IT'S THE LITTLE THINGS: Oscar Season Begins!

Clockwise: Sally Field and Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln; Alan Arkin and Ben Affleck in Argo; Stephen Dillane and Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty; Anne Hathaway in Les Misérables

Well readers, it's been a month since my last post and it was a very well-deserved vacation!  And now that we are heading into Winter, there is one thing that is on everyone's mind in Hollywood: The Oscars and who will be nominated this time around.  The nominations will not be announced until the morning of January 13th and it is during the month of December that those ballots will be filled out by Academy voters as to which of this year's films deserve the top prize.  Because the Oscars have moved their schedule up an entire month, all the other awards on the circuit have tried to accommodate that with the Golden Globes (the most high-profile Oscar precursor) announcing their nominees next Thursday.  So which films are the front-runners in the race to be nominated for the biggest award?  Well there are certainly a few.  And with the Academy's new rule that allows for anywhere from 5 to 10 films to be nominated for Best Picture, the race has become that much harder to predict.

However, amid all the predictions are 3 films that are definitely going to be in prominent contention come Oscar night.  When Argo was released in September, Ben Affleck received the best reviews of his career (as a director, actor and co-screenwriter).  His thrilling and suspenseful adaptation about a secret CIA mission to retrieve American Embassy workers during the 1979 Iran Hostage Crisis was far and wide considered a surefire bet for Best Picture.  In addition to Argo, critics then lauded the most recent Steven Spielberg film, Lincoln.  In this stunning political biopic, two-time Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis has received raves for his role as the 16th President of the United States and is in definite contention for a third Best Actor statue.   But the buzziest film of 2012's Oscar season has yet to be released for audiences.  Academy Award winner Tom Hooper's adaptation of the iconic stage musical Les Misérables has been receiving Oscar buzz ever since the first trailer appeared in theaters over the summer (especially for Best Supporting Actress contender Anne Hathaway) and will not be released until Christmas Day.  So at this time, I have seen both Argo and Lincoln and can assure you that both deserve the attention they are getting.  I will soon be seeing Les Misérables (thanks to a perk, I'll get to see it a week before Christmas Day!), so I will be able to let you know if the buzz is correct in placing it alongside the other two.

But in the last few days, another film has been getting attention that most likely would have belonged to the three films mentioned above.  Kathryn Bigelow, who two years ago made history when she became the first woman to win the Best Director Oscar for The Hurt Locker, has made yet another topical film that has captured awards attention.  And that film is Zero Dark Thirty, Bigelow's adaptation of the operation that took down Osama Bin Laden.  Over the weekend, the New York Film Critics named Bigelow's movie the Best Picture of the year with the National Board of Review following suit just a few days later.  The National Board of Review also named Bigelow Best Director and star Jessica Chastain as the year's Best Actress.  However, my father pointed out that these wins may have more to do with the movie's subject matter than with the merits of the movie itself (even if it is a great film!).  But with these new developments, I would not be surprised to see Zero Dark Thirty (a film I have yet to see and now have more interest in seeing!) among the top contenders come Oscar time.

There are two other films that are getting mentioned (at least by the critics) when it comes to the contenders for Best Picture.  One is David O. Russell's dark relationship comedy Silver Linings Playbook which stars Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence as two people with deep personal problems who connect with each other despite several differences.  The film is being hailed across the board and Lawrence is considered the top front-runner for Best Actress.  And Bradley Cooper shouldn't be out of the mix either having won the National Board of Review's Best Actor award (over Daniel Day-Lewis!).  The other film being mentioned is Ang Lee's sweeping Life of Pi, which garnered much praise after being viewed at the New York Film Festival.  Several critics pegged it as a surefire Best Picture contender.  And with Ang Lee's previous Oscar pedigree (winning Best Director in 2006 for Brokeback Mountain and Best Foreign Language Film in 2001 for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), it has a pretty good shot with the critics behind it.

Now I could leave these predictions at six films, but what kind of Oscar predictor would that make me?  There are several other films that are being mentioned on message boards (and by a few critics).  There's Paul Thomas Anderson's faux-Scientology drama The Master (which won at the Cannes Film Festival) and Benh Zeitlin's critically-lauded Beasts of the Southern Wild (which won at Sundance).  The Denzel Washington-led Flight and Quentin Tarantino's new film Django Unchained (which is an homage to "Spaghetti Westerns") are also audience faves (even though Django Unchained is yet-to-be-released!) Let's not forget the Foreign Film Amour, which won Europe's top Film prize and is on several critics' top 10 lists.  And among all these typical awards-fare, three franchise films (or genre pics!) are being thrown into the conversation.  Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises, Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and Sam Mendes' Bond film Skyfall are all on some lists when talking about Best Picture.  All this said, it shall be a very interesting mix of movies being lauded at the Academy Awards this time around.

