Never Mind Pop Film

With the Academy Awards on Sunday night seeing all of the Oscar nominated films this year before then will be pretty difficult. To make things easier for non-filmgoers Amazon is having a sale on films like The Descendants, Hugo,The Artist, Midnight in Paris, Moneyball, up to half off! Grab them while you can.

Every year the British Academy of Film and Television Arts releases artist depictions of the nominated films for Best Picture. 2012's collection stands head and shoulders over recent years. Thanks to Hey You Guys, all five nominated film brochures are available online (The Artist, Drive, The Descendants, The Help and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy). Highlighted are my top three selections.

(this post comes from Darren Mooney of The Movie Blog)
Oscar season is on us again. Although, to be fair, it's been going since at least November last year. It's something of a tradition that, the closer we get to the awards themselves, the more certain the outcome seems. To a large extent, that's still true this year. The vast majority of pundits seem to have settled on the belief that George Clooney will pick up the Best Actor award, Christopher Plummer will pick up the Best Supporting Actor award and Meryl Streep will take home her first Best Actress Oscar in quite some time. While there are those who would disagree with these assessments (for example, I think Viola Davis might pose a credible threat to Streep), those are the broadly-agreed major categories. However, the announcement of the nominees last week threw the Best Picture race into a bit of uncertainty, creating the impression that The Artist doesn't quite have the award locked down.

Again, I'm going to …

The Descendants What it's likely to get nominated for: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor What I'd like it to be nominated for: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor

Alexander Payne has nailed the zeitgeist of the past decade and seemingly touched off again with this new one. The tale of one man's grief while pulling his family back together was the right amount of heart without reaching into the saccharin bag that too many films resort to.


The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
What it's likely to get nominated for: Best Actress, Editing, Score
What I'd like it to be nominated for: Best Actress, Best Director
We're in a reversal from last year where The King's Speech was almost the only feel good splendor in the field. This year Dragon Tattoo is the juxtaposed film against heart-warmers like The Artist, The Descendants, War Horse, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Daring the Academy to come out of the closet regarding their genre fetishism may prove too stron…

It's often said that if you don't like the weather in Hawai'i just wait ten minutes. What's more true of Alexander Payne's The Descendants is if you don't like the mood of the film just wait a scene. That's not to say that the film's transitions aren't enjoyed--because they are, immensely. Payne's previous effort, Sideways,was famed for within seconds flipping from heartbreaking to hilarity.

Hawai'i, the name alone conjures magical memories and images for most. Sandy beaches that spread as far as the eye can see, skirted dancers and pigs on a roast. What could be better than this paradise? To hear Matt King tell it, "Paradise can go fuck itself". Tourists never had to deal with the condescending parents of their children's friends. Paradise never had to deal with a wife in a coma.

Matt was the backup parent, now he is thrust into the duty of raising his daughters. His wife handled Alexandra and Scottie, in fact, she handled ev…

The Artist and Take Shelter each received five nominations from the Indie Spirit Awards this morning. Drive, The Descendants, 50/50 and Beginners will fill out the competition for Best Feature. I was a little surprised that Win Win didn't make it into the crowd, but nominations for Michael Shannon and Ryan Gosling more than make up for it.

The rest of the nominees:

Best Director:
Mike Mills (Beginners)
Nicholas W Refn ( Drive)
Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter)
Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)
Alexander Payne (The Descendants)

Robert Altman Award: Margin Call

Best Int’l Film:
A Separation
Melancholia
Shame
The Kid With a Bike
Tyrannosaur

Best Male Lead:
Demian Bichir (A Better Life)
Jean Dujardin (The Artist)
Ryan Gosling (Drive)
Woody Harrelson (Rampart)
Michael Shannon (Take Shelter)

Best Female Lead:
Lauren Ambrose (Think of Me)
Rachel Harris (Natural Selection)
Adepero Oduye (Pariah)
Elizabeth Olsen (Martha Marcy May Marlene)
Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn)

Best Supp Male:
Albert Brooks (Drive)
John Ha…

Who knew people in Hawaii had it so rough? Especially a guy like George Clooney. That said, I hope this is more like Sideways than About Schmidt.

Looks like a fitting follow-up from Sideways. Also, how talented is Mr. Clooney that he can run in flip-flops?