THE 2011 ACADEMY AWARDS

Best Picture

The Artist (Thomas Langmann)

Best Director

Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

Jean Dujardin (The Artist)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

Christopher Plummer (Beginners)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

Octavia Spencer (The Help)

Best Original Screenplay

Woody Allen (Midnight in Paris)

Best Adapted Screenplay

Nat Faxon, Alexander Payne and Jim Rash (The Descendants)

Best Cinematography

Robert Richardson (Hugo)

Best Film Editing

Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)

Best Art Direction – Set Decoration

Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo (Hugo)

Best Costume Design

Mark Bridges (The Artist)

Best Sound Mixing

Tom Fleischman and John Midgley (Hugo)

Best Sound Editing

Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton (Hugo)

Best Visual Effects

Ben Grossman, Alex Henning, Robert Legato and Joss Williams (Hugo)

Best Make-Up

Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland (The Iron Lady)

Best Original Score

Ludovic Bource (The Artist)

Best Original Song

Bret McKenzie – ‘Man or Muppets’ (The Muppets)

Best Animated Feature

Rango (Gore Verbinski)

Best Documentary

Undefeated (Daniel Lindsay, T.J. Martin, Rich Middlemas)

Best Foreign Language Film

A Separation (Asghar Farhadi) – Iran

Best Animated Short

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore (William Joyce, Brandon Oldenburg)

Best Documentary Short

Saving Face (Daniel Junge, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy)

Best Live Action Short

The Shore (Oorlagh George, Terry George)

FINAL ACADEMY AWARD PREDICTIONS

With ballots handed in and no major awards ceremonies other than the Indie Spirits (on Saturday) to go, there's no sense in leaving one's Oscar predictions to the last minute. We might as well make them NOW! (P.S. 'Favourite' refers to my personal favourite, not the favourite to win)

Best Picture
Prediction: THE ARTIST
Alternative: The Help
Favourite: Midnight in Paris
Look, it's not going to be anything other than The Artist. If any other film were in half-decent shape, it'd be The Help, but we're long past that stage. I've been wondering if a reactionary campaign against The Artist might materialise, but if one has, they haven't rallied behind any particular spoiler with the potential to cause an upset. I don't even think one has materialised at all this year. It's The Artist all the way, as I think it always has been.


Best Director
Prediction: MICHEL HAZANAVICIUS (THE ARTIST)
Alternative: Martin Scorsese (Hugo)
Favourite: Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life)
Again, I'm not kidding myself here, although I do think Scorsese has a better chance at winning this than any film has for Best Picture. My reason being: it's Martin fucking Scorsese. He may have been the Academy bridesmaid for so long, but his popularity has never been in question - a second Oscar is possibly even expected for such a legend. I can easily see Academy members ticking his name on their ballots out of sheer respect for the man. But Hazanavicius remains the strong favourite all the same.


Best Actor
Prediction: JEAN DUJARDIN (THE ARTIST)
Alternative: George Clooney (The Descendants)
Favourite: Gary Oldman (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)
This will be one of the evening's final awards, although if Dujardin doesn't win this one, it could be symptomatic of a minor rebellion within the Academy against The Artist. I'm not doubting its ability to win Best Picture, just its ability to dominate the whole shebang. But, since Dujardin won the SAG, he's been in prime position to win the Oscar. Winning the BAFTA, I think, was a pretty major moment - it sealed his fate, pretty much closing Clooney out and dashing Oldman's chances of spoiling, although I dearly wish he would.


Best Actress
Prediction: VIOLA DAVIS (THE HELP)
Alternative: Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady)
Favourite: Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs)
This is one of the biggest battles of the night. Who can say which of these two will take this, or if Michelle Williams could sneak in a la Adrien Brody? My head says Davis will win - the argument will always be that Streep already has two Oscars and will have plenty more chances. Yet this is probably the closest Streep has come to a third Oscar since he won her second, which is saying something. But the strength of Davis' story is, IMO, too big to beat.


