2012 Oscar Round-Up.

As expected by most film critics and Hollywood insiders, The Artist won Best Picture and Best Director at The Oscars.  Also the superb Mr. Jean Dujardin won Best Actor, although Cinematic Impact was expecting Mr. Clooney or Mr. Pitt to take home the golden statue.  Overall the 84^th Academy Awards was pleasant to watch but it is time for the wonderful but increasingly redundant Mr. Billy Crystal to hang-up the hosting cape. 

Rohan Mohmand (also of mastersofcinema.net and Static Mass Emporium) asked 10 pre-Oscar questions about 5 weeks ago.  This time Mr. Mohmand is the person being questioned about the results of America’s most prestigious red carpet affair.

1. What was the most satisfying win of the Oscars?

The Oscars are my favorite award ceremony, but sadly it is changing in a way. It is not focusing more on the films. For example:  The Red Carpet. I know that the red carpet is about fun and fashion, but what we see for an hour prior to the ceremony are set of questions that the reporters ask from the celebrities regarding their dresses. This year, I don't remember them asking the stars regarding their work on films. It was more about fashion and their make-up. I believe those questions should be asked from them during MTV Music or Movie Awards red carpet affairs. The ceremony in my opinion was alright, and the most satisfying win of the Oscars for me was Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall for editing The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

2.  What was the biggest upset of the Oscars?

I was really looking forward to Eddie Murphy hosting the ceremony this year, but instead we got Billy Crystal who is not bad, but it seems like he did what he did a few years back. I was not at all satisfied with his jokes or with his presence on the stage. And what made me upset the most when his jokes went empty and he had to bring up Christopher Plummer's and Max Von Sydow's ages.

3. Do you think that Hugo deserved best cinematography?

Hugo in my opinion is a stunning film. Scorsese's take on the 3D shows that 3D can be used in different style and does not have to be an action adventure like James Cameron’s 'Avatar.' I am personally happy for Scorsese and his picture winning most of the awards, but I really wanted 'The Tree of Life' to win the award for best cinematography, for this film as well, and in fact in a very artistic manner was shot and did justice to theme of the film and meaning of the story.

4.  Who should host the Oscars next?

I would love to see Eddie Murphy to host the Oscar and if not, I would like to see Jim Carrey as the host. Hopefully next year.

5. Should there be an academy award for stunt work?

I think it should be. We have lost some great stuntmen. It is a hard task and I see that these men and women do their job with passion. They are involved with film and their involvement and their passion is to make the film look realistic. I think the Academy consider it and open a new category.

6. Was is it truly an upset that Streep won over Davis for Best actress?

Ms. Streep is an outstanding actress. I love her and her work. She's been nominated for 17 times and has 3 wins in her resume. I think giving her again an award is a good act by understanding her hard work and passion that she has for Cinema. But, I was going for Ms. Davis though. She is an outstanding actress as well, and the reason I wanted her to win because I wanted the Academy to give her a chance, for she is new and young. What we want is to motivate the young good talent and Ms. Davis is one of them. But every time is next time and I am sure that Ms. Davis will win it in future.

7. Do you think that the Academy should wait so long to award great filmmakers and actors/actresses lifetime achievement awards?

Lifetime achievement awards are one of my favorites. I think presenting an award to an actor/actress and great filmmakers a lifetime achievement award is a salute to their hard work and dedication to the cinema. Waiting so long and rewarding them with such honor is rewarding. They basically feel as artists feel like they have reached that level in their life to hold that award. I don't think they should award them earlier, but what in my opinion the Academy must consider is that they should hold a certificate of honor for their hard work and dedication (so far) during the award ceremony and have a veteran to present that award. For example; we have Leonardio DiCaprio and Brad Pitt, they have been nominated several times now and for the past few years we have been witnessing that they leave the ceremony empty handed. Not that they are not going to win an Oscar, but giving them a certificate of honor during a ceremony with a special montage video of their career seems a bit more of a motivational deed. At least as an artist they will not walk out empty ended. In future, sometime and if I get the opportunity, I will suggest something like this to Academy.

8. Do you think younger members should be appointed to be members of the Academy to represent our generation?

The younger filmmakers should always get the chance to represent our generation.

9. What do you think about the gift packages that all nominees receive? Maybe we will get one someday.

Gifts are always nice. And getting a gift package and being nominated for Oscar is something that I would like to experience for sure. I just wonder sometimes what those packages contain? I am pretty sure that all the nominees and specially the females were super excited not only for being nominated, but for gift packages as well. I wish I were there to experience their reaction as ladies love gifts. Whether it is a small or huge box it doesn't matter. I think it is always nice to give them gifts. They deserve it. 

10. To the best of your ability, please predict what films of 2012 will be nominated in the following categories: Picture, director, cinematography, visual effects, editing, sound, and art direction. Acting is too hard to gauge at this point.

Best Director: Steven Spielberg, Paul Thomas Anderson, Tarantino, and I am sure Baz Luhrmann will be nominated as well.

Best Cinematography: Once again I think Lincoln, Django Unchained, The Master and The Dark Knight Rises will be nominated for best cinematography.

Visual effects: I think John Carter, The Dark Knight Rises, Prometheus, The Bourne Legacy might get the nods for visual effects.

