Twerpette

My Oscar picks for 2017

2018-02-28T11:09:00.002-06:00

In a continuing trend that I hope ends this year, I have seen the fewest number ever (2) of the entire list of Oscar nominees (Victoria & Abdul and Darkest Hour). I have just taken 15 minutes to make my Oscar picks, which will be based on less buzz and intuition than any prior year, because I rarely have had time to catch any news and arts reporting. As usual in prior years (save the last two), I will repost this list after the awards ceremony with my picks in bold italic (the font appears to have been tweaked so that now boldface is difficult to discern from bookface) and the winners underlined. It's a tradition!

BEST PICTURE
Call Me By Your Name
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
Get Out
Lady Bird
Phantom Thread
The Post
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

BEST ACTOR
Timothée Chalamet, Call Me By Your Name
Daniel Day-Lewis, Phantom Thread
Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out
Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour
Denzel Washington, Roman J. Israel, Esq.

BEST ACTRESS
Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water
Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Margot Robbie, I, Tonya
Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird
Meryl Streep, The Post

BEST DIRECTOR
Dunkirk, Christopher Nolan
Get Out, Jordan Peele
Lady Bird, Greta Gerwig
Phantom Thread, Paul Thomas Anderson
The Shape of Water, Guillermo del Toro

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Mary J. Blige, Mudbound
Allison Janney, I, Tonya
Lesley Manville, Phantom Thread
Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird
Octavia Spencer, The Shape of Water

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project
Woody Harrelson, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Richard Jenkins, The Shape of Water
Christopher Plummer, All the Money in the World
Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Call Me By Your Name, James Ivory
The Disaster Artist, Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber
Logan, Scott Frank, James Mangold, Michael Green
Molly’s Game, Aaron Sorkin
Mudbound, Virgil Williams and Dee Rees

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
The Big Sick, Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani
Get Out, Jordan Peele
Lady Bird, Greta Gerwig
The Shape of Water, Guillermo del Toro and Vanessa Taylor
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Martin McDonagh

PRODUCTION DESIGN
Beauty and the Beast
Blade Runner 2049
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
The Shape of Water

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Blade Runner 2049
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
Mudbound
The Shape of Water

COSTUME DESIGN
Beauty and the Beast
Darkest Hour
Phantom Thread
The Shape of Water
Victoria & Abdul

SOUND EDITING
Baby Driver
Blade Runner 2049
Dunkirk
The Shape of Water
Star Wars: The Last Jedi

SOUND MIXING
Baby Driver
Blade Runner 2049
Dunkirk
The Shape of Water
Star Wars: The Last Jedi

ANIMATED SHORT FILM
Dear Basketball
Garden Party
Lou
Negative Space
Revolting Rhymes

LIVE-ACTION SHORT FILM
DeKalb Elementary
The Eleven O’Clock
My Nephew Emmett
The Silent Child
Watu Wote/All of Us

ORIGINAL SCORE
Dunkirk
Phantom Thread
The Shape of Water
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

VISUAL EFFECTS
Blade Runner 2049
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Kong: Skull Island
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
War for the Planet of the Apes

FILM EDITING
Baby Driver
Dunkirk
I, Tonya
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
Darkest Hour
Victoria & Abdul
Wonder

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
A Fantastic Woman, Chile
The Insult, Lebanon
Loveless, Russia
On Body and Soul, Hungary
The Square, Sweden

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
Edith and Eddie
Heaven Is A Traffic Jam on the 405
Heroin(e)
Knife Skills
Traffic Stop

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Abacus: Small Enough to Jail
Faces Places
Icarus
Last Man in Aleppo
Strong Island

ORIGINAL SONG
“Mighty River,” Mudbound
“Mystery of Love,” Call Me By Your Name
“Remember Me,” Coco
“Stand Up For Something,” Marshall
“This Is Me,” The Greatest Showman

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
The Boss Baby
The Breadwinner
Coco
Ferdinand
Loving Vincent

My Oscar picks for 2016 (17* of 24)

2017-02-28T01:27:00.002-06:00

I now realize that, in the greater rush of making my picks this year (10 minutes before the show began), I marked those movies that I thought should win with a checkmark, and those that I thought would win with a slight underline. This is a departure from my annual tradition, which is to predict which movies will actually win: second guesses do not count. So while I picked 8 out of 24 categories correctly, thinking of the nominees I thought should win, I also picked another 9 (for a total of 17 out of 24) categories correctly, thinking of the nominees I thought would win. In any case, I am putting an asterisk alongside the number 17, because I diverged slightly from the usual selection methodology, and conflating the two numbers is not strictly fair. (If you think about it, the picks I thought should win, that I picked correctly, actually make the picks I thought would win, incorrect!)

In any event, I picked La La Land for Best Picture, but thought Moonlight might get picked instead. Huh!

My Oscar picks for 2016

2017-02-26T19:30:00.000-06:00

Email: Tech S[up]port

2016-09-23T12:06:00.003-05:00

Missive to tech support [company name replaced with "you"]:

Nine days since my problem report, which I have repeated to you in four different ways, hoping for comprehension, yet still with no helpful response from [you].

So today I am spending the second hour wrestling with this, no help from [you]. I check the Firefox browser's Tools menu, Add-ons submenu, where I find [software] is in need of an update (that it never mentioned to me, despite nearly every other plug-in I have ever used in 20 years performs, or at least asks to perform, auto-updates). I click Update. Oh, and Sync. (Though it said it was synced, the iOS apps were still out of sync.)

Next I found the Intuit password that I had entered into the desktop version (remember how this whole thing started?) now appears in my [...] apps on my iPhone and iPad. Better yet, a Pokemon password I had just entered in my iPhone now appears on my iPad and iMac. The Web app still did not show these changes. Within 5 minutes, after logging back in, it did, however.

So if someone tells you their browser plug-in has stopped working after an OS [...] update, may I suggest you ask them to check the Add-ins menu and verify the [...] plug-in is up-to-date? It's a fairly obvious solution, now that I look back at it. I was just so busy trying to do my own job. Not [yours].

My Oscar picks for 2015 (11 of 24)

2016-02-29T16:10:00.003-06:00

I correctly picked 11 out of 24 Oscar nominees across all categories last night, after averaging 12 correct nominees per year over the past 11 years. Not bad, considering this year I had only seen a record low of 3 nominees among all contenders.

My Oscar picks for 2015

2016-02-28T15:06:00.001-06:00

Next year: Resolve to find more than 20 minutes in transit at a Starbucks to make my Oscar picks (just before I leave for the Oscars party). Resolve to bring a laptop or iPad so I can see the trailers that Oscars.com now presents but (surprise) does not show on the iPhone. Resolve to bring earbuds so I could actually hear said trailers over the familial hubbub of a jammed java joint.

This has been a tighter year than ever so that I have only seen a record low of 3 films among the field of Oscar nominees (Bridge of Spies on the silver screen, Inside Out and recently The Martian on DVD). Still, I grasp at straws and guess -- and put it out there. Let's see how it goes.

New format since Forbes and Oscars chose to Balkanize their nominee lists: I'm checking off a ballot from oscars.com and snapping photos. Post-show actual winners will be denoted by circles or underlines. Good luck with your picks!

My Oscar picks for 2014 (11 of 24)

2015-02-23T09:42:00.001-06:00

My success rate for Oscar picks has been 15 out of 24 in 2005, 10 in 2006, 15 in 2007, 13 in 2008, 10 in 2009, 11 in 2010, 15 in 2011, 9 (or 8.5, discounting for the tie in Sound Editing) in 2012, and 13 in 2013. This year (and within 5 minutes of seeing the list), I picked 11 out of 24, missing 4 of the 6 major categories but pegging 2 of the 3 shorts categories, which is crazy since I saw only two feature nominees (Boyhood, Hobbit 3) and no shorts this season. (Note: The Oscars tag the awards in the year in which the awards are given, while I date them by the year in which the films were released. Underlining denotes my pick of deserving nominee and italic denotes a more likely winner; boldface denotes the actual winner.)

