Well
here it is my first Oscar commentary, its not perfect but I did my
best. I think I have decent knowledge of the Oscars this year given
that I've seen more films than in any other year and I have overall
paid more attention. Under each category I have the nominees listed
then my thoughts on them then under that is what I would nominate if
I was picking them based on the films I saw this year. Just a few
side notes, there are a few categories I excluded due to not seeing
any or enough to be able to give insight on them these include Best
Documentary Feature,Best Documentary Short Subject,Best Animated
Short, Best Live Action Short and Best Foreign Language Film. Also if
a * is next to one of my nomination selections for a category that
indicates that it should win the category in my opinion.
Best
Motion Picture of the Year
“127
Hours”
“Black
Swan”
“The
Fighter”
“Inception”
“The
Kids Are All Right”
“The
King's Speech”
“The
Social Network”
“Toy
Story 3”
“True
Grit”
“Winter's
Bone”
Well...where
to begin? This year was good year for film ... I saw eight of the
best picture nominees, the exceptions being “Black Swan” and “The
Kids Are All Right” and I find excellence in all of them. Well ill
start with “127 Hours” it is my personnel film of the year I
simply loved it it was a film that was executed greatly and had more
layers than expected...bottom line Danny Boyle (the director) and
James Franco are amazing.”The Fighter” is an incredible well
directed character driven biopic and it's definitely worthy of a spot
here. “Inception” is one of the most creative ambitious sci-fi
films of all time and is simply undeniable and almost worthy of the
big prize itself. “The King's Speech” is the favorite to win and a very classy and sleek
film that does everything a period piece should tech wise and has
some incredible actors.”The Social Network” may have initially
come across as stupid in concept but its much more its a very well
done very sharp film that truly does define a generation. “Toy
Story 3” gets the animation nod and is a keeper it keeps the
integrity of the series and possibly defines it. “True Grit” is
simply a good western well made in every aspect and it can definitely
hold its own.”Winter's Bone” is a very depressive gritty piece
that can be look upon as uplifting through being well done. So …
all of that being said my nods will consist of all that I saw from
here and leave 2 open spots they will go to “The Town” for being
a well executed crime drama that was beyond all else entertaining and
“Animal Kingdom” an even better executed crime drama that's much
more innovative.
“127
Hours”
“Animal
Kingdom”
“The
Fighter”
“Inception”
“The
King's Speech”
“The
Social Network”
“The
Town”
“Toy
Story 3”
“True
Grit”
“Winter's
Bone”
Achievement
in Direction
Darren Aronofsky – “Black Swan”
Ethan
Coen and Joel Coen - “True Grit”
David
Fincher – “The Social Network”
Tom
Hooper – “The King's Speech”
David
O. Russell – “The Fighter”
Well
I saw All of these except “Black Swan”, that being said I was
impressed with all of these films and the direction in all of them. I
was disappointed that Danny Boyle and Chris Nolan were snubbed for
“127 Hours” and “Inception” respectively so I have to sub
them in but that leaves me with 6 directors so I have to cut one out.
Dave Fincher is all over “The Social Network” I have to keep him.
Tom Hooper did an excellent job in his film he is a keeper The Coens
are almost always great and this film is no exception they are
keepers. So thus I have to cut Russell but he really did do a great
job in his film, one of the better biopics of recent years.
Danny
Boyle - “127 hours”*
Ethan
Coen and Joel Coen - “True Grit”
David
Fincher – “The Social Network”
Tom
Hooper – “The King's Speech”
Christopher
Nolan - “Inception”
Performance
by an Actor in a Leading Role
Javier Bardem in “Biutiful”
Jeff
Bridges in “True Grit”
Jesse
Eisenberg in “The Social Network”
Colin
Firth in “The King's Speech”
James
Franco in “127 Hours”
Well,
I was able to see four of the nominees from this category, all but
Javier Bardem's performance in “Biutiful” regrettably. I've heard that it's a wonderful film and that he (Bardem) is
definitely nod worthy. Jesse Eisenberg did nothing that I was not
used to seeing him do in some of his previous work. Don't get me
wrong he was the perfect choice to play Facebook founder Mark
Zuckerberg but thats because he's the ideal nerd/geek, but I'm hoping
that this Oscar nomination will lead to people taking him more
seriously and giving him chances to break out from typecast roles.
