Best Motion Picture of the Year
With a very specific nine nominees in this category it’s easier to rule pictures out than in. Firstly, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is without question is one of the most divisive films of the year and was openly booed when it’s nomination was announced. It, along with The Help, The Tree of Life, Midnight in Paris and The Descendants have picked up under five nominations in total so it’s safe to rule them out. Similarly, Moneyball and Warhorse have amassed only six. This leaves only two possible out comes; Scorsese’s Hugo or The Artist. Both films are love letters to the medium itself so there’s the chance of an upset, but with award show momentum in it’s favour, not to mention the ‘gimmick factor’, I think producer Thomas Langmann will walk away the statue.

Head – The Artist
Heart – Hugo

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
When the nominees were announced people were frantically IMDbing Demián Bichir, and I think recognition is the real prize for the Mexican actor. A lot of chatter around Brad Pitt’s nomination relates to why he was nominated for Moneyball rather than The Tree of Life , and with that in mind it’s unlikely Pitt will accrue enough votes to win. Gary Oldman was unable to pick up the BAFTA despite the home advantage, so his chances in Hollywood look slimmer than ever. That leaves Clooney vs Dujardin in a straight up Hollywood vs Europe fist fight. Personally, I think Clooney has the more challenging, nuanced role and to say he knocked it out of the park is an understatement. That’s not to say Dujardin wouldn’t deserve the award equally. His dialogue free performance brings with it it’s own challenges, I just think Dujardin had a template from which to work.

Head – Jean Dujardin
Heart – George Clooney

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
This is certainly one of the tighter categories. Personally I’d rule out Rooney Mara purely for the reason that if Noomi Rapace was overlooked surely Mara cannot be awarded for what is, let’s face it, a solid, but fundamentally inferior performance. On the surface Michelle Williams is an outsider but when you consider that this is now her third nomination in six years, it would seem that she is destined to win a statue. Of course, she won’t win this year because if nothing else she’s up against five time loser Glenn Close. Despite picking up five nominations in the eighties Close is yet to win and unfortunately, unless the Academy is feeling controversial she’s probably going to fall at the sixth hurdle as well. Hilariously though, despite having two Awards on her mantle piece already, Streep is in fact the categories biggest loser having missed out on no fewer than fifteen separate occasions. In contrast, Viola Davis has only lost out once. In 2009, both Davis and Streep were nominated for Doubt and both lost out (to Penelope Cruz and Kate Winslet respectively). Although it’s undoubtedly going to be a close run thing this year, I think the previous awards shows have signalled the over riding consensus.

Head – Viola Davis
Heart – Viola Davis

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
This category it would seem, is another two horse race. Christopher Plummer and Max von Sydow are two of cinema’s elder statesmen. Both 83 and both with one previous nomination to their name, it would seem they are leading the pack this year. Everyone knows that Hollywood loves a good come back narrative (see Micky Rourke in 2009) but more often than not, a nomination is all the rejuvenated actor can hope for. Nick Nolte returned to the fold with a solid performance in Warrior but it certainly wasn’t enough to take home this award. Like Oldman, Kenneth Brannagh failed to pick up the BAFTA in his homeland so he’s unlikely to cause an upset here. If anyone was a revelation this year it was unquestionably Jonah Hill who’s responded to his various nominations with an impressive display of humility and if that was the deciding factor, he’d certainly be in with a shout. Unfortunately it’s not, but it’ll certainly be interesting to see where his career goes from here.

Head – Christopher Plummer
Heart – Christopher Plummer

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Like the Lead Actress category this had the potential to be a close run thing. Melissa McCarthy’s ‘surprise’ nomination is testament to her performance in the brilliant Bridesmaids , but it’s unlikely the Academy will break the habit of a life time and commend such an openly comedic performance. Janet McTeer was another surprise nomination, and if Glenn Close doesn’t win for lead, she’s unlikely to win for supporting. This is also likely to be one of the ten nominations where The Artist doesn’t come out on top. Despite arguably being equally as good as Dujardin in the film, Bérénice Bejo has missed out at previous award shows due to the sheer quality of her rival performances. It’s The Help that makes up the other two nominations with Jessica Chastain and Octavia Spencer both up. When you consider that Chastain could conceivably have been nominated for three separate performances (The Help, The Tree of Life and Take Shelter) you’d think she’d be a shoe in, but like cast mate Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer has been cleaning up in the run up to tonight and it’s unlikely anything will change in the next twelve hours.

