After thoughts on 'pretty good pretty bad' 84th Oscars

So the Artist took the Best Picture trophy - along with Direction, Best Actor, Original Score and Costume Design. Hugo dominated the techies - 5 wins among Cinematography, Art Direction, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing and Visual Effects. Meryl got Best Actress (again) and Potter franchise finally became the most successful, most snubbed film franchise in the history.

Best Picture went to 'The Artist', nothing really surprised me here. However, there was a time when 'Hugo' was sweeping almost everything early on, but for better good, The Artist won it. Good choice.
I predicted 'The Artist' and it won. One on one.

Best Director went to Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist - well deserved. It takes guts to make a silent black and white film in 21st century - and to make it with conviction and style - he deserved it.
I predicted him, so two on two.

Best Original Screenplay went to Woody Allen for Midnight in Paris - good choice.
I predicted him, so three on three.

Best Adapted Screenplay went to Alexander Payne, Nat Faxton, Jim Rash for The Descendants.
I predicted them, four on four.

Best Actor in Leading role - it was Jean Dujardin, well deserved win.
I predicted him, five on five.

Best Actress in a Leading Role - Since Meryl Streep is Academy's favorite, and was not winning since quite a long time, she won for disastrous 'The Iron Lady' - its not like that Streep was bad in the film or anything, but the film itself is prime example of bland, hotch potch storytelling. I wished she won for something better.
And Viola deserved this, well anyway.
I predicted Viola Davis for The Help -5/6

Best Actor in Supporting Role - Chirstopher Plummer won this award for Beginners.
I predicted him,  6/7


Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Octavia Spencer - I wished that I didn't changed my prediction with Jessica Chastian. 6/8


Best Foreign Feature - A Seperation won this. No complains at all. 7/9


Best Animated Feature - Rango won and Rango was predicted. 8/10


Best Editing - Well deserved, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo -  but I predicted The Artist - so 8/11


Best Cinematography - Its not like that Hugo was not deserving - but Hugo winning over The Tree of Life is a big, big failure of the Academy. 8/12


Best Art Direction - Hugo won, Hugo was predicted. 9/13


Best Visual Effects - Hugo won - worst win of the evening - atrocious. 9/14


Best Sound Editing - Hugo won - I predicted War Horse. 9/15


Best Sound Mixing - Hugo won, I predicted Hugo. 10/16


Best Costume Design - The Artist won, The Artist was predicted. 11/17


Best Makeup - The Iron Lady won, I predicted Potter. 11/18


Best Original Score - The Artist won, The Artist was predicted. 12/19


Best Original Song - Man or Muppet, from The Muppets won. I predicted it. 13/20




The other categories were just some wild guess, and I failed completely. The success rate is 65%, which is quite better than most of previous years.


And finally, Harry Potter series is officially the only film franchise in the history which never won any Oscars despite of 12 nominations. Daniel Radcliffe once said, "I don’t think the Oscars like commercial films, or kids’ films, unless they’re directed by Martin Scorsese." Maybe he is right. Either way, winning an Oscar does not affects Potter series, it only would have helped Academy's TV ratings. Potter doesn't needs an Oscar - producers of Academy Awards and ABC want Potter. Maybe Academy will regret their decisions someday.
 

Last time Academy Awards Prediction

Here you go -
Best Picture - The Artist
Best Director - Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Best Original Screenplay - Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
Best Adapted Screenplay - Alexander Payne, Nat Faxton, Jim Rash, The Descendants
Best Foreign Feature - A Seperation
Best Animated Feature - Rango
Best Actor in a Leading Role - Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Best Actress in a Leading Role - Voila Davis, The Help
Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Jessica Chastain, The Help

Best Editing - Anne-Sophie Bion, Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist
Best Cinematography - Emmanuel Lubezki, The Tree of Life
Best Art Direction - Dante Ferretti, Hugo
Best Original Score - Ludovic Bource, The Artist

Best Song - Muppet or Man, The Muppets
Best Visual Effects - Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Best Makeup - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Best Sound Editing - War Horse
Best Sound Mixing - Hugo
Best Costume Design - The Artist

Best Documentary Feature - Pina
Best Documentary Short - The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom
Best Live Action Short Film - Raju
Best Animated Short Film - A Morning Stroll

Review - Million Dollar Baby

Million Dollar Baby is summarized in three words - Devastating, moving and deeply touching...

