Oscar Predictions 2012: Zero Hour

With the 84th Academy Awards only hours away, I have decided to reveal my predictions, ranked from most likely to win through least likely to win. I took on all the categories, some of which I have not seen all the nominees for and are thus wild guesses. This list does not represent what I feel should win, but are the conclusions reached given the numbers I ran, the voters I polled, and my keen natural instincts. Check below the jump to see all the predictions, and happy viewing!

Smash Cuts: Hanna

Hanna (Wright, 2011)

Does it count as a revenge fantasy if everyone is terrible? Well, you know, except for the times where they aren't. But who cares about those times, we need the testosterone to flow! We need to see that you have balls! Balls! Action! Killing! Balls! You really have to admire the balls of what is likely the year's best action film - I mean really - simply because it takes the conceit of bringing this tiny fourteen year old female and turns her in to a force of unstoppable brutality. This is probably what The Hunger Games is like, except good. You have big shoes to fill. Figuratively anyway, Saorise Ronan probably doesn't have abnormally large feet. I know she doesn't cry! Except - of course - when she does. By moving at such a break neck pace it's hard to get bogged down in all the plot intricacies or the weak characters. We just need to cut.

Smash Cuts: The Secret World Of Arrietty

The Secret World Of Arrietty (Yonebayashi, 2012)

Cultures clash, worlds collide, while the trivial takes on the weight of the universe. Assuming it has a weight and we all aren't just floating along. But perhaps we do float along, movies carry us away into these worlds where the magic becomes real. Where we can forget the grim reality lurking in the backdrop. Our rats are only possible threats, we worry for naught when there are adventures to be shared. Or perhaps just borrowed. It's hard to gaze upon the foreign without interacting, for the imagination to build up a reality that just cannot be true, but these moments of hesitation are truly the ones that reveal who we really are, the fleeting glimpses stretched out until the reality is washed away by the dream.

Smash Cuts: The Descendants

It has been a while, friends. I have been watching a ton of films in preparation for awards season, and the hectic life of grad school has once again caught up with me. When you spend the majority of your day writing for pleasure, sometimes you need a break. But breaks are for pleasure too, right? So while I continue to go through films that I won't have the time to give proper reviews of, I figured I would test out some capsule reviews and thoughts about what I am watching. Starting off with the latest from Alexander Payne:

The Descendants (Payne, 2011)

Hawaii isn't just some paradise where we go to forget all of our troubles. It's a place with actual (beautiful) people with real world problems. Sometimes when we are looking down the gun we don't stop to consider that the gun might actually just be looking back at us. We can't run away from our problems, despite how goofy George Clooney may make that particular action seem. We have to actually run to the problems, face them head on. Sometimes it's hard to know whether we should care about our comatose wife who needs the plug pulled, our bratty kids, or that multi-million dollar land deal. See, we're not so different after all.

Taking On 2011: Top Films (Final List)

All good things must come to an end, and now I am in a position where I feel like it's time to close the page on the previous year in cinema. Alright, that's a bit of a lie.

Many of you may know that Oscar nominations were just announced, but why deal with the stuffy Academy when we (remember, read this "we" as "me," my friends) have a list of the real Best Pictures right here at Processed Grass? We don't need some silly rule that says maybe there are 10 films worth recognizing except when there aren't, we'll give you ten. In fact, there are plenty more that deserve recognition! But I have to show some restraint people, life must be lived.

This goes beyond performances. This is not a game! Who will be left standing when the music stops? It's time to find out!

Taking On 2011: Lead Performances

As the previous year dovetails in to the ether, and we can all begin looking ahead to the year that will be rather than the year that was, I still find myself wandering down this old, dusty road. If there's one thing I can certainly say about 2011, it's that movies most certainly released. And in those movies, actors and actresses gave performances. Some of these individuals will even be nominated for Academy Awards. Others have even taken home the Golden Globes, so it's like the world is always looking back at them (or their house keepers I guess) each time they walk past that fireplace mantle. But sometimes the best awards are the ones without tangible counterparts, sometimes the best awards are right here on Processed Grass.

Eligibility requirements, because this is a super serious list that will probably effect the overall Academy Awards race if individuals happen to make the crossover, are discussed briefly in my Supporting Performances post. But we aren't supporting right now, now we're the stars, baby!

Taking On 2011: Supporting Performances

Now that I have finished up my music and video game coverage over the past couple of weeks, and with Oscar nominations right on the horizon, it seems fitting that I start focusing on the world of 2011 cinema. While I will withhold qualitative judgments until later, there are still plenty of films from last year that I want to see despite already watching a total of 67 2011 releases, as I was compiling these lists I realized that this year was pretty fantastic for actors (both male and female). The journey itself has been long, but that's the trip, baby. We are all along for the ride, and now it's time to start making sense of this crazy, mixed up world.

Before getting to the lists, I want to briefly outline my requirements for eligibility. Basically I needed to personally have some way to access a film in the year 2011 for it to make the list. That means films like Carnage and A Dangerous Method are going to be held off until next year's list. Similarly, because my unabridged list has some films that I included as 2010 movies, but didn't see theatrical distribution or DVD release until early 2011 I am going to include them one final time this year. So even if a performance made my list last year, if the film itself is on my 2011 Master List then it can win again, as the case may be.

And with that, on to the awards!