BEST PICTURE
American Sniper
Birdman
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash

BEST ACTOR
Steve Carrell, Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper, American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton, Birdman
Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything

BEST ACTRESS
Marion Cotillard, Two Days, One Night
Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon, Wild

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Robert Duvall, The Judge
Edward Norton, Birdman
Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons, Whiplash

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Laura Dern, Wild
Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
Emma Stone, Birdman
Meryl Streep, Into the Woods

BEST DIRECTOR
Alejando G. Inarritu, Birdman
Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Bennett Miller, Foxcatcher
Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Morton Tyldum, The Imitation Game

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. & Armando Bo, Birdman
Richard Linklater, Boyhood
E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman, Foxcatcher
Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Jason Hall, American Sniper
Graham Moore, The Imitation Game
Paul Thomas Anderson, Inherent Vice
Anthony McCarten, The Theory of Everything
Damien Chazelle, Whiplash

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Leviathan, Russia
Tangerines, Estonia
Wild Tales, Argentina
Ida, Poland
Timbuktu, Mauritania

BEST ANIMATED FEATURED FILM
Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Song of the Sea
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Emmanuel Lubezki, Birdman
Robert Yeoman, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lenczewski, Ida
Dick Pope, Mr. Turner
Roger Deakins, Unbroken

BEST FILM EDITING
Joel Cox and Gary D. Roach, American Sniper
Sandra Adair, Boyhood
Barney Pilling, The Grand Budapest Hotel
William Goldenberg, The Imitation Game
Tom Cross, Whiplash

BEST SOUND EDITING
Richard King, Interstellar
Becky Sullivan and Andrew DeCristofaro, Unbroken
Brent Burge and Jason Canovas, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman, American Sniper
Martin Hernandez and Aaron Glascock, Birdman

BEST SOUND MIXING
Gary A. Rizzo, Gregg Landaker and Mark Weingarten, Interstellar
Craig Mann, Ben Wilkins and Thomas Curley, Whiplash
Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montano and Thomas Varga, Birdman
John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Walt Martin, American Sniper
Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montano and David Lee, Unbroken

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Dennis Gassner (Production Design) and Anna Pinnock (Set Decoration), Into the Woods
Adam Stockhausen (Production Design) and Anna Pinnock (Set Decoration), The Grand Budapest Hotel
Nathan Crowley (Production Design) and Gary Fettis (Set Decoration),Interstellar
Maria Djurkovic (Production Design) and Tatiana Macdonald (Set Decoration), The Imitation Game
Suzie Davies (Production Design) and Charlotte Watts (Set Decoration), Mr. Turner

BEST ORIGINAL SCOREHans Zimmer, Interstellar
Alexandre Desplat, The Imitation Game
Johann Johannsson, The Theory of Everything
Alexandre Desplat, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Gary Yershon, Mr Turner

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
Glory by Common and John Legend, Selma
Lost Stars by Gregg Alexander, Danielle Brisebois, Nick Lashley and NickSouthwood, Begin Again
Everything Is Awesome by Shawn Patterson, The LEGO Movie
I'm Not Gonna Miss You, by Glen Campbell, Glenn Campbell: I'll Be Me
Grateful, Beyond the lights

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Guardians of the Galaxy

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Colleen Atwood, Into the Woods
Anna B. Sheppard, Maleficent
Milena Canonero, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Jacqueline Durran, Mr. Turner
Mark Bridges, Inherent Vice

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Paul Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter and Scott Fisher, Interstellar
Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Daniel Barrett and Erik Winquist, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Stephane Ceretti, Nicolas Aithadi, Jonathan Fawkner and Paul Corbould, Guardians of the Galaxy
Dan DeLeeuw, Russell Earl, Bryan Grill and Dan Sudick, Captain America: Winter Soldier
Richard Stammers, Lou Pecora, Tim Crosbie and Cameron Waldbauer, X-Men: Days of Future Past

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1
Joanna
Our Curse
White Earth
The Reaper

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Citizenfour
Last Days in Vietnam
Virunga
The Salt of the Earth
Finding Vivian Maier

BEST SHORT FILM, LIVE ACTION
Boogaloo and Graham
Aya
Butterlamp
Parvenah
The Phone Call

BEST SHORT FILM, ANIMATED
Feast
The Bigger Picture
A Single Life
The Dam Keeper
Me and My Moulton

My Oscar picks for 2014

2015-02-22T16:12:00.000-06:00

Last year, I saw a record low of 3 out of all nominated feature-length movies (and none of the shorts). This year has been more intense than ever and I have seen only 2 among all nominees (Boyhood and The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies). Clearly, my picks are based on gut feel (and made in 5 minutes then posted less than an hour before the awards ceremony), not on actual viewing. My success rate for Oscar picks has been 15 out of 24 in 2005, 10 in 2006, 15 in 2007, 13 in 2008, 10 in 2009, 11 in 2010, 15 in 2011, 9 (or 8.5, discounting for the tie in Sound Editing) in 2012, and 13 in 2013. (Note: The Oscars tag the awards in the year in which the awards are given, while I date them by the year in which the films were released. Underlining denotes my pick of deserving nominee; boldface will later denote the actual winner.)

BEST PICTURE
American Sniper
Birdman
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash

BEST ACTOR
Steve Carrell, Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper, American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton, Birdman
Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything

BEST ACTRESS
Marion Cotillard, Two Days, One Night
Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon, Wild

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Robert Duvall, The Judge
Edward Norton, Birdman
Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons, Whiplash

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Laura Dern, Wild
Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
Emma Stone, Birdman
Meryl Streep, Into the Woods

BEST DIRECTOR
Alejando G. Inarritu, Birdman
Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Bennett Miller, Foxcatcher
Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Morton Tyldum, The Imitation Game

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. & Armando Bo, Birdman
Richard Linklater, Boyhood
E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman, Foxcatcher
Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Jason Hall, American Sniper
Graham Moore, The Imitation Game
Paul Thomas Anderson, Inherent Vice
Anthony McCarten, The Theory of Everything
Damien Chazelle, Whiplash

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Leviathan, Russia
Tangerines, Estonia
Wild Tales, Argentina
Ida, Poland
Timbuktu, Mauritania

BEST ANIMATED FEATURED FILM
Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Song of the Sea
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Emmanuel Lubezki, Birdman
Robert Yeoman, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lenczewski, Ida
Dick Pope, Mr. Turner
Roger Deakins, Unbroken

BEST FILM EDITING
Joel Cox and Gary D. Roach, American Sniper
Sandra Adair, Boyhood
Barney Pilling, The Grand Budapest Hotel
William Goldenberg, The Imitation Game
Tom Cross, Whiplash

BEST SOUND EDITING
Richard King, Interstellar
Becky Sullivan and Andrew DeCristofaro, Unbroken
Brent Burge and Jason Canovas, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman, American Sniper
Martin Hernandez and Aaron Glascock, Birdman

BEST SOUND MIXING
Gary A. Rizzo, Gregg Landaker and Mark Weingarten, Interstellar
Craig Mann, Ben Wilkins and Thomas Curley, Whiplash
Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montano and Thomas Varga, Birdman
John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Walt Martin, American Sniper
Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montano and David Lee, Unbroken

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Dennis Gassner (Production Design) and Anna Pinnock (Set Decoration), Into the Woods
Adam Stockhausen (Production Design) and Anna Pinnock (Set Decoration), The Grand Budapest Hotel
Nathan Crowley (Production Design) and Gary Fettis (Set Decoration),Interstellar
Maria Djurkovic (Production Design) and Tatiana Macdonald (Set Decoration), The Imitation Game
Suzie Davies (Production Design) and Charlotte Watts (Set Decoration), Mr. Turner

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Milena Canonero, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Mark Bridges, Inherent Vice
Colleen Atwood, Into the Woods
Anna B. Sheppard and Jane Clive, Maleficient
Jacqueline Durran, Mr. Turner

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Hans Zimmer, Interstellar
Alexandre Desplat, The Imitation Game
Johann Johannsson, The Theory of Everything
Alexandre Desplat, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Gary Yershon, Mr Turner

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
Glory by Common and John Legend, Selma
Lost Stars by Gregg Alexander, Danielle Brisebois, Nick Lashley and NickSouthwood, Begin Again
Everything Is Awesome by Shawn Patterson, The LEGO Movie
I'm Not Gonna Miss You, by Glen Campbell, Glenn Campbell: I'll Be Me
Grateful, Beyond the lights

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Guardians of the Galaxy

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Colleen Atwood, Into the Woods
Anna B. Sheppard, Maleficent
Milena Canonero, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Jacqueline Durran, Mr. Turner
Mark Bridges, Inherent Vice

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Paul Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter and Scott Fisher, Interstellar
Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Daniel Barrett and Erik Winquist, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Stephane Ceretti, Nicolas Aithadi, Jonathan Fawkner and Paul Corbould, Guardians of the Galaxy
Dan DeLeeuw, Russell Earl, Bryan Grill and Dan Sudick, Captain America: Winter Soldier
Richard Stammers, Lou Pecora, Tim Crosbie and Cameron Waldbauer, X-Men: Days of Future Past

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1
Joanna
Our Curse
White Earth
The Reaper

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Citizenfour
Last Days in Vietnam
Virunga
The Salt of the Earth
Finding Vivian Maier

BEST SHORT FILM, LIVE ACTION
Boogaloo and Graham
Aya
Butterlamp
Parvenah
The Phone Call

BEST SHORT FILM, ANIMATED
Feast
The Bigger Picture
A Single Life
The Dam Keeper
Me and My Moulton

My Oscar picks for 2013 (13 of 24)

2014-03-03T19:48:00.000-06:00

My success rate for Oscar picks has been 15 out of 24 in 2005, 10 in 2006, 15 in 2007, 13 in 2008, 10 in 2009, 11 in 2010, 15 in 2011, and 9 (or 8.5, given the tie in Sound Editing) in 2012. This year, after seeing a record low (just 3) of all the films nominated, my success rate was 13 out of 24. (Note: The Oscars tag the awards in the year in which the awards are given, while I date them by the year in which the films were released.)

