Best Picture
What does Best Picture really mean? To some, their favorite movie. To others, biggest box office hit. Others still, the most achieved. And even, what others say. Out of the 10 nominees this year, I saw everything but Winter's Bone (sadly no longer in theatres but already on dvd). The front runners all awards season long have been The King's Speech and The Social Network. Nothing else really factored. Sure we loved the box office films especially Toy Story 3 and Inception, but neither will take the trophy. How many people have seen 127 Hours or True Grit or Winter's Bone? Subject matter has kept some from the rest, though all 3 are great films. At the end of the day though, I think the film going home with the Oscar is THE KING'S SPEECH.
Best Actor - lead
Not much of a doubt here unless someone manages to pull of an upset aka Jeff Bridges. Colin Firth. A phenomenal actor, and he lost out last year to Jeff Bridges. Seems not only fitting for a reversal but well deserved. Not easy to talk with a stutter if you don't actually have one, but then again, that's acting.
Best Actress - lead
Like many other big awards always comes down to 2 front runners. This year, both won Golden Globes: Annette Benning and Natalie Portman. Word out there is that Benning's missed out so many times, she's overdue for an Oscar. But then again, Natalie Portman's missed out a few times too. Both strong performances, but I have to say Natalie Portman will win out on this. Her Nina is outstanding and draws audiences in more, there's more range and emotional depth - not that Benning didn't have the depth. More a matter of timing and what else the competition is.
Best Actor - supporting
Almost a shoo-in I'd say, though an upset is possible. What's probably going to happen is Christian Bale taking home the Oscar. I had picked Geoffrey Rush for the Golden Globes because I'd only seen a handful of films back then (and only The Kids Are Alright for this category), and had picked Rush because, well he was Rush. Not a good reason for picking an award winner I'll admit. He shows a lot of poise, but when I saw the Fighter, it was a much different side of Christian Bale that I'd ever seen. There's a strong character arc and you really don't like the character. My dad used to say, if an actor makes you 'hate' their character, then they've done a great job. Well, we really didn't like Dicky.
Best Actress - supporting
Not a very strong field here. I'm going to go with Melissa Leo. Did not recognize her, but I'm not familiar with her previous works. Amy Adams and Helena Bonham Carter's roles were smaller compared to hers, though some would argue me that Amy Adams had as big a role as Melissa Leo. She's appeared in a variety of roles, but this one while very good, didn't blow us away, as some polls would show. I haven't seen Animal Kingdom. The person who could pull of an upset would be Hailee Steinfeld. The young actor turns in a great performance as Mattie Ross - that I'm sure not many actors her age could pull off. The argument though is she was probably more of a lead than a supporting - without her, there is no story. That's not necessarily true, because more than her story, it's about the marshall and the ranger too, how they change because of her presence in their lives and the adventures they face together. Perhaps she was placed her to secure at least a nomination. Not having seen Rabbit Hole or Winter's Bone, I can't say whether Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Lawrence should've been nominated. Word I hear though is Jennifer Lawrence was great. So, an upset? The academy has liked young actors before. But if the battle of young vs old does really play a role, if Portman won for the young, it seems only Leo winning would balance out age.
Best Director
5 strong nominations, my personal pick would be Darren Aronofsky, his films really make you think - The Fountain from several years back was great. Where is Christopher Nolan in this category? 10 years to Inception, another thinking film that may I add main stream audiences watched. He should've gotten a nomination. The frontrunners you probably know are David Fincher for Social Network and Tom Hooper for King's Speech, with rumor has it The Coens as a possible upset. Don't get me wrong, True Grit was a pleasant surprise, but chances seem slim. So Fincher or Hooper? As the awards have gone back and forth, and I really doubt you can shut down Facebook - haha sorry, Social Network - David Fincher would be my pick. He's also done lots of films in the past we like, such as Se7en =)
Best Screenplay - original
Nomination not seen: Another Year - but I've heard good things. Personal pick would be Inception, genius to get the concept down, develop a plot and likeable characters. To do this day, I think few know really what the ending is. We've all got our different theories, ever changing too. The Fighter and The Kids Are All Right both also good scripts - went into both films and came out feeling they were much better than anticipated. The Oscar goes to though? The King's Speech. Not often a film that wins best picture won't win more of the bigger categories.