Head – Octavia Spencer
Heart – Melissa McCarthy

Best Achievement in Directing
If you ask me, and by reading this far you technically did, Terence Malick’s nomination is a joke. Of course I’m being somewhat polemical but that doesn’t detract from the fact that The Tree of Life was the kind of product I’d expect from a first year film student with rich parents and a new digital SLR. Woody Allen has also been nom’d for one of the prolific directors better outings in recent years however, he’s much more likely to take home a writing award. The same can be said for Alexander Payne who’s also unlikely to come out on top of Hazvanavicius and Scorsese. In the past this award tends to go hand in hand with Best Film so really, there’s only likely to be one winner. Whilst Scorsese should be awarded for his fusion of nostalgia and technology (Hugo demonstrated that 3D can enhance the story telling process as opposed to just the money making process), you cannot deny the gutsy drive of Hazanavicius’ silent movie.

Head – Michel Hazanavicius
Heart – Michel Hazanavicius

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published
This is one of the harder to predict categories of the night. At the Golden Globes, Woody Allen walked away with best Screenplay but he’s nominated in the ‘Original’ category so he’s not a contender. At the BAFTAs, the home bias worked in the favour Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy despite the films somewhat incomprehensible plot. I suspect that this will work against Tinker tonight and I think it’s also safe to rule out the underachieving Moneyball and The Ides of March. Whilst both Hugo and The Descendants are worthy adaptations it’s likely that the Academy may just lean in favour of Alexander Payne’s movie in light of the fact that it is likely to have pipped in a number of other categories.

Head – The Descendants
Heart – The Descendants or Hugo

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
What this category comes down to really is semantics. Can a dialogue free movie really be awarded an Oscar for Best Screenplay. Obviously, to anyone who’s ever written a screenplay, the answer is yes. Margin Call and A Separation were both deserved nominees but don’t realistically stand a chance. Bridesmaids is also unlikely to come out on top but if McCarthy gets a shock win in the supporting category we could potentially see a shock here as well. Realistically though, this is between Midnight in Paris and, you guessed it, The Artist. Woody Allen won the Globe and is little less than an American institution but only time will tell if that’s enough to topple the seasons dominating picture.

Head – The Artist
Heart – Bridesmaids

Other Tips
Best Animated Feature – Rango
Best Foregin Language Film – A Separation
Best Cinematography – The Artist
Best Editing – Hugo

I know. I’m standing on the border of cliché town but don’t worry, I’m not going to the gift shop and I certainly won’t be buying the T-shirt. Of course, as a disgruntled film studies grad and a multi-award winning film geek, there are going to be some awards that I disagree with and some I down right cannot understand. Having said all that, for the most part, I can at least see the reasoning behind most of the Academy’s choices. For those of you who came here before going to IMDB. Here’s my thoughts on last nights winners and losers. Most news shows today will be regurgitating their post-Golden Globe platitudes as once again, the dominant film of the night by some distance was of course, The Artist.

Walking away with no fewer than seven awards, the French/American co-creation enjoyed continued dominance on a night where so often it’s British films that are showered with statues. As with any great success story, the backlash begins now. As someone who enjoyed The Artist, but did not think it was the greatest, most incredible thing of all time, ever; I feel it’s my duty to offer up some perspective. Whilst I wouldn’t necessarily have voted for it in all of it’s triumphant categories, I wouldn’t go as far as to say it didn’t deserve its successes. To me, cinema is all about brave choices and it’s that which usually garners the trophies come award season. Yes, on occasion I think film makers can be too gutsy. The likes of Steve McQueen’s Shame and Paddy Considine’s Tyrannosaur have been criminally over overlooked this season I think, for that very reason. At a time when everyone is obsessed by surround-sound, true-colour, IMAX girth, you cannot tell me that the decision to release a silent film, in black and white, in Academy ratio, is not brave.

The acting awards were spread evenly over four films with Dujardin and Plummer winning the male categories (The Artist, Beginners) and Meryl Streep and Octavia Spencer picking up the Female gongs(The Iron Lady, The Help). With only one disparity between the BAFTAs and the Golden Globes it would seem that three out of the four acting categories are sown up with Best Actress being a straight up fist fight between Streep and Viola Davis (The Help). It’s probably in part due to my insatiable hatred of Thatcher, but I know who I want to win.

A few other pictures picked up multiple gongs. Senna picked up Best Editing and Best Documentary in a competitive category which, any other year, could have seen either Project Nim or Martin Scorsese’s George Harrison documentary take the prize. Scorsese did eventually get up on stage when Hugo emerged victorious in the Production Design and Sound categories. If you add Hugo’s two gongs to the plethora awarded to the The Artist you could argue that the night’s real winner was nostalgia for the silent era. Expect a remake of the 1957 Buster Keaton biopic to be winging its way to cinemas in the next year or so.

