2012: My Ballot

Holy Motors (dir. Leos Carax)

Now that I've posted my top 10 list, here is my 2012 awards ballot. Not surprisingly, the leaders this year are Holy Motors and Cloud Atlas with 8 nominations apiece. However, I like to spread the love, so there should be a surprise or two. Winners are underlined, in bold, and are pictured below.

If you missed them, you can also check out my updated 2011 and 2010 ballots.

BEST PICTURE:

Amour

Cloud Atlas

Holy Motors

Les Misérables

The Turin Horse

BEST DIRECTOR:

Paul Thomas Anderson, The Master

Leos Carax, Holy Motors

Michael Haneke, Amour

Béla Tarr and Ágnes Hranitzky, The Turin Horse

Andy & Lana Wachowski and Tom Tykwer, Cloud Atlas

BEST ACTOR:

Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln

Denis Lavant, Holy Motors

Anders Danielsen Lie, Oslo, August 31st

Joaquin Phoenix, The Master

Jean-Louis Trintignant, Amour

BEST ACTRESS:

Linda Cardellini, Return

Marion Cotillard, Rust and Bone

Emmanuelle Riva, Amour

Naomi Watts, The Impossible

Rachel Weisz, The Deep Blue Sea

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:

Javier Bardem, Skyfall

Simon Russell Beale, The Deep Blue Sea

Leonardo DiCaprio, Django Unchained

Tom Hardy, The Dark Knight Rises

Scoot McNairy, Killing Them Softly

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

Cécile De France, The Kid with a Bike

Anne Hathaway, The Dark Knight Rises

Anne Hathaway, Les Misérables

Brit Marling, Sound of My Voice

Kerry Washington, Django Unchained

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:

Argo

Cloud Atlas

Oslo, August 31st

Silver Linings Playbook

21 Jump Street

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:

Alps

Amour

Declaration of War

Holy Motors

Moonrise Kingdom

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN:

Anna Karenina

Cloud Atlas

Dredd

Les Misérables

Moonrise Kingdom

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:

Holy Motors

Norwegian Wood

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia

Skyfall

The Turin Horse

BEST COSTUME DESIGN:

Anna Karenina

Farewell, My Queen

Les Misérables

Mirror Mirror

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

BEST FILM EDITING:

Cloud Atlas

The Dark Knight Rises

Holy Motors

Sleepless Night

Zero Dark Thirty

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Cloud Atlas

The Dark Knight Rises

The Impossible

Norwegian Wood

BEST ORIGINAL SONG:

"Chains", The Man with the Iron Fists

"Skyfall", Skyfall

"Who Did That to You?", Django Unchained

"Who Were We?", Holy Motors

"You Instead", Tonight You're Mine

BEST MAKEUP:

Cloud Atlas

Holy Motors

Les Misérables

BEST SOUND (MIXING AND EDITING):

The Dark Knight Rises

Django Unchained

The Grey

Skyfall

Zero Dark Thirty

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS:

The Avengers

Cloud Atlas

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Life of Pi

Prometheus

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM:

Brave

The Secret World of Arrietty

Wreck-It Ralph

Update: 2/11/13 - I saw Lincoln again recently, and I was more impressed with the film and Daniel Day-Lewis' performance. So, I replaced Adrien Brody (Detachment) with Day-Lewis in Best Actor.

My All-Time Award Winners

In honor of reaching 100 posts, I thought I'd post my all-time award winners in 18 categories. Interestingly enough, only one film was honored twice here, but some were very much in contention in other categories. More after the cut.

BEST PICTURE:
The Apartment (1960)

Billy Wilder's masterpiece is a tender romance that offers a plethora of classic moments in a deeply satisfying blend of comedy and drama.



BEST DIRECTOR:
Ingmar Bergman, The Seventh Seal (1957)

The great Swedish director creates a terrifying apocalyptic vision in glorious black-and-white.

BEST ACTOR:
Richard Burton, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)

He spews venom and breaks down just as easily in a powerful performance for the ages.

BEST ACTRESS:
Juliette Binoche, Three Colors: Blue (1993)

The underrated French thespian lives on-screen, becoming the character before our very eyes.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Kevin Kline, A Fish Called Wanda (1988)

He's so hilarious and so obnoxious that he leaves you wanting more, and that's the best a supporting performance can do.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Ruth Hussey, The Philadelphia Story (1940)

Armed with terrific one-liners, she manages to steal the show from Grant, Stewart, and Hepburn, which is no easy task. 

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
All the President's Men (1976)

Adaptation is never easy, and this one succeeds in making a true story captivating and suspenseful.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
Sunset Blvd. (1950)

A noir send-up of Hollywood crackles with fantastic dialogue and a barrage of classic scenes.

