Kansas City Film Critics Winners

Best Film-The Descendants
Best Director-Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life

Best Actor-George Clooney, The Descendants
-Its gonna be Clooney's year to win again ..but it would be better if Michael Fassbender or Jean Dujardin wins or even Brad Pitt if the rumours that he would be retiring soon is true..he was good in Moneyball

Best Actress-Kirsten Dunst, Melancholia
-well deserved.Kirsten was great in Melancholia and I hope she would slip in the final nominee for Best Actress for the Oscars

Best Supporting Actor-Christopher Plummer, Beginners
-a veteran  actor who did a splendid job in the Beginners

Best Supporting Actress-Jessica Chastain, The Tree of Life
-Jessica had been winning and getting nominated for almost all the critics awards.The problem is all the winnings and nominations are for three different movies and could cancel each other when it comes to the Oscars.

Best Animated Film-Rango

Best Foreign Film-A Separation

Best Documentary-Cave of Forgotten Dreams

Best Original Screenplay-Beginners

Best Adapted Screenplay-Moneyball

Best Fantasy Film-Hugo

84th Academy Awards-Best Supporting Actress(predictions)

1.Octavia Spencer

Octavia Spencer as the outspoken Minny in the film The Help is my predicted winner.Minny is her breakout role and made people realising her talent in both comedy and dramatic acting.Plus her chocolate pie scene is hilarious!

2.Vanessa Redgrave

Her performance as the mother of the general Coriolanus in the film Coriolanus had been described as a masterpiece of acting and been described her best so far.Vanessa Redgrave had been nominated 6 times for the Oscars and won  for her performance for Julia.

3.Shailene Woodley

The AMPAS always love to nominate younger actor or actress every year they can and some even won .This year the joy is most likely to be given to Shailene Woodley who gave a brilliant performance in The Descendants.Her performance as the rebelion daughter of George Clooney who begins to change for the sake of her father and young brother was cited to outshone Clooney's performance in the film.She could be a surprise winner if get nominated as Vannesa Redgrave buzz is dying  while for Octavia Spencer,most attention is directed to Viola Davis

4.Berenice Bejo

Berenice Bejo for portraying an upcoming  actress in the silent film the artist.just like Jean dujardin she too had nothing but her facial expression and body language to convey emotions and she succeeded.

5.Jessica Chastain

Jessica Chastain for portraying the naive silly Celia in The Help.Jessica had a amazing year with not only appearing in back to back critically acclaimed films but playing very different  roles and award worthy   performances in each of them.

84th Academy Awards-Best Picture -nominees(predictions)

Here is my final prediction for the Oscars as next week  the nominations for most of the big awards will be announced.This year hasn't been a good year for animated films but a good year for the adapted films from the novels, for instance The Help,Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,The Descendants,We Need To Talk About Kevin and many more.Check out my predictions.

1.The Artist

Director: Michael Hazanavicius

Cast:Jean Dujardin ,Berenice Bejo,etc

The Artist has been nominated for best film in almost all the critics awards and winning half of it.The film met with critical reception and both Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo's performance are widely praised and appreciated.Being a silent film with cast who are unknown to many ,the film is still a favourite among those who had watched it.

2.Hugo

Director: Martin Scorcese

Cast: Asa Butterfield,Ben Kingsley,Chloe Moretz,etc

The film had received critical acclaim and was named the best picture by the WAFCA awards.Plus the film had another major Oscar factor name attached to it,Martin Scorcese who the AMPAS loved.

3.War Horse

Director: Steven Spielberg

Cast:Jeremy Irvine,Emily Watson,Peter Mullan,etc

Although the film will be released on Christmas day,with the big names like Steven Spielberg and John Williams surely screams Oscar buzz.An adaptation of the stage play of the same name,the film is about  a horse which is sold to the calvary to be used during the war while its owner,young Albert decides to enlist for the army to find and save  it.

4.The Tree Of Life

Director: Terrence Malick

Cast: Sean Penn,Brad Pitt,Jessica Chastain

The fifth film of Terrence Malick the film received rave reviews from the critics and audience although there were some negative reviews for the complex plot.The film was the winner of the Palm d'Or in the Cannes film festival.



5.Tinker Tailor Soldier and Spy

Director: Tomas Alfredson

Cast:Gary Oldman,Colin Firth,Tom Hardy,etc

Packed with some of the talented actors of Britain,Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy received favourable response by the critics and was nominated for 6 British Independent Film Awards.Gary Oldman performance was praised  which could land him his first Academy nomination.

6.The Descendants

Director: Alexander Payne

Cast:George Clooney,Shailene Woodley,Nick Krause,etc

The Descendants  a movie about a father trying to reconnect with his daughter was named one of the top 10 films of the National Board  of Review.Being a film about family drama  and having met with critical acclaim by the critics and the audience ,surely The Descendants can find its way  for a best picture nod.Plus there is the George Clooney factor.

7.The Help

Director: Tate Taylor

Cast: Viola Davis,Emma Stone,Octavia Spencer,Jessica Chastain,etc

The adaptation of the best seller novel,received both critical acclaim and commercial success.The film about racism and the division between the  different classes of society(the bosses and the maids) is generating huge buzz for its cast especially  for Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer.



8.Midnight In Paris

Director: Woody Allen

Cast: Owen Wilson,Rachel McAdams,Marion Cotillard,Michael Sheen,etc

Being Woody Allen most commercially successful film and the with the critical reception from the critics,Midnight In Paris could get nominated for the Best Picture.



9.Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Director: David Yates

Cast:Daniel Radcliffe,Rupert Grint,Emma Watson,Helena Bonham Carter,etc

The last installment of the Potter film is the highest grossing film this year and the probably the best Potter film of the 8 films.Plus there is some of the sentimental factor that could land it its first Best Picture nomination.

