AAN: And thus, my life goes back to normal again (Oscar talk)

This morning I said "By the end of the day I will either hate The King's Speech or start liking it again." Now the end of the day has come, I have gotten over my hating and started remembering small parts of it which were Oscar worthy. Unfortunately, I still can't see how it won. But it had it's time to shine, and it's no skin off my teeth.

I got 16 out of 21 predictions right. My last period at school was filled with happiness whenever I saw Inception winning anything and a huge gasp which stopped the whole class when I found that Melissa Leo won. Now my life is going back to normal, these films aren't feeling as relevant as they used to and I'm just waiting for the next lot of awards...and Christopher Nolan's upcoming win for The Dark Knight Rises (early prediction, bite me).

Anyway, thoughts on the awards given out:

-Best Picture went to The King's Speech. Thought having that movie be the most dominant in that little montage was a dead giveaway. While I'm not the only one bitter, and I still commend their achievements, it was so 'safe'. And there were so many films better than that one in the race. I still think, at the bottom of my heart, that Inception should have been the one that won. But of course, the nature of that film stopped it. The nature of The Social Network and it's youngness stopped it. While I'm happy for The King's Speech, this award simply should have gone to someone else.

-Despite the fact that he got the award for The King's Speech, I will forever think that the Oscar Colin Firth got this year was really for his performance in A Single Man. Bravo to that man. Can't say I didn't see it coming, though.

-Thank goodness Natalie Portman won Best Actress. Phenomenal work, phenomenal actress. God bless her.

-Unfortunately, Jesus Bale didn't trim his beard for his big moment. But how the fuck is this the first time he has gotten a win, let alone a nomination?! All I know is that I'm glad that he's finally got what he deserves.
-Okay so I knew Melissa Leo was going to win, so it wasn't much of a surprise. I suppose I was just angry that Jacki Weaver didn't win. Or Amy Adams. Or Hailee Steinfeld. Or Helena Bonham Carter. So much talent here, not enough Oscar to go around!

-Jeez, I nearly cried when Tom Hooper won Best Director. Academy, first you snub Christopher 'God' Nolan, then you give away David Fincher's Oscar to someone who didn't really need it yet in the first place. Yes, Tom Hooper has a lot of talent, but nothing compared to the talent and repertoire David Fincher has built up for himself. Oh well, the Oscars love new blood, and that is a damn fine achievement for Hooper. Damn fine.
-JESUS CHRIST OSCAR WHY DID YOU NOT GIVE THE AWARD FOR 'BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY' TO THE MOST ORIGINAL OUT OF THE LOT OF THEM?! Oh right, coz you hate Christopher Nolan. I still don't get how David Seidler's The King's Speech screenplay is original, since I saw some books called 'The King's Speech' and those words 'Now a major motion picture' floating around, but meh, it was obvious that they were going to go with the safe choice. And now everyone in NZ is going crazy over this win coz Seidler wants to come back to NZ and go tramping. Yeah thats great...we can move on now.
-Adapted Screenplay to The Social Network. Aaron Sorkin, you are still so amazing. If only your fucking awesome film could have won more, y'know?
-Best Animated Feature to Toy Story 3. That's how it should be.
-Best Foreign Film to In a Better World. I predicted it even though I haven't seen it!
-Same case for Best Doc. I predicted Inside Job without seeing it, and it won!

-Even though I'm eternally sad that Hans Zimmer didn't win anything for the most beautiful score I have ever heard in my life, I'm happy that The Social Network got this one. Absolutely genius score. But I'll still be playing 'Time' everyday and having the same chills everytime I hear it.
-I loved the song from Tangled, but of course Toy Story 3's 'We Belong Together' had to win. Surprisingly, out of 20 nominations, Randy Newman has only won twice.

-WALLY PFISTER FINALLY GOT AN OSCAR! He had been nominated four times, all for Chris Nolan masterpieces (Batman Begins, The Prestige, The Dark Knight and Inception) and finally won. Feeling kinda sad for Roger Deakins and Matthew Libatique though, since they've gone home empty handed even though there work in True Grit and Black Swan was amazing, but Wally Pfister rules! Especially when he thanks his 'master'. Yes, Nolan has incredible vision.
-Art Direction to Alice in Wonderland? What?!
-Costume Design to Alice in Wonderland? It still kills me to say that this film won more Oscars than True Grit, which was nominated 10 times but didn't get any return.
-Visual effects to Inception! Yeah, like it had any competition.
-The Wolfman got an Oscar...just for makeup. I heard about Cate Blanchett's 'thats gross' comment. Must have been more priceless than the movie.
-Sound editing to Inception! Wooo!
-Sound mixing to Inception! Woooo! It got 4 Oscars!

