I must interrupt the proceedings to let you know that Awards Daily, Sasha Stone's incredibly movie site, with an Oscar bias, has posted it's annual Oscar ballot. 
For your opportunity to vote like a real Academy member click here.
You'll be pleased to know that I had to adjust my previous posts for the voting - only including eligible films which meant that my potential vote catchers were very limited.
Showing posts with label 2009 in Review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2009 in Review. Show all posts
Monday, 4 January 2010
Awards Daily's Oscar Nominations
Thursday, 31 December 2009
2009 in Review - Best Film
As we reach the end of my salute to the achievements of 2009 here are my top films. I have been lucky, of the 42 times I went to the cinema I only consider 6 outright failures, and none of the films were so dreadful they had nothing to recommend them. That doesn't make the compilation of a top ten list any easier, in fact the overall quality has meant that many films which were very good ended up being left out. All but the top 3 could easily have been displaced by the dozen other contenders.
I won't be giving any commentary to list, not even a brief sentence, but please note that I have chosen these films because they moved me, gave me pure unadulterated pleasure or just led to more conversation than any of the other films I saw (number 10 for instance has led to 4 different viewings with deep discussions about the outcome).
1. Where the Wild Things Are
2009. Dir: Spike Jonze. Starring: Max Records, Catherine Keener, James Gandolfini, Catherine O'Hara and Lauren Ambrose. My Review
2. Maria Larsson's Everlasting Moments
2008. Dir: Jan Troell. Starring: Maria Heiskanen, Mikhail Persbrandt, Jesper Christensen, Emil Jensen and Ghita Nørby. My Review
3. Che Part 2
2008. Dir: Steven Soderbergh. Starring Benicio Del Toro, Franka Potenta, Joaquim de Almeida, Demián Bichir and Lou Diamond Phillips. My Review
4. A Serious Man
2009. Dir: Ethan and Joel Coen. Starring: Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind, Fred Melamed, Sari Lennick and Aaron Wolff. My Review
5. Away We Go
2009. Dir: Sam Mendes. Starring: John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph, Carmen Ejogo, Catherine O'Hara and Jeff Daniels. My Review
6. Milk
2008. Dir: Gus van Sant. Starring: Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin, Diego Luna and James Franco. Not Reviewed.
7. Antichrist
2009. Dir: Lars von Trier. Starring: Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg. My Review
8. Avatar
2009. Dir: James Cameron. Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Sigourney Weaver and Michelle Rodriguez. My Review
9. Drag me to Hell
2009. Dir: Sam Raimi. Starring: Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Lorna Raver, Dileep Rao and David Paymer. My Review
10. Doubt
2008. Dir: John Patrick Shanley. Starring: Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Viola Davis and Joseph Foster. My Review
Wednesday, 30 December 2009
2009 in Review - Best Actor
Compared to the last three days the Best Actor category is by far the starriest group with a couple of massively popular performers, but it still has it's fair share of wtf selections so I'm looking forward to hearing comments on this. Tee hee.
1. Benicio Del Toro - Che Part 1 and 2. There are few biopics where the actor so inhabits the person that we can't see the affectations and walls the actor has copied off the original. As far as I'm concerned Del Toro is Che Guevera.
2. Russell Crowe - State of Play. This superior thriller may not be the sort of film you would imagine as an acting showcase, but in casting Crowe as the archetypal news hound they managed to make it one. Everything he does is natural and built around an solid believeable characterisation.
3. Max Records - Where the Wild Things Are. Few child actors can make me sit up and notice their performance, often they come across as mannered or "stage schooly". As the one real wild thing in the movie Records was equally impressive when having a temper tantrum as when feeling isolated in his fantasy island.
4. Willem Dafoe - Antichrist. The He in Lars von Trier's nightmarish vision was a tough role for anyone to take on, both loving yet arrogant and mentally abusive, the performance had to be perfectly balanced to prevent it from going over the edge. Dafoe managed that and with Charlotte Gainsborough salvaged the humanity in the film.
5. Sean Penn - Milk. It's a tough choice for number 5, with both Penn and Mickey Rourke fighting for it. In the end I had to decide which performance spoke to me more, and Harvey Milk recruited me.
Tuesday, 29 December 2009
2009 in Review - Best Actress
In the other three categories there are fillers - I will admit that. I have only seen 42 films, so there have been performances that probably should have been put aside for greater achievements. I don't think that is the case for Best Actress, in fact I could have easily done a top ten with tremendous performances.
1. Maria Heiskanen - Maria Larssons Eviga Ogonblick(Everlasting Moments). By far the most moving performance I saw this year was by a little known Swedish actress in a art-house release that I almost missed at the cinemas. Playing an abused wife, who falls in love with another man but does nothing about it, she ripped my heart in two. 
2. Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married. We may have seen Anne's boobs in the past but this was the film where she truly performed as an adult. Playing the destrutive sister of the titular bride, Anne was a torrent of self-pity and rage with an undercurrent of pure guilt. Excellent.
3. Sasha Grey - The Girlfriend Experience. A deeply unsettling and naturalistic performance where all we see are the layers a professional hooker places around herself. Throughout the film we see them falling apart, and the impact that has on the understanding of your own identity.
4. Michelle Pfeiffer - Cheri. The second courtesan of the list, with Pfeiffer playing someone who knows her best days are behind her and enters into her final doomed love affair. No-one does brittle like Michelle, and the look into the mirror at the close of the film tells us everything we need to know about her future.
5. Abbie Cornish - Bright Star. We end with more doomed love affairs - this time separated by society and by death. Abbie's Fanny Brawne is unafraid to announce her passions to the world (and to do some first class sulking) and this confidence is striking in the final performance.
Monday, 28 December 2009
2009 in Review - Best Supporting Actor
Supporting performances are always tought ot choose from. On one hand nearly every performance is there to support the story, but you don't want a piece that could conceivably be called the lead, nor do you want to glorify a cameo (I may be about to do that). Of the 5 performances listed below only one is likely to get an Oscar nod, and I've completed ignored last years selection that could have been eligible (Brolin, Hoffman and Shannon), however all these actors have reached out and grabbed me in their own way. Each of them lifted the overall piece and that, surely, is worth celebrating.
1. Christoph Waltz - Inglorious Basterds. As you know I had big problems with the lack of humanity in this film, but strangely it was the least humane character who lights up the screen. Waltz veers from comic to serious poses often in the same sentence, and shows he can act in 4 different languages - no mean feat.
2. Fred Melamed - A Serious Man. Before Melamed enters we get a vague idea of his character from Larry Gopnik and his wife as they consider the forthcoming divorce, but nothing prepares you for his melodious voice and hurt dog tone. Possibly the worst person you'd want to lose your wife to.
3. Stephen Lang - Public Enemies. Lang is barely in Michael Mann's latest exercise in digital film; he's merely an additional agent called in by Christian Bale, but he carries himself, and speaks in such a way that you know he's seen every crime imaginable and he knows how to catch this criminal.
4. Rayniel Rufino - Sugar. The character is there as a foreshadow to our protagonist. He has moved to the states earlier and his career will dramatically change earlier, but with every decision Rufino makes with the part you can understand it and appreciate where's he's heading to.
5. Tom Wilkinson - Duplicity. This is a bit of a guilty pleasure, and I've probably seen better performances that fail to make this list, but Tom's proper bastard CEO relishes the competition he sets himself. He also is involved in a completely barmy bust up with Paul Giamatti so extra points for that.
Sunday, 27 December 2009
2009 in Review - Best Supporting Actress
Like most self-obsessed actors I dream of one day being accepted by the industry as one of their own, and eventually being invited to join the Academy. (I know, I know, but I can dream). Part of that dream would mean having my own ballot, my opportunity to give my opinion of the best performances and best films of the year.
Well, until AMPAS notice me I guess the only place I can say what I think is right here. So, starting today (and for the next 5 days) I'll give you my votes. Of course they won't follow the Academy rules - I'm using the films I've seen and not just the ones eligible for this years which means 15 of the actual nominees from last year have the opportnity to appear on my ballot.
Like the voters I don't have to explain myself, however I will give a sentence or two to explain my choice. Feel free to argue in the comments.
1. Marion Cotillard - Nine. Marion has proved in both her films this year that she is a singular talent. She really gets to show off her range both vocally and performance wise in Nine, and the way she responds to the audition tapes is jaw-droppingly real.
2. Penelope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Last years Oscar winner comes a very close second for me. Technically the third (or maybe even the fourth) billed actress she is a force everyone talks about and responds to, so much so that the film wilts without her.
3. Melanie Lynskey - Away We Go. Like most of the characters in Sam Mendes' latest film Lynskey only gets a short time to make an impact, but in her scenes as she gradually gets drunker we see the happy facade seep away to reveal the emptiness inside. Witness the pole dance and tell me you don't know everything about how she feels.
4. Marisa Tomei - The Wrestler. Continuing the theme of pole dancing, Tomei hits her usual high marks as a stripper confronting her own limits. Rourke may have taken most of the applause, but without Tomei backing him up we wouldn't have cared for his character.
5. Blanca Portillo - Broken Embraces. The character drifts between guarded sarcasm and over-zealous confessionals which in lesser hands could have been seen as terribly inconsistent. However Portillo shows the tension inside of her in every scene.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
