Top Ten and Hollmann Awards: The Finale

Ah, once again, I've bitten off more than I can chew. It's already March, the Oscars are over, so there's no reason to stay in 2012 for much longer. My Top Three are reviewed below in the Best Picture column, but let's gaze first at Makeup, Supporting Actress and Art Direction:

Top Ten: Zero Dark Thirty

This year for the Hollmann Awards, we're counting down my Top Ten of the Year -- one entry per day, coupled with two categories -- leading up the naming of Best Picture of the Year.

#5. Zero Dark Thirty

dir: Kathryn Bigelow

wr: Mark Boal

cin: Greig Fraser

Let's get this out of the way. I am not someone who regularly judges a film's merits based on whether or not I can gel with it politically. I don't think Nixon was some sad-sack boogeyman, and I ain't sure about the second shooter question re: JFK, but you better believe I'm an Oliver Stone fan. Simply put, his movies are masterfully edited, audaciously shot, ambitiously written, and fucking entertaining. If a movie turns me off and I cite the stance it takes as a reason, it's probably more to do with a failure to comfortably integrate said point-of-view within the context of the narrative.

Which is all a long way of saying that I have no idea what Zero Dark Thirty's stance is on torture, and really, I find that it doesn't matter all that much. All I know is that I saw a thriller that had me engrossed from beginning to end, even through the slower, middle section.

Top Ten: 21 Jump Street

This year for the Hollmann Awards, we're counting down my Top Ten of the Year -- one entry per day, coupled with two categories -- leading up the naming of Best Picture of the Year.

#7. 21 Jump Street

dir: Phil Lord/Chris Miller

wr: Michael Bacall, story by Bacall/Jonah Hill, from the television series

cin: Barry Peterson

I have never seen an episode of the original "21 Jump Street", but I knew I liked Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill enough to be excited for the film adaptation. The trailer promised an action comedy in which two young men who went to high school in the early 00s return as undercover cops, only to undergo a culture shock when it turns out smart, sensitive guys are in and overlord jocks are out.

Top Ten: Moonrise Kingdom

This year for the Hollmann Awards, we're counting down my Top Ten of the Year -- one entry per day, coupled with two categories -- leading up the naming of Best Picture of the Year.

#8. Moonrise Kingdom

dir: Wes Anderson

wr: Wes Anderson/Roman Coppola

cin: Robert D. Yeoman

Moonrise Kingdom, like many of the films on this list, came with a lot on its shoulders. In this case, it wasn't festival hype or a franchise anniversary, but merely the fact that every new film by a respected auteur is met with baited breath, apologists and schadenfreude enthusiasts. Wes Anderson is especially prone to these, I feel, because his films come prepackaged with an upfront artifice that can come off as "twee", if not a way of holding real emotions and conflicts at arm's length. It's understandable to fear that the lost-in-time aesthetic utilized so beautifully in The Royal Tenenbaums would wear thin eventually.

And yet, Moonrise Kingdom may be the best film he's ever made. This time around, the retro designs and stylized miniatures add further depth to the story of a summer romance between an orphaned boy scout (Jared Gilman) and a lonely local girl (Kara Hayward). They're in that bizarre stage of pre-adolescence where they're having these feelings and puttering around with the physical aspect, yet still maintaining a degree of innocence and naivete that leads to fish-hook earrings and packing late library books as survival supplies. Anderson wisely guides the child actors into very serious performances, never overplaying the kid aspects, but treating them as mini-adults -- which, of course, all kids think they are. They are confident even when caught.

The 2012 Hollmann Award Nominees!

My God, so we're here already.
Every year since 2006, usually after a bunch of Guilds but always before the Oscar nominations, I present my nominees for the Hollmann Awards. Here you will find Oscar front-runners and Oscar never-in-the-race-ers; veteran favorites and new faces; strange opinions (Best Picture) and indisputable facts (Best Actress). Yet no matter what odd mix you may find here, know that it all comes from a deep and sincere love of all things cinema.

It took a full week to whittle down those longlists into these nominees, and it will probably take a month to figure out winners. It hurt to leave movies off the Top 25, it hurt to leave movies off the longlists, and it hurt that I couldn't have ballots with six names. But you gotta make a choice, no matter what people may say.

So here, in the very order I figured out my feelings, are the nominees for the Seventh Annual Hollmann Awards:

So Long, 2012: The Best of the Year

Here is the beginning of my post.