That being said Eisinberg can be subbed out For Leonardo DiCaprio who
was strong in “Inception”. Jeff Bridges was good as always in the
Coen brothers unique version of a John Wayne classic “True Grit”.
He made the role of the hard boiled drunken U.S. Marshall his own.
Colin Firth is clearly the frontrunner for his remarkable performance
as the stuttering king of England during the world war era. I did not
expect him to truly be that good but despite not even being the best
part of an all star cast the performance is Oscar worthy and I will
definitely be satisfied with him winning. Lastly I simply loved James
Franco's Performance in “127 Hours” my personnel film of the
year. He drives the movie (as he has to given the premise of the
film) and brings such energy, intensity and authenticity to the role.
Without his fine tuned performance the film would not be the same. Jim Broadbent was charming in “Another Year” so he takes the final spot.
Jeff
Bridges in “True Grit”
Jim
Broadbent in “Another Year”
Leonardo
DiCaprio in “Inception”
Colin
Firth in “The King's Speech”
James
Franco in “127 Hours”*
Performance
by an Actress in a Leading Role
Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right”
Nicole
Kidman in “Rabbit Hole”
Jenifer
Lawrence in “Winter's Bone”
Natalie
Portman in “Black Swan”
Michelle
Williams in “Blue Valentine”
Ive
heard/read good things about all of these sadly however, I only saw
one of them. The lone one I saw was Jenifer Lawrence who was great in
“Winter's Bone”. Among other performances I would include here
there is Angelina Jolie for a charming performance in “The
Tourist”, Ruth Sheen for a wisdom filled performance in “Another
Year”,Naomi Watts for a fire performance in “Fair Game” and
Hailee Steinfeld for “True Grit”. Yes I know that Steinfeld was
nominated in the supporting category but she really has the lead in
the film she owns the role and simply owns the movie, o well I'm glad
she wasn't snubbed completely.
Angelina
Jolie in “The Tourist”
Jenifer
Lawrence in “Winter's Bone”
Ruth
Sheen in “Another Year”
Hailee
Steinfeld in “True Grit”*
Naomi
Watts in “Fair Game”
Performance
by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Christian Bale in “The Fighter”
John
Hawkes in “Winter's Bone”
Jeremy
Renner in “The Town”
Mark
Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right”
Geoffrey
Rush in “The King's Speech”
Some
great nominees right there! This year I found the field really strong
and the academy mad some nice selections. Christian Bale is amazing
in “The Fighter” as the loose cannon crackhead Dicky Eklund, he
nails every aspect from appearance, to accent, to emotions,
consistency and mannerisms, he will most likely take home the prize
(very deservingly) and he instantly grabs one of my nomination spots.
John Hawkes was great and helped give “Winter's Bone” the essence
that it has. Renner I found great in a role that is kind of cliché
in gangster films making it as much his own as he could. Mark Ruffalo
is considered overdue for a nod so congrats to him but I didn't see
his film so he gets cut from my nominations and replaced with the
snubbed Andrew Garfield for a prolific performance in “The Social
Network”. I was pretty solid in Garfield to be in my nominations
for a while there were definitely some other notable performances I
considered such as Justin Timberlake and Armie Hammer in “The
Social Network” Tom Hardy and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in “Inception”
and Sullivan Stapleton in “Animal Kingdom” to name a few. Lastly
but certainly not least Geoffrey Rush is phenomenal in the best
picture favorite, he is simply wondrous to watch as the witty speech
therapist to the King and Rush easily out stages the rest of the cast
(and that says a lot considering the cast consist of Helene Bonham
Carter and Colin Firth) and I had quite a tough time deciding whether
Bale or he should win.
