Monday, February 28, 2011

Goodbye February, Goodbye Oscar

So with the end of February comes the official end of the 2010 season. And, what a season it’s been. In my five years of taking the Oscars’ much too seriously, 2009 easily emerges as the worst (even though I loved the year in film, then). 2010 was okay, neither terrible nor excellent – rarely surprising, but always with something interesting (even if vaguely so). Last night’s Oscars were sort of a case in point. I didn’t feel disappointed or excited when the winners were announced; the single prize that actually made me gasp was Tom Hooper’s win. I feel bad for the guy – he, himself, seemed to shuffle embarrassedly to the stage, and I sincerely hope that that win doesn’t signal the death of his big-screen career before its beginning; and for the record, though he’s not my favourite in the category, an unobtrusive technique does not signify weakness in direction, yeesh. Other than that, it was quite tepid – even the “surprises” (Randy Newman, Pfister, Robert Stromberg) were expected in their way, so it was random bits like Cate Blanchett calling the makeup on The Wolfman “gross” and Kirk Douglas bantering with Colin and Hugh and Billy Crystal being awesome that made the night anything more than beige (or Annette Bening grinning through the entrire show, why is she always so happy?)
     
It’s the shortest month, and it felt even shorter – it just sort of flew by. I managed to wrap-up my own personal awards: with the usual dissonance between my own choices and AMPAS.

I was, as per normal, late with LAMB Casting – we’re on to a new film up for casting, the huge ensemble of P. T. Anderson’s Magnolia is up for reimagining (more details here).

Thanks to the usual readers for being their usual awesome selves (working on their own blogs and showing up here on occasion). Here are just a few of the comments I loved this past month.

On my discussion of Auspicious Cinema of 2010 (important films regardless of their quality, noted for their value, risk and originality) Tom of Reinvention: The Journal of a Dog-Lover, Book-Reader, Moviegoer, and Writer cites two The Kids Are All Right and Black Swan:

“I think Black Swan, of all of this year's films, will endure as an artistic moment that contemporary audiences have been scared to embrace. It is ahead of its time in terms of technical brilliance, telling a multi-layered story that affects the mind and heart on many levels. Those who are willing to enter its inferno of coming-of-age symbols will be forever changed.”
I’m not all with him there on Black Swan being before its time and whatnot, but this sort of discussion is one of the best parts of these year-end conversation – and I sort of love his “inferno of coming-of-age symbols” bit. It sounds highlight quotable.
    
I was musing over which of this year’s Oscar nominees I’d like to see hook-up in a film and Walter (of The Silver Screening Room) had some absolutely delightful ideas. I especially loved these two:
      
“Ooooh Bening/Rush makes me giddy, giddy, giddy. A remake of The Barkleys of Broadway? I never saw it, but it sounds like they'd be awesome in it -- husband/wife musical-comedy duo where she wants out). (a/n: how brilliant does this sound, though?)
Bardem and Firth as antagonists in a conspiracy thriller: both can be intense or easy-going, depending on the situation or role. The roles are interchangeable, but we get awesomeness no matter what!” (complete comment and post HERE)
I took a quasi-break from regular Oscar guessing to flashback to a personal favourite scene from On the Waterfront. I kept thinking how Eva Marie Saint and Marlon Brando there were so similar to Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer so many years later in another Best Picture Winner. Yojimbo of Let's Not Talk About Movies concurred:
“How can you NOT think of ‘Somewhere’ when Leonard Bernstein's tribal kettle drums, mournful brass, and keening strings are shared by both OTW and WSS?  This is a brilliant scene (and brilliant of you to include both parts of it—this cements the relationship between Edie and Terry, and transitions him from Hamlet-like conscience-fighting to not just deciding but taking action. And I've always loved the scene of them hand-in-hand running down the alleyway and their faces shining in the dark.” (full comment and post HERE)
And I rather loved Luke’s comment wrapping up the prognosticating for the season (HERE):
“Well, it seems you've got your answer to how the Academy will take A$lice in Wonderland's ‘let's barf visual effects on every frame’ mentality - they ate that crap up. I'm a little bothered by the Art Direction trophy - and just how much of the costuming was real and not CGI? And your final thoughts - how are you feeling about the movie that you named the most anticipated FOREVER ago ended up winning Best Picture. I sort of credit you with calling that one well over a year ago. Well done sir!”
With all the inklings I had, I should have just gone for the gut and predicted Alice in Wonderland in Art Direction. I do feel something vaguely akin to pride in having The King’s Speech being the film I was anticipating most of the year – even if I didn’t love it completely, it still made my top 7. And, really, though I know more than a few disagree (one, two) they could have picked a much more terrible winner – and I know some agree with me (one, two). I worry for Tom Hooper’s future (what with him “stealing the Oscar and all, sigh) but I’m absolutely fine with The King’s Speech resting as the film of the year.
          
