The 84th Academy Awards

Ladies and Gentlemen the night of all nights is coming up, tonight the 84th Academy Awards will be handed out. Currently the women (and possibly some men) in attendance are getting their final Botox injections while the gents are practicing their pick up lines for the numerous after parties!

Just like any other awards show the Oscars are probably as meaningless as any other one out there (maybe apart from the Razzies) but who cares? No film year would be complete without some gossip about atrocious dresses, ridiculous speeches and surprising winners. Though in recent years the surprises became less and less and this year is no different in that we can be pretty sure of who is going to win. Even the host is no surprise – lets just hope he does a better job than the 2 hosts last year, though Billy Crystal has a pretty good record of delivering what is expected from him.

So who is going to win then – are we going to see an upset like when Adrian Brody won over Jack Nicholson the “The Pianist” or will Jean Dujardin go mental the way Roberto Benigni did when winning for “Life is Beautiful”. And will Jack Nicholson be there, wearing his trade mark sunglasses? We shall see!

With 10 nominations and winning pretty much everything running up to tonight, I expect “The Artist” will sweep the board winning not everything but some of the major ones. Not that I want this to happen, but I usually suck when it comes to predictions – 6 weeks ago I would have bet anything on a nomination for Michael Fassbender and his brilliant portrait of a sex addict in “Shame“. Thank God I am no betting person! So even though I still hope for a wonder of hearing Gary Oldmans name being called out for the Best Actor Award for his mesmerizing work in “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”  I must assume even George Clooney has a better chance of winning for “The Descendants“. But it is not all bad – book keepers are pretty certain that Christopher Plummer will win for “Beginners” and I couldn’t be happier about it. Not only would this be the first Oscar for Plummer (unbelievable…I know!) but I also really loved this movie and his work was truly amazing. Unfortunately I was not able to watch “My week with Marilyn” yet (DAMN you German release dates!) so I can’t say anything about the much praised work of Kenneth Brannagh in it but it seems like he would be the one person who could become dangerous to Plummers win. Even though nominated 5 time already Kenneth Brannagh never won and I must say, I wouldn’t be upset if he won. The award for best supporting actress also seems like a lock in for Octavia Spencer and her brave work in “The Help” while her co-star Viola Davis is nominated in the probably most open (important) category. It is still unclear if Meryl Streep would finally win her 3rd Academy Award but indications are heading that way.For Best Picture (which is collected by the Producer of the movie) and Best Director there might be some upsets. Because there are actually 9 pictures nominated the votes being split which eventually could lead to an upset of “The Artist” NOT winning but maybe rather “Hugo” or even “War Horse” though I fear that hope is in vain. I expect “Hugo” to win for Best Director, simply because Martin Scorsese has quite a big lobby in Hollywood and after all – the Oscars are also about politics as they are about recognition. Which also means that Woody Allen might win for the delightful “Midnight in Paris“as Best Original Screenplay though I would love to see the work for “Margin Call” be recognized. And hopefully “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” will win for Best Adapted Screenplay simply because in my opinion this movie deserves all the hype the overrated “The Artist” is getting.

In about 12 hours we will know more. In the meantime I will brush up on some oscar knowledge in order to be prepared to blog & tweet throughout the event.

Review: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

In the run-up of this years Oscar race I was very surprised to learn that Gary Oldman has never been nominated before – not for Leon, not for “True Romance” and not for “Sid and Nancy”. I could probably go on and on about all the roles that Oldman made his own and made great but somehow got always overlooked by the academy.

Therefore I was even more intrigued by his latest movie “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” because it finally gave Gary Oldman the recognition he so deserved. But even though it is his movie, the call sheet reads like a who is who of current british film: Ciaran Hindes, Colin Firth, Benedict Cumberbatch, Mark Strong, Tom Hardy, Toby Jones and John Hurt. It is therefore surprising to see that the movie is directed (quite marvelously) by the rather unknown Thomas Alfredson who only recently shot into the spot light with his movie “Let the right one in”.

The story is based on the famous novel by John Le Carre by the same name and tells the search for the mole within the MI6 during the hight of the cold war. Smiley (Oldman) is called back into action, trying to find the mole within his own ranks with 4 people (Hinds, Firth, Jones, Dencik) in the closer range. He is supported by the Guillam (Cumberbatch) in his search. While the plot develops we learn a lot about the different men and by the end of the movie nearly every one of them gets their heart broken.

It is a quiet movie but even though the action is somehow missing you feel drenched in adrenaline and sitting on the edge of the seat by the end of the movie. It is also a movie you want to go back and revisit – I certainly have to because I am sure I didn’t get everything that went on. I also want to go back and cherish the amazing range of acting skills on display. Gary Oldman fully deserves his Oscar nomination but the rest of the cast shouldn’t go unnoticed and everybody up to the smallest role (cue Christian McKay) does an amazing job. The whole cast seems to blend perfectly in with each other creating this great group of people. Interestingly though he seems so much older and wiser than the rest of the cast, Gary Oldman is only 2 years older than Colin Firth and 5 years younger than Ciaran Hinds but he still seems closer to John Hurt than the rest of the group.

