Okay I’m not quite ready to post these but I never am and I should give it a few days before so basically, time’s up… there’s a couple of movies I’ve yet to see, a couple I really want to see again before committing, and a couple (I’m looking at you Gatekeepers and Chasing Ice) that aren’t even possible to watch as yet (at one point I actually thought this year might be the first year I got to see all the nominees lol). I’ll try to indicate all that as I go along. I’ll put my 2012 list up in the next few days too with even further excuses and disclaimers… the important thing to be said is, this has been a fantastic year for cinema. The diversity in the Best Picture category reminds me of the Seventies. And I think it will be a fantastic show, one of the best since I started watching over 15 years ago.

Best Picture Beasts of the Southern Wild
Best Director Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild) (these are the trickiest categories and I have no strong feeling… I’m going with my heart – everytime I see clips of this and hear the music it lifts me to the exact same place it did the first time…)
Best Actor Daniel Day-Lewis (just duh, and I thought it was great too)
Best Supporting Actor Robert De Niro (Silver Linings Playbook – I keep flipping around on this category, but I’m going with De Niro for now… the movie certainly deserves something… I didn’t review it yet because I haven’t stopped thinking about it – it grew on me a heck of a lot on the second viewing and I think it could end up being my favourite of the whole bunch… just not yet…)
Best Actress Emmanuelle Riva (Amour – I’m dead set on this one… it’s the most extraordinary, unique performance of the year. Quvenzhané Wallis is just as exciting and I’d be overjoyed for her… but we’re just not gonna ever get Riva’s performance again…)
Best Supporting Actress Helen Hunt (The Sessions – another movie I haven’t yet reviewed because it got to me so much… I’ve written something, though, and might bash it into shape in the next few days… this is a long shot, but it’s a hell of a category, and I don’t like to go for the obvious)
Best Screenplay Wes Anderson, Moonrise Kingdom – because, for god’s sake, it deserves _something_…
Best Adapted Screenplay Lincoln (another that I haven’t reviewed – I thought the talkiness of this was it’s best feature)
Best Editing Silver Linings Playbook (from what I hear they reshot everything with a different tones and then figured out what worked best in the editing room – on the second viewing this really showed…)
Best Cinematography Roger Deakins, Skyfall (I’ve not seen Anna Karenina in this category yet but this is the most prestigious award Skyfall stands to win, and I hope it gets it… Roger Deakins is always overdue – again, this is one I haven’t reviewed yet, but I do have a ton of notes ready to be moulded into something)
Best Score Life of Pi (I don’t have very strong feelings in this category but I love Mychael Danna – again, I haven’t yet seen Anna Karenina in this category)
Best Song Ted (another review waiting to be posted – I can’t wait to see this one performed on the night – this is the category I’ll be most upset if Les Miserables wins – I haven’t seen Chasing Ice yet)
Best Production Design Lincoln (again, no real strong feelings – except how the heck Moonrise Kingdom wasn’t nominated – and I haven’t seen Anna Karenina)
Best Makeup/Hair Hitchcock (perhaps obvious, but honestly less for the prosthetic than the overall recreation of 60s etc…)
Best Costume Lincoln (I haven’t seen three in this category – Anna Karenina, Mirror Mirror and *Snow White and the Huntsman*… so no clue…)
Best Sound Mixing Les Misérables (the only one this movie deserves – and to be honest, I’m not even sure about that anymore…)
Best Sound Editing Skyfall
Best Visual Effects Life of Pi (another duh, really… come on Richard Parker… haven’t seen Snow White and the Huntsman)
Best Animated Film ParaNorman (really rooting for this one, I thought it was the most lively and original of the bunch)
Best Foreign Language Film Amour (sadly haven’t seen any of the other nominees, though I might squeeze a few in before Sunday – but I doubt any could match Amour)
Best Documentary Searching for Sugar Man (the only one I’ve seen but it kinda blew my mind – next up is How to Survive a Plague if I can squeeze it in before Sunday)

…leaving the documentary features and shorts off as usual for now, though the plan was to watch most of them and it still might happen… this whole post might change in the next few days depending what I watch/rewatch but this is where I am for now

It’s been a long time since I last updated this, so long that there have been at least 15 changes or additions, so I thought I’d do so at last since I’m trying to get back into posting regularly here I’m also actually going to limit it to 100 now, too (for some reason I always used to title the post “100” but run it to 250, lol…*) NB. Some links may not work but I also intend to work on fixing that this year.

