One Category at a Time: Supporting Actor

This might take the cake as the year's most unpredictable category. Composed entirely of past winners, there are no narratives of “overdue actor still waiting for first Oscar” to be had. And with a pair of co-lead performances masquerading as supporting amongst true supporting players in popular Best Picture nominees, it leaves the contest as wide open as we've seen in years.

One Category at a Time: Supporting Actress

The Supporting Actress slate doesn't seem has chock full of legit contenders as it has in years past. Not that any of these five performances are undeserving of some Oscar love, but four of them really don't hold a candle to the fifth, making this one of the night's slam dunk categories.

Sunday Top Ten: Top Ten of 2012

Thanks to all who emailed or posted in the comments their top ten lists. I read them with great interest. What fine tastes we all have! [back pat, back pat]

I never got into the habit of publishing an official top ten list when I started this blog. After putting so much work into my own awards each year, an additional list reiterating what I thought were the best films of the year seemed redundant. But I guess it's never too late to start. So here's a ranked, illustrated writeup of my ten favourite movies of the 2012.

Before getting into that, I have to highlight some honourable mentions:

There were some great documentaries this year, at the fore of which are The Queen of Versailles -- which humanizes the obscenely rich while shrewdly dismantling the American Dream -- and 5 Broken Cameras -- which brings a refreshingly personal touch to a complex political issue. 2012 was also a triumphant year for blockbuster franchises. Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises gives his influential trilogy the stirring conclusion it deserves, while Sam Mendes' Skyfall respectfully reinvigorates old-hat material with a classy new treatment. Sundance indies refound their mojo after a bit of an off year in 2011. Ben Lewin's The Sessions reveals intimacy that extends beyond the physical with an endearing sense of playfulness and heart. And finally, even though it's not a feature, no article on the best filmmaking achievements of 2012 would be complete without a big sloppy kiss to John Kahrs' superb animated short Paperman. This is probably my biggest cinematic crush of the year. Its groundbreaking innovations in hybrid animation combined with its hopelessly romantic story took my breath away, leaving an impression equal to any feature I saw over the last 365 days.

It. Is. Perfect.

Money shot! This is my favourite image I saw on screen in 2012

And now, the top ten...

One Category at a Time: Actor

The Best Actor race this year was at its most interesting and competitive before the nominations. The big question was which of the six leading men in the hunt would be left off the Academy's ballot. It was never a question of who would end up winning the whole thing, as that has been obvious for a couple of months now.

My Award nominees for 2012 year in film

Here they are for your perusal. Beasts of the Southern Wild leads with eight nominations, but Amour is close behind with seven. Moonrise Kingdom and Lincoln follow with six apiece, and my fifth Best Picture nominee, Argo, is joined by The Master and The Dark Knight Rises with five apiece. Winners go up tomorrow night.

My Award nominations: Picture/Director

Well, here they are. My five faves of the year (actually six including my lone director nominee). It's been a strong year, with lots of singular artistic achievements.

There are only 24 days left until the Oscars, which gives me just enough time to start running down predictions one category at a time. The first of those will land later today.

For now, check out my top films after the cut:

My Award nominations: Supporting Actress

The field hasn't been as competitive as it has in past years, but I'm still quite satisfied with the five (well, four actually) actresses I settled on. My picks for Best Supporting Actress after the cut.

My Award nominations: Cinematography

This is perennially my favourite category, and as it is every year, there was an abundance of excellent work to choose from. The Academy and I match up 3/5 this year. Find out which three they are, and what other two films I included as having the Best Cinematography of 2012 after the cut (complete with my fav shot from each nominee):

My Awards nominations: Actor

Guess I'd better get started on these. I was going to leave them for after the Oscars, but it sorta just dawned on me how much time we have to kill until then. I still have a handful of films to see, so I'll start out with some of the categories that I've already pretty much set in stone, such as today's category: Best Actor.

Gotta say, this was by far the toughest one for me to narrow down this year. There are at least ten or eleven absolutely terrific performances that would be welcome here, and the quality of this year's leading men is well represented by the Oscar lineup as well. But tough decisions have to be made, so the five that I chose are:

American Society of Cinematographers nominate

The ASC's five nominees for outstanding cinematography are:

Anna Karenina
Les Miserables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Skyfall

So more bad news for The Master, which continues to miss with the guilds. I had a suspicion Anna Karenina's chances in this category were still very much alive, and its BAFTA nod this morning gives me further cause to predict it (as though its gorgeousness isn't cause enough). Life of Pi, Skyfall, and Lincoln all feel safe. If any of these ASC nominees is on the bubble I might think it Les Mis, whose frequent closeups are quite divisive.

LAFCA goes for Amour

The L.A. Film Critics Association handed Michael Haneke's Palme d'Or winner Amour their top prize, but the big winner of the day is Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master, which picked up four awards after having been shut out by the NYFCC and NBR.