I didn't really watch much of the awards, only from about Best Song onwards. I wept over The King's Speech, but that's all in the past now. James Franco was a pretty dead end host, but Anne Hathaway was gorgeous...in the million dresses she wore.
Speaking of gorgeous, I'll just post my three most favourite and three least favourite dresses:

Best dressed-

Jeez, Natalie Portman is glowing. She could have worn a brown paper bag and she would have looked amazing. That colour is so cool. Like, it's my new favourite shade of purple.
All through the awards season, the Black Swan ladies have been the best dressed. Lilac is a risky colour, but Mila Kunis is so beautiful that she could pull this look off. Sure, it's a lot of lace just draped in weird ways, but it is beautiful. Definitely my favourite of the night.
The only thing that could have made Hailee Steinfeld's dress better would be making it go all the way down to the ground. But having it cut like that is cute and young. She's so gorgeous. I just hope we get to see more of her around these awards in the future.

Worst dressed-

Yeah, I know that Scarlett Johansson is supposed to be the sexiest woman in the world but this dress? Table cloth made pink and wrapped around 100 times until it fits averagely. Boring and pretty ugly.
Marisa Tomei's dress looks as dull as anything. That thing forming on the bottom sure doesn't work.
Jeez, Jennifer Hudson has lost a lot of weight. Unfortunately, the weird squeezing and colour of this dress makes her look a little less than special.

So, that's my first Annual Awards Nerdism done for 2010/2011 (sob). Feeling a little less than satisfied with this years outcome, I will go on with my life waiting for 2011's version of Inception or The Social Network to come out. Was Annual Awards Nerdism a 'yay' or 'nay' for you? What about the awards? I love comments :)
Thanks for reading this, everyone! Now back to normal reviews and everything...

AAN: Oscar predictions - Best Picture


Welcome to Part Five of my Oscar predictions - the big one that Annual Awards Nerdism for 2011 has come down to.


Jeez Louise, is it that time already? Tomorrow the Oscars will arrive, sadly while I'll be at school (but I'll be in my computing class which will keep me up to date with everything), and we'll have the answers to our many questions. I'm so excited my stomach has that funny butterfly feeling, but then again, once the Oscars are gone, there won't be much excitement in my life for a while.

Anyway, today I'll be predicting Best Picture. First I am going to rank my favourites from the Best Pic race in a similar style to the 'Top 10' lists I do every now and again. Then I shall give you my actual 'Zuck' prediction afterwards.

Anyway, let's begin!

10. The Kids Are All Right

While I praised The Kids Are All Right for it's believable characters and funny portrait of a modern family, the end just felt like it was lacking something. In fact, the movie felt like it was lacking something, which was a shame because it had such a great concept. I don't fully understand why it got the nomination, as I wouldn't think that this was the type of film the Academy would go for, but I'm glad to see they went for at least one intentionally funny piece in the lineup. It has a Golden Globe win to its name which gives it a bit more height, but seriously, did the film have any competition in that category? Oh, that's right, The Tourist was supposed to be going for gold this year. And The Kids Are All Right took its shot at glory. *gasp* What has this world come to?!

9. The Fighter

Let's face it: The Fighter is probably concerned with it's stars winning acting awards than it is about winning Best Pic. Christian Bale will almost definitely win Best Supporting Actor and either Melissa Leo or Amy Adams both have really good chances of winning Best Supporting Actress. But the sad thing about that is the fact that Mark Wahlberg missed out on an acting nom and will miss out again on winning Best Pic...as he is the producer of this film. Poor Marky Mark. Despite early reviews hailing The Fighter as a masterpiece and whatnot, a lot of people have come out saying this movie is quite 'pedestrian' and not actually that great. I think this is a common happening in awards season: they say a film is great at first, but once they get nominated they turn on it, as they've probably found new things. So basically, they should have just nominated Drive Angry early so it didn't lose any fans come Oscar night.
 
