Top 10 Most Anticipated Movies of 2013

Since it's the last day of 2012, here are my most anticipated films of 2013. Thanks for a great year, readers!

Review: Django Unchained (2012)

Directed by Quentin Tarantino
Produced by Stacey Sher, Reginald Hudlin, and Pilar Savone
Written by Quentin Tarantino
Starring Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, Samuel L Jackson, Walter Goggins, Dennis Christopher, James Remar, Michael Parks, and Don Johnson

Best Screenplays: 1960s

Best Adapted Screenplay:

1960: Rocco and His Brothers (Luchino Visconti, Suso Cecchi D'Amico, Vasco Pratolini, Pasquale Festa Campanile, Massimo Franciosa, and Enrico Medioli)

Oscar winner: Elmer Gantry (Richard Brooks)

Was this nominated?: No

Top 10 Older Films I Saw in 2012

One of the many Bergman films I saw this year.

A lot of bloggers are doing posts like this, so I thought I'd post mine. Any film released before 2012 qualifies, but I don't have a single film from this century on my list.

Review: Les Misérables (2012)

Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean.

Directed by Tom Hooper
Produced by Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, and Cameron Mackintosh
Written by William Nicholson, Claude-Michel Schönberg, Alain Boublil, and Herbert Kretzmer (screenplay); Victor Hugo (novel)
Starring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Helena Bonham Carter, and Sacha Baron Cohen

Merry Christmas!

Unfortunately, I've been too busy to participate in Diana's wonderful Christmas List blogathon, so I just wanted to quickly wish everyone a Merry Christmas. Happy Holidays, everybody! :)

2012 Foreign Language Film Oscar Shortlist

France's entry makes the cut.

In the latest Academy Award news, the Foreign Language Film category has been reduced to nine eligible films. Four films from my predicted lineup made the cut, with Australia's Lore being left off.

The eligible films are:

     Austria, "Amour," Michael Haneke, director;
     Canada, "War Witch," Kim Nguyen, director;
     Chile, "No," Pablo Larraín, director;
     Denmark, "A Royal Affair," Nikolaj Arcel, director;
     France, "The Intouchables," Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano, directors;
     Iceland, "The Deep," Baltasar Kormákur, director;
     Norway, "Kon-Tiki," Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg, directors;
     Romania, "Beyond the Hills," Cristian Mungiu, director;
     Switzerland, "Sister," Ursula Meier, director.

Best Screenplays: 1950s

Best Adapted Screenplay:

1950: All About Eve (Joseph L. Mankiewicz)

Oscar winner: All About Eve (Joseph L. Mankiewicz)

Top 10 Favorite Albums of 2012

This is an off-topic post, but I wanted to put my list on here for archival purposes. If you're interested, check out my favorites after the cut.

85th Oscar Wishlist

The Oscar ballots are out now, so here are some wishes I have for the nominations in January.

Oscar Oddity #6: The Split of 1951

An American in Paris (left) tied A Place in the Sun (right) in '51.

Whenever a Best Picture winner receives five or more awards in a given year, other Best Picture nominees (or even just other nominees) from that year typically win four or less awards. For example, The Hurt Locker (2009) won six awards, including Best Picture, and Avatar (2009) only won three. 

However, 1951 holds the distinction of being the only 6/6 split, which is also the largest one, between two Best Picture frontrunners: An American in Paris and A Place in the Sun. The former film walked away with Best Picture, Best Story and Screenplay, Best Art Direction (Color), Best Cinematography (Color), Best Costume Design (Color), and Best Musical Score. Meanwhile, the latter won awards for Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography (B&W), Best Costume Design (B&W), Best Film Editing, and Best Dramatic/Comedy Score. Obviously the separate categories for black-and-white and color films helped their tallies, but this stat remains a unique occurrence that will probably never happen again.

Review: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)

Martin Freeman as young Bilbo Baggins.

Directed by Peter Jackson
Produced by Carolynne Cunningham, Zane Weiner, Peter Jackson, & Fran Walsh
Written by Philippa Boyens, Guillermo del Toro, Peter Jackson, & Fran Walsh
Starring Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, James Nesbitt, Ken Stott, Cate Blanchett, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Elijah Wood, & Andy Serkis

2012 Makeup Oscar Finalists Announced

Cloud Atlas snubbed.

