Here are the results
The Academy Awards or Oscars are on the 27th of February, the nominations were released on the 25th of January. I’ll list them here. It may change because I’m going to watch True Grit and Black Swan but this is the list and what I think should win. If you want to read what I thought about the films then check the reviews section.
Buuuuut before that, a little section I’d like to call, Really? What the hell? A section that points out the glaring stupidity that are some of the decisions.
Really? What the hell?
No Nolan… People are beginning to compare Nolan being M.I.A. from the best director category as similar to Scorsese being overlooked year after year.
Where is Nicolas Cage in the Best Actor Category? The Bad Lieutenant was a return to form… It restored my faith in the man.
Where’s Summer Wars in Best Animated Feature? Toy Story 3 would still win but still…
Where’s Andrew Garfield? You better lawyer up Academy because… well I can’t do anything.
BEST PICTURE
127 Hours
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King’s Speech
Winter’s Bone
True Grit
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
BEST DIRECTOR
Darren Aronofsky – Black Swan
David O Russell – The Fighter
Tom Hooper – The King’s Speech
David Fincher – The Social Network
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen – True Grit
Where’s Christopher Nolan academy? I mean, this is the second time the guy has saved Hollywood’s balance books by creating a blockbuster that was genuinely intelligent and worth watching instead of the usual garbage involving CGI dumb-bells hitting each other.
BEST ACTOR
Colin Firth – The King’s Speech
Jesse Eisenberg – The Social Network
James Franco – 127 Hours
Javier Bardem – Biutiful
Jeff Bridges – True Grit
I’ve only seen two of these films but I was impressed by both performanes. Eisenberg had a tough job creating an anti-social genius but Firth edges it by creating a sympathetic royal worth rooting for. The family scenes and his difficulty in public speaking were well conveyed.
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
Jennifer Lawrence was the film. Her performance was convincing and gripping. Annette Bening grew over the course of her film and had a hard role to act but Lawrence edges it.
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
The second part of what makes The King’s Speech so good.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams – The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter – The King’s Speech
Melissa Leo – The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld – True Grit
Jacki Weaver – Animal Kingdom
Ask me after I watch True Grit.
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Biutiful – Mexico
Dogtooth – Greece
In a Better World – Denmark
Incendies – Canada
Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi) – Algeria
I like the fact that a film involving Greeks, lesbianism, incest, violence and parents abusing the perception of their children (a comment on the Greek film industry) managed to sneak on. That said, I haven’t seen any of them.
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Mike Leigh – Another Year
Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson (screenplay), Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson (story) – The Fighter
Christopher Nolan – Inception
Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg – The Kids Are All Right
David Seidler – The King’s Speech
Watching it was easy, having to write the thing must have been mind-bending.
BEST ANIMATION
How to Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
Toy Story 3
Where’s Summer Wars? Other than that, it would be nice to see the UK/French co-production, The Illusionist win (it’s had glowing reviews everywhere).
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy – 127 Hours
Aaron Sorkin – The Social Network
Michael Arndt – Toy Story 3
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen – True Grit
Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini – Winter’s Bone
It made unpleasant people sitting in rooms arguing about Facebook interesting.
BEST ART DIRECTION
Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Inception
The King’s Speech
True Grit
The King’s Speech relayed history so well whilst Inception managed to map out some of the most exciting dream-spaces ever.
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Black Swan
Inception
The King’s Speech
The Social Network
True Grit
The King’s Speech managed to relay history… wait, I’m repeating myself.
BEST SOUND MIXING
Inception
The King’s Speech
The Social Network
Salt
True Grit
Nice to see Salt nominated for something but The King’s Speech has this wrapped up. Every stutter and thoat spasm was like a stab to the heart, every awkward cough and sigh at the King speaking was like a slap to the face and when he performed his war-time speech… Euphoria. We’re going to war chaps but we’re happy.
BEST SOUND EDITING
Inception
Toy Story 3
Tron: Legacy
True Grit
Unstoppable
Where’s The King’s Speech? Inception then although I liked Unstoppable.
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
Coming Home (from Country Strong) by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
I See the Light (from Tangled) by Alan Menken and Glenn Slater
If I Rise (from 127 Hours) by AR Rahman, Dido and Rollo Armstrong
We Belong Together (from Toy Story 3) by Randy Newman
I haven’t heard any of them.
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
How to Train Your Dragon – John Powell
Inception – Hans Zimmer
The King’s Speech – Alexandre Desplat
127 Hours – AR Rahman
The Social Network – Trent Reznor and Atticus
The score for The Social Network was incredible and managed to make programming tense and thrilling stuff but Hans Zimmer has got to take this as it was so distinctive and iconic. Hell, the first thing I purchased in 2011 was the soundtrack to Inception.
BEST COSTUMES
Alice in Wonderland
I Am Love
The King’s Speech
The Tempest
True Grit
Europeans know how to dress. That is all.
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Gasland
Inside Job
Restrepo
Waste Land
BEST FILM EDITING
Black Swan
The Fighter
The King’s Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network
Programming and social networking have never seemed so exciting or important.
BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
Day & Night
The Gruffalo
Let’s Pollute
The Lost Thing
Madagascar, Carnet de Voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1
Hereafter
Inception
Iron Man 2
The corridor fight, fold-up Paris. Need I say more?
For anybody who managed to read all of that… I can accept the fact that The King’s Speech and The Social Network are the most nominated with 12 and 8 nominations respectively and it’s great that American indies The Kids are All Right and Winter’s Bone are exposed as well but where the hell is Nic Cage for Bad Lieutenant?
