You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘Best Costume’ category.
Here’s a quick round-up of what we think should win tonight. Follow along to see what Oscar gets right! (Hint: use the “John” column)
| Jared | John | |
|---|---|---|
| Picture | Argo | Django Unchained |
| Director | Spielberg | Lee |
| Actress | Lawrence | Chastain |
| Actor | Day-Lewis | Day-Lewis |
| Supporting Actress | Hathaway | Hathaway |
| Supporting Actor | Waltz | Hoffman |
| Original Screenplay | Flight | Flight |
| Adapted Screenplay | Argo | Argo |
| Animated Feature | Wreck-It Ralph | Brave |
| Animated Short | Paperman | |
| Cinematography | Lincoln | Anna Karenina |
| Costume | Mirror Mirror | |
| Film Editing | Argo | |
| Makeup and Hairstyling | Les Miserables | |
| Production Design | Anna Karenina | |
| Score | Life of Pi | |
| Song | Skyfall | Skyfall |
| Sound Editing | Django Unchained | |
| Sound Mixing | Les Miserables | |
| Visual Effects | Life of Pi |
The Oscars are quickly approaching. Because we’ve spent the time to see the nominees and because we’re really smart (and I, at least, have impeccable taste), we’re telling you what should win in all the categories.
Best Production Design
The nominees are:
- Anna Karenina
- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
- Les Miserables
- Life of Pi
- Lincoln
John
Meerkat island aside, what part of Life of Pi earned it a nomination in this category? The look and feel of the lifeboat? The precise level of surreal air given to any particular scene surrounded by vast open sea? But the Art Directors Guild gave it the win in the fantasy film category so maybe I don’t know what I’m talking about.
I specifically saw Les Miserables on a larger screen because I thought the sets would be fun to see, but they were underutilitzed in the film. Director Tom Hoopers constant closeup shots didn’t bother me as much as it did others, but it certainly made it hard to appreciate the backdrops. The film also lacked the epic air I expected it to have, part of that due to uninspired (and overly-digital) period sets.
Lincoln and The Hobbit both have very effective production design that subtly help establish their settings without getting in their way. They are also both somewhat unmemorable and The Hobbit‘s sets aren’t really breaking any new ground. There are a few new castles, but otherwise much of the film takes place outside or in settings first created for Lord of the Rings over a decade ago.
That leaves me with Anna Karenina. I love the creative use of sets in this film. Many scenes take place in an old theater that is constantly shifting to represent different settings, from a horse race to a train station to a ballroom. The film notably loses its luster in its second half when it moves away from the theater more often. I am somewhat conflicted, however, because I’m not sure it’s much more than a gimmick. I pilloried the nomination Nine received in this category a few years back because it was basically creative use of scaffolding and I don’t want to be a hypocrite. But, hell, the production design by itself greatly enhanced my enjoyment of the film so I’ll roll with it, even if the “living life on a stage” allegory is a little trite.
There were several films with really interesting production design that would have made for a stellar list of nominees. What about the various spacecraft of Prometheus? The numerous time periods – particularly the future dystopia – of Cloud Atlas? And, especially, Skyfall for its villain lair, Shanghai skyscraper, gloomy London offices, and creaky Scottish estate?
Jared
I haven’t been able to bring myself to see The Hobbit, so I won’t submit a vote, but I wanted to a say a few words on behalf of Anna Karenina, my clear favorite among the other four nominees. Granted, I’m not sure the production design was used as well as it could have been (I’m putting that more on Joe Wright). But I can vividly remember the sets from the film (no small feat), a wide array of different settings. And different levels, really, thanks to the odd play within a movie effect that Wright seemed to be going for, some of the time. Those meta-sets were all extremely clever. I also thought the design team put together some pretty impressive sets which were a little more traditional. Oblonsky’s workplace and home, the cottage in the field, Vronsky’s apartment, really, just about everywhere felt heightened without going over the top, a large range of different types of sets, all of which enhanced the feel of the movie.
Best Costume Design
The nominees are:
- Anna Karenina
- Les Miserables
- Lincoln
- Mirror Mirror
- Snow White and the Huntsman
John
As usual, this category is dominated by fantasy and period pieces. Lincoln, Anna Karenina, and Les Miserables all have flashy period costumes, but I’m a little tired of frilly frocks taking this prize year after year. Plus, as advocates for more contemporary designs often point out, a lot of period costumes can simply be rented. Not to deride the costumes in these films – all are notable and interesting in their films – but none feel vital to their films or their visual designs except that they are period-appropriate.
The Snow White films do more. In Snow White and the Huntsman, I’d say Cherlize Theron’s Evil Queen wardrobe really drove the nomination and her clothing, in turn, helped set the tone for the character. But Mirror Mirror takes only about five minutes to win the battle of the Snow Whites and, therefore, this category. The late Eiko Ishioka designs a wide range of bizarre yet delightful designs that contribute to the film’s fun, campy tone. An animal-themed costume party and the seven dwarfs’ slinky pogo pants are two standouts for me.