Christian
Bale in “The Fighter”*
Andrew
Garfield in “The Social Network”
John
Hawkes in “Winter's Bone”
Jeremy
Renner in “The Town”
Geoffrey
Rush in “The King's Speech”
Performance
by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Helena
Bonham Carter in “The King's Speech”
Melissa
Leo in “The Fighter”
Hailee
Steinfeld in “True Grit”
Jacki
Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”
well
I have seen all of these performances and none of them are bad in
fact all of them are quite good. Of the nominees I like Hailee
Steinfeld best but she was really the lead role in her film so I gave
her a nod in that category instead and replaced her in this one with
Lesley Manville for crazy (literally) good performance in “Another
Year”. Bonham Carter was wonderfully Charming in the best picture
favorite as expected and I'm glad she got nominated. Both women of
“The Fighter” had good performances Leo's is a bit stronger Amy
Adams is very good but I'll substitute Rebecca Hall for an intense
performance in “The Town”. Jacki Weaver blew me away in “Animal
Kingdom” her role didn't appear that prominent til perhaps that
last half hour of the film but within that last half hour she really
stills the show. I am kinda sad though that with the way things
turned out she cant really win.
Helena
Bonham Carter in “The King's Speech”
Rebecca
Hall in “The Town”
Melissa
Leo in “The Fighter”
Lesley
Manville in “Another Year”
Jacki
Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”*
Best
Writing (Original Screenplay)
“Another Year”
“The
Fighter”
“Inception”
“The
Kids Are All Right”
“The
King's Speech”
Some
more good selections by the academy, I've seen all but “The Kids
Are All Right” and they all have merit in their own ways. “Another
Year” is incredible well written and clever dialogues wise and
story wise “The Fighter” does a good job of carrying its story
across and has some good south Boston type dialogue, Inception has an
amazing story and just such technical details props to Christ Nolan
for having a great imagination. “The Kings Speech” is another
well written piece with very refined and fitting dialogues with a
great story. My last personnel nod goes to “Animal Kingdom” for a
really underrated well written gritty screenplay.
“Animal
Kingdom”
“Another
Year”
“The
Fighter”
“Inception”*
“The
King's Speech”
Best
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
“127 Hours”
“The
Social Network”
“Toy
Story 3”
“True
Grit”
“Winter's
Bone”
All
of these are truly great screenplays, I'm glad they all made it to
the big show. The most impressive is frontrunner Arron Sorkin's very
sharp screenplay for “The Social Network” but they all have their
strengths, “True Grit” is done by the Coen brothers so naturally
it's very well written and unique and could get an upset win. “Toy
Story 3” did a good job of keeping the integrity of the series,”127
Hours” has a great story to tell and the screenplay carries it over
well and “Winter's Bone” just another well written piece that's
very worthy of this nod. So given how much I like all of these my
nominations will match them, but if I had an honorable mention it
would go to “How to Train Your Dragon”.
“127
Hours”
“The
Social Network”*
“Toy
Story 3”
“True
Grit”
“Winter's
Bone”
Best
Animated Feature
“How to Train Your Dragon”
“The
Illusionist”
“Toy
Story 3”
Overall
a good year for animation “How to Train Your Dragon” was a
fantastic piece of fantasy animation work, “Toy Story 3” was
great and kept the integrity of the beloved series strong if not
strengthened it. “The Illusionist” I was not able to see though
I've heard its wonderful so I will substitute “Despicable Me” in
for it is very good genuine animated piece.
“Despicable
Me”
“How
to Train Your Dragon”
“Toy
Story 3”*
Best
Music (Original Score)
“127
Hours”
“Inception”
“How
to Train Your Dragon”
“The
King's Speech”
“The
Social Network”
These
are all some very good scores and unique in their own way.
“Inception” and “How to Train Your Dragon” have some very
beautiful epic scores which I enjoyed. “The King's Speech” has a
score that is very refined (as is the film) and “127 Hours” and
“The Social Network” both have very unique yet contemporary
scores that go right along with their respective films.
“127
Hours”
“Inception”*
“How
to Train Your Dragon”
“The
King's Speech”
“The
Social Network”
Best
Music (Original Song)
“Coming Home” from “Country Strong”
“I
See the Light” from “Tangled”
“If
I Rise” from “127 Hours”
“We
Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3”
Well
I really liked “If I Rise” and “We Belong Together” and I
liked the other two as well but I didn't see the films from which
they haled so ill substitute for them with “Sticks and Stones”
which I loved in “How to Train your Dragon” and “Prettiest
Girls” from “Despicable Me”.
“If
I Rise” from “127 Hours”*
“Prettiest
Girls” from “Despicable Me”.
