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Re: Categories One-by-One: Makeup

Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 9:06 pm
by The Original BJ
I think The Iron Lady wins this a la La Vie en Rose -- Meryl Streep's transformation was truly impressive. When the film began, my friend and I turned to each other with incredulity, asking one another, "Is THAT Meryl?" the makeup was just so effective we had a hard time seeing Streep beneath the surface.

Harry Potter had some showy effects of the more fantastical sort, but just as I doubted the ridiculous meme that the Academy wanted to honor Harry Potter with a Best Picture nomination to make up for past omissions, so too do I doubt that voters are really that desperate to make sure the Harry Potter series goes home with an Oscar, no matter what. Since that seems to be one of the main arguments for why Harry Potter would walk off with this prize -- I don't think the makeup work alone was a fresh enough knockout to make it a frontrunner -- I'm going to have to go with Iron Lady as my prediction.

Albert Nobbs seems WAY too subtle, and no, Janet McTeer doesn't seem remotely believable as a man.

Kudos to this branch this year for ignoring some of the crappier efforts they've had no problem granting Oscar nominations to in the recent past.

Re: Categories One-by-One: Makeup

Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 8:35 pm
by Big Magilla
I think the makeup for Albert Nobbs is a mixed bag. Certainly Janet McTeer's tranformation is award worthy, but Glenn Close's is really not very good. I don't see it competing with the other two films.

The Harry Potter is more ambitious, but it's definitely old hat now. Streep's middle and old age makeup for Thatcher is teh standout this year. I expect it will win in a walk.

Re: Categories One-by-One: Makeup

Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 4:25 pm
by OscarGuy
There's one reason not to count out Albert Nobbs: Matthew W Mungle. He's an Oscar darling. I agree that Iron Lady is the most likely winer, but...I wouldn't so wholly dismiss Nobbs.

Categories One-by-One: Makeup

Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 2:10 pm
by Mister Tee
Let's do the midget category.

The nominees:

Albert Nobbs
Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2
The Iron Lady

I think Albert Nobbs can be summarily dismissed, simply because the make up isn't elaborate enough, and there's no Wow factor. Glenn Close looks reasonably believable as a man, but Janet McTeer, honestly, didn't look like she could fool a soul. (Paradoxically, the one moment she looked like a man to me was the scene where she had the dress on -- suddenly she looked like a rugby player in drag) And there was no other major make up that registered with me.

The other two films serve up very different offerings, and it's hard to know which way the academy might go. This Harry Potter, like all, displays plenty of hair effects, and at least one significantly made-up character -- Voldemort. But of course that character is hardly new at this point; will voters be wanting to honor a make up job they've been seeing for several years? You can take two views on the films chances: one, that the make-up is mostly old news and unlikely to be honored now; or, two, that the make up branch has never before given the voters at large a chance to single out the film's make up, and pent up demand may deliver for the film now as valedictory.

The Iron Lady is a whole different breed. Much like Mask many years ago, its claim on this prize rests on basically one character. But what a character/make up job it is. Nearly everyone I know says they were just startled at their first sighting of Old Thatcher -- it was literally hard to catch where Streep ended and the make up began. Two other things make this the possible choice: that the make up is seen to enhance a seriously admired performance, and (serendipitously) that it's seen as so clearly superior to the year's other old age make up job, in J. Edgar.

I think it could go either way, but I'm leaning Iron Lady. (If Iron Lady loses, does that signal Streep's run at Viola Davis is also likely to fall short?)