2011 Year in Review: My Personal Oscar Ballot

If I was the only Academy member, this would be who would have been nominated.

Best Picture

1.       The Tree of Life
2.       Drive
3.       Hugo
4.       Shame
5.       Moneyball
6.       The Descendants
7.       We Need to Talk About Kevin
8.       Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
9.       Martha Marcy May Marlene

Tell me you don’t prefer this line-up to the actual Oscar one? Yes, it has 4 of the same films (and a fifth was at number 10), but it also contains some darker films as well. The Academy nominated 9 feel good movies this year, but I think you need a little darkness to even things out.

Director

1.       Terence Malick, The Tree of Life
2.       Nicholas Winding Refn, Drive
3.       Martin Scorsese, Hugo
4.       Steve McQueen, Shame
5.       Lynne Ramsay, We Need to Talk About Kevin

This is the first time in I’m not sure how many years where my top 5 directors aren’t all from the top five films of the year – I usually don’t like to do it. But this year, I just felt that Lynne Ramsay’s directorial achievement with We Need to Talk About Kevin was greater than Alexander Payne’s or Bennett Miller’s, whose films placed ahead of Ramsay’s. Criticize me if you want, but I’m comfortable with my choice.

Best Actor

1.       Michael Fassbender, Shame
2.       Gary Oldman in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
3.       Brad Pitt, Moneyball
4.       George Clooney, The Descendants
5.       Ryan Gosling in Drive

A sex addict, a Cold War spy, a baseball GM, a father struggling to connect with his daughters, and a stunt driver turned killer/hero. A pretty eclectic mix I’d say. Too bad the Academy overlooked the best performance of the year.

Best Actress

1.       Tilda Swinton, We Need to Talk About Kevin
2.       Elizabeth Olson, Martha March May Marlene
3.       Kirsten Dunst, Melancholia
4.       Rooney Mara, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
5.       Michelle Williams, My Week with Marilyn

Narrowing this down to five was very hard, but these were the best of the best in a very strong year. Too bad the Academy didn’t recognize the three best performances in this category this year.

Best Supporting Actor

1.       Albert Brooks, Drive
2.       Brad Pitt, The Tree of Life
3.       Andy Serkis, Rise of the Planet of the Apes
4.       John Hawkes, Martha Marcy May Marlene
5.       Patton Oswalt, Young Adult

For me, no one came close to Albert Brooks for this award, not matter how good the rest of them were. Too bad the Academy saw fit to nominate none of these five.

Supporting Actor

1.       Carey Mulligan, Shame
2.       Vanessa Redgrave, Coriolanus
3.       Carey Mulligan, Drive
4.       Jessica Chastain, The Tree of Life
5.       Jessica Chastain, Take Shelter

Two relative newcomers contribute 4 performances to this list, and one great veteran proves she still has the goods. Too bad the Academy didn’t recognize Mulligan or Redgrave’s brilliance, and gave it to Chastain for at best, her third best performance of the year.

Best Original Screenplay

1.       The Tree of Life – Terence Malick
2.       Midnight in Paris – Woody Allen
3.       Shame – Steve McQueen & Abi Morgan
4.       Martha Marcy May Marlene – Sean Durkin
5.       Take Shelter – Jeff Nichols

I know that for many, The Tree of Life was an achievement of directing and editing, but that screenplay was the most complex of the year. Midnight in Paris the most charmingly original, Shame the darkest, Martha Marcy May Marlene a complex character study, and Take Shelter a haunting portrait of paranoia. A strong year to be sure in this category, but these were the strongest.

Best Adapted Screenplay

1.       Moneyball – Steven Zallian & Aaron Sorkin
2.       The Descendants – Alexander Payne & Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
3.       Drive – Hossein Amini
4.       Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Bridget O'Connor & Peter Straughan
5.       We Need to Talk About Kevin – Lynne Ramsay & Rory Kinnear

What Zallian and Sorkin did to a book about baseball stats is impressive – making a book about baseball stats into a fascinating, supremely entertaining film. Alexander Payne and company wrote a wonderfully comic, and touching, movie in The Descendants. Hossein Amini’s Drive screenplay turns a not very interesting novel into a great movie. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy captured LeCarre’s novel perfectly – and even added a brilliant flashback that ran through the movie. Finally, the We Need to Talk About Kevin screenplay was brilliant, as it turns a very literary novel into a very cinematic movie.

