Monday, January 31, 2011

10 Most Deserving Oscar Nominations

For this list, I've decided to snub the more expected gets, despite adamant fandom.  For example: I adored Natalie Portman's go for broke ballerina freak out, but feel I've fawned enough about it; plus of course she was a lock!
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John Hawkes, Winter's Bone
Playing a slimy, morally ambiguous character resulted in one of the most stark and eerie portrayals of 2010.  But again, he's very subtle, and Oscar prefers grandstanding over anything else (see nearly every performance nominated in any year, ever.)  That the film's overall reception was greeted higher than expected may have helped chug him in the fray, but it's one of the strongest supporting turns of the year...and a great boost to such an electric and interesting character actor.  Sidenote: I was a bit obsessed ever since seeing him in Me & You & Everyone We Know.
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The Social Network- Best Film Editing
Surely this one was no surprise, but the way this lightening stuck in a bottle film works, does so to the tireless efforts of director David Fincher and editors Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall.  Paced at a breakneck speed, slowing down only to the affect of Sorkin's cutting and brilliant prose, and sliced, diced and dissected with such crystal line precision, one could possibly bounce a quarter of this film, it's so lean and tight.  And yet, it's never undone by it's own artistry.  In that sense it is perhaps a surprise, given that the Oscars typically prefer the more is better approach to anything, especially the cutting.
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Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom
As affable and charming she appears on the press circuit, she's chilling and manipulative in the little Australian crime drama that desperately deserves to be seen by more than it's limited release afforded.  Playing the ultimate den mother to a pack of bad boys, Weaver holds her own and gradually lets the audience onto her wicked ways.  As a sidenote, Weaver and fellow supporting actress nominee Melissa Leo both should earn special tributes in following the tradition of the Mary Jones Bad Parenting Award-- have Mo'Nique present.
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I Am Love- Best Costume Design
The nicest surprise the nomination morning was the wonderful inclusion of Antonella Cannarozzi's achievement in clothing the most devastatingly beautiful flick of 2010.  Her choices were incisive, completely fitting of the characters inside, and best of all-- fabulously extravagant; this family is loaded after and melodrama is sweeping, best be ward robed appropriately.  If only some of the other tech departments could be swept up in the biggest eye candy surprise of the last year.  Sometimes more is more.
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Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
This one of the give me as well, but it's so outside the typical Oscar-performance that it deserves more mention.  I've been a fan of his nerdy shtick since 2002's Roger Dodger, and it's great that he's been afforded perhaps the densest, more controversial real life part of his generation; that's kind of sad, but perhaps also true.  For work that's so subtle and never cloying in desperation to be liked, it's perhaps also a brave one as well.  Debates may wager over time over the morality of Mark Zuckerberg, but Eisenberg's amazingly individualist portrayal deserves no such debate: it's inspiring.
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Winter's Bone- Best Adapted Screenplay
It's great to know that a small dazzler like this one can be widely appreciated by the Academy.  The tightness and control of Debra Granik and Anne Rosselini's screenplay surely was the starting point in creating the rich, authentic, creepily unusual atmosphere at work here.  Sparse, but elegant-- this is perhaps the first great noir of the decade, but it's also a rich character study, and generous ensemble piece.
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Dogtooth- Best Foreign Film
Many may snicker, but the biggest surprise come nomination morning was the is offbeat, unsettling, and altogether startling mindfuck from Greece was named one of the five best foreign language films.  Whether was granted a slot thanks to odd critical citation loophole of the category or not, this is a film worthy of getting into a fuss over; it's perhaps the biggest conversation piece of any movie I saw last year...that is of course if people actually see it (It's on instant watch on Netflix for the intrigued.)  And it's good for the Academy to shake itself up every once in a while and go for the stunners alongside the safe bets.  It's the best film of 2010 to mix incest with cat murder...enter at your own risk!
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Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine
While it's troubling, and feels awfully wrong that Williams got in without her counterpart Ryan Gosling in Best Actor field, for there's was an acting duet for the ages, still Williams' performance is too good to wage a war over.  Her Cindy arguably even has the tougher role since it's debatable that the film is a bit more leaning on Gosling's side (a viewpoint, agree or not), and her choices are simply the more pragmatic of the two.  She plays it beautifully, self contained, but still without a net.  With the careful character shadings of such an experienced and expressive place, she's limitless in what she can portray, often all while seemingly doing very little.  Hard to believe she came of age on Dawson's Creek.
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The entire Best Documentary list.
The major snub of the juggernaut Waiting for 'Superman' made this race so much more interesting...it helps that the field is full of films all superior as well.  So Bravo to the Academy for this incisive and startlingly surprising list: Exit Through the Gift Shop, GasLand, Inside Job, Restrepo and Waste Land.  2010 was a great year for non-fiction films, and this list is world-weary enough to acknowledge it proudly.
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Black Swan- Best Cinematography
Darren Aronofsky's cinematographer of choice is Matthew Libatique, whose framed the dingy, often unsavory sets of Pi and Requiem for a Dream.  Here is perhaps their boldest collaboration, with the sweeping and seductive part audacious art film\part old style horror flick...the result is something new, something scary, and altogether remarkable.  The Academy is not known to honor films like this in this category-- they prefer pretty landscapes (which is why True Grit will likely win), but this unsettling atmosphere is tops in my book.

Beginners


I feel completely disengaged from upcoming 2011 movies currently.  Of course, it's only a month in and nothing that memorable comes in the month of January, but even perusing the upcoming slate, nothing appears to be popping out as, "wow, I need to see this now!"  That mentality, I'm sure, or at least hopeful will past once the awards nausea wears off.  And this one, Beginners, from director Mike Mills might be a nice anecdote.  It won pleasing notices from the 2010 Toronto Film Festival, and has a gifted cast in Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer and Melanie Laurent.  Again, this could be potentially mawkish material, in a man discovering his elderly father is gay.

Always rooting for McGregor to succeed, and he had a wonderful, albeit low key 2010 with two memorable turns in very different films: The Ghost Writer and I Love You Phillip Morris.  Unfortunately, he never gained awards attraction of Polanski's playful thriller, despite winning Best Actor from the European Film Awards.

The Three Mark Zuckerbergs



For any that missed, here's Jesse Eisenberg's opening monologue for Saturday Night Live.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Screen Actors Guild Winners


BEST ENSEMBLE: The King's Speech
BEST ACTOR: Colin Firth, The King's Speech
BEST ACTRESS: Natalie Portman, Black Swan
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Christian Bale, The Fighter
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Melissa Leo, The Fighter
BEST STUNTS: Inception

Blarney fudge balls- this King's Speech love is out of control, and needs to be stopped!  I can get over the PGA bursting The Social Network's bubble, but not the DGA, nor SAG...and I fear since the various guilds and organizations have chosen to lose their collective minds that this might end up being a royal sweep coming Oscar day.  It's fairly shameful that The Social Network, which prior to the guilds had won more plaudits and awards than any other film at it's time in awards season history seems doomed to get merely a screenplay award.

