Fake Oscar Ballot (Updated 1/22)

I don't quite understand how Academy Award voting works. I think everyone votes within their own branch for nominations, so directors would vote for best director but not best original score. Regardless, below is what I would vote for in select categories. 

Some notes:

• I saw 78 92 of the eligible films, which are listed here. Some films that I would've strongly considered for nominations that aren't eligible are Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, Beyond the Hills, The Comedy, Elena, For Ellen, Hello I Must Be Going, Indie Game: The Movie, Red Hook Summer
• Obviously I'm not in any sort of voting group...Academy voters are sent DVDs of many of the eligible films, so there is no financial or time strain. Because of this, I have not seen some major eligible films including (in order of perceived importance) Amour, Samsara, The Gatekeepers, Middle of Nowhere, Anna Karenina
• The full list of eligible films I've seen will be at the end

The nominations:

Best Picture:

1. Beasts of the Southern Wild
2. Oslo, August 31st
3. The Cabin in the Woods
4. Cloud Atlas Zero Dark Thirty
   
5. Your Sister's Sister

If I did an Indiewire critics' poll ballot (Updated 1/6)

Thought I would do this for fun. Technically there are no "honorable mentions" but I thought I would include those because you can only choose one person/film for most categories. 

I am going to do the same thing for the Academy nominations ballot.

Best Film:

1. Beasts of the Southern Wild
2. Oslo, August 31st
3. The Cabin in the Woods
4. Beyond the Hills
5. Zero Dark Thirty
6. Hello I Must Be Going
7. Wreck-It Ralph
8. Your Sister's Sister
9. Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry
10. Cloud Atlas
11. End of Watch 

Best Director: Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild)

A conversation with the directors of The Atomic States of America

Don Argott and Sheena M. Joyce directed the recent documentary The Atomic States of America. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2012 and continues to run the festival circuit. I loved the film when I saw it at the Montclair International Film Festival. Its next stop is at the Seattle International Film Festival, playing at the Harvard Exit Theater June 7th and June 8th. More information can be found on the film's Facebook page, located here.

What have I been up to since my last birthday?

Hello readers! I made this list on my birthday to reflect on the last year of my life. Enjoy!

Professional accomplishments: 

• Finished 6-month internship at Grant Thornton Boston office as Marketing Intern
• Continued film blog Bostonian on Film for which I’ve done 18 reviews, 5 interviews and 4 other pieces since my last birthday
• 2.5 month internship as Marketing & Administrative Intern at the Coolidge Corner Theatre
• Blogger, blogging about once a month for Livingston Patch
• Elected and re-elected to Vice President of NUFEC, the NU Film Enthusiasts’ Club
• 3.5 months into a 6-month internship at AOL Advertising

2011 in Film: The Brandy Awards

Best Picture: THE TREE OF LIFE
2. Hugo
3. Project Nim
4. Martha Marcy May Marlene
5. How to Die in Oregon
6. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
7. Beginners
8. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
9. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
10. Bellflower

The Wire, a portrait of Baltimore (re-post)

Below is a re-posted version of this piece on Livingston Patch, located here.

Not only is The Wire the best TV show I’ve ever seen, but it is one of the best pieces of art I’ve ever experienced in any form. This American drama series, set and produced in Baltimore, Maryland, showed on HBO from June 2002 to March 2008. With episodes lasting about an hour each, it ran for 60 episodes across five seasons. The Wire is a fictional but realistic portrait of the city of Baltimore.

Favorite 20 Films of 2011

I saw 181 new releases in 2011 - here are my 20 favorites.

A Male Feminist

This is the re-posting of something I wrote for the Livingston Patch. It wasn't edited by Eliza so sorry for any grammatical errors (decided to leave it the way it was originally posted on Patch).

Feminism is a label generally associated with punk rock chicks, nature worshiping hippies or businesswomen in power suits. Being a relatively clean-cut suburban white male, I am not that. However, I am a feminist.

Oscar Nominee Predictions 2012

I got 69 out of 102 correct, not too bad (67.6%). Just to clarify, if I had something in "Spoilers" it did not count as correct in any way..

Reaction: I'm REALLY happy with these nominations, more than any year since I've been "in the know" and following (starting with 2009 Oscars). Elated to see Extremely Loud & Von Sydow, Gary Oldman for Tinker Tailor, The Tree of Life in picture, director & cinematography, HUGO love overall (THIS was expected unlike the others), glad to see Bichir & not DiCaprio, Rooney Mara, PINA!

My only notable disappointments are Beginners getting nothing but Plummer, War Horse love (fine with this since it was expected), Margin Call getting anything, and the BIGGEST is Project Nim missing out on documentary. 


Note: Predicted nominees are in alphabetical order, not in order of most likely. 

Picture:

The Artist

The Descendants
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

The Help

Hugo

Midnight in Paris

Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse 

Spoilers: Bridesmaids,  Drive, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, The Tree of Life, War Horse