Sunday, March 05, 2006
Oscar predictions and the first annual Stuarts
As promised, and not a moment too soon, here are the first annual "Stuart" awards - named, of course, after that obscure yet much admired film actor, Stuart Sklar. Yes, that is I.
First, some words of introduction. I have seen 32 movies that were released in (the U.S. in) 2005. I did not see a few of the Oscar-nominated movies, although I did see all of those nominated for Best Picture. I did not make notes of films as I saw them - or at least not notes I collected or readily have access to - so there is bound to be a bias for films I saw more recently. This hurts mostly Crash, which I saw quite early in the year. I saw 26 of the 32 in a theatre; the only one where this made a signficant difference was with Batman Begins, which I saw on DVD on my relatively small television screen, and which would clearly have benefitted from a big screen. Lastly, some categories - in particular Original Screenplay, Director, Cinematography, Actor, and especially Supporting Actor - were very strong and required some serious culling; whereas one category - Actress - I struggled to fill with five nominations. I also regret that, because of my lack of notes, I was unable to choose an Original Score winner. This is a category on which I have very strong feelings, and feel that the Oscars almost always get it badly wrong.
All right, with that out of the way, here they are, the 2005 Stuarts:
Best Picture
Jarhead
A History of Violence
Crash
Cache
The Squid and the Whale
(Honourable mentions to The Constant Gardener; Capote; and Good Night and Good Luck)
Best Director
Fernando Meirelles, The Constant Gardener
Sam Mendes, Jarhead
David Cronenberg, A History of Violence
Bennett Miller, Capote
Michael Haneke, Cache
(Honourable mentions to Steven Spielberg, Munich; Wong Kar Wei, 2046; and Chris Nolan, Batman Begins)
Best Original Screenplay
Noah Baumbach, The Squid and the Whale
George Clooney and Grant Heslov, Good Night and Good Luck
Michael Haneke, Cache
Paul Haggis and Robert Moresco, Crash
Andrew Niccol, Lord of War
(Honourable mentions to Francois Boulay and Jean-Marc Vallee, C.R.A.Z.Y.; Woody Allen, Match Point; Stephen Gaghan, Syriana; and Miranda July, Me and You and Everyone We Know)
Best Adapted Screenplay
Dan Futterman, Capote
Jeffrey Caine, The Constant Gardener
Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, Brokeback Mountain
Josh Olson, A History of Violence
William Broyles, Jr., Jarhead
(Honourable mention to Tony Kushner and Eric Roth, Munich)
Best Actor in Leading Role
Jeff Daniels, The Squid and the Whale
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote
Ralph Fiennes, The Constant Gardener
Viggo Mortensen, A History of Violence
Eric Bana, Munich
(Honourable mentions to Heath Ledger, Brokeback Mountain; Tony Leung, 2046; Daniel Auteuil, Cache; and Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Match Point)
Best Actress in a Leading Role
Reese Witherspoon, Walk the Line
Embeth Davidtz, Junebug
Claire Danes, Shopgirl
Laura Linney, The Squid and the Whale
Charlize Therron, North Country
Best Supporting Actor
Terrence Howard, Crash
Clifton Collins, Jr., Capote
Danny Huston, The Constant Gardener
Frank Langella, Good Night and Good Luck
Ciaran Hinds, Munich
(Honourable mentions to Michael Caine, Batman Begins; Michel Cote, C.R.A.Z.Y.; Bill Nighy, The Constant Gardener; Peter Sarsgaard, Jarhead; Richard Jenkins, North Country; George Clooney, Syriana; and Michael Pena and Shaun Toub, Crash)
Best Supporting Actress
Rachel Weisz, The Constant Gardener
Annie Girardot, Cache
Maria Bello, A History of Violence
Amy Adams, Junebug
Thandie Newton, Crash
(Honourable mentions to Michelle Williams, Brokeback Mountain; Frances McDormand, North Country; and Emily Mortimer, Match Point)
Best Cinematography
Roger Deakins, Jarhead
Janusz Kaminski, Munich and War of the Worlds
Cesar Charlone, The Constant Gardener
Robert Elswit, Good Night and Good Luck
Christopher Doyle, Pung-Leung Kwan, and Yiu-Fai Lai, 2046
(Honourable mentions to Wally Pfister, Batman Begins; Rodrigo Prieto, Brokeback Mountain, Adam Kimmel, Capote; and Laurent Chalot and Jerome Maison, March of the Penguins)
Others
As I think is apparent, the best foreign language film I saw - by far - was Cache, from France; but I didn't see enough films in this category. Likewise for documentary film, where I only saw one - March of the Penguins; although it was excellent. (Does The Aristocrats count as a documentary?)
So, there they are. The prizes? Any of the winners is encouraged to hire Stuart Sklar for his or her next film.