Top Ten of 2010

Everyone else has weighed in their favorites, now I secure enough to reveal my own.  2010 was an interesting year cinematically, one in each I feel there was more films that came out that I admired and appreciated than usual, but fewer that I out and out loved.  Was it a good year?  I hesitantly say yes, but more caustically say it was business as usual:

#11 Winter's Bone- the doomed runner-up slot that I feel inclined to give a film of such enormous strengths.  Director Debra Granik crafted a flick of such mood and authenticity and specificity that I feel ashamed it's not on my Top Ten list proper.  Jennifer Lawrence's steadfast and strong performance rightfully made the headlines, but there was so much richness beyond that in the beautiful technician of this indie Ozark drama, with the wonderful ensemble (Oscar nominated John Hawkes, Dale Dickey and a standout cast of actors, both professional and not), beautifully cinematography, and tight and lean editing.  This surely was not a weird, insular Sundance sensation, but a striking and haunting film noir to be savored for a long time to come.
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10) I Love You Phillip Morris- an utterly sublime mixture of the sweet and obscene from the screenwriters of Bad Santa.  The feel good prison gay sex comedy of the year, even though it's been crackling around since Sundance 2009.  Starring Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor as men who fall in love in jail; it's the most outrageous story of the year-- the fact that it's based on truth only adds to the absurdity.  What's most striking is Carrey's performance, likely his best ever, one that mixes his goofy comical id with a libido; he get's to let loose in the most satisfying fashion, but focused on one main function: the guy is in love, and the sweetly baby-faced McGregor makes it even more palpable.  Bonus points are given for it's transgressive quality in tweaking the cliches of queer cinema in general.
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9) Blue Valentine- the most awesome acting duet of the year was done by Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams, whose fully-formed, raw performances recalled that chemistry in the cinema can never be manufactured, it's either there or not.  Their cinematic dance must be acknowledged for the ages to come; he yings to her yang.  That writer\director Derek Cianfrance had the courage to let his actors loose must be considered potentially the best decision made from any film in 2010.  It results in an intense, emotionally experience of falling in love, as well as falling out it, made beautifully realized by actors in full control of craft, yet comfortable enough to let it all hang out and let us grasp and awe in amazement of it all.  The hauntingly sweet scene of Gosling's Dean serenading William's Cindy is one of the best moments of the year.
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8) 127 Hours- a one man show to be sure, but it's one is the newfound jack of all trades James Franco, hanging on by a thread...or in this case by an arm.  This one man survival tale, thanks to the enormous visceral talent of director Danny Boyle, and cinematographer\poet Anthony Dod Mantle, made for one of the compelling films of 2010.  We know what happens, and yet, being held up with Franco's Aron Ralstom is one of the tightest and most exhilarating experiences I've spent in a theater all year.  We are bound to him, and yet the vigor and sense of life that this thrill seeking young man has is hopeful and honest.  Is it better to live without a safety net, and face uncertain consequences, or one drab and without a sense of adventure.  Franco's eerily honest "morning show" breakdown would've secured an Oscar nomination in my book...it's one of the best scenes of the year!
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7) Scott Pilgrim vs. the World- the best video game\comic book\romantic comedy ever made...Edgar Wright's generous and loving adaptation of the idiosyncratic comic is perhaps the sweetest, and most unjustly unheralded film of 2010.  All the geek love that stormed out of Comic-Com couldn't make this a financial hit, but I have a feeling that history will be kind to this genre-spewing, altogether infection movie.  Starring Michael Cera as the titular Scott Pilgrim and his developing relationship with the girl of his dreams, manages to make a million references without losing it own identity, as well as having a fun visual style all it's own, whilst never failing with the characters-- even the most minute of which have a soul and identity of their own.  Scott Pilgrim-- I lesbian you!
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6) Inception- the fanboys will forever protest, why can't Christopher Nolan ever get respect from the Academy.  In all honesty I don't care-- he's the most commercially successful director of our age that continually brings out awesome and challenging filmmaking.  That a crazy meta-idea of a film trapped inside a dream of a dream of a dream can be bankable and conversed about for the ages is enough for me.  What's most striking is not the visually fancy at play here (we already know Nolan is an indelible craftsman) but an emotional cord that hasn't never really been developed before.  This is first and foremost a love story, with a frazzled and bruised Leonardo DiCaprio too deeply entwined with his own grief and nonsense regarding with wife (played with exquisite expressiveness by Marion Cottilard) to move forward.  It's a step forward for original brave big-studio filmmaking, but a bigger step forward for Nolan.
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5) Inside Job- the most frightening film of the year.  Scarier than any horror film; more incendiary than the most provocative of filmmakers.  Charles Ferguson (helmer of No End in Sight, the best film, narrative or otherwise about Iraq ever) tackles the economic crisis with such clarity, common sense, and bewilderment, it's a shock that no one was able to stop it way before it began.  Ferguson is the anti-Michael Moore-- he attacks on an intellectual level, with minimal showmanship; the facts should be the most jarring thing.  And it's in this clarity, that he's crafted a no-nonsense documentary for the ages.  He's mad as hell and not going to take it anymore...we should all follow.
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4) The Kids Are All Right- the most generously written and acted comedy\drama of the year.  Helmer Lisa Cholodenko, along with co-writer Stuart Blumsberg, and actors Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Josh Hutchinson and Mia Wasikowsa breathe fresh light into this joyous and delightful film of social mores.  Bening and Moore play a married couple with two kids, whose lives are changed by the entrance of the sperm donor who made their happy family possible.  What sounds like a high concept mess, is by turns the most humane and funny and real film of the year.  A family that feels fresh by universal, without any sort of treatise of homosexual\heterosexual commentary.  This isn't an unorthodox family, but any family, every family.  Chug your red wine Bening!
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3) Toy Story 3- the Pixar magic continues, this time continuing and closing the chapter on their first and most triumphant.  Fifteen years of fan love and nostalgia may have paved the way for this one, but the wizards and masterly craftsmen at the most reliable studio in Hollywood know that isn't enough to make a film click.  What transpires is one of the emotionally moviegoing experiences of the year.  I freely admit I bawled within minutes of the films start, rejoiced several times in the middle, due to it's wit and invention, only to bawl buckets near the close.  Woody and Buzz are two of the most indelible characters of the last twenty years of filmmaking, yet the visionaries in charge never rest on their laurels, and found new ways in making us, their bountiful audience, embrace them.  One of the few great trilogies of all time comes to an end.
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2) The Social Network- at the risk of sounding boring, or too much of a follower, one of the best qualities of David Fincher's maxim opus is the strong, totally in-synch ensemble.  Jesse Eisenberg rightfully earned an Oscar nomination, but Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake and Rooney Mara, along with the insanely talented supporting players are deserve credit for bringing with film to life.  It feels epic all most, until you stop and think about it's subject.  The creation of Facebook doesn't deserve nearly as awesome a film to tell it's tale.  Of course, the Fincher's masterful overall achievement is nothing but spectacular-- that a film that is essentially a talky drama is so monumentally thrilling to watch on a technical level is insane, and Aaron Sorkin's script is the most intelligent, gripping to come along in a long while-- this is the perfect vehicle for him, he should continue to only write for over-caffeinated college students.  Possibly one of the few films of 2010 that will be analyzed, dissected, and debated long after all of are dead, and with good reason.
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1) Black Swan- from the moment I saw Darren Aronofsky's ballet freak-out horror movie, I knew I had seen something special.  I wasn't sure what just yet, but that the film crept up into my dreams made me acutely aware I'd something that stirred me.  Further viewings confirms that this a truly heady piece of cinema.  Tense, frustrating, perhaps even infuriating, but also incredibly moving.  Nina Sayers just wants to be perfect...in the end she succeeds, but only because Aronofsky, the writers, technicians, and it's star Natalie Portman made her perfect!