10.Drive

Director: Nicolas Winding Refn

Cast:Ryan Gosling,Carey Mulligan,Christina Hendricks,etc

Nicolas Proved that film packed with action stunts can be stylish and dramatic just as other films.The film received positive reviews mainly for Ryan gosling and its action scenes.

So what do you think of the list?Whats' your prediction?

84th Academy Awards-Best Supporting Actress

1.Octavia Spencer

Her role as Minny in the critically acclaimed The Help is my predicted winner for this category.She managed to steal attention in every scene she is in.Her performance as the outspoken maid and with the humor inserted into the character made critics and audience praising her ability and began to notice her acting skills and realise comedy is a serious thing.

2.Vanessa Redgrave

Vanessa Redgrave had been nominated for the Oscars six times already and won one for the film Julia.Her performance as the mother of the general Coriolanus in the film Coriolanus had been described as a masterpiece of acting and propelled her into the Oscar race again.Some even felt this is indeed the best performance of her career.So I'm pretty sure its time for Vanessa Redgrave to get ready for the Oscars again.

3.Keira Knightly 

In the film A Dangerous Method ,Keira Knightly played the real life based character Sabina Spielrein opposite Michael Fassbender and Viggo Mortensen.Her portrayal of the mentally troubled women who later becomes the mistress of the Carl Jung(Fassbender) received positive to mixed review.She managed to portray such a loud(literally) character and at the same time being seductive.The scene where she was brought to the institution and she was screaming her heart out was the talk of the critics as it is a avatar that we haven't seen Keira in .Plus the spanking scene did help to create some attention even before the release .I definitely see Keira getting nominated as there was a range of performance from Keira in this film,from a troubled women who says it excites her when her father hits her to a seductive women who wants to lure Carl Jung.

4.Judi Dench

Judi Dench will be portraying the mother of the J.Edgar Hoover in the biopic film J.Edgar.Based on the trailer Judi Dench did shine and seem to have some good scenes ,especially the non-speaking scene where she notices her son(Leonardo DiCaprio)hold the hands of Clyde Tolson(Armie Hammer).She managed to emote well worry through her eyes  in a subtle manner.If she managed to have more scenes like those in the film and perform well which I have no doubt , I feel Judi Dench will be seeing another nomination in her career.

5.Jessica Chastain

Take Shelter one of the well received indie film this year is getting lots of buzz for its two main lead,Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain.Jessica Chastain's performance of the wife who is worried of her husband that he could be delusional and losing his mind received great reviews from the critics and the audience.Jessica had been appearing back to back in critically acclaimed films this year and all in absolutely different roles.I definitely see her to be nominated mainly for her body of work this year and her great performance in

 Take Shelter.

Some other actress that could get nominated:

6.Carey Mulligan

Carey Mulligan appears as the foul mouthed cissy in the Steve Mcqueen sex addiction film Shame.Her performance got great reviews and many praised Carey for appearing in a role that is so different to what she normally appears and excels in it.She did some bold scenes and also did some singing in the film.If campaigned well,she could get nominated.

7.Berenice Bejo

Berenice Bejo portrayal in the silent film The Artist received positive reviews.Performing without speaking throughout a film is a serious task and Berenice Bejo as a upcoming rising silent film actress was so good.Since she is a relatively new actress and unknown out of France,she would need to be campaigned well to get her noticed by the AMPAS.If talking about just performance,I surely feel Berenice deserves in the top 5,but since its both performance and campaigning,I placed Berenice here.

Do you agree with me?Did I miss anyone?

Pure Talent-Jessica Chastain

Jessica Chastain

Jessica Chastain was born in Northern California 1981.Although her debut in film was in Jolene which was released 2008,Jessica started to shine and receive great attention from the critics and filmmakers this very year.2011 seems to be a good year for Jessica Chastain where she appeared and played different roles in critically acclaimed movies like The Tree of Life,The Debt,Take Shelter and The Help.

In the Tree of Life directed by the genius  Terrence Malick ,Jessica plays the mother of the young Sean Penn and the wife of Brad Pitt's character in the film.The movie and the actors got great reviews and some critics praising Jessica Chastain for being memorable and able to give a performance at par with both Penn and Pitt.Then we saw Jessica appeared in the seasons favourite The Help .In The Help she played Celia a southern blonde and again she proved she can do any characters.The role garnered her praise and also some Oscar buzz.

However it is in the indie movie Take Shelter that make me become a fan.Jessica played a doubtful wife in the indie hit Take Shelter which is running in the theaters now.Jessica portrayal as the wife who finds it hard to believe her husbands apocalyptic claims is spellbinding and the scene where she wonders whether her husband is losing his mind and scenes where she shows emotion by expression is so beautiful.I am so impressed of her performance in Take Shelter.Jessica managed to shine in a movie all about Michael Shannon character who also did a marvelous job.In my opinion she deserves an nomination in the supporting category for this movie instead of The Help.Then we saw Jessica Chastain as the younger version of Rachel Singer in the film Debt which is a remake of the israeli film of the same name.Chastain played the younger version to the character played by Hellen Mirren,a Mossad agent.Both Mirren and Chastain performance drew great reviews and praise.
Jessica Chastain is an actress who can mold herself into many different roles and performs well.I definitely see a bright future for Jessica in Hollywood.She is one of those actress where can do both critically acclaimed movies as well a commercial,big studio films.She has many more films awaiting for release and still in the production process.She will be in the films The Wettest County in the World,Texas Killing  Fields and a untitled Terrence Malick film as well a untitled Guillermo del Toro film.All the best to the the Hollywood chameleon,Jessica Chastain.
Next week,Memonisma would be highlighting Elizabeth Olsen and Michael Shannon.