Monday, February 28, 2011

Final word on the Oscars: highs and lows




First of all, I think venting out my frustrations over The King's Speech winning best picture was therapeutic enough for me. I'm over it. Honestly, while it was nowhere near the best film of the year, it's also nowhere near the worst best picture of the last decade. Oh god no. Besides, the Oscars had a four year streak of actually picking a great film for best picture (yes, Slumdog was great). So, really, what can you do? Plus, given the fact that The Social Network, Black Swan, Inception, and 127 Hours had as many vocal detractors as well as supporters, I think NOT winning the Oscars will only make those films look better when the years go by. So, let The King's Speech have the glory. It's not as bad as Crash, Chicago, or A Beautiful Mind winning Best Picture. Or, Driving Miss Daisy. It's a very good film topped with an amazing performance by Colin Firth. To me, King's Speech winning was not an Oscar low. It was just in the middle somewhere.

However...

(lows)
Tom Hooper winning Best Director is just ridiculous to me. Not only were each of the other four director nominees more deserving, there were two even more deserving snubs waiting in the wings.

James Franco was really off his mark throughout the whole show. I really thought he did a bad job. I still think he's a cool character and I can easily forgive him, but you have to wonder why he'd even accept the offer in the first place. He half-assed it the entire way.

I know you have to pay your respects and allow the best original song to be performed. But two in a row? God that was painful. Spread it out more.

Half-assed tributes. What was up with the half-assed tribute to Gone With the Wind? What was that? Really? And the whole Tom Hanks presentation... "you know, only a certain number of films have won best art direction and cinematography and then went on to win best picture." What exactly is that insinuating even? The awards were then given out to two different films so that point was immediately made irrelevant. Just that whole thing was awkward.

In fact, the whole first half hour was incredibly awkward. Melissa Leo's f-bomb, Kirk Douglas being old and talking up a storm for forever.

Celine Dion singing the memorial tribute. Why don't you kill me too while you're at it?

Ok, so let me get this straight. Anne Hathaway introduces Hilary Swank so that Hilary can introduce Kathryn Bigelow so that Kathryn Bigelow can present the best director Oscar? What the hell? Could that have been any more redundant?

The kids coming out and singing at the end? Uh... just forget it, why even go there?

(highs)

Yes, there were some highs. First of all, Anne Hathaway did a great job picking up James Franco's slack. I'd actually like to see her host again one day. She had great energy and she's really easy on the eyes, too.

The NYU student accepting best live-action short... that was pretty cool. He seemed down-to-earth and real which actually seemed out of place at a ceremony such as the Oscars. Refreshing.

Randy Newman, Aaron Sorkin, David Seidler, and Natalie Portman all gave very charming, fun, personable acceptance speeches.

The tribute to Bob Hope was kinda strange, didn't seem to make much sense, but I appreciated it all the same.

Billy Crystal's little stand-up bit was great and makes me miss when he used to host the Oscars. Everybody always has something bad to say about every Oscar host, but Billy Crystal has the unique ability of being able to work the crowd at the Oscars as well as on the tv audience. They really need to bring him back, nobody can replace him. The ones who could have are dead (Johnny Carson, Bob Hope).

Inception cleaning up all the technical awards was great and well-deserved.

Christian Bale winning best supporting actor and Trent Reznor winning best original score was probably my ultimate favorite moments of the night.

So that was the Oscars in a nutshell. Some good moments in there, but mostly, it was a pretty bad show. Got my hopes up with the fact that The King's Speech wasn't sweeping the Oscars, but ultimately, it won out when it mattered. But hey, it's alright. It'll be particularly interesting if the Oscars go back to the recent trend of awarding films that truly are artistic achievements or will they continue to go the path of awarding more Oscar friendly affair. We'll have stuff on both sides for next year. Filmmakers like Terrence Malick, Alexander Payne, Steven Soderbergh, and David Cronenberg up against heavy hitters like Steven Spielberg and Clint Eastwood. Then you got guys like Jason Reitman and George Clooney (as a director) coming out with films this year as well who are kinda in the middle of it all. Of course, there'll always be films like Winter's Bone and Kids Are All Right that will come out of nowhere and surprise everyone. So far, haven't heard of any films like that this year except maybe the Sundance favorite "Like Crazy." But I don't think that'll become a heavy hitter anytime soon. Who knows, though. We'll see!

