Showing posts with label Academy Awards. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Academy Awards. Show all posts

Sunday, February 27, 2011

And another Oscars live-blog comes to a close...

All in all, I'm kind of underwhelmed. Sandra Bullock should host next year as she did a fine job with the ridiculous intros to the Best Actor nominee scenes. The Kings Speech cleaned up the important awards, as we all assumed it would. The Fighter took home both Best Supporting Performer awards. Inception grabbed a few of the techie awards and Toy Story 3 took the two awards I assumed it would - Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song. The Social Network's Aaron Sorkin got the Best Adapted Screenplay award which is all to the good, and I loved the speech by the winner of Best Original Screenplay award (David Seidler) as this man of an advanced age gave hope for the not yet crowd. And, Natlaie Portman did not go over the top in her speech, as she did at the Globes.

So, the winners did their part, but the writing, direction and (as much as it hurts to say this), the hosts left a lot to be desired (as I think James Franco realized and checked out, while Anne Hathaway (bless her heart) kept trying.

Best Actress...

What's with James Franco rolling his eyes about the footsteps in Graumann's Chinese Theatre? I feel like he's bored. Well, so am I, and yet I don't roll my eyes.

Jeff Bridges has a nice voice.

While these little speeches by Jeff Bridges are sweet, they are slowing things down to a ridiculous degree.

The Oscar goes to...

Natalie Portman. She was very, very good. And this was a ridiculously hard category. I think any of the ladies could have/would have won, with the exception of Bening who was just very good. She's giving a very controlled speech, which is nice, as her Golden Globes speech was just OTT.

The Governor's Award...

Annette Bening introduces the recap to the Governor's Award. Still bitter that none of this is televised. G-d forbid we get to hear them speak.

Best Original Song (for reals)...

We Belong Together - Toy Story 3

I See the Light - Tangled

If I Rise - 127 Hours

Coming Home - Country Strong

And Randy Newman wins again for Toy Story 3.

So, this is his 80th win? Oh, his 2nd. Okay, that's not bad.

You can't blame Randy Newman for slowing this awards show down, for while he did blather quite a bit, still not the slowest part of the show.

Billy Crystal gets a standing 'O'

which I can understand. I also have a lot of respect for how Billy Crystal hosted the Oscars. He was amazing. I used to love his opening medleys.

I appreciate that Billy Crystal gives props to Bob Hope and I could believe that Bob Hope flipped him off. And, I totally called the Passover line.

I wonder who did the Bob Hope voice.

Jude Law and Robert Downey, Jr. introducing the special effect categories.

I LOVE how Downey can laugh at himself and his past foibles. See, there is hope for Charlie Sheen.

Outstanding Special Effects

Inception - taking home another techie award. Love their accents.

Outstanding Achievement in Film Editing

The Social Network wins. I like this win, as it was editing as much as anything else that told the story. Very low key speech, with another thanks to the Academy.

Movies via Auto Tune AND Best Documentary

I know they're trying to young these down, but c'mon, this is a bit kooky. It's kind of like Lonely Island Goes to the Movies.

And Oprah announces the winner of Best Documentary Feature

Inside Job - not really surprised, as I'd assume a ton of the voters lost a lot of money due to the economy over the past few years. And, I'd heard it was quite good.

And the winner reminds everyone that after years of massive fraud no one went to jail.

But, no love for the unions. That kind of surprised me.

Best shorts

Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal. Jake suggests that we watch shorts in order to best fill out our Oscar ballots. Not as bad a reason as others he might have suggested.

Best Short Documentary
And the winner is Strangers No More. And, I really have nothing to say about this category because I've seen exactly none of them. But, their speech was nice. I like how Sheila Nevins (head of HBO documentary films) got a shout out.

Best Short - Live Action
And the Oscar goes to God of Love. I'm kind of surprised about that one, as it looks like a comedy, and all of the others seem to be. And the winner goes to NYU Grad School. And, is adorable. And quite possibly 12.
Random folk are naming their favorite Best Song winners and why they like them. Lose Yourself from 8 Mile, Footloose, etc.

And the president picks a classic - As Time Goes By

Kevin Spacey sings Fred Astaire (Top Hat) before introducing the first two Best Original Song nominees.

The composers play their composition, while the voice talent sings along.

Toy Story 3 - Randy Newman (singing his own words)

Tangled - Alan Mecken, with Mandy Moore and Zachery Levi

Both were well done, but didn't leave me with overwhelming feelings.

Scientific and Technical Awards

Marisa Tomei gives a recap of the science and technical awards, James Franco gives a shout out to the nerds and then Cate Blanchett comes out to announce Achievement in Makeup.