Best Supporting Actor
Prediction: CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER (BEGINNERS)
Alternative: Max von Sydow (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close)
Favourite: Nick Nolte (Warrior)
As it happens, this is the first category so far in which my personal favourite is even nominated, but poor Nick won't win. It seems that 71 isn't old enough this year, as two veteran 82-year-olds lead the pack. It's extraordinary to think that this is both Christopher Plummer's and Max von Sydow's second nomination, isn't it? Plummer has been winning almost everything this year, but although von Sydow only truly entered the race when he received this nomination, the kind of buzz it has created for him is notable. But whatever reasons one has to vote for von Sydow also apply to Plummer, and it'd be quite a coup for anyone of his opponents to beat him.


Best Supporting Actress
Prediction: OCTAVIA SPENCER (THE HELP)
Alternative: Berenice Bejo (The Artist)
Favourite: Janet McTeer (Albert Nobbs)
Now this will be one of the first awards of the night, so if Berenice Bejo wins this, we'll know which way things are gonna swing. That said, Spencer has, like Christopher Plummer, been winning pretty much everything this year and is the clear frontrunner. The others all have something working for them - Chastain's brilliant year, Bejo's leading role in the Best Picture winner, McCarthy's impact on popular culture, McTeer's...well, almost all of them, but none can quite come close to matching Spencer.


More of these after teh cut!

COSTUME DESIGNERS GUILD WINNERS

Period: ARIANNE PHILLIPS (W.E.)
Fantasy: JANY TEMIME (HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2)
Contemporary: TRISH SUMMERVILLE (THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO)

MPSE ANNOUNCE WINNERS

Best Sound Editing - Sound Effects and Foley
WAR HORSE


Best Sound Editing - Dialogue and ADR
SUPER 8


Best Music Editing
HUGO


Best Sound Editing - Animated
THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: THE SECRET OF THE UNICORN


Best Sound Editing - Documentary
GEORGE HARRISON: LIVING IN THE MATERIAL WORLD


Best Sound Editing - Foreign Language
THE FLOWERS OF WAR


Best Music Editing in a Musical
THE MUPPETS


Put it this way: According to the MPSE, War Horse is now the favourite to win the Oscar. However, it's rare that two films split the Academy's sound categories unless each film is not nominated in the other category (e.g. Dreamgirls / Letters from Iwo Jima). It happened with Slumdog Millionaire and The Dark Knight, but that was when Slumdog swept the Oscars and was lucky to be nominated for Sound Editing anyway; this year, Hugo won the CAS and so is the favourite for that Oscar, but it doesn't have Slumdog-style frontrunner status - The Artist does, and it's not nominated for either sound award. Thus, I expect that either Hugo or War Horse will win both sound Oscars. Both would be worthy winners for Sound Mixing, and decent choices for Sound Editing. I'm still hoping The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo wins these, though. But Hugo has more buzz than either Dragon Tattoo or War Horse, and the CAS is perhaps a more famous guild than the MPSE.

My prediction: Hugo (for both sound Oscars)

Just one guild to go!

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS AND THE DESCENDANTS WIN AT WGA

As expected, the WGA winners were Woody Allen for Midnight in Paris (Original Screenplay) and Nat Faxon, Alexander Payne and Jim Rash for The Descendants (Adapted Screenplay) with Kelly Duane and Katie Galloway winning for Better This World in the documentary category. The Artist wasn't eligible for Original Screenplay and thus wasn't nominated. The Golden Globes also chose Allen (in their combined Screenplay category), as did the BFCA, but the BAFTA win for Michel Hazanavicius may prove significant - no group is as similar to AMPAS in structure as BAFTA...In Adapted Screenplay, it's been a two-horse race all season between The Descendants and Moneyball - The Descendants won 12 critics' groups awards and was nominated for a further 9; Moneyball won 13 and was nominated for a further 8! Now The Descendants has both the Scripter and the WGA under its belt, which surely places it in frontrunner position, but this is still an extremely narrow race. Moneyball could easily win the Oscar still, being about as close behind The Descendants as possible at this stage.