Oscar Results

BEST PICTURE
WINNER:The King’s Speech” (The Weinstein Company)

Black Swan (Fox Searchlight)
The Fighter (Paramount)
Inception (Warner Bros.)
The Kids Are All Right (Focus Features)
The King’s Speech (The Weinstein Company)
127 Hours (Fox Searchlight)
The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing)
Toy Story 3 (Walt Disney)
True Grit (Paramount)
Winter’s Bone (Roadside Attractions)

BEST ACTOR
WINNER: Colin Firth in “The King’s Speech” (The Weinstein Company)

Javier Bardem in “Biutiful” (Roadside Attractions)
Jeff Bridges in “True Grit” (Paramount)
Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network” (Sony Pictures Releasing)
James Franco in “127 Hours” (Fox Searchlight)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
WINNER: Christian Bale in “The Fighter” (Paramount)

John Hawkes in “Winter’s Bone” (Roadside Attractions)
Jeremy Renner in “The Town” (Warner Bros.)
Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right” (Focus Features)
Geoffrey Rush in “The King’s Speech” (The Weinstein Company)

BEST ACTRESS
WINNER: Natalie Portman in “Black Swan” (Fox Searchlight)

Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right” (Focus Features)
Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole” (Lionsgate)
Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter’s Bone” (Roadside Attractions)
Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine” (The Weinstein Company)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
WINNER: Melissa Leo in “The Fighter” (Paramount)

Amy Adams in “The Fighter” (Paramount)
Helena Bonham Carter in “The King’s Speech” (The Weinstein Company)
Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit” (Paramount)
Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom” (Sony Pictures Classics)

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
WINNER:Toy Story 3” (Walt Disney) Lee Unkrich

How to Train Your Dragon (Paramount) Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
The Illusionist (Sony Pictures Classics) Sylvain Chomet


ART DIRECTION
WINNER: Alice in Wonderland” (Walt Disney), Robert Stromberg (Production Design), Karen O’Hara (Set Decoration)

The King’s Speech (Paramount), Eve Stewart (Production Design), Judy Farr (Set Decoration)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (Warner Bros.), Stuart Craig (Production Design), Stephenie McMillan (Set Decoration)
Inception (Warner Bros.), Guy Hendrix Dyas (Production Design), Larry Dias and Doug Mowat (Set Decoration)/span>
True Grit (Paramount), Jess Gonchor (Production Design), Nancy Haigh (Set Decoration)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
WINNER: Inception” (Warner Bros.) Wally Pfister

Black Swan (Fox Searchlight) Matthew Libatique
The King’s Speech (The Weinstein Company) Danny Cohen
The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing) Jeff Cronenweth
True Grit (Paramount) Roger Deakins

COSTUME DESIGN
WINNER:Alice in Wonderland “(Walt Disney) Colleen Atwood

I Am Love (Magnolia Pictures) Antonella Cannarozzi
The King’s Speech (The Weinstein Company) Jenny Beavan
The Tempest (Miramax) Sandy Powell
True Grit (Paramount) Mary Zophres

BEST DIRECTOR
WINNER:The King’s Speech” (The Weinstein Company), Tom Hooper

Black Swan (Fox Searchlight), Darren Aronofsky
The Fighter (Paramount), David O. Russell
The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing), David Fincher
True Grit (Paramount), Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

BEST DOCUMENTARY
WINNER:Inside Job “(Sony Pictures Classics)
Exit through the Gift Shop (Producers Distribution Agency)
Gasland, A Gasland Production
Restrepo (National Geographic Entertainment)
Waste Land Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley (Arthouse Films)