10 FAVORITES (66): Bond James Bond

In one week, the 23rd film in the James Bond movie franchise will be released.  Directed by Academy Award-winning director Sam Mendes and starring Daniel Craig (in his third outing as 007!), Skyfall has been long-awaited after financial difficulties with MGM Studios and script concerns (with Peter Morgan leaving to be replaced by John Logan).  The anticipation for this film has been stirring for a while (especially since Craig's appearance alongside Queen Elizabeth II in the 2012 London Summer Olympics Opening Ceremonies!), it now seems that everyone has Bond-fever.  Both Craig and Logan have already signed on for two more Bond movies following Skyfall and most box-office prognosticators predict that the film shall be one of the biggest openings of November (second probably to the final installment of The Twilight Saga).  But being as this is the 23rd cinematic Bond outing, I thought that maybe this week I would discuss some of the superspy's previous adventures and which ones were his absolute best.  So this week's 10 FAVORITES is dedicated to:

THE 10 BEST BOND FILMS

BOND FILM #10
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)
James Bond played by: George Lazenby
Theme Song sung by: Louis Armstrong
I know you might want to laugh at this moment and you may even want to click to another site, but hear me out first!  George Lazenby had a very tough act to follow when Sean Connery decided to forgo playing 007 in the sixth Bond film.  Is Lazenby great? No, but he's not horrible and who could compare to Connery at that point? No one else had played the role (in any serious way).  Lazenby is helped by a very good supporting cast (which includes Diana Rigg and Telly Savallas) and a well fleshed out script (from one of Ian Fleming's short stories about Bond!).  Lazenby ends up getting a bad rap mainly because of the shoes he had to fill that he just (as simply a former model and not a seasoned actor) could not fill.

BOND FILM #9
Thunderball (1965)
James Bond played by: Sean Connery
Theme Song sung by: Tom Jones
This was Connery's fourth film as 007 and after the first three (which we'll get to!), you could see the strains of the franchise beginning.  But this slightly convoluted spy film (I mean what spy film isn't convoluted?!?) is still entirely enjoyable.  Plus the Tom Jones theme song sets you up for adventure...of the underwater kind!

BOND FILM #8
The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
James Bond played by: Roger Moore
Theme Song sung by: Carly Simon
This was Roger Moore's third time in Bond's shoes and I almost added The Man With the Golden Gun (Moore's second Bond film) to this list.  But its this film's story that I have always found fascinating.  Even though there was an actual Ian Fleming novel with this title, the story of the film is in no way related to the narrative of that book.  Here, they have an evil recluse (played brilliantly by Curt Jurgens) trying to destroy the world and create a new one underwater (called Atlantis!) that revolves all around him.  It features another great Bond girl (Barbara Bach as the Russian Anya Amasova who allies with Bond) and an infamous villain sidekick (who can forget Richard Kiel's metal-mouthed Jaws?!?).

BOND FILM #7
Dr. No (1962)
James Bond played by: Sean Connery
Theme Song played by: The John Barry Orchestra
This was the first, the original, the "shot heard round the world" (so to speak!).  It perfectly set up the character as we know him (who doesn't remember the first time Sean Connery spoke the name "Bond James Bond?") and it has one of the most famous Bond girls of all-time (Ursula Andress grrr!!!).  This one's placement on this list is a no-brainer.

BOND FILM #6
Licence to Kill (1989)
James Bond played by: Timothy Dalton
Theme Song sung by: Gladys Knight
I may take a lot of flack for this one, but I really enjoyed this film (a lot more than Timothy Dalton's earlier Bond film The Living Daylights, yuck!).  And I think what I liked about it was the pacing and the mood.  It felt like a series finale.  And for a few years after this film came out, it felt like they were never going to do another Bond film again.  That might have to do with the fact that the year this film came out, it was up against other franchise fair like Back to the Future II, Lethal Weapon 2, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Batman and The Little Mermaid.  With those films making most of the box office money in 1989, its no wonder MGM considered this to be the last Bond film...for the time being (but we'll get to that in a bit!).

BOND FILM #5
Live and Let Die (1973)
James Bond played by: Roger Moore
Theme Song sung by: Paul McCartney
This was the first time Roger Moore stepped into the Bond role and it was very different from previous ones.  Here Agent 007 was up against the trappings of Caribbean voodoo and the mystery found in those American islands.  Moore proved himself quite up to the task of taking over for Connery and he had some great support.  Yaphet Kotto was well cast as the imposing villain Dr. Kananga and Jane Seymour (in her first major film role) is both sensual and mysterious as the psychic Solitaire.  And the thrilling theme song by Paul McCartney just empowers you!

