Oscars 2011

Yes. This is my time of the year. The Annual Academy Awards ceremony is something that I look forward to with lots of enthusiasm every year. I couldn’t give a crap about the Super Bowl, but I live for the Oscars. It’s the one time of the year where all this knowledge of movies I’ve built up actually seems to matter to the rest of the people out there. So, what I’m going to is run down the major categories acting, directing, writing and of course, Best Picture. I’ll make my predictions and then at the end give a brief once over of all 10 best picture nominees and introduce my new rating system. So here it goes.

Best Supporting Actor

So this is one that will probably be pretty damn easy. My pick is going to be Christian Bale for “The Fighter”. He is so energetic that he practically steals the movie from lead Mark Wahlberg, and that’s the whole point of the movie, that Wahlberg’s Mickey is supposed to be over shadowed by Bale’s Dickey in the film. That and Bale is one of those people that’s a really damn good actor with an already impressive body of work and this is to date his best performance.

Best Supporting Actress

A little trickier, and took a lot of thought, but it’s probably going to be Helena Bonham Carter for “The King’s Speech”. The rest of the nominees are all very good and did great in their respective roles and my personal favorite was Amy Adams in “The Fighter” but from a stand point of what will actually win, Carter was in the big awards magnet and she was fantastic, and it’s a safe bet she’ll be the one to win.

Best Actor

Colin Firth for “The King’s Speech”. I don’t need to explain this. If you’ve seen the movie you’d know this already, the whole point of the film is this one role and Firth was just great in it. The majority of the performance isn’t even his lines, or delivery, it’s all in his face and expressions. Everyone else nominated has either won, or will get another shot soon, Firth has been nominated before and really should win.

Best Actress

I’m going to stick my neck out. Everyone is talking about Natalie Portman for “Black Swan”, and I would love to see that movie win one of the big boys this year, but I’m pretty confident that due to political motivation as well as penance for past over sights, Annette Bening will win for “The Kids are All Right”. Being has be up before three times, lost twice to the same person, and is well loved by Hollywood. What it really boils down to is, while this definitely was one of Portman’s best performances, Bening has been snubbed numerous times before and really has this one coming.

Best Adapted Screenplay

Aaron Sorkin for “The Social Network”. It’s kind of hard to argue that one of the best movies of the year, was simply put, about the founding of Facebook. The only way this could work is if you had two things solid, first being really good actors and seond they need to be working off a really good script. It’s the most talked about script of the year, it’s brilliant and it will most likely win.

Best Original Screenplay

Instantly I want to say “The King’s Speech” here, but really I have a gut feeling that this is going to go to “The Kids Are All Right”. Think about it. Most of the time in the last few years the movies with the overly dry humor and the unconventional set ups tend to be the ones that get this and that’s basically what “The Kid’s Are All Right” is. I know you may want to put any money on “King’s Speech” and it is still a heavy contender, but I’m putting mine on “The Kids Are All Right”.

Best Director

I’m just sure this is going to go to David Fincher for “The Social Network”. Fincher is one of the most respected filmmakers to come out of the 90’s, he’s long overdue for some awards recognition. I don’t even think there’s going to be any issue. David Fincher, “The Social Network”.

Best Picture

Okay, I have seen ALL the 10 movies up for the big prize. And honestly, they are all pretty damn good. I have issues with some of them but overall I enjoyed all these movies. So, before I name my prediction for Best Picture, let me go through and give a brief overview of each movie and an out of 5 rating for each.

The Kids Are All Right. This, is my least favorite nominee. I don’t really understand all the praise. It’s not doing anything different other than the whole angle of gay domestic partners raising a family, which has some nice moments in the movie, but basic all it ends up boiling down to yet another movie pointing out how families aren’t perfect and yeah, maybe that’s the point but I’m really just so sick of them that I may be acting a bit unfair. But honestly I just don’t see why I should find this movie so special other than the whole thing about the gay parents, I’m sorry, but I’m just not a fan of this genre because it’s over done. Not saying it was pure terrible, just that in general, I don’t really like this kind of movie. Not because I want to follow some Norman Rockwell ideal or whatever. But that I just don’t care for how predictable it gets and how overly dry the humor got. 3 out of 5

Winter’s Bone: Winner of the Grand Jury Prize and last year’s Sundance festival, this is just a well done mystery story. I love this movie’s well executed mood and its subtle build of suspense. It almost completely makes you ignore the fact that the character is basically going form scene to scene getting the “Our princess is in aonther castle screen” from Super Mario Bros.. But at the same time, that’s the point. It’s all about her frustration of finding her father and each time she finds road block after road block you feel it too. I really feel while it can suffer from repetition, it’s still a really good movie. 3.5 out of 5.

Inception: Great premise, well executed with great performances and amazing effects. All in all I loved this movie, as you probably already know from it’s placement on my top movies of 2010 and it was most certainly one of the best movies made this year past year. 4 out of 5.

The King’s Speech: Good movie. It’s a solid, well made period piece with a good script, great performances and a great all around feel good piece. What holds it back for me, is, well I see movies like this all the time and after really looking back, while this is a great example of how to do this kind of movie right, it still boils down to the fact that it’s a typical period piece. It’s a really good one, but overall I just feel it could have been more, but I’m pleasantly pleased with what I have. 4 out of 5.

Toy Story 3: Will win best animated film Certainly a great example of how animation shouldn’t just be treated as kid stuff and a damn fine movie to boot. Great jokes, poignant story and well round characters. 4.5 out of 5.


Black Swan: Best psychological thriller in years. Haunting photography, epic score, and a well rounded movie. Portman owns the movie, but doesn’t actually take it all away from the cast. Everyone gets to shine and all round this movie just rocks. 4.5 out of 5.

127 Hours: This movie works purely for James Franco’s heart breaking performance. This movie was one of the hardest I’ve had to watch in awhile and I mean that as the highest compliment, I don’t want to say more for fear of spoiling the movie, other than if you haven’t seen it, you really owe it to yourself. 4.5 out of 5.

True Grit: The Coens do it again. A well done western with great characters and a gripping fast paced story, brilliant photography and an all round great time at the movie. The Duke would be pleased, I’m sure. 4.5 out of 5.

The Fighter: I know what you’re probably thinking Really? Another movie about a guy from humble backgrounds that has a chance at a title shot and his trials in getting there? Do we really need another r one of these when we already have “Rocky” and “Raging Bull”?.... YES!!! This movie is well made. Borderline documentary style story about two brothers, one a has been, one an up and comer, and how their bond is tested by crack addiction, the call of fame, and the ties of family. Seriously, no other sports movie has been this compelling in a long time. 4.5 out of 5.

The Social Network: MY favorite of the nominees. It’s a movie that takes such a simple premise and does such a great job with it. I’ve already talked this movie to death but all I can say is, WOW! 5 out of 5.

But what will win? Well, while all the nominees this year I can honestly say are solid and wo0rth checking out, the race really only boils down to two movies. “The Social Network” and “The King’s Speech”. I’m not pointing out anything you don’t already know, and I’m pretty much certain that, while I really will be rooting for “The Social Network”, “The King’s Speech” is probably going to win. It’s basically going to boil down to the feel good movie winning out over the thinking person movie. Oh well, at least when it came to awards time this year we didn’t have crap like “The Blind Side” this time. See ya next time folks!