Dear Academy, Its almost December and its about time for you to decide which films get which nominations, I would like to throw out some suggestions myself if I will. Supported by critical acclaim, and For Your Consideration Posters.
THE HURT LOCKER
Best Picture
Actor- Jeremy Renner
Supporting Actor- Anthony Mackie
Supporting Actor- Brian Gerghaty
Cinematography
Director- Kathryn Bigelow
Film Editing
Music (Score)
Sound Editing/ Mixing
Writing (Original Screenplay)
"The result is an intense, action-driven war pic, a muscular, efficient standout that simultaneously conveys the feeling of combat from within as well as what it looks like on the ground."- Lisa Schwarzbaum; Entertainment Weekly
"A small classic of tension, bravery, and fear, which will be studied twenty years from now when people want to understand something of what happened to American soldiers in Iraq. If there are moviegoers who are exhausted by the current fashion for relentless fantasy violence, this is the convincingly blunt and forceful movie for them." - David Denby; The New Yorker
"There's something about this story, and this war, that brings out the stripped-down conceptual artist in her (Bigelow): Against blank canvases of desert sand and rubble, explosive wires are linked to nerve ends, and everything that matters depends on the twitch of a muscle or a finger on a button."- Liam Lacey; The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
UpFYC POSTER HERE
Animated Feature
Music (Score)
Music (song)
Best Picture
Writing (Original)
"Winsome, touching and arguably the funniest Pixar effort ever, the gorgeously rendered, high-flying adventure is a tidy 90-minute distillation of all the signature touches that came before it."-Michael Rechtshaffen; The Hollywood Reporter
"A captivating odd-couple adventure that becomes funnier and more exciting as it flies along."- Todd McCarthy; Variety
"Rarely has any film, let alone an animated one powered by the logic of dream and fantasy, been able to move so successfully -- and so effortlessly -- through so many different kinds of cinematic territory." - Kenneth Turan; Los Angeles Times
Where the Wild Things Are
FYC Poster Here
Actor- Max Records
Art Direction
Cinematography
Costume Design
Director- Spike Jonze
Film Editing
Makeup
Music (Song)
Best Picture
Sound Editing/ Mixing
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
"What he’s (Jonze) ended up with strikes me as one of the most empathic and psychologically acute of all movies about childhood -- a "Wizard of Oz" for the dysfunctional-family era." - Scott Foundas; LA Weekly
"Jonze has filmed a fantasy as if it were absolutely real, allowing us to see the world as Max sees it, full of beauty and terror. The brilliant songs, by Karen O (of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and the Kids, enhance the film's power."- Peter Travers; Rolling Stone
"In elaborating on the original book so boldly, and repopulating it so richly, Jonze has protected Where the Wild Things Are as an inviolable literary work. In preserving its darkest spirit, he's created a potent, fully realized variation on its most highly charged themes." - Ann Hornaday; Washington Post
Inglourious Basterds
FYC POSTER HERE
Actor- Brad Pitt
Supporting Actor- Christoph Waltz
Art Direction
Cinematography
Costume Design
Director- Quentin Taratino
Film Editing
Music (Score)
Best Picture
Sound Editing/ Mixing
"With Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino has made his best movie since "Pulp Fiction." He has also made what could arguably be considered the most audacious World War II movie of all-time."- James Berardinelli; ReelViews
"A big, bold, audacious war movie that will annoy some, startle others and demonstrate once again that he’s (Tarantino) the real thing, a director of quixotic delights."- Roger Ebert; Chicago Sun-Times
"It's not enough to say that Inglourious Basterds is Quentin Tarantino's best movie. It's the first movie of his artistic maturity, the film his talent has been promising for more than 15 years."- Mick La Salle; San Francisco Chronicle
Fantastic Mr Fox
FYC POSTER HERE
Animated Film
Art Direction
Director- Wes Anderson
Music (Score)
Best Picture
Writing (Adapted)
"For the reportedly painstaking labor it took to create, the film is a marvel to behold--with wonderful shifts in perspective, an intensely tactile design, and an intentional herky-jerkiness of motion that only enriches the make-believe atmosphere."- Scott Foundas; Village Voice
"Anderson has pulled off the most elusive of goals: He's made a nonchalant masterpiece, a movie that feels dog-eared and loved before it's even reached our hands."- Stephanie Zacharek; Salon.com
