Oscar History
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Oscar Takeaways
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Index
 | Picture | Dir | Actor | Actress | Supp ActressSupp Actor | Foreign | Screenplays |Aural | Animation

 

and the nominees are...

 

COSTUME DESIGN

ANONYMOUS
Lisy Christl
1st nomination!
wins: --
THE ARTIST
Mark Bridges
1st nomination!
wins: BFCA and Vegas
HUGO
Sandy Powell
10 noms | 3 wins
wins:--
JANE EYRE
Michael O'Connor
2 noms | 1 win

 

win: --

W.E.
Arianne Phillips
2 nominations

wins:--

INTERVIEW

Most Costumes! Oscar loves this time period. Put Queen Elizabeth in your film you'd better have the budget for extravagant costumes! Mark Bridges has been doing amazing work in period and contemporary films since the 1990s. Nice to see the Oscars finally catch up. And with such a fun film, too.
Though not nominated for every picture, Powell is foolish to bet against on general principle. Hugo was an obvious get and very crafty.   It's a showy project (for this category) and you can really feel the weight and shape of the clothes. Wonderful.

 It's almost like Madonna was trying to beat the Evita record of most costumes worn by female lead. But why does the inventive Arianne only get nominated for bios?

 

Who Got Left Out? My Week With Marilyn and The Iron Lady's recreations of famous wardrobe, The Help's rainbow of dresses, and Captain America's amusing 40s pastiche, and Tinker Tailor Soldier's stuffed suits.

Who Will Win? Perhaps The Artist can pull this one out for 1st time nominee (absurd that it's the first time!) Mark Bridges. But if the voters fall back on their "most" or "oldest time period is best" or "showy" or "royalty porn" costume habits, this one goes to Anonymous or Jane Eyre or W.E. or Hugo or ... hey, now wait a second! FIVE WAY RACE

 

CINEMATOGRAPHY

 

THE ARTIST
Guillame Schiffman
1st nomination!

wins: --

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
Jeff Cronenwerth
2 nominations

wins:

HUGO
Robert Richardson
7 noms | 2 wins

wins: --

THE TREE OF LIFE
Emmanuel Lubezki
5 nominations

wins: the critical trifecta NYFCC, LAFCA, NSFC and many more

WAR HORSE
Janusz Kaminski
5 noms | 2 wins 

wins: --
An attention grabber in black and white.  Astoundingly beautiful. But will that be enough?

Yes, it's another teal and orange movie (what gives?) but it just glows.

 

Astoundingly beautiful. But will that be enough?

Retro storybook images and self-conscious beauty. It's like an Oscar FYC ad in visual form.
 

Who Got Left Out?
Great looking movies like Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Drive and Melancholia were snubbed for more Oscar friendly fare. Some people were probably surprised that Harry Potter didn't manage one last nod here but nominations for that franchise were always erratic.

Who Will Win?
I'd love to say The Tree of Life, but "Chivo" (Lubezki) always loses despite being an utter genius so I'm guessing The Artist surprises, however much a win for The Artist could surprise that is.

 

ART DIRECTION

 
THE ARTIST
Laurence Bennett, Austin Buchinsky & Robert Gould
wins: Vegas

 

DEATHLY HALLOWS PT 2
Stuart Craig (10 noms & 3 wins) & Stephenie McMillan (5 noms & 1 win) 
wins: ADG (fantasy)

HUGO
Dante Ferretti
(9 noms & 2 wins in this category) & Francesca Lo Schiavo (8 noms & 2 wins)

wins:
several critics prizes

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
Anne Seibel and Helene Dubreuil

wins: --

WAR HORSE
Rick Carter (3 noms, 1 win) and Lee Sandales (1st nomination!)

wins: --

 It's possible that this movie won't have as much pull as we all expect and any of the visual or acting categories could suffer. But it's just so beautifully crafted.   A strong contender for the win if they think about honoring the whole franchise. Otherwise, that train station of Hugo could easily take it. He's an Oscar favorite and "most" often equals "best" in the tech categories. The movie looks like a gazillion dollars. It came out of nowhere for this nomination but on the other hand, it does travel across eras with a unifying glow Despite a lack of guild notice, the storybook houses and windmills and maybe especially that barb wire battlefield put him back in contention.
 