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
WINNER:Strangers No MoreKaren Goodman and Kirk Simon A Simon & Goodman Picture Company Production

Killing in the Name Nominees to be determined A Moxie Firecracker Films Production
Poster Girl Nominees to be determined A Portrayal Films Production
Sun Come Up Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger A Sun Come Up Production
The Warriors of Qiugang Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon A Thomas Lennon Films Production

BEST EDITING
WINNER:The Social Network” (Sony Pictures Releasing) Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter

Black Swan (Fox Searchlight) Andrew Weisblum
The Fighter Paramount Pamela Martin
The King’s Speech (The Weinstein Company) Tariq Anwar
127 Hours (Fox Searchlight) Jon Harris

BEST FOREIGN FILM
WINNER:In a Better World,” Denmark

Biutiful, Mexico
Dogtooth, Greece
Incendies, Canada
Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi), Algeria

BEST MAKEUP
WINNER:The Wolfman” (Universal) Rick Baker and Dave Elsey

Barney’s Version (Sony Pictures Classics) Adrien Morot
The Way Back (Newmarket Films in association with Wrekin Hill Entertainment and Image Entertainment) Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng


BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
WINNER:The Social Network” (Sony Pictures Releasing) Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

How to Train Your Dragon (Paramount) John Powell
Inception (Warner Bros.) Hans Zimmer
127 Hours (Fox Searchlight) A.R. Rahman
The King’s Speech (The Weinstein Company) Alexandre Desplat

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
WINNER: “We Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3” (Walt Disney) Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

“Coming Home” from Country Strong (Sony Pictures Releasing (Screen Gems)) Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
“I See the Light” from Tangled (Walt Disney) Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
“If I Rise” from 127 Hours (Fox Searchlight) Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
WINNER: The Lost Thing” (Nick Batzias for Madman Entertainment) A Passion Pictures Australia Production Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann

Day & Night (Walt Disney) A Pixar Animation Studios Production Teddy Newton
The Gruffalo A Magic Light Pictures Production Jakob Schuh and Max Lang
Let’s Pollute A Geefwee Boedoe Production Geefwee Boedoe
Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary) A Sacrebleu Production Bastien Dubois

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
WINNER:God of Love” A Luke Matheny Production Luke Matheny

The Confession (National Film and Television School) A National Film and Television School Production Tanel Toom
The Crush (Network Ireland Television) A Purdy Pictures Production Michael Creagh
Na Wewe (Premium Films) A CUT! Production Ivan Goldschmidt
Wish 143 A Swing and Shift Films/Union Pictures Production Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite

BEST SOUND EDITING
WINNER:Inception” (Warner Bros.) Richard King

Toy Story 3 (Walt Disney) Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
Tron: Legacy (Walt Disney) Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
True Grit (Paramount) Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
Unstoppable (20th Century Fox) Mark P. Stoeckinger

BEST SOUND MIXING
WINNER:Inception” (Warner Bros.) Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick

The King’s Speech (The Weinstein Company) Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley
Salt (Sony Pictures Releasing) Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin
The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing) Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
True Grit (Paramount) Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
WINNER:Inception” (Warner Bros.) Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb

Alice in Wonderland (Walt Disney) Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (Warner Bros.) Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
Hereafter (Warner Bros.) Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell
Iron Man 2 (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment, Distributed by Paramount) Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
WINNER: “The Social Network” (Sony Pictures Releasing), Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin

127 Hours (Fox Searchlight), Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
Toy Story 3 (Walt Disney), Screenplay by Michael Arndt. Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
True Grit (Paramount), Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Winter’s Bone (Roadside Attractions), Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
WINNER: The King’s Speech” (The Weinstein Company), Screenplay by David Seidler

Another Year (Sony Pictures Classics), Written by Mike Leigh
The Fighter (Paramount), Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson. Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
Inception (Warner Bros.), Written by Christopher Nolan
The Kids Are All Right (Focus Features), Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg

Sunday, February 27, 2011

So much change in just a month.