My predictions? The Artist and The Descendants

ACE, CAS AND SCRIPTER WINNERS ALL IN ONE!

Lazy old me can't be bothered to make three separate posts for these three separate awards.

ACE Winners
Drama: THE DESCENDANTS
Comedy / Musical: THE ARTIST
Animated: RANGO
Documentary: FREEDOM RIDERS

CAS Winner
HUGO

Scripter Winner
THE DESCENDANTS

The Descendants for Best Film Editing? Up the bum! Here's a film I didn't even expect to be nominated either here or at the Oscars winning the ACE's top award. This pretty much clears the way for The Artist to win this Oscar - its closest competition was (and remains) Hugo, but it needed this win to truly threaten The Artist. I think voters may still remember Hugo: Kevin Tent may be well known amongst fellow editors, but he can't rival Thelma Schoonmaker amongst the rest of the industry, and I'm currently predicting Hugo to do fairly well next Sunday. But Hazanavicius is now primed to win awards in three categories - something which hasn't happened since the Coens for No Country for Old Men. The Coens or Hazanavicius, anyone?

ASC WINNER IS THE TREE OF LIFE!

Emmanuel Lubezki deservedly and predictably wins the American Society of Cinematographers' top award, beating Jeff Cronenweth for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Robert Richardson for Hugo, Guillaume Schiffman for The Artist and Hoyte van Hoytema for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

BAFTA WINNERS PISS ALL OVER FILM

Yeah, these don't get a picture either.

Best Picture

The Artist (Thomas Langmann)

And so it continues...

Best Director

Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)

And again...

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

Jean Dujardin (The Artist)

I'm actually quite surprised that Gary Oldman didn't win here, and a little disappointed.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady)

As expected, but this one remains as open as ever.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

Christopher Plummer (Beginners)

He can't lose.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

Octavia Spencer (The Help)

Neither can she.

Best Original Screenplay

Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)

Something tells me he'll win the Oscar too. If the WGA vote for him, he'll win the Oscar in this category. Does Woody need another?

Best Adapted Screenplay

Bridget O’Connor and Peter Straughan (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)

*Sobs*

Best Cinematography

Guillaume Schiffman (The Artist)

Actually?

Best Editing

Chris King and Gregers Sall (Senna)

Meh.

Best Production Design

Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo (Hugo)

K.

Best Costume Design

Mark Bridges (The Artist)

Yawn.

Best Sound

Tom Fleischman, Eugene Gearty, John Midgley and Philip Stockton (Hugo)

So many thought Harry Potter would win this. I'm glad it didn't.

Best Special Visual Effects

Tim Burke, Greg Butler, John Richardson and David Vickery (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2)

Harry Potter did win this, though, and it did not deserve it.

Best Make-Up

Marese Langan (The Iron Lady)

Good make-up indeed.

Best Original Music

Ludovic Bource (The Artist)

Oscarrr!

Best Animated Film

Rango (Gore Verbinski)

Duh.

Best Documentary

Senna (Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, James Gay-Rees, Asif Kapadia, Manish Pandey)

Fine.

Best Film Not in the English Language

The Skin I Live In (Agustin Almodóvar, Pedro Almodóvar)

WHY?

Best British Film

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Tomas Alfredson, Eric Bevan, Eric Fellner, Bridget O’Connor, Robyn Slovo, Peter Straughan)

It is though.

Best Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer

Paddy Considine and Diarmid Scrimshaw (Tyrannosaur)

Sure.

Best Short Animation

A Morning Stroll (Sue Goffe, Grant Orchard)

Of course I haven't seen it.

Best Short Film

Pitch Black Heist (John MacLean, Gerardine O’Flynn)

Haven't seen this either. Been meaning to though. I'd see The Skin I Live In again if it had Michael Fassbender in it.

The Orange Wednesdays Rising Star Award

Adam Deacon

Well it makes sense doesn't it? If Jessica Chastain can't get nominated here, surely the least deserving nominee ought to win. Chavs FTW.