As I said before all of those strong men get their hearts broken in the course of this movie and every time it happens, you can feel your own heart breaking with it. You will know what I am talking about, when you see the movie but as a hint: watch out for Guillam making the hardest decision of his life and Prideaux shedding just one tear.

All I can say is go watch this movie, if nothing else this movie portrays some of the finest acting by some of the best actors of our time!

My pre-nomination Oscar Predictions

While watching the Golden Globes I kept wondering what impact the results might have on the imminent Academy Award nominations. By now it is a rather open secret that the Golden Globes sole reason is for the Hollywood Foreign Press to celebrate itself and have a great party with the biggest stars. How else can you justify a nomination for The Tourist or Burlesque last year or this year’s nomination of Owen Wilson? Thankfully the nomination of The Tourist also gave way for one of Ricky Gervais’s best jokes – this year and last!
Barely any respectable film critic is giving the Golden Globes any credit but still there are rumors Eddie Murphy “lost” his Oscar win thanks to his lack of gratefulness in his Golden Globe speech. So what indications can we take from this year’s Golden Globes? Will it mean we will see a clean sweep for the Artist? On the one hand I would wish for it as it clearly shows the industry that you don’t have to spend billions of dollars on ridiculous 3D movies when people still want to spend money on watching a silent black and white movie (maybe not these). Though I would like to see Michael Fassbender win for his uncompromising portrayal of an addict in “Shame” or even Gary Oldman a long overdue Oscar for his role in “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” I assume Jean Dujardin will win.

If there is one thing for certain – the 84th Academy Awards won’t be as funny as the Golden Globes simply because Ricky Gervais isn’t hosting the show. Of course Billy Crystal will do a great job, but nothing can be as hilarious as this!

Looking back at the year I am only glad that the over-pretentious “Tree of life” didn’t live up to its hype and by now won’t have little chance of winning or even being nominated. At the same time Lars von Trier pretty much killed his chances of an Academy Award for the glorious “Melancholia” thanks to his “joke”. Unfortunately for Kirsten Dunst it seems to include her chances as well though I was very happy for her to win a best actress award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Let’s just hope next time she works with a more diplomatic director – or with Clint Eastwood because he seems to get all his actors nominated no matter what the critics say of his movie. It seems likely Leonardo DiCaprio will see a nomination even though “J Edgar” didn’t live up to its expectations but he might get thrown off from buddies George Clooney and Brad Pitt. Alexander Payne’s “The Descendants” looks like a sure lock for not only best picture but also best actor for George Clooney while “Moneyball” has been a huge success for Brad Pitt in the awards circus these past months.
For the women it seems like a more open race so far. Of course it is more than unlikely that Meryl Steep won’t get nominated even though not everybody is happy with her movie “The Iron Lady”. While I will be rooting for Viola Davis (The Help) it is also quite possible for Michelle Williams to win for her portrayal of Marilyn Monroe in “My week with Marilyn”. There is also Jessica Chastain who some want to be nominated for all of her big roles last year – “Take Shelter”, “Tree of life” and “The Help” – but it seems because of her various roles she might divide the votes too much to be left with nothing. This might be a good chance for Charlize Theron in “Young adults” for at least getting nominated though I am not sure how here chances are against Meryl Streep or Michelle Williams.
The one category that for me seems the most open race is the one for best director. With heavy weights such as Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen and Alexander Payne (yes I call him a heavy weight) whom the Academy all love – it could be any of those.
So let’s summarize the possible nominations of the main categories
Best Actor: George Clooney (The Descendants), Jean Dujardin (The Artist), Michael Fassbender (Shame), Brad Pitt (Moneyball) and wishful thinking Gary Oldman (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)
Best Actress: Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady), Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn), Viola Davis (The Help), Chessica Chastain (The Tree of Life) and wishful thinking Kirsten Dunst (Melancholia)
Best Director: Alexander Payne (The Descendants), Martin Scorcese (Hugo), Woody Allen (Midnight in Paris), Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist) and wishful thinking Lars von Trier (Melancholia)
Best Picture: The Descendants, Hugo, The Artist, Warhorse, wishful thinking The Help.

Let’s look back on this list next Tuesday once the nominations are out!

News: Bafta Shortlist

After the glamorous but unimportant Golden Globes (the long-running joke how they can be bought has its reasons) the Bafta finally released their Shortlist for this years nominations.

You can find them here.

Unfortunately I have not seen too many of the nominated movies thanks to the rubbish release dates in Germany, but will hopefully soon be able to catch up on it. The nominations are led by “The Artist” (no surprise here) with 12 nominations closely followed by “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” with 11 nominations. Other big nominations are “Drive”, “The Descendants” and “The Help” (oh, one I’ve seen!).

May the best win!