8. Winter's Bone
 

 
I actually thought that this would be my least favourite out of the lot of them. But no, Winter's Bone struck a chord with me, even if it wasn't a hit with everyone. I do admit, it's inclusion in the Best Picture race is strange considering the size of the production and the fact that people would have rather seen movies like The Town in it's place, but I am glad it got a look in. Even if it won't win, it is here, and that's all that matters. Yeah, it doesn't have a chance. I imagine the only reason that it is here is because of the fact that the critics really, really stuck behind it and it has that Sundance seal of approval. It has better chances in the acting categories it is going for. Winter's Bone will probably become like A Serious Man last year: the little, forgotten nominee.
 
7. The King's Speech
 

Don't get me wrong, I like The King's Speech. It's a nice movie which made me feel uplifted and whatnot. I just don't want it to win Best Picture. As everyone says, it's too 'safe'.

Anyway, if the movie does win, I shall be reciting a special quote from this film:

"Fuck. Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck and fuck! Fuck, fuck and bugger! Bugger, bugger, buggerty buggerty buggerty, fuck, fuck, arse! Balls, balls...fuckity, shit, shit, fuck and willy. Willy, shit and fuck and... tits."

See, I love this movie so much.

6. True Grit

Being a 'Western virgin', as it would seem, I surprisingly really enjoyed The Coens rendition of True Grit. The character work was the particular highlight, along with the brilliant acting from one awesome cast. I can still see Hailee Steinfeld winning for her work in the film, and if everyone were to forget The King's Speech and The Social Network for a second, this movie might actually win Best Picture. But that is a prediction that is a little far from reality. The film has had the same momentum right throughout the awards season: it just turned up with a lot of critical applause but hasn't really been overhyped or blown out of proportion like The King's Speech has been. That reason could again work in its favour, but I can't see this movie getting much return on it's ten nominations.
 
5. Black Swan
 

 
It's been a month since I saw Black Swan and not a day goes by when I am not haunted by at least one image from the movie. I've had just about enough of people here bad mouthing it, too. Sure, the only chance it has at winning anything is Natalie Portman, but Black Swan is a much better film than a lot of people are giving it credit for. It's definitely not the type of film that would win Best Pic, but there could be a first time for everything right? Especially if the voters like some Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis.
 
4. 127 Hours
 

 
While everyone thought The King's Speech was uplifting, I thought 127 Hours was the most uplifting out there. Definitely the most uplifting. Sure, King George had his stammer and he had to save his country by saving himself, but Aron Ralston had to chop off his own arm in order to survive. And the moments we see that on film are the most harrowing and deeply disturbing that I may have ever seen. 127 Hours is the posterchild for brilliant editing and being a film which makes you feel every ounce of pain. Why wasn't Danny Boyle nominated for Best Director? Geez. And why were lots of people doubting that this film would even get into the nominations? Beyond me. 127 Hours totally owns. It's so bloody awesome. (no pun intended)
 
3. Toy Story 3
 

 
Ah, I only have fond memories of Toy Story 3. People may say it's overrated and all, but I love it to bits. I mean, this movie made me cry more than any movie I've ever seen apart from Requiem for a Dream. It just gets me every time. Of course, this film doesn't really need to win here as it will win in the Best Animated section. And it doesn't have much chance considering it's an animated and it came out such a long time ago that it has lost its momentum. But considering that it's the highest grossing animated film of all time, how long will it take for an animated flick to win Best Pic? Coz, in my opinion, you really don't get much better than this.
 
2. The Social Network
 

 
I literally think that The Social Network is one of the best movies ever made. And even though it's not my number one, I still think that it should win Best Pic. Because this is one of those once-in-a-lifetime kinds of movies. There simply isn't a way in which I can clearly describe it. All I know is that it has come so far and it just can't turn back empty handed. It won all the top honours from the critics societies. Sure, it lost out on all the Guild awards. But at the end of the day, which movie will last longer: The King's Speech or The Social Network?
 
1. Inception
 

 
Didn't see that one coming, did you? There is still a little inkling of hope that my second favourite movie of all time will be a surprise and win. Like, I can actually picture it happening. But it probably won't, since it's a sci-fi, since it requires a brain and probably since Christopher Nolan has something to do with it. Inception doesn't need a fancy Oscar to prove its the best. It just is the best.
 
Who do I think will actually win?
The Social Network. Well, I'm 75% expecting The King's Speech to win, but the more I think about The Social Network, the more I like its chances, so I will go with that prediction. It better bloody win, that's for sure.
Longshot?
Everything that isn't The King's Speech or The Social Network. Well, the biggest longshot is probably The Kids Are All Right.
 
