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.
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