“Stick
and Stones” from “How to Train Your Dragon”
“We
Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3”
Best
Sound Editing
“Inception”
“Toy
Story 3”
“Tron:
Legacy”
“True
Grit”
“Unstoppable”
Well
I failed to see “Unstoppable” or “Tron: Legacy” but the rest
of these are good and ill sub in “The Town” and “127 Hours”
“127
Hours”
“Inception”*
“The
Town”
“Toy
Story 3”
“True
Grit”
Best
Sound Mixing
“Inception”*
“The
King's Speech”
“Salt”
“The
Social Network”
“True
Grit”
All
of these that I saw (all but “Salt”) are well done but I'll sub
in “127 Hours for “Salt” and I'll snub “The King's Speech”
in favor of “The Town”
“127
Hours”
“Inception”*
“The
Social Network”
“The
Town”
“True
Grit”
Achievement
in Art Direction
“Alice
in Wonderland”
“Harry
Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One”
“Inception”
“The
King's Speech”
“True
Grit”
Another
category with some good picks by the academy, all of these are pretty
solid and fit well with their respective films, however “Harry
Potter” I didn't see so ill give “Animal Kingdom” a nod.
“Alice
in Wonderland”
“Animal
Kingdom”
“Inception”
“The
King's Speech”*
“True
Grit”
Achievement
in Cinematography
“Inception”
“The
King's Speech”
“The
Social Network”
“True
Grit”
A
fine frenzy of films in this category, “True Grit” has some
absolutely beautiful shots and the work in “Inception” is just
incredible they are definitely the top dogs. The cinematography for
“The King's Speech” is very well done and elegant, “The Social
Network” also has some well crafted shots that help depict the
essence of Harvard among other things. Seeing as how I didn't see
“Black Swan” I would replace it with “127 Hours” for some
fine work there, but it had some close competition from things such
as “Winter's Bone”, “Another Year” and “The Fighter”
which were all well done in their own right.
“127
Hours”
“Inception”*
“The
King's Speech”
“The
Social Network”
“True
Grit”
Achievement
in Makeup
“The
Way Back”
“The
Wolfman”
This
category is somewhat interesting this year given that for all 3 films
this is their sole nomination and all 3 display very different styles
of makeup. I wasn't able to see any of these but supposedly “Barney's
Version” does a good job of aging the characters while “The
Wolfman” is very extravagant with its transforming a man into a
beast and “The Way Back” does a good job of displaying things
such as sunburn and bruising, pretty apples to oranges I'd say. Since
I did not see any of these my nominees would go to “Shutter Island”
for its erie characters and such,”Alice in Wonderland” for its
extravagant fantasy characters and to “127 Hours” for its
cunning and realistic portrayal of an amputation that without the
film is not quite the same.
“127
Hours”*
“Alice
in Wonderland”
“Shutter
Island”
Achievement
in Costume Design
“Alice
in Wonderland”
“I
am Love”
“The
King's Speech”
“The
Tempest”
“True
Grit”
Well
I didn't see “I am Love” or “The Tempest” but “The King's
Speech” had some lush costumes, “Alice in Wonderland” was
defined by costumes more than almost anything, and the ones “True
Grit” had were very fitting. My Nominations will have the three
here I saw in addition to “The Fighter” and “The Social
Network” for some nice work that fit well with their films
respectively.
“Alice
in Wonderland”
“The
Fighter”
“The
King's Speech”*
“The
Social Network”
“True
Grit”
Achievement
in Film Editing
“127 Hours”
“Black
Swan”
“The
Fighter”
“The
King's Speech”
“The
Social Network”
Some
really good picks by the academy here of these I'm most impressed
with “The Fighter” and “127 Hours” but nonetheless they are
all well done. I am however a bit bummed that “Inception” didn't
get a nod, so I would substitute that in for “Black Swan” and I'm
going to have to snub “The King's Speech” (still well done) in
favor of “True Grit”.
“127
Hours”*
“The
Fighter”
“Inception”
“The
Social Network”
“True
Grit”
Achievement
in Visual Effects
“Alice in Wonderland”
“Harry
Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One”
“Hereafter”
“Inception”
“Iron
Man 2”
This
looks close to right... I didn't see “Hereafter” or 'HP' so ill
sub in “Shutter Island” and “How to Train Your Dragon”.
“Alice
in Wonderland”
“How
to Train Your Dragon”
“Inception”*
“Iron
Man 2”
“Shutter
Island”