So, goodbye February…how was it for you? Did you find the Oscars’ essentially bland? Did February fly by? Looking forward to March?

Sunday, February 27, 2011

THE 83rd ANNUAL ACADEMY AWARD WINNERS

So...... a little award show happened just now. Wasn't a big deal or anything. You know... it's just the Oscars. The greatest holiday ever since St. Patrick's Day. So anyway, I've been blogging simultaneously with the awards ceremony which was a fair distribution of prizes as predicted.

The King's Speech took home the Best Picture award along with 3 other awards in Directing, Actor in a Leading Role and Original Screenplay. Along with it was Inception packing in 4 awards all in the technical categories and The Social Network winning 3 in Music, Editing and Adapted Screenplay.
2 awards were given to Toy Story 3 for Best Animated Feature and Original Song while trashy underdog The Fighter took home awards for Melissa Leo and Christian Bale for their supporting roles. Alice In Wonderland also took home 2 awards for Costume Design and Art Direction. While Black Swan claims the Best Actress prize for Natalie Portman.

The full list of winners are below. And.... GO:

BEST PICTURE
•The King's Speech
•127 Hours
•The Social Network
•Toy Story 3
•True Grit
•Winter's Bone 
•Black Swan
•The Fighter
•Inception
•The Kids Are All Right

BEST DIRECTOR
Tom Hooper- The King's Speech
David Fincher- The Social Network
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen- True Grit 
Darren Aronofsky- Black Swan
David. O. Russell- The Fighter

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Colin Firth- The King's Speech
James Franco- 127 Hours 
Javier Bardem- Biutiful
Jeff Bridges- True Grit
Jesse Eisenberg- The Social Network

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Natalie Portman- Black Swan
Michelle Williams- Blue Valentine 
Annette Bening- The Kids Are All Right
Nicole Kidman- Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence- Winter's Bone

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Christian Bale- The Fighter
John Hawkes- Winter's Bone
Jeremy Renner- The Town
Mark Ruffalo- The Kids Are All Right
Geoffrey Rush- The King's Speech 

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Melissa Leo- The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld- True Grit
Jacki Weaver- Animal Kingdom 
Amy Adams- The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter- The King's Speech

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter's Bone 
127 Hours

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
The King's Speech 
Another Year
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
•In A Better World
•Incendies
•Outside the Law
•Biutiful
•Dogtooth

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
•Toy Story 3
•How to Train Your Dragon
•The Illusionist

BEST ART DIRECTION
•Alice In Wonderland
•Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
•Inception
•The King's Speech
•True Grit

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
•Inception
•The King's Speech
•The Social Network
•True Grit
•Black Swan

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
•Alice in Wonderland
•I Am Love
•The King's Speech
•The Tempest
•True Grit

BEST FILM EDITING
•The Social Network
•Black Swan
•The Fighter
•The King's Speech
•127 Hours
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
•Inside Job
•Restrepo
•Waste Land
•Exit Through the Gift Shop
•Gasland
BEST MAKEUP
•The Wolfman
•Barney's Version
•The Way Back
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
•The Social Network
•How to Train Your Dragon
•Inception
•The King's Speech
•127 Hours
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
•We Belong Together from Toy Story 3
•Coming Home from Country Strong
•I See the Light from Tangled
•If I Rise from 127 Hours
BEST SOUND MIXING
•Inception
•The King's Speech
•Salt
•The Social Network
•True Grit

BEST SOUND EDITING
•Inception
•Toy Story 3
•Tron: Legacy
•True Grit
•Unstoppable

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
•Inception
•Iron Man 2
•Alice In Wonderland
•Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
•Hereafter
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM
•Strangers No More
•Sun Come Up
•The Warriors of Qiugang
•Killing in the Name
•Poster Girl
BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
•The Lost Thing
•Madagascar, A Journey Diary
•Day & Night
•The Gruffalo
•Let's Pollute
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
•God of Love
•Na Wewe
•Wish 143
•The Confession
•The Crush

It is slightly disappointing that  misplaced heavyweights like True Grit, Winter's Bone and 127 Hours left empty handed. It's even more disappointing that The Social Network didn't win Best Picture, which was what I was hoping for. Now before anyone goes off on me about how great Speech was, let me explain.