John Hurt collected a thoroughly deserved ‘Outstanding Contribution’ award having traversed TV and film in Hollywood and the UK for nigh on half a century. The multi-BAFTA winning, double Academy Award nominee has been at the pinnacle of British cinema for years and is ever-present in some of cinemas most iconic images.

As you’d expect there were a few surprises along the way (thankfully).Rango pipped Tin Tin to Best Animated feature despite the former’s British contingent (it was writen by golden boys Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish). Also, in probably the biggest shocker of the night, Adam Deacon won the coveted ‘Orange Wednesdays Rising Star Award’ despite being responsible for the abysmal Anuvahood. The fact that Deacon triumped over the likes of Tom Hiddleston, Eddie Redmayne and Chris O’Dowd is perhaps indicative of how difficult it is to get films made in this country now. The fact that Deacon even managed to get his film made is apparently an award winning feat.

Despite the fact that I crowned Submarine (Richard Ayoade) my personal favourite film of last year, I am neither surprised nor disappointed that Paddy Considine was commended, ahead of Ayoade, for his stunning debut Tyrannosaur. If ‘Oliver Tate’ is a lover, then Peter Mullan’s ‘Joseph’ is a fighter, and the two movies typify what British cinema does best. The fact that Tyrannosaur has been overlooked at almost every other award show is a bone of contention amidst many critics, but at least BAFTA had the smarts to recognise Considine’s burgeoning off camera talent.

In sum, I’m personally perturbed that there’s not been more love for both Hugo and The Descendents but then, there’s only so many awards to go round. The Artist is an inspired bit of movie making, and an incredible bit of marketing and thus is indisputably deserving of the plaudits being lavished upon it. Certainly silent cinema might not be to everyone’s tastes but then if we don’t applaud the extraordinary, all we’ll be left with is the ordinary.

I’m looking at you Adam Sandler.

When people ask me what makes for a really great performance (and someone did, once) I direct them to two performances. De Niro in Raging Bull and Daniel Day Lewis in There Will Be Blood. If you watch those performances you’ll notice something. The performance isn’t about their facial expressions or the words being spoken or even how they’re spoken. It’s the physicality of the performance that sells it. Only time will tell whether this performance has the longevity of those iconic roles but he certainly inhabits Matt King right down to his posture, gate and awkward moccasined run. Furthermore, bare in mind that this is coming from someone who still refers to him as ‘Doug Ross’ in day to day conversation.

If ‘acting is reacting’ then honourable mentions must go out to Clooney’s younger co-stars. Shailene Woodley (Alex) is arguably the best known of the three and she can count herself a little unlucky to have come of age in a highly competitive year for the Best Supporting Actress category. As you expect, the troubled teenage daughter has the broadest range of performance but certainly matches Clooney in a number of difficult scenes. The younger sibling is played by debutant Amara Miller who, after revelling in the role of a potty-mouthed pre-teen also plumbs emotional depths beyond her age towards the films emotional pinnacle. As you might expect there’s a few other familiar faces along the way. Judy Greer, Matthew Lillard, and Beau Bridges are all good whilst Robert Forster does enough in two scenes to remind you why he too is an Oscar nominee.

The film itself is expertly paced and although I usually find the excessive use of voice over annoying, it works in relation to the subject matter. Though I couldn’t shake the feeling that the voice over in Up in the Air made the film feel like some kind of dysfunctional self-destruct video, here Clooney’s impassioned inner monologue plays out like the desperate pleas of a husband to his dying wife. It ads an emotional level often lacking from films where the audience is addressed directly and as a result immerses you into the story rather than forming a barrier.

Of course, wherever there is tragedy, there’s scope for excellent comedy and Payne, together with his duo of comedy actors/writers, Jim Rash and Nat Faxon don’t miss a beat. If I cried three times (which of course, I totally didn’t), I belly laughed more. The strength of such an emotionally charged story is that the delivery of comedy is simultaneously funnier and more poignant. For that reason I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that the film could well walk away with Best Film and Best Adapted Screenplay next month. The film is released today and if you feel like your soul could use a bit of a jump start this year, I strongly recommend you take in this picture.

First up this week is Nicholas Winding Refn’s 70’s throwback Drive.


