Ah yes, it's that time of year again where we (to quote host Billy Crystal) "watch millionaires give other millionaires shiny golden statues". It's the Oscars, and this year had something unique to offer, an appreciation for early cinema. My two favorite movies of the year (that happen to be about early cinema), The Artist, and Hugo, had the most nominations going into the night with Hugo's 11 nominations, and The Artist's 10 nominations.
So, I guess we could say that old stuff is once again modern.
The Positives
Firstly, this is the second year in a row where not only have I correctly predicted the winner of Best Director and Best Picture, but it's the second year in a row that the winner of those two awards were the director I thought made the best movie, and the Best Picture winner was my favorite movie of the year. Last year, my favorite movie was The King's Speech and this year, it's The Artist.
Michel Hazanavicius, director of The Artist, creates the first silent movie to win Best Picture since 1928, and only the second silent movie in history to win the Best Picture award, sharing it's title with Wings (1928). The Artist is a movie that you'll either totally fall in love with or you'll completely hate it and think it's the worst movie ever. Of all the movies I have seen about the silent film era, The Artist creates the best and most entertaining picture of that time period. The film came away with five awards; Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Jean Dujardean), Best Costume Design, and Best Original Score. If you haven't seen it yet, you have no idea what you're missing.
Hugo came away the night's other big winner, taking home five awards as well. I was in a way surprised to see that it won Best Cinematography until they showed a clip of a scene in which the camera takes us through a train station as if we were walking through it ourselves. There are a few tracking shots (which are in my opinion, the best shots in any movie, even though they are the hardest to create). Hugo is a very art oriented film, and the cinematography demonstrates it best.
My favorite category of the night was the category for Best Actress. There were two actresses who I thought deserved this award, Viola Davis in The Help, and Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady. If you've seen both of these movies, you would know what a difficult decision this must have been for the voters in the Academy. Both are extraordinary and very deserving of this award. However, I thought Meryl Streep was a bit better than Viola Davis, and clearly it showed because the Academy awarded Streep.
The Negatives
So how do I know that 2011 was a terrible year for movies? Three films that are in my opinion, only average, were nominated for Best Picture; Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, Moneyball, and War Horse. I didn't love these three films, but they aren't bad movies. They're entertaining and worth the price of admission, but not worthy of nominations for Best Picture. I will say that they are better than many of the movies I saw in 2011.
I was disappointed by the result of the Best Actor category, but I was happy at the same time. My first choice to win Best Actor was Gary Oldman for his role as George Smiley in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. He delivers the finest performance of any actor in any movie in 2011. He is just incredible. While he may not have won, Jean Dujardean won for his role as George Valentin in The Artist. I enjoyed watching him on screen, and I am glad he was nominated for this award, but I don't think he should have won it. But I can't complain too much because he is the star of my favorite movie of the year.
Final Thoughts
I love watching the Oscars every year. This was a much better show than last year's show. Billy Crystal was an awesome host, taking no prisoners as he made fun of a whole lot of people in the crowd. I think the awards shed a positive light on a year where movie quality declined from years past. And as I said in the beginning, it made the old new again.
So, I guess we could say that old stuff is once again modern.
The Positives
Firstly, this is the second year in a row where not only have I correctly predicted the winner of Best Director and Best Picture, but it's the second year in a row that the winner of those two awards were the director I thought made the best movie, and the Best Picture winner was my favorite movie of the year. Last year, my favorite movie was The King's Speech and this year, it's The Artist.
Michel Hazanavicius, director of The Artist, creates the first silent movie to win Best Picture since 1928, and only the second silent movie in history to win the Best Picture award, sharing it's title with Wings (1928). The Artist is a movie that you'll either totally fall in love with or you'll completely hate it and think it's the worst movie ever. Of all the movies I have seen about the silent film era, The Artist creates the best and most entertaining picture of that time period. The film came away with five awards; Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Jean Dujardean), Best Costume Design, and Best Original Score. If you haven't seen it yet, you have no idea what you're missing.
Hugo came away the night's other big winner, taking home five awards as well. I was in a way surprised to see that it won Best Cinematography until they showed a clip of a scene in which the camera takes us through a train station as if we were walking through it ourselves. There are a few tracking shots (which are in my opinion, the best shots in any movie, even though they are the hardest to create). Hugo is a very art oriented film, and the cinematography demonstrates it best.
My favorite category of the night was the category for Best Actress. There were two actresses who I thought deserved this award, Viola Davis in The Help, and Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady. If you've seen both of these movies, you would know what a difficult decision this must have been for the voters in the Academy. Both are extraordinary and very deserving of this award. However, I thought Meryl Streep was a bit better than Viola Davis, and clearly it showed because the Academy awarded Streep.
The Negatives
So how do I know that 2011 was a terrible year for movies? Three films that are in my opinion, only average, were nominated for Best Picture; Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, Moneyball, and War Horse. I didn't love these three films, but they aren't bad movies. They're entertaining and worth the price of admission, but not worthy of nominations for Best Picture. I will say that they are better than many of the movies I saw in 2011.
I was disappointed by the result of the Best Actor category, but I was happy at the same time. My first choice to win Best Actor was Gary Oldman for his role as George Smiley in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. He delivers the finest performance of any actor in any movie in 2011. He is just incredible. While he may not have won, Jean Dujardean won for his role as George Valentin in The Artist. I enjoyed watching him on screen, and I am glad he was nominated for this award, but I don't think he should have won it. But I can't complain too much because he is the star of my favorite movie of the year.
Final Thoughts
I love watching the Oscars every year. This was a much better show than last year's show. Billy Crystal was an awesome host, taking no prisoners as he made fun of a whole lot of people in the crowd. I think the awards shed a positive light on a year where movie quality declined from years past. And as I said in the beginning, it made the old new again.
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