Annette Bening, Santa Barbara Film Festival



The great Bening was feted by the Santa Barbara Film Festival in one of those great publicity hunt award given to famous people\eventual Oscar nominees. Great speech, however.

Dogtooth

Far and away the strangest Academy Award nomination of this year, possibly ever belongs to a Grecian oddity called Dogtooth, a nominee for best foreign language film.  It's a weird, disorienting, transfixing movie by turns unsettling and fascinating.  The film became internationally famous (perhaps infamous) win it won the Un Certain Regard award at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.  Yet what's striking about Dogtooth is that the shocking moments of the film are as passively observed as anything else in the film; and that the moments that are calm are in retrospect even more blisteringly shocking.  When it comes to writing about a film like this, which is its center fairly amoral, and utterly up to interpretation from the eyes of it's beholder, one must fess up and ask: what the hell did I just watch.  In my eyes, it was either a masterpiece or an exercise in cinematic brutality.  To put it mildly, let's simply state that this is perhaps one guaranty of a foreign film likely never to be remade for American audiences.  But if it ever were, the high concept tag line would read:  "'The Village', as directed by Michael Haneke, from a script by David Lynch."

Directed by Giorgos Lanthimos, with a script by Lanthimos and Efthymis Filippou, Dogtooth centers around a well-to-do suburban family, but really it might as well be centered in space somewhere, since everything from the start is so alien and strange.  We meet three young siblings-- two girls and a boy-- all attractive and the first scene shows them in a bathroom with a tape recorder.  The recording is a vocabulary lesson, yet the familiar words on the tape are given different, arbitrary definitions, for example, the word "sea" is defined as a piece of furniture.  Suddenly we're thrust into a sheltered environment where everything is jumbled, mixed, and not what it seems.  Where a trio of home-schooled children are presented a life that resembles no one else whatsoever.  A fascinating and altogether sad treatise, but intriguing, and engrossing.  The film, to it's great credit, always seems to want the audience to know more.

As the film continues, in a tightly and brightly filmed hour-and-a-half, we see more of this most unusual family: mom, dad, and three kids-- neither of which are given actual names, referred to by pronouns, and learn more of the strange lives they lead.  The father brings home girls to sate the sexual desires of his son, the family is trained to fear cats, and a the titular "dogtooth" is a canine that comes out when a child is ready to leave the nest.  Most of the proceedings lead to a common reaction that the parents are sadists, but I suppose that would be too easy of a pronouncement for a film that's provocative in structure and plot, where there's moments of genuine familial love coupled with gruesome and unsettling imagery.  What separates the film from being a truly great piece of art, I think, is that it's merely a thesis, and there's no moment of catharsis.  It's difficult to have an emotional response to a film where none of the characters appear to have an emotion whatsoever.  But then again, it's a strange auteur film where everything appears designed from every gesture and shot, and the intentional appears filmed as desired, and there's something exhilarating about that as well.

The film path leads down to crazy corners just waiting to test it's audience-- incest, prostitution, startling random acts of violence, and a gruesome cat murder that is filmed with such detachment, I might jar even the bravest of filmgoers.  I recommend Dogtooth because moreso than The Social Network or Black Swan, it's the definitive conversation piece of 2010, love it or hate it, there's something at work here...something eerie and brave.  One thing that I feel should be undisputed, regardless of cinematic taste: the stellar, unsettling work of actress Aggelike Papoulia, who plays the eldest daughter with such a focused, go-for-broke stride, it's almost unbearable.  I want to see more from her.  B+

Directors Guild Awards


FEATURE FILM: Tom Hooper, The King's Speech
DOCUMENTARY FILM: Charles Ferguson, Inside Job


I'm shocked, I feel in need of deep emotional cleansing from the shock.  In a week of astonishing surprises (or non-surprises, I suppose they were reality checks, if nothing else), it appears that the king has spoken, and that's pretty much the end of the that one.  This must be the biggest surprise of all, since, while their was always the possibility that The King's Speech would win the top prize, one must assume that the utterly accomplished and brilliantly achieved technique of Mr. David Fincher would surely have seemed more impressive by his peers.  Let me state: The King's Speech is not a bad film, and certainly not an embarrassment, should the academy follow suit; it is however an overly pat one, and one I feel as though I've seen before, versus Fincher's The Social Network, which is startling, and fresh and jolting and alive, with the magic of an amazing script and spirited acting-- it's a hard, dense, challenging, magnificently structured piece of art, whereas The King's Speech is a pleasant crowdpleaser.  I suppose, I must accept the inevitable!

On a brighter note, Ferguson's Inside Job is worthier than worthy...

Sundance Film Festival Winners

Taking a break from the 2010 awards spectacle, the crystal ball has started for 2011 with the announcement of the winners of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival:

GRAND JURY PRIZE (Drama): Like Crazy
a love story starring Anton Yelchin, Felicity Jones (The Tempest), and Jennifer Lawrence, Oscar nominee from last year's Sundance champ, Winter's Bone.  Keep on eye out here, as the last two years in a row, the big Sundance winner has been it's way into Oscar's fancy (Precious in 2009, and Winter's Bone in 2010); of course, with clearer thinking, one must be reminded that the last two years have been the only times in history where Sundance's top prize was also a Best Picture nominee...

GRAND JURY PRIZE (Documentary): How to Die in Oregon
A documentary by Peter Richardson about assisted suicide.  Perhaps an Academy flick-- remember that 2 of the eventual Oscar nominees from last year made it in (Exit Through the Gift Shop and Restrepo), while the presumed frontrunner, now also-ran Waiting for 'Superman' also premiered at the 2010 Sundance Festival.

AUDIENCE AWARD (Drama): Circumstance 
Drama centering around a wealthy Iranian family coming to terms with a teenager's sexual rebellion, and her brother's dangerous obsession...sounds ominous, and cheery!

AUDIENCE AWARD (Documentary): Buck
A documentary about master horse trainer, Buck Brannaman.

WORLD CINEMA AWARD (Drama): Happy, Happy
From Norway...Animal Kingdom won this prize a year ago, featuring a glowing and blistering Oscar nominated performance from Jacki Weaver.

WORLD CINEMA AWARD (Documentary): Hell and Back Again
A documentary from the perspective of the US Marine fighting in Afghanistan.

WORLD CINEMA AUDIENCE AWARD (Drama): Kinyarwanda

WORLD CINEMA AUDIENCE AWARD (Documentary): Senna

BEST DIRECTOR (Drama): Sean Durkin, Martha Marcy May Marlene
Buzzed about flick starring Elizabeth Olsen (the sister of Mary Kate and Ashley) about a woman struggling to re-assimilate after fleeing a cult.  Also stars Sarah Paulson and John Hawkes, a Best Supporting Actor nominee for Winter's Bone.  I'd love to be around to hear people mangle that title up...would that be cruel?

