2011 Academy Awards

[OrphanPip]

So, the Oscars are this upcoming Sunday. We had a thread last year, so I figure we should have one this year.

Who are your picks?

Best Picture

Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
True Grit
The Kids are All right
The King's Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
Winter's Bone

Actor in a Leading Role

Javier Bardem
Jeff Bridges
Jesse Eisenberg
Colin Firth
James Franco

Actor in a Supporting Role

Christian Bale
John Hawkes
Jeremy Renner
Mark Ruffalo
Geoffrey Rush

Actress in a Leading Role

Anette Bening
Nicole Kidman
Jennifer Lawrence
Natalie Portman
Michelle Williams

Actress in a Supporting Role

Amy Adams
Helena Bonham Carter
Melissa Leo
Hailee Steinfeld
Jackie Weaver

And many more categories: http://oscar.go.com/

I'm thinking best picture will likely be Social Network or The King's Speech. Best Actor will go Colin Firth, supporting actor I haven't a clue, best actress Natalie Portman, and supporting actress to Hailee Steinfeld.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

I think The King's Speech is going to be best picture this year. Just the vibe I get.

Probably Rush and Firth both getting their respective category wins.

I think Portman will win best actress.

Not sure about best supporting actress. I'll go with Helena Bonham Carter.

Toy Story 3 will win best animated film.

Hoping Inception gets award for art direction.

I'll say Black Swan for cinematography.

Costume design. I don't know. Alice in Wonderland should get it, King's Speech probably will.

Directing - KS

Documentory - Have no idea. I'll go with Restrepo since it's the only one I've heard of.

Documentary Short - "Killing in the Name"

Editing - KS

Foreign Langauge - Dogtooth

Makeup - The Wolfman

Music - KS

Original Song - Toy Story 3

Short film - live action - The Confession

Sound editing - Inception

Sound Mixing - Inception

Visual Effects - Inception

Writing - adapted screenplay - The Social Network

Writing - original screenplay - KS

Guessed on a few of these.

[Drkshadow03]

Who do I think will win? Or who do I think ought to win?

Out of the ten best pictures I've only seen six of them. I thought all of them were above average films, none of them spectacular.

Black Swan
Inception
The Kids are All right
The King's Speech
Toy Story 3
Winter's Bone

Black Swan was good. I appreciate that it's a psychological film where you don't know where reality begins and ends, while being about ballet. It's a neat character-milieu-mind-bending story about a sheltered girl ignorant about her own sexuality and adult maturity whose mind crashes as she tries to embody a darker role in a big breakout part. I love the way it depicts how seriously some people take their art and how tied-up their identity can become in it; I think it does a good job depicting the washed-up stage mom figure living vicariously through their daughter.

Inception was silly, but entertaining. The idea of slipping into people's dreams to steal/learn secret isn't bad, but they never explore that idea in an interesting way and the actual mechanics of entering someone's dreams with limbo and the multiple-levels I found just silly. We're on dream-level 9 and character X just got injured, but it's okay when we get in dream-level 10 he'll be fine. It's a Philip K. Dick type of premise without the deeper and interesting philosophical implications that make Dick so good. However, despite it's silliness, it still manages to be entertaining.

The Kids are All right - Mildly amusing film about lesbian couple whose children decide they want to meet their sperm donor who then proceeds to reenter their lives, much to the chagrin of one of the two mothers who happens to be an uptight control freak. Not really laugh out loud funny, but kept my attention the entire time. I could see some lesbians being annoyed about the depiction; in a way it's yet another film about a lesbian/gay relationship that ends up unhappy, especially given that one of them turns to a man sexually to cope with those problems. On the other hand, I like that they end up staying together and the film suggests they'll probably work out their issues. Despite my criticism, I also like that the film does on some level try to approach the topic in a way that it seems to simply say gay couples have the same sort of relationship problems that heterosexual couples do.


The King's Speech - Probably would be my pick for the best film out of all the ones I saw. I like biopics of famous people when they're done well. I like that there is a lot of dimensions explored: friendship between a commoner and a future king, a reluctant leader whose hinderance is his speech, the hidden dysfunctional side of the royal family that leads to his speech problems.

Toy Story 3 - Last year Up was my favorite film of the ten best picture oscar nominees (all of which I saw). If it had been up to me it would have won. Of course it wasn't. Toy Story 3 isn't as good as Up!, but it's still the best Toy Story film. A fitting end to the trilogy and it's always good when you don't regret that they made a sequel.

Winter's Bone - A surprisingly decent thriller film that is made more interesting than other standard thriller films by its setting in a poor community in the midwest(?) and the main character is a teenage girl trying to save her family from losing their house. The mystery at the heart of the film is trying to find out where her drug-dealing father is hiding after he is paroled so she can save her house, which then turns into investigating his murder so she can save her house. Essentially it is a murder mystery plot, but instead of detectives we have a teenage girl who has everything to lose if she can't solve the mystery, which is what makes a little different from other films of its ilk.

