Oscars 2011 Recap: Winners and Best/Worst Dressed

Thoughts on last night's show:

• Oh boy. Last night's live show was like watching a sinking ship. Anne put up a valiant effort, but even she could tell it was going downhill fast and poor thing, she had to hold it together while James was somewhere off in nonchalant-land thinking about some homework assignment he missed. Don't get me wrong, I love me some James Franco and I appreciated his live-tweeting, but he seemed like he wished he was somewhere else last night, which leaves me to think things were happening in the background which threw the whole show off. I mean, I seem to recall him saying there would be some punchy musical numbers, but Anne was singing about Hugh Jackass up on that big stage all by her herself.
  
• Billy Crystal was the highlight of the night. Please host every show from now on Billy, pretty please.
• The musical parodies of The Social Network, Harry Potter, and Twilight? So awkward and out of place. Did I miss something? Was this the MTV Movie Awards in disguise?
• The Oscar folks recruited Anne and James to host the show in order to draw in ratings from a younger demographic, yet ratings were down 10% from last year. Oops.
• Disappointed that there were no shakeups this year. All the wins were exactly as predicted, and usually, we have a couple of surprises here and there. I'm still raging mad that Hailee Steinfeld didn't get the best supporting actress win she so deserved, and don't even get me started about best director. Fincher was robbed.
• Melissa Leo. Oh, Melissa Leo. First with the Oscar campaign she started for herself, and then with that blatantly rehearsed acceptance speech? I get it, Melissa, you can act.
• My heart breaks for The Social Network, especially for Jesse Eisenberg (although Colin is brilliant and shall from now on only be referred to as King Colin) and David Fincher. I can only hope that another project comes along that will eventually turn into an Oscar win for both of them.
  
• Last night's Oscar telecast was so depressing in so many ways for me that I had to pop in Love Actually to make myself feel a little better. That should pretty much sum up how I felt about the show right there.
• My Oscar ballot tally: 19/22 (I omitted best live action short and best documentary short subject)
  

The full list of winners and my assessment of the best and worst dressed below:

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

BEST ACTOR
Javier Bardem, Biutiful
Jeff Bridges, True Grit
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
WINNER: Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
James Franco, 127 Hours

BEST ACTRESS
Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
WINNER: Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

BEST DIRECTOR
Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
Joel & Ethan Coen, True Grit
David Fincher, The Social Network
WINNER: Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech
David O. Russell, The Fighter

BEST SONG
“Coming Home,” Country Strong, Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
“I See the Light,” Tangled, Alan Menken, Glenn Slater
“If I Rise,” 127 Hours, A.R. Rahman, Dido, Rollo Armstrong
WINNER: “We Belong Together,” Toy Story 3, Randy Newman

BEST EDITING
127 Hours, Jon Harris
Black Swan, Andrew Weisblum
The Fighter, Pamela Martin
The King’s Speech, Tariq Anwar
WINNER: The Social Network, Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Alice in Wonderland, Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 1, Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
Hereafter, Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell
WINNER: Inception, Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
Iron Man 2, Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Exit Through the Gift Shop, Banksy and Jaimie D’Cruz
Gasland, Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic
WINNER: Inside Job, Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
Restrepo, Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
Waste Land, Lucy Walker and Angus Aynley

BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT
The Confession, Tanel Toom
The Crush, Michael Creagh
WINNER: God of Love, Luke Matheny
Na Wewe, Ivan Goldschmidt
Wish 143, Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
Killing in the Name (Nominees TBD)
Poster Girl (Nominees (TBD)
WINNER: Strangers No More, Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon
Sun Come Up, Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger
The Warriors of Qiugang, Ruby Yang and Thomas Lenno

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
WINNER: Alice in Wonderland, Colleen Atwood
I Am Love, Antonella Cannarozzi
The King’s Speech, Jenny Beaven
The Tempest, Sandy Powell
True Grit, Mary Zophres

BEST MAKEUP
Barney’s Version, Adrien Morot
The Way Back, Eduoard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk, Yolanda Toussieng
WINNER: The Wolfman, Rick Baker and Dave Elsey

BEST SOUND EDITING
WINNER: Inception, Richard King
Toy Story 3, Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
TRON: Legacy, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
True Grit, Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
Unstoppable, Mark P. Stoeckinger

BEST SOUND MIXING
WINNER: Inception, Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo, and Ed Novick
The King’s Speech, Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen, and John Midgley
Salt, Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan, and William Sarokin
The Social Network, Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick, and Mark Weingarten
True Grit, Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff, and Peter F. Kurland

