Written by Markus Robinson, Edited by Nicole I. Ashland
Welcome, to the 1st Annual Emilio Awards (or Hollywood’s second biggest night as I like to call it), acknowledging the best in movies for 2011. All of the voting was done by me at my house. So, without further ado, here are the winners for:
Best Actor: If you know me at all, this is undoubtedly the biggest Emilio Awards upset, because of my man-crush on everything Ryan Gosling. The Emilio Best Actor goes to…Michael Fassbender for “Shame”!
Michael Fassbender –Even though, until about an hour ago I had Ryan Gosling almost winning this category; remembering the rage and intensity in Fassbender’s brave performance, narrowly eked out a win for this rising star. Playing a character with a serious sex addiction could have culminated in an over-the-top and down-right silly performance by most actors, BUT Fassbender plays the character with a slow boil, truly giving not only the most realistic performance of the year (screw you George Clooney) but unequivocally the most engaging.
Best Supporting Actor: All of you Andy Serkis fan boys out there will just have to wait another year because the winner of The Emilio Award for Best Supporting Actor is…Armie Hammer for “J.Edgar”.
Armie Hammer – After his dual role in 2010’s “The Social Network” and this role in “J. Edgar”, stealing the show from Leonardo DiCaprio, the sky is the limit for this young actor. Although “J. Edgar” was in no way actor/director Clint Eastwood’s best work, and DiCaprio does no more than his usual notable work in the title role, Hammer (playing both the office confidant and the love interest) plays his role with such ease (even with 100 pounds of makeup on). If nothing else, he wins this award for a performance that snatches this Biopic from the gutters of mediocrity.
Best Actress: For the longest time, I had it in my mind that it would be Viola Davis’ year to take home the illustrious Emilio Award. Well…then I saw “My Week with Marilyn”. The winner of The Emilio Award for Best Actress goes to…Michelle Williams for “My Week with Marilyn”.
Michelle Williams – Her portrayal of Monroe is unmatched (even if the story itself was lacking). And while some critics may have a few quibbles with some exaggerated aesthetics pertaining to her hips, as far as her mannerisms, speech pattern, and all around performance, with this film Williams solidifies herself as one of the best actresses of today’s generation.
Best Supporting Actress: Just squeaking by an aggressively underrated Bryce Dallas Howard as Hilly Holbrook, the winner of The Emilio Award for Best support Actress is…Bernice Bejo!
Berenice Bejo – The Artist, which was one of the best films of the year, was carried by the two lead stars, but Bejo is so visually striking, with a timeless performance as the love interest as she so effortlessly outshines everyone onscreen with ease of a seasoned veteran. It is hard to believe that she has been heavily criticized, being called the weaker of the on-screen duo; many even citing nepotism. In this reviewers opinion (my opinion being the only one that counts when pertaining to The Emilio Awards) Bejo was not only the perfect choice to star next to a Jean Dujardin caliber actor, but clearly stated she embodies Peppy (aka that actresses of the 1930’s), hence the only choice for the role.
Best Director: In maybe one of the hardest categories I had the honor of voting on this year, the winner of The Emilio Award for Best Director is…Nicolas Winding Refn for “Drive”.
Nicolas Winding Refn – From Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo” to Sean Durkin’s “Martha Marcy May Marlene” to Terrence Malick’s very underrated “The Tree of Life”, this Best Director category was stacked this year. But Nicolas Winding Refn is my pick, by a bumper. And who would argue? Refn, who comes in with a very distinctive style of directing, finally broke through to a mainstream American audience with “Drive”, a brilliantly adapted, new age “man with no name” story. And Ryan Gosling was in it so you know I had to love it. Well, back to the direction. With “Drive”, Refn has such command of the camera, giving a buffet of the most gorgeous, aesthetically pleasing shots, one course after another. Above all other directors in 2011, Refn demonstrates a directing prowess that should gain him mass notoriety; especially since he is finally working with some halfway decent material.
Best Comedy – No, “Bridesmaids” is not going to win this category for the same reason SNL never wins an Emmy! This year, The Emilio Award for Best Comedy goes to…Midnight in Paris!
Midnight in Paris – Woody Allen does it again. Well…he does it like he used to back in the 80’s, solidifying himself again as one of the most witty, creative and intellectually hilarious writers of this or any generation.
Best Ensemble Cast– Again, no “Bridesmaids”! The winner of The Emilio Award for Best Ensemble Cast goes to…“The Ides of March”!
The Ides of March – “The Ides of March” and “The Help” were neck and neck in this category for a long time. What solidified the “Ides of March” as clearly the best ensemble of 2011, doesn’t come down to a battle of the sexes, but a matter of consistency. From George Clooney, to Ryan Gosling, to Philip Seymour Hoffman, to Paul Giamatti, to Evan Rachel Wood all on their A game, “The Ides of March” displays a constant barrage of brilliant performances. In “The Help”, there were some weak links in the cast; most notably Emma Stone as the lead.
Best Original Screenplay: Wow, Woody is really cleaning up today. The winner of The Emilio Award for Best Original Screenplay is…Woody Allen for “Midnight in Paris”!
Midnight in Paris -In definitely the more competitive of the two screenplay categories, Woody Allen is the obvious choice, even though Michael Hazanavicius structured one of the best scripts of the year with “The Artist”, the “Like Crazy” script contains the best line of the year and Will Reiser actually lived through his script.
