February 23: Rundown completed, with the late, truly great Eiko Ishioka. By all means, keep adding your own past favorites in the Comments.
Winter quarter at Northwestern is too clogged to offer much to this blog: think hiring, admissions, course planning, and speaker recruitment for next year, on top of the usual day-do-day and week-by-week work... and in my tenure year, no less! Failing the opportunity to get any real blog series going, even during Oscar season, I have compensated with a
Twitter series in which I reflect back on my favorite career achievements by many of this year's nominees, the famous ones and the less so. I thought I'd archive the posts here, grouped by category, with regular updates.
BEST PICTURE
Margaret Ménégoz (nominated for
Amour): Rohmer's
The Green Ray, cinema's loveliest valentine to exasperating women and fleeting sublimity
Ben Affleck (nominated for
Argo): Politically, his work in and advocacy for the Congo; personally, when he earned the Garner Endorsement... Artistically, as he shatters his mask of civility in
Changing Lanes and as head piranha in
Boiler Room
George Clooney, as producer (nominated for
Argo):
Far from Heaven, the pinnacle of Section Eight's short, happy life of spreading wealth
Stacey Sher (nominated for
Django Unchained):
Erin Brockovich, where she produced a vanity star vehicle and an "issue film" minus pitfalls of either... Though if we're talking pure affection, bless Sher for taking the chances she did on
Living Out Loud,
Caveman's Valentine, and
Out of Sight.
Gil Netter (nominated for
Life of Pi): The creamy, campy, nasty, and wonderfully cast
My Best Friend's Wedding reigns supreme from a spotty CV
Kathleen Kennedy (nominated for
Lincoln):
E.T., because talk about nailing your debut, and
Bridges of Madison County, for heroic distillation
Tim Bevan (nominated for
Les Misérables):
Laundrette, for charmingly
challenging the market;
Pride & Prejudice, for new tones;
United 93,
for guts
Donna Gigliotti (nominated for
Silver Linings Playbook): Effervescent Oscar champ
Shakespeare in Love and deft remake
Let Me In. Why so many non-believers?
Kathryn Bigelow (nominated for
Zero Dark Thirty):
Hurt Locker for tension, economy, contrapuntal vision;
Strange Days for absorbing scuzz and sprawl
BEST DIRECTOR
Michael Haneke, as director (nominated for
Amour):
Time of the Wolf, for being haunting, austere, emotionally direct without seeming smug.
Amour next.
Ang Lee (nominated for
Life of Pi):
Crouching Tiger, for rich palette, woozy movements, and fierce women; and
Lust, Caution, for getting nasty
David O. Russell (nominated for
Silver Linings Playbook):
I ♥ Huckabees, equally earnest and ironic, metaphysical, tricksy, hysterical, but fluent in Folks
Steven Spielberg (nominated for
Lincoln):
ET, a peak of mainstream product and a sad, gutsy, eccentric artwork;
Schindler, for votive power
BEST ACTRESS
Jessica Chastain (nominated for
Zero Dark Thirty): Performing quiet risk assessments on Shannon in
Take Shelter; shaking up that chicken in
The Help
Jennifer Lawrence (nominated for
Silver Linings Playbook):
Winter's Bone, especially for sibling bonds and boat scene; she's also a fine foil in
Like Crazy
Naomi Watts (nominated for
The Impossible): "Dream Place," unpacking sweaters, touring Adam's set, everything after "Llorando" in
Mulholland Drive
BEST ACTOR
Bradley Cooper (nominated for
Silver Linings Playbook): As he keeps insisting on picking Amy Poehler's clipboard off the ground in
Wet Hot American Summer
Daniel Day-Lewis (nominated for
Lincoln): For all his "bigger" turns, I can't shake straight-backed but broken John Proctor in
The Crucible
Hugh Jackman (nominated for
Les Misérables):
The Fountain, stoking real feelings, his slight blandness ideal as a vessel for souls passing through
Joaquin Phoenix (nominated for
The Master):
Master, for ace Pennmanship;
We Own the Night and
To Die For, for poignant takes on two lost guys
Denzel Washington (nominated for
Flight): Cagy, smart, fiery in
Malcolm X; discomfited in
Philadelphia; hypnotic and venal in
Training Day
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams (nominated for
The Master):
Junebug, for awe, sunniness, and rue;
The Fighter, for pugnacity;
Sunshine Cleaning, for hints of anger
Sally Field (nominated for
Lincoln):
Steel Magnolias, which took best, blended advantage of her humor and almost surly toughness
Anne Hathaway (nominated for
Les Misérables):
Prada, finding a detailed girl in drabbest role;
Rachel, using neediness, exhibitionism brilliantly
Helen Hunt (nominated for
The Sessions):
Mad About You, for intimacy;
Dr T, for carnal ease; "G***amn Motherfu**ing HMO Bastard Pieces of Sh*t."
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Alan Arkin (nominated for
Argo): From my narrow survey, his delicacy in
Heart Is a Lonely Hunter and quietly memorable turn in
Glengarry
Robert De Niro (nominated for
Silver Linings Playbook):
Taxi Driver, for poignant but dangerous inarticulacy;
New York, New York, for charisma and cruelty
Philip Seymour Hoffman (nominated for
The Master):
Magnolia, for panicked tenderness;
Ripley, for 16-carat smarm;
Synecdoche, for prismatic sadness
Tommy Lee Jones (nominated for
Lincoln): Indelible husbands in
Coal Miner's Daughter,
Blue Sky,
Hope Springs; two triumphs in
Three Burials
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Kirby Dick (nominated for
The Invisible War):
Sick: The Life & Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist, so touching and confrontational in equal parts
Howard Gertler (nominated for
How to Survive a Plague):
Shortbus, a movie on which my feelings remain mixed but a clear feat of producing. Rooting for you!
