The Oscars! The one night of the year when everything is grand. This year they have corrected the error of having to scrounge to find ten Best Picture nominees to present a pretty good spread. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m hoping for some upsets, because if everything plays out the way it has been going, I will be sorely disappointed. Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s go into the hopefuls in the categories that I care and know about!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
127 Hours<\/strong><\/p>\n Danny Boyle\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s follow up to Slumdog Millionaire <\/em>isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t anything like that toe-tapping tale of exploitation that lead to further exploitation and ruined a nation forever. True, Boyle has retained the services of A.R. Rahman for his score, but he has replaced Dev Patel, Anil Kapoor and Freida Pinto with James Franco and pretty much no one and nothing else. To me, 127 Hours <\/em>was a real mix: Franco is excellent as Aron Ralston, keeping himself sane through the mere effort of trying to survive combined with talking to his video camera. Boyle is marginally less excellent, engaging intermittently in gimmicky split screen tactics, most notably at the beginning and the end. There is also a segment displaying the drop in temperature at night, which would be handy if fahrenheit meant a damn thing to me. Alas, it does not. Boyle\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gimmickry does not always work against the film, though: the title card\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s placement and timing is a masterstroke, and some of the fantasy sequences are quite striking.<\/p>\n Where Boyle goes horribly wrong is deciding to continue the fantasy into the epilogue, thus undermining the reality of what came before it. Franco is swimming with one arm only metaphorically, and gazing on everyone he knows on a lounge. Boyle doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ruin the film but he damn near scuppers it.<\/p>\n So, while 127 Hours <\/em>is a compelling movie anchored by a brilliant performance, it is too imperfect to credibly compete for Best Picture.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Black Swan<\/strong><\/p>\n Black Swan<\/em>! People who hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seen this thought that it was going to be The Wrestler<\/em> for ballet. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard to conceive of anyone being more wrong. Black Swan <\/em>is a tight psychological thriller that offers confusion as its main weapon. Is any of it literal? The lack of any points of view save Natalie Portman\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Nina confuse the matter. Black Swan <\/em>is a good film hampered by an ultimately confusing premise: Nina is cast as both the Black and White Swans, but everyone thinks she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not very good at it moments before the opening curtain. She has to conquer herself, but because the movie is so internal it can be difficult to see precisely how she relates to everyone else in the universe – if this is even relevant.<\/p>\n A love or hate movie, it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really stand a chance but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like it to receive some recognition – even though Portman is no longer my favourite choice for Best Actress.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Fighter<\/strong><\/p>\n The Fighter <\/em>is easily the most standard issue of the ten Best Picture nominees. Totally unsurprising rags to riches story about a boxer who learns to tune out his manipulative family so that he can become world champion. Great performances by Melissa Leo and Amy Adams in particular anchor a movie that has to hinge on acting because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard to care about its story – the boxing is barely featured, and when it is it is too derivative of Raging Bull<\/em>. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d think this would be one of the more likely lads because David O. Russell is nominated for Best Director, but even if both Christian Bale and Melissa Leo are destined for Supporting nods this movie feels destined for obscurity.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Inception<\/strong><\/p>\n You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll believe a man can BARM. Inception <\/em>came out long enough ago and was popular enough to suffer the inevitable backlash. It is this year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Avatar <\/em>but has more going for it and ultimately more staying power. By virtue of this dream heist movie being a blockbuster and no longer fresh in everyone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s minds (except for the true believers, of course) it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stand much chance but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nice to see it nominated. One of the best film experiences of 2010, at any rate.<\/p>\n It would be worth seeing it win for the head explosions alone.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Kids Are All Right<\/strong><\/p>\n One of two black sheep of the Best Picture roundup, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m kind of mystified as to why The Kids Are All Right <\/em>is here. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not exactly a perfectly realised movie, you know? I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll get into it more in the Actor and Actress roundups, but \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 nothing about this movie is particulary good<\/em>. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an okay movie as a whole but it oversimplifies things in regards to Mark Ruffalo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s character and is really not compelling in any capacity. It was only last week that I realised it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153message\u00e2\u20ac\u009d movie, that is, same-sex parents can raise children and form slightly dysfunctional families as well as any heteronormative parents.