Looking at some other films that might have made an impact here, how about combination of period clothing and Andersonian design for Moonrise Kingdom? Or the bizarre fashion and dystopian look of The Hunger Games?
Nominations are less than a day away! Time to put our forecasting mettle to the test and see if we can’t pick the nominees. Jared and I did all non-short categories and Brian joined us for the big six. I’ve highlighted in yellow where we differ.
Check back tomorrow to see how we did!
Over the past two weeks we’ve been revealing our choices for most of the Oscar categories. Here is a handy recap of those picks! Refer to this page often during tonight’s telecast to see if you should be agreeing with the winners! (Hint: use the “John” column)
| Adam | Brian | Jared | John | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Picture | Hugo | The Artist | Midnight in Paris | |
| Director | Allen | Scorsese | Havanavicius | Malick |
| Actress | Mara | Mara | Williams | Streep |
| Actor | Dujardin | Dujardin | Dujardin | Oldman |
| Supporting Actress | Bejo | Bejo | Spencer | Chastain |
| Supporting Actor | Hill | Nolte | Branagh | Plummer |
| Original Screenplay | Midnight in Paris | Margin Call | The Artist | Midnight in Paris |
| Adapted Screenplay | Hugo | The Descendants | Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy | |
| Art Direction | Midnight in Paris | Hugo | Hugo | Hugo |
| Cinematography | The Tree of Life | Hugo | The Tree of Life | The Tree of Life |
| Costume | Anonymous | Jane Eyre | ||
| Film Editing | Hugo | Moneyball | The Descendants | |
| Makeup | Harry Potter | The Iron Lady | Harry Potter | The Iron Lady |
| Score | The Artist | The Adventures of Tintin | ||
| Song | The Muppets | The Muppets | The Muppets | |
| Sound Editing | Transformers | The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo | Transformers | Drive |
| Sound Mixing | Transformers | The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo | Transformers | Transformers |
| Visual Effects | Transformers | Rise of the Planet of the Apes | Harry Potter | Transformers |
| Animated Short | A Morning Stroll | A Morning Stroll | A Morning Stroll | Wild Life |
| Live Action Short | Time Freak | Time Freak | ||
| Documentary Short | Saving Face | The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom |
The 84th Academy Awards is almost here! Leading up to the event, we’re going to put all the hours we spent watching these films to good use by giving our thoughts on all the categories, big and small. We may not be experts on everything, but I daresay that’s never stopped anyone from blogging before. On the (very remote chance) you disagree with us or the (much more likely chance) you want to applaud our picks, please chime in below.
Costume Design
The nominees are:
- Anonymous, Lisy Christl
- The Artist, Mark Bridges
- Hugo, Sandy Powell
- Jane Eyre, Michael O’Connor
- W.E., Arianne Phillips
JARED
I’m spectacularly unqualified to write about this category, as anyone who has seen me attempt to dress myself will attest. But I’m a completist, dammit. Also, I didn’t make it to W.E., because it was only playing in Shirlington, which as we all know, is a fictional place. Let’s pretend it was out of protest for Immortals not getting a nod. Because, seriously, the junk the wore in that movie was friggin’ nuts.
Otherwise, I’m sorta struck by how the costuming in these nominees was relatively subtle. At least, I couldn’t really tell you much about the costumes in any of these films, because nothing stuck out much in particular. Anonymous was typical Elizabethan garb, with those crazy collars. So many collars. The Artist had…um…suits and flapper dresses, maybe? The dog maybe wore a collar. Hugo did have some cool outfits in the flashbacks to the old movies, I’ll give it that. But let’s give it to Jane Eyre. No, not just so I can justify watching the bore of the movie. Because I do remember noting that the dresses weren’t as loud or ostentatious as you’d normally find in these movies. And other people seemed to like it a lot.
ADAM
Anonymous
John’s post made me remember I promised to write up a few more categories. He’s kind to suggest that our “social lives” prevented us from going more in depth. I don’t like to lie, but I don’t believe a lie of omission is necessarily a lie, so here’s Cinematography and Costume Design, which I believe wraps us up?
Cinematography
Nominees: Black Swan, Inception, The King’s Speech, The Social Network, True Grit
These nominees match up perfectly with the American Society of Cinematographers, who gave their award to Wally Pfister’s work in Inception. I’m not going to pretend to really know anything about this art form, so sure, I’ll go with the people who actually know what Cinematographers do. That said, Roger Deakins (nominated for True Grit) is on his 9th nomination and has yet to win, so it would be nice to see him take one down.