AMPAS has released its 7 contenders for Best Makeup and Hairstyling. Notable snubs include Cloud Atlas and Holy Motors. Oh well. The beat goes on.

“Hitchcock”
“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”
“Les Misérables”
“Lincoln”
“Looper”
“Men in Black 3”
“Snow White and the Huntsman”

282 Films Eligible for 2012 Oscars

Eligible? Yes. Nomination? No way.

In case you missed it, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released its list of eligible feature films. Theoretically, any of them could be nominated. Take a look after the cut. 

Best Screenplays: 1940s

Best Adapted Screenplay:

1940: The Philadelphia Story (Donald Ogden Stewart)

Oscar winner: The Philadelphia Story (Donald Ogden Stewart)

2013 Blind Spot Series

Ryan McNeil at The Matinee is doing his second "Blind Spot Series" and has invited other bloggers to join him.

In Ryan's words, joining this series requires you to "cull together a list of “Blind Spot” films…movies that we as movie enthusiasts likely should have seen by now, but haven’t for one reason or another. After narrowing the list down to a truly manageable twelve titles, the goal would be to watch all twelve over the course of the next year, and to write one’s thoughts afterwards."

So, I'll be doing just that: seeing one of these films a month for twelve months. As far as the list is concerned, I included at least one film from every decade dating back to the 1920s, and I tried to pick films from different genres and countries. Have a look after the cut.

Contenders for 2012 Music Oscars Revealed

Adele is officially ELIGIBLE for the Oscar.

It's that time of year. AMPAS has announced the lists of eligible films for its music categories. 104 films are eligible for Best Original Score. All of my predictions made the list. (Press release) Also, 75 songs are eligible for Best Original Song. "Who Were We?" from Holy Motors didn't make the cut, but the rest of my predictions did. (Press release)

See both lists after the cut.

Making the Case for Cloud Atlas

Stevee at Cinematic Paradox has started a blogathon on films that are being overlooked this awards season, or films that won't be nominated for Oscars they deserve. The subject, in her own words, is: "Making a Case for Movies that Probably Won't Get Any Awards Recognition this year". So, let's jump in.

Mini-Reviews: Anna Karenina, Holy Motors & Killing Them Softly (2012)

Best Screenplays: 1930s

Note: The Academy's screenplay categories were different in the 1930s. For instance, there was only one writing category at the 1929/1930 ceremony. Also, the Adapted Screenplay winners credited below are actually from the Best Screenplay Oscar category, and the Original Screenplay winners are from the Best Original Story Oscar category.

Best Adapted Screenplay:

1930: All Quiet on the Western Front (Maxwell Anderson, George
Abbott, Del Andrews, and C. Gardner Sullivan)

Oscar winner: The Big House (Frances Marion) ('29/'30)

Was this nominated?: Yes

December Oscar Predictions

I'm not sure what's going to happen during Oscar season this year. Who wins Best Picture? Les Miserables, Lincoln, Zero Dark Thirty, and Argo all have a shot. At the moment, it's next to impossible to correctly predict all of the nominees, let alone the winners. But I'll give it a shot. 

Predicted winners indicated with an asterisk (*).

Top 10 Male Performances of All Time

Did either of these Oscar vets make my list?

Here's my other list. I would like to mention beforehand that one of these performances is driven mostly by effective voiceover work, but it never ceases to amaze me. Hope you like my list!

Top 10 Female Performances of All Time

Did either Oscar vet make my list?

I don't know if I'll review anything this week or not, so here's a list. Updated Oscar predictions are coming in a day or two, and I might post my top 10 male performances list this week as well. Enjoy!

Oscar Campaign Bust: 2012 Films

More For Your Consideration ads are being released for this year's films, but some are clearly out of Oscar contention. Ultimately, I don't see any of the following films getting nominated.

   

Films I Saw in November

One of my new favorite Bergman films.

The Best:
1. The Passion of Anna (x2) - ****
2. Autumn Sonata - ****
3. Witness for the Prosecution - ****
4. Skyfall (x2) - ****
5. Face to Face - ****
6. Norwegian Wood - ****
7. Heartbeats - ****
8. Twelve O'Clock High - ****
9. On Her Majesty's Secret Service - ****
10. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) - ****

More after the cut.