Now, for my Oscar predictions. I am going to go with a Brokeback Mountain sweep. Well, not really a sweep - I'm giving it five Oscars.
Picture - Brokeback Mountain
Actor - Hoffman
Actress - Witherspoon
Supporting Actor - Paul Giamatti (make-up for not being nominated for Sideways)
Supporting Actress - Catherine Keener (tough one)
Director - Ang Lee
Original Screenplay - Crash
Adapted Screenplay - Brokeback Mountain
Cinematography - Brokeback Mountain
Editing - Munich
Art Direction - Memoirs of a Geisha
Costume Design - Memoirs of a Geisha
Original Score - Brokeback Mountain
Original Song - "In the Deep", Crash (as usual, really weak category; they couldn't even get 5 nominations)
Make-up - Star Wars: Episode III
Sound - King Kong (got to get something for all that money)
Sound Editing - War of the Worlds (kind of covering my bets here)
Visual Effects - King Kong (the movie was five hours long, it mush have had some good effects)
Animated Feature - Wallace & Gromit
Foreign Language Film - Tsotsi
Documentary Feature - March of the Penguins
Documentary Short - A Note of Triumph (as usual, I'm completely guessing)
Animated Short - Badgered (no idea)
Live Action Short - Our Time Is Up (there's a reason these categories are listed last)
Hope it's a good show. Good luck, Leibo!
First, some words of introduction. I have seen 32 movies that were released in (the U.S. in) 2005. I did not see a few of the Oscar-nominated movies, although I did see all of those nominated for Best Picture. I did not make notes of films as I saw them - or at least not notes I collected or readily have access to - so there is bound to be a bias for films I saw more recently. This hurts mostly Crash, which I saw quite early in the year. I saw 26 of the 32 in a theatre; the only one where this made a signficant difference was with Batman Begins, which I saw on DVD on my relatively small television screen, and which would clearly have benefitted from a big screen. Lastly, some categories - in particular Original Screenplay, Director, Cinematography, Actor, and especially Supporting Actor - were very strong and required some serious culling; whereas one category - Actress - I struggled to fill with five nominations. I also regret that, because of my lack of notes, I was unable to choose an Original Score winner. This is a category on which I have very strong feelings, and feel that the Oscars almost always get it badly wrong.
All right, with that out of the way, here they are, the 2005 Stuarts:
Best Picture
Jarhead
A History of Violence
Crash
Cache
The Squid and the Whale
(Honourable mentions to The Constant Gardener; Capote; and Good Night and Good Luck)
Best Director
Fernando Meirelles, The Constant Gardener
Sam Mendes, Jarhead
David Cronenberg, A History of Violence
Bennett Miller, Capote
Michael Haneke, Cache
(Honourable mentions to Steven Spielberg, Munich; Wong Kar Wei, 2046; and Chris Nolan, Batman Begins)
Best Original Screenplay
Noah Baumbach, The Squid and the Whale
George Clooney and Grant Heslov, Good Night and Good Luck
Michael Haneke, Cache
Paul Haggis and Robert Moresco, Crash
Andrew Niccol, Lord of War
(Honourable mentions to Francois Boulay and Jean-Marc Vallee, C.R.A.Z.Y.; Woody Allen, Match Point; Stephen Gaghan, Syriana; and Miranda July, Me and You and Everyone We Know)
Best Adapted Screenplay
Dan Futterman, Capote
Jeffrey Caine, The Constant Gardener
Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, Brokeback Mountain
Josh Olson, A History of Violence
William Broyles, Jr., Jarhead
(Honourable mention to Tony Kushner and Eric Roth, Munich)
Best Actor in Leading Role
Jeff Daniels, The Squid and the Whale
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote
Ralph Fiennes, The Constant Gardener
Viggo Mortensen, A History of Violence
Eric Bana, Munich
(Honourable mentions to Heath Ledger, Brokeback Mountain; Tony Leung, 2046; Daniel Auteuil, Cache; and Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Match Point)
Best Actress in a Leading Role
Reese Witherspoon, Walk the Line
Embeth Davidtz, Junebug
Claire Danes, Shopgirl
Laura Linney, The Squid and the Whale
Charlize Therron, North Country
Best Supporting Actor
Terrence Howard, Crash
Clifton Collins, Jr., Capote
Danny Huston, The Constant Gardener
Frank Langella, Good Night and Good Luck
Ciaran Hinds, Munich
(Honourable mentions to Michael Caine, Batman Begins; Michel Cote, C.R.A.Z.Y.; Bill Nighy, The Constant Gardener; Peter Sarsgaard, Jarhead; Richard Jenkins, North Country; George Clooney, Syriana; and Michael Pena and Shaun Toub, Crash)
Best Supporting Actress
Rachel Weisz, The Constant Gardener
Annie Girardot, Cache
Maria Bello, A History of Violence
Amy Adams, Junebug
Thandie Newton, Crash
(Honourable mentions to Michelle Williams, Brokeback Mountain; Frances McDormand, North Country; and Emily Mortimer, Match Point)
Best Cinematography
Roger Deakins, Jarhead
Janusz Kaminski, Munich and War of the Worlds
Cesar Charlone, The Constant Gardener
Robert Elswit, Good Night and Good Luck
Christopher Doyle, Pung-Leung Kwan, and Yiu-Fai Lai, 2046
(Honourable mentions to Wally Pfister, Batman Begins; Rodrigo Prieto, Brokeback Mountain, Adam Kimmel, Capote; and Laurent Chalot and Jerome Maison, March of the Penguins)
Others
As I think is apparent, the best foreign language film I saw - by far - was Cache, from France; but I didn't see enough films in this category. Likewise for documentary film, where I only saw one - March of the Penguins; although it was excellent. (Does The Aristocrats count as a documentary?)
