Cmasterclay

Awesome to see Leo jump right back in the race, and Cooper did lots of good for himself as well.

I think Argo wins NBR, either that or Life of Pi. Maybe Lincoln, but I have a feeling it's going to be one of the first two. Best actor for NBR will be DDL, Best Actress will be Riva, Best S actor will be Tommy Lee Jones, Best S actress will be Hathaway.

True. I forget that critic awards tend to go less for visceral, emotional movies like Les Mis (the reason why TKS won nothing until the Globes). But I still wish it had picked up something (or we could see the runner ups)

Wow, congrats to ZDT. Made me want to see it even more.I believe that the favorite is now Lincoln, for sure. I'm not sure if this is enough to put ZDT in the top spot quite yet, but it IS enough to send Les Mis down the chart, pushing Lincoln to front runner status (for now.)Regardless, this is going to be a great year, which, after the snoozefest of last race,is a welcome change.

Predictions right before precusors start1. Les Mis (though I'm starting to lean towards Lincoln)2. Lincoln3. ZDT4. Argo5. Life of Pi6. Silver Linings Playbook7. Django Unchained (Early word is good enough that I'll go out on a limb)8. Armour9. The Master (Though I hope not, personally)

After watching Warrior and reflecting on my list for 2011, 50/50 and Warrior not getting nominated in 2011 when they were far better films than anything nominated is awful. Both films were fabulous, emotional, brilliantly acted films, not two hours of pondering the intricacies of silence and flowers (Tree of Life) or the most cheese possible in a film (ELIC) or film history, back patting masturbation (Hugo).

Wow. I just saw this for the first time today, but wow. 2nd best movie of 2011 behind 50/50, and seriously one of my favorite movies of the past decade. Incredibly emotional, real, exciting, and brilliant. The fact that this and 50/50 weren't nominated for Best Picture while garbage like Tree of Life and Extremely Loud were is an absolute travesty. Same goes for Hardy/Gordon Levitt not getting best actor calls. Hardy re affirmed his status as my favorite actor working today with this performance. Edgerton, who I haven't seen much of, was fantastic too. And Nick Nolte... dear lord, what a performance.

1. Star Trek Into Darkness2. Zero Dark Thirty3. Django Unchained4. Les Mis5. Man of Steel6. The Hobbit7. Iron Man 38. Elysium 9. 4210. This Is 40

Right now...1. Dark Knight Rises2. 21 Jump Street3. Wanderlust4. Argo5. Lincoln6. Ted7. Skyfall8. Spider ManGreat year so far, but not quite as good as some past years.

Update1. Les Mis (No reason to bump it when nobody has seen it yet and it looks so brilliant)2. Argo3. Lincoln4. Silver Linings5. Life of Pi6. Zero Dark Thirty7. Beasts of the Southern Wild8. Amour 9. The Master (Just barely)First Five offFlightDjango UnchainedMoonrise KingdomThe SessionsThe Impossible

What a brilliant job they did here. This was Daniel Day Lewis at his best since My Left Foot (Though my hate for TWBB as a film maybe be blinding me), and one of the better performances I've seen in years. The supporting cast was great up and down the board. Quite funny, and Speilberg showed alot of restraint, as did WIlliams.

For November, this is still absolutely fantastic, considering almost the entire fanbase has school/work (the people who were teens during the first few now have work, the rest still have school). I think the Friday business will be inflated because of this. Eclipse was so huge because it was a summer release, and alot of the fanbase wasn't old enough to work yet.

I liked alot of the parts of the film, but the sum did not add up to a great whole. The opening plane crash could have been one of the better scenes of the year- but the constant cutaways to Kelly Reilly's character killed it. All of the scenes with Denzel talking alot were great- but they barely gave him many lines. Greenwood, Cheadle, and especially Goodman (who I found Oscar worthy) were all absolutely excellent, but their screen time was limited in comparison to constant scenes of Denzel idly throwing down booze. Overall, I thought that Denzel was so engaging and watchable that he is worth seeing the film for alone. And the three male co stars bring alot to it too. But the film is just as chunky and ham fisted as it gets.

I thought this was absolutely excellent. The primary reason being Affleck and his actual productions crew's style, which was so authentic and so well shot. This wasn't just a great film with good directing, this was a great film with spectacular directing. Go him. The first half with Hollywood and the set up was both very interesting and funny, but it is when Ben gets to Iran that the film truly takes off. The last 40 minutes or so, from when they go to the bazaar to the exit of the airspace, was the most intense, edge of the seat film making of the year, which is incredible considering you already know what the end would be. Good performances too, though I didn't see any as Oscar worthy, even if Arkin gets nominated.A

Saw Argo tonight and it was absolutely packed, sold out in a 400 theater in Washington D.C. One of the few movies of late that got legit cheers and applause mid movie and at the start of the credits. Everybody loved it. Word of mouth is going to be off the chain, I see 25 opening and close to 100 finish at least.

Joaquin Phoenix- The MasterDenzel Washington- FlightAnthony Hopkins- HitchcockDDL- LincolnJohn Hawkes- The Sessions (the winner, in a surprise upset)

Alan Arkin- ArgoTommy Lee Jones- LincolnLeonardo DiCaprio- Django UnchainedPhillip Seymour Hoffman- The Master (winner)Russell Crowe- Les MisStacked year, I could def see De Niro, Macy, Goodman, SLJ, or even Michael Pena being a factor.

Neeson is way, way, way bigger than Stallone. Grey and Unknown debuted number 1 and made three times their budget.... and the posters and marketing was, no lie, just pretty much shots of Liam Neeson. That was the whole concept: Liam Neeson kicking ass. It's telling that Taken, those films, the original COTT were huge hits when they focused their marketing around him and Battleship and Wrath barely mentioned him at all and turned out to be flops. Him and Denzel appeal to the masses for the same reason: because they're older, wisened, normal people that just happen to be badasses, not washed up action figures like Stallone.

I thought that it was thoroughly enjoyable, albeit terrible, but that's what made it so fun. The first was such an awesome flick that if this one had just been mediocre or average it would have been a let down. But the combination of Liam Neeson and the unintentional hilarity of so many of the scenes left me with a smile on my face. Good movie to go to with a group of friends in a crowded theater. Bad movie, but the bad parts (grenade scene, main baddie's death, the overtly complicated instruction and repetition by Mills) are what made it fun (plus Neeson does kick some ass!)

Phillip Seymour Hoffman- The MasterAlan Arkin- ArgoRussell Crowe- Les MisLeonardo DiCaprio- DjangoJim Broadbent- Cloud Atlas

I think the entire mediocre Fast and the Furious series until the very, very entertaining Fast Five counts.

Agreed that it starts a tad slow, but I freaking loved it. Hardy and Pearce gave two of my favorite performances of the year. I know neither will, but at least one deserves an Oscar nom. Hardy has to be my favorite actor of the moment, he just exudes a kind of charisma no one can match. Blows everybody off screen with three words a scene in every movie. Labeouf did his thing too, good job. I liked the ladies as well, especially Mia whatsherface. A-

This is one of the few years, especially as of late, where both the highest quality and the big box office breakout films got nominated across the board.

1. Star Wars OT, greatest thing ever2. Indiana Jones3. TDK trilogy4. LOTR5. Bond, if you take the good with the bad6. Harry Potter

Joaquin Phoenix- The Master (he looks absolutely amazing in this)Hugh Jackman- Les MisDenzel Washington- FlightDDL- LincolnJohn Hawkes- The SessionsGonna see some big names nominated this year.