This article will not help you win your Oscar pool.
On this Oscar Nomination ballot, you will not find any Streeps, Clooneys, Plummers or Spielbergs.
No, this is the Anti-Oscars! This is the opposite of what will happen when nominations are announced on Tuesday, January 24.
I’ve made picks in five of the six major categories, but while these certainly don’t reflect what will happen, they aren’t even necessarily what I think should happen. The Academy gets some things right some of the time.
Rather this list is my personal ballot dedicated to the not-even-out-of-the-gate contenders that were marvelous in 2011 but for whatever reason will not receive the attention they deserve at the biggest award ceremony of the year.
I’ll also use this space to discuss why they are not in the race and what that means for the actual contenders. So if any of these names are in your predictions, rethink your decisions now, and watch me eat my words when I predict the real ballot next week.
Best Picture
- Drive
- Beginners
- Super 8
- Incendies
- The Skin I Live In
- Certified Copy
- Weekend
- Melancholia
If there’s one thing the Best Picture hopeful lineup is missing, it’s a good dose of darkness. Is “Moneyball” really the darkest movie this year’s Oscars have to offer? My list, which conveniently resembles all eight films in my Top 10 list not solid contenders for nomination (the other two being “Midnight in Paris” and “Hugo”), shows a much more even split of heavy and lighter entertainment. Continue reading “The Anti-Oscars”