* if you really wanna see a longer list, my always up to date full list can be viewed here – for some reason the numbering doesn’t work and just cycles through hundreds, must be an Evernote bug, but there it is anyway

1. Barry Lyndon Stanley Kubrick
2. Almost Famous: Untitled Cameron Crowe
3. Artificial Intelligence: AI Steven Spielberg
4. Vertigo Alfred Hitchcock
5. Tarzan Kevin Lima, Chris Buck
6. Harold and Maude Hal Ashby
7. Melody Waris Hussein
8. My Girl Howard Zieff
9. Edward Scissorhands Tim Burton
10. Paper Moon Peter Bogdanovich
11. The Rocky Horror Picture Show Jim Sharman
12. La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc Carl Dreyer
13. Schindler’s List Steven Spielberg
14. The Exorcist: The Version You’ve Never Seen William Friedkin
15. The Wicker Man Robin Hardy
16. This is England Shane Meadows
17. Sundays and Cybele Serge Bourguignon
18. The Doors Oliver Stone
19. Unforgiven Clint Eastwood
20. The Fisher King Terry Gilliam
21. The Strawberry Statement Stuart Hagmann
22. The Wizard of Oz Victor Fleming
23. Buffalo ’66 Vincent Gallo
24. Pieces of April Peter Hedges
25. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg Jacques Demy
26. Cinema Paradiso Giuseppe Tornatore
27. Magnolia Paul Thomas Anderson
28. The Ninth Configuration William Peter Blatty
29. Punch-Drunk Love Paul Thomas Anderson
30. Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron Kelly Asbury, Lorna Cook
31. Once Upon a Time in America Sergio Leone
32. Brokeback Mountain Ang Lee
33. Natural Born Killers Oliver Stone
34. V for Vendetta James McTiegue
35. Whistle Down the Wind Bryan Forbes
36. 2001: A Space Odyssey Stanley Kubrick
37. A Clockwork Orange Stanley Kubrick
38. Phoebe in Wonderland Daniel Barnz
39. As Good As It Gets James L. Brooks
40. Strictly Ballroom Baz Luhrmann
41. The Dark Knight Christopher Nolan
42. Let the Right One In Tomas Alfredson
43. The Bad Seed Mervyn LeRoy
44. Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music Michael Wadleigh
45. Moulin Rouge! Baz Luhrmann
46. Yentl Barbra Streisand
47. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button David Fincher
48. Lawn Dogs John Duigan
49. Tideland Terry Gilliam
50. Riding in Cars with Boys Penny Marshall
51. The Iron Giant Brad Bird
52. Once Upon a Time in the West Sergio Leone
53. Before Sunset Richard Linklater
54. Shaun of the Dead Edgar Wright
55. War of the Worlds Steven Spielberg
56. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Alfonso Cuaron
57. A Home at the End of the World Michael Mayer
58. Man on Fire Tony Scott
59. The Innocents Jack Clayton
60. Network Sidney Lumet
61. Back to the Future Robert Zemeckis
62. Vol. 2 Quentin Tarantino
63. Palindromes Todd Solondz
64. Millions Danny Boyle
65. Fahrenheit 9/11 Michael Moore
66. The End of the Affair [1999] Neil Jordan
67. Felicia’s Journey Atom Egoyan
68. Girl, Interrupted James Mangold
69. Carrie Brian De Palma
70. Full Metal Jacket Stanley Kubrick
71. The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane Nicholas Gessner
72. Heavenly Creatures Peter Jackson
73. Mandy aka Crash of Silence Alexander Mackendrick
74. Lolita Adrian Lyne
75. Contact Robert Zemeckis
76. Two for the Road Stanley Donen
77. Robin and Marian Richard Lester
78. Planes, Trains and Automobiles John Hughes
79. Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle Eric Rohmer
80. Dirty Dancing Emile Ardolino
81. Niagara Niagara Bob Gosse
82. Show Me Love/ Fucking Åmål Lukas Moodysson
83. May Lucky McKee
84. Limelight Charlie Chaplin
85. The Big Sleep [1946] Howard Hawks
86. Citizen Kane Orson Welles
87. The Godfather Part II Francis Ford Coppola
88. Les Yeux Sans Visage Georges Franju
89. Pink Floyd The Wall Alan Parker
90. Up in the Air Jason Reitman
91. The Truman Show Peter Weir
92. The Big Lebowski Joel Coen
93. The Opposite of Sex Don Roos
94. The Horse Whisperer Robert Redford
95. Moonlight Mile Brad Silberling
96. Little Voice Mark Herman
97. Run Lola Run Tom Tykwer
98. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Peter Jackson
99. Ed Wood Tim Burton
100. Catch Me If You Can Steven Spielberg