BEST ART DIRECTION:
Blade Runner (1982)

The film features a dystopian future of robots, flying cars, and cool gadgetry with intricately designed sets.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)

Janus Kaminski's work is gorgeous, haunting, and remarkably effective. Just beautiful from start to finish.

BEST COSTUME DESIGN:
Gone with the Wind (1939)

This epic love story set during the Civil War renders authentic eye-candy on all of its many characters.

BEST FILM EDITING:
The French Connection (1971)

At 104 minutes, the pacing is excellent, and that chase sequence under the bridge rivals no other.

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:
Three Colors: Blue (1993)

It's so simple, so tormented, so uplifting. Perfect for mirroring the emotions of Kieslowski's film.

BEST ORIGINAL SONG:
"This One's from the Heart", One from the Heart

Tom Waits creates a jazzy ballad that both encompasses the story and breathes life into it as well.

BEST MAKEUP:
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

Though not groundbreaking in any way, it's a fine display of beautiful and filth-covered characters.

BEST SOUND MIXING:
Apocalypse Now (1979)

A perfect mix of the horror of war and the noise (and sometimes lack of it) of the jungle.

BEST SOUND EDITING:
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

An aural showcase of snakes, slaps, punches, explosions, shootouts, chase sequences, and the crack of a whip.

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS:
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)

Incorporated with the live actors, the multiple CGI environments and characters here are quite stunning.

There you have it! 100 posts.

My Movie Year

Here's a very late entry into an awesome blogathon by Andy from Fandango Groovers.

My movie year would be 1954. I'll confess that 1939 had a better overall slate of films, but this year has four movies in my top 30 favorite films and three in my top 15. On the other hand, there are only two 1939 films in my top 100 list. Of course, other years had great lineups, such as 1959, 1974, 1976, 2006, and 2007, but this year stuck out due to the number of treasured films in it. So, 1954 gets my vote. Check out the ballot after the cut.

DIAL M FOR MURDER (Alfred Hitchcock)

ON THE WATERFRONT (Elia Kazan)

REAR WINDOW (Alfred Hitchcock)

SABRINA (Billy Wilder)

SEVEN SAMURAI (Akira Kurosawa)

2011: My Ballot

I'm really late in posting this, but here's my ballot for last year. Winners are underlined, in bold, and are pictured below.
 

BEST PICTURE:

The Artist
Drive

Hugo
Midnight in Paris

The Tree of Life

BEST DIRECTOR:

Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist

Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life

Nicolas Winding Refn, Drive

Martin Scorsese, Hugo

Lars von Trier, Melancholia

BEST ACTOR:

Jean Dujardin, The Artist

Ralph Fiennes, Coriolanus

Ryan Gosling, Drive

Woody Harrelson, Rampart

Peter Mullan, Tyrannosaur  

BEST ACTRESS:

Juliette Binoche, Certified Copy

Brenda Blethyn, London River
Emily Browning, Sleeping Beauty

Kirsten Dunst, Melancholia
Anna Paquin, Margaret

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:

Paul Bettany, Margin Call

Nick Nolte, Warrior

Brad Pitt, The Tree of Life

Christopher Plummer, Beginners

Corey Stoll, Midnight in Paris

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

Jessica Chastain, Take Shelter
Jessica Chastain, The Tree of Life

Melanie Laurent, Beginners

Carey Mulligan, Shame

Vanessa Redgrave, Coriolanus

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:

Drive

Hugo

Moneyball
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

We Need to Talk About Kevin

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:

Beginners

Certified Copy

Margaret

Midnight in Paris
A Separation

BEST ART DIRECTION:

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

Hugo

Mysteries of Lisbon
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:

Drive

Heartbeats
Hugo

Melancholia

The Tree of Life

BEST COSTUME DESIGN:

The Artist

Hugo

Immortals

Jane Eyre

Meek's Cutoff

BEST FILM EDITING:

Contagion

Drive

Hugo
Moneyball

Senna

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:

The Artist

Contagion

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

Hugo
The Ides of March

BEST ORIGINAL SONG:

"Coeur Volant" - Hugo

"Never Be Daunted" - Happythankyoumoreplease

"Pictures in My Head" - The Muppets

"So Long" - Winnie the Pooh

"Star Spangled Man" - Captain America: The First Avenger

BEST MAKEUP:

A Dangerous Method

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

The Skin I Live In

BEST SOUND (MIXING AND EDITING):

Drive

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hanna

Hugo
War Horse

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS:

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

Hugo

Melancholia

Rise of the Planet of the Apes
The Tree of Life

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM:

The Adventures of Tintin

Arthur Christmas

Rango

Updated: 1/20/13