Remember... January? Remember how everything seemed to point in the direction of The Social Network? I remember buying the DVD, watching the movie a second time, and thinking "this could win it." Plus, it won best picture at the Golden Globes and those guys are way bigger squares than the Oscars. Then The King's Speech wins the DGAs, PGAs, and the SAGs... just like that. It garners 12 nominations at the Oscars compared to The Social Network's 8. 12 nominations? Really?

Whatever.

That has basically been my catchphrase for the past few weeks. "Whatever." I mean, forget it. Why get so caught up in this Oscar race? After about five years of the Oscars making respectable choices, they are resorting back to what they do best: picking the safest, least cinematically challenging film of the year. The other nine nominees? All cinematically challenging in some way, or at the very least, unconventional. Toy Story 3 had a very conventional plot but on the emotional front, very heightened in an almost unusual degree for an animated film. It felt real, yet it most definitely wasn't real. 127 Hours was most definitely challenging in almost every way from James Franco's performance to the way Danny Boyle manages to pull off this film being interesting for all of its 95 minutes. It was intensely emotional, visceral viewing experience.

The Kids Are All Right is kind of a conventional family comedy/drama... except for the fact that the family contained two matriarchs. You could argue that its conventionality was exactly the point. Winter's Bone, Black Swan, Inception... all cinematically challenging. True Grit... ok, pretty conventional... perhaps the most conventional of Coen Brothers films but... a 12 year old girl carries the film... that's somewhat challenging. David Fincher's superb, flawless direction elevated The Social Network to greatness. The story, the themes may be conventional, but the way David Fincher is able to keep the dialogue, the computer hacking, and the courtroom battles so tense is an accomplishment of itself. The Fighter is perhaps the second most conventional film out of the nominees but Christian Bale's unpredictable performance constantly keeps everyone on their toes.

I know some of that may have been a stretch, but let's face it... The King's Speech is indeed the most conventional film out of the nominees. The only challenge it faced was Colin Firth's stuttering/stammering performance and he nailed it. That's why he should win Best Actor and he will. But to say it was the best written, best directed, best edited, and best picture of the year just sounds off to me. But whatever, right? Whatever.

The fact of the matter is that unless you are below the age of 40, The King's Speech should not have been your favorite film of the year. Helena Bonham Carter's performance was not better than Melissa Leo's or Hailee Steinfeld's. Geoffrey Rush, as lovable as he is, was merely good in his role as the dialect coach. Christian Bale stole "The Fighter" from all the other actors. If he had to win the Oscar for any role, it should be for portraying Dicky.

The King's Speech has its merits, it's a very good film. I guarantee you, however, that it won't be remembered five years from now. Do you remember what won the Oscars five years ago? Crash. I doubt that was on anyone's top films of the decade list last year. Black Swan, The Social Network, Inception, 127 Hours are all great films that will stand the test of time. And you know what? There are a lot of films that didn't win Best Picture that have stood the test of time. Unfortunately, this will be another one of those years. Whatever.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

My Final Oscar Predictions

My predictions are based on how I think things will actually go down and does not reflect my personal taste.

BEST PICTURE

Black Swan (Fox Searchlight)
The Fighter (Paramount)
Inception (Warner Bros.)
The Kids Are All Right (Focus Features)
The King’s Speech (The Weinstein Company)
127 Hours (Fox Searchlight)
The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing)
Toy Story 3 (Walt Disney)
True Grit (Paramount)
Winter’s Bone (Roadside Attractions)

BEST ACTOR

Javier Bardem in “Biutiful” (Roadside Attractions)
Jeff Bridges in “True Grit” (Paramount)
Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network” (Sony Pictures Releasing)
Colin Firth in “The King’s Speech” (The Weinstein Company)
James Franco in “127 Hours” (Fox Searchlight)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Christian Bale in “The Fighter” (Paramount)
John Hawkes in “Winter’s Bone” (Roadside Attractions)
Jeremy Renner in “The Town” (Warner Bros.)
Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right” (Focus Features)
Geoffrey Rush in “The King’s Speech” (The Weinstein Company)