[JuniperWoolf]

They really snuck up on me this year, of the best picture nominees I've only seen four (Black Swan, Inception, True Grit and Social Network).

Of those, my favorite is Black Swan but I don't get how Darren Aronofsky is all of a sudden loved in the mainstream. Black Swan was brilliant, but so was The Fountain. Why is everyone paying attention now?

Inception = boring action movie with a shakey "complicated for it's own sake" premise. I really liked Memento, the new Batman movies and The Prestige, so again I don't know why everyone is going ape **** over Christopher Nolan all of a sudden (not the least because, unlike Aronofsky who's only five films have all been brilliant, I don't consider Nolan's last film even very good).

True Grit was great. I loved the end, so depressing out of the blue. My third favorite after The Big Lebowski and Raising Arizona.

The Social Network was nothing to me. No opinion, I would have rather been playing video games than watching it. I did like Justin Timberlake though, what a triple threat.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

Inception was a brilliant film. That is all.

[OrphanPip]

Winter's Bone - A surprisingly decent thriller film that is made more interesting than other standard thriller films by its setting in a poor community in the midwest(?) and the main character is a teenage girl trying to save her family from losing their house. The mystery at the heart of the film is trying to find out where her drug-dealing father is hiding after he is paroled so she can save her house, which then turns into investigating his murder so she can save her house. Essentially it is a murder mystery plot, but instead of detectives we have a teenage girl who has everything to lose if she can't solve the mystery, which is what makes a little different from other films of its ilk.

I really liked this movie, but I think its nomination is basically as a token low budget independent film. Barely anyone went to see this movie, which will probably kill its chances, and it just has no buzz.

[ceelo]

They really snuck up on me this year, of the best picture nominees I've only seen four (Black Swan, Inception, True Grit and Social Network).

Of those, my favorite is Black Swan but I don't get how Darren Aronofsky is all of a sudden loved in the mainstream. Black Swan was brilliant, but so was The Fountain. Why is everyone paying attention now?

Inception = boring action movie with a shakey "complicated for it's own sake" premise. I really liked Memento, the new Batman movies and The Prestige, so again I don't know why everyone is going ape **** over Christopher Nolan all of a sudden (not the least because, unlike Aronofsky who's only five films have all been brilliant, I don't consider Nolan's last film even very good).

True Grit was great. I loved the end, so depressing out of the blue. My third favorite after The Big Lebowski and Raising Arizona.

The Social Network was nothing to me. No opinion, I would have rather been playing video games than watching it. I did like Justin Timberlake though, what a triple threat.


I agree about your comments in regards to Aronofsky. I really loved The Fountain, thought it was fantastic, i think a lot of people didn't really.. "get it" so to speak. Black Swan wasn't bad, but it wasn't fantastic, and I didn't find it original in any way. The Fountain, on the other hand, was mind blowing.


The Social Network deserves best picture. Amazing movie.

[Niamh]

My selection for the ones you mentioned PIP.

Best Picture

Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
True Grit
The Kids are All right
The King's Speech this is the best i've seen from the list.
127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
Winter's Bone

Actor in a Leading Role

Javier Bardem
Jeff Bridges
Jesse Eisenberg
Colin Firth He deserves it. Amazing performance
James Franco

Actor in a Supporting Role

Christian Bale
John Hawkes
Jeremy Renner
Mark Ruffalo
Geoffrey Rush Only one I can choose but he was fantastic!

Actress in a Leading Role

Anette Bening
Nicole Kidman
Jennifer Lawrence
Natalie Portman Amazing performance!
Michelle Williams

Actress in a Supporting Role

Amy Adams
Helena Bonham Carter
Melissa Leo
Hailee Steinfeld For someone who is only 14, she was fantastic!!
Jackie Weaver

[qimissung]

For Best Picture my first choice would be "Black Swan," but I wouldn't be unhappy with "The King's Speech" (although I haven't seen it yet, and I am concerned with some of the liberties it takes with the history of the actual character; also, stuttering is not caused by psychological problems); I also wouldn't mind if" Winter's Bone" or "True Grit" won.

For Best Actor, I like Colin Firth. That is all.

Actor in a Supporting Role, I'd like to see Christian Bale get it. I thought he did an outstanding job in "The Fighter." Mark Ruffalo did a great job also, and he's so cute.

For Best Actress I'd be happy if Natalie Portman won, also Jennifer Lawrence. I would be thrilled if Michelle Williams got it. I think she deserves it.

For Best Supporting Actess: Hailee Steinfeld made "True Grit."

I wish they'd let the actors and actress give really long acceptance speeches. That's the fun part, not those horrible musical numbers. And I also hope someone runs across the stage naked. I love those embarrassing unscripted moments!