Editing and sound: The Dark Knight Rises, The Bourne Legacy, Skyfall

Art Direction: The Great Gatsby, The Dark Knight Rises, Lincoln, Django Unchained, Skyfall

Acting: We have Daniel Day Lewis in Lincoln, he will be nominated for sure. And then we have Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix from The Master. And also we have Leonardo DiCaprio this year not in one film, but two. The Great Gatsby and his role in Django Unchained. He might get the Oscar nod for best supporting actor in Django Unchained. And he might win it just like Mr. Christian Bale was for The Fighter.

Oscar nomination Q&A on Cinematic Impact

On Tuesday, January 24th my alarm went off a bit earlier than usual, for the Academy Award nominations were announced. Putting aside all the other award ceremonies respectively there is nothing like the Academy Awards. The gravity of this ceremony shakes the artists in their boots as they wait for their names to be announced in the early morning. Since these celebrities shake in their boots as they wait for the announcements and even during the ceremony, we the aficionado of cinema sit on the edges of our couches to hear the names of our favorite stars, writers, film-makers, composers, and picture to be announced. Sometimes looking at these categories, we get a bit emotional when you see your favorite is not nominated and there are times that you are satisfied with the announcement. Who wins or who loses it doesn't matter, for this ceremony makes us emotional and excited as usual.

Since we love to discuss cinema here at CinematicImpact.com, we thought to discuss the Academy Awards as well this year in the form of a short Q&A. So, therefore I am going to be the one with the questions here and my friend Travlis Hallingquest, who is the founder of CinematicImpact.com and a member of American Film Institute will be the one answering. We have been discussing this year’s list of nominees for a while now and below you see our discussion. We have kept it a bit short, for we are discussing the list of nominees in general, Best Picture, Best actor, and Best supporting actor.  If you like to comment and express your opinion don't forget to comment below. We will be jumping to discuss with you as well.

Q&A with Travlis Hallingquest and Rohan Mohmand:

Rohan: We have been waiting for the announcements for a while now. Every year like everyone else I look forward to the nominations and somehow I feel satisfied and bit not satisfied. So, what you think about the nominations? Are you satisfied at all?

Travlis: Overall I am satisfied with the nominations. The biggest disappointment was the no best actor nomination for Leonardo DiCaprio. Albert Brooks should have also been nominated. A minor disappointment was that Robert Elsweit was not nominated for best cinematography for Ghost Protocol.

Rohan:  Yeah, personally I find it quite surprising on a negative note, for Leonardo DiCaprio not being nominated for his impeccable performance in Eastwood's J.Edgar. Looking back at every character that Mr. DiCaprio has limned is remarkable, but in J.Edgar in my opinion, he stepped up and broke that rule considering that he is in his 30s and playing such a challenging role, which required tons of make-up and psychological preparation.  He was on the set of a film that pressured him to play a young Hoover and the old Hoover as well.

And, what else I find shocking is that Albert Brooks is not nominated, but we do see Jonah Hill though. What are your thoughts on Jonah Hill's nomination? I am personally happy for him, but I think Albert Brooks should have been nominated for his work in ‘Drive.’

Travlis:  I think Jonah Hill was very deserving, he and Brad Pitt had perfect on-screen chemistry. Without their performances, Steve Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin's marvelous writing would have been wasted. Jonah Hill has showed that he has more to contribute to the cinema world than playing the fat-kid comic relief.

Rohan:  Best picture category. I haven't seen THE ARTIST, and looking at the reviews and all the media going gaga, I knew that it would be nominated for sure. And it is a movie that is set in 1920s. It is nominated for Best Picture, director, actor, and supporting actress. While THE ARTIST holds 10 nomination total, we have Martin Scorsese's 3D family film, HUGO, which holds 11 nominations including Best Picture and Best Director. In the list we also have War Horse, The Descendants, Moneyball, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. One film I thought that will be overlooked was THE TREE OF LIFE. It respectively sits next to this list of titles now. What are your thoughts on TREE OF LIFE being nominated, a film that is fresh, challenging to make because of its subject matter? Do you think it has a better chance of winning than Hugo and The Artist just because it is different? Last year THE SOCIAL NETWORK received all the praise, and The King Speech won the best picture. Prior to that, Avatar was topic of the town, and The Hurt Locker took the trophy home.

Travlis: The Tree of Life should be sold together in a Blu-ray pack with 2001 A Space Odyssey. They both have great themes of existentialism, and both have the same special effects supervisor. If The Tree of Life beats both ‘The Artist’ and ‘Hugo’ I will be having no issues with that, for it is a film that deserves to be recognized.

Rohan:  What you think about Brad Pitt's nomination? He is going against George Clooney, who won the Golden Globe for his performance in The Descendants. Personally Mr. Pitt is my favorite in the list of nominees. Do you think they will take his hard work for what he has done for cinema under consideration and give the trophy to him finally?

Travlis:  George Clooney is going to be tough to beat. The Descendants was fully based on character driven performances and he delivered. Luckily for Brad Pitt Moneyball is also based on character driven performances and the chemistry that he has with Jonah Hill is unparalleled this year. Moneyball also has the advantage of having the more intricate script, courtesy of Aaron Sorkin and Steve Zaillian. This is one case where I would like to see the Academy Award someone due to their performance and the fact that they are past due for an Oscar.

2012 Academy Award nominees list. The ceremony will be live on ABC February 26^th. 2012 7 Eastern / 4PM Pacific.