"The result is an instant classic. The material allows Anderson to neutralize the most irritating aspects of his work (the precociousness, the sense of white-bread privilege) and maximize the most endearing (the comic timing, the dollhouse ordering of invented worlds)."- J.R. Jones; Chicago Reader
Watchmen
Supporting Actor- Jackie Earle Haley
Art Direction
Sound Editing/ Mixing
Visual Effects
Writing (Adapted)
"Director Zack Snyder's cerebral, scintillating follow-up to "300" seems, to even a weary filmgoer's eye, as fresh and magnificent in sound and vision as "2001" must have seemed in 1968, yet in its eagerness to argue with itself, it resembles "A Clockwork Orange.""- Kyle Smith; New York Post
"It's a compelling visceral film -- sound, images and characters combined into a decidedly odd visual experience that evokes the feel of a graphic novel. It seems charged from within by its power as a fable; we sense it’s not interested in a plot so much as with the dilemma of functioning in a world losing hope."- Roger Ebert; Chicago Sun-Times
"Part conscious and part unconscious, Watchmen tells us of a world without hope and then makes us wonder if we're already living in it."- Mick La Salle; San Francisco Chronicle
Star Trek
Costume Design
Film Editing
Makeup
Music (Score)
Best Picture
Sound Editing/ Mixing
Visual Effects
"Paced at warp speed with spectacular action sequences rendered brilliantly and with a cast so expert that all the familiar characters are instantly identifiable."- Ray Bennett; The Hollywood Reporter
"Not only does this Star Trek proffer smart thrills and slick kicks, but it builds upon the original's history–from its very first pilot episode to Robert Wise's 1979 "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" and beyond–while creating an entirely new future."- Robert Wilonsky; Village Voice
"This installment has achieved a nearly impossible hat trick. It's a movie that is exegetically correct enough to appease the most hard-core buffs, while opening up the final frontier to a whole new generation of fans who have yet to appreciate Star Trek's ineffable combination of sci-fi action, campy humor and yin-yang philosophical tussle between logic and emotion."- Ann Hornaday; Washington Post
Ponyo
FYC POSTER HERE
Animated Film
"You'll be planning to see Ponyo twice before you've finished seeing it once. Five minutes into this magical film you'll be making lists of the individuals of every age you can expose to the very special mixture of fantasy and folklore, adventure and affection."- Kenneth Turna; Los Angeles Times
"There is a word to describe Ponyo, and that word is magical. This poetic, visually breathtaking work by the greatest of all animators has such deep charm that adults and children will both be touched." - Roger Ebert; Chicago Sun-Times
"It’s essentially a stroll through a fantastically detailed pastel world, in which the plot is little more than an excuse for Miyazaki to dive into a world teeming with colorful (and sometimes prehistoric) life."- Tasha Robinson; The Onion ( AV Club)
Drag Me To Hell
Art Direction
Makeup
Music (Score)
Best Picture
Sound Editing/ Mixing
"As in the best horror movies, Drag Me to Hell keeps the audience on the edge of hysteria throughout, so that every thump sets the heart racing and every joke earns a slightly out-of-control laugh."- Dan Kois; Washintgon Post
"With brother Ivan as his co-writer, Sam tosses out a delightful batch of tense, hilarious set pieces. The two are giggling behind the proceeds like the Coen brothers scripting fresh off a critical triumph."- Matthew Sorrento; Film Threat
"This film is cunningly crafted in every detail--direction, script, performances, comic timing, special effects--from thunderous start to delicious finish."- Joe Morgenstern; Wall Street Journal
District 9
Actor- Shalto Copley
Art Direction
Cinematography
Director- Neil Blokamp
Film Editing
Makeup
Best Picture
Sound Editing/ Mixing
Visual Effects
Writing (Original)
"Every now and then, a film comes along that both defies and compels description. District 9 is one such movie: a science-fiction action vehicle so brilliantly and fully imagined that real life, when it resumes after the credits, arrives with a new sense of dread."- Amy Biancolli; San Francisco Chronicle
"District 9 is very smart sci-fi, but that's just the beginning; it's also a scathing social satire hidden inside a terrific action thriller teeming with gross aliens and regrettable inter-species conflict. And it's a blast. . . ."- Betsy Sharkey; Los Angeles Times
"The humanity of District 9 adds another dimension to this multilayered, rewarding work -- one of the best of the summer, and undoubtedly the most inventive from the multiplex this year."- Matthew Sorrento; Film Threat