BEST DIRECTOR (Documentary): Jon Foy, Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles

BEST DIRECTOR- WORLD CINEMA (Drama): Paddy Considine, Tyrannosaur

BEST DIRECTOR- WORLD CINEMA (Documentary): James Marsh, Project Nim
Awards buffs well remember that Marsh won the documentary prize two years ago for Man on Wire.

WALDO SALT SCREENWRITING AWARD: Sam Levinson, Another Happy Day
Dysfunction family flick starring Ellen Barkin, Ezra Miller (City Island), Demi Moore, Thomas Hayden Church and Ellen Burstyn.

BEST SCREENWRITING- WORLD CINEMA: Erez Kav-El, Restoration

SPECIAL JURY PRIZE: Felicity Jones, Like Crazy

Denver Film Critics Society

The last critics group to announce their favorites of 2010, and I post with a certain pride in that Denver is the land that birthed me, or my mom birthed me, but the city was Denver.


PICTURE: The Social Network
DIRECTOR: David Fincher, The Social Network
ACTOR: Colin Firth, The King's Speech
ACTRESS: Natalie Portman, Black Swan
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Christian Bale, The Fighter
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Melissa Leo, The Fighter
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Inception- Christopher Nolan
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: The Social Network- Aaron Sorkin
ANIMATED FEATURE: Toy Story 3
DOCUMENTARY: Exit Through the Gift Shop
FOREIGN FILM: Mother
ORIGINAL SONG: "If I Rise," 127 Hours
ORIGINAL SCORE: TRON: Legacy- Daft Punk

It's been a whimper-filled week for David Fincher's The Social Network, as The King's Speech stole it's thunder at the PGA awards, and with the most Oscar nominations, which I suppose raising a question on the relevance of the critics as a whole.  The Social Network has bulldozed and killed the other films in contention with the critics, the a rippling sweep, and yet it's being thrown out to dry by the guilds, thus far.  Theories will arise, and till the end of time, I suppose there will be a degree of contentiousness whoever rises on top, but The Social Network has the technique, while The King's Speech has the heart-- heart usually wins, except it doesn't: remember last year, the critical darling was The Hurt Locker, a ball-busting war film that made no money.  I conquered all because of it's unparalleled technique, coupled with the the David vs. Goliath headline in it's tight race against juggernaut Avatar, again coupled with the attractive media hook of a female, Kathryn Bigelow, possibly making history.  The Social Network lacks that headline, and is, in truth, an unflinching character study of an asshole, which will make critics and cinephiles wet their respective pants, when done well, but not so for the industry at large; and with a boo and a snicker...

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Opening This Week



WIDE RELEASES:

  • The Rite- From the director of 1408 and Derailed comes this Anthony Hopkins thriller.  He plays a priest, and this is something to do with exorcisms or something.  Or a standard early release schlocker flick that will likely open decently and be quickly forgotten about (think last years Daybreakers or Legion- oh how I loathe January films!)  Random musing-- when was the last Hopkins, one of the brightest and most dignified of actors to ever grace the screen, seemed to actually be trying?  My memory takes us back to 1996 and his turn as Nixon...anyone else?
  • The Mechanic- Jason Statham is back in what appears an old school assassin-type thriller.  He's joined by Tony Goldwyn, Donald Sutherland and Ben Foster.  Thinking of Foster, he really is due for a top role for some time now-- last year's terrific leading man turn in The Messenger proved that-- he deserves better than sidekick duty!  Sidenote: it means nothing so early this time of year, but The Mechanic so far I think has the best poster of 2010.
  • From Prada to Nada- The bit synopsis on IMDb suggest this a "latina spin on Jane Austin's Sense & Sensibility, but I'm sure whatever audience this horribly titled film has won't care too much about that, and not to be cruel, but I've pretty much lost interest myself.


LIMITED RELEASES:

  • Biutiful- After a pathetic release in late 2010, the grim Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu flick that earned Javier Bardem a leading actor Oscar nomination, as well a foreign-language berth, is finally getting a more substantial release.  So, if you're lucky enough to live in one of the cities it's opening in, and not too depressed by the idea of watching a two-and-a-half-hour movie about a man dying, this one's probably the best out there right now.
  • Kaboom- Gregg Araki, a filmmaker who was once at the forefront of the indie queer movement of the early 1990s (his anarchic and sinister The Doom Generation is a ball-buster, and his 2005's Joseph Gordon Levitt flick Mysterious Skin is definitely a must see), returns, it seems, to his roots after the more crowdpleasing Anna Faris stoner flick Smiley FaceKaboom about sexual awakenings, and bi-sexual angst among college kids had it's premiere at last years Cannes Film Festival.  Araki is usually a very strong visual filmmaker, so this one might be worth it for the adventurous filmgoer.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Oscar Nominations

BEST PICTURE
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

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

BEST ACTOR
Javier Bardem, Biutiful
Jeff Bridges, True Grit
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
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
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
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 SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams, The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter, The King's Speech
Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit
Jackie Weaver, Animal Kingdom

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Another Year- Mike Leigh
The Fighter- Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson & Keith Dorrington
Inception- Christopher Nolan
The Kids Are All Right- Stuart Blumberg & Lisa Cholodenko
The King's Speech- David Seider

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
127 Hours- Simon Beaufoy & Danny Boyle
The Social Network- Aaron Sorkin
Toy Story 3- Michael Arndt, John Lassiter, Andrew Stanton & Lee Unkrich
True Grit- Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Winter's Bone- Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

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

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Gasland
Inside Job
Restrepo
Wasteland

BEST FOREIGN FILM
Biutiful
Dogtooth
In a Better World
Incendies
Outside the Law

BEST ART DIRECTION
Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Inception
The King's Speech
True Grit

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

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

BEST FILM EDITING
127 Hours
Black Swan
The Fighter
The King's Speech
The Social Network

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
127 Hours
How to Train Your Dragon
Inception
The King's Speech
The Social Network

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
"If I Rise," 127 Hours
"Coming Home," Country Strong
"I See the Light," Tangled
"We Belong Together," Toy Story 3

BEST SHORT FILM (Live Action)
The Confession
The Crush
God of Love
Na Wewe
Wish 143

BEST ANIMATED FILM (Short Subject)
Day & Night
The Gruffalo
Let's Pollute
The Lost Thing
Madagascar, carpet de voyage


BEST DOCUMENTARY (Short Subject)
Killing in the Name
Poster Girl
Strangers No More
Sun Come Up
The Warriors of Qiugang

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

BEST SOUND MIXING
Inception
The King's Speech
Salt
The Social Network
True Grit

BEST MAKEUP
Barney's Version
The Way Back
The Wolfman

BEST VISUAL EFFECT
Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Hereafter
Inception
Iron Man 2

Oscar Nomination Eve

Twas the night before Oscar nominations, and nothing was stirring but a stammering king.  Surprises in this media era seem fewer and far between.  I hope for the best for my favorites of the movie year 2010, and yet am skeptical for the certainty of the way thing are.

