2011 Academy Award Predictions

It's my favorite time of year again, the Oscars. As we prepare for the biggest awards show in film, many critics make a list of what they believe will win. So here is mine. These are my prediction for the 83rd Academy Awards.

Best Picture:
Nominees:
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

If you ask me, the top film of the year was the Social Network. It's a very good film, with some fantastic acting, great direction, and an amazing script, as well as an amazing score. In my mind, it's no doubt that The Social Network should win. But let's admit it, we all know The King's Speech is going to win. The King's Speech was also a very good film, with some fantastic acting, great direction, and a good script. It struck a chord with more people than The Social Network did, as well as being the more popular film. The King's Speech was my second favorite film of the year, and I have no problems with it winning this award.

Final Verdict: The King's Speech

Best Director:
Darren Aronofsky - Black Swan
The Coen brothers - True Grit
David Fincher - The Social Network
Tom Hooper - The King's Speech
David O. Russell - The Fighter

It's really quite obvious who should win the award: Christopher Nolan, for Inception. That film revolutionized special effects, with it's gravity-bending fight scenes, as well as being able to create an ingenius plot without confusing audiences. However, he very stupidly wasn't nominated, so he can't win this award.
This award usually goes hand in hand with Best Picture, with only a few times differentiating. This year doesn't seem like one of those few times, thus I believe Tom Hooper will win. I do think Darren Aronofsky has a good chance at winning the award, but I do ultimately believe Tom Hooper will win.

Final Verdict: Tom Hooper - The King's Speech

Best Actor:
Javier Bardem - Biutiful as Uxbal
Jeff Bridges - True Grit as Rooster Cogburn
Jesse Eisenberg - The Social Network as Mark Zuckerberg
Colin Firth - The King's Speech as King George VI
James Franco - 127 Hours as Aron Ralston

When I did my review of The Social Network, I stated that Jesse Eisenberg will win Best Actor. At the time, this was seemed true, but then True Grit, The King's Speech, 127 Hours, and Biutiful came out. Now, I haven't seen Biutiful, so I can't say anything about it. Jeff Bridges did a damn good job in True Grit, but he won last year, so I don't think he will win this year. Also, I don't believe his performance was good enough for the Oscar this year, unlike Tom Hanks' double win in 93 and 94. James Franco had to carry the majority of 127 Hours, and did so amazingly, and if you ask me, he should win the award. However, a stutter is extremely hard to fake, so Colin Firth will win.

Final Verdict: Colin Firth - The King's Speech as King George VI

Best Actress:
Annette Bening - The Kids Are All Right as Nic
Nicole Kidman - Rabbit Hole as Becca Corbett
Jennifer Lawrence - Winter's Bone as Ree Dolly
Natalie Portman - Black Swan as Nina Sayers
Michelle Williams - Blue Valentine as Cindy

Best Actress, for some reason, has always been tough for me. I could never really pinpoint who would win the award, if I had seen the films they were in. It's the same case here. I've only seen 2 of the films here, The Kids Are All Right and Black Swan, so I can only talk about those films. Natalie Portman was excellent Black Swan, but I do think Annette Bening will win the award, mostly because despite me not really liking the film, she was one of the few things I enjoyed about it. Also, she's due an Oscar from 12 years ago. Now remember, I haven't seen any of the other films, so for all I know, Jennifer Lawrence could win the award, but I do think Annette Bening will win.

Final Verdict: Annette Bening - The Kids Are All Right as Nic

Best Supporting Actor:
Christian Bale - The Fighter as Dicky Ecklund
John Hawkes - Winter's Bone as Teardrop
Jeremy Renner - The Town as James "Gem" Coughlin
Mark Ruffalo - The Kids Are All Right as Paul
Geoffrey Rush - The King's Speech as Lionel Logue

To me, the main competitors here are Geoffrey Rush and Christian Bale. The Fighter was filled with great supporting performances, as opposed to a great lead performance. The King's Speech, however, was filled with great performances all around. I think overall, because the King's Speech will sweep the awards this year, Geoffrey Rush will take this award. His chemistry with Colin Firth worked to the film's advantage, and and created a favorite character in 2010 film, and probably for years to come.

Final Verdict: Geoffrey Rush - The King's Speech as Lionel Logue

Best Supporting Actress:
Amy Adams - The Fighter as Charlene Fleming
Helena Bonham Carter - The King's Speech as Queen Elizabeth
Melissa Leo - The Fighter as Alice Ward
Hailee Steinfeld - True Grit as Mattie Ross
Jacki Weaver - Animal Kingdom as Janine "Smurf" Cody

Hailee Steinfeld was insulted by not getting nominated for Best Actress, despite being the lead actress in True Grit. Due to this, she should win the award. The other potential win is Melissa Leo, who absolutely brilliant in The Fighter. Overall, though, I think the award has to go to Haille Steinfeld, as compensation for not getting nominated for Best Actress, but more importantly, as the best female performance this year, without a doubt.