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
127 Hours, A.R. Rahman
How to Train Your Dragon, John Powell
Inception, Hans Zimmer
The King’s Speech, Alexandre Desplat
WINNER: The Social Network, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
WINNER: 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 FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Hors la Loi (Outside the Law) (Algeria)
Incendies (Canada)
WINNER: In a Better World (Denmark)
Dogtooth (Greece)
Biutiful (Mexico)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Another Year, written by Mike Leigh
The Fighter, Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson; 
Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
Inception, written by Christopher Nolan
The Kids Are All Right, written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
WINNER: The King’s Speech, Screenplay by David Seidler

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
127 Hours, Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
WINNER: The Social Network, Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
Toy Story 3, Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
True Grit, written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Winter’s Bone, adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

BEST ANIMATED FILM
How to Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
WINNER: Toy Story 3

BEST ANIMATED SHORT
Day & Night, Teddy Newton
The Gruffalo, Jakob Schuh and Max Lang
Let’s Pollute, Geefwee Boedoe
WINNER: The Lost Thing, Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann
Madagascar, Carnet de Voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary), Bastien Dubois

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams, The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter, The King’s Speech
WINNER: Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit
Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Black Swan, Matthew Libatique
WINNER: Inception, Wally Pfister
The King’s Speech, Danny Cohen
The Social Network, Jeff Cronenweth
True Grit, Roger Deakins

BEST ART DIRECTION
WINNER: Alice in Wonderland, Robert Stromberg, Karen O’Hara
Happy Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 1, Stuart Craig, Stephenie McMillan
Inception, Guy Hendrix Dyas, Larry Dias, Doug Mowat
The King’s Speech, Eve Stewart, Judy Farr
True Grit, Jess Gonchor, Nancy Haigh

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Best Dressed:

My two favorites up first:
Mila Kunis in Elie Saab: Mila is annoyingly gorgeous in every way and in this dress, she just gets even more annoying because she is perfect in it.
Cate Blanchett in Givenchy Couture: Cate is my top pick for best dressed. I am OBSESSED with this little Givenchy number with the crazy beading and armor-like cut-out in the front. It's gorgeous. It's like a couture ninja (and I when I say ninja, I'm totally picturing the Mortal Kombat ninjas) get-up and I love it.



Gwyneth Paltrow in Calvin Klein: If anyone can do simplicity well, it's my Gwynnie. This dress is like a silver waterfall. It's dripping with pretty.
Jennifer Laurence in Calvin Klein Collection: First thoughts. 1) Damn Jennifer Laurence has a banging body and 2) time to hide the snacks and hit the gym. I think Jennifer did a great job at keeping classy and keeping it sexy as all hale.



Hailee Steinfeld in Marchesa: Okay, how perfect is this dress on Hailee? She's like a mini Audrey Hepburn. This outfit is literally styled perfectly, from the thin hairband, to the neat, sleek hair, and the adorable little champagne pumps -- age appropriate and lovely, just lovely.
Mandy Moore in Monique Lhullier: I think this dress is gorgeous, but it would be so much more perfect if it were a shade darker than Mandy's skin color. She's just a tad too pale in it, but nonetheless, it's a gorgeous puff of a dress.



Hilary Swank in Gucci Premiere: The gag reflex is usually on autopilot when I see an excess of feathers, but this dress has the perfect balance of texture. Not too much, not too little. I also have a slight weakness for dip-dye, so I can't deny Hilary's beauty in this ensemble.
Michelle Williams in Chanel Couture: Michelle with her pixie cut and simple, yet lovely Chanel couture reminds me so much of Twiggy it's ridiculous.



Worst Dressed:

Nicole Kidman in Dior Couture: I just -- I just don't even know what to make of this hot mess. It's just atrocious. It baffles me as to why Nicole even chose this dress. She looks like a tacky, embroidered napkin, except I fear even that that may have looked better on her. Nothing could save this outfit, not even a life raft.
Jennifer Hudson in Versace: See, I respect the fact that J Hud wanted to show off her new bangin' body, but this dress is doing nothing for her except exposing a whole lot of boob. Imagine how gorgeous she would have looked in that Calvin Klein number that Jennifer Laurence wore. What a shame.