BOND FILM #4
Casino Royale (2006)
James Bond played by: Daniel Craig
Theme Song sung by: Chris Cornell
There was a lot riding on this film.  It was based on one of Fleming's most famous 007 books which had never really had a serious film adaptation (a 1954 television episode and the satirical 1967 film do not count!).  It was also introducing a new actor as Bond, an actor that many people had never really heard of before.  But in the hands of director Martin Campbell (who had directed Goldeneye) and screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade (who have been with the franchise since The World Is Not Enough and have worked on the script for Skyfall alongside John Logan), this adaptation fully satisfies Bond fans who have been waiting for this title to be seriously adapted.  It was a good choice for Purvis and Wade to ally themselves on this film with Academy Award-winning screenwriter Paul Haggis (of Million Dollar Baby and Crash fame).

BOND FILM #3
From Russia With Love (1963)
James Bond played by: Sean Connery
Theme Song sung by: Matt Monro
When dealing with a superspy character that was created during the Cold War, at some point the films are going to have to deal with Soviet antagonists.  So the producers ventured the subject matter in the second Bond film and did so quite brilliantly.  It is highly considered one of the best Bond films of all time and it has one of the best screenplays with really well-developed characters.  Connery was becoming more comfortable in Bond's skin and it clearly shows.  Plus the villains are so well cast.  Robert Shaw gives a breakout performance as an assassin after Bond.  And then there's Lotte Lenya, who practically steals the movie as the truly ruthless Rosa Klebb.

BOND FILM #2
Goldeneye (1995)
James Bond played by: Pierce Brosnan
Theme Song sung by: Tina Turner
As I said before, in the early 1990s the studio considered not doing anymore Bond films.  But with growing interest and the casting decision of Pierce "Remington Steele" Brosnan, this became one of the most profitable and most enjoyable of 007 films.  Again, Bond is up against Soviet holdouts from the Cold War and has to stop a dangerous nuclear device from destroying the world.  But the addition of (SPOILER ALERT!) the traitorous Alec Trevelyan (known at MI-6 as 006!) played perfectly by Sean Bean was just the kick this Bond needed to make him fascinating.  It also didn't hurt that Famke Janssen played one of the more shall we say "interesting Bond girls," Xenia Onatopp (the deadliest legs in the Bond universe literally!).

AND...
BOND FILM #1
Goldfinger (1964)
James Bond played by: Sean Connery
Theme Song sung by: Shirley Bassey
What can I say?  Everything about this Bond film is perfect.  It has the best Bond actor (Sean Connery IS AND ALWAYS WILL BE 007!).  It has the best Bond girl (Honor Blackman as Pussy Galore...'nuff said!).  It has the greatest Bond villain (Gert Frobe is amazing as Goldfinger despite the German actor's voice needing to be dubbed by British actor Michael Collins).  It has the best villain sidekick (Oddjob and his deadly hat!).  And it has the greatest Bond theme song (belted by the amazingly talented Shirley Bassey!).  It is a brilliant piece of Bond cinema and is extremely hard to top!

Will Skyfall join this list?  Will Adele's already amazing theme song join the annals of great Bond themes alongside the likes of Shirley Bassey, Tina Turner, Paul McCartney and Tom Jones?  We will have to wait until next week to find out.

IT'S THE LITTLE THINGS: 2012 Oscar Nominations - First Response

This past Tuesday morning, the 2012 Oscar nominations were announced.  And I thought I would just share with you some of my initial reactions.  There were things I was proud of and things I liked, but there were also things I really didn't care for or enjoy.  Then there were the things that made my jaw hit the floor (and there were more than I thought there would be!).  So let me give you a rundown of my first thoughts when I saw this year's Oscar nominations.

THE 5 THINGS I LIKED:
After years of brilliant work (often playing villains!), Gary Oldman finally has an Oscar nomination under his belt for his critically lauded, steely performance in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. And with love for the film at the BAFTAs, Oldman could quite possibly be a potential spoiler for frontrunner George Clooney.

Tony-winner Viola Davis and character actress Octavia Spencer got nods for their dynamic performances in the audience favorite The Help.  They are both favorites in their respective categories, so we could possibly have two African-American women winning the Actress and Supporting Actress Oscars this year.

This year's Supporting Actor race is filled with veterans (save for Jonah Hill, see below!).  Kenneth Branagh, who has channeled Laurence Olivier several times before My Week With Marilyn, is nominated for the first time since his nod for Henry V in 1988.  Nick Nolte is enjoying his third Oscar nomination (his first in Supporting!).  Christopher Plummer, one of the film business' best character actors, is the category's clear frontrunner.  And Max Von Sydow is nominated for not even saying a word (he plays a mute in Stephen Daldry's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close).

As much as veterans are always welcome (see Meryl Streep!), its nice to see a few newcomers in the mix, especially: Rooney Mara (for her astonishing work in David Fincher's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo), Emmy-winner Melissa McCarthy (getting recognized for her scene-stealing performance in Bridesmaids) and The Artist co-stars Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo.