(Underlining denotes my posted pick of deserving nominee; boldface denotes the actual winner. As in one other year, I made and posted my picks in ten minutes; however, during the red carpet ceremonies, I recalled the picks I made mentally when the nominees were announced and changed my vote on paper before the awards. In those cases, italics denote my "final answer.")

BEST PICTURE

12 Years a Slave

American Hustle

Captain Phillips

Dallas Buyers Club

Gravity

Her

Nebraska

Philomena

The Wolf of Wall Street

BEST DIRECTOR

Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity

Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave.

Alexander Payne, Nebraska

David O. Russell, American Hustle

Martin Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street

BEST ACTOR

Christian Bale, American Hustle

Bruce Dern, Nebraska

Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave

Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club

Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street

BEST ACTRESS

Amy Adams, American Hustle

Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine

Judi Dench, Philomena

Meryl Streep, August: Osage County

Sandra Bullock, Gravity

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips

Bradley Cooper, American Hustle

Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave

Jonah Hill, The Wolf of Wall Street

Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine

Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle

Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave

Julia Roberts, August: Osage County

June Squibb, Nebraska

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

The Croods

Despicable Me 2

Ernest & Celestine

Frozen

The Wind Rises

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

The Grandmaster, Philippe Le Sourd

Gravity, Emmanuel Lubezki

Inside Llewyn Davis, Bruno Delbonnel

Nebraska, Phedon Papamichael

Prisoners, Roger A. Deakins

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

American Hustle, Michael Wilkinson

The Grandmaster, William Chang Suk Ping

The Great Gatsby, Catherine Martin

The Invisible Woman, Michael O'Connor

12 Years a Slave, Patricia Norris

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

The Act of Killing

Cutie and the Boxer

Dirty Wars

The Square

20 Feet from Stardom

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT

CaveDigger

Facing Fear

Karama Has No Walls

The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life

Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall

BEST FILM EDITING

American Hustle, Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers and Alan Baumgarten

Captain Phillips, Christopher Rouse

Dallas Buyers Club, John Mac McMurphy and Martin Pensa

Gravity, Alfonso Cuaron and Mark Sanger

12 Years a Slave, Joe Walker

BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM

The Broken Circle Breakdown, Belgium

The Great Beauty, Italy

The Hunt, Denmark

The Missing Picture, Cambodia

Omar, Palestine

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

Dallas Buyers Club, Adruitha Lee and Robin Mathews

Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa, Stephen Prouty

The Lone Ranger, Joel Harlow and Gloria Pasqua-Casny

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

The Book Thief, John Williams

Gravity, Steven Price

Her, William Butler and Owen Pallett

Philomena, Alexandre Desplat

Saving Mr. Banks, Thomas Newman

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

Happy from Despicable Me 2

Let It Go from Frozen

The Moon Song from Her

Ordinary Love from Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

American Hustle, Production Design: Judy Becker; Set Decoration: Heather Loeffler

Gravity, Production Design: Andy Nicholson; Set Decoration: Rosie Goodwin and Joanne Woollard

The Great Gatsby, Production Design: Catherine Martin; Set Decoration: Beverley Dunn

Her, Production Design: K.K. Barrett; Set Decoration: Gene Serdena

12 Years a Slave, Production Design: Adam Stockhausen; Set Decoration: Alice Baker

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM

Feral

Get a Horse!

Mr. Hublot

Possessions

Room on the Broom

BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT FILM

Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn't Me)

Avant Que De Tout Perdre (Just before Losing Everything)

Helium

Pitaako Mun Kaikki Hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?)

The Voorman Problem

BEST SOUND EDITING

All Is Lost, Steve Boeddeker and Richard Hymns

Captain Phillips, Oliver Tarney

Gravity, Glenn Freemantle

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Brent Burge

Lone Survivor, Wylie Stateman

BEST SOUND MIXING

Captain Phillips, Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor, Mike Prestwood Smith and Chris Munro

Gravity, Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead and Chris Munro

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Christopher Boyes, Michael Hedges, Michael Semanick and Tony Johnson

Inside Llewyn Davis, Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland

Lone Survivor, Andy Koyama, Beau Borders and David Brownlow

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Gravity, Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk and Neil Corbould

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and Eric Reynolds

Iron Man 3, Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Erik Nash and Dan Sudick

The Lone Ranger, Tim Alexander, Gary Brozenich, Edson Williams and John Frazier

Star Trek Into Darkness, Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Ben Grossmann and Burt Dalton

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Before Midnight, written by Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke

Captain Phillips, screenplay by Billy Ray

Philomena, screenplay by Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope

12 Years a Slave, screenplay by John Ridley

The Wolf of Wall Street, screenplay by Terence Winter

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

American Hustle, written by Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell

Blue Jasmine, written by Woody Allen

Dallas Buyers Club, written by Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack

Her, written by Spike Jonze

Nebraska, written by Bob Nelson

My Oscar picks for 2013

2014-03-02T15:12:00.000-06:00

Last year, I saw a record 9 out of all nominated feature-length movies (and none of the shorts). This year has been more intense than usual and I have seen a record low of 3 among all nominees (Gravity, Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, and Star Trek Into Darkness). Clearly, my picks are based on gut feel (and luck) not on actual viewing. My success rate for Oscar picks has been 15 out of 24 in 2005, 10 in 2006, 15 in 2007, 13 in 2008, 10 in 2009, 11 in 2010, 15 in 2011, and 9 (or 8.5, discounting for the tie in Sound Editing) in 2012. (Note: The Oscars tag the awards in the year in which the awards are given, while I date them by the year in which the films were released. Underlining denotes my pick of deserving nominee; boldface will later denote the actual winner.)

BEST PICTURE

12 Years a Slave

American Hustle

Captain Phillips

Dallas Buyers Club

Gravity

Her

Nebraska

Philomena

The Wolf of Wall Street

BEST DIRECTOR

Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity

Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave.

Alexander Payne, Nebraska

David O. Russell, American Hustle

Martin Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street

BEST ACTOR

Christian Bale, American Hustle

Bruce Dern, Nebraska

Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave

Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club

Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street

BEST ACTRESS

Amy Adams, American Hustle

Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine

Judi Dench, Philomena

Meryl Streep, August: Osage County

Sandra Bullock, Gravity

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips

Bradley Cooper, American Hustle

Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave

Jonah Hill, The Wolf of Wall Street

Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine

Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle

Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave

Julia Roberts, August: Osage County

June Squibb, Nebraska

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

The Croods

Despicable Me 2

Ernest & Celestine

Frozen

The Wind Rises

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

The Grandmaster, Philippe Le Sourd

Gravity, Emmanuel Lubezki

Inside Llewyn Davis, Bruno Delbonnel

Nebraska, Phedon Papamichael

Prisoners, Roger A. Deakins

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

American Hustle, Michael Wilkinson

The Grandmaster, William Chang Suk Ping

The Great Gatsby, Catherine Martin

The Invisible Woman, Michael O'Connor

12 Years a Slave, Patricia Norris

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

The Act of Killing

Cutie and the Boxer

Dirty Wars

The Square

20 Feet from Stardom

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT

CaveDigger

Facing Fear

Karama Has No Walls

The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life

Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall

BEST FILM EDITING

American Hustle, Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers and Alan Baumgarten

Captain Phillips, Christopher Rouse

Dallas Buyers Club, John Mac McMurphy and Martin Pensa

Gravity, Alfonso Cuaron and Mark Sanger

12 Years a Slave, Joe Walker

BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM

The Broken Circle Breakdown, Belgium

The Great Beauty, Italy

The Hunt, Denmark

The Missing Picture, Cambodia

Omar, Palestine

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

Dallas Buyers Club, Adruitha Lee and Robin Mathews

Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa, Stephen Prouty

The Lone Ranger, Joel Harlow and Gloria Pasqua-Casny

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

The Book Thief, John Williams

Gravity, Steven Price

Her, William Butler and Owen Pallett

Philomena, Alexandre Desplat

Saving Mr. Banks, Thomas Newman

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

Happy from Despicable Me 2

Let It Go from Frozen

The Moon Song from Her

Ordinary Love from Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

American Hustle, Production Design: Judy Becker; Set Decoration: Heather Loeffler

Gravity, Production Design: Andy Nicholson; Set Decoration: Rosie Goodwin and Joanne Woollard

The Great Gatsby, Production Design: Catherine Martin; Set Decoration: Beverley Dunn

Her, Production Design: K.K. Barrett; Set Decoration: Gene Serdena

12 Years a Slave, Production Design: Adam Stockhausen; Set Decoration: Alice Baker

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM

Feral

Get a Horse!