So, they're all my predictions wrapped up. What are you thinking will win?
See you back here tomorrow for my thoughts on the winners!

AAN: Oscar predictions - Acting

Welcome to Part Four of my Oscar predictions, the big one that Annual Awards Nerdism for 2011 has been leading up to.


Key:
My Leo – The actor who I want to win
My Zuck – The actor who my predictions want to win
My Steve – The actor who will go home empty handed

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

James Franco lost an arm,
Jeff Bridges lost an eye,
Colin Firth lost his ability to speak,
Javier Bardem probably dies,
Jesse Eisenberg lost his friend,
As you see in the end,
All these men lost something,
But one of them is sure to gain,
A little reward for all their suffering and pain,
It probably won’t go to the Zuck,
Bardem, Bridges and Franco are all out of luck,
Colin Firth will be the one they choose,
As there simply ain’t a way for him to lose.

Last year, Colin Firth was nominated for his first time for his career defining, breathtaking performance in A Single Man. Jeff Bridges won the award, as he was ‘overdue’. This year, Bridges is nominated, but won’t win, because now Firth is nominated, and it would seem that he is ‘overdue’ thanks to what happened last year. Previous winner Javier Bardem doesn’t stand a chance, either.
If I had a vote, it would have to go with either Jesse Eisenberg or James Franco. I feel like Eisenberg won’t have another chance like this, because his performance in The Social Network was like one of those once off kinda deals. I would like Franco to win, simply because he was given a D for an acting class assignment because he was filming 127 Hours. It would be like the ultimate shame if he won (for the marker, that is). But he should worry about hosting the show more.

My Leo: Jesse Eisenberg
My Zuck: Colin Firth
My Steve: Javier Bardem

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

A grieving mother in Rabbit Hole,
Nicole Kidman had the Academy sold,
A crumbling marriage in Blue Valentine,
Michelle Williams’ NC-17 rated film nearly crossed the line,
A girl trying to find her father in Winter’s Bone,
Jennifer Lawrence rose above the films dark tone,
A lesbian meeting her baby daddy in The Kids Are All Right,
Annette Bening may put up the fair fight,
A prima ballerina and the new swan queen,
Probably more famous for that lesbian scene,
Natalie Portman will win for Black Swan,
Unless the voters sanity has gone.

I’ve heard a lot of people saying ‘Natalie Portman won’t win!’ this week. Where is this coming from? Not only has she won like every award, she has the most amazing performance out of the lot of them. The only reasons I can think of that will see her not winning are she’s either too young or an ‘overdue’ Annette Bening could win. I don’t want Annette Bening to win. Her character is just too bitchy.
Jennifer Lawrence is awesome in Winter’s Bone, so I can’t exactly write her off. Having not seen Blue Valentine or Rabbit Hole, I can’t really comment on Michelle Williams and Nicole Kidman being nominated. I respect them both as actresses, and I wish them well. If Natalie Portman doesn’t win? The voters have gone as insane as Nina.

My Leo: Natalie Portman
My Zuck: Natalie Portman
My Steve: Nicole Kidman

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

Jeremy Renner got the sole nomination for The Town,
In Winter’s Bone John Hawkes liked to frown,
Mark Ruffalo donated sperm,
Geoffrey Rush’s voice techniques helped the King learn,
But did any of these actors lose lots of weight?
Christian Bale’s nomination has come a tad late,
There’s no way that he can’t win,
Even if this isn’t the best film he’s ever been in.

Yeah so, Christian Bale will win. The only competition he has is Geoffrey Rush, who won the BAFTA. But that can’t really taint his chances, surely?
I may have doubted John Hawkes before, but since seeing the film I thought he rocked. Though, I could have replaced him for an Andrew Garfield nomination. I haven’t seen The Town, but I’m glad that Jeremy Renner got another nomination for the second year in a row. He’s such a brilliant actor. Mark Ruffalo is awesome, too, but I’m more surprised that this is his first nomination. Maybe I overrate his brilliance, but the guy could be classed as ‘overdue’ too.
Christian Bale deserves it most, though.

My Leo: Christian Bale
My Zuck: Christian Bale
My Steve: Jeremy Renner

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

I’m Team Jacki Weaver, all the way,
But an Amy Adams win shouldn’t be far away?
Helena Bonham Carter is an amazing royal,
Melissa Leo plays a mum tough and loyal,
Hailee Steinfeld is cute and sweet,
Even though she plays the lead,
But who could win, I don’t know?
Melissa Leo will probably steal the show,
Unless the photo controversy hurts her odds,
So, Academy...you know I love you lots,
Leo and Carter are good, but don’t pick either,
Go for the underdog, JACKI WEAVER!