Moneyball was one of my favorite films of the year (not just because I'm from the Bay Area!).  I was very pleased to see it in the Best Picture category as well as nods for Brad Pitt's brilliant performance and the clever screenplay by Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zaillian (two of my favorite screenwriters these days!).

THE 3 THINGS I DISLIKED:
Two of the best films of the year got shut out of the Best Picture category: David Fincher's stylish The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and the powerful finale to the Harry Potter film franchise (more on that below!).

Noteworthy films like The Help and War Horse did get Best Picture nods (and a few other nominations in various categories), but got ignored in ones they really deserved (i.e. Screenplay or Directing!).

When you have to cut it off at 5, several actors with worthy performances got ignored this year.  Among the names that come to mind are: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tilda Swinton, Kirsten Dunst, Michael Fassbender, Ryan Gosling, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Joseph-Gordon Levitt, Emma Stone, Marion Cotillard and Alan Rickman. I'm sure there are more, but I don't want to be here all day!

THE 10 "WHAT-IN-THE-HELL-IS-THE-ACADEMY-THINKING?!?!" THOUGHTS:
Only 9 Best Picture nominees, really?!? They couldn't find one more film they liked well enough to make it an even 10 (especially when films like The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Bridesmaids, The Ides of March, Drive, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II got ignored!)?

Only 2 Best Song nominees?!?! The Academy's Music Department also revamped their voting system and this is their result!?! I'm definitely rooting for the Muppet song (written by Flight of the Conchords' Brett McKenzie), but come on people!!!

While I'm not disputing the five directors who made it into the Best Director category, where is David Fincher? Or Steven Spielberg? Or Bennett Miller? They expanded Best Picture, but Best Director can't get a few more names?

Steven Spielberg can't even get into the Animated category! His The Adventures of Tin-Tin, which won both the Golden Globe and the Producers' Guild Award for Best Animated Feature got shut out of the Oscar's Animated category.

Speaking of the Animated category, both Tin-Tin and Rio garnered nods from the Music Department (Tin-Tin for John Williams' score and Rio for its big musical production number) but neither could get in the Animated biggie.

The most successful movie franchise ended its run this year with a box office bang, but the Academy cannot take the time to recognize the cultural influence the Harry Potter series has had in the last decade.

With The Artist being the definite favorite in the Best Picture race, it may become the first silent Best Picture winner since Wings in 1927 (the very first Best Picture winner!).  This is just more of a surprising thought rather than a "WTF" thought.

Another surprising thought: Michelle Williams has an Oscar nomination for playing the iconic Marilyn Monroe, someone who never got an Oscar nomination herself (be it for Bus Stop or Some Like It Hot or The Seven Year Itch).

One more surprising thought: Meryl Streep has now garnered 17 nominations in 33 years. That almost works out to a nomination every 2 years!

And finally...
Jonah Hill, star of Superbad and Get Him to the Greek, is now an Academy Award Nominee. 'Nuff said.

IT'S THE LITTLE THINGS: Oscar Season 2012

Pictured: Kristen Wiig in Bridesmaids; Rooney Mara and Yorick van Wageningen in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo; George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Amara Miller and Nick Krause in The Descendants; Daniel Radcliffe and Ralph Fiennes in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II

With the Golden Globe Awards this Sunday, the Oscar Season is pretty much in full swing.  And pundits all over Hollywood are scrambling to predict which 5-10 films will be nominated for the top prize at this year's Academy Awards.  Yes, notice I said "5-10 films."  That is because this year the Motion Picture Academy is shaking things up a bit from previous years.  Two years ago, they expanded the Best Picture category from 5 nominees to 10.  But because last year's 10 films seemed (at least to the Academy) to be predicted by every Hollywood pundit from Hawaii to Maine, they felt that they would change the way the voting is done on the nominees for Best Picture.  It is very complicated to explain (and there are breakdowns on the new system all over the web!) but basically: the eligible films will go through several rounds of voting until a handful of films receive a certain percentage of votes.  The Academy has stated there will be a total of no less than 5 nominees and no more than 10 nominees (meaning there could be 7 or 8 nominees for Best Picture).  Because of this new system and this unpredictable possibility of slots, critics are expanding their "Short Lists" of what could be nominated this year.  In this week's article, I am going to discuss the possible nominees for the top 4 Awards this year (Picture, Actor, Actress & Director).

