Bright Star was deemed "Adapted Screenplay" so I've got to change its category which allows a previously dumped flick to re-enter the "Original Screenplay."
I've still got to see a couple awards contenders and will hopefully view A Single Man, Up in the Air, Invictus, and Crazy Heart within the next few weeks.
Best Picture
- Avatar - A lackluster story is overshadowed by the sumptuously detailed visuals
- Bright Star - Certainly the most romantic movie of the year thus far.
- The Brothers Bloom - Quirky, but not emotionally detaching...a tough thing to do...
- Drag Me to Hell - Best horror movie of the year...was amazingly adept at keeping me on the edge of my seat
- Fantastic Mr. Fox - It's like a "regular" Wes Anderson film only animated and with talking animals...dry humor mixed with a simple storybook-like tale...
- The Hurt Locker - The "smart man's" action flick
- The Messenger - A look at an aspect of war that we don't get to see. This film certainly hit me the most emotionally of any film this year.
- Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire - Some incredibly strong actresses make this depressing movie a treat to watch.
- A Serious Man - Witty, yet serious -- a winning flick that I didn't want to end.
- Surveillance - A rather straightforward police investigation that turns quite twisted.
Best Director
- Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker - The movie is as good as it is because of her amazing direction of the action scenes. She doesn't shy away from the emotion, though, either.
- James Cameron - Avatar - The mastermind behind one of the most visually stunning movies I've ever seen in a theater.
- Joel and Ethan Coen - A Serious Man - They keep everything moving at such a brisk pace. The two hours just flew by effortlessly.
- Oren Moverman - The Messenger - The camera is just there, in the midst of it all, never shying away from the pain.
- Sam Raimi - Drag Me to Hell - The horror genre is one of the toughest to direct, I think...Raimi excelled here, mixing a perfect blend of comedy and horror with kick-ass opening and closing scenes. The last shot...love it!
Removed: 12/9/09 - Duncan Jones - Moon
Removed: 11/13/09 - Chan-wook Park - Thirst
Best Actor
- Ben Foster - The Messenger - An angry guy, Foster's emotionally scarred Iraq War veteran puts up a wall to hide behind only to have it be broken down by the film's end.
- Joaquin Phoenix - Two Lovers - His portrayal of a troubled suicidal guy was emotionally affecting and a strong anchor for this romance.
- Jeremy Renner - The Hurt Locker - The emotional center of the movie. Underneath his gung-ho machismo lies a caring guy, but which one will win out?
- Sam Rockwell - Moon - He is in nearly every scene and (SPOILER ALERT) he plays multiple roles each having their own personality.
- Michael Stuhlbarg - A Serious Man - His performance didn't feel like a performance at all. I was simply plopped down in a Midwest town right into this guy's life.
Removed: 11/13/09 - Robin Williams - World's Greatest Dad
Missed the Cut: Viggo Mortensen (The Road)
Best Actress
- Abbie Cornish - Bright Star - A lovely role full of vulnerability, with a great scene at the end.
- Carey Mulligan - An Education - An effortless performance here...from facial reactions to the way she read her lines, this newcomer really shines.
- Gabourey Sidibe - Precious - As the soft-spoken title character, she is a great counterbalance to the abrasive character Mo'Nique portrays.
- Meryl Streep - Julie & Julia - The movie wasn't that great, and I'm usually not a fan of biopic mimicry, but Meryl is really good in this.
- Tilda Swinton - Julia - She's in every single scene and fully embodies the character. Some amazing work here.
Best Supporting Actor
- Brian Geraghty - The Hurt Locker - Although the story revolves around Jeremy Renner's character, Geraghty's fearful soldier is what drew me into the story (probably because I'm always on edge about unknown things myself). Loved this performance.
- Woody Harrelson - The Messenger - His army guy's steadfast and strong attitude masks some survivor's guilt that comes to the forefront in the end.
- Chris Messina - Away We Go - His role is really just a glorified cameo, but his ten minutes onscreen were what got to me the most in this movie. As a man whose wife is unable to have children, he made the most of his limited screen time and his small role is what I remember most about this simply average flick.
- Brad Pitt - Inglourious Basterds - Pitt excels at comedy and he is amazingly good here.
- Paul Schneider - Bright Star - A brilliantly mean role as John Keats' mentor/friend.
Removed: 11/13/09 - Dallas Roberts - Shrink
Removed: 11/4/09 - Daryl Sabara - World's Greatest Dad
Best Supporting Actress
- NEW ADDITION - Marion Cotillard - Nine - She's definitely given the emotional numbers in this musical and proved that she's quite a good singer.
- Mo'Nique - Precious - Just amazing. She deserves all the accolades she's receiving.
- Zoë Saldana - Avatar - Even though it's just her "motion capture" onscreen, she crafted a character with both animal and human tendencies...a treat to watch.
- Sofia Vassilieva - My Sister's Keeper - This unknown (to me) actress was damn good. The romance between her character and a fellow teen cancer patient felt so right on and real. Those scenes are some of my favorites this year.
- Rachel Weisz - The Brothers Bloom - Cute as a button, but she's essentially the driving force behind the movie and her quirkiness is winning.
Removed: 12/18/09 (2) - Kate Del Castillo - Julia
Removed: 12/18/09 (1) - Vinessa Shaw - Two Lovers
Removed: 12/9/09 - Paulina Gaitan - Sin Nombre
Best Original Screenplay
- RE-ENTERING - Rian Johnson - The Brothers Bloom - Quirky with a heart...not an easy task to tackle.
- Mark Boal - The Hurt Locker - Gripping stuff...I do have an issue with a revenge subplot that's thrown in there, but overall this was impressive stuff.