It’s the same everywhere. Anyone who has seen Animal Kingdom will agree that Jacki Weaver delivers the best performance out of all of these lovely ladies, but the size of the project and perhaps the country it hails from hurts her chances. My next choice would have to be Amy Adams. She has been nominated three times, in this very category, without any luck. With this being her best performance, surely they would give her the gong? Well, I hope they do. But her costar Melissa Leo will get it, as she has got everything else, unless her self-advertising controversy stalls her.
Hailee Steinfeld is becoming a likelier choice by the day. The problem is, she is essentially the lead role, so she should have been nominated there, and it just won’t seem fair if she wins. Helena Bonham Carter is also likely, after her BAFTA win. She could have the ‘overdue’ cloud hanging over her, which could get her the votes that Melissa Leo lost. Maybe I just don’t want Leo to win.

My Leo: Jacki Weaver
My Zuck: Melissa Leo
My Steve: Jacki Weaver

There's todays lot...the second time I've written it (stupid Blogger deleting it all as soon as I published it). Tomorrow I will rank the Best Pic nominees. See you then!

DVD--Winter's Bone

or: Winter's Bleak.

One word to sum it up: Haunting.

Going into Winter's Bone, I had two opinions on the movie which were engraved in the back of my mind while I was watching it. The first one was that this film was wildly successful at Sundance, and was popular around the independent film parts. The critics in high places hailed it as beautiful and haunting, and despite its indie trimmings, it got an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. The other idea I had in my head is that it would be a total bore. I had read many reviews and many comments about the film that proclaimed this as a boring and sluggish piece of work that failed to touch the viewer on many accounts. Hence the reason I put off watching it for so long. Fortunately, the latter opinion turned out to be untrue on my behalf. In fact, I really, really liked Winter's Bone.

Speed is something that Winter's Bone may lack when its telling its story, but that makes for an ample opportunity to make things set in. Our heroine is 17 year old Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence), a girl living in near poverty in the Ozarks who has to look after her younger siblings when her mother becomes unresponsive. She finds out that her father is being hunted, and if the police don't find him, they will sell the Dolly's home from underneath them. Ree stands up and fights for her right and desperately searches for her father. Here she is introduced to the dark world her drug addicted father got himself into, and must find a way to get the truth, even if it means getting beaten and having her family starve in the process.

Yes, Winter's Bone may seem boring to someone who doesn't bother to unfurl the films themes. Because the themes that this movie holds are fantastic. One of my favourite themes within the movie is the power and speed of gossip. The reliance on distant hearsay becomes the thing to make or break the characters and the predicament they have found themselves in. Another theme is the power that close and distant family ties can have. Many of the people Ree meets do not wish for her to poke her nose into all of this business. Some will completely turn on her, others will help in a small way. But the end result comes through by Ree intelligently picking up small pieces from her encounters, and then meeting a tie which gives her exactly what she needs...no matter how deeply disturbing it is.

Debra Granik and Anne Rossellini's adaption of the 2006 novel by Daniel Woodrell is depressing, but there is some hope in Ree and her family, which keeps this from sinking to an almost unfathomably bleak level. Carrying the film on her small but well able shoulders is young Jennifer Lawrence. Her performance is on such a professional level that she'd have you believe that she's been doing it her whole life. Her bottled-up emotion, toughness and want for a better life combine as perfect characterization and you really feel for Ree, even if her no nonsense nature sometimes gets the better of her. Her performance is backed up by a brilliant Oscar nominated turn from John Hawkes as Teardrop, a man afraid to lose his cover that eventually becomes a helpful figure in Ree's journey. Dale Dickey, too, makes a good opportunity of her character Merab. Had the parts gone to more well known actors, I suspect this film would have lost the indie gloss it has over it and probably wouldn't have been anywhere near as successful. I'm glad that this got the opportunity to be an Oscar nominee, though.

THE VERDICT: Though a tad slow, Winter's Bone is bleak, dark and depressing, but haunts the viewer for a while after the credits roll. Jennifer Lawrence makes a star of herself in this.

What I hoped for:

What I got:

AAN: Oscar predictions - Writing and Directing

Welcome to Part Three of my Oscar predictions - the big one that Annual Awards Nerdism for 2011 has come down to.