Best Documentary

1.       Into the Abyss
2.       The Interrupters
3.       Tabloid
4.       Project Nim
5.       Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory

Too bad the top three didn’t even get shortlisted, and the fourth, which did, didn’t get nominated. They have a new system in place to begin next year to try and fix the doc system at the Oscars – but I doubt it will do much.

Best Animated Film

1.       Rango
2.       The Adventures of Tintin
3.       Chico and Rita
4.       Winnie the Pooh
5.       Arthur Christmas

Not really a strong year at all for animation – but Rango deserves the top spot, and would in some other years as well. The Adventures of Tintin was shamefully overlooked by the Academy – whose animation branch, it seems, will never embrace its style of animation. Chico and Rita, a surprise nominee at the Academy, is a charming, adult themed animated film, with some great Cuban music. Winnie the Pooh is the simplest animated film of the year – but that just adds to its charm. And finally, Arthur Christmas may not be in the same league as other Aardman films, but it’s highly enjoyable just the same.

Best Foreign Language Film

1.       Aurora - Romania
2.       Poetry – South Korea
3.       A Separation - Iran
4.       13 Assassins - Japan
5.       Café de Flore – Canada

Many probably think me insane for picking the three hour, slow moving Romanian film Aurora as the best Foreign Language film of the year, but I don’t care – it was. The Korean Poetry was heartbreaking. A Separation – the best of the actual nominees – a complex moral puzzle. 13 Assassins pure action filmmaking. And Café de Flore a mind bender I’m still trying to my head around.

Best Cinematography

1.       The Tree of Life – Emmanuel Lubezki
2.       Drive – Newton Thomas Siegel
3.       Hugo – Robert Richardson
4.       Melancholia – Manuel Alberto Claro
5.       Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Hoyte Van Hoytema

I quite easily could have added five more nominees here – Martha Marcy May Marlene, Shame, We Need to Talk About Kevin, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Artist – and still have overlooked some great work, in what was an amazingly strong year for this category. Still, no matter how many memorable shorts there were in Drive, or how great Robert Richardson’s work on Hugo was, or the brilliantly stylized work in Melancholia or the subtle complexity of Tinker Tailor Solider Spy was, Emmanuel Lubezki’s work on The Tree of Life is quite clearly the best work this category has seen in years.

Editing

1.       The Tree of Life
2.       Drive
3.       Hugo
4.       We Need to Talk About Kevin
5.       The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Malick’s editors deserve this award simply for spending years of their lives doing it - just kidding of course – the work itself is amazing and complex. Drive’s work set the tone in the action sequences, but also allows things to slow right down when needed. Thelma Schoonmaker once again proves with Hugo why she’s the best in the business. The work on We Need to Talk About Kevin is precise and brilliant. And The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo shows how to edit a thriller to maximum effect.

Score

1.       The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
2.       The Artist - Ludovic Bource
3.       Drive – Cliff Martinez
4.       Hugo – Howard Shore
5.       Moneyball – Mychael Danna

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are reinventing what a movie score can do, and following their win for The Social Network, deserve another one for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – the fact that they didn’t even get nominated strikes me as criminal as any other snub on Oscar morning. Yes, Ludovic Bource’s work includes part of the Vertigo score, but most of it is all his, and all brilliant homage to the scores of yesteryear. Cliff Martinez’s great work may have been deemed “ineglible” by the idiots in the Academy, but it’s still vital to Drive. Howard Shore did more than one great score this year (A Dangerous Method could have easily made this list as well), but his Hugo score ranks among his best. And finally, Mychael Danna’s work in Moneyball is subtle, but brilliant and memorable.

Song

1.       The Muppets – Pictures in My Head
2.       The Muppets – Man or Muppet

The Academy only saw fit to nominate two songs this year, and I take this as a good sign for those of us who feel this category really doesn’t need to be around any longer. Both of my nominees come from The Muppets – and I prefer the more emotional one done my Kermit.