Anne Hathaway in vintage Valentino: I wanted to love this dress, I really did. I squinted my eyes, I tried to make justifications in my head, and at one point.. it was a 'it's vintage... I love it, right?!' kind of moment. See, folks-- this is a perfect example that just because it's vintage doesn't mean it's amazing. Or even remotely amazing. In the end, the bubble butt just couldn't be justified away.
Reese Witherspoon in Armani Prive: I think I understand where Reese was going with this, but in the end in just ended up looking like a bad high school prom outfit, and we all know that 60's high ponytail updo didn't help either.



Halle Berry in Marchesa: Tell me the bottom of this dress doesn't look like her kid ran around amok with some tulle and some super glue. You can't, can you?
Marisa Tomei in vintage Charles Edwards couture: This dress was gorgeous, but the bust line wasn't working for Marisa.



Jacki Weaver in Collette Dinniga: I'd say this is pretty self-explanatory.
Melissa Leo in Marc Bouwer: Really now, Melissa, really now? A doily with giant shoulders and a mandarin collar? This is what you wanted to accept your Oscar in?


Let's hope next year will be better!

Oscars 2011 Ballot

Tonight's the night! It's Oscar Sunday! You know I'll be glued to my TV like the true nerd I am (nail biting and all) watching the year in movies come to its close. I managed to watch all ten best pictures in just the nick of time, and I have to say, they were all very well deserved of their Oscar noms. My pick for best picture of the year? Definitely The Social Network. That's not to say that they will win tonight because The King's Speech (another great movie this year -- and I say great, because while it was well acted and scripted, it was not the year's best) has given them quite a run for their money. I can only imagine what it would be like sitting in a room with both Harvey Weinstein and Scott Rudin as they each attempted to lobby for their respective movies. Alot of spit flying, I assume.

Alrighty, so here's my 2011 Oscar ballot! Hurry on up and put your bets in for tonight, people!

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”

• Who will win: Colin Firth -- it's pretty much in the bag at this point. He's swept awards across the board, and he will finally get the Oscar that has eluded him. I loved Colin in this movie, but honestly, I thought he was better last year in A Serious Man. He broke my heart in that movie. Beautiful, just really beautiful.
  
  
• Who deserves to win: See, I'm torn here between Jesse Eisenberg in The Social Network and Colin Firth. I was really blown away by Jesse in TSN. The way he delivered Aaron Sorkin's acerbic, quick-witted screenplay was nearly a masterpiece. No one could have done it better.
  

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”

• Who will win: Christian Bale -- another sweep this awards season, although I'm not sure it's completely warranted. Bale is notoriously known as a method actor and that's exactly how he prepared for the The Fighter. He transformed his body into the body of a gaunt, crack addicted boxer who has fallen on hard times. In my eyes, his performance was too much of a gimmick, a little too show me, show me, and a parody, if you will. However, since Hollywood has pretty much been jumping on the The King's Speech bandwagon these days, Geoffrey Rush might just win.
  
  
• Who deserves to win: Geoffrey Rush in The King's Speech. Geoffrey was flawless in this movie. Without the heart that he delivered in his role, the relationship between himself and the king would have fallen apart, and subsequently, so would have the rest of movie since that strong bond was exactly what the plotline rested upon.
  

Actress in a Leading Role
Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right”
Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole”
Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter's Bone”
Natalie Portman in “Black Swan”
Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine”

• Who will win: Natalie Portman in The Black Swan. Natalie has won every major award this awards season in this category and we will see her on Sunday night, waddling up to that podium, preggers and all. Let's just hope her dress will be better than all of the other red carpet choices she's made this awards season. Hey Natalie, just because you're pregnant doesn't give you a pass to wear terribly ill-fitting bags that you think pass for dresses.
  
  
• Who deserves to win: Michelle Williams in Blue Valentine. Michelle blew me away in this movie and she completely deserves to win. I'm disappointed that Natalie has consistently won for The Black Swan, because while the movie was thrilling and beautiful, her performance was not exactly Oscar worthy. Now don't get me wrong, Natalie was great in the movie, but I didn't leave the theater feeling altered by her performance, like I did after seeing Michelle in Blue Valentine.
  

Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams in “The Fighter”
Helena Bonham Carter in “The King's Speech”
Melissa Leo in “The Fighter”
Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit”
Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”

• Who will win: Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit, although let's be real here -- everyone knows Hailee was undoubtedly the lead in True Grit. Another flawless performance this year. I was truly amazed by her performance in the Coen brothers' remake of this classic western. She completely deserves to win and I suspect she will, although she'll have tough competition from Melissa Leo, who has consistently won for her role in The Fighter.
  
