Friday, January 21, 2011

And the Nominees Will Be....And Now Are.....

Oscar nominations finally come out next week. Here's my predix. Sorry for the lack of commentary. Doing this in a rush.

By request, I removed the "other possibilities." What was once merely an informative posting is now a test of my psychic abilities. And if I get them all right, you must buy me a car.

Best Picture:
127 Hours
Black Swan
Inception
The Fighter
The Kids Are All Right
The King's Speech
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter's Bone

Total Correct: 10/10. Not a difficult year.

Best Director:
Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
Danny Boyle, 127 Hours
David Fincher, The Social Network
Tom Hooper, The King's Speech
Christopher Nolan, Inception

Total Correct: 3/5. Joel and Ethan Coen ("True Grit") and David O. Russell ("The Fighter") over Christopher Nolan and Danny Boyle?! Bad call, Academy. Bad call

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

Total Correct: 5/5. I haven't seen Biutiful yet, but I like the other choices.

Best Actress:
Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone
Julianne Moore, The Kids Are All Right
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit

Total Correct: 3/5. I think The Kids Are All Right is pretty overrated anyway, so I don't mind the Moore snub. But Hailee Steinfeld is nominated in the wrong category. Nicole Kidman ("Rabbit Hole") and Michelle Williams ("Blue Valentine") are good choices.

Best Supporting Actor:
Christian Bale, The Fighter
Andrew Garfield, The Social Network
Pete Postelthwaite, The Town
Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right
Geoffrey Rush, The King's Speech

Total Correct: 3/5: Missed on Garfield and Postelthwaite. Perfectly fine with the noms going to John Hawkes ("Winter's Bone") and Jeremy Renner ("The Town")

Best Supporting Actress:
Amy Adams, The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter, The King's Speech
Barbara Hershey, Black Swan
Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Jackie Weaver, Animal Kingdom

Total Correct: 4/5. I missed on Barbara Hershey because the Academy apparently thinks that a child is incapable of being a lead role.

Best Original Screenplay:
Another Year
Black Swan
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King's Speech

Total Correct: 4/5. "The Fighter" over "Black Swan"? Are you kidding?! Hey Academy!!! What is all that original about "The Fighter"? It's a recent and apparently well-documented true story. How much creativity even went into this script?

Best Adapted Screenplay:
127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter's Bone

Total Correct: 5/5. And the right ones were chosen.

Best Film Editing:
127 Hours
Black Swan
Inception
The King's Speech
The Social Network

Total Correct: 4/5. The Academy must really love "The Fighter". If you'd asked me which of these I might be wrong on, the LAST one I would've picked is "Inception". Stunning.

Best Cinematography:
127 Hours
Black Swan
Inception
The Social Network
True Grit

Total Correct: 4/5. "The King's Speech" over "127 Hours"? I'm good with that. I hadn't seen "The King's Speech" yet when I made this list. Now that I've seen it, it's a good choice.

Best Art Direction:
Alice in Wonderland
Black Swan
Inception
The King's Speech
True Grit

Total Correct: 4/5. You know, I almost put "Harry Potter" on here instead of "True Grit". Definitely did not think "Black Swan" would be the one I got wrong.

Best Sound Mixing:
127 Hours
Inception
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit

Total Correct: 3/5. Hmmm. I really thought "127 Hours" would be nominated. And the Pixar films usually get a nod here. Instead, they went with "Salt" (Underrated film) and "The King's Speech", which, again, I had not seen when I made the list. It's a good call.

Best Sound Editing:
Inception 
Toy Story 3
True Grit

Total Correct: 3/5. And I'm sure you can see why. I thought they only nominated 3 films here. Whoops. "Tron: Legacy" and "Unstoppable" were the other nominations.

Best Costume Design:
Alice in Wonderland
Black Swan
Made in Dagenham
The King's Speech
True Grit

Total Correct: 3/5. I didn't even know "The Tempest" had been released. Go figure. And I had no idea "I Am Love" was even contending. Still, another category where "Black Swan" got dissed.

Best Original Score:
127 Hours
How to Train Your Dragon
Inception
The King's Speech
The Social Network

Total Correct: 5/5. And I thought I might be going out on a limb with "How to Train Your Dragon".

Best Animated Feature:
How to Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
Toy Story 3

Total Correct: 3/3. One of the easier categories of the year.

Best Makeup:
Alice in Wonderland
The Fighter
The Wolfman

Total Correct: 1/3. I'm lucky if I even get one right in this category. Thankfully, the Academy LOVES to nominated Rick Baker, so "The Wolfman" was an obvious choice. "Barney's Version" and "The Way Back"? Whatever.