Art Direction

1.       Hugo
2.       The Tree of Life
3.       Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
4.       The Artist
5.       Midnight in Paris

To this day, I cannot believe that the fact that Scorsese and company built New York for Gangs of New York didn’t win them this Oscar, no matter what one thought of the film itself. Their Paris should win it this time. The work on The Tree of Life is stunning. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy stays just this side of the over the top in its depiction of the 1970s – especially its wallpaper. The Artist has a fine, phony art direction, that brings to mind silent films – just like it should. And finally, all the work done Midnight in Paris is quietly wonderful.

Costume Design

1.       Hugo
2.       Midnight in Paris
3.       The Artist
4.       The Tree of Life
5.       Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Hugo’s costumes are meticulous and wonderful – straddling the line between period and fantasy. The Midnight in Paris costumes, both contemporary and period, are fine. The work in The Artist effortlessly brings to life silent film. The Tree of Life is quieter period work, but no less fine. And you can tell the personalities of every one of the spies in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by the difference in their suits.

Make-Up

1.       J. Edgar
2.       Hugo
3.       Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II

I’ll admit the work done on Armie Hamer wasn’t the best in J. Edgar, but the work done on DiCaprio puts most old age makeup to shame, so it gets my vote. A lot of work done in Hugo, and all of it quite good. Finally, I don’t think I’ve given enough love to the Harry Potter films over the years, and the work in them was always stellar, so let’s give it third spot.

Sound Mixing

1.       We Need to Talk About Kevin
2.       The Tree of Life
3.       Drive
4.       Hugo
5.       Take Shelter

The sound design of We Need to Talk About Kevin is absolutely stunning – and the type of work that never gets recognized. Normally, The Tree of Life would win this hands down, because its work is brilliant as well. Drive complex mix of sounds is not noticeable – as it should be. Hugo’s work is the grand stuff that wins awards – and should. And finally, sound plays a key role in getting us in the head of the paranoid lead character in Take Shelter.

Sound Effects Editing

1.       Hugo
2.       The Tree of Life
3.       Drive
4.       Rise of the Planet of the Apes
5.       Super 8

The sounds of the train station makes this Hugo’s. Not quite as much sound effects editing in The Tree of Life, but what there is, is wonderful. Drive’s action sequences make this one a no-brainer. And two summer blockbusters with terrific work deserve attention – Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Super 8.

Visual Effects

1.       The Tree of Life
2.       Rise of the Planet of the Apes
3.       Hugo
4.       Harry Potter and the Deahtly Hallows Part II
5.       Super 8

Legendary visual effects supervisor Douglas Turnball (2001, Blade Runner) proves with The Tree of Life that old school effects can still be the best one. Rise of the Planet of the Apes represents another huge leap forward in motion capture, and integration of digital characters with live action. Hugo’s work is subtle sometimes, but always spot on. Harry Potter’s effects are still impressive after all these year. And yes, Super 8 did have great effects – too bad the Academy missed them.

2011 Year in Review: Documentaries

In the final analysis, this turned out to be a fine year for documentaries – although the Academy pretty much ignored all the truly great work there was out there. I hope the new system works better – but I doubt it.

Runners-Up: The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausesco (Andrei Ujica), Cave of Forgotten Dreams (Werner Herzog), Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop (Rodman Flender), Hell and Back Again (Danfung Dennis), If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front (Marshall Curry), Nostalgia for the Light (Patrice Guzman), The People vs. George Lucas (Alexandre O. Phillippe), Pina (Wim Wenders), Senna (Asif Kapadia).

10. Bill Cunnigham: New York (Richard Press)

Bill Cunningham is one of the few perfectly happy people I’ve ever seen in a film. He has spent his whole life doing precisely what he wants to do – and very little else. What he likes is clothes – not wearing them himself (he dresses like everyone else), but seeing what the people on the streets of New York are wearing. Yes, he’ll go to fashion shows, but he’s more interested in seeing how people dress themselves. He bikes around Manhattan from one location to the next doing just that. Any sadness in his life is merely hinted at – I don’t think even he spends too much time thinking about it. He lives modestly and alone, but is perfectly content. How many people can say that?

