If I Picked The Oscars....

With the 2011 Oscar Announcement's looming, I think I'll take this opportunity to share with you my own picks for the best work in films in the last year. Do you care? Probably not, but I'll share anyway :-)

Here's hoping 2012 will be even better!

Best Picture

Midnight in Paris
Beginners
Shame
The Artist
Drive
The Tree of Life
Hugo
Martha Marcy May Marlene
Warrior
Moneyball

Best Director

Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist
Terence Malick – The Tree of Life
Martin Scorcese - Hugo
Mike Mills – Beginners
Steve McQueen – Shame

Best Actor

Michael Fassbender – Shame
George Clooney – The Descendants
Demian Bichir – A Better Life
Ryan Gosling – Drive
Brad Pitt – Moneyball

Best Actress

Michelle Williams – My Week With Marilyn
Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady
Elizabeth Olsen – Marcy Mary May Marlene
Carey Mulligan – Shame
Tilda Swinton – We Need To Talk About Kevin

Best Supporting Actor

John Hawkes – Martha Marcy May Marlene
Albert Brooks – Drive
Bryan Cranston – Drive
Ben Kingsley - Hugo
Christopher Plummer – Beginners

Best Supporting Actress

Viola Davis – The Help
Shailene Woodley – The Descendants
Berenice Bejo – The Artist
Jessica Chastain – The Help
Octavia Spencer – The Help

Best Original Screenplay

Woody Allen – Midnight in Paris
Mike Mills – Beginners
Terrence Malick – The Tree of Life
Steve McQueen, Abi Morgan – Shame
Sean Durkin – Martha Marcy May Marlene

Best Adapted Screenplay

John Logan – Hugo
Alexander Payne and Nick Faxon & Jim Rash – The Descendants
Steve Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin - Moneyball
Amini Hossien – Drive
Lee Hall, Richard Curtis – War Horse

Best Cinematography

Emmanuel Lubezki - The Tree of Life
Janusz Kaminski – War Horse
Robert Richardson - Hugo
Guilliame Schiffman - The Artist
Steve Bobbitt - Shame

Best Editor

Hank Corwin, Jay Rabinowitz, Daniel Rezende, Billy Weber, Mark Yoshikawa – The Tree of Life
Anne-Sophie Bion, Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist
Michael Kahn – War Horse
Thelma Schoonmaker - Hugo
Joe Walker - Shame

Best Art Direction

Dante Ferretti - Hugo
Rick Carter - War Horse
Jack Fisk – The Tree of Life
Gregory Hooper – The Artist
James Murakami – J Edgar

Best Costume Design

Sandy Powell - Hugo
Jacqueline West – The Tree of Life
Joanna Johnston – War Horse
Jill Taylor – My Week With Marilyn

Best Original Score

Alexander Desplat - The Tree of Life
Cliff Martinez – Drive
John Williams – War Horse
Ludovic Bource – The Artist
Mark Isham - Warrior

Best Sound

War Horse
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Hugo
The Tree of Life
Warrior

Best Animated Film

Rango

Steven Spielberg is not an edgy filmmaker.

In fact, he's the exact opposite. If you looked up the Hollywood style in the dictionary, you'd likely be shown a xerox copy of Mr. Spielberg's IMDB page.

Ever since defining the "blockbuster" with "Jaws," his own personal style has become the template against which big budget action films are judged. And he rarely misses a beat. I mean, how can you miss the mark when you are the mark, right?

Well, after a brief hiatus, Mr. Spielberg is back at it again. With two movies as a matter of fact. With "The Adventures of Tin Tin," he catches his colleague Robert Zemeckis' fever for CGI animation. And with the wonderful new work, "War Horse," he draws on all his experience and vast skill set to produce what Spielberg does best. Create a Spielberg movie.

Spielberg films to me always feel more like watching a moving storyboard than anything actually taking place in the real world. His characters leap forward from the screen as if drawn from comic books. If you watch it closely, even in Spielberg's Oscar winning "Schindler's List," you will see the same sweeping camera moves as you would in "E.T." or "Catch Me If You Can." And, as with all of his films, those sweeping crane shots float to the orchestral sounds of John Williams' sweeping scores.