<\/p>\n To me, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a message, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more implicit. Therefore I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see this movie as particularly important, or worth much more than a second guess. However, I suppose it takes on extra meaning if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re surrounded by inhuman freaks who refuse to acknowledge that two women can find love with one another and \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 enjoy gay porn. This might be a ray of light for you, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not that great as a movie.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The King\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Speech<\/strong><\/p>\n Somehow this became the front runner against the evil empire that is Facebook and The Social Network. The King\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Speech <\/em>is the ultimate in buddy movies: Bertie and Lionel vs the Nazis! Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush inhabit their roles thoroughly, and Helena Bonham Carter remembered somewhere along the way that she can act. Take her off Tim Burton\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s payroll permanently and watch her grow. A well crafted movie that swells in all the right places and actually made me feel a bit guilty for having warm feelings towards the monarchy. Obviously an Australian in 2011 isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t supposed to feel such a way.<\/p>\n What I do know is I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d rather be beholden to Colin Firth than Jesse Eisenberg any day of the week. The King\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Speech <\/em>has the best chance of toppling The Social Network <\/em>monolith, and I fervidly hope it does.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Social Network<\/strong><\/p>\n How did a standard issue movie become such a phenomenon? Why does everyone love this movie? Why do they think that Aaron Sorkin is some sort of Messiah? Nothing about this movie is remarkable, at least in my memory. I will admit that I did not see it multiple times, because once was enough. Rapid fire sometimes funny dialogue! Thoroughly unlikeable characters! A concept that I still don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t find very interesting: the founding of Facebook by one horrible nerd.<\/p>\n Yes, the script is good but it also has some horrible things said. If Zuckerberg had actually said that he likes clubs because \u00e2\u20ac\u0153they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122e exclusive. And they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re fun. And they lead to a better life\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I would punch him in the face. If this movie is true to life, then life sucks. But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not entirely, because all of the women featured are either amalgams of real people or simple ciphers created to bolster Zuckerberg along on his quest for ultimate douche supremacy. Everything about the movie is technically well done but it adds up to a soulless and unpleasant mess. You could say that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s caught the spirit of the age, but what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s scarier is that it has captured what a lot of people want <\/em>to be the spirit of the age. In their minds, The Social Network <\/em>is the mirror of our existence – that, apart from the whole Zuckerberg thing, this is how we live, how we operate Facebook, how we party in our intense Ivy League colleges, where a minimum of study is committed and we’re too shallow to recognise Bill Gates when he’s talking to us. More human than human, indeed.<\/p>\n My worst nightmare is that\u00c2\u00a0The Social Network <\/em>will attain the sort of status that Atlas Shrugged <\/em>managed, and that people begin to model themselves after Zuckerberg, ignoring the fact that Fincher and Sorkin have successfully painted him as a desperately lonely loser bereft of the knowledge of basic social contracts. Fortunately this will never happen, and Sorkin’s intent is opposite to Rand’s, but people have always been prone to taking the wrong thing away and fashioning it into an interpretation to their liking (see also: right wing people believing everything Colbert has to say).<\/p>\n If this movie wins Best Picture I will not be surprised in the slightest, but I will be disappointed. While technically very well made and written, it will be the worst Best Picture winner since, well, The Hurt Locker<\/em>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Toy Story 3<\/strong><\/p>\n Yesssss, two years in a row Pixar manages to make its way into the Best Picture nominations. It is, of course, one of the best pictures of 2010 and it deserves everything it gets, although there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no way that it will get this nod. Pixar\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s kids movie for 25 year olds (ie me) is a perfectly measured example of the cinematic form in any medium. Movies really do not get much better or more heartfelt than this. Who cares if the characters are made of plastic? They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re obviously not real<\/em>, but they are <\/em>human. For that reason Toy Story 3 <\/em>is a supreme movie, and that is why I love it. It stands no chance, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nice to pretend that it ever did.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n True Grit<\/strong><\/p>\n I would honestly be happy if we gave the Coen Brothers a standing nomination each year, even if they didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t produce something. But they have, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the wonderful genre piece True Grit<\/em>. Western gumption is all that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s needed for the perfectly balanced trio of Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon and Hailee Steinfeld to track down Josh Brolin. This is a supremely cleverly written and superbly acted film, presented with finesse by two of the best directors operating today. Up to the last moment it surprises, amazes and delights. If this wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t a two horse race I would like this to come from behind, but, again \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 I can only hope that not everything is written in stone.