9. Buck (Cindy Meehl)

Buck is a quiet documentary about a quiet man. Buck Brannerman comes from a background of abuse at the hands of violent father. Unlike many, who repeat that cycle of violence, Buck has gone the opposite way. He spends 9 months a year on the road giving horse training clinics – where he teaches people ways to train their horses without being cruel towards them. He was a key contributor behind the scenes to Robert Redford’s The Horse Whisperer, and even if he never whispers to horses, he has the same sort of calming effect on them. Like I said, this is a quiet movie, but one that if you let it, will get to you.

8. Page One: A Year Inside the New York Times (Andrew Morris)

The news industry is in a period of constant transition. Traditional newspapers and magazines are either closing or laying off much of their staff. No one buys papers anymore – they get their news from the internet, and the papers have yet to find a way to make the internet profitable. No one is above this – not even the New York Times, the most famous, well respected paper in America. This fascinating documentary looks at life inside the paper as they try to find ways to make money – to stay relevant. In David Carr, the movie finds its most fascinating character – a brilliant reporter, a recovering drug addict, a single parent, and the most passionate advocate the Times has. Watching him belittle web journalists to their face in a pleasure. It doesn’t change the facts though. We need papers like the New York Times to survive. Who would all the blogs link to if they didn’t exist?

7. George Harrison: Living in the Material World (Martin Scorsese)

Martin Scorsese’s epic, two part, four hour documentary on the life of the “quiet” Beatle doesn’t come close to matching his epic Bob Dylan documentary – even though I think Scorsese feels more kinship for Harrison. They were both born Catholic, and have spent their lives in search of inner peace, even while giving into their own impulses more than they want to admit. For me, the first part, detailing the Beatles rise and fall from Harrison’s point of view is the better one – we know the story, but not with this twist, as normally, Harrison is shunted to the background, so this alternate version of events is fascinating. The second half – his post Beatle days – is still wonderful, but more scattershot, and less effective. Still, Scorsese’s film is a wonderful portrait of a man who kept to himself.

6. The Arbor (Clio Barnard)

The Arbor is a strange mixture of documentary and video art – which had been what director Clio Barnard had been doing before he made this film. He got interviews with the family and friends of Andrea Dunbar, a talented playwright who never could past her addictions or her background, growing up in a lower class, racist housing project, and died at the age of 29. One of her daughters is following in her footsteps. But while we hear the voices of those closest to Dunbar – we don’t see them. We see actors lip synching their words, and the effect is strange, but it works remarkably well, as does the staging of a Dunbar play in the neighborhood she grew up in. The Arbor is a story of the cycle of neglect, abuse and addiction. It is a painful film but one that works remarkably well.

5. Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory (Joe Berlinger & Bruce Sinofsky)

The final chapter in Joe Berlinger & Bruce Sinosky’s Paradise Lost films, this one details the changes in the case of the West Memphis 3 since the last film – a decade before. Yes, it recaps everything that happened, but it also provides us with new footage, new insight into the crime. The version I saw, at the Toronto Film Festival, was not the final version, as they finished it just days before it was announced that the West Memphis 3 were going to be released. I am interested in seeing the final version whenever I get a chance to. One of the great documentary series’ of all time, and this is a fitting conclusion.

4. Project Nim (James Marsh)

If the apes ever do rise up against us, like they did this summer in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Nim could very well be their inspiration – and you could hard to fault them. Nim was a chimp born in captivity, and then ripped away from his mother so he could be used in an experiment that wanted to test what would happen to a chimp that was raised by humans. The doctor in charge of the experiment is uncaring, just focused on his research, and after years of Nim having no contact with other chimps, having learned sign language, he decides the experiment is over, and poor Nim is dumped back into captivity with other apes. Of course he becomes depressed, and later violent. The end result of the experiment? The doctor concluded that while chimps are similar to humans, they are also different. Bravo! Project Nim details the life of this poor animal, who was used for what ultimately turned out to be nothing.

3. Tabloid (Errol Morris)

Many people seemed to think that Errol Morris’ Tabloid was little more than a lark for him – that the filmmaker whose last three films were about a man who designs death penalty machines, Robert McNamara and the prisoner abuse scandal had picked a subject unworthy of him. Nothing could be further from the truth in my mind. Yes, the case of the “Manacled Mormon”, and the woman who manacled him, Joyce McKenna, isn’t as serious as those other stories, but it still taps into the reasons why Morris makes documentaries in the first place – the search for truth, or more tellingly, the difference between the truth as we perceive it, and how it really is. For this purpose, Joyce is just about perfect, as she sees her life just as she wants to see it. The fact that she’s now suing Morris because, in her mind, he misrepresented her, is somewhat fitting. Morris’ other films may be more serious – but that doesn’t mean they are better.