Oscar Watch - Hugo (2011) Review

Visually outstanding, unfortunately, 

Hugo is huge disappointment...

Before I start off this review, let me get this straight - Hugo isn't an adventure film, nor it is a fantasy film. It is a period docudrama - certainly Paramount's promotion team was high when they labeled it an 'adventure' film.

Based on the graphic book The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, the film follows the plot of young orphan Hugo Cabaret (Asa Butterfield) and a mysterious 'automaton' (or simply a writing robot) given to him by his dead father (short and swift cameo by Jude Law). The automaton isn't working, Hugo must fix it as he presumably thinks that the automaton is keeping a message  from his father. Alone, working under walls of Paris' railway station for his drunk uncle, Hugo often steals from shop of Papa Georges to fix his automaton. He is caught one day - Georges is certainly baffled when he sees guide book for automation. His guide book is taken by Georges. 

As Hugo hides from station master (wonderful Sacha Baron Cohen), he befriends grand-daughter of Georges,  Isabelle (charming Chloe Moretz). Isabelle is a bookworm, she loves visiting the library. One day Hugo finds heart shaped key from Isabelle's locket. The key unlocks the automaton, and it draws a picture from 'A Trip To Moon' first ever film seen by Hugo's father. Through series of other events, most of them which were boring, they both find that Papa Georges is indeed Georges Melies, legendary French film-maker of early 1900's era. Melies made over 100 films in his entire career. Due to world war, Melies lost all of his finances and he was forced to melt all of his films' rolls and the plastic from it was used to make shoes. From that money he started his shop at the Railway Station and never went back to film-making. 

Hugo melts Melies heart through his dedication and devotion and Georges 'sort of' adopts him. The final scene of the film, we are told that over 90 films of Melies were restored and preserved and a homage is payed to him through variety of scenes from his movies.

Characters in the film are ineffective - let it be 2 minutes turn of Jude Law as Hugo's father or Chloe Moretz as Isabelle. And Asa himself as Hugo, doesn't makes any impact what so ever. 

Chemistry between both the leads is missing - friendship between Hugo and Isabelle hardly develops. For sake of Georges Melies' "crash course on history of film cinema", Scorsese misses many important points - let it be relationship between Hugo and his drunk uncle or his own father.

 

At times, Hugo isn't a film about Hugo but it is about Georges Melies. And yet after few minutes we are back to Hugo's story. Due to all this, the plot is unfocused - script writer John Logan fails in most parts. In the end, we are served tastless mix of historical biopic and whimsical adventure film. The problem isn't subplot regarding  George Melies or history of cinema. But the problem is that the main story of the film does not blends with it.  If Martin Scorsese wanted to make a film about history of cinema, he could have made a biopic - but no, studio wasted 170 Million dollars, just for a mere unfocused, ineffective film on George Melies.

  

Ben Kingsley shines as Georges Melies, he is certainly the powerhouse of the film in terms of acting. The scene in which Georges finds his old concept arts scattered all over is just

stupendous. Sacha Baron Cohen, in his short but most interesting role of station master, is highly amusing.

Technically, Hugo is outstanding.  Robert Richardson is perhaps the only cinematographer along with Mauro Fiore, who understands 3D photography these days. Howard Shore's lovely score, showcasing Accordion, is one of the best things in the film. And the best of the bunch is Dante Ferretti - his sets are work of a genius. He will win this time for Art Direction, hands down.

 Scorsese's so called first take on children's film is probably his most superfluous film yet. It is a huge disappointment. Most of the time the film doesn't works, mainly because of unfocused script and storytelling. You can see the ambition, you can see the hard work but unfortunately, you cannot see the result. It maybe Scorsese's loveletter to cinema to some, but for me, it is merely self-important and pretentious work, albeit well made.

2.5 + 0.5 (for cinematography, art direction and score) = 3/5