Mr. Hublot

Possessions

Room on the Broom

BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT FILM

Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn't Me)

Avant Que De Tout Perdre (Just before Losing Everything)

Helium

Pitaako Mun Kaikki Hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?)

The Voorman Problem

BEST SOUND EDITING

All Is Lost, Steve Boeddeker and Richard Hymns

Captain Phillips, Oliver Tarney

Gravity, Glenn Freemantle

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Brent Burge

Lone Survivor, Wylie Stateman

BEST SOUND MIXING

Captain Phillips, Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor, Mike Prestwood Smith and Chris Munro

Gravity, Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead and Chris Munro

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Christopher Boyes, Michael Hedges, Michael Semanick and Tony Johnson

Inside Llewyn Davis, Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland

Lone Survivor, Andy Koyama, Beau Borders and David Brownlow

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Gravity, Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk and Neil Corbould

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and Eric Reynolds

Iron Man 3, Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Erik Nash and Dan Sudick

The Lone Ranger, Tim Alexander, Gary Brozenich, Edson Williams and John Frazier

Star Trek Into Darkness, Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Ben Grossmann and Burt Dalton

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Before Midnight, written by Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke

Captain Phillips, screenplay by Billy Ray

Philomena, screenplay by Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope

12 Years a Slave, screenplay by John Ridley

The Wolf of Wall Street, screenplay by Terence Winter

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

American Hustle, written by Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell

Blue Jasmine, written by Woody Allen

Dallas Buyers Club, written by Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack

Her, written by Spike Jonze

Nebraska, written by Bob Nelson

My Oscar picks for 2012 (9 of 24)

2014-03-02T14:50:00.001-06:00

I have got to get some free time. Here is the followup to my Oscar awards picks for last year -- right before I post my picks for this year.

My success rate for Oscar picks has been 15 out of 24 in 2005, 10 in 2006, 15 in 2007, 13 in 2008, 10 in 2009, 11 in 2010, 15 in 2011, and 9 (or 8.5, discounting for the tie in Sound Editing) in 2012. I saw a record 9 out of all nominated feature-length movies (Beasts of the Southern Wild, Brave, Frankenweenie, Hitchcock, Moonrise Kingdom, Prometheus, Snow White and the Huntsman, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, and Zero Dark Thirty), but it is not even about needing to get out more (or I would have seen those titles that went to DVD before the Oscar telecast). Basically, all but one of my picks for Lincoln (Best Actor) missed, and one time I did not select Lincoln (Production Design), it won. (Underline denotes my pick of deserving nominee. Bold denotes the actual winner.)

Best Picture
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty
Lincoln
Les Miserables
Life of Pi
Amour
Django Unchained
Argo

Best Supporting Actor
Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained
Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
Robert De Niro, Silver Linings Playbook
Alan Arkin, Argo
Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln

Best Supporting Actress
Sally Field, Lincoln
Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
Jacki Weaver, Silver Linings Playbook
Helen Hunt, The Sessions
Amy Adams, The Master

Best Director
David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
Ang Lee, Life of Pi
Steven Spielberg, Lincoln
Michael Haneke, Amour
Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Best Actor
Daniel Day Lewis, Lincoln
Denzel Washington, Flight
Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables
Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
Joaquin Phoenix, The Master

Best Actress
Naomi Watts, The Impossible
Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Emmanuelle Riva, Amour
Quvenzhané Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Best Original Screenplay
Zero Dark Thirty
Django Unchained
Moonrise Kingdom
Amour
Flight

Best Adapted Screenplay
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Argo
Life of Pi
Beasts of the Southern Wild

Best Animated Feature
Frankenweenie
The Pirates! Band of Misfits
Wreck-It Ralph
Paranorman
Brave

Best Foreign Feature
Amour
A Royal Affair
Kon-Tiki
No
War Witch

Best Visual Effects
Life of Pi
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
The Avengers
Prometheus
Snow White and the Huntsman

Best Cinematography
Skyfall
Anna Karenina
Django Unchained
Life of Pi
Lincoln

Best Costume Design
Anna Karenina
Les Miserables
Lincoln
Mirror Mirror
Snow White and the Huntsman

Best Documentary Feature
Searching for Sugar Man
How to Survive a Plague
The Gatekeepers
5 Broken Cameras
The Invisible War

Best Documentary Short
Open Heart
Inocente
Redemption
Kings Point
Mondays at Racine

Best Film Editing
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Life of Pi
Argo
Zero Dark Thirty

Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Hitchcock
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Les Miserables

Best Music (Original Score)
Anna Karenina
Argo
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Skyfall

Best Music (Original Song)
Before My Time from Chasing Ice
Everybody Needs A Best Friend from Ted
Pi's Lullaby from Life of Pi
Skyfall from Skyfall
Suddenly from Les Misérables

Best Production Design
Anna Karenina
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Les Misérables
Life of Pi
Lincoln

Best Short Film, Animated
Adam and Dog
Fresh Guacamole
Head over Heels
Maggie Simpson in 'The Longest Daycare'
Paperman

Best Short Film, Live Action
Asad
Buzkashi Boys
Curfew
Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw)
Henry

Best Sound Editing
Argo
Django Unchained
Life of Pi
Skyfall
Zero Dark Thirty

Best Sound Mixing
Argo
Les Misérables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Skyfall

Movies: My Oscar picks for 2012

2013-02-24T12:08:00.002-06:00

My success rate for Oscar picks has been 15 out of 24 in 2005, 10 in 2006, 15 in 2007, 13 in 2008, 10 in 2009, 11 in 2010, and 15 in 2011, so hats off to blind intuition. Although I've seen a record 9 out of all nominated feature-length movies (Beasts of the Southern Wild, Brave, Frankenweenie, Hitchcock, Moonrise Kingdom, Prometheus, Snow White and the Huntsman, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, and Zero Dark Thirty), frankly I'll be surprised if I draw a bead on anything this year. (Underline denotes my pick of deserving nominee. Bold will denote the actual winner.)

Best Picture
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty
Lincoln
Les Miserables
Life of Pi
Amour
Django Unchained
Argo

Best Supporting Actor
Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained
Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
Robert De Niro, Silver Linings Playbook
Alan Arkin, Argo
Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln

Best Supporting Actress
Sally Field, Lincoln
Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
Jacki Weaver, Silver Linings Playbook
Helen Hunt, The Sessions
Amy Adams, The Master

Best Director
David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
Ang Lee, Life of Pi
Steven Spielberg, Lincoln
Michael Haneke, Amour
Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Best Actor
Daniel Day Lewis, Lincoln
Denzel Washington, Flight
Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables
Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
Joaquin Phoenix, The Master

Best Actress
Naomi Watts, The Impossible
Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Emmanuelle Riva, Amour
Quvenzhané Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Best Original Screenplay
Zero Dark Thirty
Django Unchained
Moonrise Kingdom
Amour
Flight

Best Adapted Screenplay
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Argo
Life of Pi
Beasts of the Southern Wild

Best Animated Feature
Frankenweenie
The Pirates! Band of Misfits
Wreck-It Ralph
Paranorman
Brave

Best Foreign Feature
Amour
A Royal Affair
Kon-Tiki
No
War Witch

Best Visual Effects
Life of Pi
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
The Avengers
Prometheus
Snow White and the Huntsman

Best Cinematography
Skyfall
Anna Karenina
Django Unchained
Life of Pi
Lincoln

Best Costume Design
Anna Karenina
Les Miserables
Lincoln
Mirror Mirror
Snow White and the Huntsman

Best Documentary Feature
Searching for Sugar Man
How to Survive a Plague
The Gatekeepers
5 Broken Cameras
The Invisible War

Best Documentary Short
Open Heart
Inocente
Redemption
Kings Point
Mondays at Racine

