Politics involving Roman Polanski aside, “Carnage” is the first film of his that I have genuinely been excited to see and credit has to go to casting. First off, Christoph Waltz in anything is great and seeing him take a comedic role like this and seemingly knocking it out of the park continues to drive my admiration for him. John C. Reilly and Jodie Foster are consistently good performers, never standing out but never taking away. And Kate Winslet takes a role we rarely see her in, letting loose and reinventing herself even twenty years after stepping onto the scene. Polanski is a big enough name to carry this film, but that name could be discredited and the Academy never forgets. However, this film deserves to be nominated in some category, if not many categories. I know for the Golden Globes, they are focusing on Best Picture (Drama), Best Director, and Best Screenplay, though I am sure the performances are up for contention as well.

BEST PICTURE
Produced by Saïd Ben Saïd, Oliver Berben, Martin Moszkowicz

BEST DIRECTOR
Roman Polanski

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Roman Polanski
Story by Yasmina Reza

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR**
Christoph Waltz
John C. Reilly

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS**
Jodie Foster
Kate Winslet

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Pawel Edelman

BEST FILM EDITING
Hervé de Luze

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Alexandre Desplat