, so subtlety is clearly not going to be a problem with this one. Newcomer Elizabeth Olsen really strikes me as a young Maggie Gyllenhaal type of performer, so I'd expect a performance of equal value. Take a look at the trailer below and chime in on your own thoughts.