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Winter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Bone<\/strong><\/p>\n The blackest sheep and the longest shot, Winter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Bone <\/em>is excellent genre work in a genre that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not sure has been strictly identified yet. What sets Winter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Bone <\/em>apart is that it depicts a part of American society that is never glimpsed in mainstream film. No one wants to know about the trials and tribulations of quasi-incestuous meth cookers in a poor and cold part of the nation, but the idea of cinema is that it can expose audiences to things that they didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know existed. It can take them anywhere, which is why we should not always settle for the boozed and coked up Harvard life of The Social Network<\/em>, but should treat ourselves to truer grit like this and several others of the Best Picture nominees.<\/p>\n The dark atmosphere, oppressive mystery and marvellous characterisation make this a movie that has been elevated by its nomination into something that will be seen. Sometimes you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t say fairer than that. If a wider audience accepts this movie (and its similarly excellent book), then I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s almost victory enough.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Just a pity that The Social Network <\/em>probably has this in the bag, huh?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I would like to make it clear that I have not seen Biutiful <\/em>because my country is stupid, and that I think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s laughable that Eisenberg was nominated for The Social Network<\/em>. You may be sensing a trend around this time. Anyway<\/em>. I think that Firth will win this, based simply on trends, but Bridges and Franco could take it and I would be just as happy. The three of them put in superb performances, and all in different measures. That the category can accommodate such a range of performances is heartening and also shows precisely how strong the field was this year. Firth\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nervous king was great, but so too were Bridges\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 over-the-top marshall with a heart of gold and Franco\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hubristic adventurer.<\/p>\n The less said of the cro-magnon Eisenberg the better, I guess (why couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t he have been nominated for Zombieland <\/em>last year instead?)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Best Actress is consistently one of my favourite categories simply because I love actresses. I would be happy if any of these other than Annette Bening won (who honestly chooses Annette Bening over Julianne Moore?). Natalie Portman is going to take it because everyone loves mirror fighting swan girls, but I would personally choose Nicole Kidman above everyone else. Rabbit Hole <\/em>was a fantastic movie that demanded more recognition and she was simply great in it. Kidman has a strong fan base despite the allegation that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s box office poison and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s movies like this that prove her precise worth.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Lawrence carried Winter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Bone<\/em>, literally, and sold it to keep her brother and sister warm and sheltered. Michelle Williams is one of my favourite actresses and continues to impress with Blue Valentine, <\/em>which, while not the best movie, was made by its leads. Gosling should have got a nomination over Eisenberg.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Christian Bale is the lock on this one, and this is something that I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand. Yeah, he was fine in the role, but he made it too \u00e2\u20ac\u0153natural\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. Didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel like he was acting at all. Which should sound like a compliment, but he was one of the more standard parts in a very standard movie. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a reason people lauded the actresses in that movie over the actors, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s simply because they were so much better. Personally, I would give this to John Hawkes or Geoffrey Rush. As Uncle Teardrop, Hawkes made the perfect foil for Jennifer Lawrence in Winter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Bone<\/em> (which, I will reassert, you really should see if you haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t already), and Rush is a brilliant motivator for Firth – although he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really more in line with a shared lead than a supporting.<\/p>\n But let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s look at the undeserving: Jeremy Renner and Mark Ruffalo both, what the hell? The Town <\/em>was an inexplicable success, and Renner was as good as the rest of it, which is to say serviceable<\/em>. Definitely not Oscar material, although it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nice to see Ben Affleck making a go of a career behind the camera. And Ruffalo? What did he do to impress anyone? Nothing! His character was a jerk and he played him Ruffalo style. How can all of the actress categories be fierce battles but the actors are such a mixed bag?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Steinfeld, being in every scene of True Grit,<\/em> should really be up for Best Actress. But it was not to be. Unless the politics of placing her own ads comes back to bite her, Melissa Leo has this locked. Why should she? Amy Adams was so much better than her in The Fighter <\/em>that it isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t funny. Adams was the single best part of that movie and I loved her for it. I know she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s made some bad movies in her time, but the only one I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen was Julie & Julia, <\/em>and that wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t enough to tear me away. She is brilliant.