Winter Movie Preview: December

December 2

Limited Release:

• Ralph Fiennes steps behind the camera for the first time with the modern-day Shakespeare adaptation Coriolanus. In the film, Fiennes also takes the leading role as a ruthless Roman general, joining a cast that includes Gerard Butler, Vanessa Redgrave, and Jessica Chastain. It’s worth nothing that this is Butler’s second Serious Film of the year, and while this movie and Machine Gun Preacher both look pretty dry to me, they also seem to be his most complex roles, like…ever.
  
• One of the winter’s most unexpectedly anticipated films (in film buff circles, anyways) is Shame. The film stars Michael Fassbender as a sex-addicted man whose younger sister (Carey Mulligan) comes to stay with him. It’s Fassbender’s second collaboration with director Steve McQueen (their previous film, 2008′s Hunger, was a critical favourite that helped to put Fassbender on the map) and he’s already earned glowing reviews from the festival circuit for his performance. The film’s intense subject garnered an NC-17 rating, but if anything, that only seems to be building interest in the film. Oscar buzz has remained steady for Fassbender, but only time will tell if this racy film can pick up any traction with notoriously stuffy Oscar voters.
  
• One film that flew under the radar this year, despite playing several film festivals, is the seemingly strange and subversive art film Sleeping Beauty. The film stars Emily Browning (Sucker Punch) as a young woman drawn into some kind of surreal world of prostitution. Reviews have been iffy so far, but if you like slow-burning, arty dramas, then this may be one to check out.
  

December 9

Wide Release:

• If you’ve ever wanted to see Robert DeNiro and Lea Michele in the same movie, then be sure to check out New Year’s Eve! Director Gary Marshall is rehashing the concept of last year’s Valentine’s Day (a film that is only barely worth watching for the Julia Roberts/Bradley Cooper segments) for another seasonal multi-storyline rom-com.
• Remember when David Gordon Green made films like All the Real Girls and Snow Angels? Well, those days are apparently gone, because now we’re getting Green’s third consecutive R-rated comedy with The Sitter. Jonah Hill stars in what appears to be a gender-swapped remake of Adventures in Babysitting, and the trailer promises all kind of hilarious hi-jinks. Plus side: Sam Rockwell!
• Boasting one of the strongest casts of the year, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy finally hits theatres in North America this December. Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Benedict Cumberbatch, Mark Strong, and John Hurt all star in this Cold War thriller based on the 1974 John Le Carre novel. The trailer paints it as a taught, thoughtful, and stylish thriller, and movies don’t get much better than that.

Limited Release:

• I Melt With You initially sounded like a typical, earnest indie film about four friends (in this case, Rob Lowe, Jeremy Piven, Christian McKay, and Thomas Jane) who reunite during middle age, but after watching the trailer, it looks kind of crazy. Much darker (and much more drug-addled) than I expected. It got very mixed reviews at Sundance, but I am definitely intrigued about this one now.
  
• There was a period of about two months when people online were excited about the Madonna-directed W.E. Then it played at TIFF to notably poor reviews, and all buzz died immediately. However, Abbie Cornish is a great actress (if you haven’t seen Bright Star, please remedy that) and Andrea Riseborough has shown promise (Made in Dagenham, Never Let Me Go, Brighton Rock), so I’m still mildly interested in this one.
  
• We Need to Talk About Kevin hit big at the festivals earlier this year, and Tilda Swinton earned raves as a mother raising a rather…difficult…son. This movie looks gruelling and often downright hard to watch, but it’s also bound to feature some great acting from Swinton. Up-and-comer Ezra Miller also looks suitably creepy as the disturbed Kevin.
  
• Jason Reitman has a pretty great track record for such a short career (Thank You For Smoking, Juno, Up in the Air), and looks like he’s hit again with Young Adult. The film stars Charlize Theron as a self-obsessed woman who returns to her hometown to win back an old flame (Patrick Wilson), and the trailer makes it look like typical Reitman fare – funny, honest, and surprisingly warm. (Expands Dec. 16)
  

December 16

Wide Release:

• If you enjoed the first two CGI Alvin and the Chipmunks movies, you should probably check out Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked.
• Tom Cruise may be getting old, but that doesn’t stop him from still kicking ass. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol looks like potentially fun popcorn fare, and it also happens to be the first live-action film from director Brad Bird (The Incredibles, Ratatouille). I also like the supporting cast quite a bit, which includes Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Paula Patton, and Lost‘s Josh Holloway.
• Continuing with the week of sequels, we’ve got the unnecessary Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. Repartee between Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law is fun (and I really did think that Law was great in the first film), but do we need another two hours of it? The trailer makes it look pretty identical to the first one, and it wasn’t even that great of a film the first time.