BEST ACTRESS

Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right” (Focus Features)
Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole” (Lionsgate)
Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter’s Bone” (Roadside Attractions)
Natalie Portman in “Black Swan” (Fox Searchlight)
Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine” (The Weinstein Company)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Amy Adams in “The Fighter” (Paramount)
Helena Bonham Carter in “The King’s Speech” (The Weinstein Company)
Melissa Leo in “The Fighter” (Paramount)
Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit” (Paramount)
Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom” (Sony Pictures Classics)

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

How to Train Your Dragon (Paramount) Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
The Illusionist (Sony Pictures Classics) Sylvain Chomet
Toy Story 3 (Walt Disney) Lee Unkrich

ART DIRECTION

Alice in Wonderland (Walt Disney), Robert Stromberg (Production Design), Karen O’Hara (Set Decoration)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (Warner Bros.), Stuart Craig (Production Design), Stephenie McMillan (Set Decoration)
Inception (Warner Bros.), Guy Hendrix Dyas (Production Design), Larry Dias and Doug Mowat (Set Decoration)/span>
The King’s Speech (Paramount), Eve Stewart (Production Design), Judy Farr (Set Decoration)
True Grit (Paramount), Jess Gonchor (Production Design), Nancy Haigh (Set Decoration)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Black Swan (Fox Searchlight) Matthew Libatique
Inception (Warner Bros.) Wally Pfister
The King’s Speech (The Weinstein Company) Danny Cohen
The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing) Jeff Cronenweth
True Grit (Paramount) Roger Deakins

COSTUME DESIGN

Alice in Wonderland (Walt Disney) Colleen Atwood
I Am Love (Magnolia Pictures) Antonella Cannarozzi
The King’s Speech (The Weinstein Company) Jenny Beavan
The Tempest (Miramax) Sandy Powell
True Grit (Paramount) Mary Zophres

BEST DIRECTOR

Black Swan (Fox Searchlight), Darren Aronofsky
The Fighter (Paramount), David O. Russell
The King’s Speech (The Weinstein Company), Tom Hooper
The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing), David Fincher
True Grit (Paramount), Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Exit through the Gift Shop (Producers Distribution Agency)
Gasland, A Gasland Production
Inside Job (Sony Pictures Classics)
Restrepo (National Geographic Entertainment)
Waste Land Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley (Arthouse Films)

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT

Note: completely random guess here

Killing in the Name Nominees to be determined A Moxie Firecracker Films Production
Poster Girl Nominees to be determined A Portrayal Films Production
Strangers No More Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon A Simon & Goodman Picture Company Production
Sun Come Up Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger A Sun Come Up Production
The Warriors of Qiugang Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon A Thomas Lennon Films Production

BEST EDITING

Black Swan (Fox Searchlight) Andrew Weisblum
The Fighter Paramount Pamela Martin
The King’s Speech (The Weinstein Company) Tariq Anwar
127 Hours (Fox Searchlight) Jon Harris
The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing) Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter

BEST FOREIGN FILM

Biutiful, Mexico
Dogtooth, Greece
In a Better World, Denmark
Incendies, Canada
Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi), Algeria

BEST MAKEUP

Barney’s Version (Sony Pictures Classics) Adrien Morot
The Way Back (Newmarket Films in association with Wrekin Hill Entertainment and Image Entertainment) Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
The Wolfman (Universal) Rick Baker and Dave Elsey

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

How to Train Your Dragon (Paramount) John Powell
Inception (Warner Bros.) Hans Zimmer
The King’s Speech (The Weinstein Company) Alexandre Desplat
127 Hours (Fox Searchlight) A.R. Rahman
The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing) Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

“Coming Home” from Country Strong (Sony Pictures Releasing (Screen Gems)) Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
“I See the Light” from Tangled (Walt Disney) Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
“If I Rise” from 127 Hours (Fox Searchlight) Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
“We Belong Together” from Toy Story 3 (Walt Disney) Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
Note: completely random guess here