Final Verdict: Hailee Steinfeld - True Grit as Mattie Ross

Best Original Screenplay:
Another Year - Mike Leigh
The Fighter, Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, and Eric Johnson
Inception - Christopher Nolan
The Kids Are All Right - Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg
The King's Speech - David Seidler

I think Inception should win the award, for creating a complex, well thought-out, and interesting plot, without confusing audiences. However, it'll probably go to The King's Speech. I think that was an adapted screenplay though, from a book written by Lionel Logue's grandson, but I'm not 100% sure.

Final Verdict: The King's Speech - David Seidler

Best Adapted Screenplay:
127 Hours - Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy from Between A Rock And A Hard Place by Aron Ralston
The Social Network - Aaron Sorkin from The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich
Toy Story 3 - Michael Arndt, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, and Lee Unkrich; characters based on Toy Story and Toy Story 2
True Grit - The Coen brothers from True Grit by Charles Portis
Winter's Bone - Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini from Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell

First of all, shouldn't Toy Story 3 be nominated for Best Original Screenplay? It's a sequel to a movie that wasn't adapted from anything, and this wasn't an adaption of any kind at all. Whatever. Anyways, Aaron Sorkin will win this award, because he's Aaron Sorkin. Everything he's done has an amazing script, and it's finally time he gets recognized for it.

Final Verdict: The Social Network - Aaron Sorkin from The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich

I won't be covering any other nominations, because I'm not very knowledgable in those fields, but I will try to cover them next year. Instead, I'd like to do something called The Real Best Picture nominees. Basically, I believe there should only be 5 Best Picture nominees instead of 10, so I'm going to make a list of what I believe those 5 nominees should be.

The Real Best Picture:
Black Swan
Inception
The King's Speech
The Social Network
True Grit

I chose Black Swan because if was an extremely effective thriller, from a good director, and one of the best films of the year. I chose Inception because it created an extremely interesting and well thought-out plot, without confusing audiences, as well as having amazing special effects, dare I say, revolutionizing special effects with it's gravity fight scene.I chose The King's Speech because it's a great story that warmed the heart of many people, British or not, as well as the obvious winner. I chose The Social Network because it's the best films of the year, one with an amazing script, and a great lead performance from an actor who comedies before this film. I chose True Grit because it's a damn good Coen brothers film Isn't that reason enough to get nominated?

I didn't choose 127 Hours, because despite being one of my favorites films of the year, from one of my favorite directors, it didn't really seem as great as Black Swan, The King's Speech, etc. etc. I didn't choose The Fighter, because it was either that or True Grit, and I figured True Grit was the better film, mostly because of Mark Wahlberg's decent, but not great, performance as Mickey Ward. I didn't choose The Kids Are All Right because it seemed like an odd film to me, with only a small amount of good things. I didn't choose Toy Story 3, because it's not good enough to win Best Picture. It's a very good film one of the few to make me cry mind you, but not up to Best Picture standards. And I didn't choose Winter's Bone, despite not seeing it, because it's a very indie film, not many people have heard of it, and the Academy has had some viewership trouble in the past, so they're more likely to nominate bigger films than smaller films. For instance, in 1997, the year Titanic won, the viewership was extremely high, I think it was the highest it ever was that year.

Anyways, that's my Oscar prediction list. Tell me if you agree with my choices or not, and if not, tell me why.

Justin Bieber: Never Say Never

Justin Bieber is a 3D documentary film about young lesbian, and one of the most popular women on Google, Justin Bieber. It was released on February 11, 2011. It stars Justin Bieber (of course), as well as guest appearances from Miley Cyrus, Jaden Smith (apparently, he isn't a rapper or actor, but a karate expert. Goddamnit), and Usher, as wel as a variety of other people. It was directed by famed dancer Jon Chu.

Let's get the good thinigs out of the way first. It's actually a decent documentary film. It showed the hardships of being a young lesbian in the music world nowadays, as well as an extremely popular one at that (alright, alright, I'm done with the lesbian jokes). It shows Justin Bieber as a cocky, young performer, which is a fair interpretation of him. It shows his rise to fame, which is actually a kinda interesting story. And yes, you will hate me for this, but he is a talented performer. All the stupid-ass dancing and cockiness aside, he is a very talented singer, with a spectacular voice. I'll admit it. You have to admit it too, he does have an impressive voice. Now, I don't like his music. It's not entertaining, his lyrics don't wow me, and the music is just under meh. Regardless, he is a talented singer. At age 16 too, quite impressive. Based on this, the film gets a score of 6/10, slightly above average. Check it out if you're slightly interested. Well, that's it for this review, and I'll see you in the next review.









BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! (oh sweet Jesus no.)

