day 4.42

2012 oscar nominations
we've officially entered oscar season. hunger games star jennifer lawrence and the academy's president announced this year's crop of nominees this morning- here's who got snubbed, who surprised and who i expect to win.

best picture

• the artist
• the descendants
• extremely loud and incredibly close
• the help
• hugo
• midnight in paris
• moneyball
• the tree of life
• war horse

having seen six of the nine nominees, i'm pretty confident in calling the artist as the winner. the academy voters are old and will vote for nostalgia over a modern film. while i like the artist, i didn't think it was as spectacular as everything keeps claiming. if it were up to me, the descendants would take home the top trophy. well, if it were really up to me, bridesmaids would be nominated and win. hey, academy- time for a comedy category!

best actor in a leading role

• demian bichir, a better life
• george clooney, the descendants
• jean dujardin, the artist
• gary oldman, tinker tailor soldier spy
• brad pitt, moneyball

this category packed two surprises- nominations for demian bichir and gary oldman. both gave buzzed about performances, but neither were expected to make it on the academy's short list. demian won't win, but this wil definitely pump up his presence in hollywood (check out a better life if you can). but expect clooney to take it in this category, with dujardin a close second. i just don't think dujardin's over-the-top emoting will overpower clooney's best performance in years.

best actress in a leading role

• 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

the academy loves a good transformation and this year's leading lady nominees reflect that- all 5 completely transformed on screen, some unrecognizably (see: glenn close as transgendered albert nobbs). close and mara were minor surprises, but neither will win against davis, streep and williams. my guess is the academy will go with perennial winner streep (she did take the character from 40something to 80something), even though davis and williams both deserve to take home a golden guy.

actor in a supporting role

• kenneth branagh, my week with marilyn
• jonah hill, moneyball
• nick nolte, warrior
• christopher plummer, beginners
• max von sydow, extremely loud and incredibly close

w ... t ... f is this category? the supporting actor categories are surprise central. to get it out of the way first, christopher plummer is taking home this award hands down- and i haven't even seen the movie. he's taken every other prize, so why not this one? i mean, he's captain von trapp. but let's talk the other nominees- jonah hill? the academy knows he's in the upcoming 21 jump street, right? nick nolte? huh? max von sydow ... ok, i don't think he talks in that movie, but still. i can get behind kenneth branagh, but eddie redmayne should've been nominated alongside him.

actress in a supporting role

• berenice bejo, the artist
• jessica chastain, the help
• octavia spencer, the help
• melissa mccarthy, bridesmaids
• janet mcteer, albert nobbs

my top choice isn't even nominated???!!! where's shailene woodley? where? that girl cried under water. cried. under. water. i get it- she's on secret life of the american teenager, but don't hold that against her, academy. ok, rant over. this category comes down to octavia spencer and melissa mccarthy- it just depends on what kind of work the voters want to reward. my vote would go to melissa mccarthy- she's all anyone could talk about after bridesmaids hit the big screen- but, octavia spencer (and, to be honest, all of black hollywood) deserve the golden guy more.

that does it for the big categories. to see more nominees and make your own prediction, click here. the 84th academy awards air february 26 on abc, 8/7c. 

day 3.343

oscar movie watch 2011

it's that time of year again- every holiday season, tons of movies hit the silver screen as oscar bait. here are a few of my favorites that i've seen so far.

movie review: like crazy

if i had to sum up like crazy in a phrase it would be "shitfaced love story." the film follows 20somethings jacob and anna as they fall in love just before college graduation. the catch is anna's a british citizen and only in the states on a student visa. when her visa runs out, anna decides to stick it out for the summer for the sake of her relationship. at the end of the summer, anna heads home for a family wedding, planning to return to california at the end of the week. catch two: customs stops anna when she lands at lax and sends her straight back to london for breaking her visa. what follows is a long distance, often drunk, relationship interrupted by time zones, tests (like jennifer lawrence's samantha), a marriage and extreme heartache. this is definitely not a feel good movie, and ends on somewhat of an unsure note, but is a must see for anyone that's been in love or wants to be in love- so everyone.

movie review: the descendants

george clooney secures himself another oscar nod with the descendants. clooney stars as matt king, a hawaiian family man faced with two major dilemmas: his family owns a the so-called last plot of virgin hawaiian land that needs to be sold asap to avoid turmoil, and his wife's in the hospital with a coma after a major boat accident. king must balance his kids- highschooler alex (secret life of the american teenager's shailene woodley) and pre-teen troublemaker scottie- his relatives and his wife's decreasing medical condition. throw in the discovery that his wife was cheating on him right before the accident and king's world goes from unstable to upside down. the only person able to upstage clooney is woodley, who proves she really can act. as clooney said, "she fucking cries under water." expect woodley to grab some major award nods, too, and hopefully leave secret life behind when her contract's up in 2013.

movie review: my week with marilyn

if michelle williams doesn't win an oscar for this, she will have been robbed. williams completely transforms into screen legend marilyn monroe, circa 1957. monroe heads to london to film the prince and the showgirl, alongside sir laurence olivier (played brilliantly by kenneth branagh). adapted from colin clark's memoir, the movie follows clark as the third assistant director or "gopher," meaning he can "go for this, go for that" at the drop of a hat. clark winds up being one of the few people monroe, insecure and fragile, trusts on set. the duo- monroe, 30, and clark, just 24- form an unlikely pair, leading to a puppy love affair. there's not one bad performance in my week, making it one to watch for every category this award season.