TOP TEN FILMS OF 2011 (in alphabetical order)
“The Artist”
“The Descendants”
“Drive”
“The Help”
“Hugo”
“Midnight in Paris”
“Moneyball”
“My Week With Marilyn”
“Super 8”
“The Tree of Life”
BEST PICTURE
“The Artist”
BEST DIRECTOR
Michel Hazanavicius, “The Artist”
BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Jean Dujardin, “The Artist
BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Elizabeth Olsen, “Martha Marcy May Marlene”
BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Albert Brooks, “Drive”
BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Berenice Bejo, “The Artist”
BEST ENSEMBLE ACTING
“Super 8”
BEST SCREENPLAY – ORIGINAL
“The Artist”
BEST SCREENPLAY – ADAPTATION
“The Help”
BEST LIVE ACTION FAMILY FILM (Rated G or PG)
“The Muppets”
THE OVERLOOKED FILM OF THE YEAR
“A Better Life”
BEST ANIMATED FILM
“Rango”
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
“The Skin I Live In”
BEST DOCUMENTARY
“Page One: Inside the New York Times”
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
Life’s a Happy Song, “The Muppets”
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
“The Artist”
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
“Tree of Life”
BEST FILM EDITING
“The Artist”
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
“Hugo”
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
“The Artist”
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
“Hugo”
BEST STUNTS
“Drive”
BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE ON CAMERA
Thomas Horn, “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”
BREAKTROUGH PERFORMANCE BEHIND THE CAMERA
Michel Hazanavicius, “The Artist”
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A YOUTH IN A LEAD OR SUPPORTING ROLE – MALE
Thomas Horn, “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A YOUTH IN A LEAD OR SUPPORTING ROLE – FEMALE
Saoirse Ronan, “Hanna”
Critics recognize Super 8, Midnight in Paris, and Tree of Life but not Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2?
Good on Phoenix for giving Elizabeth Olsen her due. And “The Skin I Live In” has made a pretty decent run of it through the critics award season, popping up all over the place with nominations (and a few wins) for foreign language film. I assume that this is in large part due to the relative dearth of foreign films that reach the smaller markets such as Phoenix (i.e. diminished competition), but it’s still nice to see a widely underrated gem get some recognition.
The “Super 8” mention for ensemble also makes me smile; say what you will about the film, but Abrams got nearly uniformly great work out of his child/non-actors in the film, and they truly did form a cohesive ENSEMBLE. We often see “ensemble” awards go to films with large casts with lots of famous actors (and I’m at least mildly surprised that “Contagion” has been shut out on that front), but a true ensemble can be a smaller group of actors that actually ACT WITH and react to each other. The “Super 8” crew really did form a nice little group with its inner-relationships and dynamics.
Lastly, I’m intrigued by the “award” this group gave to “A Better Life.” Obviously, given the anti-immigrant climate of the greater Arizona area, we can read something of a political statement into this choice. Too bad it will likely fall on deaf ears.