For a man whose name sounds very much like a font, Winding Refn is fast grinding out a rep as one of the most promising directors of the moment. Drive, which sees man of the moment Ryan Gosling channelling the likes of McQueen and Eastwood, is unlikely to derail the Dane’s upward trajectory. Despite a top notch cast which also boasts Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston and Albert Brooks, it’s the style of the film which sets it apart from similar pictures. Set in the seedy, neon, Hollywood underbelly, ‘Driver’ as he is simply known is a man out of time; figuratively speaking only. A stoic protagonist with an unyielding moral compass, Gosling traverses between heartfelt tenderness and unspeakable brutality. Both are filmed bravely; Winding Refn knowing exactly when to cut away and when to linger. Though not one of the most prolific award season nominees, Drive is picking up the odd nomination here and there and everyone of them is deserved.

In contrast Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is arguably one of the most over hyped films of last year. That’s not to say it’s without merit. On the contrary, it was an expertly crafted film in almost every way. Gary Oldman is certainly an outsider for a Best Actor Oscar and there is some great support work from hot properties like Tom Hardy and Benedict Cumberbatch. Like Drive, Tinker Tailor comes to us courtesy of another Scandinavian director, Tomas Alfredson. Like his contemporaries, Alfredson is a master craftsman when it comes to ‘show, don’t tell’. There’s certainly no unnecessary monologuing in the film which affords you the opportunity to really take in the expertly recreated cold war setting. The film’s weakness however, lies in it’s complicated, in places convoluted story. As is often the case with adaptations, the density of the original novel is simply not transferrable to the screen. Often at times, key plot points are sacrificed in favour of a more palatable running time and unfortunately in this case, it felt like key elements of John Le Carre’s seminal story were lost on the cutting room floor. With that in mind, home entertainment may in fact be the film’s saving grace. Repeat viewings coupled with the supporting features may just be enough to clear the fog.

In the barrage of mindless, plotless ensemble rom-com flicks that seem to be the trend of the moment, everyone was glad to see a date movie that might avoid the same trappings. Crazy Stupid Love was off to a flyer even before it was released with one of the most likeable cast lists ever put together. With Steve Carell, Julianne Moore, Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling all starring, it’s no wonder that the movie went down well with both genders, and although not exactly a classic, it does have a lot going for it. At the centre of the story is a Hitch type story where Gosling’s suave womaniser coaches a post-separation Steve Carell in the art of seduction. Carell and Stone are as good as ever, but the real revelation is Gosling as a comedian. If we didn’t already hate him enough the triple threat proves that he’s got the comedy chops to rival the best of them, even picking up a Golden Globe nomination in the Comedy/Musical acting category. Releasing two weeks before Valentine’s Day is no doubt a savy move by Warner Bros. who are no doubt banking on its ‘snuggle up on the sofa’ factor to shift shed loads of copies.

In terms of re-releases, it’s a good week with three classics getting the Blu-ray treatment. First up is the multi-Oscar winning Cleopatra starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Whilst personally I’m sceptical as to how much difference Blu-ray makes to a nigh on fifty year old movie, the epic scale of a Joseph Mankiewicz movie might just warrant the upgrade.

Also released is James Cameron’s Aliens.

With Prometheus looming ominously on the horizon like an abandoned interstellar transporter of mysterious origin, chances are that interest in the original quadrilogy is likely to peak over the next few months. There’s every likelihood the four movies will be all over TV as well, but probably not in the quality of a nice, crisp Blu-ray. This will prove a decent investment, especially if there’s that annoying guy in your office who won’t shut up about how Avatar is the greatest science fiction movie ever made. You can lend him Aliens and prove to him that Avatar isn’t even the greatest science fiction movie James Cameron has ever made.

It’s a quieter week for TV releases this week. The only real release is the first batch of Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes. Rather than housing an entire series the Blu-ray contains the pilot episode along with two other classic episodes so not really one for the casual Trekkies (or Trekkers, as they prefer to be called).

Special mention must go to the release of season asix of The Office (US). Although to the best of my knowledge the series is not getting a Blu-ray release (makes sense when you think about it), season six is arguably where the series peaked.

With a cast most movie producers would kill for (Steve Carell, John Krasinski, Rainn Wilson, Jenna Fischer, Ed Helms, Ellie Kemper and Kathy Bates) the sixth series brings with it closure to one of the love stories of the decade, and en route Steve Carell falls into a Koi Pond. If you’re yet to discover the wonders of The Office, then go back to the beginning (by which I mean season 2, episode 1). For those of you Dunder Mifflin devotees, this might just prove to be the last Office box set you choose to take home.

