Hollywood And Me Awards 2011

              Nominees are placed on the bases of my preference, the first one being the winner. Also i may or may not change my choices depending upon more movies that i watch in the future. For Foreign Movies, i go with their US release dates unless i am able to watch them a year earlier.

   

Best Picture 

* A Separation


- The Tree of Life
- Midnight in Paris
- The Artist
- Drive
- Moneyball
- Certified Copy
- Hugo
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
- Shame

Best Director

* Terrence Malick - The Tree Of Life

- Martin Scorsese - Hugo
- Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist
- Nicolas Winding Refn - Drive
- Asghar Farhadi - A Separation
- Bennett Miller - Moneyball

Best Lead Actor

* Brad Pitt - Moneyball

- Michael Fassbender - Shame
- Jean Dujardin - The Artist
- Michael Shannon - Take Shelter
- Ryan Gosling - Drive
- Gary Oldman - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Best Lead Actress

* Juliette Binoche - Certified Copy


- Tilda Swinton - We Need to Talk About Kevin
- Viola Davis - The Help
- Olivia Colman - Tyrannosaur
- Kristen Dunst - Melancholia
- Elizabeth Olsen - Martha Marcy May Marlene

Best Supporting Actor 

* Christopher Plummer - Beginners

- Brad Pitt - The Tree of Life
- Nick Nolte - Warrior
- Albert Brooks - Drive
- Andy Serkis - Rise of the Planet of the Apes
- Shahab Hosseini - A Separation

Best Supporting Actress 

* Jessica Chastain - Take Shelter/The Tree of Life/The Help

- Octavia Spencer - The Help
- Sareh Bayat - A Separation
- Charlotte Gainsbourgh - Melancholia
- Berenice Bejo - The Artist
- Melissa McCarthy - Bridesmaids

Best Original Screenplay

* A Separation

- Midnight in Paris
- Certified Copy
- Bridesmaids
- Martha Marcy May Marlene
- The Artist

Best Adapted Screenplay

* Moneyball

- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
- Hugo
- We Need to Talk About Kevin
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Best Foreign Film

* A Separation

- Certified Copy
- Tomboy
- Zindagi na Milege Dobara
- Le Havre
- The Skin i Live In

Best Animated Film

* Rango

- Arthur Christmas
- Winnie the Pooh
- The Adventures of Tintin
- Puss in Boots
- Kung Fu Panda 2

Best Film Editing

* Moneyball

- Contagion
- We Need to Talk About Kevin
- Source Code
- Martha Marcy May Marlene

Best Cinematography

* The Tree of Life

- Hugo
- Moneyball
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
- The Artist

Best Production Design

* Hugo

- Midnight in Paris
- The Artist
- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2

Best Visual Effects

* Hugo

- Rise of the Planet of the Apes
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2
- The Tree of Life
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Best Costume Design

* Jane Eyre

- The Artist
- Hugo
- The Help
- My Week with Marilyn

Best Hair & Makeup

* The Iron Lady

- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2
- Albert Nobbs
- The Artist
- My Week with Marilyn

Best Score

* Hugo

- The Artist
- The Skin i Live In
- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
- Super 8

Best Sound

* Hugo

- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2
- Drive
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
- Source Code

Best Ensemble

* A Separation

- The Help
- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
- Bridesmaids
- The Artist
- The Descendants

Breakthrough Male

* Michael Fassbender (Jane Eyre, X Men: First Class, A Dangerous Method and Shame)

- Ryan Gosling (Drive, The Ides Of March and Crazy Stupid Love)
- Hunter McCraken (The Tree Of Life)
- Ezra Miller (We Need to Talk About Kevin)
- Tom Hiddleston (Thor, Midnight in Paris and War Horse)

Breakthrough Female

* Jessica Chastain (The Help, The Tree of Life, Take Shelter and The Debt)

- Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)
- Elizabeth Olsen (Martha Marcy May Marlene)
- Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids)
- Shailene Woodley (The Descendants)

Best Movies (indie/too small to be noticed)

- Weekend
- Meek's Cutoff
- Tomboy
- Beginners
- Win Win
- The Guard
- Another Earth
- Tyrannosaur
- Attack the Block
- Margin Call

Honorable Mentions:

Pictures

- Bridesmaids
- Martha Marcy May Marlene
- Take Shelter
- Melancholia 
- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
- We Need to Talk About Kevin
- 50/50
- Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
- The Muppets
- Source Code

Actors

- Chris New - Weekend
- Joseph Gordon-Levitt - 50/50
- George Clooney - The Descendants
- Demian Bichir - A Better Life
- Peter Mullan - Tyrannosaur

- Charlize Theron - Young Adult
- Rooney Mara - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
- Kristen Wiig - Bridesmaids
- Janet McTeer - Albert Nobbs
- Michelle Williams - My Week with Marilyn

Top 20 Movies of 2011

Below is the list of my Top 20 favorite movies of the year 2011 followed by some Honorable Mentions. Note that i can change the list whenever i want.