• Who deserves to win: Hailee Steinfeld
  

Animated Feature Film
“How to Train Your Dragon” Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
“The Illusionist” Sylvain Chomet
“Toy Story 3” Lee Unkrich

• Who will win: Toy Story 3 -- pretty obvious, right?
• Who deserves to win: Toy Story 3

Art Direction
“Alice in Wonderland”
Production Design: Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Karen O'Hara
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1”
Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
“Inception”
Production Design: Guy Hendrix Dyas; Set Decoration: Larry Dias and Doug Mowat
“The King's Speech”
Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Judy Farr
“True Grit”
Production Design: Jess Gonchor; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh

• Who will win: Alice in Wonderland. I'd say this would be well deserved considering the fact that the production and set designers had to create a whole new fantasy world, and one that reflected Tim Burton's crazy eye for imagination, no less.
  
• Who deserves to win: Alice in Wonderland
  

Cinematography
“Black Swan” Matthew Libatique
“Inception” Wally Pfister
“The King's Speech” Danny Cohen
“The Social Network” Jeff Cronenweth
“True Grit” Roger Deakins

• Who will win: True Grit, Roger Deakins -- Roger has been nominated several times in this category and I suspect he will win this year. True Grit was visually arresting and the story was really brought to life thanks to Deakins' amazing eye for cinematography.
  
• Who deserves to win: True Grit, Roger Deakins
  

Costume Design
“Alice in Wonderland” Colleen Atwood
“I Am Love” Antonella Cannarozzi
“The King's Speech” Jenny Beavan
“The Tempest” Sandy Powell
“True Grit” Mary Zophres

• Who will win: Alice in Wonderland, Colleen Atwood. Colleen is a previous winner in this category and she will most likely win again this year for her whimsical costumes in Tim Burton's take on Alice.
  
• Who deserves to win: Alice in Wonderland, Colleen Atwood.

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

• Who will win: Tom Hooper, The King's Speech. Just when I thought The Social Network was riding high on its Oscar wave, The King's Speech caught up and surpassed the latter in the race towards Oscar after securing wins at the PGAs, SAGs, and DGAs. After nabbing the top prize at the DGA, I'm pretty certain Tom Hooper will win for The King's Speech.
  
  
• Who deserves to win: David Fincher, The Social Network. How can you watch this movie and not feel a deep appreciation for Fincher's work? It was artfully directed and fantastically paced, and I stand by that for all time.
  

Documentary (Feature)
“Exit through the Gift Shop” Banksy and Jaimie D'Cruz
“Gasland” Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic
“Inside Job” Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
“Restrepo” Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
“Waste Land” Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley

• Who will win: I can't really speak about these documentaries with much knowledge, but from what I've been hearing, Inside Job, a documentary about Wall street and the financial crisis that ensued after a corporate world meltdown, will win.
  
• Who deserves to win:
  

Documentary (Short Subject)
“Killing in the Name” Nominees to be determined
“Poster Girl” Nominees to be determined
“Strangers No More” Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon
“Sun Come Up” Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger
“The Warriors of Qiugang” Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon

• Who will win:
• Who deserves to win:
  

Film Editing
“Black Swan” Andrew Weisblum
“The Fighter” Pamela Martin
“The King's Speech” Tariq Anwar
“127 Hours” Jon Harris
“The Social Network” Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter

• Who will win: The Social Network, Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter. Anyone who can make a bunch of nerds writing code and battling over millions inside a conference room look not only appealing, but fast paced and exciting, deserves to win an Oscar.
  
• Who deserves to win: The Social Network, Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter.

Foreign Language Film
“Biutiful” Mexico
“Dogtooth” Greece
“In a Better World” Denmark
“Incendies” Canada
“Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi)” Algeria

• Who will win: Having not seen any of these movies, I still suspect Denmark's In a Better World will win, considering they won the same prize at the Golden Globes earlier this year.
  
• Who deserves to win:
  

Makeup
“Barney's Version” Adrien Morot
“The Way Back” Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
“The Wolfman” Rick Baker and Dave Elsey

• Who will win: I'm thinking The Wolfman here, because that's the movie that consisted of the most makeup work, and I suspect that's usually what Academy voters usually look for in this category.
  