Outstanding Contribution to British Film

John Hurt

:)

BAFTA PREDICTIONS

Best Film
THE ARTIST


Best Director
MICHEL HAZANAVICIUS (THE ARTIST)


Best Actor
GARY OLDMAN (TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY)


Best Actress
MERYL STREEP (THE IRON LADY)


Best Supporting Actor
CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER (BEGINNERS)


Best Supporting Actress
OCTAVIA SPENCER (THE HELP)


Best Original Screenplay
THE ARTIST


Best Adapted Screenplay
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY


Best Cinematography
WAR HORSE


Best Editing
SENNA


Best Production Design
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY


Best Costume Design
THE ARTIST


Best Sound
WAR HORSE


Best Visual Effects
RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES


Best Make-Up and Hair
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2


Best Music
THE ARTIST


Best Animated Film
RANGO


Best Documentary
SENNA


Best Film Not in the English Language
A SEPARATION


Best British Film
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY


Best Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer
PADDY CONSIDINE (TYRANNOSAUR)


Just one note: the BAFTAs like to spread the wealth, whereas I've predicted The Artist for five categories and Tinker Tailor for four. Last year, though, The King's Speech won seven BAFTAs, but it did miss out on Best Director...

VISUAL EFFECTS SOCIETY WINNERS

Outstanding VFX in a VFX-Driven Feature Motion Picture

Dan Lemmon, Joe Letteri, Cyndi Ochs and Kurt Williams (Rise of the Planet of the Apes)

Outstanding Supporting VFX in a Feature Motion Picture

Ben Grossmann, Alex Henning, Robert Legato and Karen Murphy (Hugo)

Outstanding VFX in an Animated Feature Motion Picture

Tim Alexander, Hal Hickel, Jacqui Lopez and Katie Lynch (Rango)

Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture

Daniel Barrett, Florian Fernandez, Matthew Muntean and Eric Reynolds – ‘Caesar’ (Rise of the Planet of the Apes)

Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature Motion Picture

Frank Gravatt, Kevin Martel, Brian Paik and Steve Walton – ‘Rango’ (Rango)

Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture

Martin Chamney, Robert Legato, Adam Watkins and Fabio Zangla (Hugo)

Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in an Animated Feature Motion Picture

Colin Benoit, Philippe Rebours, Nelson Sepulveda and Nick Walker – ‘The Dirt Saloon’ (Rango)

Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture

Giles Hancock, John Hanson, Tom Martinek and Scott Younkin – ‘155 Wacker Drive’ (Transformers: Dark of the Moon)

Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature Motion Picture

John Bell, Polly Ing, Martin Murphy and Russell Paul – ‘Main Street Dirt’ (Rango)

Outstanding Models in a Feature Motion Picture

Tim Brakensiek, Kelvin Chu, David Fogler and Rene Garcia – ‘Driller’ (Transformers: Dark of the Moon)

Outstanding Compositing in a Feature Motion Picture

Casey Allen, Trent Claus, Brian Hajek, Cliff Welsh – ‘Skinny Steve’ (Captain America: The First Avenger)

EVENING STANDARD AWARDS

Just a wee link to the Evening Standard Awards on the sole basis of their choices for acting winners: Michael Fassbender and Olivia Colman, two of the best performances of last year. Add in Robbie Ryan winning for Wuthering Heights and I can overlook the Best Film choice of We Need to Talk About Kevin - surely not that much worse a film than whatever the Academy might choose.

ART DIRECTORS GUILD WINNERS

Best Art Direction - Period
DANTE FERRETTI (HUGO)


Best Art Direction - Fantasy
STUART CRAIG (HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2)


Best Art Direction - Contemporary
DONALD GRAHAM BURT (THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO)


A couple of firsts here. Extraordinarily, this is Dante Ferretti's first ADG - extraordinary because Ferretti is one of the best production designers working today. Also, this is the first ADG award for the Harry Potter franchise - how is that possible? How have the other seven films all been beaten by other films? If there's one thing which has been consistently great about the Harry Potter films, it's the production design.