Since 2008, I have posted the rankings of my favorite films of the year on the last day of the year. At first, it was just a Top Ten, but since 2009, I have compiled a Top 25. Why? Because I usually love more movies than I dislike; I have no real genre bias, nor do I differentiate between love for a wacky comedy, an Oscar contender, or Speed Racer. It's about what carries me off, lifts me off my seat and into the world of the film itself, forgetting for those two hours (or, increasingly, two and a half hours) that I am Walter Hollmann, blogger/movie theater employee. It's about what films remind me of why my best friend and I call ourselves Cinemaniacs.

Last year, I saw 82 films, and the result was a Top Ten that looked like this:

1. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

2. Drive

3. Super 8

4. Midnight in Paris

5. Young Adult

6. Contagion

7. The Ides of March

8. We Need to Talk About Kevin

9. Beginners

10. Anonymous

This year, I have seen a whopping 103 films, my best ever!

(more after the jump)

Globes Giveth (Kidman), Globes Taketh (Knightley)

SONG

For You - Act of Valor

Safe and Sound - The Hunger Games

Suddenly - Les Miserables

Skyfall - Skyfall

Not Running Anymore - Stand Up Guys

Stand Up Guys? The Taylor Swift song from Hunger Games? Act of Valor? Guys, the only proper response to the HFPA is limitless adoration.

SCORE

Anna Karenina - Dario Marianelli

Argo - Alexandre Desplat

Cloud Atlas - Johnny Klimek/Reinhold Heil/Tom Tykwer

Life of Pi - Mychael Danna

Lincoln - John Williams

Finally, some love for Cloud Atlas! All very strong contenders; expect win for Karenina, Atlas or Pi. 

SCREENPLAY

Mark Boal, Zero Dark Thirty

Tony Kushner, Lincoln

David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook

Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained

Chris Terrio, Argo

Your usual suspects, with two counting as original (Zero, Django), and three as adapted. Still think Silver Linings Playbook is weak in the script department, but I better get used to this.

BEST ACTOR IN A MUSICAL/COMEDY

Jack Black, Bernie

Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook

Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables

Ewan McGregor, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Bill Murray, Hyde Park on Hudson

Surprised that Hyde Park on Hudson can be considered a movie; especially depressing considering that Tommy Lee Jones' performance in Hope Springs goes unrecognized. Abandoned by SAG, the BFCA, and now the HFPA. Woe to the man who does not campaign for the pre-September release.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Alan Arkin, Argo

Leonardo DiCaprio, Django Unchained

Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master

Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln

Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained

Arkin, Hoffman and Jones are definite locks at this point, but Globes switch it up a bit by nominating both DiCaprio and Waltz for Django. I'm surprised they didn't go for De Niro in Silver Linings, but they do love their Tarantino actors.

BEST ACTRESS - DRAMA

Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty

Marion Cotillard, Rust and Bone

Helen Mirren, Hitchcock

Naomi Watts, The Impossible

Rachel Weisz, The Deep Blue Sea

Emmanuelle Riva looking more and more like the outsider looking in...unless she winds up as the surprise nominee come January 10. Keira Knightley's incredible performance in Anna Karenina is officially KIA. If she can't get support from the Globes, there's no hope left. Glad for Cotillard, though. And how about that Rachel Weisz!

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Amy Adams, The Master

Sally Field, Lincoln

Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables

Helen Hunt, The Sessions

Nicole Kidman, The Paperboy

NICOLE KIDMAN. Oh my God, this is actually happening!

BEST ACTRESS - MUSICAL/COMEDY

Emily Blunt, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Judi Dench, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook

Maggie Smith, Quartet

Meryl Streep, Hope Springs

Yeah, I had a feeling Salmon Fishing would be their cup of tea, showing up both here and in Actor. Dench, Lawrence and Streep were givens, but I see they made up to Smith for not nominating her in Supporting Actress. She actually is delightful in Quartet, but Hoffman (or his editor or someone) chose to cut away from a lot of her beats, undercutting some of her performance. 

BEST PICTURE - MUSICAL/COMEDY

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Les Miserables

Moonrise Kingdom

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Silver Linings Playbook

BEST ACTOR - DRAMA

Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln

Richard Gere, Arbitrage

John Hawkes, The Sessions

Joaquin Phoenix, The Master

Denzel Washington, Flight

It's official -- the HFPA likes The Master more than SAG.