The King's Speech is the better film, but Network is the more important one. Up until now, we haven't had a film immortalized in the Academy that captures our generation and our time. The old days had Casablanca, Lawrence of Arabia and On The Waterfront. The 60's had West Side Story, Tom Jones and My Fair Lady. The 70's had The Godfather and The Sting. The 80's had Kramer Vs. Kramer, Ghandhi and Terms of Endearment. The 90's had Titanic and Forrest Gump.

We haven't had that movie yet that people 50 years from now will look back and remember the Internet generation and technology and youth revolution. The Social Network was our movie. That was supposed to be our time. The King's Speech is just yet another fantastic British film under the shadows of other fantastic British films that will be forgotten in a year or two. Seriously, name me another British period piece that will stand the test of time longer than the likes of Raging Bull or Avatar or Tootsie.

That's just my opinion. Would love to hear comments. Anyway, congrats to the winners and I'll see ya'll next year.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Oscar Talk: Because I Can (Final Oscar Predictions)

I didn't even realise that I went this crazy with talking Oscar this past season (all entries), it implicitly suggests that I was invested in the season - which I wasn't, but ah well. I do feel the slightest bit saddened that the season is over. Oscar's like one of those friends you can't stand to talk to often, but you'd implode if they died. So, ahoy - final final predictions.
       
Picture: The King’s Speech
Director: David Fincher for The Social Network
To tell you the truth, I wish I had the guts to predict The King’s Speech for both honours – but I’m hoping me not predict it will somehow make it not happen. Not because I’d mind Hooper winning that much (I won’t) – but I could only fathom the uproar that will occur if he does win the Oscar. And, I like the guy – don’t want him mauled. Either way, though, I’m fine. Both films and directors would appear somewhere in my top 10 – so I don’t mind what happens either way. (I’m still hoping for a delicious upset via The Kids Are All Right, but yeah, I’m fine either way.)
          
Actor: Colin Firth in The King’s Speech (alternate Javier Bardem in Biutiful)
Actress: Natalie Portman in Black Swan (Annette Bening in The Kids Are All Right
So, Colin and Natalie? Je ne sais pas. It’s a tossup (in my head at least) for the acting race – but I’m willing expect my favourite to lose. Now that I look at it, though, I want Annette to win even more (apparently it IS possible). Remember she and Colin were in Valmont way back when. Wouldn’t it be nice to see them win Oscars together?

Supporting Actor: Christian Bale in The Fighter (Geoffrey Rush in The King’s Speech)
Supporting Actress: Helena Bonham Carter in The King’s Speech (Alternate: Melissa Leo in The Fighter)
So, will HBC finally reach the podium 18 – or is it 13 – years after she deserved to? It depends on who you’re talking to pinpoint the precise year she deserved it, but she has before. Not for her Queen Mother, but do I care? No. I could be wrong, perhaps me wanting it means it won’t happen, but I’m sticking to that prediction. And, I suppose a Bale win is inevitable – which is fine. That pipedream for Ruffalo died long ago (though, I’ll admit I’m still pretending he’s winning in my head).

Original Screenplay: David Seidler for The King’s Speech (Alternate: Christopher Nolan for Inception)
Adapted Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin for The Social Network (Alternate: Michael Arndt, Jon Lasseter et al for Toy Story III
People are still predicting an Inception upset – which I swear would make me so infuriated I’m actually worried it’ll happen now. Look, fine I’m not a big Inception fan – but there’s such a colossal difference between originality and writing. The award seems skewed because it says “original writing” and not “screenplay from material previously unpublished”. Ah well, we’ll see what happens... I say it’ll be the two frontrunners for the Picture category with Sorkin and Seidler triumphing. And, since Cholodenko has no luck – I’m fine with these two choices.

Art Direction: The King’s Speech (Alternate: Inception)
Makeup: Barney’s Version (Alternate: The Wolfman)
Costume Design: Colleen Atwood for Alice in Wonderland (Alternate: Jenny Beavan for The King’s Speech
Now that I think of it, Art Direction could be a huge toss-up. Sure, The King’s Speech and Inception seem like the frontrunners – but there’s no telling how voters will respond to the obtrusiveness of Alice in Wonderland, and I sort of don’t see True Grit going home empty handed either. Aaargh, then there’s makeup which I’m really just guessing about – and them, Costume Design where I want Colleen to win because she’s the best and I want her to get her third statue, and then there’s Beavan who was snubbed for such great work in the 90s and did such good work on The King’s Speech which I’m not-so-secretly hoping will sweep the ceremony just for the fun of it. Decisions, decisions....