My no guts, go glory pick: MARION COTILLARD, Inception


No logic behind it, just a dream I had.

Otherwise, here we go again, down the rabbit hole of movie-going oblivion.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Producers Guild Award Winners


FEATURE FILM: The King's Speech
ANIMATED FILM: Toy Story 3
DOCUMENTARY: Waiting for 'Superman'

And now friends, we have what you all have been waiting for: an actual horse race, as The King's Speech, with it's proud period stature takes the limelight from the critical darling The Social Network.  Last Sunday, when the David Fincher-Aaron Sorkin Facebook phenom took center stage at the Golden Globes, many proclaimed the race over, done, finito!  However, Tom Hooper's stately royal drama has gained plenty of the power as the week progressed, topping (not unexpectedly) the BAFTA nominations (although it's two Best Picture nominations seem a tad unfair-- it nominated for Best Picture proper, as well as Best British Picture!), and now rejoicing in it's Producers Guild win, and it's a fairly substantial one at that.  Here are the PGA (non-golf) stats:

A History of the PGA.
Only seven times in the PGA history has it's winner not won the Oscar!  I fear the next month of awards hoopla will get ugly...

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Opening This Week

WIDE RELEASE:
The options this week are sex with Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher or suffering with the Siberian gulag...


  • No Strings Attached- romantic comedy starring Natalie Portman (in the first of eighty thousand 2011 releases) and Ashton Kutcher.  They're cute young things who don't want to bother with commitment, until, I suppose, love happens...I kind of the think the romantic comedy genre needs to go on a ten-year hiatus for retooling; just an aside.  I worry that the middling reviews for this might hurt Portman's Oscar chances, it eerily recalls the 2009 flop Bride Wars that Anne Hathaway plugged in the middle of her Rachel Getting Married awards run; hopefully it won't be disastrous enough to recall Eddie Murphy's Norbit, which soiled his awards chances for Dreamgirls.  And just for a quick editorial, I must admit the cringe-inducing aspect of the premise, and title-- sounds like maddening male fantasy. okay I'm done!  This one is oddly directed by Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters, Dave), and co-stars Greenberg's Greta Gerwig; the latter of which is a good thing.
  • The Way Back- Peter Weir's survival tale starring Jim Sturges, Colin Farrell, Ed Harris and Saorsie Ronan has sadly already become an awards season victim, despite having a few very ardent supporters.  It could never quite get it together, thanks to a distribution company without the proper resources and a story that sounds like a difficult sit.  Accessibility or not, I'm totally looking forward to this one, as Weir is too exceptional a filmmaker to overlook-- Witness, Dead Poets Society, The Truman Show, Fearless, Master & Commander; grueling or not, he's earned our attention.
 


LIMITED RELEASE:
  • The Company Men- Unless you're were one of the seven people who caught the film when it opened last November for three days in two cities, here it comes back.  In what is hopefully the last week of 2010 leftovers, The Weinstein Company (who understandably had bigger fish to fry with The King's Speech and Blue Valentine) will unveil John Welles' (ER) timely tale of corporate suffering starring Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones, Chris Cooper and Kevin Costner.  This one's been around since debuting at Sundance last year, so I suppose it's fitting that it's getting a proper opening whilst Sundance 2011 kicks off.  The reviews have been kind, but buzz at a loss I suppose.  What interests me is the supporting cast in Rosemarie DeWitt (Rachel Getting Married) and Maria Bello, who hasn't been given a role to rock since A History of Violence, sigh!
 
 
  • Applause!- Yet again, another 2010 holdover, this one a Danish entry starring Paprika Stein (The Celebration, 1998) as an aging actress performing in a production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, as her real life starts to mirror the events in the play.  Stein has been afforded a Oscar campaign, and word is she's amazing, so this one might be worth checking out.  Of course, the whole Oscar thing won't happen.

Best Foreign Language Film

One of the most difficult categories in the Academy has whittled the selection down to nine films fighting for the five slots next Tuesday morning:

  • Biutiful (Mexico)
    • Mexico has earned 7 nominations; 0 wins.
  • Confessions (Japan)
    • Japan has earned 12 nominations; including 1 win.
  • Dogtooth (Greece)
    • Greece has earned 5 nominations; 0 wins.
  • Even the Rain (Spain)
    • Spain has earned 19 nominations; 4 wins.
  • In a Better World (Denmark)
    • Denmark has earned 7 nominations; 2 wins.
  • Incendies (Canada)
    • Canada has earned 4 nominations; 1 win.
  • Life Above All (South Africa)
    • South Africa has earned 2 nominations; 1 win.
  • Outside the Law (Algeria)
    • Algeria has earned 4 nominations, 1 win.
  • Simple Simon (Sweden)
    • Sweden has earned 14 nominations, 3 wins.
 How many of these films has opened in the United States?  I joke, because the answer is none, except the little, tiny late 2010 release of Biutiful, which is the highest profile of the top nine, with it's headlining star, Javier Bardem and director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Babel.)  Golden Globe winner In a Better World, directed by Suzanne Bier (Brothers, the original Danish film that inspired the 2009 Tobey Maguire-Natalie Portman one, and Things We Lost in the Fire) made it into the second round, as did festival favorites Incendies, and Dogtooth, which surely on it's reputation is the most surprising on the list, and surely the work of the outside Academy critical vote, rather than the populist one-- the foreign film committee has a bonkers voting process, in that a few films are selected each year based on the critical consensus, it was changed the year after the Academy stupidly snubbed the great Romanian abortion drama 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007.)  The only one I've viewed out of the group, out of luck not accessibility, was Spain's entry Even the Rain, which stars Gael Garcia Bernal; let's hope it's the weakest of the group, otherwise it's a sad slate!

Missing in action: the top prize winner from Cannes: Uncle Boomnee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Thailand) and festival favorite Of Gods and Men (France, always the Academy favorite country.)

Not eligible: Italy shamefully overlooked it's likely best shot in I Am Love and missed out on a nomination.  Sweden made the cut, but not for it's most successful import of 2010-- The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo wasn't submitted.

Costume Designers Guild Nominations

CONTEMPORARY FILM
Black Swan- Amy Westcott
Burlesque- Michael Kaplan
Inception- Jeffrey Kurland
The Social Network- Jacqueline West
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps- Ellen Mirojnick

PERIOD FILM
The Fighter- Mark Bridges
The King's Speech- Jenny Beaven
True Grit- Mary Zophres

FANTASY FILM
Alice in Wonderland- Colleen Atwood
The Tempest- Sandy Powell
TRON: Legacy- Christine Bieselin Clark & Michael Wilkinson


Kind of the strange year for costume design, since really only Alice in Wonderland, and maybe The Tempest count as pure baity, eye candy films in this category.  I'm sure The King's Speech will get nominated, but that's very subdued period, not the flashy, Oscar-endorsed more is more type of film.  Burlesque, you might just be an 2-time Oscar nominee this year...eat that up Razzie Awards!