"War Horse," the sweeping epic of one horse's journey during World War I Europe is perfectly suited for this approach. With it's sights set firmly on your heartstrings, the film doesn't pull any emotional punches. Told through episodic sequences, we follow the majestic horse and the lives of the humans who it comes into contact with. Set among vast English countrysides and massive battles, the film is oddly most effective when dealing in minutiae. The drama of an auction block. A fall harvest. The most efficient way to cut barbed wire. All these scenes work because we are fully invested in the lead character. Even if he does arrive on four legs.

"War Horse" is heroism in the face of great tragedy. Of beauty in a time of horror. You won't leave the theater thinking you've seen the reinvention of the wheel. But by the time Spielberg lays his late "Gone With The Wind" inspired final shot on you, you will find yourself wishing you had a war horse of your own. And your heart will once again be warmed over.

THE ARTIST - Film Review

It took me a while to see Michel Hazanavicius' new film "The Artist." Playing in limited release, I'd heard all the buzz and knew it was one of those films a person like me is "supposed to see" this time of year. But when I looked at the trailer, all I could see was an obvious mash-up of "A Star is Born" and "Singing in the Rain." True, bonus points go out to any filmmaker bold and inventive enough to make a silent black and white movie in 2011, but still, I felt I'd seen the story before. Like five times before. "Singing in the Rain." Three versions of "A Star is Born" which come immediately to mind. And even the original "A Star is Born" called "What Price, Hollywood?" So I wasn't sure I wanted to watch the same story again. Wouldn't it be the exact same thing? Well, in a word, yes. But like all five films before, the familiar story still did not fail to warm me over by the end.

You see, there's a reason filmmakers are repeatedly drawn to the rags-to-riches, riches-to-rags story of two lovers on opposing trajectories. It makes for damn good drama. And when you have a cast as winning as this, you'll find yourself in for a very good time.

A brief recap for those who haven't seen the story before. A dashing leading man, George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) is flying high in silent movies. At the same time, the scrappy upstart Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo) is just scrambling to get her foot in the door. After a meet-cute movie premiere, George and Peppy start the kind of whirlwind on again-off again romance that is the stuff of... silent movies. Well, with the dawning of sound, silent movie stars like George suddenly find themselves at the wrong end of the unemployment line. But the aptly named Peppy has just what it takes. As her star rises, his begins to fade, and the big time star becomes the small time failure.

I'm not sure what it is about this story that resonates generation after generation. Maybe it's the allure of fairy tale love in Tinseltown. Perhaps it's setting signals just the right amount of glitz and glamor.

But I tend to think it's something more basic than that. I think these films tap into something more primal. Man's need to be King of the Hill. Our basic need to provide for our family. Or, more importantly, to be powerful enough to be able to provide for those we love. It's often said, and proven, that women are attracted to confidence. Powerful men, often with few other redeeming qualities other than that power, tend to attract more women. A sociologist would do a better job of explaining why, but most of their rambling would likely amount to women's primal need to find a strong breadwinner. Literally in the cave man days. The man that is most adept at bringing home the bacon, brings home the most... bacon. He can provide for his woman, and therefore becomes desirable. Apparently not a whole lot has changed since the dawn of man. And Hollywood movie star is one darn good way of providing for your mate.

But what happens when you cannot provide for those you love? What happens when your best efforts fall on deaf ears? When she needs you, when she looks to you for support, but all you can offer her is your own failures. Many of us will know that failure. Few will know the success. And for those who know both, who climb great heights only to tumble from the mountain top, the fall is all the more precarious.

"The Artist," and all the films that inspired it, is essentially about a proud man's emasculation. About his ability, or often inability, to adjust to a world where he's no longer on top.

And to need the undying love and support of a woman, who will love you come what may.

That's the other half of the "Star is Born" equation and what takes the tale from tragic to timeless. Peppy Miller, with all her awkward angles and narrow frame, is exactly the kind of woman that can make the toughest man go all dough eyed. The kind of woman you want to reach out and protect. The kind of woman that you want to provide for. But she's also the kind with a hidden strength. The kind you suspect may need less caring for than your ego first imagined. The kind capable of providing you support as well. The who, when you cradle in your arms, somehow makes you feel more safe. She fills the room with her smile. She fills your heart with her love.

"The Artist" is more than just a retold story. It's a wonderful movie. And a reminder that when you've hit rock bottom and you have nothing left but the love of a good woman, you can still seem the richest man in the world.