Best Film Editing
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Life of Pi
Argo
Zero Dark Thirty

Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Hitchcock
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Les Miserables

Best Music (Original Score)
Anna Karenina
Argo
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Skyfall

Best Music (Original Song)
Before My Time from Chasing Ice
Everybody Needs A Best Friend from Ted
Pi's Lullaby from Life of Pi
Skyfall from Skyfall
Suddenly from Les Misérables

Best Production Design
Anna Karenina
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Les Misérables
Life of Pi
Lincoln

Best Short Film, Animated
Adam and Dog
Fresh Guacamole
Head over Heels
Maggie Simpson in 'The Longest Daycare'
Paperman

Best Short Film, Live Action
Asad
Buzkashi Boys
Curfew
Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw)
Henry

Best Sound Editing
Argo
Django Unchained
Life of Pi
Skyfall
Zero Dark Thirty

Best Sound Mixing
Argo
Les Misérables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Skyfall

Movies: My 2011 Oscar picks (15 out of 24)

2012-11-11T13:13:00.005-06:00

This year, I accurately picked 15 out of 24 nominees for the Academy Awards, matching my best counts for 2005 and 2007.
(Underline denotes my pick of deserving nominee though italic is a secondary pick for the likely winner if different. Bold denotes the actual winner.)

Best Picture
"The Artist"
"The Descendants"
"Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"
"Hugo"
"Midnight in Paris"
"The Help"
"Moneyball"
"War Horse"
"The Tree of Life"

Best Actor
Demian Bichir, "A Better Life"
George Clooney, "The Descendants"
Jean Dujardin, "The Artist"
Gary Oldman, "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"
Brad Pitt, "Moneyball"

Best Actress
Glenn Close, "Albert Nobbs"
Viola Davis, "The Help"
Rooney Mara, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"
Meryl Streep, "The Iron Lady"
Michelle Williams, "My Week With Marilyn"

Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh, "My Week With Marilyn"
Jonah Hill, "Moneyball"
Nick Nolte, "Warrior"
Christopher Plummer, "Beginners"
Max Von Sydow, "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Best Supporting Actress
Berenice Bejo, "The Artist"
Jessica Chastain, "The Help"
Melissa McCarthy, "Bridesmaids"
Janet McTeer, "Albert Nobbs"
Octavia Spencer, "The Help"

Best Director
Woody Allen, "Midnight in Paris"
Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist"
Terrence Malick, "The Tree of Life"
Alexander Payne, "The Descendants"
Martin Scorsese, "Hugo"

Best Original Screenplay
Woody Allen, "Midnight in Paris"
JC Chandor, "Margin Call"
Asghar Farhadi, "A Separation"
Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist"
Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo, "Bridesmaids"

Best Adapted Screenplay
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxton, Jim Rash, "The Descendants"
John Logan, "Hugo"
George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon, "The Ides of March"
Aaron Sorkin, Steven Zaillian, "Moneyball"
Bridget O'Connor, Peter Straughn, "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy"

Best Animated Feature
"A Cat In Paris"
"Chico & Rita"
"Kung Fu Panda 2"
"Puss in Boots"
"Rango"

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
Bullhead (Belgium)
Footnote (Israel)
In Darkness (Poland)
Monsieur Lazhar (Canada)
A Separation (Iran)

Original Score
"The Adventures of Tintin," John Williams
"The Artist," Ludovic Bource
"Hugo," Howard Shore
"Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy," Alberto Iglesias
"War Horse," John Williams

Best Original Song
"Man or Muppet," The Muppets; Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
"Real in Rio," Rio; Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown, Lyric by Siedah Garrett

Best Achievement in Art Direction
"The Artist"
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2"
"Hugo"
"Midnight in Paris"
"War Horse"

Best Achievement in Cinematography
"The Artist"
"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"
"Hugo"
"The Tree of Life"
"War Horse"

Best Achievement in Costume Design
"Anonymous"
"The Artist"
"Hugo"
"Jane Eyre"
"W.E."

Best Documentary Feature
"Hell and Back Again"
"If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front"
"Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory"
"Pina"
"Undefeated"

Best Documentary Short Subject
"The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement?"
"God Is the Bigger Elvis"
"Incident in New Baghdad"
"Saving Face"
"The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom"

Best Achievement in Film Editing
"The Artist"
"The Descendants"
"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"
"Hugo"
"Moneyball"

Best Achievement in Makeup
"Albert Nobbs"
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2"
"The Iron Lady"

Best Animated Short Film
Dimanche/Sunday
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
La Luna
A Morning Stroll
Wild Life

Best Live Action Short Film
"Pentecost"
"Raju"
"The Shore"
"Time Freak"
"Tuba Atlantic"

Best Achievement in Sound Editing
"Drive"
"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"
"Hugo"
"Transformers: Dark of the Moon"
"War Horse"

Best Achievement in Sound Mixing
"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"
"Hugo"
"Moneyball"
"Transformers: Dark of the Moon"
"War Horse"

Best Achievement in Visual Effects
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2"
"Hugo"
"Real Steel"
"Rise of the Planet of the Apes"
"Transformers: Dark of the Moon"

Movies: My 2011 Oscar picks

2012-02-26T02:05:00.000-06:00

Each year, my Oscar picks are more from intuition -- an editorial sense of quantitative buzz -- than actually seeing more than a handful of the nominees. The shorts esp. are always a total blind stab (except last year, when I got time to see two-thirds of the candidates after my picks but before the Awards). Each year I hope to actually see more nominees yet responsibilities conspire to prevent it. Still, 2012 could be the ticket.

This year, I've seen 6 of the feature nominees (Bridesmaids, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, The Ides of March, Midnight in Paris, Rango, and Rise of the Planet of the Apes). My success rate for Oscar picks has been 15 out of 24 in 2005, 10 in 2006, 15 in 2007, 13 in 2008, 10 in 2009, and 11 in 2010. So here's to an upswing.

(Underline denotes my pick of deserving nominee though italic is a secondary pick for the likely winner if different. Bold will denote the actual winner.)

Best Picture
"The Artist"
"The Descendants"
"Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"
"Hugo"
"Midnight in Paris"
"The Help"
"Moneyball"
"War Horse"
"The Tree of Life"

Best Actor
Demian Bichir, "A Better Life"
George Clooney, "The Descendants"
Jean Dujardin, "The Artist"
Gary Oldman, "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"
Brad Pitt, "Moneyball"

Best Actress
Glenn Close, "Albert Nobbs"
Viola Davis, "The Help"
Rooney Mara, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"
Meryl Streep, "The Iron Lady"
Michelle Williams, "My Week With Marilyn"

Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh, "My Week With Marilyn"
Jonah Hill, "Moneyball"
Nick Nolte, "Warrior"
Christopher Plummer, "Beginners"
Max Von Sydow, "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Best Supporting Actress
Berenice Bejo, "The Artist"
Jessica Chastain, "The Help"
Melissa McCarthy, "Bridesmaids"
Janet McTeer, "Albert Nobbs"
Octavia Spencer, "The Help"

Best Director
Woody Allen, "Midnight in Paris"
Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist"
Terrence Malick, "The Tree of Life"
Alexander Payne, "The Descendants"
Martin Scorsese, "Hugo"

Best Original Screenplay
Woody Allen, "Midnight in Paris"
JC Chandor, "Margin Call"
Asghar Farhadi, "A Separation"
Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist"
Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo, "Bridesmaids"

Best Adapted Screenplay
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxton, Jim Rash, "The Descendants"
John Logan, "Hugo"
George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon, "The Ides of March"
Aaron Sorkin, Steven Zaillian, "Moneyball"
Bridget O'Connor, Peter Straughn, "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy"

Best Animated Feature
"A Cat In Paris"
"Chico & Rita"
"Kung Fu Panda 2"
"Puss in Boots"
"Rango"

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
Bullhead (Belgium)
Footnote (Israel)
In Darkness (Poland)
Monsieur Lazhar (Canada)
A Separation (Iran)

Original Score
"The Adventures of Tintin," John Williams
"The Artist," Ludovic Bource
"Hugo," Howard Shore
"Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy," Alberto Iglesias
"War Horse," John Williams

Best Original Song
"Man or Muppet," The Muppets; Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
"Real in Rio," Rio; Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown, Lyric by Siedah Garrett

Best Achievement in Art Direction
"The Artist"
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2"
"Hugo"
"Midnight in Paris"
"War Horse"

Best Achievement in Cinematography
"The Artist"
"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"
"Hugo"
"The Tree of Life"
"War Horse"

Best Achievement in Costume Design
"Anonymous"
"The Artist"
"Hugo"
"Jane Eyre"
"W.E."