Day & Night (Walt Disney) A Pixar Animation Studios Production Teddy Newton
The Gruffalo (A Magic Light Pictures Production) Jakob Schuh and Max Lang
Let’s Pollute (A Geefwee Boedoe Production) Geefwee Boedoe
The Lost Thing (Nick Batzias for Madman Entertainment) A Passion Pictures Australia Production Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann
Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary) A Sacrebleu Production Bastien Dubois

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
Note: completely random guess here

The Confession (National Film and Television School) A National Film and Television School Production Tanel Toom
The Crush (Network Ireland Television) A Purdy Pictures Production Michael Creagh
God of Love (A Luke Matheny Production) Luke Matheny
Na Wewe (Premium Films) A CUT! Production Ivan Goldschmidt
Wish 143 (A Swing and Shift Films/Union Pictures Production) Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite

BEST SOUND EDITING

Inception (Warner Bros.) Richard King
Toy Story 3 (Walt Disney) Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
Tron: Legacy (Walt Disney) Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
True Grit (Paramount) Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
Unstoppable (20th Century Fox) Mark P. Stoeckinger

BEST SOUND MIXING

Inception (Warner Bros.) Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick
The King’s Speech (The Weinstein Company) Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley
Salt (Sony Pictures Releasing) Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin
The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing) Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
True Grit (Paramount) Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Alice in Wonderland (Walt Disney) Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (Warner Bros.) Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
Hereafter (Warner Bros.) Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell
Inception (Warner Bros.) Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
Iron Man 2 (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment, Distributed by Paramount) Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

127 Hours (Fox Searchlight), Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing), Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
Toy Story 3 (Walt Disney), Screenplay by Michael Arndt. Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
True Grit (Paramount), Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Winter’s Bone (Roadside Attractions), Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Another Year (Sony Pictures Classics), Written by Mike Leigh
The Fighter (Paramount), Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson. Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
Inception (Warner Bros.), Written by Christopher Nolan
The Kids Are All Right (Focus Features), Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
The King’s Speech (The Weinstein Company), Screenplay by David Seidler


Conclusion: I have The King's Speech winning at least 7 Oscars including for Best Picture, Actor, Supporting Actor, Original Screenplay, and Director. Why? Because rarely does a film get 12 nominations, wins best picture, and doesn't win at least 4 more awards. Plus, Tom Hooper won the DGA award earlier this month. Personally, I think Hooper winning Best Director would be a travesty considering the other four directors nominated are immensely talented and made great films. But whatever, it's the ****ing Oscars.

The Social Network should win Best Sound Mixing just for that scene in the club where Sean Parker and Mark are talking inside that insanely loud club. How they pulled that off really impressed me.

My personal opinion? I'd be happy with The Fighter, Social Network, Black Swan, or even True Grit winning best picture. I think The King's Speech was a good film, but I also think Boyle, Aronofsky, Fincher, O. Russell, and the Coen Bros all made great films that maintain a strong directorial vision. It's unfortunate that newcomer Tom Hooper will win an Oscar before Fincher or Aronofsky. His film just really isn't all that impressive from a visual or technical standpoint. However, Colin Firth absolutely deserves to win Best Actor, I've always liked him, and I will be happy to see him accept his award.


Monday, February 7, 2011

top 10 films of 2010

10. True Grit

True Grit just barely makes this top ten list, but it definitely earns this spot. While True Grit didn't really break any ground, it was still exceptionally shot and well-acted all throughout. This is perhaps the Coen Brothers most accessible film and as it turns out it's also their most successful financially. I can't blame people for showing up to see this movie, it is quite the entertaining ride.