The Wolfman (which Cate Blanchett called "gross") wins. Though, I think she meant that in the nicest way possible. One of the winners said that it was always his ambition to lose an Oscar to Rick Baker, but this was better (as Rick lost to him this year).


Best Achievement in Costume design

Alice in Wonderland - yeah, I can see that. Wow, having to transverse stairs in heels on national television is completely mean. Oh, she wrote a speech. That's nice to see and leads you to not have to apologize for forgetting your husband's name after the fact. Though, she apparently writes very small, as that is not a large piece of paper and she's been speaking for a while. And, now she's getting the playoff music. Booo... lead the winners speak.

Sound Awards

The Aussies are together again, as Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman present the sound awards. That was an amazing medley of great movie music.

Best Original Score

Social Network won...

Huh... I don't recall the music being overwhelming, but I'm usually not the most aurally aware. Though I do remember being surprised that Trent Reznor scored a movie. Though, I just looked on IMDB and he's done a lot of tv/film compositions.

Sound Mixing

I don't know what Matthew McConaghay said, but it made Kathy (who I'm watching with) groan.

Inception (Lora Hirschberg, Garry Rizzo, Ed Novick) won.

Yay, a woman won a techie award, which is rare. But, she doesn't get to speak (though she did mention that the sound crew were union folk).And the speaker did make mention that this award was for Chris Nolan (cause you know, he didn't get the director nomination).

Union count #2

Achievement in Sound Editing
Inception (Richard King)
Owes this 100% to Chris Nolan. Fair enough.

Best Supporting Actor...

Reese Witherspoon introduces and gets right down to business.

I hope Christian Bale wins, but if John Hawk, Geoffrey Rush wins, well, that'd be okay too. I like Jeremy Renner and Mark Ruffalo too, but the other three were ridiculously good.

Who was sitting next to Spielberg not applauding?

Yay! Christian Bale won. Not digging the beard, but yay, he won. And, I love his real accent. And he calls out his own issues with the "F" word, while giving a shout out to Melissa Leo. Also appreciate the pimping for the real Dickie's training web site.

Actors never get played off. Aww... he started to tear up while thanking his wife and daughter.

Full of win.

Anne Hathaway is funny...

Calling out Hugh Jackman via On My Own. At least Hugh seems to be taking it in stride.

I assume he was told about it.

And James Franco doing drag as Marilyn. And, calls out Charlie Sheen.

Oscars 2011

It's that time of year again... Time for the 83rd Academy Awards... hosted by James Franco and Anne Hathaway. Both are intriguing choices for hosts, neither are comedians, though that doesn't always work (ref: David Letterman) and both are incredibly likeable.

Without further ado, below, please find the listing of nominees (with my choices bolded, natch and what will probably win in italics). To this point, I have seen all best picture nominees with the exception of Inception and 127 Hours. Inception because I just haven't gotten to it yet, and 127 Hours because I don't think I'll be able handle the arm cutting scene.

Best Motion Picture
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The King’s Speech
The Kids are All Right
The Social Network
127 Hours
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone
The Kings Speech has been racking up all the recent awards, and not only was it quite good, but I really enjoyed it. That said, I really thought The Social Network was a masterful film. HOwever, I wouldn't be annoyed if The Fighter, Winters Bone, True Grit or The King's Speech won. This was a great year for movies, though I do wonder which will stand the test of time.

Best Actress In A Leading Role
ANNETTE BENING-THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT
NICOLE KIDMAN – RABBIT HOLE
JENNIFER LAWRENCE – WINTER’S BONE
NATALIE PORTMAN – BLACK SWAN
MICHELLE WILLIAMS – BLUE VALENTINE
Haven't seen Blue Valentine yet, but I won't be miffed if either Jennifer Lawrence, Natalie Portman or Michelle Williams wins. I heard she was that good.

Best Actor In A Leading Role
JESSE EISENBERG – THE SOCIAL NETWORK
COLIN FIRTH – THE KING’S SPEECH
JAMES FRANCO – 127 HOURS
JEFF BRIDGES – TRUE GRIT
Javier Bardem – BEAUTIFUL
Another ridiculously tough category. Jeff Bridges was great in True Grit, and Colin Firth was wonderful as the stammering Bertie. But, there was just something about Jesse Eisenberg's performance that I just adored.