Best Documentary Feature
"Hell and Back Again"
"If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front"
"Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory"
"Pina"
"Undefeated"

Best Documentary Short Subject
"The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement?"
"God Is the Bigger Elvis"
"Incident in New Baghdad"
"Saving Face"
"The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom"

Best Achievement in Film Editing
"The Artist"
"The Descendants"
"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"
"Hugo"
"Moneyball"

Best Achievement in Makeup
"Albert Nobbs"
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2"
"The Iron Lady"

Best Animated Short Film
Dimanche/Sunday
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
La Luna
A Morning Stroll
Wild Life

Best Live Action Short Film
"Pentecost"
"Raju"
"The Shore"
"Time Freak"
"Tuba Atlantic"

Best Achievement in Sound Editing
"Drive"
"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"
"Hugo"
"Transformers: Dark of the Moon"
"War Horse"

Best Achievement in Sound Mixing
"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"
"Hugo"
"Moneyball"
"Transformers: Dark of the Moon"
"War Horse"

Best Achievement in Visual Effects
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2"
"Hugo"
"Real Steel"
"Rise of the Planet of the Apes"
"Transformers: Dark of the Moon"

Neologisms: mathetic

2011-09-24T22:18:00.001-05:00

Pathetic at math.

Movies: My 2010 Oscar picks (11 of 24)

2011-02-28T06:14:00.000-06:00

Each year, my Oscar picks are more from intuition -- an editorial sense of quantitative buzz -- than actually seeing more than a handful of the nominees (or half again more this year). The shorts esp. are always total blind stabs -- though this year I got to see two-thirds of them after my picks but before the Awards. While the animated and live action shorts that won Oscars were my actual favorites, I didn't change my picks for shorts on principle because they were powerful films in their own way. Nevertheless, next year I expect to see more nominees and adjust certain picks as necessary right up to the ceremony.

To recap, I've seen 9 of the feature nominees this year (Alice in Wonderland, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, How to Train Your Dragon, Inception, Inside Job, The King's Speech, The Social Network, Toy Story 3, Tron: Legacy) and 10 of the shorts Animation and Live Action). My success rate for Oscar picks has been 15 out of 24 in 2005, 10 in 2006, 15 in 2007, 13 in 2008, 10 in 2009 -- and 11 in 2010.

(Underline is my pick though italic is a secondary pick for the likely winner if different. Bold is the actual winner.)

1. Best Picture: "Black Swan," "The Fighter," "Inception," "The Kids Are All Right," "The King's Speech," "127 Hours," "The Social Network," "Toy Story 3," "True Grit," "Winter's Bone."

2. Actor: Javier Bardem, "Biutiful"; Jeff Bridges, "True Grit"; Jesse Eisenberg, "The Social Network"; Colin Firth, "The King's Speech"; James Franco, "127 Hours."

3. Actress: Annette Bening, "The Kids Are All Right"; Nicole Kidman, "Rabbit Hole"; Jennifer Lawrence, "Winter's Bone"; Natalie Portman, "Black Swan"; Michelle Williams, "Blue Valentine."

4. Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, "The Fighter"; John Hawkes, "Winter's Bone"; Jeremy Renner, "The Town"; Mark Ruffalo, "The Kids Are All Right"; Geoffrey Rush, "The King's Speech."

5. Supporting Actress: Amy Adams, "The Fighter"; Helena Bonham Carter, "The King's Speech"; Melissa Leo, "The Fighter"; Hailee Steinfeld, "True Grit"; Jacki Weaver, "Animal Kingdom."

6. Directing: Darren Aronofsky, "Black Swan"; David O. Russell, "The Fighter"; Tom Hooper, "The King's Speech"; David Fincher, "The Social Network"; Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, "True Grit."

7. Foreign Language Film: "Biutiful," Mexico; "Dogtooth," Greece; "In a Better World," Denmark; "Incendies," Canada; "Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi)," Algeria.

8. Adapted Screenplay: Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy, "127 Hours"; Aaron Sorkin, "The Social Network"; Michael Arndt, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich, "Toy Story 3"; Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, "True Grit"; Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini, "Winter's Bone."

9. Original Screenplay: Mike Leigh, "Another Year"; Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson and Keith Dorrington, "The Fighter"; Christopher Nolan, "Inception"; Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg, "The Kids Are All Right"; David Seidler, "The King's Speech."

10. Animated Feature Film: "How to Train Your Dragon," "The Illusionist," "Toy Story 3."

11. Art Direction: "Alice in Wonderland," "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1," "Inception," "The King's Speech," "True Grit."

12. Cinematography: "Black Swan," "Inception," "The King's Speech," "The Social Network," "True Grit."

13. Sound Mixing: "Inception," "The King's Speech," "Salt," "The Social Network," "True Grit."

14. Sound Editing: "Inception," "Toy Story 3," "Tron: Legacy," "True Grit," "Unstoppable."

15. Original Score: "How to Train Your Dragon," John Powell; "Inception," Hans Zimmer; "The King's Speech," Alexandre Desplat; "127 Hours," A.R. Rahman; "The Social Network," Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.

16. Original Song: "Coming Home" from "Country Strong," Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey; "I See the Light" from "Tangled," Alan Menken and Glenn Slater; "If I Rise" from "127 Hours," A.R. Rahman, Dido and Rollo Armstrong; "We Belong Together" from "Toy Story 3," Randy Newman.

17. Costume: "Alice in Wonderland," "I Am Love," "The King's Speech," "The Tempest," "True Grit."

18. Documentary Feature: "Exit through the Gift Shop," "Gasland," "Inside Job," "Restrepo," "Waste Land."

19. Documentary (short): "Killing in the Name," "Poster Girl," "Strangers No More," "Sun Come Up," "The Warriors of Qiugang."

20. Film Editing: "Black Swan," "The Fighter," "The King's Speech," "127 Hours," "The Social Network."

21. Makeup: "Barney's Version," "The Way Back," "The Wolfman."

22. Animated Short Film: "Day and Night," "The Gruffalo," "Let's Pollute," "The Lost Thing," "Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)."

23. Live Action Short Film: "The Confession," "The Crush," "God of Love," "Na Wewe," "Wish 143."

24. Visual Effects: "Alice in Wonderland," "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1," "Hereafter," "Inception," "Iron Man 2."

Neologisms: Tamn! Tammit!

2011-02-25T22:10:00.001-06:00

Expletive for contaminated, impure.

Movies: My 2010 Oscar picks

2011-02-09T21:50:00.003-06:00

Every year, I envision seeing more movies in general and more Oscar nominees in particular -- and every year, more important things come first. Also every year, I generally know which films are my Oscar picks on the day of the nominations -- except for the ones that are a total stab in the dark -- yet I barely carve out time to post them before the Awards ceremony one month later. (Last year, I scrambled to post them during the five minutes right before the show began.) So this year, I'm taking time to post my 2010 season Oscar winner picks about two weeks early, posted as of now. (Underline is my pick though italic is the likely winner if different.) Despite having seen only eight of the nominees this year so far (Alice in Wonderland, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, How to Train Your Dragon, Inception, Inside Job, The King's Speech, The Social Network, Toy Story 3), it's more than the usual five (mostly family films). This year, I hope my success rate for picking the correct nominee in 24 awards categories turns out to be more than the average of 13 (15 in 2005, 10 in 2006, 15 in 2007, 13 in 2008, 10 in 2009).

P.S. While conventional wisdom says the winners this year appear to be extremely predictable, here is the logic I would apply even if The King's Speech and The Social Network were in every other way neck-and-neck: Which is the nobler premise -- a reluctant king finds the courage and voice to lead England at the brink of world war against Hitler and Stalin ... or a taciturn savant outsnarks classmates and designs a network where students can polish their social cred and get laid?

[2-25-11: I have since seen Oscar Shorts: Animation, Oscar Shorts: Live Action, and Tron: Legacy. I won't change my picks for shorts (or any other category) though I will italicize a few more likely winners (when different than my picks). Go Oscars!]

1. Best Picture: "Black Swan," "The Fighter," "Inception," "The Kids Are All Right," "The King's Speech," "127 Hours," "The Social Network," "Toy Story 3," "True Grit," "Winter's Bone."

2. Actor: Javier Bardem, "Biutiful"; Jeff Bridges, "True Grit"; Jesse Eisenberg, "The Social Network"; Colin Firth, "The King's Speech"; James Franco, "127 Hours."