Limited Release:

• Roman Polanski may be a controversial guy, but he knows how to make some pretty great actors agree to work with him. In Carnage,
  Kate Winslet, Jodie Foster, John C. Reilly, and Christoph Waltz play two set of parents attempting to have a civil discussion about a schoolyard incident involving their children, and tempers inevitably flare. The movie is based on a play, and judging by the trailer, that’s not hard to believe. Its appeal will be limited, but Carnage looks like an impressive acting showcase.
• Luc Besson’s The Lady (Dec. 12) didn’t receive great reviews at the festivals, but it avoided the spring dumping ground fate and instead got a proper Oscar run release. It stars Michelle Yeoh and David Thewlis as lovers in a politically tumultuous time.

December 21

Wide Release:

• You can expect to see a lot of literary adaptations, Steven Spielberg, and Daniel Craig this holiday week at the movies, and The Adventures of Tintin combines all three. This animated flick is of course based on the popular children’s comic book series, and if nothing else, it should be nice to look at. The fact that Edgar Wright is a screenwriter on the project also inspires some hope.
• Expectations are high for David Fincher’s adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and if the trailers are any indication, audiences are in store for a taught, stylish, and gritty thriller. Daniel Craig seems like the perfect choice for the steely Michael Blomkvist, and Rooney Mara is certainly striking as hacker Lisbeth Salander. My most anticipated film for the rest of the year.

December 23

Wide Release:

• Cameron Crowe’s last film, 2005′s Elizabethtown, was met with a very mixed response (I personally thought it was okay), and now he’s trying to redeem himself with the family-friendly We Bought a Zoo. Matt Damon stars as a man who ends up moving his family to a zoo, and while the film looks to on the sappy side, it also looks like a life-affirming, uplifting holiday movie. And that’s not a bad thing.

Limited Release:

• If Angelina Jolie wasn’t the director, I feel In the Land of Blood and Honey would get a tiny release. But since it does have the power of Jolie backing it, the film is starting as a limited release, but hoping to gain a wide release in early 2012. The film, which focuses on the Bosnian war, is described as a love story, but I imagine it will still prove to be a challenging film for many viewers (it certainly won’t be your typical holiday movie…)

December 25

Wide Release:

• Emile Hirsch has been strangely absent from cinemas for a couple years, so I’m happy to see him in anything (and Olivia Thirlby in a big movie). The Darkest Hour looks like it could potentially be interesting, though I can’t tell if they’re just bluffing with the “cerebral” element of how the aliens function. It’ll probably be a pretty standard alien invasion movie, but when done well, that can be effective (I still unabashedly defend Cloverfield).
• I’ll admit it: I’m so not interested in War Horse. The trailers just look sooo schmaltzy (yes, even more than We Bought a Zoo). But I know a lot of people love horses, so maybe I’m just missing something. But nonetheless, War Horse is directed by Steven Spielberg, and it looks beautiful, in terms of cinematography. It’s based on acclaimed play, too, so the screenplay should be decent.

Limited Release:

• Speaking of schmaltz, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close also opens on Christmas (it will go wide in January). You can’t argue with the cast, though, which includes Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, Max Von Sydow, Viola David, and Jeffrey Wright. I can’t decide if I like Stephen Daldry as a director or not (Billy Eliot, The Hours, and The Reader are all good, beautifully shot films, but they all feel a bit on the nose), but I think this one will be a crowd-pleaser.
• Ah, another feel-good Christmas film! Pariah tells the harrowing story of an outcast African-American teenage lesbian who struggles for identity in Brooklyn. One to bring the whole family to! In all seriousness, though, Pariah is said to be a very important film, and it received strong reviews at TIFF.

December 30

Limited Release:

• The Iron Lady. It’s Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher. If that sounds interesting to you, then you will probably like this film. If not, then you should probably wait for DVD (or just skip it entirely if you don’t care about the Oscars).

New York Film Critics Circle Honours Their Favourites of 2011

The National Board of Review is usually the first big critics group to announce their favourite films and performances of the year, but the New York Film Critics Circle beat them to the punch this year, naming their winners via Twitter this afternoon. While certainly not the be all and end all of Oscar season, the NYFCC is a major critics group, and many of their picks have historically gone on to receive Oscar nominations. Last year their acting winners were Colin Firth, Annette Bening, Mark Ruffalo, and Melissa Leo, and as we know, all four actors went on to receive Oscar nominations (and two of them won). With that in mind, here’s a rundown of the NYFCC winners.