Well this is the first year I haven’t even got around to predicting the nominations, lol. And it’s too late to see any more of those nominees now so here for what it’s worth is my list of predictions/hopes/fears/whatevers for this year’s awards

Best Picture : Midnight in Paris – this is my favourite by far of the bunch. I know The Artist is more likely and though I didn’t find that movie as amazing as some, I’m fine with that – but I think Midnight addresses the nostalgia so prevalent in this year’s list of nominees perfectly. The Help is the only one I haven’t seen.

Best Director : Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life – I’m too torn between all the others. Tree wasn’t flawless but it had some of the most memorable moments of this year, and let’s face it, he’s long overdue.

Best Actor : Gary Oldman, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy – I actually thought he was up for supporting till just now lol! I guess Clooney or any of the others are more likely but I wasn’t particularly wowed by any of them. I wasn’t particularly wowed by Oldman either, but I’ve been wowed plenty of times before and he deserves this. The award Tinker, Tailor most deserves is for Art Direction, which it isn’t up for.

Best Actress : Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady – I might be one of the few people who actually think that the film here was almost better than the performance, which for me was far too distracting to be truly great. But this seems to be a cert and I’m fine with it. As I said I haven’t seen The Help tho.

Best Supporting Actor : I would really love to see Max Von Sydow win here for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close which I actually quite liked, but it’s not gonna happen.

Best Supporting Actress : I’ve only seen Bérénice Bejo (The Artist), so I’ll go with that. She was one of the best things in it.

Best Original Screenplay : Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris – probably the most likely to actually win of those I actually want to win.

Best Adapted Screenplay : let’s go with Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (Bridget O’Connor/Peter Straughan) as I’d like to see it win something.

Best Editing : let’s give this one to The Artist

Best Cinematography : The Tree of Life – I’ll be a bit peeved if War Horse wins anything tonight, but if it wins this one over Tree it will be my most peeved moment…

Best Art Direction : Like I said Tinker, Tailor deserves this one, but in its absence I have to go Harry Potter because it deserves something tonight…

Best Costume Design : Sandy Powell’s one of the few costume designers whose work I always recognise and she’s lost too many times, so Hugo.

Best Original Score : I think Tinker, Tailor was the one here that stood out most for me. Slick. Alberto Iglesias.

Best Original Song : Duh. The Muppets

Best Make-Up : Harry Potter again. Iron Lady again was too distracting to be great. Albert Nobbs I don’t know.

Best Animated Feature : It’s the only one I’ve seen, so Rango. Some surprisingly powerful sequences in that movie.

Best Sound Editing : Drive because it deserves something.

Best Sound : No clue. Hugo

Best Visual Effects : Wow, tricky category. I’ve gotta go Rise of the Planet of the Apes ‘cos, again, it deserves something (if not Andy Serkis for Best Supporting Actor as some suggested)… but if Harry Potter gets nothing else, that’s my second choice…

I’m gonna leave documentary and foreign out because I’ve seen none of them and apparently they’re as rubbish as usual lol.

Anyway, the show will be great whatever

Well I let down this site again last year but I plan to keep up with things in 2012 once I’ve tidied up a bit, but that won’t stop me having fun with the awards shows as usual (I’ll make sure I get my usual Oscar predictions page up and running for next year in good time this year, too – promise).

Best Motion Picture – Drama – Moneyball – anything but Snore Horse will do me here, though I’ve seen nothing but that. I just have a gut feeling they’ll go with Moneyball here.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama – Tilda Swinton – We Need To Talk About Kevin – I don’t like the obvious so no Meryl Streep for me. I like seeing Tilda Swinton winning anything.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama – Brad Pitt – Moneyball – Again, just a feeling I have about the Globes and Brad Pitt here.