BEST DIRECTOR

Ben Affleck, Argo

Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty

Ang Lee, Life of Pi

Steven Spielberg, Lincoln

Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained

BEST PICTURE - DRAMA

Argo

Django Unchained

Life of Pi

Lincoln

Zero Dark Thirty

Well, of course the best-directed films must be the dramas! Held out hope for a nod for Wes Anderson, but screenplay was already crowded and he was a longshot for director. No nod for Tom Hooper, either, which is a surprise considering Les Miserables was the supposed front-runner a week ago.

I'm grateful for Dench, Cotillard, Team Lincoln, Moonrise Kingdom and Nicole Kidman. I'm burning a candle for Anna Karenina and Cloud Atlas, two masterpieces that are more than their scores (not to look that gift horse in the mouth, though: deserved noms, both).

Actors Nomming Actors: SAG

The Screen Actors Guild nominees arrived this morning at (roughly) 5:55AM, PST. I had an alarm set and everything, almost falling back asleep with the thought, "Eh, it's just the Globes, I'll read everyone's take later." Which is wrong in many ways. What kind of monster would choose to sleep during the Globe nominees? Had I already forgotten last year, when announcer Woody Harrelson objected to Rampart's complete absence, and when Sofia Vergara Charo'd out with her pronunciation of Scorsese's name (Ma-reen Scor-sez)?

Not that that matters, because that's tomorrow. What matters is this: SCREEN ACTORS GUILD nominees!

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Alan Arkin, Argo

Javier Bardem, Skyfall

Robert DeNiro, Silver Linings Playbook

Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master

Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln

SURPRISE!: Bardem gets in for his Bond villain, the first time the franchise has been honored by any of the major guilds (WGA, DGA, PGA, SAG).

HOORAY: Bardem obviously, but even though they're pretty much locks, I'm always rooting for Hoffman and Jones in their respective films. I didn't care much for The Master, but I think Hoffman does a magnificent job of presenting the subtle manipulations and irrepressible charm of Lancaster Dodd, as well as the little weaknesses that weaken his own fortitude.

As for Jones in Lincoln: bad-ass. (You saw the Cinemaniacs review of Lincoln, right?)

MIA: Leonardo DiCaprio (Django Unchained); I blame the late arrival of the film, since Tarantino's flicks usually pick up some steam at these things

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Sally Field, Lincoln

Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables

Helen Hunt, The Sessions

Nicole Kidman, The Paperboy

Maggie Smith, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

SURPRISE!: Kidman gets in for her white trash sexed-up Barbie doll in Lee Daniels' dark, camp thriller The Paperboy.

HOORAY: SAG gave out pleasant surprises higgledy-piggledy this year: Kidman gave one of the strongest performances of the year (even if it isn't, in my mind, a supporting one). Also appreciate the continued love for Hunt's work in The Sessions, though hers is not a supporting performance either.

MIA: Ann Dowd (Compliance), Amy Adams (The Master), Samantha Barks (Les Miserables), Judi Dench (Skyfall)

BEST ACTOR

Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook

Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln

John Hawkes, The Sessions

Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables

Denzel Washington, Flight

SURPRISE!: None. For me, anyway. I know others were expecting Joaquin Phoenix in The Master, but I sure as hell wasn't.

HOORAY: No Phoenix!

MIA: Joaquin Phoenix (The Master), Anthony Hopkins (Hitchcock), Jean-Louis Trintignant (Amour)

BEST ACTRESS

Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty

Marion Cotillard, Rust and Bone

Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook

Helen Mirren, Hitchcock

Naomi Watts, The Impossible

SURPRISE!: This goes into MIA as well, but the absence of both Emmanuelle Riva and Jean-Louis Trintignant for Amour surprised many today. I'm assuming that they weren't eligible, or at least unseen by the members of the nominating committee. Mirren and Watts making it in raised my eyebrows.

HOORAY: Cotillard, whose film I just saw last night, is superb.

MIA: Emmanuelle Riva (Amour), Judi Dench (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel)

BEST ENSEMBLE

Argo

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Lincoln

Les Miserables

Silver Linings Playbook

SURPRISE!: The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel!

HOORAY: Argo, Best Exotic, Lincoln and Silver Linings all boasted superlative casts with great chemistry; in some cases, they saved the movie (but you've seen the Cinemaniacs reviews of Silver Linings Playbook, right?). I haven't seen Les Mis, so only time will tell.

MIA: Strong ensemble work this year - Moonrise Kingdom, Magic Mike, Damsels in Distress, The Sessions, The Paperboy, and Cloud Atlas all deserved nods here, but I wouldn't know which of them to choose and which of these solid nominees to replace.