2. The Interrupters (Steve James)

Steve James’ The Interrupters tells the story of former gang members who work with CeaseFire, and essentially go out into the streets of Chicago and try and stop situations before they escalate to violence. While one interrupter says that what they do is little more than a band aid to try and solve the epidemic of inner city gang violence, they do get some results – and some lives are saved. It’s only if they give up when things will be truly hopeless. James and his crew are right alongside these interrupters in trying to confront violent situations and they are fearless. The director of one of the greatest docs of all time – Hoop Dreams – has made far and away his best film since.

1.  Into the Abyss (Werner Herzog)

I cannot count how many anti-death penalty documentaries I have seen over the years, but somehow, Werner Herzog’s Into the Abyss affected me more than any other I can think of. In the film, Herzog tells the story of two young men convicted three murders in Texas – one got death, the other got life in prison. Both claim they didn’t do anything wrong, but the case against them is pretty much airtight – and no one really believes in their innocence. This is not a crusading documentary trying to get two innocent people out of jail, but rather it is a documentary that shows us that even though they are guilty, they don’t deserve to be put to death – that the State not only has no right to kill them, but that the State has no right to ask its employees to kill on their behalf. On the surface, this is a straight forward crime documentary, but because this is Herzog, it goes deeper than that. He asks strange questions that no one else would. The opening scene in the film is as devastating as anything I’ve seen this year, when Herzog simply asks a Minister whose job includes spending the last few minutes the condemned to tell him about an encounter with a squirrel. From such a seemingly odd question, comes a devastating answer.

2011 Year in Review: Ensemble Cast

I think the concept of an Ensemble award is a good one. Often times with great ensemble work, it is hard to pick out a performance or two that is above and beyond the rest – because everyone is so good. In addition to my 10 favorites, I could easily have mentioned the following ensembles – The Artist, Beginners, Carnage, Contagion, A Dangerous Method, Hanna, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II, Martha Marcy May Marlene, Meek’s Cutoff, Melancholia, Moneyball, Of Gods and Men, Shame, Submarine, Take Shelter, Terri, 13 Assassins, Warrior, Win Win. But I only had room for 10, so these were my favorites:

10. The Ides of March - Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Evan Rachel Wood, Marisa Tomei, Jeffrey Wright, Max Minghella, Jennifer Ehle, Gregory Itzin, Michael Mantell.

I don’t think The Ides of March was as great of a movie as director/co-star George Clooney thought it would be, mainly because he seems to think that his story of a political fixer losing his ideals should shock us – and he’s a few decades too late for that. But it is an intelligently written and wonderfully directed movie – and the uniformly excellent cast raises the level of the whole film. Ryan Gosling is great as the fixer at the heart of the movie, who believes in his candidate with everything he has, until he’s given reason not to. Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti add meat to their smaller roles as opposite campaign managers, Evan Rachel Wood wins our sympathy as a young intern over her head and Jeffrey Wright and Marisa Tomei, in little more than cameos, deliver in a big way. Best of all may well be Clooney himself, who is perfectly suited to play the “perfect” candidate, who begins to show his dark side as the movie progresses. With a cast this good, it’s hard to complain that the movie itself would have been more effective had it been made in the 1970s.

9. A Separation - Peyman Moaadi, Leila Hatami, Sareh Bayat, Shahab Hosseini, Sarina Farhadi, Merila Zare'i, Ali-Asghar Shahbazi, Babak Karimi, Kimia Hosseini.

The cast in this terrific Iranian film are all just about perfect. They have difficult roles, as the film resembles in some ways Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon, so people come across quite different from one scene to the next – the more we find out about what happened, the more complicated their roles get. The film is anchored by a terrific performance by Peyman Moaadi as the husband, who may or may not have known what he was doing. The supporting cast is excellent – Leila Hatami as his wife, who doesn’t know what to think, Sarah Bayat, as the quietly religious woman who loses her baby, Shabab Hosseini, as her possibly violent husband. Even the kids are great here. A terrific ensemble.