African American Film Critics Association

BEST PICTURE: The Social Network

Top Ten of 2010:
  1. The Social Network
  2. The King's Speech
  3. Inception
  4. Black Swan
  5. Night Catches Us
  6. The Fighter
  7. Frankie & Alice
  8. Blood Done Sign My Name
  9. Get Low
  10. For Colored Girls
DIRECTOR: Christopher Nolan, Inception 
ACTOR: Mark Wahlberg, The Fighter
ACTRESS: Halle Berry, Frankie & Alice
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Michael Ealy, For Colored Girls
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Kimberly Elise, For Colored Girls
SCREENPLAY: Night Catches Us
DOCUMENTARY: Waiting for 'Superman'
SONG: "Four Women," For Colored Girls

Gay & Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association

FILM OF THE YEAR
I Am Love

PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right

DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR
Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work

LGBT-THEMED MOVIE OF THE YEAR
I Love You, Phillip Morris

LGBT-THEMED DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR 
8: The Mormon Proposition

CAMPY (INTENTIONAL OR NOT) FILM OF THE YEAR
Burlesque

UNSUNG FILM OF THE YEAR
Easy A

THE WE'RE WILDE ABOUT YOU RISING STAR AWARD
Darren Criss, Glee

TIMELESS AWARD
Angela Lansbury

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Ricky Gervais and the Golden Social Network

The Golden Globes afterglow is settled, and oddly the most important aspect of the show, the films and winners acknowledged, took a backseat to the polarizing reaction to host Ricky Gervais.  Was he too mean?  Biting the hand that fed him, he lashed out at the Hollywood Foreign Press, calling attention to their sketchy reputation, and allegations of accepting bribes, Gervais, seemingly on a mission to make everyone in the room as uncomfortable as possible, named names and told tales out of school.  Not in any away to flare the flames, but isn't this the trademark of the prickly Brits humor to begin with.  He's made a name for himself, and cultivated an entire comedic empire of sorts by skewering the celebrity machine, via his HBO show Extras, and even while presenting and accepting honors at awards functions like the Golden Globes.  With his full lager on stage, it was business as usual, I'd say, the main difference, and probably the main reason why the resentments have made media attention, is that he was, unusually, not particularly funny.  His jokes, whether slamming the critically dismissed\Globe recognized Angelina Jolie-Johnny Depp film The Tourist, or stinging presenter Robert Downey, Jr. with reminders of his past addiction and jail sentence, for the most part fell flat, inviting criticism that he was just being nasty.

I suppose that's always going to the fine line one crosses with off-color humor, if it flies, and all is laughing, the offensive nature is easier to sit through, yet when it drags, you just come off an offensive jerk.  That, I think, is the reason there so ado about the trailer a couple of months regarding the Ron Howard film The Dilemma, which featured a gay joke that sparked media outrage and allegations of homophobia from several gay rights advocacy groups.  It's not so the joke was truly offensive, I believe it was merely lazy, it's that it wasn't all that funny-- again if you get a laugh, it eases the discomfort, otherwise there's trouble.  And in truth, the Hollywood Foreign Press has a bad reputation, rightfully or wrongfully, it's a laughing stock in and out of the industry 364 days a year, yet the day of the ceremony all parties come together to admire this strange group, seemingly more interested in taking pictures with the famous, then actually having a thoughtful discussion of the cinema.  There is in fact a real life lawsuit occurring backstage of the perhaps salacious doings with the HFPA.  It was also reported that Sony flew the members out to attend Cher's Vegas show; surprisingly, he film, the flop Burlesque was nominated for two awards, winning Best Song.  Even Cecil B. DeMille recipient Robert De Niro couldn't resist fanning the fire of mean-spirited anti-Globes sentiment, then again he accepted their lifetime achievement award at the same time; if he felt so disdainful about the group at large, why bother showing up at all?

From my perspective, I find it awfully difficult to truly sympathize with the celebrities who were quoted as feeling uncomfortable through the ceremony, or the Hollywood Foreign Press, who seemed less than thrilled with Gervais' ungracious emceeing (suffice to say, he will not return next year.)  That's part of the nature of the industry, and while it may appear unseemly, that's also a part of the unattractiveness that can come along in any awards season.  And this is the time, post-Golden Globes, all leading up to magical Oscars, where the gloves come off and the politicking kicks into overdrive.  Yet to my eyes, was Gervais more or less obscene while poking fun at Robert Downey, Jr's past troubles, than Downey, Jr. was while objectifying the leading ladies he was presenting the award to (including making a reference to young nominee Emma Stone about starring in a project that would be an age-inappropriate Blue Valentine)?  The difference was that Downey, Jr. was funny in his snarky charming delivery.

What I choose to think about is the lovely fact the a film like The Social Network, a talky, invaluable piece of American filmmaking was the big winner of the night, and that this dense, powerful, difficult movie really must be considered an unbeatable force at this point.  Statistically speaking, and I know it's irritating and disgusting to think of an Oscar race as a quantified math equation, it would take something extraordinary to shift it from first place.

Awards Daily made a great chart of the great sweeps in the last year years, and noticed that no film is modern awards history has done what The Social Network has this year:


And with the exception of a few minor critics groups, it won everything.  Lots of prognosticators, including myself, have noted that The King's Speech has the emotion and crowd-pleasing accessibility of a bona-fide Academy Award winner, perhaps a la Rocky win it won the Oscar versus more complex films like Network and All the President's Men, but at the same time barring some kind of crazy unforeseeable event, and it would have to be extreme, something like a photo of David Fincher eating a baby or something, one must confess that 2010 is nothing but the year of The Social Network, and all the belly-aching about the films generational gap, or lack of a violin-stringed emotional vibe should be put to bay, especially since it likely has the Producers Guild and Directors Guild awards in the bag; if an upset were going arise, it would have already started to show it's face, and The King's Speech headlining the BAFTA's likely won't be enough.  The biggest hurdle for The Social Network will come in the form of the upcoming Screen Actors Guild awards, which one may assume The King's Speech has the advantage, or even The Fighter, especially since the acting in The Social Network, while great and nominated has never really been it's awards focal point.  But then again, the SAG awards aren't the Oscar bellwether many like to claim it is...I made a chart to explain:


SAG gets it right about half the time in their short awards history, let's remember last year when Inglourious Basterds won the SAG, even though it didn't have a chance in hell with the Oscars.  Some like to call the anomalous Crash victory due it's win at the Screen Actors Guild, but since that's the only major award the Paul Haggis diatribe won, over the more widely awarded Brokeback Mountain, one must call attention to the argument that perhaps the 2005 Oscar race was shrouded in certain parties discomfort to a particular subject matter, something in which The Social Network won't suffer from.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

BAFTA Nominations

The nominations have come out for the British Academy of Film & Television Awards.  The Brits have announced their equivalent to the Oscars.  They like ballerinas, dreams, royalty (of course), Facebook, and westerns (who knew?)  While the lists themselves are not bad, there's one thing about the BAFTA's that irritate me everytime: Why must they have a Best Picture category as well as a Best British Picture category; shouldn't the Best Picture awarded by a British governing body be the Best British Picture as well?  I always feels a certain inferiority complex by the BAFTAs, as if they must be relevant the Academy Awards, but why?  It's okay if you don't align with the forces of Hollywood.  British faves like 127 Hours, Made in Dagenham and Another Year aren't good enough for the big category, have some hometown pride, who cares if the Oscar disagree, this is your awards!!@!$!@$

Anyhow, for the most part, a fine list!