Top 20 Movies:

1. A Separation:
                                A flawlessly written, directed, acted and edited movie that is just perfection and masterful film making in ever single way. A movie from Iran that got my attention from its first major win at Berlin Film Festival all the way to the Oscars, i feel blessed to have seen such an amazing movie in my life. A social drama that moves at a pace of a Hitchcock thriller with a pitch perfect observation at a society and its moral values overall rather than a political or social portrayal of just Iran, its universal.

My Review of the 84th Annual Academy Awards 2012

So i woke up a while ago as i didn't sleep the entire night to watch the biggest and most important event of the year. Some surprises, disappointments and many more things and its was a night to remember.

84th Annual Academy Awards 2012

Best Cinematography - Hugo
Best Art Direction - Hugo

Best Costume Design - The Artist
Best Makeup - The Iron Lady
Best Foreign Language Film - A Separation
Best Supporting Actress - Octavia Spencer (The Help)
Best Film Editing - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Best Sound Editing - Hugo
Best Sound Mixing - Hugo
Best Documentary Feature - Undefeated
Best Animated Feature - Rango
Best Visual Effects - Hugo
Best Supporting Actor - Christopher Plummer (Beginners)
Best Original Score - The Artist
Best Original Song - Man or Muppet (The Muppets)
Best Adapted Screenplay - The Descendants
Best Original Screenplay - Midnight in Paris
Best Live Action Short - The Shore
Best Documentary Short - Saving Face
Best Animated Short - The Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore
Best Director - Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)
Best Lead Actor - Jean Dujardin (The Artist)
Best Lead Actress - Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady)
Best Picture - The Artist

Hugo - 5
The Artist - 5
The Iron Lady - 2
Midnight in Paris - 1
The Descendants - 1
The Help - 1
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - 1
Beginners - 1
A Separation - 1
The Muppets - 1
Rango - 1

My Final Oscars Predictions 2012

Throughout the month i have been covering every category, Academy Awards are just few hours away so i am compiling my predictions.

Here are my predictions with a potential spoiler and my own choices:

Best Picture:

Who will win: The Artist
Potential Spoiler: The Artist
My Choice: Moneyball

Independent Spirit Awards 2012

So the Indie Spirits Awards 2012 were announced yesterday in a nice ceremony, they do it the day before Oscars every year. This year however i don't think it showed the actually Indie Spirits but went with all the other awards giving everything to The Artist. The Artist won Best Feature, Director, Actor and Cinematography while Williams Woodley and Plummer were the other winners. 50/50 and Margin Call won too which actually is the Indie Spirits basically. Not quite happy this year with their choices.

Oscars 2012 Nominations Special (Picture)

Here we are with just 2 nights left and its Oscars time, the only category left for me to discuss is the main and the most important category Best Picture. As always, i am going to write what i think about the movie and its chances at the Oscars night followed by a well lets say winner as no predictions here, we know whose going to win.

Best Picture:

                   So this year, it really wasn't about just the old 5 or the newly imposed 10 nominations in this category but they number could have been anywhere between 5 to 10 depending on the absolute favorite picks and their best of the best preferences. With this new rule came some backfires like due to the fact that with just 5 slots on the ballot a voter who had a favorite movie regardless of what the overall buzz was favoring, he or she would put it on the top to increase it chance of getting nominated. Critics and everyone were predicting 8 nominees but a shock/surprise was just about to blow the everything out of them on the day of Oscars nominations announcement.

Oscars 2012 Nominations Special (Lead Actor - Male)

Here we are at the final acting and the second last overall category for the discussion and yes i have many thing to talk about.

Best Actor in a Lead Role Male:

Well this time, once again, its one of the most or should i say the strongest category of the year with 4 of the best performance of the year that i simply can't make up my mind for. I loved all of them, i think all of them has particular reasons as to why they deserve the Oscar and many things else.

Oscars 2012 Nominations Special (Lead Actor - Female)

So now we come to the last 3 categories, this one is of course about Best Actress in a Lead Role. I am just going to give my view on the race and my early predictions.

Best Actor in a Lead Role Female:

Yes i wont say i am truly satisfied by the Academy choices this time, an actress category is always strong but this time it just isn't. I understand the lack of good movies and i understand the lack of truly great performances but then there were many but got snubbed. Before i write anything else, i haven't seen My Week with Marilyn yet so yeah just wanted to let you people now.

Oscars 2012 Nominations Special (Supporting Role - Female)

Ok the Academy Awards are just around the corner and i have 3 more categories to cover so yes here i am with the Best Actress in a Supporting Role.

Best Actor in a Supporting Role Female:

Well let me just say, this is one of the most strongest categories this year or perhaps the strongest. The race is very tough and tight though we already know who the big winner would be but still i am very happy with all the nominees.

Review: The Descendants (2011)

Starring:
                   George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Judy Greer, Beau Bridges, Nick Krause, Amara Miller, Matthew Lillard, Robert Forster, Patricia Hastie, Mary Birdsong, Rob Huebel, Milt Kogan, Laird Hamilton, Michael Ontkean and Matt Corboy.

