MOVIE OF THE WEEK: The Man Who Copied

"The Man Who Copied" is a delightful little film from Brazil. It has such character and style to it. I was very impressed with the story. It captures the perfect balance of quirkiness and honesty that many indie films aspire to, but ultimately fail to accomplish.

OSCAR WATCH: SAG Awards

Wow, that was a dull awards show. The precursor season is almost complete now, with the SAG awards hosting their ceremony earlier tonight. It was a huge night for "The Help", winning 3 awards including the big one - Best Ensemble(pictured above). Will they pose a threat to "The Artist" come Oscar time? Only time will tell. Apart from that, the only upset was Jean Dujardin beating Clooney for Best Actor. I only predicted 3 correctly (pretty appalling considering there were only 5 categories!) Here are tonight's winners:

Ensemble (equivalent to the Best Picture Award)
The Help

Actor
Jean Dujardin, The Artist

Actress
Viola Davis, The Help

Supporting Actor
Christopher Plummer, Beginners

Supporting Actress
Octavia Spencer, The Help

OSCAR WATCH: SAG Predictions

Tommorrow night, the acting frontrunners will try to keep up their momentum as the Screen Actors Guild holds their awards ceremony at 8pm ET. I usually have trouble with the Best Ensemble category, as you never know if they'll actually reward a great cast or just select the movie they loved the most. Everyone's saying "The Help", but I'm sticking with "The Artist".

Ensemble (equivalent to the Best Picture Award)
The Artist

Actor
George Clooney, The Descendants

Actress
Viola Davis, The Help

Supporting Actor
Christopher Plummer, Beginners

Supporting Actress
Octavia Spencer, The Help

Taxi Driver remake!

Have you ever thought of remaking "Taxi Driver"? Well, go over to the LAMB (Large Association of Movie Blogs) and choose your favourite cast from the fine list of submissions (one of them is mine!). Just click here: http://largeassmovieblogs.blogspot.com/2012/01/lamb-casting-taxi-driver-voting-time.html

OLDIE GOLDIES: Pillow Talk (1959)

This week’s choice for Oldie Goldies is the classic romantic comedy – “Pillow Talk”. With playful 50’s charm and great performances by the leads (Doris Day and Rock Hudson), this film is irresistible. The film scored 5 Oscar nominations – Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Art Direction, Best Score and Best Original Screenplay (which it won).

OSCAR WATCH: Oscar Nominations

Whoa, that was shocking. I'm sure a lot of people were "blindsided" with those nominations. Who saw "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" coming? Almost all the categories had major surprises. I was pleasantly surprised and thrilled for Demian Bichir, Margin Call (Original Screenplay) and A Separation (Original Screenplay!!) though. The Original Song category is an embarrassing mess (only 2 nominees). Here is the full list of nominees:

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

Best Director
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Alexander Payne, The Descendants
Martin Scorsese, Hugo
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
Terrence Malick, 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
Viola Davis, The Help
Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
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
Bérénice Bejo, The Artist
Jessica Chastain, The Help
Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids
Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer, The Help

OSCAR WATCH: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

With the Oscar nominations only an hour away, here are my last minute thoughts on another big contender - "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo":

In "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo", David Fincher goes back to his comfort zone, meticulously crafting this dark thriller. This is trademark Fincher - dark and unflinching. It is technically superb, blending it's great score and cinematography to capture the dark tone of the book. The masterful editing gives the film perfect pacing and makes up for the less than perfect source material. As the title suggests, this film relies heavily on the character of Lisbeth Salander, wonderfully depicted by Rooney Mara. She fully transforms herself into the role and makes it her own. This film picked up some late buzz and I expect it to be in a good position for Oscar nominations across the board. It's looking very likely that the film will show up in Best Picture, Best Director, Best Editing and Best Original Score. If they really dig the film, Mara could sneak into Best Actress, but there doesn't seem to be much wiggle room in that category. Another strong possibility is Best Cinematography. Tune in to the Oscar nominations announcement at 8:30am ET to find out this film's fate.

OSCAR WATCH: The Animated Films

Animated Feature is a fairly easy category to predict at the Oscars. Usually, there is one film that everyone rallies around and it sweeps all the awards. For the 2009 awards season, I was flabbergasted by the critical acclaim for "Up" (overrated, imho), which even landed it in the Best Picture lineup. As a result, I set out to go through the other top contenders in the animated field, to see what all the fuss was about. My favourite of the bunch turned out to be "Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs", which failed to get the Oscar nod. This year, the first animated film I watched was the frontrunner "Rango" and once again I was left underwhelmed. So once again, I decided to check out what its competitors were offering.

MOVIE OF THE WEEK: Salaam Bombay!

