Oscar 2012 Predictions: Best Picture

Ha! The Oscars were nearly a week ago, and now I'm posting my Best Picture article? Sadly, yes. I have to admit, this blog is grossly neglected, and has become a bit of a liability amid so many other paid and high-profile responsibilities. But it's important to keep my work at one central hub.

(Photo collage courtesy of SouthPhillyReview.com)


So, behold my Best Picture roundup at South Philly Review. How'd I do? CLICK HERE. And please be sure to check out the category-by-category predictions we did over at Slant's The House Next Door. What a fun undertaking. CLICK HERE.

Oscar Predictions: Acting and Directing

For South Philly Review, I'm predicting the winners in Oscar's Acting and Directing categories. Some of these races are sewn up as tight as a corset, while others will be neck-in-neck right up to the big night.

Next week I'll take a closer look at the Best Picture lineup, but for now, see who I chose to take home the other major stauettes. It's all online at SouthPhillyReview.com. CLICK HERE.

*And please, do check out the great work we've been doing over at The House Next Door, predicting the winners in every single Oscar category. I'm happy to be pitching in alongsode Ed Gonzalez and Eric Henderson, whose punchy commentary is some of the best on the internet. 

'Oscar Symposium' at The Film Experience

I was absolutely thrilled to take part in Nathaniel Rogers's Oscar Symposium this year. What a treat! I chatted with Nat, Mark Harris, Nick Davis, and Ali Arikan -- distinguished and hugely insightful gentlemen all.

The chat went on for three days, and you can get each installment over at The Film Experience:

DAY ONE
DAY TWO
DAY THREE

Oscar 2012: Nomination Predictions

This year, my official Oscar nomination predictions (in select categories) have been published over at Slant Magazine's The House Next Door, where I've been giddily serving as Managing Editor since October. I wish I could tell you I feel rock-solid about all my predictions, but alas, 2011 is the freaking craziest year ever for the Oscars. Nonetheless, a lot of passion and punditry went into these posts, and I should hope they all make for fun reads. Below are links to the categories I covered. While over there, I suggest you poke around and take a peek at the fields assessed by my colleague, Eric Henderson. Man knows his stuff, and can turn a helluva snarky phrase:

BEST COSTUME DESIGN 
BEST MAKEUP
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
BEST EDITING
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
BEST DIRECTOR
BEST ACTRESS
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
BEST PICTURE

Golden Globe Predictions 2012

For South Philly Review, I've predicted the winners of tomorrow night's Golden Globe Awards, all so you don't have to. Will it be Davis or Streep? Clooney or Pitt? Dujardin or Gosling? Okay, the last one isn't a contest, but humor the pairing anyway.

For complete predictions in all the film categories, CLICK HERE.

Christmas in July: The (Halfway) Best of 2011

It's July. Half of 2011 is gone. Time to round up the best of what we've seen. I honestly thought I'd have many more beloved contenders at this point (I certainly did last year), but such is life. Sometimes the gold is scattered, and sometimes it's simply scarce. (And I don't want to sound like a whiner, but there's even a handful of things below I'm not all that nuts about.)

But let's not focus on that! Positivity, positivity. Here are my thus-far faves of 2011, in handy Oscar-ish categories. A few of them are bound to make it to the December home stretch:

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Marion Cotillard,
"Midnight in Paris"
Melissa McCarthy,
"Bridesmaids"
Wendy McClendon-Covey,
"Bridesmaids"
Amy Ryan, "Win Win"
Juno Temple, "Kaboom"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (do not adjust your sets!)

Michael Fassbender,
"Jane Eyre"
Bruce Greenwood,
"Meek's Cutoff"
John Krasinski,
"Something Borrowed"
Christopher Plummer, "Beginners"
Mark Strong, "Green Lantern"

BEST ACTRESS

Juliette Binoche,
"Certified Copy"
Mia Wasikowska, "Jane Eyre"
Kristen Wiig, "Bridesmaids"
Michelle Williams,
"Meek's Cutoff"

BEST ACTOR (easily the weakest bunch)

Mel Gibson, "The Beaver"
Hamish Linklater, "The Future"
William Shimell,
"Certified Copy"

BEST DIRECTOR

Miranda July, "The Future"
Abbas Kiarostami,
"Certified Copy"
Terrence Malick,
"The Tree of Life"
Kelly Reichardt, "Meek's Cutoff"

BEST SCREENPLAY

Miranda July, "The Future"
Abbas Kiarostami,
"Certified Copy"
Tom McCarthy, "Win Win"
Mike Mills, "Beginners"
Jonathan Raymond,
"Meek's Cutoff"
Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo, "Bridesmaids"

BEST PICTURE

"Bridesmaids"
"Certified Copy"
"The Future"
"Meek's Cutoff"
"The Tree of Life"

(Special mention for "Page One: Inside the New York Times," which I currently have a semi-irrational crush on. Review coming soon!)

If you're reading this, what have I missed that could really beef up these lists? At the top of my must-see queue at the moment are "Incendies," "City of Life and Death" and "Cave of Forgotten Dreams."

Linking Tony, Mary and Woody

Nathaniel from The Film Experience has generously invited me to take part in a whole host of recent guesting gigs at his site, and I'm lumping them together here in one linky package.

- First, I joined Nathaniel and the great Guy Lodge for a red carpet chat regarding the good, the bad and the...Frances McDormand of Tony Awards fashion. Fun stuff. READ IT HERE.

- Then came my third installment of Cinema de Gym, which took on the sticky subject of "There's Something About Mary," aka The "Hangover" of the 90s. GET IT HERE.

- Finally, I took part in my second Film Experience podcast, talking "Midnight in Paris," Woody Allen and Oscar rule changes with Nathaniel and the talented Mark Blankenship. HAVE A LISTEN.