Directed By:
                         Alexander Payne

Oscars 2012 Nominations Special (Supporting Role - Male)

Well now we come to the first part of one of my most favorite categories, acting and the first of which is supporting performance male and later on female. I will give my take on the current race and give my early predictions.

Best Actor in a Supporting Role Male:

I will admit this year, the supporting male category doesn't have one of the most strongest contenders that you will expect and the race is not much of a big deal here. There just weren't mindblowing performances this year in a supporting role male and the few that were, didn't made the list but Plummer is a true standout followed by Nolte.

Oscars 2012 Nominations Special (Screenplays)

So after the Visual and Sound Tech categories and the other minor ones, we come to the Big five awards. The first one are the screenplay so in this Nominations Special, i would give my take and early predictions on both original and Adapted Screenplay race.

Review: War Horse (2011)

Starring:
                  Jeremy Irvine, Emily Watson, Peter Mullan, Tom Hiddleston, David Thewlis, Benedict Cumberbatch, Toby Kebbell, Eddie Marsan, Geoff Bell, Patrick Kennedy, Niels Arestrup, Celine Buckens, David Kross, Rainer Bock, Nicolas Bro, Leonard Carow, Robert Emms, Matt Milne, Liam Cunningham and David Dencik.

Directed By:
                         Steven Spielberg.

Oscars 2012 Nominations Special Part 4

Well in this part 4 of my Oscar coverage, i would discuss three categories one of which is very important and main one. I am going to give my take and early predictions on Best Animated Movie, Foreign Language Film and Best Director.

BAFTA Awards 2012

  

So the 2012 BAFTA Awards just announced, i tried to watch the ceremony live through streaming but it didn't quite happened and was watching it in bits and parts. Still, Stephen Fry was very hilarious and had some great moments. I wont use the word disappointed over the winners because Awards have become a joke, they are too predictable now and the members doesn't really watch and then appreciate the talent but they go with the buzz and other people which really hurts as the most deserving seems to lose.

Jean Dujardin winning here too changes the game and now he is all up there for the Oscar too. Supporting Actor and Actress are no doubt going to win Oscar too, the were predictable but quite deserving. Happy for the love to Tinker Tailor.

Best Film: The Artist

Outstanding British Film: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Review: Midnight in Paris (2011)

Starring:
                  Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Kurt Fuller, Mimi Kennedy, Michael Sheen, Nina Arianda, Carla Bruni, Yves Heck, Alison Pill, Corey Stoll, Tom Hiddleston, Sonia Rolland, Daniel Lundh, Kathy Bates, Marcial Di Fonzo Bo, Marion Cotillard, Léa Seydoux, Emmanuelle Uzan, Adrien Brody, Tom Cordier, Adrien de Van, Gad Elmaleh, David Lowe, Yves-Antoine Spoto, Laurent Claret, Vincent Menjou Cortes, Olivier Rabourdin and François Rostain.

Directed By:
                         Woody Allen.

Oscars 2012 Nominations Special Part 3

            So this is the Part 3 of my personal take on all the Academy Awards 2012 nominations where i'll discuss and give my initial predictions of the 3 categories, Film Editing, Cinematography and Visual Effects.

Best Film Editing Nominees:

1. The Artist
2. The Descendants
3. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
4. Hugo
5. Moneyball

My Take:
                  Well most of the time, a movie that is either a frontrunner or one of the two or three frontrunners wins film editing. Also movies that get them are considered strong movies in terms of their overall success on the awards day. And there are greater chances for a movie outside the radar to get nomination too like this year The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo which no doubt had a almost pitch perfect editing. Last year The Social Network had one of the most flawless editing i saw in years, or maybe ever and this year among the nominees, that movie is Moneyball and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I haven't seen Hugo which once again has a good chance of winning too and on the other hand if you go through that rule or Academy's tradition that i wrote at the beginning, the two frontrunners are The Artist and The Descendants so yeah it can be anyone. It is a tough one in this category this year quite surprisingly for a technical category and i really appreciate it, would be fun to see who wins.

Oscars 2012 Nominations Special Part 2

               So this is the Part 2 of my personal take on all the Academy Awards 2012 nominations where i'll discuss and give my initial predictions of the 3 categories, Art Direction, Costume Design and Makeup.

Best Art Direction Nominations:

1. The Artist

2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

3. Hugo

4. Midnight in Paris

5. War Horse

Oscars 2012 Nominations Special Part 1

              Okay in this Part 1 of my personal take on every category of Academy Awards nominations, i will be discussing on the Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Original Song and Original Score categories. I would say that this is where i have the least knowledge of any category so i wont be able to discuss it in a very deep technical way but just what i think of it right now followed by my final predictions.

Best Sound Editing/Mixing Nominations:

these 4 movies are nominated in both categories:

1. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
2. Hugo
3. Transformers: Dark of the Moon
4. War Horse

While Drive is for Sound Editing and Moneyball for Sound Mixing.