• Who deserves to win:
  

Music (Original Score)
“How to Train Your Dragon” John Powell
“Inception” Hans Zimmer
“The King's Speech” Alexandre Desplat
“127 Hours” A.R. Rahman
“The Social Network” Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

• Who will win: The Social Network, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Words cannot express how much I loved the score in this movie as it was so critical in every scene. Just a really hauntingly beautiful piece of work. You can't listen to the score in this movie and not feel moved by it.
  
• Who deserves to win: The Social Network, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
  

Music (Original Song)
“Coming Home” from “Country Strong” Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
“I See the Light” from “Tangled” Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
“If I Rise” from “127 Hours” Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
“We Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3" Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

• Who will win: "We Belong Together", Randy Newman. The Academy just loves some good 'ole sentimental music by Randy Newman, especially if he wrote it for a fantastic animated franchise, such as Toy Story.
  
• Who deserves to win: "Coming Home" from Country Strong.
  

Short Film (Animated)
“Day & Night” Teddy Newton
“The Gruffalo” Jakob Schuh and Max Lang
“Let's Pollute” Geefwee Boedoe
“The Lost Thing” Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann
“Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)” Bastien Dubois
Short Film (Live Action)
“The Confession” Tanel Toom
“The Crush” Michael Creagh
“God of Love” Luke Matheny
“Na Wewe” Ivan Goldschmidt
“Wish 143” Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite

• Who will win: "Day and Night"-- I predict this adorable little animated short that played before Toy Story 3 in theaters will win.
  
• Who deserves to win: "Day and Night"
  

Sound Editing
“Inception” Richard King
“Toy Story 3” Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
“Tron: Legacy” Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
“True Grit” Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
“Unstoppable” Mark P. Stoeckinger

• Who will win: Inception. I'm thinking Inception will pick up sound editing and mixing, as these two awards usually go together.
  
• Who deserves to win: Inception
  

Sound Mixing
“Inception” Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick
“The King's Speech” Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley
“Salt” Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin
“The Social Network” Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
“True Grit” Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland

• Who will win: Inception
  
• Who deserves to win: Inception
  

Visual Effects
“Alice in Wonderland” Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1” Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
“Hereafter” Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell
“Inception” Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
“Iron Man 2” Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick

• Who will win: Inception, simply because the visual effects team managed to roll up a street like a piece of paper.
• Who deserves to win: Inception
  

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
“127 Hours” Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
“The Social Network” Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
“Toy Story 3” Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
“True Grit” Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
“Winter's Bone” Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

• Who will win: The Social Network by Aaron Sorkin -- totally and undeniably deserved win, and not to mention pretty much locked in.
  
• Who deserves to win: The Social Network by Aaron Sorkin
  

Writing (Original Screenplay)
“Another Year” Written by Mike Leigh
“The Fighter” Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson;
Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
“Inception” Written by Christopher Nolan
“The Kids Are All Right” Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
“The King's Speech” Screenplay by David Seidler

• Who will win: The King's Speech -- I suspect Oscar voters will jump on The King's Speech bandwagon to up its Oscar count come Sunday night.
  
• Who deserves to win: The Kids Are All Right -- a lovely screenplay with fantastic character development. I can't really speak confidently in this category though, because I haven't seen Another Year, which I hear had an amazing screenplay.

Best Picture
“Black Swan” Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver and Scott Franklin, Producers
“The Fighter” David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg, Producers
“Inception” Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers
“The Kids Are All Right” Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray, Producers
“The King's Speech” Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, Producers
“127 Hours” Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and John Smithson, Producers
“The Social Network” Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
“Toy Story 3” Darla K. Anderson, Producer
“True Grit” Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
“Winter's Bone" Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers

• Who will win: The King's Speech. It pains me to have to admit that this movie will most likely win. For awhile I was convinced The Social Network would take home the top prize, but the Weinstein Company must be in overdrive this Oscar season because they've really managed to come from behind and take the reins during this awards season.
  
• Who deserves to win: The Social Network. Scott Rudin is one of the best producers out there and I was really hoping that he'd edge out Harvey Weinstein in this Oscar race. The Social Network is not only the best of the year and a social commentary of modern times, but it's the kind of movie that defines a generation. It's not just about a bunch of nerds coming up with the concept of Facebook, it's about the proliferation of social networking and how it has fundamentally altered the way we communicate today. Not only that, but it was terrifically acted, directed, and edited. Even the score was phenomenal. Shouldn't all of that be the basis for a best picture win? I guess not in this day and age. It seems pretty obvious to me that Academy voters would rather vote for a movie with older actors playing historical figures who have to overcome some kind of challenge or hurdle, rather than a bunch of fast-talking, witty nerds who set out to change a little something called the Internet.
  