Best Motion Picture – Comedy Or Musical – Midnight In Paris – The only one I’ve seen. I know, The Artist, The Artist – but I freakin’ loved this movie and have a feeling it has an attitude to nostalgia that, even once I’ve seen The Artist, I’ll favour.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy Or Musical – Charlize Theron – Young Adult – Seen none of these, I love Jodie Foster, but Young Adult looks fantastic.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy Or Musical – Owen Wilson – Midnight In Paris – Again, I just loved this movie, and Owen Wilson was particularly impressive.

Best Animated Feature Film – Rango – Just caught this the other day and loved it. Stunning animation and genuinely moving in places.

Best Foreign Language Film – The Skin I Live In – Oh, I was gonna go with the Angelina Jolie one for the same reasons as my Moneyball ones above, but I just saw this one this week, too, and, OMG… hope this one wins, the Oscar too (though it’ll probably somehow not even be on the shortlist there or something).

Best Performance by an Actress In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture – Janet McTeer – Albert Nobbs – I have absolutely no clue here… but I’ve liked Janet McTeer in other things…

Best Performance by an Actor In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture – Albert Brooks – Drive – hmm, torn between him and Plummer, but this is the only one I’ve seen and he was one of the best things in it.

Best Director – Motion Picture – Woody Allen – Midnight In Paris – I may as well stick with Midnight as my one to root for. It really is his best in years (though I haven’t seen a bunch of ‘em lol). As I think I usually say at the Globes (I hope I’ll be more up to speed, as I said, this time next year, though) – I know I’ll be wrong.

Best Screenplay – Motion Picture – Woody Allen – Midnight In Paris – Well, I hope he wins one or the other, directing/writing, hehe…

Best Original Score – Motion Picture – Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross – The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo – Again anything but Snore Horse here for me… haven’t seen any except that. Loved the Reznor/Ross Social Network music tho.

Best Original Song – Motion Picture – “Masterpiece” – W.E. – Hmm, sad there’s no Rango here… but I’ll go with Madonna for the same reason stated above for Brangelina. It’s the HFPA.

And now the interesting stuff I don’t normally do! TV! lol… genuinely, more excited about this portion than the cinema side this year.

Best Television Series – Drama – Game Of Thrones – I don’t know if Boardwalk is up for season 1 or 2? I preferred season 1, anyway. In any case, Game of Thrones held my interest more consistently.

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series – Drama – Claire Danes – Homeland – yikes, haven’t seen any of these… but I love Claire Danes.

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series – Drama – Steve Buscemi – Boardwalk Empire – duh of the night?

Best Television Series – Comedy Or Musical – Enlightened – haven’t started watching this yet but I believe this is what I would pick if I had.

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series – Comedy Or Musical – Laura Dern – Enlightened – ditto.

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series – Comedy Or Musical – Matt LeBlanc – Episodes – something tells me “they” won’t be able to resist this, as explained for other things above… plus it’s the only one I’ve seen. And I liked.

Best Mini-Series Or Motion Picture Made for Television – Mildred Pierce – Just please not f-ing Downton… but I absolutely LOVED this series, this is my favourite thing up for anything tonight.

Best Performance by an Actress In A Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television – Kate Winslet – Mildred Pierce

Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television – William Hurt – Too Big To Fail – oy… no clue in this category lol.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television – Evan Rachel Wood – Mildred Pierce – my MEGA root for the night. Have loved Evan Rachel Wood for years and not only was she brilliant overall in this, she was so brilliant she made me not regret her being swapped in for the equally amazing Morgan Turner who played the young Veda.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television – Peter Dinklage – Game Of Thrones – tough category but Dinklage was easily the best thing in Game of Thrones next to Maisie Williams

I finally made it to 20! lol. It’s taking longer this year ‘cos I’m determined to have all titles link to a half-decent review, plus all the Hitchcock watching and stuff