Best Actress In A Supporting Role
AMY ADAMS – THE FIGHTER
HELENA BONHAM CARTER – THE KING’S SPEECH
JACKI WEAVER – ANIMAL KINGDOM
MELISSA LEO – THE FIGHTER
HAILEE STEINFELD – TRUE GRIT
I think it's a legitimate toss-up between Leo and Steinfeld, but I always feel that the best supporting actor award is give to the young actor. I though Amy Adams was good in The Fighter, mostly holding her own in her scenes with Leo. also heard very good things about Jacki Weaver in Animal Kingdom, though I have not seen that yet.

Best Actor In A Supporting Role
CHRISTIAN BALE – THE FIGHTER
JOHN HAWKES– WINTER’S BONE
JEREMY RENNER – THE TOWN
GEOFFREY RUSH – THE KING’S SPEECH
MARK RUFFALO – THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT
Christian Bale was just smashing. I don't care that he's got quite the temper on him, he can act the heck out of his movies.

Achievement in Directing
DARREN ARONOFSKY – BLACK SWAN
DAVID FINCHER -THE SOCIAL NETWORK
TOM HOOPER – THE KING’S SPEECH
JOEL COEN, ETHAN COEN – TRUE GRIT
DAVID O. RUSSELL – THE FIGHTER
I think this will go the same way as Best Picture in that The Kings Speech will win, but honestly, any of these can win and I'll be content.


ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winters Bone
This wasn't actually included in the ballot I copied and pasted from, but I really want Aaron Sorkin to win, and I think he will be. That said, similar to best picture/director, I'd be okay with any of the winners.

Animated Feature Film
How to Train Yor Dragon Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
The Illusionist” Sylvain Chomet
Toy Story 3 Lee Unkrich
Since it's not going to win Best Picture, Toy Story 3 will notch another victory for Pixar.

Cinematography

“Black Swan” Matthew Libatique
“Inception” Wally Pfister
“The King's Speech” Danny Cohen
“The Social Network” Jeff Cronenweth
“True Grit” Roger Deakins
This will probably be taken by either Inception or Black Swan. I'm thinking they're going to give it to Inception, sort of as a make-up for the dis in the Best Director category.

Writing (Original Screenplay)

* “Another Year” Written by Mike Leigh
* “The Fighter” Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson;
Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson

* “Inception” Written by Christopher Nolan
* “The Kids Are All Right” Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
* “The King's Speech” Screenplay by David Seidler
Yes, The Fighter could have been a generic sports story, but it was so much more. You really got to know the characters and the place, and while a lot of that credit goes to the director and actors, it always starts on the page.

And, the rest of the categories which quite frankly, I'm too lazy to go through. Though, in my own defense, I only decided to bring back the Oscar live-blog about an hour ago.


Art Direction
“Alice in Wonderland”
Production Design: Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Karen O'Hara
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1”
Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan

“Inception”
Production Design: Guy Hendrix Dyas; Set Decoration: Larry Dias and Doug Mowat

“The King's Speech”
Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Judy Farr
“True Grit”
Production Design: Jess Gonchor; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh

Another tough category. I'm leaning towards Harry Potter or Inception.

Cinematography

* “Black Swan” Matthew Libatique
* “Inception” Wally Pfister
* “The King's Speech” Danny Cohen
* “The Social Network” Jeff Cronenweth
* “True Grit” Roger Deakins

Costume Design

* “Alice in Wonderland” Colleen Atwood
* “I Am Love” Antonella Cannarozzi
* “The King's Speech” Jenny Beavan
* “The Tempest” Sandy Powell
* “True Grit” Mary Zophres

Documentary (Feature)

* “Exit through the Gift Shop” Banksy and Jaimie D'Cruz
* “Gasland” Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic
* “Inside Job” Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
* “Restrepo” Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
* “Waste Land” Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley

Documentary (Short Subject)

* “Killing in the Name” Jed Rothstein
* “Poster Girl” Sara Nesson and Mitchell W. Block
* “Strangers No More” Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon
* “Sun Come Up” Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger
* “The Warriors of Qiugang” Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon

Film Editing

* “Black Swan” Andrew Weisblum
* “The Fighter” Pamela Martin
* “The King's Speech” Tariq Anwar
* “127 Hours” Jon Harris
* “The Social Network” Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter

Foreign Language Film

* “Biutiful” Mexico
* “Dogtooth” Greece
* “In a Better World” Denmark
* “Incendies” Canada
* “Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi)” Algeria

Makeup

* “Barney's Version” Adrien Morot
* “The Way Back” Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
* “The Wolfman” Rick Baker and Dave Elsey

Music (Original Score)

* “How to Train Your Dragon” John Powell
* “Inception” Hans Zimmer
* “The King's Speech” Alexandre Desplat
* “127 Hours” A.R. Rahman
* “The Social Network” Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Music (Original Song)