Oscars 2011 Promo w/Hosts Anne Hathaway and James Franco

First promo for the 2011 Academy Awards, hosted by Anne Hathaway and James Franco.

Cute!

They're Here! 2011 Oscar Nominations!

The 83rd annual Oscar nominations were announced this morning at 5:30am PT/8:30 ET by Mo'Nique and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Tom Sherak.

The ten best picture nominees were pretty predictable, and I've still yet to see The Fighter, Winter's Bone, and The King's Speech. Time to get on that. Christopher Nolan (Inception) got edged out of the best director race by the Coen Brothers, who many believed wouldn't get a nomination because of the late December release of their Western, True Grit. Also noticeably snubbed was Ryan Gosling for Blue Valentine, despite his costar, Michelle Williams, nabbing one of the five best actress nomination slots. Instead, Javier Bardem, who has been largely overlooked for his emotionally charged role in foreign film Biutiful, managed to slide into the best actor category. This is a huge surprise, considering he wasn't nominated in any of the other major award ceremonies this year. The Oscars have a habit of doing that though, surprise nominations that creep their way in when you least expect it. We all remember Roberto Benigni's win for Life is Beautiful, right? How could anyone forget? His fantastically enthusiastic acceptance speech was probably where Tom Cruise got his eccentric couch jumping antics from. Good for Javier though. It's widely agreed that he deserved more recognition for this movie. I'm a little irked by Hailee Steinfeld's best supporting actress nomination because she was undoubtedly the lead in True Grit, but hey, the Academy makes it a habit of putting young actors and actresses in supporting categories, regardless of the size of their role in the movie. I guess it worked out better that way because had she been considered in the Best Actress category, there would most likely not have been enough room for her.

All in all, a great bunch of nominees. Now it's time to fill out your ballots! Outguess Roger Ebert and you could win $100,000! I mean it'll never happen, but I'm still entering. It's all for the fun of it anyway. You know, if you consider this movie geek type of fun, actual fun. I know I do!

The 83rd Academy Awards will air Sunday February 27th at 8PM EST / 5PM PST on ABC.

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”

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”

Actress in a Leading Role
Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right”
Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole”
Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter's Bone”
Natalie Portman in “Black Swan”
Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine”

Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams in “The Fighter”
Helena Bonham Carter in “The King's Speech”
Melissa Leo in “The Fighter”
Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit”
Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”

Animated Feature Film
“How to Train Your Dragon” Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
“The Illusionist” Sylvain Chomet
“Toy Story 3” Lee Unkrich

Art Direction
“Alice in Wonderland”
Production Design: Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Karen O'Hara
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1”
Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
“Inception”
Production Design: Guy Hendrix Dyas; Set Decoration: Larry Dias and Doug Mowat
“The King's Speech”
Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Judy Farr
“True Grit”
Production Design: Jess Gonchor; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh

Cinematography
“Black Swan” Matthew Libatique
“Inception” Wally Pfister
“The King's Speech” Danny Cohen
“The Social Network” Jeff Cronenweth
“True Grit” Roger Deakins

Costume Design
“Alice in Wonderland” Colleen Atwood
“I Am Love” Antonella Cannarozzi
“The King's Speech” Jenny Beavan
“The Tempest” Sandy Powell
“True Grit” Mary Zophres

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

Documentary (Feature)
“Exit through the Gift Shop” Banksy and Jaimie D'Cruz
“Gasland” Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic
“Inside Job” Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
“Restrepo” Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
“Waste Land” Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley

Documentary (Short Subject)
“Killing in the Name” Nominees to be determined
“Poster Girl” Nominees to be determined
“Strangers No More” Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon
“Sun Come Up” Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger
“The Warriors of Qiugang” Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon

Film Editing
“Black Swan” Andrew Weisblum
“The Fighter” Pamela Martin
“The King's Speech” Tariq Anwar
“127 Hours” Jon Harris
“The Social Network” Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter

Foreign Language Film
“Biutiful” Mexico
“Dogtooth” Greece
“In a Better World” Denmark
“Incendies” Canada
“Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi)” Algeria

Makeup
“Barney's Version” Adrien Morot
“The Way Back” Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
“The Wolfman” Rick Baker and Dave Elsey