1. Kick-Ass Matthew Vaughn
2. Toy Story 3 Lee Unkrich
3. Four Lions Chris Morris
4. Hot Tub Time Machine Steve Pink
5. The Karate Kid Harold Zwart
6. Diary of a Wimpy Kid Thor Freudenthal
7. Edge of Darkness Martin Campbell
8. Cemetery Junction Ricky Gervais / Stephen Merchant
9. Inception Christopher Nolan
10. The Last Song Julie Anne Robinson
11. The Crazies Breck Eisner
12. The Infidel Josh Appignanesi
13. The Wolfman Joe Johnston
14. Harriet the Spy: Blog Wars Ron Oliver
15. The Runaways Floria Sigismondi
16. Green Zone Paul Greengrass
17. Shutter Island Martin Scorsese
18. Cop Out Kevin Smith
19. Alice in Wonderland Tim Burton
20. The A-Team Joe Carnahan
21. Eclipse David Slade

I was going to start the entry with “I don’t bother predicting the nominations for these awards but…” but, eep, well it seems I didn’t even bother with this last year lol. Anyway, this is like an Oscars preview, I guess, and I’ve decided that since the awards are so predictable this year (you can find predictions all over elsewhere that will be 100% right, and I could easily transcribe if I wanted), I’m going to root for the underdogs, the ones that I love, unless those happen to coincide particularly well with the “locks”. So, yeh, again the “predictions” moniker isn’t entirely correct, but y’know, it’s the internet, and you gotta use the keywords.

In short, you could say that this year I’m going for a score of zero, lol. (actually, having completed the list, I reckon it might just be my usual 50/50 again with the lesser categories working in my favour…)

… 8/21!

Best Film: Up in the Air
Outstanding British Film: Moon
Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director, or Producer: Duncan Jones, Moon
Director: Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Original Screenplay: Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino
Adapted Screenplay: Up in the Air, Jason Reitman
Film not in the English Language: Let the Right One In
Animated Film: Coraline
Leading Actor: George Clooney, Up in the Air
Leading Actress: Saoirse Ronan, The Lovely Bones
Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
Supporting Actress: Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
Music: Crazy Heart
Cinematography: The Hurt Locker
Editing: The Hurt Locker
Production Design: Avatar
Costume Design: A Single Man
Sound: Avatar
Special Visual Effects: Avatar
Make Up & Hair: Nine
Rising Star: Carey Mulligan

I have a feeling I will do better than my 6/14 of last year here. What I am noticing about this year’s awards season is (especially with the Oscars having 10 Best Picture slots now) how surprisingly predictable it is and yet how even if the wildest outcome occurs, most people are gonna be pretty satisfied. With that said, the following is not exclusively the ones I “really” think will win, rather a combination of that and a few that I really deep down personally want to win. I shall be live tweeting my thoughts from red carpet time onwards

7/14

Best Motion Picture – Drama: Up in the Air (really want this, here and at the Oscars)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama: Gabourey Sidibe – Precious: Based on the Novel Push By Sapphire (haven’t seen it, but I’ve heard enough)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama: Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart (haven’t seen it, but by all accounts… plus he’s overdue: here and the Oscars, please)

Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical: (500) Days of Summer (unlikely, but it’s the one I like best)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical: Meryl Streep – Julie & Julia (not a lot to pick from here)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical: Joseph Gordon-Levitt – (500) Days of Summer (again, just the one I liked best)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture: Mo’Nique – Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (same as Sidibe in the lead: haven’t seen, but heard plenty)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture: Christoph Waltz – Inglourious Basterds (the surest of my predix)

Best Animated Feature Film: Up (hmm, maybe even surer)

Best Foreign Language Film: The White Ribbon (though the HFP really like Almodovar, right?)

Best Director – Motion Picture: Kathryn Bigelow – The Hurt Locker (here and the Oscars please, but less of the big deal about her being OMG Roger Moore voice a woman!)

Best Screenplay – Motion Picture: Quentin Tarantino – Inglourious Basterds (this is so the best of the five nominated it’s ridiculous)

Best Original Score – Motion Picture: Karen O and Carter Burwell – Where the Wild Things Are (I didn’t like the movie much, but the music was some of the most original of last year, shame Bruno Coulais isn’t nominated for Coraline)

Best Original Song – Motion Picture: “The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart) (getting Wrestler vibes from this and Bridges)

(I don’t do the TV ones but Drew Barrymore deserves anything)