Best Screenplay - adapted
I have to say kudos to Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy for their work on 127 Hours. I haven't read the book, but the script was able to go beyond a man whose arm is stuck under a boulder for 127 hours. Toy Story 3 and True Grit also great scripts. Sorry, will have to watch Winter's Bone. But The Social Network will probably take it. Encompassing several years of how Facebook came to be, it really does some up one of the biggest entities in social media and how it's come to be today.
Best Animated Feature
Perhaps instead of expanding Best Motion Picture of the Year to 10, the academy might want to consider expanding this category to 5. Or perhaps most animated films are geared towards children? As Johnny Depp said in a recent article, kids are the most honest and they'll tell you what they like or not. There are no politics. Except, wait, none, or maybe very very few, members of the academy are kids. I realize there aren't as many animated films as live action, but it always seems a non-surprise about the winner for this category. This year, it'd be a shocker for Toy Story 3 not to win. I haven't seen The Illusionist yet, but I really loved How To Train Your Dragon, so I'm glad at least it got nominated. But I've heard people ask, where's Tangled? Despicable Me?
Best Foreign Language Film
These films should be released as soon as they're nominated to allow more of us to see them. While some made their rounds on the festival circuit, timing-wise not everything made it around. In A Better World won the Golden Globe, but I don't know what it's about. Dogtooth I just saw a trailer so hopefully will catch it soon. Biutiful was one of the anticipated festival films here, and honestly it was depressingly and a bit disappointing possibly due to overhype. I haven't seen Outside the Law but I hope it gets released soon so we can see it. Having touched on 4 nominees so far, my fellow Canadian film goers who haven't seen them all or just 1, might root along with me here as I pick Incendies. I'm not picking it just because it's Canadian. In fact, it would seem pretty un-Canadian according to old criteria that people mock: Mounties, weird sex, and snowshoes. This has none of that. In fact for those who don't know, it's a film that holds back but doesn't hold back as twins journey to the Middle East, uncovering the horrors of their family history.
Best Cinematography
What are the criteria for cinematography awards? Most of us are not trained in film, but we can discern what we like and what works. Have to go with True Grit on this one. Aside from one weird shot at the end, this was really well done. Nothing else really comes to mind.
Best Editing
Winners for both BAFTRA and the ACE, Social Network stands out here. Not much to say in general for editing, and no news is good news.
Best Art Direction
What can you say about a film that looks good or looks good because of the intentions behind the design? What do people prefer? I came across an article analysing this category, and it helped make sense of things. Alice in Wonderland - definitely the most different look out there. Harry Potter - it's never won, maybe part 2 will finally get just desserts, if not, an acknowledgement to the overal creation of the world of Hogwarts and beyond. Inception - definitely was cool but a lot of seemed to be in contemporary places, but with the varying sets, definitely does call for a broad sense of imagination and then specific design. The King's Speech - 'sweeping' sets they had to build. Rarely does a best picture film not pick up many awards. True Grit mostly outdoors though that town in the beginning was brilliant. Oscar pick...The King's Speech
Costume Design
Haven't seen the Tempest, but the rest of the costumes are varying again. Did you know there's a Costume Designers Guild? It made winners of Alice in Wonderland and The King's Speech. Their categories of voting though..not very helpful for the Oscars: contemporary, period, fantasy. Will period beat out fantasy? Saw some photos from The Tempest and they're quite neat. A win for the King's Speech will add to the possible speech, but Alice in Wonderland had quite the variety that really distinguishes each character. A possible upset?
Make Up
If there was a category where possibly no one's seen all these films, despite only being 3. Barney's Version was a great film, but nothing too special make up wise. The Way Back is pretty impressive with dirt blood and sweat. From past winners though, looks as if Wolfman could take it.