8. Margin Call - Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto, Penn Badgley, Simon Baker, Demi Moore, Stanley Tucci, Mary McDonnell, Aasif Mandvi.

Everything comes crashing down on a Wall Street Investment bank over the course of one long day and night. It all starts with people being fired, including Stanley Tucci, who gives an underling a flash drive, and tells him to look at the numbers. What he finds is that the risks the firm are taking are about to come back and burn them. As the numbers work higher and higher up the chain of command, it becomes clear no one knew what the hell was going on. Debut writer/director JC Chandor has assembled a top notch cast for his “Mamet on Wall Street” type movie. None of the characters in the movie are at all likable – they are greedy, self centered assholes, who are looking only to cover their own asses, but the cast is uniformly excellent. Best of all is probably Kevin Spacey, as a long time trader who knows what they are doing is wrong, and does it anyway, and Jeremy Irons, as the bottom line CEO. Although a case could be made for Paul Bettany, Zachary Quinto or even Demi Moore as well. In short, these people really do seem like co-workers, facing a long night’s journey into oblivion, unless they screw everyone else over.

7. Coriolanus – Ralph Fiennes, Gerald Butler, Jessica Chastain, Vanessa Redgrave, Brian Cox, Paul Jesson, James Nesbitt, Lubna Azabal, Ashraf Barhom, John Kani, Dragan Micanovic, Harry Fenn.

Casting people to do a Shakespeare movie can be a difficult task – as one wrong performance, and the whole endeavor suddenly starts to feel off as they break the rhythm of the dialogue. But Ralph Fiennes cast his Coriolanus just about perfectly. He towers over everyone himself with his wild eyed performance, and Vanessa Redgrave outdoes even him as his subtly manipulative mother. But the rest of the cast is fine as well – from Brian Cox as the only decent character in the movie, to Jessica Chastain as Coriolanus’ scared wife to Gerald Butler as his rival who becomes something like a spurned lover, to Paul Jesson and James Nesbitt as two clueless tribunes and even Lubna Azabal and Ashraf Barhom, as two civilians, whose hatred of Coriolanus is palatable. Casting Shakespeare in tricky – but this movie gets it right.

6. The Tree of Life - Brad Pitt, Hunter McCracken, Sean Penn, Jessica Chastain, Laramie Eppler, Tye Sheridan, Fiona Shaw.

I think that the acting in Terrence Malick films is almost always underrated – consider the fact that no one has ever been nominated for an Oscar for any of his films as proof. And it is true that not all actors like working with Malick (both Colin Farrell and Christopher Plummer has whined about their experience of The New World for example). Yet, the performances are key to all of Malick’s films – and even if actors don’t always like the experience, they do tend to deliver some great performances. In The Tree of Life, more than any of Malick’s other films; the acting is delicate, sensitive and subtle. Watch Brad Pitt’s body language when dealing with his kids, even the way he touches them and they stiffen, especially his interactions with Hunter McCracken, who is brilliant as well. They feel like a father and son. And Jessica Chastain is equally good as the delicate, beautiful, idealized mother. And all the smaller roles that circle in and out of the movie that Malick handles perfectly – that helps him set the tone for the film. Sean Penn may have said he had no idea why the hell he was wandering around, but it worked. Yes, they all serve Malick’s grand scheme – but the film would be nowhere near as good without them.

5. Hugo - Asa Butterfield, Chloë Grace Moretz, Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Emily Mortimer, Christopher Lee, Helen McCrory, Michael Stuhlbarg, Ray Winstone, Frances de la Tour, Richard Griffiths, Jude Law.

No one performance stands out in Martin Scorsese’s epic, visual feast Hugo (which is why none of them made my individual lists), but together they make up one of the most wondrous ensembles of the year. From Asa Butterfield’s brave Hugo to Chloe Grace Moretz’s plucky sidekick to Ben Kinsgley’s stern Papa Georges to Sacha Baron Cohen’s physical antics as the station master, and on through the smaller roles – Emily Mortimer as a flower girl, Christopher Lee as a kindly bookstore owner, Richard Griffiths and Frances de la Tour as would be lovers kept apart by a yipping dog, Helen McCrory as the kindly grandma, Michael Stuhlbarg as the film professor who hasn’t lost his sense of wonder (do they exist anymore?) to Ray Winstone as a drunken uncle and Jude Law as a kindly father, every role in Hugo is filled perfectly. No one stands out above the others – they are all just perfect as parts of the whole, and that’s what a great ensemble truly is.