"Salaam Bombay!" is a true classic of Indian cinema. You can somewhat compare it to Oscar winner “Slumdog Millionaire”, but this is a different beast altogether. Unlike "Slumdog Millionaire" with it’s eye-catching cinematography, hip soundtrack and ridiculously cute kids, this film is stripped bare. Director Mira Nair focuses on telling the story, using plain-looking actors (there’s no Freida Pinto in this cast!) and simple 80’s instrumental background music. The film maintains a somber tone (no song-and-dance routines!), which makes it initially difficult for the viewer to get into the film. As the story unfold however, the film really starts to reveal its brilliance.

OSCAR WATCH: The Documentary Features

The documentary feature category is one that I always catch up with way after the fact. Earlier in the season, the academy released a shortlist of eligible films for Tuesday's nominations. Here they are:

Battle for Brooklyn
Bill Cunningham, New York
Buck
Hell and Back Again
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
Jane's Journey
The Loving Story
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Pina
Project Nim
Semper Fi: Always Faithful
Sing Your Song
Undefeated
Under Fire: Journalists in Combat
We Were Here

OSCAR WATCH: The Artist

"The Artist" is a charming film that shines on the clever instincts of director Michel Hazanavicius. In recreating the magic of classic cinema, "The Artist" practically defies any serious criticism. The film manages to be completely unoriginal (basically remaking films like "Singin’ in the Rain" and "A Star Is Born") and original (a black and white silent film among all the overproduced blockbusters today). The music is lovely and the cinematography is a great showcase of effective use of lighting. Jead Dujardin is the star of the show, giving a really captivating performance. His succeeds in quite a difficult task, as silent acting requires very expressive acting technique for it to work. I must admit, my interest waned at certain points, as it’s difficult to keep engaged when you are trained to hearing audible dialogue. However, these instances were soon followed by moments of sheer brilliance that put a big smile on my face.
It’s easy to see why this film is destined for Oscar glory. I’m predicting this film to get at least 9 nominations – Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Original Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design and Best Original Score. Berenice Bejo will likely be carried along in the coattails of the film’s success and earn a nod for Best Supporting Actress as well (though it’s arguably a lead performance). It may not have convinced me to ditch the "talkies", but "The Artist" is a delight.

Best Actress contenders turn up the heat!

For the February issue of GQ, Michelle Williams stripped down to show a completely different side to her personality (see above). Now, W Magazine has also released photos from its February issue highlighting the top performances of 2011 (again featuring Michelle Williams). It features some stunning pics of some of the Best Actress and Supporting Actress contenders (and some men too, but who wants to see those?). Anyone who follows the Oscars knows that Best Actress usually goes to the hot young ingenue, so these girls are definitely playing their cards right! Who knew Aibileen (Viola Davis) was hiding all that sexy under her maid's uniform! Here are some of those hot photos:

OSCAR WATCH: The Descendants

Alexander Payne’s “The Descendants” is a heartbreakingly intimate family drama. In his 6th feature film, Payne once again brings sincere humanity to his characters. These characters are brought to life by a wonderful ensemble cast, lead by George Clooney. They deliver the dialogue of this great screenplay with naturalistic panache (even when the kids are cursing like sailors). The only issue I have is with the editing, as I thought there was a lot of “dead air” throughout the film. This minor weakness however, does not take away from overall high quality of the other aspects of the production. Come Tuesday January 24th, you can expect this film to be called out in the major categories for Oscar nominations. Based on the precursor awards, the film is the main challenger to "The Artist" for Best Picture and Clooney is the prime contender for victory in Best Actor. Additionally, the film is a frontrunner for Best Adapted Screenplay and will surely be nominated for Best Director. Shailene Woodley is also a strong possibility for a nod in Best Supporting Actress.

OLDIE GOLDIES: Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939)

This week’s choice for Oldie Goldies is Frank Capra’s political drama – "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington". In this inspiring tale, James Stewart is perfectly cast as the idealistic senator who learns the harsh truth about politics. His performance earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Actor, as the film earned a total of 11 nominations (Best, Actor, Best Art Direction, Best Director, Best Editing, Best Score, Best Picture, Best Sound, Best Original Story, Best Screenplay and 2 Supporting Actor nods). Of these nominations, the film deservedly won for Best Original Story.

OSCAR WATCH: The Foreign Films

The shortlist of 9 films vying for Oscar's Foreign Language film nominations has just been announced. I wish I could watch all of them, as international cinema always hides some real gems. "A Separation" is still in the running and should have no problem advancing and ultimately claiming the statue. Pina is also still alive, making it a strong candidate for double nominations (Foreign Language and Documentary Feature). Here are the 9 shortlisted films:

Bullhead
Monsieur Lazhar
Superclásico
Pina
A Separation
Footnote
Omar Killed Me
In Darkness
Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale

Surprise Snubs:
- Where Do We Go Now? (People's Choice Award winner, Toronto International Film Festival)
- Le Havre

OSCAR WATCH: BAFTA Nominations

The BAFTA Film Award nominations were announced bright and early this morning, the last major nominations before "The Big One". Usually they fall in line with Oscar, but they are definitely independent thinkers and really choose who they think is best, which I like.