9. Shutter Island

Somewhat forgotten since being released in February of last year, Shutter Island winds up staying on my list of the top 10 films of 2010. The beautiful cinematography and masterful direction by Martin Scorsese coupled with the joyful glee that you could feel from Scorsese who really played things up and showed that he can pretty much make any movie that he wants to make. A Scorsese thriller? Absolutely. Who else could pull off this movie? Most directors would've resorted to cheap thrills, but there was truly a method to Scorsese's madness in this film. Leonardo DiCaprio was also great in a performance that wound up being overshadowed by Inception. But it's arguable whether or not his performance Inception is really that much better than his performance here.

8. The Fighter

The Fighter proves that the formula to a great film is actually quite simple. As long as you have the right director and the right actors, a great film will almost always wind up being the end result. That's no less true than with this film. Amy Adams, Christian Bale, Melissa Leo, and Mark Wahlberg all give strong performances and David O. Russell does everything he can to get the best out of all of them. The Fighter is one of the year's best showcases in film when it comes to acting and it also manages to be feelgood film without being too predictable.

7. Winter's Bone

Gritty, tough as nails, dank, sour, down-trodden. When you sit down to watch Winter's Bone, you are entering a world that you're not too familiar with and yet... it's set right here in America. The story itself is rather simple: a teenage girl who searches for her father. But the atmosphere, the acting, and the moody tone of this film is what elevates this material. Directed by Debra Granik, Winter's Bone does what a lot of great movies are designed to do: show you a world that you're not too familiar with and keep you fascinated throughout. That's really what Winter's Bone is about.

6. The Social Network

Some people love The Social Network and think it's easily the greatest film of the year, others think the hype is overdone and that it doesn't deserve any of the acclaim that it gets. I tend to agree with the former instead of the latter, although I didn't think it was as great as some others say. The Social Network is about as perfect a film can get as far as craftsmanship is concerned. The Social Network is so tight and well-made that your hat has to come off to David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin. What a powerhouse combination that is. People want to call this an Aaron Sorkin movie, others want to call this a David Fincher movie. One thing's for sure, both needed each other in order for this movie to work as well as it did. So if it's so perfectly made, why is it not in my top 5? Because, overall, the stakes in this movie aren't really that high. The tone remains steady throughout even though there are most definitely some high points and low points in this story. Overall, this movie is really just about friendship and betrayal and doesn't really say much about the current world that we live in. I often like to compare this film favorably to All the President's Men, but even that film said something about journalism and corruption in politics. The Social Network is just a perfectly-made film, I've watched this twice and had a blast both times. But, watching it a second time confirmed to me that, beyond its expert craftsmanship and its well-constructed story, there really isn't much there. Still, it definitely deserves a spot on this top ten.

5. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

I had a tough time with where I should put Scott Pilgrim and I know I may get some flack for having it in my top 5. But much like The Social Network, for me, you just have to applaud the work of Edgar Wright with this film. Whereas David Fincher already had great material to work with (an Aaron Sorkin script), Edgar Wright truly elevated the material of this film to a point where there is so much packed in every frame of this film that you can't possibly catch all of its cleverness by merely watching it once or twice. The wildly inventive camera movement, visual effects, use of sound and music just left me in awe when I watched this the first time. Just by watching the highly energetic opening credits, you could tell this was going to be an extremely fun film to watch. I guess I also wanted this in the top five because I feel that it was vastly under-appreciated and it's still misunderstood by people who simply view it as another awkward Michael Cera film. IT'S NOT. It's an Edgar Wright film all the way! And he's truly one of the most talented directors out there.

4. Toy Story 3

At the year's end, Toy Story 3 also remains as one of cinema's clearest standouts. When you consider just how well made the first two Toy Storys are, it makes Toy Story 3 that much more impressive. It's just the perfect ending to one of the greatest trilogies of all-time. It's at least the greatest animated trilogy of all-time. Toy Story 3 may actually be the best of the three which is a rarity. Even though Toy Story 3 goes through a lot of the same motions, plot-wise, as the rest of the Toy Story movies. The emotional stakes have been raised considerably in the film and it leads to a conclusion so perfect that you can't help but shed at least one tear. It's not that it's sad, it's that it's such a perfect ending. Of course, the second time I watched it, it didn't hit me as hard, I'll always appreciate and thank the writers of this movie for giving us the best conclusion that could've possibly been made for this trilogy. I think a lot of people were wondering how Toy Story 3 would play out and now I can't imagine it happening any other way. That alone makes Toy Story 3 such a great movie, but the rest of the film is also fun to watch as well.