So, there they are. The prizes? Any of the winners is encouraged to hire Stuart Sklar for his or her next film.
Now, for my Oscar predictions. I am going to go with a Brokeback Mountain sweep. Well, not really a sweep - I'm giving it five Oscars.
Picture - Brokeback Mountain
Actor - Hoffman
Actress - Witherspoon
Supporting Actor - Paul Giamatti (make-up for not being nominated for Sideways)
Supporting Actress - Catherine Keener (tough one)
Director - Ang Lee
Original Screenplay - Crash
Adapted Screenplay - Brokeback Mountain
Cinematography - Brokeback Mountain
Editing - Munich
Art Direction - Memoirs of a Geisha
Costume Design - Memoirs of a Geisha
Original Score - Brokeback Mountain
Original Song - "In the Deep", Crash (as usual, really weak category; they couldn't even get 5 nominations)
Make-up - Star Wars: Episode III
Sound - King Kong (got to get something for all that money)
Sound Editing - War of the Worlds (kind of covering my bets here)
Visual Effects - King Kong (the movie was five hours long, it mush have had some good effects)
Animated Feature - Wallace & Gromit
Foreign Language Film - Tsotsi
Documentary Feature - March of the Penguins
Documentary Short - A Note of Triumph (as usual, I'm completely guessing)
Animated Short - Badgered (no idea)
Live Action Short - Our Time Is Up (there's a reason these categories are listed last)
Hope it's a good show. Good luck, Leibo!
# posted by Stephen @ 1:01 a.m. 
Comments:
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Hmm. I wrote a comment on jon's comment, but in attempting to post it, it got gobbled up in the great maw of computer error. Fuck!!! Why don't software developers include automatic back-up in everything they make? It's intolerable that things like this can happen.
Am I going to rewrite it? No. In brief, I expressed my suprise that Kaminski was not nominated, and my dismay that Deakins was not. I concluded with a philippic about why Jarhead received no nominations at all, which I am convinced is because it's a movie by a Brit which is critical not only of American foreign policy, but specifically puts the American fighting man in a very dark light. Even in liberal Hollywood, that is an unpardonable sin.
Am I going to rewrite it? No. In brief, I expressed my suprise that Kaminski was not nominated, and my dismay that Deakins was not. I concluded with a philippic about why Jarhead received no nominations at all, which I am convinced is because it's a movie by a Brit which is critical not only of American foreign policy, but specifically puts the American fighting man in a very dark light. Even in liberal Hollywood, that is an unpardonable sin.
I think the other reason there were no nominations for Jarhead was because it was bad.
I would like to applaud your Squid and the Whale nominations - I saw it at TIFF and declared it the best film of the year right then and there.
In the doc category, I think that Murderball should have edged out the Nat'l Geographic-ish March. It was a better crafted film, perhaps only losing because they picked a subject TOO rich with inherent drama and conflict.
As for 'Best Song', I can only wonder...After leaving the theatre, I had the hook for Hustle and Flow stuck in my head for days...aparently Academy voters suffered the same fate.
Stewart's '36 Mafia:1, Scorcese:0' line was the highlight of my evening. He stole it from my lips - it was already halfway into my blog when the much-funnier-than-me host spit it.
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I would like to applaud your Squid and the Whale nominations - I saw it at TIFF and declared it the best film of the year right then and there.
In the doc category, I think that Murderball should have edged out the Nat'l Geographic-ish March. It was a better crafted film, perhaps only losing because they picked a subject TOO rich with inherent drama and conflict.
As for 'Best Song', I can only wonder...After leaving the theatre, I had the hook for Hustle and Flow stuck in my head for days...aparently Academy voters suffered the same fate.
Stewart's '36 Mafia:1, Scorcese:0' line was the highlight of my evening. He stole it from my lips - it was already halfway into my blog when the much-funnier-than-me host spit it.
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