Best Picture
The Artist
The Descendants
Drive
The Help
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Best British Film
My Week With Marilyn
Senna
Shame
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
We Need To Talk About Kevin

Best Actor
Brad Pitt, Moneyball
Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
George Clooney, The Descendants
Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Michael Fassbender, Shame

Best Actress
Berenice Bejo, The Artist
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn
Tilda Swinton, We Need To Talk About Kevin
Viola Davis, The Help

Best Supporting Actor
Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Jim Broadbent, The Iron Lady
Jonah Hill, Moneyball
Kenneth Branagh, My Week With Marilyn
Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Ides of March

Best Supporting Actress
Carey Mulligan, Drive
Jessica Chastain, The Help
Judi Dench, My Week With Marilyn
Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids
Octavia Spencer, The Help

Director
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Nicolas Winding Refn, Drive
Martin Scorcese, Hugo
Tomas Alfredson, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Lynne Ramsay, We Need To Talk About Kevin

MOVIE OF THE WEEK: Elite Squad: The Enemy Within

"Elite Squad: The Enemy Within" is a an all-guns blazing, high-octane thriller that maintains its intensity from start to finish. In this sequel (a rare improvement on the original), director José Padilha gives a brutally honest depiction of the far-reaching corruption involved in the fight against drugs and crime in Brazil. It definitely isn’t for the faint of heart. For this installment, the film benefits from much-improved storytelling, resulting in a truly engrossing experience. If you can handle the bleak images, I’m sure you will be on the edge of your seat.

OSCAR WATCH: Golden Globe Awards

When I was predicting the Critics Choice awards on Wednesday, I said that we would have a consensus by now. Yes, The Artist is still the film to beat but it's seems to be strangely lacking those important "coattail" wins in the other categories (specifically Director and Screenplay). Based on my predictions (I correctly guessed 10 out of 14), there seemed to be some upsets. In retrospect, I should have remembered that the HFPA really do worship the stars. So despite losses on Thursday, the wins by Meryl Streep (Best Actress), Martin Scorcese (Best Director), Madonna(Original Song) and Steven Spielberg(Animated Feature) actually weren't that shocking. From the major categories - Christopher Plummer(Supporting Actor), George Clooney (Actor), Octavia Spencer (Supporting Actress) and Woody Allen (Best Original Screenplay) seem well on their way to Oscar glory. Best Director and Best Actress looks like a photo finish to me. Here is the full list of winners:

Best Picture (Drama)
The Descendants

Best Picture (Musical/Comedy)
The Artist (pictured above)


Best Actor (Drama)
George Clooney, The Descendants


Best Actor (Musical/Comedy)
Jean Dujardin, The Artist

Best Actress (Drama)
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady

Best Actress (Musical/Comedy)
Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn

Best Supporting Actor
Christopher Plummer, Beginners

Best Supporting Actress
Octavia Spencer, The Help

Best Director
Martin Scorsese, Hugo

OSCAR WATCH: Golden Globe Predictions

Whoops! Almost forget to post my predictions for the Golden Globes tonight. I fully expect a lot of Thursday's Critics Choice winners to repeat, so here it goes:

Best Picture (Drama)
The Descendants

Best Picture (Musical/Comedy)
The Artist


Best Actor (Drama)
George Clooney, The Descendants


Best Actor (Musical/Comedy)
Jean Dujardin, The Artist

Best Actress (Drama)
Viola Davis, The Help

Best Actress (Musical/Comedy)
Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn

Best Supporting Actor
Christopher Plummer, Beginners

Best Supporting Actress
Octavia Spencer, The Help

Best Director
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist

A ROTTEN TOMATO: Star Wars: Episode III

Ugh, I almost couldn't get through this whole film. I was turned off by the gaudy sets, corny script and bad acting. The dramatic scenes between Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman were cringe-worthy. Even Ewan McGregor and Samuel L. Jackson seemed uncomfortable. Can you blame them?