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

BEST BRITISH FILM
  • 127 Hours
  • Another Year
  • Four Lions
  • The King's Speech
  • Made in Dagenham

BEST DIRECTOR
  • Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
  • Danny Boyle, 127 Hours
  • David Fincher, The Social Network
  • Tom Hooper, The King's Speech
  • Christopher Nolan, Inception

BEST DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
  • The Arbor- Clio Arnold, Tracy O'Riordan (producer)
  • Exit Through the Gift Shop- Bansky, Jaimie D'Cruz (director\producer)
  • Four Lions- Chris Morris (writer\director)
  • Monsters- Gareth Edwards (writer\director)
  • Skeletons- Nick Whitfield (writer\director)

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

BEST ACTRESS
Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Julianne Moore, The Kids Are All Right
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Noomi Rapace, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christian Bale, The Fighter
Andrew Garfield, The Social Network
Pete Postlethwaite, The Town
Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right
Geoffrey Rush, The King's Speech

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams, The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter, The King's Speech
Barbara Hershey, Black Swan
Lesley Manville, Another Year
Miranda Richardson, Made in Dagenham

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
  • Black Swan- Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz & John McLaughlin
  • The Fighter- Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
  • Inception- Christopher Nolan
  • The Kids Are All Right- Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
  • The King's Speech- David Seidler

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
  • 127 Hours- Simon Beaufoy & Danny Boyle
  • The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo- Rasmus Heisterberg & Nikolaj Arcel
  • The Social Network- Aaron Sorkin
  • Toy Story 3- Michael Arndt
  • True Grit- Joel Coen & Ethan Coen

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
  • Despicable Me
  • How to Train Your Dragon
  • Toy Story 3

BEST FOREIGN FILM
  • Biutiful
  • The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
  • I Am Love
  • Of Gods & Men
  • The Secret in Their Eyes

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
  • 127 Hours- Anthony Dod Mantle & Enrique Chediak
  • Black Swan- Matthew Libatique
  • Inception- Wally Pfister
  • The King's Speech- Danny Cohen
  • True Grit- Roger Deakins

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
  • Alice in Wonderland- Colleen Atwood
  • Black Swan- Amy Westcott
  • The King's Speech- Jenny Beaven
  • Made in Dagenham- Louise Stjernsward
  • True Grit- Mary Zophres

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
  • Alice in Wonderland- Robert Stromberg & Karen O'Hara
  • Black Swan- Therese DePrez & Tora Peterson
  • Inception- Guy Hendrix Dyas, Larry Dias & Doug Mowat
  • The King's Speech- Eve Stewart & Judy Farr
  • True Grit- Jess Gonchor & Nancy Haigh

BEST FILM EDITING
  • 127 Hours- Jon Harris
  • Black Swan- Andrew Weisblum
  • Inception- Lee Smith
  • The King's Speech- Tariq Anwar
  • The Social Network- Angus Wall & Kirk Baxter

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
  • 127 Hours- A.R. Rahman
  • Alice in Wonderland- Danny Elfman
  • How to Train Your Dragon- John Powell
  • Inception- Hans Zimmer
  • The King's Speech- Alexandre Desplat

BEST SOUND
  • 127 Hours
  • Black Swsn
  • Inception
  • The King's Speech
  • True Grit

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
  • Alice in Wonderland
  • Black Swan
  • Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
  • Inception
  • Toy Story 3

BEST MAKE-UP & HAIRSTYLING
  • Alice in Wonderland
  • Black Swan
  • Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
  • The King's Speech
  • Made in Dagenham

ORANGE WEDNESDAYS RISING STAR AWARD
  • Gemma Arterton
  • Andrew Garfield
  • Tom Hardy
  • Aaron Johnson
  • Emma Stone

Monday, January 17, 2011

Golden Globes

BEST PICTURE (Drama)- The Social Network
BEST PICTURE (Musical or Comedy)- The Kids Are All Right
BEST DIRECTOR- David Fincher, The Social Network
BEST ACTOR (Drama)- Colin Firth, The King's Speech
BEST ACTRESS (Drama)- Natalie Portman, Black Swan
BEST ACTOR (Comedy)- Paul Giamatti, Barney's Version
BEST ACTRESS (Comedy)- Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR- Christian Bale, The Fighter
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS- Melissa Leo, The Fighter
BEST SCREENPLAY- The Social Network- Aaron Sorkin
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE- Toy Story 3
BEST FOREIGN FILM- In a Better World (Denmark)
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE- The Social Network- Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
BEST ORIGINAL SONG- "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me," Burlesque
CECIL B. DEMILLE AWARD- Robert DeNiro


So The Social Network remains supreme with the Hollywood Foreign Press winning four out of six awards-- it only lost in acting categories, which sadly proves a point that subtlety never wins awards.  Still it's a good showing for the usual suspects.  It's a shame when the biggest surprise is Best Foreign Film.

BEST SPEECH: Natalie Portman, who was cute and sincere and utterly charming, with baby bump and all.

runners-up: Melissa Leo, who appears slightly drunk (this is the Globes) but totally thrilled; her co-star Christian Bale, finally publicly speaking with his natural accent; and Annette Bening who closed her graciously polite speech with a sweet nod to her husband, the recipient of the 1962 Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer.

Friday, January 14, 2011

Broadcast Film Critics Association

The Critics Choices:


PICTURE: The Social Network
DIRECTOR: David Fincher, The Social Network
ACTOR: Colin Firth, The King's Speech
ACTRESS: Natalie Portman, Black Swan
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Christian Bale, The Fighter
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Melissa Leo, The Fighter
YOUNG ACTOR: Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit
ACTING ENSEMBLE: The Fighter
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: The King's Speech- David Seidler
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: The Social Network- Aaron Sorkin
ANIMATED FEATURE: Toy Story 3
FOREIGN FILM: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
DOCUMENTARY: Waiting for 'Superman'
ART DIRECTION: Inception
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Inception
COSTUME DESIGN: Alice in Wonderland
FILM EDITING: Inception
SCORE: The Social Network
SONG: "If I Rise," 127 Hours
SOUND: Inception
MAKE-UP: Alice in Wonderland
VISUAL EFFECTS: Inception
MADE FOR TV MOVIE: The Pacific
ACTION FILM: Inception
COMEDY: Easy A

The Social Network is the big winner, but it wasn't a sweep, as Inception dominates the tech awards.  I was expecting The King's Speech to be favored here, as a prelude to an all-King's Speech weekend; pleasantly surprised, the Broadcast Film Critics are still critics, the real test will come Sunday at the Golden Globes.  The actors were fairly expected, however I believe Supporting Actress is the most in-flux.

American Cinema Editors Nominations

The American Cinema Editors acknowledge the intangible work of film editing, the unsung heroes of the filmmaking process.  Much is noted in the necessity to be appreciated by the film editors to have any chance of a Best Picture win.  The last film to win Best Picture at the Oscars without a film editing Oscar was 1980's Ordinary People.