In conclusion, my recommendation for the week is clearly Drive. Having gotten up early on pay day to pre-order the very reasonably priced Blu-ray, it’d be hypocritical of me to suggest anything else. Yes, there’s no denying the ‘classic’ status of James Cameron’s Aliens however, the savvy consumers should know that you can find the complete quadrilogy online for less than a fiver more than the stand alone release.

Of course, fifty percent of that last paragraph was bull shit but I promise that what follows will be a combination of facts and personal opinions that will hopefully allow you to optomise your spending in this period of economic crisis. As you might expect, the weeks directly following the festive period tend to be a little thin on the ground regarding big releases but there is at least, this coming week, a vast cocktail of titles coming your way.


The two biggest releases this week are two comedies that enjoyed mixed receptions at last year’s box office. First up is 30 Minutes or Less. Ruben Fleischer’s follow up to Zombieland should have been a smash. Danny McBride is fast becoming a household name, and Jesse Eisenberg was the geek of choice following his Academy Award nomination for The Social Network last year. Unfortunately, the film failed to live up to expectations and lukewarm early reviews killed it off in well under thirty minutes. Second, we have The Change Up; the body swap comedy which sees Jason Bateman’s family man swap lives with womaniser Ryan Reynolds. Despite its strong cast (Olivia Wilde and Alan Arkin also star) the ‘writers of The Hangover’ failed to sprinkle their box office magic over this one. The film itself is bland and formulaic and if it were not for two leads would have very little going for it.

Of course, it’s not just comedies that are trying to replicate the success of The Hangover. Hostel 3, which was spared the embarrassment of a comprehensive theatrical release follows an almost identical set up as the 2009 comedy but finds its four hapless protagonists at the mercy of some nefarious Las Vegan’s even more sadistic than Ken Jeong. If you’re interested in that, you might also be interested in the release of schlock horror, Shark Night 3D. I’d probably excuse you purchasing this if you are the proud owner of a 3D TV but failing that, there’s really no excuse for wasting your hard earned dollar on a film where cartoon sharks terrorise a group of bikini clad, inexplicably deficient University students.

In contrast it’s a strong week for British TV releases. Both Misfits and Merlin release their latest series (three and four respectively) this week but both are usurped in terms of anticipation by the release of the impressive second series of BBC’s Sherlock.

With audio commentaries for all three episodes and a featurette entitled ‘Sherlock Uncovered’ the likelihood is that this may well be the biggest seller of the week.

The previous releases getting the Blu-ray treatment this week are certainly also worth a look. The film that saw Denzel Washington pick up his third Oscar nomination, Malcolm X , is released this week, whilst the lesser known Roger Dodger also gets an upgrade. Another title looking to capitalise on Jesse Eisenberg’s newly earned celebrity, Roger Dodger stars The Social Network star as a young teenager sent to stay with his ad exec uncle Roger (Think a late-Nineties Don Draper). With the grossly underrated Campbell Scott (soon to be seen in The Amazing Spiderman) Roger Dodger is not necessarily going to test the limits of your HD TV but as a performance driven film, it’s certainly a cut above most of the other fodder churned out this week.

Although I have only a limited selection of concert DVDs (I don’t really see the point in most of them), I’d no doubt get in serious trouble if I fail to mention this week’s releases. As well as Doors: Mr Mojo Risin’, a documentary about the making of The Doors final album Monday also sees the release of Radiohead: Live from the Basement. A straight up live performance of album The King of Limbs, this particular music Blu-ray is probably only a must have item for those unnaturally obsessed with the Thom Yorke as it’s pretty much vanilla.

With all these factors taken into consideration I have reached a split conclusion. My recommendation for this week would be two fold. Firstly, go and rent Lars Von Trier’s Melancholia.

Let’s face it, you may not find it in your local Blockbuster so you might be better off checking in out of your local library. The film is visually and aurally stunning and whilst it may not burn into you a desire for many repeat viewings it’s worth checking out at least once in the highest definition. Once you’ve watched Melancholia in all its glory go out and buy Rodger Dodger. It may not have the scope and scale of Von Trier’s film but it also doesn’t have Kirsten Dunst in it.

Many of you will be aware that this February sees the 84th Academy Awards, and the French star of The Artist could be the 30th nominee from international waters. Let me clarify, we all know how much the Academy love a good old bit of Brit costume drama so for the purpose of this article I have focused strictly on those performers born outside of the English speaking community.

Interestingly enough the first man to receive the award for ‘Best Actor in a Leading Role’ was a German named Emil Jannings. Given the award in 1927 Jannings won for his performance in two pictures, The Last Command and The Way of All Flesh. Unfortunately Jannings went on to star in numerous Nazi Propaganda films and became buddy buddy with some of the higher ranking Nazis.

