Hi Videogum. How've you dudes been? It's been a long time, but I've come back, out of hiding, to remind you all to watch Glee. JKJKJK, even I don't do that anymore, and I do EVERYTHING. The real reason I'm back is to announce that you, yes you, reading this right now, have been nominated for Most Interesting Internet Reader of the Year, for your achievement in reading, and sometimes commenting upon, internet material between January 27th 2011 and January 27th 2012. It has come to this committee's attention that you are str8-up amazeeeen, way cooler than anyone you work with (or, if you don't have a job right now, way sexier and more destined for fame in a creative capacity than the last person who fired you), and so fucking good at kissing it's like insane that you're not married yet to [MOVIE STAR WHO MAKES SENSE WITH YOUR SEXUAL PREFERENCE]. You should be as proud of yourself as I am of you, and if your parents and/or older sibling don't get that, they can kiss every part of my ass that I can't reach. Congratulations. How do you feel? Well, you probably feel perfect, special, and like some cosmic debt has been repaid. Welcome to Awards Season. I 100% believe people when they say it's "an honor just to be nominated" for Oscars, Golden Globes, Emmy's, and the rest of 'em--I bet it feels sofuckinggood. But what about the rest of the people who kicked ass at their profession in public and don't get that nomination? Sometimes they were even better at their job than the people who did get nominations, which is a Matrix Reloaded level mindbender. That's what this post is really about: the overlooked geniuses of 2011, whose perfection somehow didn't earn them anything other than A TON of money (on a scale of zero to some dollars).
Let's start at the end: BEST PICTURE. By the time most awards shows get to it, the audience in the room and at home are sweating and shuddering through Champagne withdrawal, cursing the fact that they continue to buy into the politically icky and economically despicable entertainment industry's bullshit year after year. But to save it for last here would only make this post repetitive in a bad way: the two Overlookedy nominees for Best Picture also contain nominees for Best Actor, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and more, because, THAT'S WHAT MAKES AN AMAZING MOVIE: when it all comes together perfectly as a finished product that is equal to the sum of its (perfect) parts.
It should also be noted that both nominees could accurately be described as comedies, or dramas, or music videos for that matter. Satan bless The Golden Globes for breaking shit down by genre in an attempt to nominate every goddamn thing ever, and LOL when they get it wrong (NEVER FORGET Angelina Jolie for Best Actress in a Comedy: The Tourist). But, for me at least, when a movie tries to make me feel everything, and I still leave satisfied--that's when I start throwing big phrases around like "best movie of the year."
HANNA
Hanna is not only my favorite movie of 2011, it is my favorite movie in a long time. While it could most easily be described as an action movie, it was as funny as Bridesmaids (read: VERY FUNNY). It's a fairy-tale, a coming-of-age story, a thriller, and most important of all, as entertaining as possible from the first second to the last.
Besides Best Picture, Hanna is also nominated for Best Actress, Saoirse Ronan, and Best Supporting Actress, Jessica Barden.
Both actresses are young and their performances were timelessly fantastic--usually a recipe for being pelted with nominations a la Abigail Breslin or Anna Paquin. But maybe they're not young enough for it to impress execs that they even said the right words, or whatever. It's a shame, because I would say their acting was beyond mature--Ronan a complex and steely heroine, Barden a Jennifer Saunders level comic foil and world-class brat.
Saoirse Ronan's portrayal of Hanna in Hanna also gives me an opportunity to tip my cap to Honorable Mention and winner of the Overlookedy's signature YOU'LL BE JUST FINE IN THIS LIFE Award to would-be Best Actress Elizabeth Olsen for Martha Marcy May Marlene. They go hand-in-hand for me as they are both examples of brilliant young actresses doing the shit out of their job of portraying a fish out of water in a suffocatingly stylized world. Olsen's Martha suffered only for the extreme Jungle Book-y-ness of the script that made her reentry into mainstream life from trauma in the woods jarring, despite her subtle and truly fantastic acting. She's gonna be JUST fine.
BEGINNERS
Woah, this movie could have been the twee-est piece of saccharin garbage ever burped out in the post-500-Days-of-Summer world in which we find ourselves wallowing today. A septuagenarian comes out of the closet and his successful-but-unfulfilled fine artist son is totes chill with it. The son falls in love with a French actress who is beautiful but not sure if she wants to move in right now. The old man dies and his Jack Russell Terrier kind of narrates the whole thing through subtitles.