Music (Original Score)
“How to Train Your Dragon” John Powell
“Inception” Hans Zimmer
“The King's Speech” Alexandre Desplat
“127 Hours” A.R. Rahman
“The Social Network” Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Music (Original Song)
“Coming Home” from “Country Strong” Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
“I See the Light” from “Tangled” Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
“If I Rise” from “127 Hours” Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
“We Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3" Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

Best Picture
“Black Swan” Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver and Scott Franklin, Producers
“The Fighter” David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg, Producers
“Inception” Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers
“The Kids Are All Right” Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray, Producers
“The King's Speech” Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, Producers
“127 Hours” Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and John Smithson, Producers
“The Social Network” Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
“Toy Story 3” Darla K. Anderson, Producer
“True Grit” Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
“Winter's Bone" Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers

Short Film (Animated)
“Day & Night” Teddy Newton
“The Gruffalo” Jakob Schuh and Max Lang
“Let's Pollute” Geefwee Boedoe
“The Lost Thing” Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann
“Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)” Bastien Dubois
Short Film (Live Action)
“The Confession” Tanel Toom
“The Crush” Michael Creagh
“God of Love” Luke Matheny
“Na Wewe” Ivan Goldschmidt
“Wish 143” Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite

Sound Editing
“Inception” Richard King
“Toy Story 3” Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
“Tron: Legacy” Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
“True Grit” Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
“Unstoppable” Mark P. Stoeckinger

Sound Mixing
“Inception” Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick
“The King's Speech” Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley
“Salt” Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin
“The Social Network” Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
“True Grit” Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland

Visual Effects
“Alice in Wonderland” Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1” Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
“Hereafter” Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell
“Inception” Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
“Iron Man 2” Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
“127 Hours” Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
“The Social Network” Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
“Toy Story 3” Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
“True Grit” Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
“Winter's Bone” Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

Writing (Original Screenplay)
“Another Year” Written by Mike Leigh
“The Fighter” Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson;
Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
“Inception” Written by Christopher Nolan
“The Kids Are All Right” Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
“The King's Speech” Screenplay by David Seidler

Newsweek's Oscar Roundtable

Who else is excited about the Oscar nomination announcement tomorrow? I know I am, but I'm a geek, and you know I've already made a mental ballot. Look out for Oscar nominations at 5:30am Pacific, 8:30 Eastern.

Check out Ebert's Oscar nomination predictions. They're pretty much in line with my own thoughts, except instead of Justin Timberlake in The Social Network for best supporting actor, I'd go with Andrew Garfield instead. His performance was undoubtedly better. All of Ebert's other predictions, however, seem pretty sound.

In honor of the upcoming Oscar nomination announcement, I'm posting the Newsweek Oscar Roundtable featuring Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole), Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right), Colin Firth (The King's Speech), Natalie Portman (Black Swan), Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine), and James Franco (127 Hours). There are multiple videos, but I'm only posting a few, although they are all worth watching. Check out the rest of the videos and the transcript on Newsweek's website.

THR Awards Watch Roundtable: Actors

Last month I posted the actress awards watch roundtable conducted by The Hollywood Reporter and today, I bring you the actors awards roundtable.

Another good watch. Here's the full video, which is just over an hour long. Definitely worth it to watch the whole thing, especially with Robert Duvall participating in the discussion, but you can go to THR and catch truncated clips of it as well.

"127 Hours" Movie Review

I originally set out to watch Black Swan this past weekend, but considering its extremely limited release and my general laziness, I was unable to catch it. It is playing in the L.A. area right now at The Landmark and at the Pacific Arclight Hollywood, for any interested parties in the area. It will also open up to more theaters on 12/10 (namely Pasadena's Laemmle Playhouse where I frequent) and 12/17. For a full list of theaters, see Fox Searchlight's website.

After becoming disappointed that no theater within a 10 mile radius was playing Black Swan, I was pleasantly surprised to see that my local theater was carrying Danny Boyle's (Slumdog Millionaire) 127 Hours, another movie which I meant to see. Last year, I challenged myself to The Big 10, which included reviewing and watching all 10 best picture nominees before the Oscars took place. This year, I decided to get a headstart with 127 Hours, a movie that has built quite a bit of momentum on the awards circuit, and I'd be extremely surprised to find out that it hadn't been nominated for an Oscar (nominations will be announced January 25, 2011).