Sound Editing: Inception
Sound Mixing: Inception (The King's Speech)
I decided to go two for two with Inception here, because the sound branch seemed sort of insular in choosing The Hurt Locker last year. And, though, it’s possible they just thought it deserved both – and though Inception is nowhere near frontrunner status – it’s a possibility that seems logical. Now, The King’s Speech (or more realistically True Grit) could upset in the mixing category – but I’ll say no.

Cinematography: Danny Cohen for The King’s Speech (Alternate: Wally Pfister for Inception)
Editing: Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall for The Social Network (Tariq Anwar for The King’s Speech)
Visual Effects: Inception (Alternate: Alice in Wonderland)
Okay, I think this is the point where I’m getting ridiculous. Honestly, I can really see Cohen upsetting for photography in the same way that something like The Golden Compass upset for visuals or The Bourne Supremacy upset for sound. And, then I could see the obvious happening and Deakins winning or Pfister winning. Ugh, this is only a conundrum because I’m over-thinking it all – and I know I’m over-thinking it, but I can’t help over-thinking. This reminds me why I opted to show no interest in Oscar last year. I think the editing prize is assured, though. No? And the visual prize seems assured, but I think I’ll laugh if Alice in Wonderland (undeservedly, I’d admit) wins.

Original Score: Alexandre Desplat for The King’s Speech
Original Song: Alan Menken for “I See the Light” from Tangled
We all know how surprising the music branch can go when it comes to choosing winners (case in point: 2005, an exercise in strangeness). Will Desplat and Menken – the deserving – win? Will Zimmer and Rahman – the loud and the obvious – triumph. Will we go even crazier and reward the laidback ones like Reznor and Newman? I’m sticking with the first options.

Foreign Language Feature: Incendies (Alternate: In A Better World)
Documentary Feature: Inside Job (Alternate: Waste Land)
Animated Feature: Toy Story III (Alternate: How to Train Your Dragon)
I have a feeling Incendies is going to win, if only because most people who’ve seen the films admit that it’s terribly mawkish. I have that sort of little faith in the voters, although you’d think them having to watch the films in succession mean the best will win. I can’t be certain, Incendies just seems like a typical choice even if I want to say In A Better World. I’d sort of love Dogtooth to win, just because this guy here loves it – and it’ll probably make him happy. I’m sticking with Inside Job for documentary – just because.

Short Film (Animated): Day & Night (Alternate: Let’s Pollute)
Short Film (Documentary): Killing in the Name (Alternate: The Warriors of Qiugang)
Short Film (Live Action): The Confession (Alternate: God of Love)
I’m honestly stabbing in the dark here, and I sort of love it. I always do zero research for these categories and just choose based on name of film and directors. It’s always fun, but don’t take me seriously here. I have absolutely no authority.
                        
Well, Oscars are in about 18 hours or so. How was the season for you?

Oscar Special: Best Picture Winners From 1929-2010

So last year I did this post where I had all the posters of every film that has won Best Picture since the Oscars started in 1929 and people seemed to love it, so I guess this is going to be a new blog tradition on Oscar time.

Personally I've only seen 56 of these, Yes shameful I know. Leave a comment below, whats your favorite Best Picture winner and why? I'll be back with the winners of the 2011 Academy Awards tomorrow!

1929

 1930                                                       1931

  
 1932                                                      1933

 1934                                                    1935

 
 1936                                                    1937

 
 1938                                                    1939
1940

 
 1941                                   1942                                 1943

1944

 
1945                                                          1946

 
 1947                                                   1948

 
1949                                                    1950
1951

 
 1952                                 1953                                  1954

1955

 
 1956                                                    1957
 
 1958                                                     1959

1960

1961

1962

1963

1964                                                      1965

1966

 
 1967                                                   1968

 
1969                                                    1970

 
1971                                                            1972

1973

 
1974                                                      1975
 1976                                 1977                                  1978

 1979                                                      1980

 1981                                                    1982

1983

1984                                                     1985

1986                                  1987                                  1988

1989                                                    1990

1991

 1992                                                     1993

1994
1995

 1996                                                     1997    

1998

 
1999                                                        2000

2001

 
2002                                                      2003

2004

 
2005

 
2006

2007

2008
2009

2010
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