Who Got Left Out?7 Other Strong-Seeming Possibilities
The craziest snub here has to be Maria Djurkovic's amazing work on Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, but other films they could have gone for include The Help and Captain America and all three of those films were ADG  nominees

Who Will Win?
This is Hugo's to lose unless AMPAS voters realize en masse that they've strangely never given the Harry Potter franchise any Oscars, not even the only statue it arguably deserves.

 

FILM EDITING

THE ARTIST
Anne Sophie-Bion
1st nomination!

wins: --

THE DESCENDANTS
Kevin Tent
nom
wins: --

 THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
Kirk baxter and Angus Wall (3 noms / 1 win) 
wins: BFCA
HUGO
Thelma Schoonmaker
(7 noms | 3 wins) 
wins: Vegas  
 
MONEYBALL
Christopher Tellefsen
1st nomination!
wins: --
 She mostly keeps up the bright pace and the comic timing of the cuts is wonderful. Editing tends to follow Best Picture. In the absence of a true action picture they went in the tense thriller direction. Editing tends to follow best picture and this film is on the rise. But what to make of it's uncharacteristically odd pacing? Well handled cutting here (plus showy elements like flashbacks, sports, and televised footage) and for such a talky and surprisingly contemplative picture it never drags
 

Who Was Left Out
Michael Kahn was on the verge of becoming the most nominated editor ever but War Horse tripped here. He's still the most nominated but he has to share that title until his 8th nomination. Other omissions for action friendly films include previous Oscar nominees Conrad Buff and Mark Goldblatt's work on Rise of the Planet of the Apes. The strangest omission if you ask me (and obviously not even a close runner up if you ask Oscar) is Matthew Newman's gobstopping work on Drive.

Who Will Win?
Whoever wins Best Picture is usually how this one goes. Let's say Anne Sophie-Bion for making the Artist dance so exuberantly. If Oscar gets frisky it might be The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

 

VISUAL EFFECTS PREDICTIONS

DEATHLY HALLOWS PT 2
wins: St Louis
HUGO
wins: --
REAL STEEL
wins: --
RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES 
wins: BFCA 

TRANSFORMERS DARK OF THE MOON

This series has only been nominated for this prize twice before (Azkaban and Deathly Hallows Pt 1)  Tough to say whether it's lower key effects will win them over but the movie looks beautiful and people even seem to like its 3D (gasp). One film about violent robots was not enough for them!   It looks like the new frontrunner. Boy are those apes impressive. And motion capture acting just advanced yet another level. The second film was not nominated for this prize but given the expanded category and friendlier reviews it's back with film #3.
 

Eligible Finalist That Were Left Out
Pirates 4, X-Men Reboot, Mission Impossible 4, The Tree of Life and Captain America 1 (PreAvengers Part 4)

Who Will Win?
Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Hugo both won great reviews for the look and feel of their effects, 2D or (ahem) otherwise.

 

MAKEUP

ALBERT NOBBS

wins: --

THE IRON LADY

wins: --

DEATHLY HALLOWS PT. 2

wins: BFCA 

They went for this film's pale gender bending. Damn impressive old age and transformative work on Streep Potter's first time nomination in this particular category believe it or not. 
 

Who Got Left Out?
Other finalists included Anonymous, The Artist, Gainsbourgh, and Hugo

Who Will Win?
I'm guessing that HARRY POTTER pulls this one off because they might one to throw it at least one bone. Though obviously it could be any of the three. It's tough to say in this always baffling category. I'd personally vote for The Iron Lady which did such an amazing job transforming Streep.