Let's start with Best Cinematography. The nominees are Black Swan, Inception, The King's Speech, The Social Network, and True Grit. I hated the camerawork in Black Swan. The Social Network slid into this category by virtue of its Best Picture nomination - it was nothing special. The lighting and compositions in The King's Speech were fantastic and Inception had the steely look characteristic of all Christopher Nolan films, but my pick goes to True Grit. First, because it had a wonderful dusty, raw, and... well... gritty look while still being gorgeous to look at. Second, because it's the great Roger Deakins, who has never won despite a gazillion nominations.
Best Art Direction nominees are Alice In Wonderland, Harry Potter 7a, Inception, The King's Speech, and True Grit. Most of these films' looks are based on reality - including the one that takes place mostly in a dream - so Alice In Wonderland has a distinctive edge. Everything had to be created from a whimsical imagination. No props could be bought - it all had to come from scratch, so the degree of difficulty is raised.
The Best Costumes category features Alice In Wonderland, I Am Love, The King's Speech, The Tempest, and True Grit. First, let me note how unusual it is to have a movie with a contemporary setting in this category. I Am Love doesn't stand a chance. No, in this category more is more and the more elaborate the costumes are, the better. That's why I'm picking Alice In Wonderland - its costumes are so outrageous that it stands out among the other nominees. Also, it varies widely from realistic Victorian looks to the crazy Wonderland apparel. Also also, it's the great Coleen Atwood who is amazing.
This year's Best Makeup nominees are Barney's Version (a Canadian comedy starring Paul Giamatti), The Way Back (about Russian prison camp escapees), and The Wolfman (the Benicio Del toro monster-movie dud from last winter). What a weak category. The Academy really couldn't come up with better Makeup nominees? The winner here is clear – The Wolfman will get it.
Interesting note: the makeup for The Wolfman was done by the legendary Rick Baker who, you may recall, won the first-ever Academy Award for Best Makeup for another werewolf movie – An American Werewolf In London. He was also one of the three people to beat Titanic back in '97.
Showing posts with label costumes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label costumes. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Artistic Awards
The nominees for Best Art Direction are Avatar, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, Nine, Sherlock Holmes, and The Young Victoria. All are dazzling, but I haven't seen any news reports about film-goers coming out of Nine or Sherlock Holmes, depressed that they can't live in the beautiful worlds portrayed on screen. No, this one is going to the eye-popping, nonsensical, almost Seussian design in Avatar.
In the Best Costumes category, we look for the widest variety of costumes and the degree of difficulty involved. This year's nominees are the period films Bright Star and The Young Victoria, fantasy films The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus and Nine, and a movie about fashion, Coco Before Chanel. my first instinct is to give it to Nine - costuming superstar Colleen Atwood is the nominee and the film features a wide array of glitzy clothes. On the other hand, Coco Before Chanel is a movie that centers around its costumes, but features very specific designs without room for elaboration. I'm going to give my pick to The Young Victoria. It showcases a variety of opulent clothes and works hard to delineate each character through costuming.
The three nominees for Makeup are Il Divo, Star Trek, and The Young Victoria. Fantastical prosthetics usually take the prize, so I'll pick Star Trek here.
The nominees for Cinematography are Avatar, Harry Potter 6, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, and White Ribbon. Avatar may get awarded for its tasteful use of 3D, but it and Harry Potter are both storyboarded to the nanosecond and involve massive computer effects, which can overshadow innovative camerawork. Has anyone seen White Ribbon? It's also up for Foreign Language Film, so it must be good, but without a wide release, most voters are likely to ignore it. Tarantino is famous for his quirky camera work, so Inglourious Basterds has a shot, but I think that the Academy will side with The Hurt Locker here. Between shaky war footage, long suspenseful shots, and sun-drenched filters, this is the film where the camera puts you into the film (without the headache of 3D glasses).