<\/p>\n So I would personally give this to Adams if we had to give it to someone from The Fighter<\/em>, but Steinfeld deserves it for her place in True Grit<\/em>, and Bonham Carter really tied The King\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Speech <\/em>together. That is of course entirely ignoring the dark horse \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n Jacki Weaver. My compatriot has finally been noticed on the international radar, and for such a role! It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a pity that her iconic character was called \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Smurf\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, but Animal Kingdom <\/em>is the best film to come out of Australia for a while and it deserves a big audience, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in no small part to Weaver\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00c2\u00a0 no small part. The sinister nature of her character is never far below the surface and she is half of what gives the film its amazing ending. Like Winter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Bone<\/em>, for Weaver the nomination is victory enough. But how good would it be if she did win? She has my support all the way, but Best Supporting Actress is the single strongest category this year.<\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n Three horse race! Regardless of what I think of The Social Network<\/em>, Fincher did a good job of presenting a Machiavellian dweeboid in muted hues. However, he is disqualified for the boat race. That was unforgivable. The Coens take the prize for genre presentation, while Aronofsky bags the visually stunning award (the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Fade-To-White\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Award for Achievement in direction). Tom Hooper deserves more credit than he has received for The King\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Speech <\/em>because he actually did do a great job of building atmosphere and swelling the scenes. O. Russell on the other hand failed to impress. He got good performances out of his actors but didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t transform them into a movie that someone would bother seeing more than once.<\/p>\n I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m tempted to give it to Aronofsky, to be honest.<\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n The King\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Speech is based on a book, or at least tied in to a book, so I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not sure how it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s original. Calling The Fighter <\/em>original is an insult, easily. Inception <\/em>is the most obviously original of all the films, because it has skyscrapers on the ceiling.<\/p>\n I realise that you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t actually give the awards based on their originality, but I tell you what? I would give this to Another Year<\/em>. Leigh put a lot of work into that film and it shows. The film itself is too subtle to win anything, unfortunately, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a worthy film. Another Year<\/em> and Inception<\/em> should have a cage match, because they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re both very well written (although I realise that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a red rag to the Inception <\/em>haters in the audience).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Sorkin<\/em>, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got it on lock for The Social Network<\/em>. But I know for a fact that Winter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Bone <\/em>is a very good adaptation of the source material, that 127 Hours <\/em>is a cohesive version of an autobiography, and that True Grit <\/em>and Toy Story 3 <\/em>are very well written besides.<\/p>\n So it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to go to The Social Network<\/em>, but wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it be fun to give it to Toy Story 3<\/em>? Yes it would. But the Cohen brothers could always do with another screenplay award, we must not forget this.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n So now you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got a basic feel of the Oscars, knock yourselves out and let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not get too bored this year!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Oscars! The one night of the year when everything is grand. This year they have corrected the error of having to scrounge to find ten Best Picture nominees to present a pretty good spread. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m hoping for some upsets, because if everything plays out the way it has been going, I will be sorely disappointed. Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s go into the hopefuls in the categories that I care and know about!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,42],"tags":[281],"class_list":["post-1047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-film","category-oscars","tag-oscars"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1HLZ6-gT","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/batrock.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/batrock.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/batrock.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/batrock.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/batrock.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1047"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/batrock.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1047\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1052,"href":"https:\/\/batrock.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1047\/revisions\/1052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/batrock.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/batrock.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/batrock.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Best Actor<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n
Best Actress<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n
Best Supporting Actor<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n
Best Supporting Actress<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n
Best Director<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n
Best Original Screenplay<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n
Best Adapted Screenplay <\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n