I have a feeling the following may become a common phrase this year: The Artist won Best Picture. (Its writer/director, Michael Hazanavicius was also named Best Director.) The film was a critical darling at various festivals earlier this year, and even from these very early stages of awards season, it seems to be doing well, seeing as it also tied for the most nominations for the Independent Spirit Awards today. Only time will tell if it ends up like last year’s The Social Network, which swept various awards groups (including the NYFCC), but ultimately lost the Best Picture Oscar to The King’s Speech. But it’s off to a good start.

Best Actor went to Brad Pitt for Moneyball and The Tree of Life, and Meryl Streep took home the Best Actress award for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher for The Iron Lady. Both of these stars are already considered strong Oscar contenders (Pitt is considered a shoe-in for Moneyball, and some consider him as a contender for Best Supporting Actor for The Tree of Life), and these wins only cement their likelihood of being nominated for Oscar glory.

Albert Brooks was somewhat surprisingly named Best Supporting Actor by the NYFCC. My money would have been on Plummer, but since NYFCC typically shies away from deeply indie fare, perhaps his loss is not too surprising.

The most surprising award of all (to me, anyways) was Best Supporting Actress, which went to Jessica Chastain. She was recognized for her work in The Help, The Tree of Life, and Take Shelter this year. While this does bode well for her Oscar campaign, the Oscars obviously cannot recognize actors for multiple performances, so she could suffer from vote-splitting by the Academy between her various performances. I’m still predicting her for The Help, but we’ll have to watch for larger voting groups, such as SAG, to get an indication of where her votes will fall.

Elsewhere, Aaron Sorkin and Steve Zaillian unsurprisingly took home the Best Screenplay award for Moneyball, and Margin Call won Best First Film, The Cave of Forgotten Dreams (a film which is not on the long list for the Oscar Documentary category) won Best Documentary, and A Separation nabbed Best Foreign Film.

2012 Independent Spirit Award Nominations

The nominations for the 2012 Independent Spirit Award were announced this morning. Though often unpredictable, these awards are never a strong indicator for the Oscars or other awards shows, and there are many nominees who never even wind up in discussion at any other point during awards season. (Exception to the rule: Last year’s Best Actress category. All five eventual Oscar nominees got nominated for the Independent Spirit Award, along with Greta Gerwig from Greenberg. Portman won.) But it is a great opportunity to honour some small films that would otherwise be largely ignored, as well as some of the breakthrough indie projects. This year is no different, and nominees range from the indiest of the independent to larger projects that even received wide release.

The Artist and Take Shelter were the big winners here, with five nominations apiece. Here’s a look at some of the larger categories, and who got snubbed (via The Wrap):

Best Feature

The Artist

Beginners

The Descendants

Drive

50/50

Take Shelter

This category definitely favours the bigger films. I believe 50/50 and Drive were the only eligible films to get an immediate wide release, so it’s telling that they both got nominated. A little surprised that Midnight in Paris didn’t get in here.

Lead Actress

Lauren Ambrose, “Think of Me”

Rachael Harris, “Natural Selection”

Adepero Oduye, “Pariah”

Elizabeth Olsen, “Martha Marcy May Marlene”

Michelle Williams, “My Week With Marilyn”

The most surprising omission is Felicity Jones (who just won the Empire Award) for Like Crazy. In fact, that film seems to be entirely absent (did I miss something?).

Lead Actor

Demian Bechir, “A Better Life”

Jean Dujardin, “The Artist”

Ryan Gosling, “Drive”

Woody Harrelson, “Rampart”

Michael Shannon, “Take Shelter”

Surprised by the lack of Clooney. It definitely won’t hurt his Oscar chances, but it does seem strange. Perhaps voters were more in favour of smaller names that they thought wouldn’t be recognized otherwise. Nice to see Shannon and Harrelson (two Oscar dark horses) getting at least a bit of love this awards season.

Supporting Actress

Jessica Chastain, “Take Shelter”

Anjelica Huston, “50/50″

Janet McTeer, “Albert Nobbs”

Harmony Santana, “Gun Hill Road”

Shailene Woodley, “The Descendants”

Woodley has cemented herself as someone who will at least be seriously in the discussion during this year’s awards season. I’m off to see The Descendants today, so perhaps I’ll report back with my thoughts on her. Also nice to see Chastain get some love. No huge surprises, though the omission of Berenice Bejo for The Artist isn’t a great indicator of her Oscar prospects (I’ve never predicted her for a nom, but many people think she’s a strong possibility.)