Since Jannings’ inaugural victory only six other International actors have won in the Lead category, the most recent being nearly fifteen years ago. The 1930s was a good decade for the Europeans in particular, Paul Muni who picked up a total of five nominations (29, 32, 35, 36 and 37). Winning at the third attempt, Muni became the second International actor to win the gold. Despite being of Austro-Hungarian origin Muni won for his portrayal of French Microbiologist Louis Pasteur. Here’s some trivia for all you geeks out there; Both Muni and Al Pacino have played Tony in Scarface and both have been nominated for five Lead Actor Oscars but only emerged victorious on one occasion.

Like the thirties, there was only one International winner in the forties with Hungarian, Paul Lucas taking home the award in 1943 for Watch On the Rhine for which he also won the first ever Golden Globe.

Things picked up a little in the fifties with José Ferrer, better known to George Clooney as Uncle Jose, picking up the award in 1950. He went on to receive another nomination the following year before Yul Brynner famously won in 1956 for The King and I.

The Sixties brought only another three nominations although Maximilian Schell did win in 1961 for his performance in Judgement in Nuremberg.
Like his fellow sixties nominee Marcelo Mastroianni (nominated in 1962), Schell collected another nomination in the 1970s. In 1971 Chaim Topol was nominated for Fiddler on the Roof followed by Schell in ’75, Giancarlo Giannini in 76 (Seven Beauties) and Mastroianni again in ’77. Despite the nominations the decade was entirely dominated by Americans with legends like Hoffman, Nicholson and Brando all emerging victorious.

The Eighties continued to be barren for the Internationals only picking up another two nominations. In 1987 Mastroianni picked up a third nomination, in a third decade but was once again beaten by an American. (He was beaten by Gregory Peck, Richard Dreyfus and Michael Douglas respectively). The following year Legendary Sweed, Max Von Sydow picked up his only Oscar nomination but was pipped to the post by Dustin Hoffman’s second win in under ten years.

Things picked up slightly in the Nineties with three nominations. Unlike José Ferrer 34 years earlier Gérard Depardieu failed to take home the gong for the title role in Cyrano de Bergerac and it wasn’t until 1998 when the thirty seven year wait for another international winner ended. Writer/director/actor Roberto Benigni pulled off one of the biggest shocks in Oscar history when he defeated Academy favourite Tom Hanks, British Thesp Sir Ian McKellen and bright young thing Ed Norton to the statue for his heart grinding role in La Vita é Bella.

Since Benigni’s historic win, only Javier Bardem has picked up any nominations. Despite nominations in the lead category in both 2001 and 2010 Bardem has only tasted success in the Best Supporting category where he took home the gold for his terrifying role in No Country For Old Men. 

It’s undoubtedly going to be tough for Jean Dujardin to break this years ‘A-list’ strangle hold however, if come February, the Frenchman is in the mix it would bode well for his chances. To find himself amongst such esteemed company is achievement enough but should he be nominated would imply some weighty support amongst Academy voters. Though it would be thoroughly deserved should he win, it’ll still be a shock to rival Benigni’s thirteen years ago. Unfortunately, as nice as it would be to see another international victor, my money’s on Clooney.

The ironically much talked about silent movie tells the tale of fictional silent movie star George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) an egotistic showman who’s life force is the spotlight. Valentin is at the top of his game and on the cusp of an affair with up and comer – Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo) when Hollywoodland turns its ear towards ‘talkies’. Refusing to move with the times, Valentin soon finds himself on the LA breadline, mocked at every turn by the bill-boarded visage of Peppy, Hollywood’s latest darling.

Over the next month or two you’ll hear a lot about this picture as the awards season kicks in but I would wager now, that on the morning of February the 27^th The Artist could be empty handed. That’s not to say I didn’t like it; on the contrary I loved it. Dujardin and Bejo are magnificent and the score, as you might expect, is second to none. The trouble is, whether or not the Academy deems the film too derivative. Obviously that is the point, it’s tribute, it’s romantic. Hazanavicus has crafted a clever little piece which encapsulates all the charms of the silent era right down to the heroic dog.

There’s the old adage, that you have to know the rules so you can break them. It’s clear that Hazanavicus has done his home work and the moments in the film where he cleverly exploits the restrictions of the medium are what sets this above a simple homage. Like Scorsese’s mastery of the third dimension in Hugo, The Artists mastery of sound and music makes it paradoxically old and new at the same time and it’s here where the films best shot at Academy recognition lie.

