SAG WINNERS

 
Here's a list of the Screen Actors Guild Award winners from last night.  Good to see Jean Dujardin getting recognized by his fellow actors over Clooney, hopefully a sign of things to come!

http://www.sagawards.org/awards/nominees-and-recipients/18th-annual-screen-actors-guild-awards

OSCAR NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED!

 
Here's the 2012 Oscar nominees, most notably left out was Fassbender for acting in 'Shame' and no noms for Gosling, also no 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' for Best Picture.  However a couple good surprises in Nolte and Mara for supporting actor and best actress respectively.

http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/84/nominees.html

TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY

Another one of the somewhat overlooked (‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’, ‘Drive’, ‘Shame’) in this cluttered award season, ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy’ is a smart, anxiety-ridden, paranoia-filled espionage story that pits George Smiley (Gary Oldman) against his former cohorts in an effort to uncover a Soviet mole in the “Circus”, the very top of British intelligence during the Cold War.  Smiley is pitted against the people he has worked with and trusted for many years when the head of the “Circus” informs him a mole working for Russia may be in their midst.  Through storied flashbacks and personal revelations, Smiley must sort through the puzzle and discover who is supplying the Soviets with information.

Going into the first film I’ve seen at the UA Denver Pavilion 15, by the way they validate parking, I was excited to see what ‘Tinker Tailor’ had to offer.  Oldman is one of the great character actors of his generation and it was definitely on display here.  He embodies a weathered man who has gone through so much in both his professional and personal life, yet still shows his brilliance when tracking down his target.  Unfortunately the film lacks reason for interest beyond Oldman’s Smiley.  The plot is tight and concrete and the other performances, Colin Firth and Tom Hardy, are strong as expected, but the pace drags and seems to be searching for tension throughout, it doesn’t find it.  As the credits roll I was left searching how I would describe the film, the end result being something of technical soundness but emotional ineptness.

The film’s Oscar chances rest heavily on Oldman as he has a chance to unseat Leo as the 5^th nominee due to ‘J. Edgar’ flopping critically and commercially. It will depend on if enough people see it, if Oldman has enough screen time, and if Oldman can be viewed as a true lead rather than a great supporting character of a larger whole.  The film also has possible chances in adapted screenplay and multiple technical categories.  Overall ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’ is a well done film but in crowded field a film needs to connect emotionally to separate itself from the pack, and it just doesn’t deliver the goods.

OSCAR CHANCES:

Best Picture: Long Shot

Best Adapted Screenplay: Possible

Best Cinematography: Possible

Technical Categories: Possible

Best Actor (Oldman): Possible

THE HELP

Based on the bestselling novel by Kathryn Stockett, ‘The Help’ chronicles the secret writing project of 21-year-old recent college graduate, Skeeter (Emma Stone), and the two black maids she employs for information, Aibileen (Viola Davis) and Minny (Octavia Spencer).  The story takes place in 1960s Mississippi and racial tensions are still very high.  Skeeter, in attempts to become a respected writer, decides to write a novel from the point of view of “the help”.  To gain insight and credibility she seeks out family maids from around the small town where she lives to help her.  Many being hesitant due to the consequences it might bring, Skeeter finally gets Aibileen and Minny to assist her, promising the book will be authored anonymously.  When the book is finally published the town and its racial relations are brought to light.

After finally seeing the film on DVD recently I, as some of the people I had talked to, felt it was fairly over-hyped.  I don’t want to take away from the performances of the cast, it really is a great acting piece from all the players, but it seems it got a positive boost from critics based on its subject matter rather than its technical aspects.  As Kate Winslet stated during her Oscar speech for her win in ‘The Reader’, “if you do a holocaust film, you’ll get an Oscar.”  The same can be said for racial (‘Monster’s Ball’), and recently gay (‘Brokeback Mountain’, ‘Milk’, ‘Monster’), subject material.  Unfortunately the examples I gave were overall better films than ‘The Help’ but the reason they got noms/wins over other superior films/performances in past years was their subject material.

‘The Help’ will most likely get nominations for Best Picture and Screenplay, which I think are undeserved.  However the front runner status of Davis and Spencer for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress I believe is just.  Along with a surprising turn from Stone, the acting really carries the film and makes it watchable, without such performances I don’t think I could even warrant a Red Box rental recommendation to anybody.  So there you have it, another overrated film that will get undue credit at the Oscars (‘The Descendants’ is most notable this year), could we expect anything less from The Academy?

OSCAR CHANCES:

Best Picture: Lock

Best Adapted Screenplay (Tate Taylor): Highly Likely

Best Actress (Davis): Lock

Best Supporting Actress (Spencer): Lock

Best Supporting Actress (Jessica Chastain): Highly Likely

GOLDEN GLOBE WINNERS

List of tonight's winners:

http://www.goldenglobes.org/nominations/

CRITIC'S CHOICE MOVIE AWARDS WINNERS

Here's a list of winners from tonight's Critic's Choice Movie Awards broadcast on VH1.  The Broadcast Film Critic's Association has been notorious for correctly selecting the nominees for many awards (most importantly Best Picture) at the Oscars in recent years.  Therefore the nominees and winners at tonight's show carry a little more weight at what might happen on Oscar night than what transpires this upcoming Sunday on The Golden Globes.

http://www.vh1.com/shows/events/critics_choice/_2012/winners.jhtml

GOLDEN GLOBE PREDICTIONS

 

The Golden Globes will air this upcoming Sunday 1/15 at 8pm EST/6pm MT on NBC.

BEST DRAMA

Will Win: ‘The Descendants’

Should Win: ‘War Horse’

BEST COMEDY/MUSICAL

Will Win: ‘The Artist’

Should Win: ‘The Artist’

BEST ACTRESS DRAMA

Will Win: Either Meryl Streep ‘The Iron Lady’ or Viola Davis ‘The Help’

Should Win: Rooney Mara ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’

BEST ACTRESS MUSICAL/COMEDY

Will Win: Michelle Williams ‘My Week with Marilyn’

Should Win: Michelle Williams ‘My Week with Marilyn’

BEST ACTOR DRAMA

Will Win: George Clooney ‘The Descendants’

Should Win: Michael Fassbender ‘Shame’

BEST ACTOR COMEDY/MUSICAL

Will Win: Jean Dujardin ‘The Artist’

Should Win: Jean Dujardin ‘The Artist’

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Will Win: Octavia Spencer ‘The Help’

Should Win: Berenice Bejo ‘The Artist’

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Will Win: Christopher Plummer ‘Beginners’

Should Win: Albert Brooks ‘Drive’

BEST DIRECTOR

Will Win: Michel Hazanavicius ‘The Artist’

Should Win: Michel Hazanavicius ‘The Artist’

BEST SCREENPLAY

Will Win: Michel Hazanavicius ‘The Artist’

Should Win: Michel Hazanavicius ‘The Artist’

BEST ANIMATED

Will Win: The Adventures of Tintin

Should Win: The Adventures of Tintin

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Will Win: A Separation

Should Win: A Separation

BEST SCORE

Will Win: Ludovic Bource ‘The Artist’

Should Win: Ludovic Bource ‘The Artist’

BEST SONG

Will/Should Win: Who Cares

FILMS I STILL NEED TO SEE/REVIEW BEFORE THE OSCARS

In theatres suffering from limited release: ‘A Dangerous Method’ and ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy’

On Blu-Ray/DVD: ‘The Help’, ‘Tree of Life’, and ‘Midnight in Paris’