Another big winner with three wins of its own is Benh Zeitlin's Beasts of the Southern Wild, and I'm tickled pink about it! Awards for the score and Dwight Henry's performance are both Oscar-worthy, and I'm hoping this might give 'em a boost in their respective races.

On average, a swell bunch of winners (from the ones I've seen, anyway).

Best Picture: "Amour" Funny that the first critics award not to go to Zero Dark Thirty still went to a film that the public hasn't been able to see yet!

Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson, "The Master" A defendable choice indeed. The man's directorial voice is becoming ever more distinctive.

Best Actress: (TIE) Jennifer Lawrence, "Silver Linings Playbook" and Emmanuelle Riva, "Amour" This is Riva's third win of the day, coming after the Boston and New York Online critics.

Best Actor: Joaquin Phoenix, "The Master" A necessary win for him to keep his Oscar prospects alive.

Best Supporting Actress: Amy Adams, "The Master" Nice to see some attention for this difficult, easy-to-overlook performance.

Best Supporting Actor: Dwight Henry, "Beasts of the Southern Wild" Yes. Yes. Yes.

Best Screenplay: "Argo" Terrific pick. As great as Lincoln's screenplay is, I'd hate to see it hog all the writing awards.

Best Foreign Film: "Holy Motors" Did not care for it. Obviously trying to spread things around.

Best Documentary: "The Gatekeepers" Definitely in the hunt for Oscar.

Best Animation: "Frankenweenie" Might this one become the critics darling?

Best Film Editing: "Zero Dark Thirty" Can't wait to see it.

Best Cinematography: "Skyfall" Outstanding. Sadly, it feels like yet another Oscar that Deakins will lose.

Best Music/Score: "Beasts of the Southern Wild" Love this pick. The music branch is so resistant to newcomers, though.

Best Production Design: "The Master" Production design was top notch, but I wish they had gone with something more creative.

New Generation Award: Benh Zeitlin, "Beasts of the Southern Wild" Well deserved.

Douglas Edwards Experimental/Independent Film/Video Award: "Leviathan"

New York Film Critics weigh in

New York is the first key critics group to announce awards for the 2012 film year, and the big winners were Steven Spielberg's Lincoln and Kathryn Bigelow's late-breaking Zero Dark Thirty. Each took home three honours from the NYC crowd.

The big loser has to be Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master. After inducing critical orgasms at all the fall festivals, the mesmerizing character study got shut out, along with more mainstream Oscar hopefuls Argo, Silver Linings Playbook, Life of Pi, and Les Miserables, although they aren't as dependent on the boost of critics awards as The Master is.

Best Picture: Zero Dark Thirty
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
Best Actress: Rachel Weisz, The Deep Blue Sea
Best Supporting Actor: Matthew McConaughey, Magic Mike and Bernie
Best Screenplay: Tony Kushner, Lincoln
Best Foreign Language Film: Amour
Best Animated Feature: Frankenweenie
Best Documentary: Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, David McMahon, The Central Park Five
Best Cinematography: Greig Fraser, Zero Dark Thirty
Best First Feature: David France, How to Survive a Plague

Review - The Master

It's been five years since I sat in a darkened theatre puzzling over the cinematic output of Paul Thomas Anderson. It was the peculiar final scene of his celebrated opus There Will Be Blood, which now lives in simultaneous reverence and infamy for its uber-quotable “milkshake” line and the ongoing debate it inspires between “genius!” and “hackery!”. I'll admit the bewilderment was initially off-putting, but there was a fascinating quality to what I had just seen that held my gaze even though I didn't understand it. Such a sensation lingers over the entirety of his latest picture The Master, a spellbinding head-scratcher which has been impressing critics and confounding audiences everywhere.

We first meet Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix) stationed in the Pacific during the closing days of WWII, indulging in all of his most basic animal instincts, from banal activities like eating and sleeping to more masturbatory and aggressive releases. Upon returning home, he struggles with his readjustment to civilian life, hopping from place to place, his unpredictable and violent nature being an unsuitable fit for polite society. It isn't until he meets Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a charismatic preacher of his own spiritual philosophical science called The Cause, that Freddie seems to find some direction and meaning. The high-minded Dodd also sees in Freddie a challenge finally worthy of his perceived expertise; an person he can liberate from animalistic vices and refine as an “enlightened” man.

One Category at a Time: Best Picture (part 2)

Completing last day's 2013 Oscar predictions kick-off, here are the remaining five films I can conceive being in the hunt for next year's Best Picture prize:

Much like the ultimately ill-fated War Horse was twelve months ago, the defacto “frontrunner” on most pundits' lists at this early stage is Steven Spielberg's Lincoln, which will star Daniel Day Lewis as the tall-hatted Civil War president. Based on cast, crew, and concept alone, it seems like a pretty solid contender for the nomination. Even if it tanks, the Speilberg faithful in the Academy can revive it.