by Jaime Grijalba.
Best Art Direction so far: Owen Power – ‘Mildred Pierce’
Look at the beauty... of the detail in the bed and the walls!
Best Action Choreography so far: ‘Thor’
Best Cinematography so far: Chris Maris – ‘Wake Wood’
Best Costume Design so far: Michael Wilkinson – ‘Sucker Punch’
Best Director so far: Thomas McCarthy – ‘Win Win’
Directing Paul Giamatti
Best Film Editing so far: Paul Hirsch – ‘Source Code’
An inventive way of telling a story that (sometimes) serves the plot
Best Makeup so far: ‘Priest’
Ashes and blood
Best Score so far: Hans Zimmer – Rango
Best Acting Ensemble so far: ‘Mildred Pierce’
Best Female Lead Acting Performance so far: Kate Winslet – ‘Mildred Pierce’
Best Female Supporting Acting Performance so far: Evan Rachel Wood – ‘Mildred Pierce’
Best Male Lead Acting Performance so far: Paul Giamatti – ‘Win Win’
Best Male Supporting Acting Performance so far: Kevin Bacon – ‘X-Men: First Class’
Easily, the best thing of the movie
Best Adapted Screenplay so far: Todd Haynes, Jon Raymond and Jonathan Raymond – ‘Mildred Pierce’
Best Original Screenplay: John Logan, Gore Verbinski and James Ward Byrkit – ‘Rango’
Top 5 Movies of 2011 so far:
5. ‘The Adjustment Bureau’
4. ‘Thor’
3. ‘Mildred Pierce’
2. ‘Win Win’
1. ‘Rango’
You can shove your comments and insults… down in the comment box.
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Writers/Founders
Wonders in the Dark 
Art Direction– I’m gonna go with “Thor” on this one instead of “Mildred Pierce”. Yes, Hayne’s period recreation is all well and good, but we’ve seen it before. The work Branagh’s crew did translating Jack Kirby’s artistry to the big screen was really jaw-dropping.
Action Choreography– Much as I liked “Thor”, I’m gonna have to give this to “X-Men: First Class”. Branagh did good, simple stuff, but Vaugh knocked things out of the park with his mutant showdown setpieces, especially at the Cuban Missile Crisis climax. I will say that I haven’t yet seen “13 Asassins” (I’m waiting for the director’s cut to hit NYC), so this one’s likely to change.
Cinematography– Crazy as it sounds, I’ll give it to “Tree of Life”. I’m on the fence about Malick’s latest, at best, but it sure is pretty.
Costume Design– “Thor”, ibid my comments on Art Direction.
Director– Vaughn, I guess, but that’s likely to change as well. I really loved the balance of Bond-spectacle and classic Claremont-era comic-book substance that was found throughout “First Class”. I will say that I’ve seen some tremendously good anime so far, between “Evangelion 2.22”, “Welcome to the Space Show” and “Time of Eve”. But none of those are 2011 releases, so they don’t quite count. I’ll also say that I’m tempted to offer J.J. Abrams a consolation prize for showing how good a visual director he’s become with “Super 8”, but he’s a rather attrotious visual screenwriter, so that acts as a counterbalance.
Editing– “Source Code” is a good choice. I can’t think of a better one, really. I sure as hell wouldn’t give it to “Tree of Life”.
Make-Up– Nothing’s really wowed me yet in that department. “Sucker Punch” maybe? Those girls were tramped up something nice (though admitedly, the costumes were better– I’m a sucker for a sailor schoolgirl uniform, myself).
Score– Um… No fucking idea, here. Pass.
Ensemble– “First Class”. I dig those crazy mutant kids.
Lead Actress– Emily Blunt in “The Adjustment Bureau” was unfairly panned, I think. Frankly, I think she and Matt Damon had a very nice, natural chemistry together.
Supporting Actress– Jennifer Lawrence as young Mystique in “First Class”. And that’s saying a lot for me, as a person who didn’t care for “Winter’s Bone” at all. Mutant and proud!
Lead Actor– Michael Fassbender’s great in “First Class” as Magneto, but only when he’s speaking in a language other than English. As a polyglot, he’s like Edgar Ramirez’ Carlos done as a supervillain. In plain English, though, he has a lot less fun with the delivery, and at the worst moments segues into a rather unfortunate Irish accent. But I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. To be honest, nobody’s really impressed me much this year from the perspective of actors.
Supporting Actor– Okay, except maybe Kevin Bacon. I agree, he was awesome as Shaw. Not quite the best thing about the movie, but high up there.