3. Actress: Annette Bening, "The Kids Are All Right"; Nicole Kidman, "Rabbit Hole"; Jennifer Lawrence, "Winter's Bone"; Natalie Portman, "Black Swan"; Michelle Williams, "Blue Valentine."

4. Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, "The Fighter"; John Hawkes, "Winter's Bone"; Jeremy Renner, "The Town"; Mark Ruffalo, "The Kids Are All Right"; Geoffrey Rush, "The King's Speech."

5. Supporting Actress: Amy Adams, "The Fighter"; Helena Bonham Carter, "The King's Speech"; Melissa Leo, "The Fighter"; Hailee Steinfeld, "True Grit"; Jacki Weaver, "Animal Kingdom."

6. Directing: Darren Aronofsky, "Black Swan"; David O. Russell, "The Fighter"; Tom Hooper, "The King's Speech"; David Fincher, "The Social Network"; Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, "True Grit."

7. Foreign Language Film: "Biutiful," Mexico; "Dogtooth," Greece; "In a Better World," Denmark; "Incendies," Canada; "Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi)," Algeria.

8. Adapted Screenplay: Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy, "127 Hours"; Aaron Sorkin, "The Social Network"; Michael Arndt, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich, "Toy Story 3"; Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, "True Grit"; Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini, "Winter's Bone."

9. Original Screenplay: Mike Leigh, "Another Year"; Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson and Keith Dorrington, "The Fighter"; Christopher Nolan, "Inception"; Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg, "The Kids Are All Right"; David Seidler, "The King's Speech."

10. Animated Feature Film: "How to Train Your Dragon," "The Illusionist," "Toy Story 3."

11. Art Direction: "Alice in Wonderland," "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1," "Inception," "The King's Speech," "True Grit."

12. Cinematography: "Black Swan," "Inception," "The King's Speech," "The Social Network," "True Grit."

13. Sound Mixing: "Inception," "The King's Speech," "Salt," "The Social Network," "True Grit."

14. Sound Editing: "Inception," "Toy Story 3," "Tron: Legacy," "True Grit," "Unstoppable."

15. Original Score: "How to Train Your Dragon," John Powell; "Inception," Hans Zimmer; "The King's Speech," Alexandre Desplat; "127 Hours," A.R. Rahman; "The Social Network," Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.

16. Original Song: "Coming Home" from "Country Strong," Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey; "I See the Light" from "Tangled," Alan Menken and Glenn Slater; "If I Rise" from "127 Hours," A.R. Rahman, Dido and Rollo Armstrong; "We Belong Together" from "Toy Story 3," Randy Newman.

17. Costume: "Alice in Wonderland," "I Am Love," "The King's Speech," "The Tempest," "True Grit."

18. Documentary Feature: "Exit through the Gift Shop," "Gasland," "Inside Job," "Restrepo," "Waste Land."

19. Documentary (short): "Killing in the Name," "Poster Girl," "Strangers No More," "Sun Come Up," "The Warriors of Qiugang."

20. Film Editing: "Black Swan," "The Fighter," "The King's Speech," "127 Hours," "The Social Network."

21. Makeup: "Barney's Version," "The Way Back," "The Wolfman."

22. Animated Short Film: "Day and Night," "The Gruffalo," "Let's Pollute," "The Lost Thing," "Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)."

23. Live Action Short Film: "The Confession," "The Crush," "God of Love," "Na Wewe," "Wish 143."

24. Visual Effects: "Alice in Wonderland," "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1," "Hereafter," "Inception," "Iron Man 2."

Language: No-man's words

2011-02-09T20:30:00.000-06:00

"Chick words" that no "manly man" would ever let near his vocabulary:

cuticle
loofah
pamper
exfoliate

Netflix: Beyond the pale's pale

2010-03-20T09:55:00.001-05:00

Robowriter here. I am apoplectic, speechless, aghast -- though I knew by Netflix's actions (contrary to its words) that you have been prejudiced against your most active and loyal (and evangelical) customers for years. We have appreciated some measure of community features -- better a brain-dead list-making capability at Netflix than a brainstem-dead service like Blockbuster -- yet you've threatened, attempted, and now accomplished a frontal lobotomy (and you seem fine with that). I'm not being reactionary with my metaphors, just vivid.

Admit it: You have never wanted to maintain the community features in the first place or you would have invested competent and even sufficient talent. (Who in the world offers a list-making system that can't be sorted or at least alphabetized, requires individual deletions or else 2n+1 list items are lost, and returns "Successfully saved" messages for list saves that fail? Who in the world ignores documented bug reports from its most active and dedicated user base for years and dedicates no personnel to addressing such issues?)

The only reason why Netflix grew to critical mass and then to dominate the market was these community features and the evangelism that its most dedicated members have provided for a decade now -- at virtually no cost to you (mainly because you were too cheap to spend enough). Don't think that Netflix is a "build it and they will come" story -- it has been a "build it with just-better-than-mediocre community features and they will come and build quonset huts from the cobblestones and clearly differentiate us from the surrounding wasteland" story. And now that you have your burgeoning town, you want to rip down the community center just to make room for a bigger Wal-Mart?

Here are my complaints: 1) You shouldn't give value for 10 years and then take it away. 2) You shouldn't insult then dump your most loyal (evangelical, viral) customer base TO WHOM YOU OWE YOUR EXISTENCE. 3) You shouldn't claim resources are the problem when you are front-loaded with cash and customers. 4) You shouldn't lie, dissemble, or fail to apologize for same and you shouldn't show a [documented] pattern of doing so. 5) You shouldn't claim a poor design was underused when you never worked to improve the design. 6) You shouldn't be arrogant and intellectually dishonest by cloaking what you've wanted to do for years with rationalizations that don't match with reality.

I'm seeing a growing swell of your most active members replacing hundreds of their reviews with protest messages -- and your response is to completely do away with all reviews and community features? With other active "citizen members," I devised workarounds this past week that allow me to keep using the community features with a minimum of hassle -- so I chose not to protest and to try to continue in my "citizen member" tradition. But now Netflix is beyond the pale. You've not only thrown your first and your best customers under the bus but you're backing up over them too.

Apple used to have 2% of the market too. It was called "the rest of us." Look what a loyal, dedicated, and evangelical fan base can do -- for a company that proves worthy of such a fanbase with innovation and "cool factor." If Netflix strips itself of its "cool factor" and chooses to become another commodity -- then frankly I predict that cable companies like Comcast will co-opt it in the marketplace. You know that the pipeline and media companies already have their writing on the wall.

Netflix: Be "cool." Reward loyalty. Be more than a cookie-cutter commodity company -- or those who own the pipelines and the media rights will ultimately bury you. You heard it here.

Netflix: Delete our posts, will you?

2010-03-12T00:18:00.001-06:00

I'll tell you what frosts me: Not only does Netflix take away its own most valuable features -- that most distinguish it from the swill pit that is Blockbuster -- and replace them with a vapid cosmetic redesign ... but they DELETED the first 150 comments here (including my two carefully worded treatises on what Netflix members are now missing)! So not only do they want to lobotomize the system and dumb down the user experience but they want to whitewash it over so others do not know the score! Well as I said they are clearly and systematically conducting a campaign against those members who have for years brought great depth and breadth to the Netflix user experience. Without the best-written member reviews and lists, what do you have? Roger Ebert reviews and Netflix's idiotic movies-of-interest algorithms (where Blue's Clues suggests Witch Trials of Salem and blanket-marking all wrestling films as Not Interested gets you multiple suggestions for wrestling titles). Go figure!

Movies: My 2009 Oscar picks are 10 of 24

2010-03-08T00:18:00.000-06:00

Owing to a heavy schedule, I took just 5 minutes to make my rapid-fire gut calls for the 2009 season Oscar winners below (bold is my pick though bold italic is the likely winner), posted at 5 p.m. Despite having seen only 5 of the nominees (Avatar, Bright Star, Coraline, Star Trek, Up in the Air) so far, my success rate for picking the correct nominee (underlined is the actual winner) turned out to be 10 out of 24.