4. Midnight in Paris - Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Kurt Fuller, Mimi Kennedy, Michael Sheen, Nina Arianda, Carla Bruni, Yves Heck, Alison Pill, Corey Stoll, Tom Hiddleston, Sonia Rolland, Daniel Lundh, Thérèse Bourou-Rubinsztein, Kathy Bates, Marcial Di Fonzo Bo, Marion Cotillard, Léa Seydoux, Emmanuelle Uzan, Adrien Brody, Tom Cordier, Adrien de Van, David Lowe, Yves-Antoine Spoto, Laurent Claret, Vincent Menjou Cortes, Olivier Rabourdin, François Rostain.

The year’s biggest ensemble cast is also one of the very best. From Wilson, who thankfully lacks the cynicism that is in so many of Allen’s movie (even when he’s calling the Tea Party crypto fascists, he’s saying it nicely) to Marion Cottillard as the muse of 1920s Paris, to Corey Stoll as a raging Hemingway to Kathy Bates as the supportive Gertrud Stein to Adrian Brody as a rhinoceros obsessed Dali to Michael Sheen as that pedantic fellow to Adrien de Van as a confused Luis Bunuel (“I don’t get it. Why can’t they leave the room?”) Even the smallest roles in Allen’s movie are just about perfectly cast. Allen has a way with actors – apparently it’s ignoring them – that allows them to do some great work.

3. The Descendants - George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Judy Greer, Matthew Lillard, Beau Bridges, Robert Forster, Rob Huebel, Mary Birdsong, Amara Miller, Nick Krause.

Alexander Payne has a way with actors that brings out the best in them. When you consider how many actors have delivered career best performances in his films it is quite astonishing. Not only does he write great roles, he knows precisely who to cast. Clooney is the center of the film, and he is pretty much perfect, and I’ve already sang the praises of Greer and Woodley as well in the supporting actress section. But who would have guessed that Matthew Lillard could be as good as he is here, as the other man, or that Beau Bridges would be so good as a greedy hippie, or Robert Forster would be so downright hilarious as Clooney’s angry father in law? He even got a great performance out of a child actor like Amara Miller. Payne just gets the most out of his actors.

2. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Gary Oldman, Benedict Cumberbatch, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, John Hurt, Toby Jones, Mark Strong, David Dencik, Ciarán Hinds, Kathy Burke, Stephen Graham, Simon McBurney, Roger Lloyd-Pack, Svetlana Khodchenkova.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy truly is an ensemble piece, and there is not a performance in it that seems out of place. Gary Oldman has the plum role of George Smiley, and he delivers a masterful performance, and I’ve already sung the praises of Tom Hardy’s Brando-esque wounded spy and Benedict Cumberbatch’s heartbreaking role. The rest of the cast though is equally good – from Colin Firth’s charming playboy to John Hurt’s aging, paranoid Control, to Mark Strong thirsting for revenge, to Toby Jones’ political maneuverings to Kathy Burke, who just wants to remember her “boys” through rose colored glasses. This is a movie where the cast is important – and this one does a remarkable job.

1. Drive - Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Albert Brooks, Oscar Isaac, Christina Hendricks, Ron Perlman, Kaden Leos.
Other than Albert Brooks, I don’t think the ensemble cast of Drive has gotten quite enough credit this awards season. They are all, after all, admittedly playing character types, and yet they all breathe new life into them – from Ryan Gosling’s dual transformations, to Carey Mulligan’s wounded fragility, to Bryan Cranston’s broken down “friend” the Oscar Issacs’ suspicious eyes, to Christina Hendricks brief but unforgettable turn, to Ron Perlman’s paranoia. And yes, Albert Brooks is mesmerizing as the villain. The whole cast plays off each other wonderfully, and although the film is a virtuoso directorial effort by Nicholas Winding Refn, they refuse to be shunted to the background. If they had, I would probably agree with the critics who think Drive is nothing more than pastiche. But they elevate the movie. The best ensemble of the year by far.