Best Original Score
I absolutely LOVE film scores!!! And would gladly fill my ipod with them, and it seems I have a lot of caching up to do. Initially the score for 127 Hours bugged me, but reflecting back, it was the songs outside the instrumental score that didn't sound as right. Mr Rahman, you were genius with Slumdog (I bought the soundtrack too) but without many other nominations for this film, chances are slim. While I love the track entitled "Touch of the Sun" I can hear it against other films. Beautiful as it is, perhaps another year.
As for rest, How to Train Your Dragon and Inception, as much as I admire Hans Zimmer's work, will probably not get it. Back to our heavy favorites, it boils down to The King's Speech and The Social Network. Thanks to links on Youtube, we can relive these soundtracks. Which ones make us feel without taking over the film? Which ones would we be sorely missing if it wasn't there. Here's a link where you can find multiple links to check out some of the score tracks. The Social Network will take home the Oscar. I had forgotten what the soundtrack sounded like, but here's remembering and feeling it. Desplat's score is very beautiful, and word has it he's long overdue. This would be my second pick.
John Powell, you rock! When I listen to this, I'm taken right back into the film which was one of the earliest ones I saw it. Your time will come. Hans Zimmer, you are brilliant as usual, if the Academy was more commercial in a grandeur way, this trophy would be yours.
Best Original Song
Luckily with YouTube, we can know watch and listen to these nominated songs even if we haven't seen the movie. Something tells me "We Belong Together" will win from Toy Story 3. But there's something special about I See the Light from Tangled. Maybe this one will stick with voters. We can always vote with our brains, sometimes we have to vote with our hearts. I quite like "If I Rise" as well from 127 Hours as well, so it'd be nice too if it won. Nice sounds, but doesn't quite have an Oscar feel. "Coming Home" another great song. Paltrow can sing. This might've been stronger if it had garnered other nominations. I wonder how they pick the nominees for this category. Seems like a number of songs were snubbed, perhaps this really should be opened up to 10 nominees. Music plays a great role in films, and for the mass audiences, music is what really stands out, especially songs composed just for the film.
Best Sound Mixing
Sometime technical rewards feel like consolation prizes, usually for films who don't win any of the big awards unless the big picture is poised to sweep. Here's to recognizing the time it takes to create a soundscape for a film, more than just editing, there's a style here. But seems to me, usually it's the film with lots of sound effects that win. After all the placement of these effects are very important. Put them in the wrong place at the wrong time, it jars and gets noticed. With that I'll say Inception with the King's Speech a close second. Sure Salt had a lot of nominations, but Inception's got more power.
Best Sound Editing
See above, have to go with Inception again. While I'm sure it was a challenge to sound edit TRON, you have to give Inception some credit - and if not in the big prize categories, then do it in the technical. See Avatar.
Best Visual Effects
Inception. No doubt about it. Given the scope and the technology required, Inception should have it in the bag, with magnitude and scope beating out fantasy Alice in Wonderland and Iron Man 2. Not familiar with Hereafter, but Harry Potter seems to have little new. Watch out for Harry Potter next year once the series wraps and Hollywood acknowledges the vfx then.
Best Documentary Feature
Sadly haven't seen any of these but seems like the frontrunners are Exit Through the Gift Shop and Inside Job. With Restrepo coming in strong now. It's pretty much anyone's guess who will win. With that, let's go with Restrepo.
Best Documentary Short
Pure guess, having done some research online, "Killing in the Name" "Strangers No More" and "Warriors of Quigang" have come up as those to pick. Without being able to form much more of an opinion, here's a random pick "Strangers No more"
Best Short Film - animated
The only one I've seen is Day & Night, as with most people since it played as a short before a feature. It was quite cute and well done. The other title getting mentioned is The Gruffalo, so that too could have a shot.
Best Short Film - live action
Never had a chance to see these before. This year had the treat of seeing God of Love and Wish 143. While I personally preferred God of Love, Wish seemed to be a dark horse behind one of the other nominations: The Confession; The Crush; Na Wewe
So how many will I get right? We'll find out tomorrow
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