Friendly Persuasion

I can't help but feel this tiny pang of disappointment in the wake of last night's Oscar ceremony, as my favorite movies of the year went home empty handed and the two major pictures "The Social Network" and "The King's Speech" proceeded to soak up nearly every award available. Every one of my predictions for the awards came true- except, oddly enough, my Best Picture pick. Although I knew that Speech was the front-runner from the get-go, I figured that the Academy would ultimately side with the jazzy modern flick rather than the archetypal Oscar bait, as it has appeared to be going younger for the past two consecutive years with its "The Hurt Locker" and "Slumdog Millionaire" picks...but again, I was just putting too much faith in the organization. Academy, I'm really starting to doubt your wisdom. Not to say that Speech wasn't any good though- it certainly deserves some accolades. Just maybe not all the accolades.

James Franco and Anne Hathaway did a tremendous job hosting the ceremony. I thought it was a particularly good one, definitely aimed at the younger demographic this year. This is their charmingly funny opening movie montage:



As for the BPC, I know that the show must go on. I have to wait another year before the Oscars come around again (which is pretty depressing...like that grey-cloud feeling a little kid gets the day after Christmas), so I should really get cracking on those movies again before the next time they light up that Kodak theater. I jumped back into it tonight, though tired and strapped down with homework, by conquering A Man For All Seasons (1966).
Usually these old, bare historical pictures tug at my eyelids, but not this one. I found Seasons to be a rich, brilliantly acted, even suspenseful tale to remind us of the good old days of Hollywood. It was interesting to watch a regal Best Picture winner so soon after rolling my eyes at this year's British royalty victor...perhaps it's to these simpler cinematic times that the Academy was hearkening back when it selected Speech.
Anyway, I quite enjoyed this film (I imagined myself saying that sentence in a British accent in my head). Sir Thomas More astonishes us with his moral fortitude and unwavering piety, played to perfection by Paul Scofield, who undeniably deserves the Best Actor Oscar he received for this work. I also found Robert Shaw's bombastic King Henry VIII to be a real scene-stealer and I wonder why he lost out on the Best Supporting Actor Oscar in this year (though I haven't yet seen any of the other nominees' performances, so I guess I really can't judge).

A quick tally of my list tonight told me that, to date, I've watched 68 of the films on my long queue, leaving 417 movies to be watched in the 305 remaining days of the year. Much of that time must be taken out, too, considering that in the fall I will be headed to college and therefore unable to sit for hours on end and watch any movie I want. Thus, it appears that I need to step up my game pretty intensely if I want to finish up by the end of the year. Or perhaps I can use some friendly persuasion on my parents so they will allow me to drop out of school and take up movie-watching as my fulltime occupation. I guess we'll see what happens...

Spellbound

So I had typed out a long, articulate page predicting each category of tomorrow's Academy Awards...and then my computer shuts down the internet. I'm about to fall asleep after a long day of trekking all over DC, so though I'm bursting with excitement for tomorrow's festivities and though I expect to be fully spellbound by the results, I'm going to make these predictions quick.
Keep in mind that this year is a tight race and no category is completely dominated, so these are just speculations.

Best Supporting Actor
Nominees:
Mark Ruffalo, "The Kids Are All Right"
John Hawkes, "Winter's Bone"
Christian Bale, "The Fighter"
Geoffrey Rush, "The King's Speech"
Jeremy Renner, "The Town"
Ok, so I don't have too much credibility here because I have yet to see some of these performances. Still, I'm going to put my money on Christian Bale. The buzz surrounding his work here is too loud to ignore, and you have to admit that his physical transformation for the role was pretty hard core.

Best Supporting Actress
Nominees:
Amy Adams, "The Fighter"
Hailee Steinfeld, "True Grit"
Jacki Weaver, "Animal Kingdom"
Melissa Leo, "The Fighter"
Helena Bonham Carter, "The King's Speech"
Bonham Carter was pretty good in her quiet turn as the queen and Steinfeld is young, new, and prime for receiving an award, but I'm going to go with Melissa Leo, again choosing to believe the rumors and jump on the bandwagon without havin seen the performance. She's a solid bet though, especially considering that many contend that she was snubbed for her work in "Frozen River", so this could be the Academy's chance to make amends.

Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominees:
Javier Bardem, "Biutiful"
Jesse Eisenburg, "The Social Network"
Collin Firth, "The King's Speech"
James Franco, "127 Hours"
Jeff Bridges, "True Grit"
This one is hard because I'm basically in love with James Franco and was brought to tears by his mind-blowing performance, but I still know that the Oscars aren't always about what's technically better. Collin Firth's work was also very moving...few could pull off a loveable stutter as effortlessly as this guy, so he's my pick. The rest of the bunch fall shamefully short of Franco and Firth; the winner is sure to be either one of them.

Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominees:
Annette Bening, "The Kids Are All Right"
Natalie Portman, "Black Swan"
Michelle Williams, "Blue Valentine"
Jennifer Lawerence, "Winter's Bone"
Nicole Kidman, "Rabbit Hole"
Natalie Portman. I'd be pretty shocked if anyone else took the cake.

Best Director
Nominees:
Tom Hooper, "The King's Speech"
David Fincher, "The Social Network"
David O. Russel, "The Fighter"
Darren Aronofsky, "Black Swan"
Joel and Ethan Coen, "True Grit"
This category is tough to call because everyone did a good job. Again, I find my preference (here, Aronofsky) clashing with who I think will win (here, Tom Hooper). I fully expect King's Speech to sweep and I think that Hooper's easy style will help him be part of the broom. However, it is highly likely that David Fincher could jump in here and win with his groundbreaking, talked-about work.

Best Animated Feature
Nominees:
"How To Train Your Dragon"
"The Illusionist"
"Toy Story 3"
I'm almost positive that Toy Story 3 will be the victor here. The poignant close to the franchise totally deserves to be rewarded.

Best Editing
Nominees:
"Black Swan"
"The Fighter"
"127 Hours"
"The Social Network"
"The King's Speech"
The edgy editing style of The Social Network is my pick to nab the award in this category, although "The King's Speech" will surely be lurking in the shadows...this will be another super-close section where Network and Speech will duke it out.

Best Original Screenplay
Nominees:
"The King's Speech"
"Another Year"
"Inception"
"The Fighter"
"The Kid's Are All Right"
The King's Speech. It's all part of its sweep.

Best Adapted Screenplay
Nominees:
"127 Hours"
"The Social Network"
"True Grit"
"Toy Story 3"
"Winter's Bone"
Is this really a question? I feel as though no other movie stands a chance when The Social Network or Speech stand in its way.

Best Picture
We know the nominees. We know the frontrunners. We know my favorite (127 Hours, doomed to stay a nominee forever). Now all that's left is to pick a winner, and my guess is The Social Network. It's a defining film that many enjoyed(including myself, though I wasn't blown away) and I think it's a serious contender. This category, the most important one there is, will boil down to the final round of Network vs Speech.

Those are the only categories I really care about. Expect to see "Inception" grab the technical awards like visual effects (barring an "Alice in Wonderland" upset) and an epic showdown between a classic and a new wave; the uplifting and the bloodless; Speech and Network. Who's excited?? I am!!!!