Adapted Screenplay– “First Class”, no doubt. They managed to condense so much substance from disparate periods of the comics into a neat, wonderful little adventure. Too bad it’s the exact opposite of the kind of movie that wins for this category in any kind of awards race (instead, let’s just give it to whatever respectable remake of antique literature came out this year, or something– did somebody make “Jane Eyre”? Good, give it to that! Who gives a shit?). “The Adjustment Bureau” also would’ve been close, were it not for how it pushed a rather hokey religio-spiritual bent on the original Phillip K. Dick story.
Original Screenplay– Wow, no original films have really wowed me this year. I wish I could say that Snyder’s “Sucker Punch” showed that he has range as a writer, but… no, not really. Abrams’ “Super 8” was a real disappointment, because it shows that even if you have a great imagination and can write great dialogue, that you can still be a supbar screenwriter if you’re not able to articulate and concieve of the action on-page. He’s not like his collaborators, who tend to be very good visually minded writers (Damon Lindelof on “Lost”, especially). Funny that he was gearing himself towards Spielberg so much on this picture, when really he could’ve used a bit more of Lucas, who’s one of the best action screenwriters out there (dialogue, no; everything else, yes).
Obviously 13 ASSASSINS wipes the floor with THOR, X-MEN etc, in the action categories, and CRIMSON PETAL AND THE WHITE smokes SUCKER PUNCH on costuming.
Jamie, I’m still waiting on the Miike, but I wouldn’t scoff too much at Vaughn’s film. It’s not as imaginative or well-executed as the stuff Lucas did in the Prequels (which for my money is the best superpower action cinema in live action– even wu-xiu stuff has far too much of a theatrical artificiality for me to buy into it for more than a sequence or two), but damn is it close. It’s too bad that the best mutant heroes were already used up in the less imaginative Singer films (really, not even one decent action sequence for Cyclops? For shame), Vaughn did a remarkable job presenting eye-popping fights between kids whose abilities kept upping the ante on every conflict. Aside from Raimi’s iffy “Spider-Man” movies, this is the only major comic-book adaptation that plays up to its source material, instead of trying to turn it into mainstream action-realism (does turning “Batman” into “Heat” really improve anything?). It’s not just an “X-Men” movie that isn’t afraid to be “X-Men”, but a superhero movie that isn’t afraid to be about superheroes. When was the last time we had that? Donner’s “Superman”, maybe?
“Thor” was fun, but rather rote with its action. Nothing bad, but nothing special, either. And if it weren’t a 2009 film, my vote for action probably would’ve gone to “Evangelion 2.22”, anyway.
13 Assassins is a 2010 film.
Ha! Perfect! Where’s your ronin-messiah now, Jamie?!?
Seriously, though. The Miike film is probably better, and I’m looking forward to it. But a good superhero movie’s just the same as a good samurai movie, for me.
Ah nothing like holding it against a film that (actually opened at 2009 Cannes and Venice) didn’t play anywhere outside Japan (other then the previously named festivals) until this Spring to elevate Shit over it. 13 ASSASSINS doesn’t make your 2009 or 2010 lists because (like most people outside Japan) you weren’t able to see it until 2011, and you’ll hold it against it that it’s ‘actually a 2010 film (when it’s actually technically a 2009)’. So it never gets discussed because it’s in ‘official release date’ limbo. But shit that is clearly worse then it (THOR, SUCKER PUNCH) does by default because they have widespread release (due to marketing campaigns topping most other films budgets) across the globe.
Being a stickler for ‘official release dates’ in this manner is being nothing more then a champion of the soulless big studio machine that produce garbage 99% of the time.
I agree for the most part, Jamie, but it’s not really preferrable to constantly being a johnny-come-lately with outdated lists. I’m an anime fan, after all, and even the biggest, most popular and marketable of those take at least a couple of years to be shown outside of Japan even on mere DVD releases (unless of course you’re working for Studio Ghibli, in which case the sycophant fans at Pixar and Disney will spread it across the globe for you).
Gotta admire the bravado. When I posted a cap of Inferno of First Love in which the heroine bared her breast, I was told I was being prurient. Mind you, Evan Rachel Wood does have a nice behind.
And though Winslet was great, I’d take Romola Garai in The Crimson Petal and the White over it. TV again.
I just now saw this post Jaime, and I am utterly horrified that I topped it yesterday, NEVER realizing it was planned, and not until this very minute on Thursday even seeing it here.
Such an occurance will NEVER happen again, and on the off Wednesdays when Jim is not posting I will stay away. I feel terrible about this, I really do.
This afternoon I will be making a full comment here about your choices.