Key:

My Leo - Coolness. I want it to beat the crap out of the competition.

My Zuck - This one will win. For better or for worse.

My Steve - I will weep into my laptop keyboard if this wins.

Todays categories are:

-Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published

-Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen

-Best Achievement in Directing

Let's hop to it, shall we?

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published

Toy Story 3 had lots of kiddie charm,
127 Hours made its lead lose an arm,
The Coens reinvented westerns with True Grit,
Winter's Bone didn't make me laugh one bit,
All these screenplays may put up a good fight,
and it's proven that all these people can wonderfully write,
but for this award there's only one walk-in,
and that's The Social Network's Aaron Sorkin.

My poetry skills serve as an insult to these very talented writers, I know, but I'm in the rhyming kind of mood at the moment, so let this be a warning: more poetry follows. Something fun, yes?
Anyway. Having seen all of these films (Winter's Bone review coming up tomorrow), I think I can count myself as a bit of an expert. But that's no use when it is as plain as the protruding nose on my face that Aaron Sorkin will win this one. If he doesn't...well, that would be like giving Best Picture to Sex and the City 2. He should win it for the opening scene alone. If only I could write like that man, I would be happy.
But let's not forget the other worthy contestants.
127 Hours has a nice script by Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy. I'm incidentally (and slowly) reading the original book by Aron Ralston, which is harrowing stuff, and somehow Boyle and Beaufoy managed to translate the descriptive will-to-live material onto the screen without much effort, and I respect that.
The Coens have always been well able screenwriters, and that is shown by winning two other awards for their writing abilities. Their scriptwork and characterization in True Grit is amazing, but I think they should take the year off, don't you?
Will someone please tell me how Toy Story 3 is an adapted screenplay and true stories like The Fighter and The King's Speech aren't? My second choice is this one, because it made me laugh, happy inside, and cry my eyes out more than I ever had until I watched Requiem for a Dream. And, if you ask me, it's damn good entertainment for every age group.
Winter's Bone is depressingly bleak, but I surprisingly liked it. The scriptwork was good too. I liked the way they captured the world in Ozarks and a chick kicking ass. The scenes towards the end still continue to haunt my dreams.

My Leo: The Social Network
My Zuck: The Social Network
My Steve: Winter's Bone

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen

 
There was a surprising deserved nom for Another Year,
the Academy also went for The Fighter's boxing fare,
The King's Speech came back for another bite,
there's some funnies here with The Kids Are All Right,
the Academy may hate Chris Nolan it would seem,
but they nominated his script which dared to dream,
I hope that Inception can take it all,
for it was the movie which asked 'Did the spinning top fall?'
 
Fun Oscar fact I figured out myself: Black Swan is the only Best Pic nominee not nominated for a screenplay award. Taking its place is Mike Leigh's screenplay for Another Year, a movie which I haven't seen but have heard plenty of good things about. The Kids Are All Right gets a well deserved nod here, along with true story-based The Fighter.
Hey, the party is over here. Will Inception or The King's Speech win? If you asked me for the answer to this question just before the awards season started, I would have gone with Inception hands down. As awards season progressed, my heart was still with Inception but The King's Speech won everything. Then a miracle happened. Inception won big at the WGAs, but The King's Speech wasn't in contention. So, the stats would say that The King's Speech will be the big winner, yes? No. I refuse to stoop to that level. I haven't given up hope on Inception. After all, Chris Nolan is already overdue, they snubbed him so all the backlash from that should get my boy some votes, and, look at it this way: his script is virtually the meaning of 'original'. As original as you can get.
I don't care for all the hoopla surrounding The King's Speech. Inception and Chris Nolan are still my main men.
 
My Leo: INCEPTION!
My Zuck: Inception
My Steve: Another Year
 

Best Achievement in Directing

I'm still getting over the Chris Nolan snub,

but these directing men folk seem nice enough,

Darren Aronofsky showed us how ballet is done,

The Coens showed us how the west was won,

Tom Hooper's film got approval by the Queen,

David O. Russell tried to get Christian Bale clean,

David Fincher may do lots of films on disturbing tales,

but we all know he is a director who never fails,

here he hits the jackpot with a movie about the net,

and he makes The Social Network a film we can't forget.

Let's get this out of the way first: I like David O. Russell and The Coens direction. But Danny Boyle and especially Chris Nolan should have been nominated. They were just better, y'know?