Supporting Actor

Albert Brooks, “Drive”

John Hawkes, “Martha Marcy May Marlene”

Christopher Plummer, “Beginners”

John C. Reilly, “Cedar Rapids”

Corey Stoll, “Midnight in Paris”

I love that Reilly and Stoll got nominated. Two great, small comedic performances. Plummer is of course the frontrunner for awards season in general, but I suppose Hawkes was a no-brainer for a nom here, since he is an indie hero (and also last year’s winner for Winter’s Bone).

Elsewhere, I’m glad to see Tom McCarthy get some love for his screenplay for Win Win and to see Cedar Rapids show up in the Best First Screenplay category (I actually didn’t know it was a first-time screenwriter, and that kind of makes the film even more impressive to me now.)

Oscar Predictions 2012: Cinematography and Art Direction

Last Updated: January 22, 2012 (FINAL PREDICTIONS)

Red = virtually guaranteed a nomination

Oscar Predictions Home | Picture | Director | Actor | Actress | Supporting Actor | Supporting Actress

Cinematography

	1. War Horse Janusz Kaminski Watch the trailer. How could it not get nominated?
	2. The Tree of Life Emmanuel Lubezki I’m doubtful about its chances for Picture or Director, but this seems like a category that this film will get some love in.
	3. Hugo Robert Richardson The visual scope on this film is quite impressive, and it’s clearly very carefully shot. This film will probably do very well in the technical categories.
	4. The Artist Guillame Shiffman It’s probably going to get nominated for everything else, so why not this?
	5. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 Eduardo Serra It’s the last year for this franchise to get nom’d. I don’t think the Academy will go nuts, but I could see it getting in here.

Other Possibilities: Moneyball, Tinker Tailor Solider Spy, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Drive, Jane Eyre

 

Art Direction

	1. Hugo Dante Ferretti Well, it certainly looks pretty.
	2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 Stuart Craig The franchise often gets nominated in this category, so and I wouldn’t be surprised if this one finally ends up winning.
	3. The Artist Laurence Bennett The silent film era is full of rich visuals. This film is bound to do well in a lot of other categories, so why not here, too?
	4. War Horse Rick Carter Looks like your typically stunning period epic. Seems like a sure-fire bet in many technical categories.
	5. Captain America: The First Avenger Rick Heinrichs The retro stylings of the film are very nice to look at, and Heinrichs has three noms under his belt (he won for Sleepy Hollow).

Other Possibilities: Water For Elephants, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Midnight in Paris, Jane Eyre

 

Oscar Predictions Home

For Your Consideration…

:’)

For more For Your Consideration posters, head over to Awards Daily.

Oscar Predictions 2012: Best Director

Last Updated: January 22, 2012 (FINAL PREDICTIONS)

Red = virtually guaranteed a nomination

Oscar Predictions Home | Picture | Director | Actor | Actress | Supporting Actor | Supporting Actress | Screenplays | Cinematography and Art Direction | Costumes | Makeup

1. The Artist	2. Hugo	3. The Descendants	4. War Horse	5. Midnight in Paris
Michael Hazanavicius	Martin Scorsese	Alexander Payne	Stephen Spielberg	Woody Allen
He may not be a well-known director in North America, but a lot of credit will go to the director for The Artist‘s style and crowd-pleasing results.	For its visual scope alone, Hugo is quite an achievement. With a probable BP nom and such a respected director at its helm, it seems like a likely pick in this category.	The Descendants isn’t as visually showy, but there is probably still enough there to earn Payne another Best Director nomination.	Spielberg’s last Director nom was for Letters from Iwo Jima, and this could easily be the film that gets him back in contention. He’s certainly trying.	He’s already got a DGA and Globe nomination, and people love him and his film.

 

Other Possibilities

Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life), Bennett Miller (Moneyball) David Fincher (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo), Tate Taylor (The Help)

Past Predictions

December: 1. Hazanavicius, 2. Spielberg, 3. Payne, 4. Scorsese, 5. Miller

November: Daldry, Hazanavicius, Spielberg, Fincher, Payne

October: Daldry, Fincher, Hazanavicius, Payne, Spielberg

September: Daldry, Fincher, Hazanavicius, Payne, Spielberg

August: Cronenberg, Eastwood, Fincher, Reitman, Spielberg

July: Cronenberg, Eastwood, Fincher, Reitman, Spielberg

June: Cronenberg, Eastwood, Fincher, Reitman, Spielberg

May: Cronenberg, Eastwood, Fincher, Malick, Spielberg

March: Cronenberg, Fincher, Malick, Scorsese, Spielberg

 

Back to 2012 Oscar Predictions page

On the Horizon: Bradley Cooper

Can we talk about Bradley Cooper’s upcoming projects for a minute? This is a guy whose recent filmography consists mainly of comedies. Yet, he’s slated to work with some of the most celebrated working directors in some pretty meaty-sounding films.