3. 127 Hours

I never wrote an official review for this movie because I was saving it for this top ten blog post. While watching 127 Hours, it became readily apparent to me that this was one of the best films of the year, I just didn't know how good I would deem it until the last act when Aron Ralston is finally released from the rock that has been waiting for him his whole life and finally finding people who can rescue him and bring him back to safety. The combination of music, the way it was shot, and James Franco's performance practically turned me into mush. Call me a Danny Boyle fanboy, I don't care. The man wears his emotions on his sleeve when he makes his films and I can't help but commend him for that.

2. Inception

Speaking of wearing emotions on their sleeve, Christopher Nolan has often been accused of being the exact opposite when he makes his films. In fact, the hate, the anti-Chris Nolan sentiment that has arisen over the last few months has really shocked me. Here's a man responsible for the successful resurrection of the Batman movies, a man who is responsible for Memento, and now has succeeded in making one of the very few original Summer blockbuster films to have come out in a long time. You know what? I don't even want to hear it anymore. Inception is brilliantly executed packed with solid performances, great special effects, and wonderfully engrossing and sophisticated story. Much has been made over the supposed convoluted-ness of the film, as if we're always supposed to get everything about a movie in just one viewing. Inception is like an endless frustrating puzzle that you feel compelled to solve. Even when you think you've gotten everything, there are always one or two things that make you question whether or not your perspective on the film is truly correct. It's a superb film all throughout.

1. Black Swan

After I saw Inception back in July, I thought to myself, in order for a film to beat out Inception for best film of the year, it would truly have to shake things up for me. Black Swan did just that. Black Swan is, of course, probably the most divisive film of the year. People love it, people hate it. I most definitely love it and find it to be the most captivating film of the year. There are times in this film when I wanted to look away, times when I'd laugh uncomfortably, and times where I truly did not know what kind of things Aronofsky would come up with next. I didn't always have a high opinion of Darren Aronofsky. I felt that he used to overdo it with his stylistic choices. I watched Requiem for a Dream recently, I found it to be just as much of a stylistic mess as I did over five years ago when I first watched it. Then with The Wrestler and now with Black Swan, I feel that Darren Aronofsky has redeemed himself; he really can't go wrong at this point. Why is that? Because even with all of the stylistic choices and all the different types of flare that he adds to Black Swan, it's the performances that wind up standing out in the end. Natalie Portman's tortured performance was what kept me intimately involved with this film. And you know what? I love that this film wound up being as divisive as it has. It actually makes me love it more.

Honorable mentions:
Blue Valentine - I saw this just recently and thought it was a fine film. I was also surprised to see just how well made it was. Throughout all the talk about Ryan Gosling and Michelle William's performance, I thought Derek Cianfrance was the real winner of this film. That being said, I found it to be a little too uneven to consider it one of the ten best films of the year.

Greenberg and Cyrus - I liked both of these films very much and I think both Noah Baumbach and Duplass Brothers are very good filmmakers who are capable of making great films. Their films this year just barely missed the mark.

The Kids Are All Right and The King's Speech were the only two films from the Oscar best picture list that missed my top ten. I thought they were really good, but honestly, I don't see how they're as deserving of their accolades as the other films on my list. That being said, Colin Firth does deserve best actor as he gave an outstanding performance and I think Lisa Cholodenko deserves a lot more credit for the film she crafted. I will be interested in seeing what she does in the future.

Friday, February 4, 2011

yo

I saw 127 Hours last weekend. I've been meaning to post a review but I haven't had time. I will post one later, at the same time as I post a Blue Valentine review. So, hold your horses.