Best Picture: Avatar, The Blind Side, District 9, An Education, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, A Serious Man, Up, Up in the Air.
Best Actor: Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart; George Clooney, Up in the Air; Colin Firth, A Single Man; Morgan Freeman, Invictus; Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker.
Best Actress: Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side; Helen Mirren, The Last Station; Carey Mulligan, An Education; Gabourey Sidibe, Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire; Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia.
Best Supporting Actor: Matt Damon, Invictus; Woody Harrelson, The Messenger; Christopher Plummer, The Last Station; Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones; Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds.
Best Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz, Nine; Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air; Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart; Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air; Mo’Nique, Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire.
Best Director: James Cameron, Avatar; Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker; Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds; Lee Daniels, Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire; Jason Reitman, Up in the Air.
Best Foreign Language Film: Ajami, Israel; El Secreto de Sus Ojos, Argentina; The Milk of Sorrow, Peru; Un Prophete, France; The White Ribbon, Germany.
Best Adapted Screenplay: Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell, District 9; Nick Hornby, An Education; Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche, In the Loop; Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire; Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air.
Best Original Screenplay: Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker; Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds; Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman, The Messenger; Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, A Serious Man; Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Tom McCarthy, Up.
Best Animated Feature Film: Coraline; Fantastic Mr. Fox; The Princess and the Frog; The Secret of Kells; Up.
Best Art Direction: Avatar, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Nine, Sherlock Holmes, The Young Victoria.
Best Cinematography: Avatar, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, The White Ribbon.
Best Sound Mixing: Avatar, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Star Trek, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
Best Sound Editing: Avatar, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Star Trek, Up.
Best Original Score: Avatar, James Horner; Fantastic Mr. Fox, Alexandre Desplat; The Hurt Locker, Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders; Sherlock Holmes, Hans Zimmer; Up, Michael Giacchino.
Best Original Song: Almost There from The Princess and the Frog, Randy Newman; Down in New Orleans from The Princess and the Frog, Randy Newman; Loin de Paname from Paris 36, Reinhardt Wagner and Frank Thomas; Take It All from Nine, Maury Yeston; The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart) from Crazy Heart, Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett.
Best Costume: Bright Star, Coco Before Chanel, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Nine, The Young Victoria.
Best Documentary Feature: Burma VJ, The Cove, Food, Inc., The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, Which Way Home.
Best Documentary Short: China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province, The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner, The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant, Music by Prudence, Rabbit a la Berlin.
Best Film Editing: Avatar, District 9, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire.
Best Makeup: Il Divo, Star Trek, The Young Victoria. [I forgot Star Trek had aliens besides Mr. Spock.]
Best Animated Short Film: French Roast, Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty, The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte), Logorama, A Matter of Loaf and Death.
Best Live Action Short Film: The Door, Instead of Abracadabra, Kavi, Miracle Fish, The New Tenants.
Best Visual Effects: Avatar, District 9, Star Trek.

Movies: My 2009 Oscar picks

2010-03-07T17:01:00.001-06:00

I've been really pressed under project deadlines so here are my rapid-fire gut calls for this year's Oscar winners (bold is my pick, bold italic is the likely winner):

Best Picture: Avatar, The Blind Side, District 9, An Education, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Precious: Based on the Novel ’Push’ by Sapphire, A Serious Man, Up, Up in the Air.
Best Actor: Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart; George Clooney, Up in the Air; Colin Firth, A Single Man; Morgan Freeman, Invictus; Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker.
Best Actress: Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side; Helen Mirren, The Last Station; Carey Mulligan, An Education; Gabourey Sidibe, Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire; Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia.
Best Supporting Actor: Matt Damon, Invictus; Woody Harrelson, The Messenger; Christopher Plummer, The Last Station; Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones; Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds.
Best Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz, Nine; Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air; Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart; Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air; Mo’Nique, Precious: Based on the Novel ’Push’ by Sapphire.
Best Director: James Cameron, Avatar; Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker; Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds; Lee Daniels, Precious: Based on the Novel ’Push’ by Sapphire; Jason Reitman, Up in the Air.
Best Foreign Language Film: Ajami, Israel; El Secreto de Sus Ojos, Argentina; The Milk of Sorrow, Peru; Un Prophete, France; The White Ribbon, Germany.
Best Adapted Screenplay: Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell, District 9; Nick Hornby, An Education; Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche, In the Loop; Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious: Based on the Novel ’Push’ by Sapphire; Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air.
Best Original Screenplay: Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker; Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds; Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman, The Messenger; Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, A Serious Man; Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Tom McCarthy, Up.
Best Animated Feature Film: Coraline; Fantastic Mr. Fox; The Princess and the Frog; The Secret of Kells; Up.
Best Art Direction: Avatar, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Nine, Sherlock Holmes, The Young Victoria.
Best Cinematography: Avatar, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, The White Ribbon.
Best Sound Mixing: Avatar, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Star Trek, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
Best Sound Editing: Avatar, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Star Trek, Up.
Best Original Score: Avatar, James Horner; Fantastic Mr. Fox, Alexandre Desplat; The Hurt Locker, Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders; Sherlock Holmes, Hans Zimmer; Up, Michael Giacchino.
Best Original Song: Almost There from The Princess and the Frog, Randy Newman; Down in New Orleans from The Princess and the Frog, Randy Newman; Loin de Paname from Paris 36, Reinhardt Wagner and Frank Thomas; Take It All from Nine, Maury Yeston; The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart) from Crazy Heart, Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett.
Best Costume: Bright Star, Coco Before Chanel, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Nine, The Young Victoria.
Best Documentary Feature: Burma VJ, The Cove, Food, Inc. The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, Which Way Home.
Best Documentary (short subject): China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province, The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner, The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant, Music by Prudence, Rabbit a la Berlin.
Best Film Editing: Avatar, District 9, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Precious: Based on the Novel ’Push’ by Sapphire.
Best Makeup: Il Divo, Star Trek, The Young Victoria.
Best Animated Short Film: French Roast, Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty, The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte), Logorama, A Matter of Loaf and Death.
Best Live Action Short Film: The Door, Instead of Abracadabra, Kavi, Miracle Fish, The New Tenants.
Best Visual Effects: Avatar, District 9, Star Trek.

Netflix: Correction, Netflix contravenes its most active members

2010-03-05T08:30:00.004-06:00

I realize I frequently use verbal shorthand that conflates or implies a bunch of reasons beneath one word or phrase so let me explain why I said Netflix "hates" those who use the community features:

1) Netflix point-blank announced it would eliminate multiple profiles, limiting every account to one (thus requiring families and individuals who have 2-5 profiles to purchase that many separate accounts or do without) until users' hue and cry caused them to recant

2) Despite hundreds of millions in revenues, Netflix has failed to upgrade its infrastructure to support the use of community features, causing system performance to slow to a crawl or time out in system errors for a vast majority of the time (even on fast systems), wasting countless hours of time for its most active users

3) Netflix has again tried to do away with community features by eliminating list access on the movie pages, greatly handicapping facility and access to lists in general, and so hiding and handicapping access to Friends that it couldn't be worse unless Friends were completely eliminated, and (of course the biggie)

4) Netflix sees its most active users as a drain on its profits because we watch more movies (hence the court decision that affirmed the sin of throttling, which Netflix admitted and atoned for in part with a legal settlement) instead of a net gain in revenues because of the loyalty and goodwill engendered by the many hundreds of its most active members.

So is "hate" too strong a term? Let's see:

1) Netflix intended to lobotomize multiple profiles until members objected

2) Netflix is effectively starving members who use community features (or any features beyond viewing a movie page or queue or adding to a queue)

3) Netflix has performed cosmetic surgery so as to all but cut off use of the community features

4) Netflix has worked intentionally since its founding to dilute the movie-watching, reviewing, and community participation of its most active and creative members.

(In its defense, I'm sure it's been no picnic for Netflix to deal with the sniping and spoiler wars of its most negative members, the "haters.")

So sure, "hate" is too strong a term, esp. since Netflix doesn't sink to rampant profanity. Let's just say "strong negative orientation and active policy of disentitlement or, if possible, elimination." Better?

Netflix: Netflix hates its most active members

2010-03-05T08:29:00.002-06:00

Robowriter here. Sure, under the new fluffy airhead design I can still get to Friends by the tiny link at the bottom of the page (hm, all but hidden away like New Releases under the tiny RSS link) but it requires many more steps and is so time-consuming as to be useless. (The system has already been so slow that my extremely fast machine has not been able to call up my Notebook page for 13 months now.) Sure, I can pound a nail in with my thumb -- but why would I?

What really fries me though is the loss of the Top 10 lists on the movie page plus the link to add a movie to my lists (and esp. to see what lists it's already on). I cannot tell you how convoluted listmaking has now become. It was a tedious labor of love before but now it's four times as much tedium. I'm pretty sure I cannot continue listmaking at this pace.

I've always told everyone "Netflix rocks!" Now I can no longer say that. Why? Netflix clearly hates its most active and supportive members who give their time and enthusiasm to promoting Netflix and its movies to others. Netflix clearly hates its community features, repeatedly tries to get rid of them, and therefore its most loyal customers.

I don't mind the airy design per se. Just don't take away useful features! Removing value only alienates your customers, Netflix. Bring back the Friends tab and the Top 10 lists!