Translate

Monday, December 3, 2012

Nov. Oscar Buzz & Predictions - Pretty People Techs

     In this article, we explore the crafts that make your favorite actors and actresses look even better (or sometimes worse).  As always, buzz rankings are listed first (with previous rankings provided in parenthesis), and then I babble about whatever's stewing in my brain at the moment...I take no responsibility...

Hairstyling and Make-Up
  1.(4) Cloud Atlas
  2.(2) Lincoln
  3.(1) The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

  4.(3) Les Miserables
  5. Hitchcock
  6. Looper
  Leaving the rankings:  Prometheus, The Dark Knight Rises
     Like Original Song, this is a category that often has one nominee NO ONE has ever heard of suddenly appear in the eleventh hour.  Since I haven't heard of that inevitable film yet, here are some I am aware of...
  1. Cloud Atlas...I know I've been advocating this film above and beyond what either the current buzz or box office returns seem to warrant, however, this time I REALLY mean it.  Almost every major player in the film plays multiple characters in varied timelines, many of them crossing gender, racial, and even (sub?)species lines in the process.  Mostly, it's pretty breathtaking even through these jaded movie frog shades.  Perhaps the most impressive aspect of a wholly impressive production.  It SHOULD win, don't know that it will.
  2. The Hobbit:  An Unexpected Journey...I can't imagine that the AMPAS will completely ignore Peter Jackson's return to middle earth, and no other film (other than maybe Cloud Atlas) gave their team so much room to explore the full scope of their craft.
  3. Lincoln...I KNOW, he looks JUST like him...see...it's in my top three, happy....?

  4. Looper...I'm scared that this is too far outside the Academy's radar to actually gain the nod it so richly deserves here, but this fantastic movie should make it to the show somewhere, and the Make-Up work was both groundbreaking and brilliant.  We've seen actors turned into famous figures a million times, but when have you seen an actor, oh so subtly, transformed into the younger version of one of his co-stars?
  5. Hitchcock...To me, he looks more like Anthony Hopkins made up to look like Alfred Hitchcock, than Alfred Hitchcock, but who knows?
  6. Cabin In the Woods...It will never happen, but there is some great and widely varied monster make-up going on in this film, which is one of the year's most under-rated.

Costume Design
  1.(1) Anna Karenina
  2.(2) Les Miserables
  3.(4) Lincoln
  4.(3) Mirror Mirror
  5. Cloud Atlas

  6.(9) Django Unchained
  7. The Master
  8.(5) Snow White and the Huntsman
  9.(6) The Hobbit:  An Unexpected Journey
  10.(7) Argo
  Leaving the Rankings:  Dark Shadows
     I have it buttoned up a bit more like...
  1. Les Miserables...Absolutely in, maybe even if its a flop.
  2. Anna Karenina...Much like above, hard to imagine it not getting a nod here even if its completely shut out  of the major categories.
  3. Cloud Atlas...Kym Barrett and Pierre Yves-Gayraud would both be first time nominees but surely doing such a marvelous job on the most ambitious costuming project of the year cannot be ignored.  SIX DIFFERENT TIME PERIODS!
  4. Lincoln...Okay, so I was REALLY underestimating how well this film was going to be received.  I'm betting on a lot of rookies at this point, but costume designer Joanna Johnston seems well positioned to receive her first nomination as well.
  5. A Royal Affair...Manon Rasmussen would be another first time nominee but this branch often likes to toss in one obscure choice, often a foreign costume drama, and surely the Academy has taken note of the talented man who designed that wedding dress from Melancholia.

  6. Django Unchained...Of course, we know that the craft branches very rarely nominate so many newbies in one year.  One veteran who seems poised to easily replace one of the above slots is Django's twice nominated Sharon Davis.
  7. Mirror Mirror...Many feel that the sentimental appeal of awarding this nomination to Eiko Ishioka posthumously will appeal to many voters, but she already has one Oscar and this is far from the designer's best work.
  8. Argo...Accomplished designer Jaqueline West has two previous nominations with no wins and did an AMAZING job on this film but it is not set nearly as far in the past as the sorts of period films that usually catch the Academy's eye.
  9. Moonrise Kingdom...This may be more of a "for your consideration" slot than a prediction, but having seen the film, I have so much appreciation for the highly stylized look of costume designer Kasia Walicka-Maimone's work.  It would be her first nomination.
  10. The Master...Can last year's returning champ Mark Bridges get back in the running this year?
   
     Next up:  Pretty Pictures (Production Design and Cinematography)

Related Posts:  Nov. Oscar Buzz and Predictions: It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year (Preview), Musical TechsNoisy TechsCloudy Connections (Cloud Atlas review), Twist Until You Are Loopey! (Looper review), Promarlius Kingdom (Prometheus and Moonrise Kingdom reviews), The Dark Knight TranscendsThe Cabin With the GoodsBeing Margaret's Mirror (Mirror Mirror review), Can You "Master" Your Nature?The Best Huntsman's Shadow (Snow White and the Huntsman and Dark Shadows reviews) I Think You "Argo"ing to Love ItSept. Oscar Buzz and Predictions - The Techs Part 2Beautiful Melancholy Conspirator (Melancholia review)

No comments:

Post a Comment