3D. About a quarter of the film was in 3D. They were only concert scenes. And a good amount of those weren't 3D. This lowers the score from 6/10, to 4/10.

Now, we get to the real shit storm. The reason why I truly hated this film. The reason why anybody hates Justin Bieber. Not his voice. Not the fact that he looks like a lesbian, despite being male. Not the fact that he's Canadian, a YouTuber, or 16 years old. No. The reason why I hated this film is this: the fan base.

I'm not a claustrophobe. Some people I know are, and they describe it as a truly horrifying experience. Tonight, I became a claustrophobe. I was surrounded by young girls, from the age of birth to 20, who couldn't stop screaming, singing anything that was sung in the film, screaming, commenting on how much they love Justin Bieber, screaming, treating the film as if they were at a concert as opposed to a film, and screaming. Also, THEY WERE SCREAMING!!!!!!!!

Enough of me being unprofessional here. Justin Bieber is loved by young girls all over the world. Mostly because of hair, I think. That was where they cheered the most, whenever he flicked his hair. There was even a slo-mo scene in the film, where all he did was flick his hair. It just panders to these young girls like this. Instead of the film making me like Justin Bieber, it made me think he was a cocky kid, who loved to tease all his fans. Overall, this film garners a score of 0/10. There is absolutely no reason to check it out, whatsoever. It's the worst experience I've ever had in my entire life. I truly hated this movie, and it's effect on me. God help us all.

1 more thing. They use, "In the Hall of the Mountain King," one of my favorite classical pieces of all time. Why?

127 Hours

127 Hours was released on November 5, 2010. It was directed by Danny Boyle, written by Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy, based on the book, "Between a Rock and a Hard Place," by Aron Ralston, and stars James Franco.

I went into this film knowing I would like it. Danny Boyle is one of my favorite filmmakers, Trainspotting being my second favorite film of all time. The Aron Ralston story has always shocked me, and enthralled me, at the same time. James Franco, while not one of my favorite actors, is a good and enjoyable actor. So basically, I knew I was gonna like this film. What I didn't know, was that I would love it.

First of all, before the incident happens, the film is entirely Aron Ralston hiking and biking in the canyons of Utah, which, in my opinion, is some of the most beautiful scenery in the entire world. Why take a forest when you can take red rock? So instantly, the film had me hooked. He meets two girls (Kate Mara, and Amber Tamblyn) while hiking, and shows them around the canyons, showing them a great underwater cave. So far, the scenery alone has me loving the film. However, scenery isn't what makes a film good. It's the performances, the writing, the directing, the editing, etc. etc., with scenery included in there somewhere. Now, after the girls leave the film, Aron continues hiking, and descends downwards into a canyon. This is where the film gets really good. As he goes down into the canyon, a rock that he is holding onto slips loose, and he falls, 20 feet or so down the canyon. When he reaches the ground, his arm is struck by the rock, and stuck in place. In a canyon, 60 feet below ground, in the middle of a desert, with no one near him to help, and worst of all: he didn't tell anyone he was going in the canyons for the weekend. Now, without giving too much away (although I'm pretty sure everyone knows the story, and what happens from here), allow me to summarize the rest of the film. While trapped in this canyon, his right arm pinned to the wall, he attempts to free himself, unsuccessfully. As he runs out of water and food, he starts to hallucinate, and have flashbacks about his life. After 6 days, delirious and dying of dehydration, he cuts his right arm off, and proceeds to leave the canyon, rappel down a 100 foot wall, and look for people to help him out of there.

Let's talk about acting. The film is led almost entirely by James Franco, so he is the only actor we need to consider here. He was fantastic. It's not an easy job being the only actor in a film, for the most part,, especially when you have to cut off your own arm. Considering this, James Franco does an amazing job. Like I said earlier, I wasn't a big fan of James Franco, although I must admit, his cameo in the Green Hornet was funny, and one of the highlights of the film. So, I was looking to be impressed here, and I was impressed, significantly. Everything that James Franco did seemed completely realistic, like that was how anyone would react in this situation. He did fantastic, and though I do believe Colin Firth will be taking home the Oscar this year, I wouldn't be surprised if James Franco was taking it home instead. That's actually quite interesting, considering how he's the host.

Let's talk about the directing. Like I said, Danny Boyle is one of my favorite filmmakers, so I may be a bit biased here. Damn good job he did, and it is a goddamn shame he didn't get nominated for Best Director this year. Everything he chose to do was damn near perfection. I absolutely love the amputation scene (woah, that came out wrong.). Whenever Aron touched the bone, you would hear a loud screeching noise, to show the great pain he was in, and it shocked you every time. Genius.

Overall, this film garners a 9/10, a definite a-must. I will say, if you don't think Buried was the film for you, this probably isn't either. However, if you want to watch a damn good film this year, check it out. As a matter of fact, I insist you check this film out.