* “Coming Home” from “Country Strong” Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
* “I See the Light” from “Tangled” Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
* “If I Rise” from “127 Hours” Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
* “We Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3" Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

Short Film (Animated)

* “Day & Night” Teddy Newton
* “The Gruffalo” Jakob Schuh and Max Lang
* “Let's Pollute” Geefwee Boedoe
* “The Lost Thing” Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann
* “Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)” Bastien Dubois

Short Film (Live Action)

* “The Confession” Tanel Toom
* “The Crush” Michael Creagh
* “God of Love” Luke Matheny
* “Na Wewe” Ivan Goldschmidt
* “Wish 143” Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite

Sound Editing

* “Inception” Richard King
* “Toy Story 3” Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
* “Tron: Legacy” Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
* “True Grit” Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
* “Unstoppable” Mark P. Stoeckinger

Sound Mixing

* “Inception” Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick
* “The King's Speech” Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley
* “Salt” Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin
* “The Social Network” Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
* “True Grit” Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland

Visual Effects

* “Alice in Wonderland” Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
* “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1” Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
* “Hereafter” Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojansky and Joe Farrell
* “Inception” Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
* “Iron Man 2” Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick





So, all in all, a particularly tough year for the voters as there were a slew of really good movies. I'll leave it to time to see which will be considered great.

Sunday, March 07, 2010

It's a Wonderful Time for Oscars...


It's nearly time for the 82nd Academy Awards presentation. Yay! So exciting. Actually, it's not that exciting this year. I'm not sure why. I think because I'm afraid that it's a forgone conclusion that Avatar will win the Best Picture trophy, and I really hope it doesn't. Now, don't get me wrong. It's a very good movie with great special effects and very well directed. That is why they have the Best Director and Best Special Effects categories. Avatar is visually stimulating, but as far as the story goes, it is severely lacking. I hope The Hurt Locker wins, but I wouldn't be upset if Precious wins.

Other choices

ACTOR LEADING
Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart”
George Clooney in “Up in the Air”
Colin Firth in “A Single Man”
Morgan Freeman in “Invictus”
Jeremy Renner in “The Hurt Locker”

ACTOR SUPPORTING
Matt Damon in “Invictus”
Woody Harrelson in “The Messenger”
Christopher Plummer in “The Last Station”
Stanley Tucci in “The Lovely Bones”
Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds”

LEADING ACTRESS

Sandra Bullock in “The Blind Side”
Helen Mirren in “The Last Station”
Carey Mulligan in “An Education”
Gabourey Sidibe in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
Meryl Streep in “Julie & Julia”

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Penélope Cruz in “Nine”
Vera Farmiga in “Up in the Air”
Maggie Gyllenhaal in “Crazy Heart”
Anna Kendrick in “Up in the Air”
Mo’Nique in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”


FEATURE ANIMATED

Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of Kells
Up

ART DIRECTION

Avatar
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
Sherlock Holmes
The Young Victoria

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Avatar
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The White Ribbon

COSTUME DESIGN

Bright Star
Coco before Chanel
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnasus
Nine
The Young Victoria

DIRECTING
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious: Based on the Novel
‘Push’ by Sapphire
Up in the Air

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Burma VJ
The Cove
Food, Inc.
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
Which Way Home

DOCUMENTARY SHORT
China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province
The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner
The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant
Music by Prudence
Rabbit à la Berlin

FILM EDITING

Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire

FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Ajami
El Secreto de Sus Ojos
The Milk of Sorrow
Un Prophète
The White Ribbon

MAKE UP
Il Divo
Star Trek
The Young Victoria

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)
Avatar
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Hurt Locker
Sherlock Holmes
Up

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)
“Almost There” from “The Princess and the Frog”
“Down in New Orleans” from “The Princess and the Frog”
“Loin de Paname” from “Paris 36”
“Take It All” from “Nine”
“The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)” from “Crazy Heart”

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
French Roast
Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty
The Lady and the Reaper
(La Dama y la Muerte)
Logorama

SHORT FILM (LIVE-ACTION)
A Matter of Loaf and Death
The Door
Instead of Abracadabra
Kavi
Miracle Fish
The New Tenants

SOUND EDITING

Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Up

SOUND MIXING

Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

VISUAL EFFECTS
Avatar
District 9
Star Trek

SCREENPLAY (ADAPTED)

An Education
In the Loop
Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire
Up in the Air

SCREENPLAY (ORIGINAL)

The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The Messenger
A Serious Man
Up

BEST PICTURE
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious: Based on the
Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

Friday, February 23, 2007

Yes...

there will be live blogging of the Academy Awards...

To check out the nominations... http://theenvelope.latimes.com/media/acrobat/2007-02/28002598.pdf