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Michael Haneke, as writer (nominated for
Amour): As scripts, the unflinching
Piano Teacher, queasy
Code Unknown, and elliptical
Caché take the cake
Quentin Tarantino (nominated for
Django Unchained): My answer since '97, you
Jackie-Come-Latelys. Heightened form and idiom minus the heartlessness.
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Tony Kushner (nominated for
Lincoln):
Angels, for Harper, Roy, ideas, convictions, cubistic compassion, more life;
Homebody/Kabul, for brio
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Seamus McGarvey (nominated for
Anna Karenina):
Winter Guest, for deep, delicate chill;
War Zone, for unnerving tactility;
Soloist, for surprises.
Robert Richardson (nominated for
Django Unchained):
JFK and
NBK, two bold, disparate phantasmagorias; and groggy but hopped-up
Bringing Out the Dead
Janusz Kaminski (nominated for
Lincoln): Dull answers, but
Schindler is stunningly lensed, first acts of
Diving Bell and
Pvt Ryan do amaze
Roger Deakins (nominated for
Skyfall):
Dead Man Walking, for faces and subtle atmospherics;
Fargo, for memorable framings, evocative whites
BEST FILM EDITING
William Goldenberg (nominated for
Argo and
Zero Dark Thirty):
Ali, whose unexpected rhythms and episodic structure accumulate so much force, up to potent end
Tim Squyres (nominated for
Life of Pi): The same pair (see: Ang Lee) plus
Sense and Sensibility for cadence and balance,
Rachel for carefully managed entropy
Michael Kahn (nominated for
Lincoln): Indelible images in energetic succession for
Raiders; oscillating fever and quiet in
Fatal Attraction
Jay Cassidy (nominated for
Silver Linings Playbook):
Into the Wild for rhythm, panorama;
Assassination of Richard Nixon for enabling odd, great performance
Dylan Tichenor (nominated for
Zero Dark Thirty): Ambition, originality of
Boogie,
Magnolia, most of
Blood; classicism of
The Town; energy of
Whip It
BEST SOUND MIXING
Andy Nelson (nominated for
Lincoln and
Les Misérables):
The Thin Red Line,
Moulin Rouge, and
A.I., three very different jewels in one hell of a crowned résumé
Greg P. Russell (nominated for
Skyfall):
Point Break and
Salt, two instances when detailed sonic hyperbole ideally suited a dialed-up story
BEST SOUND EDITING
Wylie Stateman (nominated for
Django Unchained):
Nixon, for Stoned hyperbole and eerie quiets; and
Kill Bills, for sharp sounds gleaming like swords
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Jacqueline Durran (nominated for
Anna Karenina):
Anna Karenina's architectural couture;
Tinker Tailor's subtle detail;
Happy-Go-Lucky accessories
Joanna Johnston (nominated for
Lincoln):
About a Boy, for contemporary cool in all senses;
War Horse, for textures;
Unbreakable, for color.
Paco Delgado (nominated for
Les Misérables):
Bad Education, where the color, cut, and print of the men's clothes make them look like Gila monsters
Eiko Ishioka (nominated for
Mirror Mirror): Muscle suit, basilisk gown in
Dracula. Taloned mask, four-storey cape, unraveled heroine in
The Cell.
Colleen Atwood (nominated for
Snow White and the Huntsman):
Beloved, for unusual colors and details in new contexts;
Edward Scissorhands, for instant iconicity
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
David Gropman (nominated for
Life of Pi): I never forgot the lived-in homes and neighborhoods of
Nobody's Fool,
Bobby Fischer,
Mr & Mrs Bridge
Jim Erickson (set decorator, nominated for
Lincoln): Boy, can he decorate US period sets, as also seen in
New World,
Little Women, and
There Will Be Blood
Eve Stewart (nominated for
Les Misérables):
Topsy-Turvy is an unqualified triumph, but where was her nod for woolly, chilly, indelible
Vera Drake?
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Alexandre Desplat (nominated for
Argo):
Birth and
The Painted Veil are the two scores from the last decade I'd gladly attend in concert
Mychael Danna (nominated for
Life of Pi):
Exotica score evokes grotty desperation without standard tricks.
Sweet Hereafter sad, odd, soulsick.
John Williams (nominated for
Lincoln):
Star Wars' glorious fusion of magic and chintz;
AI and
Nixon, taking nervy risks; iconic
ET and
Jaws
Thomas Newman (nominated for
Skyfall):
American Beauty, for fusing discord and sublimity as well as Hall or Ball did;
Good German for yuks
BEST VISUAL EFECTS
Bill Westenhofer (nominated for
Life of Pi):
Stuart Little, where mouse's charm, simplicity, and deft execution defied a typically antic genre
Janek Sirrs (nominated for
Marvel's The Avengers):
The Matrix, because in the middle of the night, I can be big-hearted. Nice work on
Pleasantville, too.
BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING
Howard Berger (nominated for
Hitchcock): The outlandish archetypes inside a diseased mind in
The Cell; phantom behind the diner in
Mulholland Drive
Peter King (nominated for
The Hobbit):
Velvet Goldmine's UFO-ready makeup reveals and conceals character, nails glam-à-clef allusions. Fierce!
Lisa Westcott (nominated for
Les Misérables):
Notes on a Scandal, where makeup on Dench, Blanchett conveys all you need to know but isn't too much
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Tim Burton (nominated for
Frankenweenie):
Edward Scissorhands for heart,
Mars Attacks! for ack-ack and ruthless momentum,
Ed Wood for everything
Labels: Awards 2012, Favorites, Oscars
Nick's Flick Picks: The Blog