Costume Design
Nominees: Alice in Wonderland, I Am Love, The King’s Speech, The Tempest, True Grit
If you’ve seen me in person ever, you probably know I am one of the least qualified people in the world to discuss this category. So yeah, I didn’t catch the Julie Taymor film, but all the others had pretty clothes, I guess. But, uh, let’s make me feel good about myself for having seen I Am Love
Oscar nominations arrive Tuesday, January 25. To prepare, we’re giving you our sharpest insight and predictions. Everyone cares about the big categories, but you need in depth coverage from visionaries like us to know: What are some nominations in technical categories that must happen?
Jared: Scott Pilgrim’s effects are essential
Some might say the visual effects are the only thing keeping Scott Pilgram afloat. But Jared wouldn't say that, and it would be an abuse of this poster's editorial position to suggest anything of the sort
This isn’t the spot to discuss all the merits of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, many though they may be. The film didn’t connect with nearly as many people as it should have, most frequently dismissed as something along the lines of “that video game movie.” Well, you know what made it seem like a video game movie? The visual effects! Regardless of whether you think the film was actually the generation-defining movie of the year or a trifle never rising above something meant for kids, I think you have to concede the visuals were both wildly inventive and crucial to the story.
As a devotee of the graphic novels, I’m a little biased, but more than any Facebook movie, I think this one better sums up kids turning to adults these days. And that’s due in an extremely large part to the whiz-bang visuals. Frequently borrowing from or reminiscent of video games, sure, but that’s the entire point. Edgar Wright and his team unleashed an often unrelenting barrage of visual effects, but always in service of the story. And always, as is perhaps most important, looking really really cool.
John: Fighter costumes effective and entertaining
You know what this character's about without even seeing the movie
My support is going to Mark Bridges for Best Costume for The Fighter. Now, no one has accused me of having a sense of style, but I appreciated the clothing in the film for both defining the time period and the characters. Set in the early 1990s in blue collar Massachusetts, the film makes good use of the era’s most garish fashion.
A film set in the near past often has a hard time establishing its time period. Fewer electronics on sets, maybe. Older cars. But the clothing is the most effective, without resorting to misplaced Desert Storm jokes. Plus, in this case, the clothing establishes the characters’ class.
Melissa Leo’s character has some really zany outfits, but the one scene that stands out in my head is Christian Bale leaving his crack house, multicolored parachute pants flapping in the wind.
We’re tackling some of the smaller categories this year too. And there’s nothing twenty year old guys enjoy more than costumes and makeup!
Jared tackles Best Costume
Nominees: Bright Star, Coco Before Chanel, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Nine, and The Young Victoria
I only saw three of the contenders, so my opinion here means even less than usual. I would like to take a second to note that however bad you think the Academy is with falling in love with period pieces, the Costume Design category is even worse. It is the respite of the Oscar contenders no one saw, and which were just a little too crappy to get nominations anywhere else.
Anyway, with that off my chest, I didn’t see Coco Before Chanel, but it is a film about fashion, so that seems pretty cheap. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is the other one I missed, but I’m not sure it would setting a good example for the kids to pick a nominee so clearly influenced by drugs of some sort. The lockiest of all locky locks may have been The Young Victoria in this category. The costumes left no particular impression on me. My problem with Nine is that it is so obviously informed by 8 1/2, so the costuming feels a little less original. So, Bright Star it is. And I’m kinda OK with that. Their period garb seemed to be of a type I hadn’t seen all that often. And it was refreshing to see period attire from a class other than the elite or the poor.
Next, John looks at Best Makeup
Nominees: Il Divo, Star Trek, The Young Victoria
The Young Victoria is primarily a hairdressing nomination, which is fine but sort of uninteresting. Star Trek has crazy alien makeup so it wins. But my main joy in this category is that Academy members will seek out Il Divo, a dense Italian political drama that’s absolutely unintelligible. The utter confusion I’m sure it caused amongst the Academy voting public gives me mischievous delight. But it does some really terrific aging makeup that I didn’t even notice while watching. Check out the before and after photos.
I also just rewatched District 9 and its exclusion here is absolutely dumbfounding. There are some incredible prosthetics in this film, along with the effects of the main character’s transition from human to alien. It’s so realistic it’s disgusting. And yet the hairdos of a queen snuck in instead.
So it all comes down to this. Nominations come out tomorrow and the Grouches are staking their pristine reputations on their predictive powers! Brian, Jared, and John took a stab at the top eight categories while John and Jared went on to predict the rest of the non-short categories. There’s a lot of overlap, so any picks where we differ has been shaded.
The Big Eight:
And the rest (note we also predicted how many Best Song nominees there will be, since there can be 0, 2, 3, 4, or 5)
Who will reign supreme? We’ll declare a winner tomorrow!