In the Best Costumes category, we look for the widest variety of costumes and the degree of difficulty involved. This year's nominees are the period films Bright Star and The Young Victoria, fantasy films The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus and Nine, and a movie about fashion, Coco Before Chanel. my first instinct is to give it to Nine - costuming superstar Colleen Atwood is the nominee and the film features a wide array of glitzy clothes. On the other hand, Coco Before Chanel is a movie that centers around its costumes, but features very specific designs without room for elaboration. I'm going to give my pick to The Young Victoria. It showcases a variety of opulent clothes and works hard to delineate each character through costuming.
The three nominees for Makeup are Il Divo, Star Trek, and The Young Victoria. Fantastical prosthetics usually take the prize, so I'll pick Star Trek here.
The nominees for Cinematography are Avatar, Harry Potter 6, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, and White Ribbon. Avatar may get awarded for its tasteful use of 3D, but it and Harry Potter are both storyboarded to the nanosecond and involve massive computer effects, which can overshadow innovative camerawork. Has anyone seen White Ribbon? It's also up for Foreign Language Film, so it must be good, but without a wide release, most voters are likely to ignore it. Tarantino is famous for his quirky camera work, so Inglourious Basterds has a shot, but I think that the Academy will side with The Hurt Locker here. Between shaky war footage, long suspenseful shots, and sun-drenched filters, this is the film where the camera puts you into the film (without the headache of 3D glasses).
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Artistic Awards
In the artistic categories, more is always better. Period films always trump modern settings, and minimalism is disregarded in favor of opulence.
Let's start with Best Art Direction: basically set design, though it encompasses a lot more. I think that Revolutionary Road (though set in the 1960's) and The Dark Knight are too modern-looking for this category. The Dutchess is usually just the sort of movie that wins here, but it's few nominations and critical panning don't bode well. Same goes for Changeling, whose 1920's setting is better evoked with costumes than set design. Voters are often impressed when a film depicts two or more contrasting different eras or cultures, like Topsy Turvy's mix of Victorian England and Feudal Japan or Chicago's bleak prisons and flashy cabaret numbers. The film that achieves that best is Benjamin Button, which spans nearly a century of period settings.
The same rules apply to Costume Design, so we can eliminate Milk and Revolutionary Road as too modern. Australia (the film) makes its one and only appearance at the Oscars and against heavy competition, it's bound to loose. Again, The Dutchess looks good on paper, but I think it will be bested again by Benjamin Button. Along with a century of design, it also displays a century of fashion and I think the wide variety will give it the win.
By the way, Slumdog Millionaire's snub in the Costume and Art Direction categories are the year's most egregious oversights.
There are three nominees for Best Makeup: Benjamin Button, The Dark Knight, and Hellboy II. Once again, making characters look natural is often overlooked while heavy prosthetics and effects get the glory. The Dark Knight features not only The Joker's spooky clown makeup, but Two-Face's digitally-enhanced visage. Hellboy II has the most prosthetic work, but I think voters will gravitate towards the prestige of Benjamin Button. Even though a lot of the character effects are done with computer effects, it's very hard to tell where the makeup begins and the effects end and voters will give both awards to Benjamin Button.
The Cinematography category is a tough one this year. Changeling and The Reader had some nice compositions and lighting, but they're pretty straightforward. I don't know anyone who left The Dark Knight saying "The camera work was amazing!" There were plenty of other things going on that overshadowed its cinematography. Benjamin Button's cinematography was good and could net a win if the film rolls towards a sweep. It could also be the first win ever for a female Director of Photography. Slumdog Millionaire had some beautiful and expressive camera work and captured the color and energy of Mumbai - it wasn't concerned with making everything look beautiful all the time and didn't shy away from ugliness. I'm going to pick Slumdog by a very narrow margin.
Let's start with Best Art Direction: basically set design, though it encompasses a lot more. I think that Revolutionary Road (though set in the 1960's) and The Dark Knight are too modern-looking for this category. The Dutchess is usually just the sort of movie that wins here, but it's few nominations and critical panning don't bode well. Same goes for Changeling, whose 1920's setting is better evoked with costumes than set design. Voters are often impressed when a film depicts two or more contrasting different eras or cultures, like Topsy Turvy's mix of Victorian England and Feudal Japan or Chicago's bleak prisons and flashy cabaret numbers. The film that achieves that best is Benjamin Button, which spans nearly a century of period settings.