- Alessandro Camon, Oren Moverman - The Messenger - The six or seven scenes featuring the varied reactions of family members who have lost loved ones would've been enough to put it on this list, but the rest of the tale is emotionally gripping as well.
- Joel Coen, Ethan Coen - A Serious Man - Funny, serious, totally engrossing.
- Jennifer Lynch, Kent Harper - Surveillance - They make what could've been a boring crime interrogation flick feel exciting. I wasn't bored for a minute in this flick.
Removed: 11/4/09 - Woody Allen - Whatever Works
Best Adapted Screenplay
- Jane Campion - Bright Star - A little slow-moving, but a beautiful romance with well-developed characters.
- Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach - Fantastic Mr. Fox - It's rather surprising that such a simple story can have so much humor and heart.
- Christian Petzold - Jerichow - Based on The Postman Always Rings Twice (which I read this year), this is essentially a three character movie and Petzold lets us fully understand the motivations behind the trio...the last scene of the flick and the final word uttered were kind of devastating to me (that's a good thing in this case).
- Erick Zonca and Aude Pi - Julia - I'll be honest...I'm unsure if this is an adapted screenplay or not. IMDB lists some writers with "(adaptation)" next to their name and I've read that it's loosely based on another film, so it's going in this category. These folks created an amazingly well-written title character.
- NEW ADDITION - Geoffrey Fletcher - Precious - Unrelentingly difficult to watch, but there are some incredibly well written female roles here.
Best Cinematography
- Timothy Dod Mantle - Antichrist
- Grieg Fraser - Bright Star
- Barry Ackroyd - The Hurt Locker
- Chung-hoon Chung - Thirst
- Lance Acord - Where the Wild Things Are
Best Animated Feature
- A Christmas Carol - A tad frightening and not necessarily kid-friendly. The dark tone was a welcome treat.
- Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs - Funny and clever and not catering to only the kiddies.
- Fantastic Mr. Fox - Beautifully animated with a witty story and funny characters.
- The Princess and the Frog - Old school Disney; some great hand-drawn animation.
Best Documentary
- The Cove - This documentary played out like an exciting action movie with a message.
- Every Little Step - An edge-of-your seat tale about auditions for the revival of the Broadway musical A Chorus Line.
- It Might Get Loud - Who knew learning about the intricacies of the electric guitar could be so fun?
- Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation - A funny look at those wacky Australians and their (not-so-good) films in the 60s, 70s, and 80s.
- Outrage - An intriguing (although not necessarily unbiased) look at the outing of closeted gay politicians
Listen, I'm not saying it's amazing...but there hasn't been anything else this year that's wowed me (not that this did either).
ReplyDeleteHowever, I did mention the cinematography in my review which is why I felt compelled to put it here. With the films I've seen this year up to this point, it's near the top...whether that's deservedly so or not.
Now, I was looking at your list and I really should probably add "Moon" to mine...didn't even really think about it for the category.
As far as "Drag Me to Hell" being in the cinematography category...it'll need to be rewatched for that because the cinematography was the last thing on my mind while watching that movie. Seriously, it needs to be on dvd yesterday...I can't wait to watch it again.
I'd like to point out that even though it was an awful movie, saying Transformers 2 had worse special effects than the Hurt Locker is silly.
ReplyDeleteThomas - Now that you mention it, I do remember you saying that during the flick. We'll see...I hope it holds up upon second viewing...
ReplyDeleteJustin - Just because they throw a bunch of shit at me doesn't make it good. Now, granted, they used a whole bunch of special effects (hell, it was the whole movie), but they didn't "wow" me. True, neither did "The Hurt Locker" in terms of special effects...I'm sure it won't remain in the running.
This list isn't so much even what I want to be nominated (at this point). It's more (similar to Thomas's here) so that I don't forget certain things in the long run. The special effects were decent in "The Hurt Locker" and I just don't want them to slip my mind in the upcoming months.
Ugh...don't mention "Transformers" again...just having to think about it makes me angry...
Query: "I honestly don't care what the budget was...I still didn't think the aliens looked good from a distance...I get what you're saying, but it "took me out" of it." From District 9.
ReplyDelete"Duncan Jones - Moon - I didn't love the movie (I liked it), but this new director showed some real talent here making this low budget sci-fi flick look as impressive as did."
Contradiction? I Think so.
Obviously 9 million dollars is a lot less than 30 million dollars but 30 million dollars is nothing when it comes to the quality of the CGI. 30 million dollars is the budget of My Sister's Keeper and Taking Woodstock. It's 5 million dollars less the Hangover and Whiteout. It's 10 million less than Julie and Julia. It's 2.5 times as less as Funny People.
I don't get the contradiction...if they looked good at $9 million, I'd say they looked good at $9 million...if they didn't look good at $9 million, I'd say the same thing.
ReplyDeleteMoon did what it could on a modest budget and did it pretty darn well. District 9 may have had a modest budget, but they didn't produce the same impact as a Moon, for example. It's not a contradiction, it's just that one movie did a better job with a lower budget than the other.
http://tinyurl.com/yftdnle
ReplyDeleteEeeeeeeehhhhh
That was my Fonz.
you REALLY liked bright star. Now I want to watch it again. (more so than a few minutes ago)
ReplyDeleteI like Bright Star more now than when I first left the theater. It's definitely a movie that has settled down well with me.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure how it holds up as the "better" stuff comes out in the months ahead, but as it stands now, I really did like the three main actors.
Little known fact: Katherine Bigolow is James Cameron's ex wife.
ReplyDeleteI knew that...I'm hoping the wife wins out...
ReplyDelete