Oscar nominations will be announced on February 2. We’re counting down to the big day by offering some hard-hitting analysis and incisive opinions on the toughest questions surrounding the nominees. We tend to focus on the “major” categories (acting, directing, writing, picture), but let’s take a look at the artistic and technical categories. What would you like to see happen in these lesser profile categories?
John: I Am the Grand Poobah of Smaller Categories
I’m having a hard time choosing just one hope for the smaller categories. The three I really care about, The Informant! and Avatar for Score and “The Weary Kind” from Crazy Heart for Song, are already probably nominees. So I’ll highlight a few that were noteworthy to me, all of which I thoroughly like but whose exclusion will not cause me extraordinary pain.
“Depression Era” from stalled Hal Holbrook vehicle That Evening Sun for Song. It’s a simple, soulful folk tune from Drive-By Truckers front man Patterson Hood. The Song selection is sort of weak this year but this one stands out.
I’d also like to plump for one of Karen O’s tunes from Where the Wild Things Are for Song; “Hideaway” and “All Is Love” are eligible. Beyond those mentioned above, some scores that made me sit up and take notice include those from The Road, Ponyo, and The Secret of Kells, though I think the final one is ineligible for Score.
I love me some An Education so some recognition in Art Direction and/or Costume would be wonderful.
Finally, how about some love for The Brothers Bloom for the costumes? I didn’t enjoy all of the self-conscious quirky elements of the film, but I did enjoy the clothing, which did serve to develop the film’s offbeat characters.
And, oh yes, I can’t finish without whining again about the obnoxious sound in Star Trek.
Adam: What do tigers dream of? Oscar gold.
Since my Dracula’s Lament piece last year failed to sway the Academy (and yes, most Academy members read our blog), I’ve decided to tempt failure again and make my plug for “Stu’s Song” from The Hangover. Another Hangover piece you say? Yes. While I did thoroughly enjoy the movie, the reason I am picking it again is it is a no brainer for these types of posts – i.e. great movie that will get no love. I would pick Zombieland, but John is a Blog-Nazi and won’t let us pick something that has no shot at any kind of nomination…*cough* LAME *cough* *cough*.
Oh, right, “Stu’s Song”. Apparently humor and originality don’t factor into the nomination process for the Oscars. Like “Dracula’s Lament” last year, this was a hilarious song, well written, and original. What about it makes it unviable? I mean, it’s short, but why does that matter? The video just has clips from the movie, but that actually adds to the song. It’s in a comedy – and I think we have a winner. Once again the Academy shows it’s small-mindedness by completely overlooking a legitimate contender because it does not fall within their comfort zone. Well done.
[As John points out, don’t miss Helms’s tailoring of the song for Conan: http://incontention.com/?p=21285]
Jared: Destroy Visual Effects
I’m really happy John proposed we tackle this question, because I otherwise spend very little time thinking about these categories. Part of it, I suppose, is that I tend to believe I’m appreciating a movie for its story, so I pay less attention to its visual or auditory approach. I’m clearly not qualified to talk at all about some of these categories (for the sound categories, if you haven’t already done so, I’d urge you to check out the really cool stuff at SoundWorks Collection). I’m the last person in the world to notice costume design, for example, but it strikes me as a little odd that so often the nominees are predominantly period pieces.
Anyway, I’m here to plump for 2012‘s visual effects. Granted, I may enjoy Roland Emmerich’s movies a little more than the next guy. But the point, I think, is that when you think Emmerich, you think of sh*t done gettin’ destroyed. Unlike some other films likely to get nominated here, 2012 doesn’t have any sort of coherent storyline or fascinating turn of events. No, in this disaster movie, you get exactly what you’d expect. Nonstop, relentless, continuous destruction of every landmark (natural or manmade) imaginable. But, to me, at least, it doesn’t get boring. And kudos for that, in my mind, should be placed squarely at the feet of the visual effects crew. Tasked with creating tons of scenes of destruction, they came through brilliantly, and it seems odd to me that their work could be diminished just because their movie was little more than the results of their efforts.
Brian: Single Man Deserves Recognition — Say What?
I can’t believe I am actually writing a mini-post in favor of A Single Man, considering I found it absolutely boring and pretentious (I rated it less than a 4 out of 10), but I’m pretty surprised to see that it is not expected to be nominated for either Art Direction or Costume Design. If fashion-designer-turned-filmmaker Tom Ford knows anything, it’s style, and his movie has lots of it. Colin Firth is quite particular about his shirts and suits — and while I didn’t enjoy Julianne Moore’s big OSCAR(!!!) scene, her apartment and outfit seemed apropos of both the character and the film overall. Maybe this is just Mad Men withdrawal, as both of them cover the same time period, and both have problems with pacing and that all important thing called “plot,” but I’d be pretty disappointed if Single Man got an Oscar nom for best picture, but was left out for what it did best: highlighting both the cool and the isolation of early 1960s America.
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