Let's start with:
BEST PICTURE
There are two major front-runners in this category: the moving George Clooney comedy-drama The Descendants and the critical favored French-made silent film The Artist.  Both films have topped every "Best of" list for 2011 and The Artist just yesterday won the Critics Choice Award for Best Picture (The Descendants has won the top prize from both the American Film Institute and the L.A. Film Critics).  Their slots on the list are almost more than assured.  Three other films have been in every discussion when it comes to Best Picture: the extremely popular comedy-drama The Help, the Brad Pitt lead film about the Oakland Athletics Moneyball and Steven Spielberg's emotional World War I film War Horse.  The Help surprised many by being one of the better box office draws of the end of the Summer and Moneyball is receiving praise left and right in particular for Brad Pitt's dynamic performance and the verbose screenplay by previous Oscar-winners Steven Zaillian (Schindler's List) and Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network).  As for War Horse, the film is being hailed as "Spielberg magic" and is getting positive comparisons to his previous Oscar faves Saving Private Ryan and Schindler's List.  But we should not forget the dark horses that this category has seen over the past 2 months: Martin Scorsese's charming fantasy Hugo, David Fincher's dark and stylistic vision of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and Woody Allen's artistic and imaginative Midnight In Paris.  All three have made their way in to various pre-Oscar Awards (with Hugo winning the top honors from the National Board of Review and all three esteemed directors knocking even Steven Spielberg out of contention with the Director's Guild Awards).  And when it comes to dark horses, both Terrence Malick's stream of consciousness film The Tree of Life and Stephen Daldry's 9/11-related drama Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close both won the earliest of the pre-Oscar prizes (with Tree of Life winning at the Cannes Film Festival and Extremely Loud winning praise from the Broadcast Critics Association).  Though their respective Oscar buzz has faltered, they still are not out of the running.  And let's not forget the bigger box office hits.  Recent years, people have noted that the bigger box office winners get ignored come Oscar time.  That changed when the third Lord of the Rings movie won in 2004.  Now, films like the hit comedy Bridesmaids and 2011's ultimate box office champ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II have stronger chances than they would have had say ten years ago.  Lower on most lists are some other critical favorites like the George Clooney-directed political drama The Ides of March, the stylish adaptation of John le Carre's novel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Clint Eastwood's biopic of controversial FBI director J. Edgar Hoover simply titled J. Edgar.  Ultimately, if 10 films are indeed to be nominated, the Best Picture nominees will look something like this:

• The Artist, The Descendants, The Help, Moneyball, War Horse, Hugo, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Midnight In Paris, Bridesmaids and The Tree of Life
• With these possible spoilers (replacing any of the ones after Hugo!): Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II, The Ides of March, J. Edgar and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Spoilers can happen people!  Remember when The Blind Side was nominated two years ago?  Nobody saw that one coming!

Speaking of The Blind Side, let's move on to:
BEST ACTRESS
Like Best Picture, this category has two very clear and very strong front-runners.  Viola Davis wowed critics and audiences alike with her moving performance in The Help (and her recent win at last night's Critics Choice Awards doesn't hurt either!).  Her biggest competitor is her Doubt co-star and quite possibly the greatest actress of the last 30 years, Ms. Meryl Streep.  This year, Streep conquered the polarizing role of Great Britain's former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady and critics everywhere are saying this is the performance to win Streep a potential third Oscar (she has been nominated 16 times over 32 years, winning twice back in 1980 and 1983!).  The third lady to mention with this category is Michelle Williams.  The late Heath Ledger's former wife has certainly been on the Oscar radar with her performances in films like Brokeback Mountain and 2010's critical favorite Blue Valentine.  This year, her performance in backstage showbiz flick My Week With Marilyn (in which Williams tackles the role of Marilyn Monroe!) is gaining universal praise and she is assured a win this Sunday at the Golden Globes for Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy.  Some have even stated that should voters split between the choice of Viola Davis and Meryl Streep, that Williams would be the potential victor.  And let us not forget Glenn Close.  The multiple Tony and Emmy-winner has not been nominated for an Oscar since 1989 (Dangerous Liaisons, her fifth nomination by then!), but her performance in the indie film Albert Nobbs has generated buzz and nominations from both the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild.  The fifth slot would most likely go to Oscar-winner Tilda Swinton (who won a few years back for her icy performance in Michael Clayton).  Swinton has left critics awestruck with her performance as the mother of a child who is a possible sociopath in We Need to Talk About Kevin.  But since its the Oscars, there's always a chance of a surprise nominee.  Three other actresses on the Awards radar are Oscar-winner Charlize Theron for her role in Diablo Cody's darkly sardonic Young Adult, Kirsten Dunst won at both the Cannes Film Festival and National Society of Film Critics for Lars Von Trier's metaphorical Melancholia and Rooney Mara garnered a Golden Globe nod for her performance in David Fincher's stylish remake of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.  Here is what Best Actress most likely will look like:

• Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs; Viola Davis, The Help; Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady; Tilda Swinton, We Need To Talk About Kevin; Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn
• With Charlize Theron, Kirsten Dunst or Rooney Mara as potential surprises (likely knocking out Ms. Close or Ms. Swinton).