For me, this race is a three way between Tom Hooper, Darren Aronofsky and David Fincher. Why?

David Fincher has won lots of directorial awards, including the Golden Globe and BAFTA. And hey, look at his filmography. Surely, all the greatness from that list makes him worth the votes? While I can see him gaining similar attention for his upcoming The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, this year he's going to shine.

Tom Hooper won the DGA. While his work isn't amazing, there are a lot of things that could point him to a win. The main reason being: all the awards hype surrounding The King's Speech. The Best Pic winner generally wins Best Director too. But who said The King's Speech will win Best Pic? Also, the Academy love new blood. Especially if it's British.

Darren Aronofsky could possibly sneak the upset. His filmography, though select, could work in his favour. You gotta admit, his work in Black Swan is beautiful. Hopefully the voters will see the light and vote for this deserving man. But that's probably a long way off...

My Leo: Darren Aronofsky

My Zuck: David Fincher

My Steve: David O. Russell

So that's it for tonight. Sorry if I have damaged you with my bad poetry skills. Tomorrow I will take a look at all the acting awards. Until then, Au Revoir!

Cinema--The Kids Are All Right

or: Meeting the man who made your family happen.

One word to sum it up: Sweet.

The storyline of The Kids Are All Right is fairly simple. A lesbian married couple, Nic (Annette Bening) and Jules (Julianne Moore), have lived their lives raising their children: 18 year old Joni (Mia Wasikowska) and 15 year old Laser (Josh Hutcherson). Obviously, these two children didn't come out of thin air. In fact, the only thing that binds Joni and Laser together is the fact that they have the same sperm donor: Paul (Mark Ruffalo). Laser has always been curious about who is father was, and now that Joni has turned 18 and she's legally allowed to find out, she makes the call. Paul, an owner of an organic restaurant, decides to meet first with the kids, and then with their parents, much to their surprise. Thing is, Nic and Jules never thought they would have to come to the moment when they actually met their provider of sperm, so they don't have a plan.

To me, this was one of those zingy 'a-ha' concepts that I instantly liked. Though, without seeing the film, I came to the conclusion that this concept couldn't possibly make an entire film, as I thought it would just fizzle out. And it did. That didn't affect the quality of the film that much, though. The Kids Are All Right was a nicely structured, frequently funny portrait of a modern family. And, for once, there was a movie which didn't try to portray teenagers as airheads who just don't give a shit to actual normal people. In fact, this film succeeds in the way it makes its characters normal. It doesn't exploit them by giving them all these bells and whistles and a strange backstory. They're just very real. And I really liked that.

Where Aaron Sorkin captures 'the spirit of the times' with his look at the world of the internet in The Social Network, Lisa Chodolenko and Stuart Blumberg capture 'the spirit of the times' with a look at marriage and having your family fall out from beneath you. Nic and Jules are a very believable couple, displaying the hard times shared and the typical boredom that comes with spending years and years together. This is perfectly shown in a nice monologue from Jules: "Marriage is hard... Just two people slogging through the shit, year after year, getting older, changing. It's a fucking marathon, okay? So, sometimes, you know, you're together for so long, that you just... You stop seeing the other person. You just see weird projections of your own junk. Instead of talking to each other, you go off the rails and act grubby and make stupid choices."

What makes it even better are the restrained but nuanced performances from Annette Bening and Julianne Moore. I'm more on team Moore than Bening, and would have rather seen her in the Oscar race. I just felt that Bening's character, and her performance, was a little too bitchy. Mark Ruffalo, however, is a stand out. I genuinely liked his character, even though he was the person who essentially made the family and became the one to break the family. He just seemed like the kind of guy who just wouldn't settle until he knew he had to, and completely changed from a 'not giving a stuff' attitude to an 'I'll be there for you' attitude, which was really nice. Though Ruff probably won't get the award, its nice to see him finally get some well deserved recognition, and this is probably one of his best performances. Mia Wasikowska and a grown-up Josh Hutcherson (who looks a little too old to be my age) do fantastic work, too.

While the ending was less than satisfactory for me, I guess there wasn't really any way you could conjure up a whipper-snapper end to such a film. Much of the hype shrouding this film unfortunately tainted my opinion on it. Consequently, The Kids Are All Right is my least favourite of the Best Pic nominees, but I imagine it will have a good enough lifespan and people will go to this film as a look at the 'modern family' that shies away from stereotypes. Its smart script and fantastic actors will make sure of that.