OSCAR WATCH: Critics Choice Awards

After a somewhat lukewarm show, the winners of the Critics Choice Awards have given us an idea of the current standings of the various categories. For the past few seasons that I've been blogging, these awards seem to have a domino effect. I think it will be the same scenario this year. The Artist is indeed the frontrunner, but a few of the important categories sprung some interesting surprises (like Moneyball and Midnight in Paris winning the screenplay awards). The film won a total of 4 awards - Best Picture(pictured above), Best Director, Best Costume Design and Best Score. The highlight of the night was Viola Davis' killer speech, which will serve her well for future recognition. My predictions weren't great this year. I correctly predicted 13 out of 24. Here is the full rundown of winners:

Best Picture
The Artist

Best Actor
George Clooney, The Descendants

Best Actress
Viola Davis, The Help

Best Supporting Actor
Christopher Plummer, Beginners

Best Supporting Actress
Octavia Spencer, The Help

Best Director
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist

OSCAR WATCH: Critics Choice Predictions

It's time! The awards season really heats up tomorrow with the first televised awards show - the Critics Choice Awards. This season has been really unpredictable so far (especially in the acting categories) which has made for an exciting race. Of course, we could already arrive at a fair consensus after this weekend, since the Golden Globes are set for Sunday Jan 15th. For now, I can only rely on my gut feeling. Here are my predictions for the 17th Annual Critics Choice Movie Awards. Tune in to VH1 at 8pm to see if I'm right!

Best Picture
The Artist

Best Actor
Brad Pitt, Moneyball

Best Actress
Viola Davis, The Help

Best Supporting Actor
Christopher Plummer, Beginners

Best Supporting Actress
Octavia Spencer, The Help

Best Director
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist

OLDIE GOLDIES: The Three Faces Of Eve (1957)

Joanne Woodward receives her Best Actress Oscar

Here's another edition of Oldie Goldies, with this week feature - "The Three Faces of Eve". This film is a great character study spearheaded by a tour-de-force performance by Joanne Woodward in the title role (or should I say "roles"!). For her efforts, she was awarded the Best Actress prize at the Oscars for the year 1957.

OSCAR WATCH: War Horse

There were high expectations for this film, but unfortunately the final product was slightly disappointing for me. "War Horse" had the potential to be truly special, but in the hands of Spielberg it came across a bit too saccharine and manipulative. I find it hard to hate the film though, as it has such good intentions. Amidst the sentimentality, there really were some riveting scenes. The ones that really gave me the most delight were the ones including Joey, the title character. He really is the star of the film.
As with any Spielberg film, it is well produced and should pick up a few Oscar nominations in the technical categories. John Williams’ music was quite memorable and should easily earn a Best Original Score nomination. For me, it was the best aspect of the film. In addition , the photography (despite being a bit over-saturated at times) was gorgeous to look at, so it should also be a lock for a Best Cinematography nod. Sound Mixing seems to very likely as well. According to the precursours, the film seems a bit shaky in the other categories though. However, I still expect it to slip into Best Picture and maybe even Best Director. The actors are all fine, but I don’t expect anything in the acting categories. Joey really is best in show. Overall, this is a pleasant film. It’s not great, but it’s far from bad. If for no other reason, just watch it for that “miraculous kind of a horse”.

MOVIE OF THE WEEK: A Separation

Believe the hype. "A Separation" is absolutely brilliant. I would even call it a masterpiece. The remarkable screenplay really cuts deep, with an intriguing plot and well-written characters. As the events unfolded, I just couldn’t take my eyes away from the screen. I must single out the writer/director Asghar Farhadi for not allowing the film to be judgmental about any of the characters. In fact, I empathized with every one of them. As the drama escalates, it’s really impossible to choose sides. Kudos to the greatly humanizing work of the cast, where even the smallest roles are an important piece to the puzzle. For the 2011 film year, you’re not gonna see a better written film than this. It makes everything else look amateurish in comparison. If you get the opportunity to watch this film, take it!

OLDIE GOLDIES: Singin' In The Rain (1952)

This week's feature on Oldie Goldies is the classic musical - "Singin' In The Rain". This film really set the gold standard for musicals with a great script, amazing singing and dancing and a charismatic cast (especially Gene Kelly, who is the epitome of smooth). Surprisingly, the film was only nominated for 2 Oscars - Best Supporting Actress and Best Original Score.

OSCAR WATCH: The Shorts

As an Oscar watcher, everyone knows that the difference between winning and losing your Oscar pool is the shorts. These are the categories where pretty much nobody has seen any of the films (except for those Pixar ones that screen before their films). The shortlists for the 3 short film categories have been announced and as usual, some of them look really interesting. Unfortunately, there is no way for the average person to check them out. Here are the shortlists:

MOVIE OF THE WEEK: A Better Life

"A Better Life" is a beautiful film. It broke my heart about 4 times. Demián Bichir and José Julián had amazing chemistry together. I felt like there was so much love pouring out from the screen. Chris Weitz really knows how to capture that relationship between boys and their fathers/father figures.