NOPE! It was the best. Christopher Plummer, who plays the dying gay, is up for awards for his performance, and I hope he wins! But, for me, the real triumphs of the movie, acting-wise, go to Best Actor nominee Ewan McGregor and Best Supporting Actress Mary Page Keller. Ewan McGregor brings an ease, a normalness, a depth and realness to his performance that it desperately begged for. And he has to do some really gross shit, like quote The Velveteen Rabbit and chat with the aforementioned Jack Russell. As for Mary Page Keller--if you go to her IMDB page you'll notice that she's appeared in exactly one episode of every TV show since the mid '60's, and this beautiful film role kind of came out of nowhere--she absolutely ruled as Ewan's unfucked genius of a mom.
Overall, writer/director Mike Mills deserves a giant round of applause for his creation. Best Director, for sure, though it's hard to tell in this case whether it was simply a feat of good negotiating behind the scenes that allowed him to direct his own script or the fact that his vision is magnificently lovable. But either way, twenty minutes in, when the Jack Russell looks at the camera and 'says' this:
...you LOL instead of killing yourself. Now THAT's movie magic.
On the theme of things coming across so much better on screen than they ever could on paper thanks to great performances, it's with great enthusiasm that I announced the Overlookedy nominee for Best Supporting Actor: Cory Stoll as Ernest Hemingway in Midnight in Paris.
This movie was nothing if not a parade of excellent actors doing their best (and for the most part absolutely killing it) despite what struck me as a pretty fucking annoying script (WRITTEN BY A VERY FUNNY OLD GENIUS). But one performance in particular stood out to me as just amazing, and that was Mr. Stoll whose handling of Hemingway-via-Allen sets a new standard for what can be done with a mouth, a brain, and an attitude.
And, while we're throwing around Honorable Mentions, I must announce my nominees for Best Moment on Film--not a real category, I realize, but this year had some real doozies. The first nominee is [SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!] the moment when Caesar first screams "NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" in Rise of the Planet of the Apes--a moment so fucking effective it literally knocked the wind out of me. Man that movie was EXCELLENT, though it's hard to, awards-wise, say why. It could be a Best Picture contender for sure, but not because of the acting, or directing, or script per se (maybe the script?)--it was just an overall well-executed piece of entertainment. Good from start to end, exciting, fun, smart, etc. Good job!
The second Best Moment? Veronica Webb joking to Bill Cunningham at a fancy party that Club Monaco "makes" the best diamonds in Bill Cunningham New York, which, along with the VERY interesting Tabloid should definitely be up for Best Documentary.
So that's film!
In television, less, in my opinion, was overlooked this year. Most glaringly I'd say that two performances by supporting actresses didn't get the love they deserved, even though they were on shows that were fucking drowning in love. The first Best Supporting Actress, TV, would be the eyeliner-ed ghost of a homewrecker (though that home was begging to be wrecked for sure) on American Horror Story, Kate Mara.
She had an energy I can't quite describe, but her turn from needy blackmail-y mistress to vengeful evil undead sex goddess was truly exceptional. I hope she goes damn far.
Other Best Supporting Actress, TV goes to Michaela Watkins as Janice on Enlightened. First let me say: that show is perfection, and Michaela Watkins's performance of an uber-bitch who's actually just a normal person but we're seeing everything through the eyes of a wounded and broken flower with extreme anger-probz is one of the best parts of it. Maybe the best? If she was on it more, it would be the best. Keep up the great work.
As for men, I think it's high time someone shower Chris Pratt and Nick Offerman of Parks and Recreation (another of my favorite shows) with the nominations for Best Supporting Actor, TV that they deserve. Of everyone on that show (who are all truly wonderful), Chris Pratt and Nick Offerman stand out to me as the funniest, the ones who do the most, and the rulers of my heart. No need to nominate the entire cast of Modern Family again, Emmy's--they get it.
As for who or what else was overlooked in TV, I'd like to bring attention to 15-minute-long comedies. Do they not count or something? Because there are two that could easily compete with more traditional-length comedies that get a lot more attention in the running for Best Comedy and Best Writing for TV. (They are both on Cartoon Network; one is for kids and one is for psychos grownups. They both work PERFECTLY for stoned 20-to-40-somethings.) The nominees are: Children's Hospital (the most hilarious ensemble dirty-brain comedy since Strangers With Candy) and Adventure Time (a fairy-tale fart-based comedy for male children). If you are not watching these shows I can guarantee you that they are funnier and more exciting than whatever it is you are watching.
Did I miss anything? Best Reality Host: RuPaul (Drag Race); Best Reality TV Special: The Virgin Diaries (TLC); Best Snack: Trader Joe's brand Multi-Seed Rice Crackers with Soy Sauce.
Now that we are almost a month into 2012: let the games begin again!!! See you on Twitter during The Oscars, probably!