Where did this come from, you ask? Well, Cooper trained at the celebrated Actor’s Studio, and if you’ve ever seen him interviewed, you know that he takes his craft pretty seriously. So he’s got the ambition. But does he have the talent to back it up? Some would say that he hasn’t shown serious acting skill yet. But I’d argue that he’s been very charismatic in films such as The Hangover and Valentine’s Day, and also proved his dramatic potential in this year’s Limitless. The film itself was just okay for me (it was a good premise, and director Neil Burger brought some nice visual flare, but it fell flat in terms of storytelling.), but Cooper proved to be a very capable leading man. And it seems that others took him seriously, too, because we’re going to see a lot of this guy over the next two years. From indie comedies to heavy dramas, Cooper’s got a lot of different opportunities to turn the doubters into fans.

The Words (2012)

• Plot: “When an aspiring writer claims another man’s long lost work as his own, the price he must pay is more than he could have ever imagined.”
• Co-stars: Zoe Saldana, Olivia Wilde, Dennis Quaid, Jeremy Irons, Ben Barnes, J.K. Simmons, and John Hannah (Four Weddings and a Funeral)
• Director: Brian Klugman, Lee Sternthall (first-time directors)
• My Thoughts: Cooper likes to play aspiring writers looking for a quick fix, it seems. Interesting cast, potentially interesting premise.

Outrun (2012)

• Plot: “A former getaway driver jeopardizes his Witness Protection Plan identity in order to help his girlfriend”
• Co-stars: Dax Shepard, Kristen Bell, Dave Koechner, Michael Rosenbaum (Smallville), Beau Bridges, Ryan Hansen (Party Down), Tom Arnold
• Director: Dax Shepard and David Palmer
• My Thoughts: Cooper’s big break was with comedy, so I’m glad to see that he hasn’t abandoned the genre (though he’s doing lots of other stuff, too, which is smart). Cooper reportedly plays a villain here to Shepard’s lead. Shepard and Cooper are two actor who automatically make me interested in a movie, so needless to say, I’m very intrigued about this.

The Place Beyond the Pines (2013)

• Plot: “A motorcycle stunt rider considers committing a crime in order to provide for his wife and child, an act that puts him on a collision course with a cop-turned-politician.”
• Co-Stars: Ryan Gosling, Rose Byrne, Eva Mendes, Ray Liotta, Bruce Greenwood, Ben Mendelsohn
• Director: Derek Cianfrance (Blue Valentine)
• My Thoughts: People are already peeing themselves about this project, largely thanks to one Ryan Gosling. Blue Valentine was one of my favourite films of last year, so of course I’m excited for this movie, too. Great supporting cast (Greenwood, Mendelsohn, and Byrne have been doing some great work recently).

The Silver Linings Playbook (2013)

• Plot: “After spending four years in a mental institution, a former teacher moves back in with his mother and tries to reconcile with his ex-wife.”
• Co-Stars: Jennnifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Julia Stiles, Chris Tucker, Taylor Schilling, Jacki Weaver
• Director: David O. Russell (The Fighter, Three Kings)
• My Thoughts: This is the project that I’m most excited about. The premise grabbed my attention right away, and it seems like it will give Cooper a lot of opportunities to show off his acting chops. I didn’t love The Fighter, but sign me up for this one.

Paradise Lost (2013)

• Plot: “An action-heavy take on the epic poem centered on the war in heaven between archangels Michael and Lucifer.”
  
• Co-Stars: Camilla Belle, Casey Affleck, Djimon Hounsou, Benjamin Walker, Callum McCauliffe, Dominic Purcell
  
• Director: Alex Proyas (Knowing, I Robot)
  
• My Thoughts: This seems like it could be disastrous (and Proyas’ filmography doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence), or potentially really interesting. Affleck is one of my favourite actors, and with Cooper taking on the role of Lucifer, it should at least be interesting to see play out.
  

The Man from U.N.C.L.E (2013)

• *RUMOURED*
• Plot: Based on the 1960′s spy TV show of the same name
  
• Co-stars: None, yet.
  
• Director: Steven Soderbergh
  
• My Thoughts: This one isn’t official yet, but word seems to be pretty strong about Cooper’s chance at the starring role. George Clooney was originally attached to the project, but dropped out for unknown reasons. Soderbergh is known for getting great casts, so if this goes through, Cooper will likely have some impressive co-stars to work with.