With the ladies out of the way, let's go to:
BEST ACTOR
With The Descendants and The Artist being the front-runners in the Best Picture category, their respective male leads (George Clooney and Jean Dujardin) certainly have made their way to the top of the list of Best Actor candidates.  Both actors are poised to win Golden Globes on Sunday night: Clooney for Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama and Dujardin for Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy.  And don't forget the praise that Brad Pitt has received for his dynamic portrayal of Oakland Athletics General Manager Billy Beane in Moneyball.  And when it comes to playing real-life figures, Leonardo DiCaprio earned praise and Oscar buzz for his performance as J. Edgar Hoover in Clint Eastwood's J. Edgar.  With four slots taken now, that last slot becomes extremely competitive.  The likeliest candidate (and my personal favorite!) is Gary Oldman.  Oscar loves to bestow praise on veteran actors who have been around for years and never fully got recognition.  In Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy, Oldman has received some of the best reviews of his long career and when his name was NOT among the nominees for both the Golden Globes or the Screen Actors' Guild Awards, the cry of "Foul!" was loud enough to be heard around the world.  Oscar voters may want to rectify the mistake that the HFPA and the SAG have made.  But Oldman's major competitors for that final spot are two actors who have had a wealth of good film performances this year.  Ryan Gosling made three critically notable films this year (The Ides of March, Drive and Crazy, Stupid Love) and he could be nominated for any one of them.  Inglorious Basterds co-star Michael Fassbender also made multiple films this year (he was Magneto in the prequel X-Men: First Class and starred in three independent films Jane Eyre, A Dangerous Method and the controversial Shame).  While he got a Golden Globe nod for Shame, his performance in the other two independent flicks have not gone unnoticed.  The one problem with multiple film entries for an actor or actress come Oscar time is that if each film earns the actor praise, voters might split between which film the actor should receive a nod for that year.  The final competitor who could likely steal the final nod is Owen Wilson.  In Woody Allen's well-received Midnight In Paris, Wilson charmed audiences and critics alike well enough to garner a Golden Globe nomination and is considered to have at least a quarter of a chance against the power of the praise poured onto Jean Dujardin's performance in The Artist.  With all that said, this is what I think Best Actor will look like:

• George Clooney, The Descendants; Leonardo DiCaprio, J. Edgar; Jean Dujardin, The Artist; Gary Oldman, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; Brad Pitt, Moneyball
• With Gosling, Fassbender (for any one of their films!) and Wilson as potential surprises (unfortunately acing out Mr. Oldman from getting his first Oscar nod!).

And last but certainly not least, we move on to:
BEST DIRECTOR
Most often, Best Director tends to match the Best Picture nominees.  But that changed with the Best Picture category being expanded.  And with this year's unpredictable number of Best Picture nominees, Best Director still is very difficult to match.  Just as their films are front-runners for the top prize, both Alexander Payne (The Descendants) and Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist) are on the top of the Best Director list.  As I said above, Martin Scorsese (Hugo), Woody Allen (Midnight In Paris) and David Fincher (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) joined Payne and Hazanavicius as nominees for the Directors' Guild Award.  And George Clooney (for his political drama The Ides of March) joined all those names (sans Fincher) as the nominees for this Sunday's Golden Globes Best Director prize.  As a fan of his for most of my life, I never ever underestimate the Academy's love for Steven Spielberg and his War Horse could definitely garner him his sixth Oscar nod for Best Director.  While both Moneyball and The Help have received tons of critical praise, their respective directors (Bennett Miller and Tate Taylor) have been mostly afterthoughts when it comes to discussing this category.  And finally both Stephen Daldry and Terrence Malick tend to get notice come Oscar time whenever they make films, but their respective movies (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and The Tree of Life) have faltered on their road to the Oscar nominations.  Best Director will most likely look something like this:

• Woody Allen, Midnight In Paris; David Fincher, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo; Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist; Alexander Payne, The Descendants; Martin Scorsese, Hugo; Steven Spielberg, War Horse
• I realize I have listed 6 names here, but I just cannot count out Spielberg's chances just yet!  He is for sure the top potential "surprise."
• The other potential surprises could be either Mr. Daldry, Mr. Malick or Mr. Clooney.

I'm not going to discuss the potential Supporting nominees or the potential Writing nominees, since those categories will most likely match the Golden Globe nominees or those respective Guild Awards (both Actors and Writers!).  Once the nominees have been announced (on Tuesday, January 24th), I will begin work on researching my predictions.  Who will win the top prizes this year?  We shall see!

IT'S THE LITTLE THINGS: Thanks Kermit!

After a week of fighting off the end of a cold and various headaches (both personal and physical!), this was not the best week to have my own blog.  But every time I got stressed or felt like just crawling into bed and never getting up, I thought of the wonderful things in this world.  And half of the things I thought of had to do with the Muppets!  So I took it as a sign that it couldn't have been mere coincidence that their first theatrical feature in over 10 years shall soon be released over the upcoming Holiday weekend.  Therefore during this week of Thanksgiving, I want to be eternally grateful for Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear and every other glorious piece of felt from that enchanting and timeless company.  I may not be able to see it on opening day, but I do plan to see their new cinematic adventure as soon as possible.  And when I do, I shall remember all the good things and good times you have given me over my lifetime.  Thank You Kermit.  Thank You Piggy.  Thank You Muppets.  And most importantly, Thank You Jim!  You remind me every day that IT'S THE LITTLE THINGS that get you through the tough times.