The nominees for the 2010 ACE "Eddies" are:

BEST DRAMA
  • Black Swan- Andrew Weisblum
  • The Fighter- Pamela Martin
  • Inception- Lee Smith
  • The King's Speech- Tariq Anwar
  • The Social Network- Angus Wall & Kirk Baxter
And here again, we are reminded of our "top five."

BEST MUSICAL OR COMEDY
  • Alice in Wonderland- Chris Lebenzon
  • Easy A- Susan Littenberg
  • The Kids Are All Right- Jeffrey M. Werner
  • Made in Dagenham- Michael Parker
  • Scott Pilgrim vs. the World- Jonathon Amos & Paul Machliss
Scott Pilgrim
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
  • Despicable Me- Gregory Perler & Pam Ziegenhagen
  • How to Train Your Dragon- Maryann Brandon & Darren T. Holmes
  • Toy Story 3- Ken Schretzmann & Lee Unkrich
 BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
  • Exit Through the Gift Shop- Tom Fulford & Chris King
  • Inside Job- Chad Beck & Adam Bolt
  • Waiting for 'Superman'- Jay Cassidy, Greg Finton & Kim Roberts
Banksy's cutting is award worthy
No True Grit means one of two things: the guilds aren't feeling the Coen Brothers western, thus perhaps a chance that the Academy won't come full circle with the film; or that's peaking later than the voting seasons of many of the guilds, which is likely the more truthful statement-- earning $100 million just before ballots are due won't hurt.  The good news is the joyful inclusion of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and Exit Through the Gift Shop.  The whatever news is the now predictive quality of the "top five," no matter the value of the individual film.  The bad news is the awful, lazy award acceptance of the dreadful Alice in Wonderland.

Opening This Week

Ah, it's truly 2011, and this week features the first real studio\movie star offerings of the new year.  Last weekend's sole new wide release-- the Nicolas Cage vehicle Season of the Witch-- doesn't count.  It's also a fairly lucrative weekend if all parties play their cards right, with the MLK holiday on Monday.  This weekend offers:

WIDE RELEASE:

  • The Green Hornet- the onetime visionary director Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) tries his hand at the superhero game, as well as the 3-D thing-- I only wish he tried that with his witty dream piece The Science of Sleep (I think that could have been nifty!)  Seth Rogen stars, much slimmer than usual, as the titular dude.  I, personally don't care at all, but I'll likely catch it from dumb, mindless entertainment, plus supporting actors Christoph Waltz and Cameron Diaz might make it go down favorably, but I caution that this a retrofitted 3-D job, and most of them suck-- smart American consumers should see the film in the traditional 2-D format!
  • The Dilemma- oddly directed by Ron Howard, this bromance comedy stars Kevin James and Vince Vaughn; something about Vaughn's moral predicament if he should tell James' character that his wife is cheating.  The trailer looked unfunny, and was notable for it's anti-gay joke that got them in so much trouble.  Still, I bet given the lazy, but lucrative grosses for most Vince Vaughn (and Kevin James for that matter) films, it will probably have a solid opening weekend.  Again, as with Green Hornet, I should reserve judgement until I actually see the product, but...
LIMITED RELEASE:

  • Barney's Version- a holdover from 2010 finally getting it's release.  This one stars Paul Giamatti, presumably playing a very-Giamatti like sad sack.  His performance did receive a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy, so it may be worth checking out.  One caveat-- Sony Pictures Classics is releasing the film in limited release only, and it seems like an unlikely candidate for a wide release; I could be wrong.  However, that's one of my major complaints about platform releasing-- LET PEOPLE SEE YOUR MOVIE! It co-stars Dustin Hoffman, Minnie Driver and Rosamund Pike (who was so good in An Education; I'm rooting for her.)  Here's the trailer.
  • Every Day- a small, slice of life film about a married couple losing their way; too bad it doesn't look as sexy, raw or good as Blue Valentine.  It stars Helen Hunt, Liev Schrieber and Carla Gugino.  Here's the trailer.  As a side note, where's Hunt been lately?  I feel like she's been missing from film for like a decade now.
  • Burning Palms- an omnibus ensemble film directed by Christopher B. Landon (son of Michael) set in Los Angeles.  Stars Nick Stahl, Zoe Saldana, Shannon Doherty, Rosamund Pike (two this week) and Dylan McDermott. Here's the trailer.  Could be good in a weird, mindfuck kind of way, not that there's anything wrong with that.
___________________________________________________
Or if none of these films sate your hunger for quality cinema, Black Swan is expanding into further wide release this week, upping it's screen count to 2,328.  Those who've missed out on Darren Aronofsky's beautifully bent ballet freak out, should seek it out.  And you will know why Natalie Portman deserves to win the Golden Globe Sunday night.  Swan's current box office take is $63 million, which is amazingly strong for such an odd, brilliant little movie; that the film is currently (possibly) on track to gross over $100 million is a strange and beautiful bewilderment that makes me optimistic about American audiences hunger for bold filmmaking.  YAY!

Andrew Garfield as Spider-man

Tired of awards movies?  Just ready for summertime popcorn fun...well here's the first image of Andrew Garfield taking over the reins, or ruins of Tobey Maguire in Marc Webb's reboot of the Spider-man franchise.  The tease will have to settle for a while, since the as-of-yet untitled feature won't be coming out until July 2012.  Garfield's 2010 coming out party has been cause for celebration-- both The Social Network as his part in Never Let Me Go were quite splendid.  Of course those films are far interesting to me eyes than comic-book adaptations, or reboots-- isn't the reek of Spider-man 3 still in the air to give much a damn about the whole thing anyway?  Then again, Webb proved a nifty visual stylist with 2009's (500) Days of Summer, and I'm curious what he can do with real money at his disposal, and the casting seems intriguing with newcomer Garfield and Emma Stone playing his love interest.  However, the whole unnecessary-ness of it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.  We have a year-and-a-half to quell our expectations.

Iowa Film Critics Awards

PICTURE: The Social Network
DIRECTOR: David Fincher, The Social Network
ACTOR: Colin Firth, The King's Speech
ACTRESS: Natalie Portman, Black Swan
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Christian Bale, The Fighter
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Melissa Leo, The Fighter
ANIMATED FEATURE: Toy Story 3
BEST FILM THAT HAS YET TO OPEN IN IOWA: Another Year

INCONVENIENTLY HIDING IN 7 THEATERS!

 I like that last mention.  I live in Los Angeles, one the top and most essential cities in the country, and Another Year has barely opened here.  For an alleged Oscar contender, it's barely registered anything.  What's sad about that mention is the fact to so few films are actually accessible, sometimes even here, and movies are required to open in LA per Oscar eligibility status.  The dumping of every "worthy" title in the last week of the calendar year is depressing, but the hustle and tightness of theater space makes so many movies barely register any sort of pulse.  And that's the respect given to a legitimate Oscar frontrunner; finding lesser known, non-commercial American indie or foreign films, even in one of the largest cities in the world is a damning, fateful to doom, cause.
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