Granted Jean Dujardin has already picked up Best Actor at Cannes. However, this year stands to be ultra competitive with big hitters like Clooney, Pitt, Gosling and DiCaprio all the mix for Best Male Lead. The likelihood is that Dujardin will pick up the Golden Globe from the lead male, comedy/musical subcategory but the cynic in me thinks he’s more likely to be the ‘wildcard’ nominee than a serious contender (unfortunately) for the Oscar.

When it comes down to it though, the real triumph here is that this film even exists. It’s black and white, it’s filmed in the long forgotten 1.33:1 Academy ratio and it’s silent. The fact that a film as subversive as this has fought its way into multiplexes around the world is testament to all involved and it reveals much about the quality of the story at its heart. In a year in which you’ll be bombarded with big budget sequels, prequels and reboots it might just be good for you to watch something that speaks to the soul.

Lincoln
Director: Steven Spielberg
Release Date: December
You know what they say, you wait ages for an independant movie about the effects of an encroaching planetary body and then two come along at once (Melancholia/Another Earth). It’s the same story in 2012, as four months after Vampire Hunter, The Great Emancipator gets another big screen outing. This time however, there’ll be fewer vampires and more award nominations I’d imagine. With Spielberg returning to live action it’s no wonder the film has attracted a cast to shit yourself over. If early set photos are anything to go by Daniel Day Lewis looks to be an uncanny fit for the lead and he’s backed up by an ensemble boasting Tommy Lee Jones, Joseph Gordon Levitt, John Hawkes, Sally Field and Walton Goggins. With a December release date you can bet your sweet ass that this will be on everyone’s ballot slips come the 2013 Academy Awards (to be hosted by Cat Deeley).

Expect – An intense theatre set climax.

The Cabin in the Woods
Director: Drew Goddard
Release Date: April
You’d be forgiven for thinking that the Cabin in the Woods is just another film about a cabin in some woods (I fell into that trap myself). However, the bat shit crazy trailer suggests that Joss Whedon is up to his old ‘subverting established genre conventions’ tricks again. With Whedon busy assembling The Avengers the reigns lie in the hands of writer turned director Drew Goddard.
Instead of the typical cast of teen-soap knife fodder, the pair have assembled a surprising cast boasting the likes of Chris Hemsworth, Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford. Despite having two lengthy delays (one as result of 3D conversion, one due to financial issues) the film is set for an April release and whilst it might possibly have benefited from a Halloween release 3D horror seems to pull people in so this may well live or die by its word of mouth.

Expect – The unexpected.

Gangster Squad
Director: Ruben Fliescher
Release Date: November
Zombieland, hit. 30 Seconds or Less, miss. If the cast of Gangster squad isn’t enough to guarantee Ruben Fleischer a return to form I don’t know what is. Man of the moment Ryan Gosling is reunited with co-star Emma Stone (as is Fleischer). They’re backed up by the likes of Josh Brolin, Sean Penn and Nick Nolte in a tail of the LAPD and the Mob. Although it’s pitched as a ‘Crime Drama’ don’t expect Public Enemies. Gosling has proven this year that his dramatic chops transfer more than adequately to the realm of comedy and in The Help Emma Stone proved she’s not just pretty eyes and pratfalls.

Expect – Cinema screens packed with swooning ladies

Cloud Atlas
Director: The Wachowski Brothers
Release Date: October
It’s been three years since Speed Racer stalled at the box office (see what I did there). In that time Andy and Lana, better known as the Wachowski Brothers, have been working their butts off to get an adaptation of British author David Mitchell’s (not that one) novel Cloud Atlas. Though the production is shrouded in mystery the book itself was part of Richard and Judy’s infamous book club so you’d be forgiven for thinking this an unlikely adaptation for the Wachowskis. However, when you consider that the novel consists of six segments, all of which jump around both temporally and geographically, you start to see what attracted them to the project. Luminaries Tom Hanks and Susan Sarandon lead a cast which also features none other than Agent Smith himself, Hugo Weaving. It’s hard to predict what audience this will be targeting but there’s no doubt that if nothing else, the film will be visually groundbreaking.

Expect – Two inferior sequels that nobody asks for.

To make the task arbitrarily easier I have also discounted those movies decorated by the Academy earlier on in the year. Using my dog eared collection of ticket stubs I whittled the list down to fifteen movies then to ten, then to three, then finally to one.  The ticket that remained read simply ‘Submarine’.

