Awards Buzz

Best Ensemble? Best Assemble?

Let's start with Moonrise Kingdom. Like most of Wes Anderson's films, it has a striking look that sets it apart – a whimsical visual symmetry that amplifies its narrative themes. I guess the Oscars would put this in the cinematography category, although it's more than that.

I was glad to see that the National Board of Review gave something to Ann Dowd, who plays the restaurant manager in Compliance. It's not a glamorous or showy performance, but it's pitch-perfect. I found myself wondering if even our best A-List actresses could do this particular role so well – so simply and naturally. She got me to believe, or almost believe, in the story.

I loved Argo: Funny, suspenseful, smart, hip. But then I also really enjoyed Les Miz, which seems like a more complex, if more square, achievement. Lincoln, which certainly has its virtues, isn't on this level, mainly because Spielberg's direction is so old-fashioned. It takes, like, 20 minutes for a character to stand up and cross the room. And please don't get me started on The Master, which is the disappointment of the year, as far as I'm concerned.

Back to Lincoln, I love Daniel Day Lewis' performance. So understated. The character of Lincoln seems almost ghostly, as if he'd died BEFORE the movie began and had come back to earth to clear up some unfinished business – like passing the 13^th amendment. I wonder if the film's screenwriter, Tony Kushner, thinks of him as an angel in America. (I also got a big kick out of James Spader's very funny and fully imagined supporting performance in Lincoln.) But then I have to say that Hugh Jackman is brilliant in Les Miz. 

Was there a more visually beautiful animated film than Brave this year? The characters are pretty stock, the story unsurprising (except for one major twist), but the look of the film just knocked me out. All that great red hair! Is there a category for hair? (I can't get behind Frankenweenie; I like the original short version better.)

I like Silver Linings Playbook, which avoids most of the pitfalls of films about people with severe emotional damage. But I can't figure out a category to put it in. Screenplay maybe? Similar problem with The Avengers: It was, of course, awesome, but how to honor it? Best ensemble? Best assemble?

Movie of the Year (So Far)

John Goodman (L), Alan Arkin and Ben Affleck in Argo

For me, the movie of the year (so far) is Argo, which is like a cross between a satire (Wag the Dog, say) and a thriller (like the old Mission: Impossible TV show, not so much the film series). The hero of the mostly true story is a secret agent-type (Ben Affleck) who attempts to extract six Americans hiding in Iran by pretending they are filmmakers. But the real hero is Hollywood itself. That's because two old Hollywood hands, played by the great Alan Arkin and John Goodman, make the escape possible by concocting the phony movie that those pretend filmmakers are supposedly making. The whole film is a tribute to Hollywood because it says that movie people are totally willing and able to come to the rescue of their country BECAUSE they are incorrigible dreamers and effective liars. In a weird and unexpected way, the film is actually TOUCHING. How will academy voters be able to resist giving Argo their best-picture Oscar?