The same rules apply to Costume Design, so we can eliminate Milk and Revolutionary Road as too modern. Australia (the film) makes its one and only appearance at the Oscars and against heavy competition, it's bound to loose. Again, The Dutchess looks good on paper, but I think it will be bested again by Benjamin Button. Along with a century of design, it also displays a century of fashion and I think the wide variety will give it the win.
By the way, Slumdog Millionaire's snub in the Costume and Art Direction categories are the year's most egregious oversights.
There are three nominees for Best Makeup: Benjamin Button, The Dark Knight, and Hellboy II. Once again, making characters look natural is often overlooked while heavy prosthetics and effects get the glory. The Dark Knight features not only The Joker's spooky clown makeup, but Two-Face's digitally-enhanced visage. Hellboy II has the most prosthetic work, but I think voters will gravitate towards the prestige of Benjamin Button. Even though a lot of the character effects are done with computer effects, it's very hard to tell where the makeup begins and the effects end and voters will give both awards to Benjamin Button.
The Cinematography category is a tough one this year. Changeling and The Reader had some nice compositions and lighting, but they're pretty straightforward. I don't know anyone who left The Dark Knight saying "The camera work was amazing!" There were plenty of other things going on that overshadowed its cinematography. Benjamin Button's cinematography was good and could net a win if the film rolls towards a sweep. It could also be the first win ever for a female Director of Photography. Slumdog Millionaire had some beautiful and expressive camera work and captured the color and energy of Mumbai - it wasn't concerned with making everything look beautiful all the time and didn't shy away from ugliness. I'm going to pick Slumdog by a very narrow margin.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Artistic Awards
The nominees for Best Cinematography are The Assassination of Jesse James, Atonement, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, No Country, and There Will Be Blood. Roger Deakins has been denied an Oscar despite over a dozen nominations and this year he has two shots - for Jesse James and No Country. Still, I think he will get beat again, this time by Atonement, a movie that manages to make a bombed-out beach look as gorgeous as an English manor. Plus, there was that virtuosic 5-minute tracking shot that involved a cast of thousands.
Best Art directions pits the fantastical and dark (Sweeny Todd and The Golden Compass) against modern (American Gangster) and historical styles (Atonement and There Will Be Blood). I think Atonement will take this one for showing a wide variety of set designs - from a stately country estate to the grungy ruins and triage hospital of WWII France.
In the Best Costumes category, the more ffantastical and outrageous costumes always trump subtlety. Atonement, Across The Universe, and La Vie En Rose each had a great variety of costumes, but they pale in comparison to the Victorian goth look of Sweeny Todd and the outrageous Elizabethan garb in Elizabeth: The Golden Age. I predict that the team from Elizabeth will take the prize.
The three nominees for Makeup are La Vie En Rose, perennial nominee Rick Baker for Norbit, and Pirates 3. Norbit's achievement really is its makeup and Pirates 3 is impressive, but the makeup team from La Vie En Rose transformed Marion Cotillard into Edith Piaf in every stage of her life, from her 20's through her 60's. It was just as important to creating the character as Cotillard's fine acting and I think it will get recognized.
Best Art directions pits the fantastical and dark (Sweeny Todd and The Golden Compass) against modern (American Gangster) and historical styles (Atonement and There Will Be Blood). I think Atonement will take this one for showing a wide variety of set designs - from a stately country estate to the grungy ruins and triage hospital of WWII France.
In the Best Costumes category, the more ffantastical and outrageous costumes always trump subtlety. Atonement, Across The Universe, and La Vie En Rose each had a great variety of costumes, but they pale in comparison to the Victorian goth look of Sweeny Todd and the outrageous Elizabethan garb in Elizabeth: The Golden Age. I predict that the team from Elizabeth will take the prize.
The three nominees for Makeup are La Vie En Rose, perennial nominee Rick Baker for Norbit, and Pirates 3. Norbit's achievement really is its makeup and Pirates 3 is impressive, but the makeup team from La Vie En Rose transformed Marion Cotillard into Edith Piaf in every stage of her life, from her 20's through her 60's. It was just as important to creating the character as Cotillard's fine acting and I think it will get recognized.
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