IT'S THE LITTLE THINGS: November Movies - First Impressions

Lord how time flies!!!!  The Fall Movie season will soon be coming to an end and Christmas will suddenly be upon us.  After some extremely well-received movies in August and September (The Help, Moneyball and Contagion) and a lackluster October filled with sequels (Paranormal Activity 3), prequels (Puss In Boots), ho-hum star-driven vehicles (In Time and The Rum Diary) and snoozy remakes (Footloose, The Thing and The Three Musketeers); I thought we should take a look at some of the films coming out over the next month as we head into the Holiday seasons and the beginning of the Awards track (Golden Globe nods come out in mid-December!).

So, let's look at some of the trailers of the major studio films (and some of the Award-hopefuls) being released during November and talk about the first impressions based on the trailer (and whatever buzz may be surrounding the movie in question!).  Then, I'll give the verdict on whether I would personally take the time to see the movie.

RELEASE DATE: Friday, November 4, 2011

A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas

Starring: Kal Penn, John Cho, Neil Patrick Harris

First Impressions: The Harold & Kumar franchise has done quite well especially in its key demographic (audience ages 18-35).  Both stars Kal Penn and John Cho have been able to transition within their own careers thanks to the H&K brand, so why wouldn't a third film be in the cards.  However, comedy franchises tend not to do as well as their predecessors (as we learned with the highly-anticipated Hangover II earlier this year!).  Studios tend to expect more out of them than they end up getting.  And when they don't meet those expectations, they are counted as failures.  It's quite possible that the duo's trip to WhiteCastle should have been their one and only.

Would I See It?: Possibly (on TV or DVD though)

Tower Heist

Starring: Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, Casey Affleck

First Impressions: Alan Alda as a Bernie Madoff-type living in what is obviously Trump Towers!  It's the kind of biting satire that worked back in the 1980s, but today its a little along the too esoteric lines.  Though the rest of the cast is likable in what seems to be their typical roles now (Ben Stiller as fumbling lead, Casey Affleck as sarcastic assistance, Matthew Broderick as nebbish friend, etc.), the only standout even within the trailer is obviously Eddie Murphy.  He seems to be in exactly the type of role that made us love him at the beginning of his career (i.e. Trading Places, 48 Hrs., etc.).  The problem is that right-off you can tell that Murphy in all his comic glory is probably only in about 20-25% of the movie.  Meaning the rest of the film would be kind of a snore when Murphy is not on the screen.
Would I See It?: Possibly (on TV or DVD though)

The Son of No One
Starring: Channing Tatum, Al Pacino, Juliette Binoche

First Impressions: I have not heard of this movie at all!  No buzz, no news, no early reviews, no nothing!  And yet there are actual people in this movie!  Like name people, A-Listers!  Is it because Channing Tatum is the first name on the list that I automatically ignored anything about this film?  It looks like it might actually be interesting and provocative with some pretty good performances (except for maybe Katie Holmes, although she could surprise us!).  Why have I heard nothing about this film?

Would I See It?: Maybe

RELEASE DATE: Friday, November 11, 2011

Immortals

Starring: Henry Cavill, John Hurt, Mickey Rourke

First Impressions: Trying to capture what was captured a few years ago with 300, but probably being more like the horrendous remake of Clash of the Titans last year.

Would I See It?: Never

Jack & Jill
Starring: Adam Sandler, Katie Holmes, Al Pacino

First Impression: Adam Sandler dances on that line of clever parody (The Wedding Singer) to touching lead (Punch-Drunk Love) to trying to be serious (Spanglish) to just plain stupid (Grown Ups).  Unfortunately, this is way passed the latter of those options.
Would I See It?: Never

J. Edgar

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Naomi Watts, Dame Judi Dench

First Impression: This movie has the most going for it as far as I'm concerned.  Its directed by an accomplished and acclaimed director (Clint Eastwood!).  Its screenplay is by the smart and edgy Oscar-winning writer behind Milk (Dustin Lance Black).  And it stars Leonardo DiCaprio in what quite possibly could be his Oscar-winning performance (if the early critics are to be believed!).  It has the stylish qualities that went into last year's Oscar-winner The King's Speech and the political intrigue (and topical metaphors) that went into the previous Oscar-winner The Hurt Locker.