Best Adapted Screenplay: The fact that Aaron Sorkin is my God, pains me even more that I am not picking his “Moneyball” script to win this category. The winner of The Emilio Award for Best Adapted Screenplay is Yasmina Reza and Roman Polanski for “Carnage”!
Carnage – Ok, ok so the fact that this was adapted by the playwright of the original critically acclaimed play is kind of unfair to the other films (“Moneyball” or “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy or even “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close). But I really don’t care, because even if you had no prior knowledge of the source material, “Carnage” (on paper) still delivers blow after blow of fierce dialogue, which crescendos into a cornucopia of brilliant writing.
Best Documentary Feature: The year of 2011 may be remembered as the year of forgettable Documentary features, or rather not remembered for Documentary features. The winner of The Emilio Award for Best Documentary Feature goes to…”Buck”!
Buck – With a rather weak year for documentaries in my area, “Buck” narrowly pulled away from the others (like “Senna”). Proving that it is much more than a movie about a horse trainer, “Buck” is about the man known as the “horse whisperer”, but also an in-depth character study that transcends equestrian culture. It may be as simple as saying: “Buck” was the only documentary of 2011 that did exactly what a great documentary should do. It had me emotionally engaged in a subject for which I had no prior knowledge or interest in.
Best Animated Film – Purely because (on a entertainment level) it was just so much better than the rest, the winner of The Emilio Award for the Best Animated Film is…”Kung Fu Panda 2”!
Kung Fu Panda 2 – Now, I know what you’re saying: “The Adventures of Tintin” and “Rango” technically had better animation”, BUT (and this is a big but) “Kung Fu Panda 2” had clearly the most entertaining, funniest and universally loved animated storylines of 2011. In a sequel that, in my opinion, was better than the original, “Kung Fu Panda 2” shows that having state of the art, million dollar stop-motion animation, is nothing if it isn’t accompanied by a well done script. Side Note: I have recently seen “Chico & Rita”, but unfortunately did not see it before I made this list or else it would have won this category by a landslide. I know this is a blow to my Cuban readers.
Best Foreign Film: I will end the suspense right now. The winner of The Emilio Award for Best Foreign film is NOT “A Separation”. Address all the hate mail to robinson_me@yahoo.com. By the way, on a lesser note, the winner of this category is a film snubbed from the Oscars and every other awards show this season, “13 Assassins” out of Japan.
13 Assassins – The fact that this film holds some utterly spectacular choreography, the best battle sequence I have seen maybe ever, a timeless story of honor and revenge, and may have single handedly revived the entire Samurai genre, will undoubtedly fall on deaf ears when it is discovered that “A Separation” didn’t win this category. Anyways, I really recommend that you go see “13 Assassins” if you haven’t already; before you send that hateful email about how I am so out of touch with more emotional melodramatic pieces.
Best Picture: All together snubbed by the so called “Hollywood’s biggest night” (of course I’m talking about The Academy Awards), when it was one of the most well received movies of 2011. The winner of The Emilio Award for Best Picture goes to... “Drive”!
Drive –This is definitely a purely selfish pick when “The Artist” is a shoe-in to walk away with the Oscar on February 24th, but few can deny that “Drive” was not their own personal favorite film of the year. From the unmatched intensely stylized look and feel of a Nicolas Winding Refn film, to Ryan Gosling giving a Taxi Driver-esque performance, to containing (needless to say) the coolest storyline of the year, the fact that “Drive” was all together snubbed from the big dance this year speaks volumes of how out of touch the Academy truly is.
The other (lesser) Emilio Awards categories:
Best Score:
John Willams for “War Horse” – Only on the bases that I am humming it as we speak.
Art Direction:
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – The movie reeks of 1960’s London.
Best Cinematography:
The Tree of Life - Calm down haters. Even if you are in the ignorant minority that couldn’t see the magnificence of “The Tree of Life”, it is impossible to ignore the visually transcendent beauty, dripping from every scene; even when nobody on-screen is speaking.
Best Editing
Martha Marcy May Marlene – It is hard to quantify, but the editing here is not only the best aspect of this film, but also so visually stunning that it forces you to lose yourself in a sort of half dream-like state for the entirety of the movie. Plus, the river scene alone is worthy of this award.
Best Animal Performance in a Motion Picture:
The Dog from “The Artist” – As I stated in my review, if there were an Academy Award for best animal performance it would go to this dog. So, THANK GOD there is an awards show that gives animals their just dues.
Best Original Song:
“Man or Muppet” from “The Muppets” – Not only was “The Muppets” the best musical in years, this song was the single reason to purchase the album.
Best Visual Effects:
Rise of the Planet of the Apes – By far this was the easiest category to pick a winner out of, simply because no other film comes visually close. With maybe the best use of CGI since “Avatar”, “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”, shows that (unlike Avatar) a film can have a trillion dollar budget and still have room in the budget for a compelling hero and storyline.
There you have it, the winners of all 20 categories and the lucky recipients that went home with the first annual Emilio Award! While some may find fault with the Emilio Award winners for 2011, all of those people can suck rocks! What my awards do work to prove, is that once again the Academy Awards are as narrow minded as ever, when it comes to nominating the best in films. Thank you for reading.
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