Wednesday, June 1, 2011

The Hannah Movie Awards: May 2011

I watched a TON of movies this month. A lot for me, anyway: 32. So we'll see what kinds of awards I get to give out.

Best Acting Overall
- In the Bedroom
- Megamind
- Sex, Lies, and Videotape
- Tangled

Although I enjoyed all these movies, this one has to go to In the Bedroom, hands down. Near perfect performances from everyone involved, and that's really hard to achieve in a movie. Usually there's at least someone who drags it down. That just wasn't the case here.

Best Actor
- Color Me Kubrick (John Malkovich)
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Dear Frankie (Jack McElhone)
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The Detective (Alec Guinness)
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Evil (Henrik Lundstrom)
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Rabbit Hole (Miles Teller)
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Tangled (Zachary Levi)
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Water for Elephants (Christoph Waltz)
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Water for Elephants (Robert Pattinson)
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Wilde (Stephen Fry)

Wow. Some of these people obviously deserve this more than others (what are YOU doing here, Robert Pattinson? You were just acceptable, not award-worthy). It's worth noting that three of the people here played children or young teenagers - kudos to McElhone, Lundstrom, and Teller for not making me hate their characters. But this award obviously has to go to Stephen Fry, who was so perfectly cast as Oscar Wilde.

Best Actress
- ‘Night, Mother (Anne Bancroft)
- ‘Night, Mother (Sissy Spacek)
- Tangled (Donna Murphy)
- Tangled (Mandy Moore)

Well, I enjoyed Tangled, but obviously one of the two from 'Night, Mother should have this one. Although it's awfully difficult to choose which one, I think Sissy Spacek ever so slightly gets the edge in this one. Very well played.

Best Adaptation
- ‘Night, Mother
- Lolita (1997)
- Lord of the Flies

Awarding Lolita anything for adaptation feels ridiculous, as I haven't ever read the original novel and have nothing to base it on. So I think I'm going to disqualify it and give it to 'Night, Mother instead, which was really well done.

Most Cliched
- Something’s Gotta Give
- Tangled

Not even a contest. Tangled only had a moment or two of clichedness, while Something's Gotta Give had nothing BUT cliches from beginning to end.

Best Dialogue
- ‘Night, Mother
- Sex, Lies, and Videotape

Er, well, while I feel like I'm just giving everything away to this movie, I'm pretty sure this has to go to 'Night, Mother again. Everything just works.

Most Disappointing
- Color Me Kubrick
- Wilde

I think the more disappointing of the two was probably Wilde, which I was so looking forward to, and then it just ended up being kind of... meh. I didn't have such high expectations of Color Me Kubrick, so it didn't disappoint as much.

Most Enjoyable
- Do You Like Hitchcock?
- The Detective
- The Tourist

OK, I know it got huge amounts of flak... but I liked The Tourist. It's complete nonsense, but it somehow got me to have a good time watching an action movie, which is rather an enormous achievement. Although I liked the other two pretty well, I enjoyed The Tourist from beginning to implausible end.

Most Entertaining
- Caddyshack
- Do You Like Hitchcock?
- Tangled
- The Lost Skeleton Returns Again
- White Nights

Ooer. This is kind of a tough one for me. I think of these five, Tangled was the most consistently entertaining, although Lost Skeleton is a close second. So... Tangled takes it. (Good job, Disney.)

Best Final Scene
- Au Revoir Les Enfants
- Lord of the Flies

...Two movies about kids. Who'd'athunk it? I'm pretty sure Au Revoir Les Enfants takes this one, though, because it's the ending that really turned it into something special rather than a nice generic little boarding school movie.

Most Moving
- ‘Night, Mother
- Au Revoir Les Enfants
- The Virgin Spring

OH THIS IS A DIFFICULT CHOICE. Okay. Au Revoir Les Enfants is out. I saw 'Night, Mother more recently so it's fresher in my mind, but I really liked The Virgin Spring. And I really do feel like I've been giving awards to 'Night, Mother left and right. Not that that should be the thing to sway my judgment... But I'm torn enough on this one to let it make my decision. Take it, The Virgin Spring. You deserve it.

Most Surprising
- Dear Frankie
- The Virgin Spring

I think this one has to go to Dear Frankie, which really did surprise me. I expected to hate it and, turns out, I didn't.

Least Funny
- Color Me Kubrick
- Something’s Gotta Give

NO QUESTION, it's Something's Gotta Give. CMK made me chuckle a couple times. SGG just made me stare at the screen and go, "Really? Really?"

And those are the awards this month. I'm a bit saddened that my other favorite movie of the month, Evil, wasn't nominated for anything it could win. I guess that's what happens when you make the nominations based on rather weird rationale. :-)

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