THE VERDICT: The Kids Are All Right doesn't live up to its great concept, but there is plenty of smart scriptwriting and fantastic performances to see it through.

What I hoped for:

What I got:

AAN: Oscar predictions - the 'Bests' and Visuals

Welcome to Part Two of my Oscar predictions - the big one that Annual Awards Nerdism for 2011 has come down to.

Key:

My Leo - The one I would most like to win

My Zuck - The one that I predict to win

My Steve - The longshot.

Todays categories are:

-The 'Bests': Best Animated Feature Film of the Year, Best Foreign Language Film of the Year, Best Documentary-Features

-Visuals: Best Achievement in Cinematography, Best Achievement in Editing, Best Achievement in Visual Effects

The 'Bests' Awards.

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year

This category is better explained in the piece I did for this years 'LAMB Devours the Oscars'. But basically, we all know who's going to win, don't we?

My Leo: Toy Story 3

My Zuck: Toy Story 3

My Steve: The Illusionist

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year

Being as sheltered as we are here in New Zealand, there is only one film of this lot that has come out here, but of course, I'm too young to see it. And, unfortunately, because no one in Dannevirke likes reading a movie, I'll probably never get to see any of these unless I fork out and buy 'em all. So I'm just all about the statistics with these ones.

In a Better World, Haeven, Civilization...whatever you call it, has a good chance of winning if it capitalizes on its Golden Globes win. Biutiful has a good chance of winning because it stars Javier Bardem in his Oscar nominated performance and you can't go wrong with Alejandro González Iñárritu. Dogtooth might win because it has been widely viewed...and it looks pretty disturbing. Incendies might win because it has some very high ratings in high places. Outside the Law might win because it tackles an Oscar favourite topic: WW2. My money is going with Civilization.

My Leo: Civilization

My Zuck: Civilization

My Steve: Outside the Law

Best Documentary-Features

Also, being as sheltered as I am in Dannevirke, Documentaries don't get very far here, either. I plan to watch Exit Through the Gift Shop some time soon...it has been out on DVD here for two months but we never got it at Blockbuster so I shall wait for it to get really cheap or get it off iTunes or something. So of course, I haven't seen any of these either (slack, I know), and it looks like I'll be going with the statistics.
They all tackle very serious topics. I've heard great things about all of them. But I'm hoping that Exit Through the Gift Shop will win, because of all the Banksy hoopla. Wouldn't that be interesting? I think Inside Job will probably win though, seeing as it has gained so much momentum of the past few months.
My Leo: Exit Through the Gift Shop
My Zuck: Inside Job
My Steve: Waste Land

Visual awards.

Best Achievement in Cinematography

Though, essentially, some of my favourite cinematography happens in Black Swan, and whatever Matthew Libatique does is amazing, I simply can't ignore Wally Pfister's achievements in Inception. This definitely has to be the year for him. His main competiton comes in the form of the beautiful, show stopping cinematography in True Grit, which has a major chance of winning, also. You can't dismiss the work done in The King's Speech and The Social Network though. There is just too much goodness in this category!

My Leo: Black Swan

My Zuck: Inception

My Steve: The King's Speech

Best Achievement in Editing

Without Inception here, this category feels like a bit of a blur. Oh well, here's an award which The Social Network can take the lead in, and The King's Speech has no chance with. The editing in Black Swan is a favourite of mine too, because Darren Aronofsky's films need perfect editing otherwise they all just fall flat. 127 Hours has brilliant editing too, with all the split screens and what not. The Fighter is a likely chance too, but its down to The Social Network with slight competition from Black Swan, I think.

My Leo: The Social Network

My Zuck: The Social Network

My Steve: The King's Speech

Best Achievement in Visual Effects

This is a strange wee lineup here, but we all know who will win: none other than glorious Inception. The other nominees? Meh. Alice in Wonderland is too bright and Tim Burton-y for my liking. HP7PT1 is Harry Potter, so it has a nice chance. Hereafter didn't even get a cinema release here, which is weird considering its a Clint Eastwood flick. Weird thing is, you wouldn't expect a Clint movie to be in this category, would you? Iron Man 2...now that is a strange nomination. Come to think of it, the visual effects aren't too shabby. If Inception doesn't win, though, there will be a riot on my behalf.

See you back here tomorrow, same place, around the same time because it will be Friday (!). I will take a look at the writing awards and the directors.