84th Academy Awards - 2012 Oscar Winners

The best movies of 2011 have officially been recognized. With many expected to win but also some surprises, the 84th Academy Awards honored The Artist and Hugo with the most wins of the night including Best Picture, Director and Actor of the year. Christopher Plummer walked away with an Oscar as well as Octavia Spencer. The biggest surprise of the night was Meryl Streep's victory over Viola Davis. There were also many memorable moments like Jean Dujardin winning Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role and Octavia Spencer winning for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role. A successful night, I would call it! Here is the full list of winners! Oh and did I mention I only got 3 of the 20 I predicted would win wrong.

Best Motion Picture of the Year
The Artist (2011): Thomas Langmann

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Jean Dujardin for The Artist (2011)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Meryl Streep for Iron Lady (2011)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Christopher Plummer for Beginners (2010)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Octavia Spencer for The Help (2011)

Best Achievement in Directing
Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist (2011)

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
Midnight in Paris (2011): Woody Allen

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published
The Descendants (2011): Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year
Rango (2011)

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
Nader ja Simin: A Seperation (2011): Asghar Farhadi(Iran)

Best Achievement in Cinematography
Hugo (2011/II): Robert Richardson

Best Achievement in Art Direction
Hugo (2011/II): Dante Ferretti, Francesca Lo Schiavo

Best Achievement in Costume Design
The Artist (2011): Mark Bridges

Best Achievement in Makeup
Iron Lady (2011)

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score
The Artist (2011): Ludovic Bource

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song
The Muppets (2011): Bret McKenzie("Man or Muppet")

Best Achievement in Sound Mixing
Hugo (2011/II)

Best Achievement in Sound Editing
Hugo (2011/II)
Best Achievement in Visual Effects
Hugo (2011/II)

Best Documentary, Features
Undefeated (2011)

Best Documentary, Short Subjects
Saving Face (2011/II)

Best Short Film, Animated
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore (2011): William Joyce, Brandon Oldenburg

Best Short Film, Live Action
The Shore: Terry George

Final Oscar Predictions

With the Oscars tomorrow, I've finally made my predictions final. Before I get to my predictions, I want to express my opinion on what movies should be in some of these categories. The biggest mistake this year was not including Drive in any of these categories besides one for sound editing. If you ask me,  it was worthy of best picture, director, actor, and supporting actor. Ryan Gosling and Albert Brooks were spot on with their performances and the movie overall was genius, but to focus on what is nominated, The Artist should take home the most with Hugo behind.

Best Picture:
Who Will Win: "The Artist"
Who Should Win: "The Artist"

Best Director:
Who Will Win: Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist"
Who Should Win: Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist"

Best Actor:
Who Will Win: Jean Dujardin, "The Artist"
Who Should Win: Jean Dujardin, "The Artist"

Best Actress:
Who Will Win: Viola Davis, "The Help"
Who Should Win: Viola Davis, "The Help"

Best Supporting Actor:
Who Will Win: Christopher Plummer, "Beginners"
Who Should Win: Christopher Plummer, "Beginners"

Best Supporting Actress:
Who Will Win: Octavia Spencer, "The Help"
Who Should Win: Jessica Chastain, "The Help"

Best Original Screenplay:
Who Will Win: Woody Allen, "Midnight in Paris"
Who Should Win: Woody Allen, "Midnight in Paris"

Best Adapted Screenplay:
Who Will Win: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rush, "The Descendants"
Who Should Win: Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin & Stan Chervin, "Moneyball"

Best Animated Feature:
Who Will Win: "Rango"
Who Should Win: "Rango"

Best Foreign Language FIlm:
Who Will Win: "A Separation"
Who Should Win: "A Separation

Best Documentary Feature:
Who Will Win: "Undefeated"
Who Should Win: "Pina"

Best Cinematography:
Who Will Win: Emmanuel Lubezki, "The Tree of Life"
Who Should Win: Emmanuel Lubezki, "The Tree of Life"

Best Film Editing:
Who Will Win: Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist"
Who Should Win: Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist"

Best Art Direction:
Who Will Win: Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo, "Hugo"
Who Should Win: Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo, "Hugo"

Best Original Score:
Who Will Win: Ludovic Bource, "The Artist"
Who Should Win: Ludovic Bource, "The Artist"

Best Original Song:
Who Will Win: "Man or Muppet" ("The Muppets")
Who Should Win: "Man or Muppet" ("The Muppets")

Best Sound Editing:
Who Will Win: Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty, "Hugo"
Who Should Win: Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis, "Drive"

Best Sound Mixing:
Who Will Win: Tom Fleischman and John Midgley, "Hugo"
Who Should Win: David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson, "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo"

Best Visual Effects:
Who Will Win: Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett, "Rise of the Planet of the Apes"
Who Should Win: TIm Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2"

Best Makeup:
Who Will Win: Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland, "The Iron Lady"
Who Should Win: Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight and Lisa Tomblin, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2"

Chronicle- B+

Release Date: Feb 3, 2012; Rated: PG-13; Length: 83 Minutes; With: Dane DeHaan, Alex Russel and Michael B. Jordan; Genres: Action/Adventure, Drama, Horror

Chronicle takes us inside a teen-outcast's life. Andrew (Dane DeHaan) has no friends and is a victim of bullying as well as having an abusive father and to make things worse, a dying mom. His cousin, Matt (Alex Russel) is smart and popular and besides taking Andrew to school everyday, doesn't talk to him much. Steve (Michael B. Jordan) is a confident student running for president of the school.

Andrew decides to document his life which explains the found-footage style. At a high school rave party, Andrew, Matt, and Steve find a whole deep in the ground emitting weird sounds. They decide to go down the hole which leads them to some type of crystal one would think is extraterrestrial. It then cuts and moves on to the next day where they find out they can move objects with their minds demonstrated with Lego's and a baseball. As they study there new powers, they become closer friends.

They first use their powers to prank people. Using telekinesis to move a car from one parking space to another or a shopping kart around a convenient store, but when Andrew releases his anger (that had also been built up by his father and bully's) through his new powers, he hurts a citizen. This is where Matt (the most responsible) sets new rules. Their powers grow stronger as well as discovering new ones.

The director, Josh Trank (this is his first feature film) shot this film with a reported $12 million. How he did what he did with the special effects, I don't know! The scene where they're flying in the sky for the first time  (it looks like the actors are actually up there), passing a football to one another in the clouds makes you wonder how they made it happen.

Chronicle is original from beginning to end. Director Josh Trank takes us on a journey that continues to impress throughout the film. From the "How did they do that!" special effects to the very well written smart and real script (written by Josh Trank and co-written by Max Landis, son of director John Landis) supported with great performances from the cast, creates a one of a kind movie. B+