Released way back in March, Richard Ayoade’s directorial debut seamlessly transported La Nouvelle Vague to Swansea via Wes Anderson’s middle America. A refreshing ‘Indie’ jaunt in a Brit-flick market saturated by shanks, shivs and all round rich person porn, Ayoade’s picture is hipster almost to a fault. Making extensive use of colour filters and lengthy ‘Super 8’ instrumental inserts Submarine is the light to the shade of the equally impressive Tyrannosaur.

Whilst Ayoade deservedly reaped plaudits for his impressive transition behind the camera, the real value here comes from the characterisation. The wonderfully realised characters crafted in Joe Dunthorne’s original novel thankfully survive the transition to 1986, a land of top loaders and Polaroid cameras. In Oliver Tate (Craig Roberts) Submarine has a precocious leading man to rival anything Hollywood has spewed out in recent years. Tate is a pubescent philosopher, shackled to the Earth by the mundanity of teenage life. The flames of his self indulgent ponderings are fuelled by a burgeoning romance with bullying enthusiast Jordana (The excellent Yasmin Paige) and the arrival of new age, ninja guru Graham (Paddy Considine). More often than not, a ‘flagitious’ character who plots the assassination of his girlfriends dog my not translate well from page to screen however, Tate’s inter-textual narration harbours a redemptive quality which might otherwise have been lacking. The resultant product is a narrator of wit and whimsy, his internal struggle played out through external action.   

N.B. It’s at this point that I’ve reminded myself just how much I love this film and have had to get up and put on the special edition Blu-Ray (complete with art cards).

Ayoades decision to transport the narrative back to the eighties pays off with the national nostalgia for the time period held up by the personal nostalgia we all harbor, for those long forgotten first loves. The romance between Oliver and Jordana might be fleeting but in Oliver’s mind it’s as epic as any cinematic romance of old. For that reason alone Ayoade’s visual stylings are just as aplicable at a Swansea bus stop as they might be at the top of the Empire State Building.

If I’m honest, there wasn’t a lot to choose between this film and a couple of others, however, I wanted to write about Submarine for four reasons.

 1) It contains the line of the year; “Thanks for living up a fuckin’ hill”.

2) Paddy Considine sports a mullet like you’ve never seen.

3) Alex Turner’s soundtrack is both hip and heartfelt in equal measure.

4) More people need to watch this film.

In what could prove the role of a life time Lawrence plays the steely ‘Ree Dolly’, a teenage girl who is left to care and fight for her ramshackle family. With the families ailing livelihood under threat Ree is forced to persue her dead beat father and venture into the unscrupulous underbelly of the Ozarks, a remote mountain range spanning the central United States. As you’d expect, the only thing more inhospitable than the terrain are the local meth heads and pushers who, for reasons undisclosed do their best to keep Ree at arms length.

Although Lawrence’s performance is the main focus of press chatter it’d would be remiss of me to ignore the contributions of the supporting cast. Garret Dillahunt once again proves himself to be one of the most supportive actors in town following on from small but perfectly formed roles in some of the best movies of recent years (see No Country for Old Men, The Assassination of Jesse James and The Road). Whilst their screen time is limited the young actors who play Ree’s younger siblings should also be acknowledged as although small, their on screen vulnerability is crucial in quickly establishing the family’s dire straits.

Having said all that, there is really only one substantial supporting role in the whole movie. Whilst John Hawkes has been working pretty steadily for the past twenty years he is arguably best known for his roles on the small screen, (like the afformentioned Dillahunt, he had a supporting role in the under appreciated show Deadwood). If there is any justice in the world Winter’s Bone should put pay to that. If Lawrence is a shoe in for an Oscar nom, then Hawke’s role as Ree’s conflicted uncle ‘Teardrop’ certainly gives him an outside shot at joining her in the winners circle.

Should you still need convincing as to the merits of this film then look no further than the above picture. Despite her relative inexperience with a megaphone writer/director Granik fills every scene with contrast. Her experience as a cinematographer seems to have paid off in her filming of the untamed Ozark region. Within single frames Ree’s surroundings seem stunning yet bleak, terrifying yet homely, dangerous yet protected.
Usually at this point I dredge up some pernickety beef I have conjured up for the sake of vitriol but in this case there is nothing. Instead I will utalise these vacant lines to point out that the sparingly used soundtrack is also excellent. Whilst it may not have the bravado of a Mansell or Giacchino score the sparce combination of traditional Blue Grass numbers and atmospheric score, composed by Brit rocker, Dickon Hinchliffe of Tindersticks fame, is a perfect accompaniment.

Well worth seeking out on DVD Right Frickin’ Now.