Director Danny Boyle's latest release is based on the true story of canyoneer Aron Ralston (depicted by James Franco), and the movie is subsequently based on Ralston's book, Between a Rock and a Hard Place. It follows the story of a young, capricious adventurer who goes on a weekend excursion alone in Utah's Big John Canyon without informing anyone else of his trip. Before I continue, I should preface this review with a disclaimer that if you do not want to know what happens in this movie, you should not read on. If you want to go into this movie completely surprised, I suggest you stay away from any and all blogs, TV spots, or interviews referencing this movie because the main plot point WILL be given away.

With that said, almost immediately you find Aron pinned down by a rock which has fallen into a small crevice in which he was attempting to pass through. He's unable to move because his arm is trapped, and the rock is too heavy to lift on his own. This marks the beginning of an emotionally grueling and physically harrowing 127 hours of his imprisonment under this seemingly harmless boulder. Note that this took place in 2003, when cell phones weren't so prolific, and you couldn't just reach into your pocket for your iPhone to make an emergency call.

The movie opens with Aron hurriedly packing for his excursion, letting the phone ring and go to the machine, where multiple messages from various family members and friends have gone ignored. While on his excursion, he meets two other young, female hikers (played by Kate Mara and Amber Tamblyn) who are lost, and Aron helps them find their way. It's clear in their encounter that Ralston is a peculiar character, one who seeks adventure and a life with no rigidity or plans, except ones that include solo canyoneering and cave diving. This sets up a series of flashbacks while Aron is delirious and trapped under the boulder, that relives his defining moments in life-- moments that portray him as the loving son, brother, and boyfriend, and others that portray him as the selfish son, brother, and boyfriend.

James Franco's emotional progression in this movie is astounding. The reason why the climactic amputation scene is so gruesome is not only because it's visually arresting, but because of the emotional investment into Aron's past and journey into the darkest 127 hours of his life. Hands down, Franco's performance is worthy of an Oscar nomination, and I'd say the same for Boyle. Danny Boyle has such a signature style that is so gritty and unpolished, and he loves to examine the depths of humanity and the value of human life. That's exactly what he does here. This story is an examination of inner strength and courage, and the element of reality that's attached to it makes this movie so powerful, that you can't look away, although you'll really want to, especially in the amputation scene. Ralston had to break both of his bones in his arms, and then cut through his flesh, tendons, veins, and nerves with just a dull 2'' pocket knife. This scene is definitely not for the faint hearted. I had to look away for the majority of the scene, because not only did it look real, but it felt real. It was terrifying. This isn't just some Saw franchise gore, this is the heartbreaking amputation following 127 hours of desperation and deprivation. Never has an arm, nor the inner strength of sacrifice, been more precious.

There's much more to outline and note here, but I'll just leave it at this. Go see 127 Hours. You won't regret it.

Anne Hathaway and James Franco To Host the 83rd Academy Awards

It's official! The 83rd Annual Oscars have their co-hosts. James Franco and Anne Hathaway will be joining each other on stage for the February 27 Academy Awards. Expect plenty of awkward jokes and a musical number or two.

Strange pairing or just a subtle marketing ploy on 20th Century Fox's end? Rumor is that both actors are attached to Ridley Scott's Untitled Alien prequel, with a script penned by Lost's Damon Lindelof.

Either way it's still a little odd. I feel like I've been seeing too much of Anne Hathaway lately, especially after seeing her entirely (and awkwardly) naked in Love and Other Drugs.

THR Awards Watch Roundtable: Actresses

With the Golden Globes and Screen Actor Guild Awards approaching in January and the Oscars in February, awards season is definitely under way. One of my favorite products from awards season is definitely the roundtable discussions. I'm a geek, I know, but I love watching all of these, and I love watching them in their entirety. They're such interesting, earnest looks into the work of so many great actors and actresses.

This year's Hollywood Reporter Actresses Roundtable includes Helena Bonham Carter (who starred alongside Colin Firth in big awards contender, The King's Speech), Natalie Portman (who has received critical acclaim for her role in The Black Swan), Annette Bening (who co-starred in The Kids Are All Right with the equally amazing Julianne Moore), Nicole Kidman (in the emotionally-jarring, small indie pic Rabbit Hole with Aaron Eckhart), Hilary Swank (in Tony Goldwyn's Conviction), and Amy Adams (who played a supporting role in The Fighter, which also stars Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale).

A little over an hour long, but very interesting. These women are incredible.