Would I See It?: Most Likely

RELEASE DATE: Friday, November 18, 2011

The Twilight Saga - Breaking Dawn Part I

Starring: Robert Pattison, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner

First Impressions: Just when you think you're rid of these brooding "teenagers" who never seem to smile, they come back doing the exact thing the Harry Potter series did earlier by splitting its "final chapter" into two movies (because Stefanie Meyer can do anything J. K. Rowling can do! NYAH!).  So that just means they'll be boring boyfriends and putting husbands to sleep in two movies instead of one!

Would I See It?: Not even if you held a gun to my head! I would choose death! (Too much with the sarcasm?) 

Happy Feet Two
Starring: Elijah Wood, Pink, Robin Williams

First Impressions: I really liked the first one.  It was touching, funny and surprisingly well-crafted.  But I'm not sure all of that positive reaction the first one got (including an Oscar for Best Animated Film beating Cars!) warrants a sequel.  It seems like it could be cute and funny and maybe even touching.  But it also seems like its over-reaching and re-hashing some of the same jokes and plotlines that fueled the first one.

Would I See It?: On the Fence

The Descendants
Starring: George Clooney, Judy Greer, Matthew Lillard

First Impressions: Another potential Awards grabber and George Clooney already had one earlier this fall with The Ides of March.  It may be hard to decipher which George Clooney Oscar-bait movie audiences need to see.

Would I See It?: On the Fence

RELEASE DATE: Friday, November 25, 2011

Hugo

Starring: Asa Butterfield, Sasha Baron Cohen, Christopher Lee

First Impressions: At first look, its family-friendly and filled with a typical mix of fantasy and comic relief (Thank You Borat!).  It seems to have charm and kids and period costumes and....wait a minute...did that say "Directed by Martin Scorcese?!?!"  Martin "Mean Streets-Taxi Driver-Raging Bull-GoodFellas-Gangs of New York-The Departed" Scorcese?!?!  I know he's taking risks now and doing things he wouldn't have done 20 years ago (hence his Emmy-winning work on the HBO drama Boardwalk Empire!), but how opposite from his canon does he have to go in order to prove he's a risk-taker?  Wait, Does he need to prove he's a risk-taker?!?!  Maybe he figures: He has an Oscar and an Emmy, now he needs the children to like him!

Would I See It?: Likely (but probably on TV or DVD)

The Muppets

Starring: Jason Segel, Amy Adams, Chris Cooper

First Impressions: It has Muppets! It's their first theatrical venture since the somewhat average Muppets From Space over a decade ago.  It has celebrity cameos, self-referential humor...oh, and did I mention: IT HAS MUPPETS!!!!

Would I See It?: Try and stop me!!!

Arthur Christmas

Starring: James McAvoy, Jim Broadbent, Bill Nighy

First Impressions: Sure, there of course is bound to be a Christmas-themed animated movie this year (we've had The Polar Express and Jim Carrey in A Christmas Carol).  This movie seems like it might be charming and sweet with a anything-can-happen and anyone-can-do-anything message.  But on the other hand, everything that makes it so cute and special also could make it so gratingly irritating.  Since PIXAR revolutionized Disney, every studio has to get into the game and do it in some way (see Happy Feet Two above!).  But I just don't know if I can take much more of this.
Would I See It?: Possibly (on TV or DVD though)

A Dangerous Method

Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Michael Fassbender, Keira Knightley

First Impressions: The last Viggo Mortensen-David Cronenberg venture (Eastern Promises) resulted in an Oscar nomination for the former Lord of the Rings star.  Plus, Michael Fassbender (who first charmed audiences a few years ago in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds!) is quickly becoming one of the most welcome additions to any movie this year (a well-received version of Jane Eyre and the surprisingly well-done X-Men prequel).  And its been a while since Keira Knightley steamed up the screen in a racy role that could result in some awards attention.  And its about Freud and Jung and their tenuous (re: stressful) work relationship.  The two are the greatest influences on the psycho-analytical world and a dramatic depiction of their (possible) "friendship" would be quite interesting.

Would I See It?: Quite Possibly

My Week With Marilyn

Starring: Michelle Williams, Eddie Redmayne, Kenneth Branagh

First Impressions: A movie about Marilyn Monroe while she was making the somewhat charming 1957 film The Prince and the Showgirl with Sir Laurence Olivier...interesting.  Michelle Williams looks gorgeous as the iconic blonde.  Branagh is the perfect choice to play Lord Larry.  And Tony-winner Eddie Redmayne seems to be in a star-making performance as the man who was Monroe's confidante and friend for that titular "week."  It is definitely an Awards-grabber (especially with Williams' rising Oscar profile receiving nods for Brokeback Mountain and Blue Valentine).
Would I See It?: Maybe

The Artist

Starring: Jean Dujardin, Berenice Bejo, John Goodman

First Impressions: It has already won fans at both the Cannes Film Festival and the Toronto Film Festival.  It is become so beloved by the early critics that this will certainly not be the last time we will hear this film's name over the next Awards season.

Would I See It?: Maybe