If I Gave the Oscars: 2011 Edition

The premise is simple: these are how I would give out awards to the movies of 2011, if that was a power that I had.  I'm not going to go through all the exact same categories as the Academy Awards, because some of them are just tiresome and others require inside knowledge that I do not possess.  This post is obviously meant to be complementary to my Best of 2011 post, where I listed all my favorites, so I have left out Best Picture nominees here; they would be the same as the top 10 from that post, so no need to list them twice.  

Each category is listed in order of preference, with the first director/actor/etc. being my choice for the winner.  Things should be fairly self-explanatory from there.


Best Director
1. Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life)
2. Abbas Kiarostami (Certified Copy)
3. Kelly Reichardy (Meek's Cutoff)
4. Tomas Alfredson (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)
5. Nicholas Winding Refn (Drive)


Best Screenplay (Adapted or Original, doesn't matter)
1. Abbas Kiarostami (Certified Copy)
2. Cormac McCarthy (The Sunset Limited)
3. Bridget O'Connor, Peter Straughan (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)
4. Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin (Moneyball)
5. Joe Cornish (Attack the Block)


Best Actor
1. Gary Oldman (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)
2. Brad Pitt (The Tree of Life)
3. Michael Shannon (Take Shelter)
4. Ryan Gosling (Drive)
5. Samuel L. Jackson (The Sunset Limited)


Best Actress
1. Juliette Binoche (Certified Copy)
2. Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)
3. Saoirse Ronan (Hanna)
4. Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids)
5. Elizabeth Olson (Martha Marcy May Marlene)


Best Supporting Actor
1. Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Benedict Cumberbatch, John Hurt, Mark Strong (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) --(because they were all excellent and I couldn't choose between them)
2. John Hawkes (Martha Marcy May Marlene)
3. Michael Fassbender (X-Men: First Class)
4. Eric Bana (Hanna)
5. Corey Stoll (Midnight in Paris)


Best Supporting Actress
1. Charlotte Gainsbourg (Melancholia)
2. Elle Fanning (Super 8)
3. Jessica Chastain (Take Shelter)
4. Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids)
5. Emma Watson (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2) --(in recognition for every time she played Hermione Granger)


Best Cinematography
1. Emmanuel Lubezki (The Tree of Life)
2. Janusz Kaminski (War Horse)
3. Sayombhu Mukdeeprom (Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives)
4. Hoyte Van Hoytema (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)
5. Chris Blauvelt (Meek's Cutoff)


Best Editing
1. Hank Corwin, Jay Rabinowitz, Daniel Rezende, Billy Weber, Mark Yoshikawa (The Tree of Life) --(and it wasn't close)
2. Paul Tothill (Hanna)
3. Zachary Stuart-Pontier (Martha Marcy May Marlene)
4. Kelly Reichardt (Meek's Cutoff)
5. Dino Jonsater (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)


Best Musical Score
1. The Chemical Brothers (Hanna)
2. Alexandre Desplat (The Tree of Life)
3. Cliff Martinez (Drive)
4. Alberto Iglesias (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)
5. David Wingo (Take Shelter)


Best Scene
1. Growing up (The Tree of Life)
2. Creation of the world (The Tree of Life)
3. Opening car chase (Drive)
4. No-man's land (War Horse)
5. Opening the shelter door (Take Shelter)