Oscar Predictions/Winners

Actually 'Predictions is the wrong word. If I 'predicted' what films would win I think I would come very close to the 'fixed' truth. These are the horses I am backing, so to speak. The ones I WANT to win.

So, over the last few years the Oscars has come and gone and I've never been too fussed about what should win. This year, however, there were SO many strong contenders I decided that I would watch every nom and then, for the first time in years, I would be qualified to comment on the categories.

No spoilers here.

So.. here you go.  The one's I personally think should win and why. Please feel free to argue!

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Actor in a Leading Role

Colin Firth- The King's Speech

For a long, long time I was convinced this would go to Franco. With the whole 'Gollum' thing he had going on during the interview scene in 127 hrs I thought that nothing could top Jimmy's performance. Then I saw King's Speech and, to my disgust, jumped on the Colin bandwagon. I think mainly it's due to my thought that Firth would just be performing from the 'Hugh Grant Book of polite stammers' but, my god, how wrong I was! Colin I'm sorry for doubting you. It's a shame really because I really, desperately, wanted to put two fingers up at every old granny that had seen the film and gone 'Ohhh, he deserves the Oscar'  without watching anything else, but, hey, turns out the Grannies won. Good for them. 

It's a truly moving, committed performance and if he does not win then it's all a scam. Unless it goes to Franco. He's my close second.

Actor in a Supporting Role

Christian Bale- The Figher

Yeah. Again Christian was a CLEAR front runner for me until bloody Geoff pops his head up and steals the show. I do think, however, that it should be Bale that gets this. When you see the actual Dicky Eklund in stock footage you realise how talented Bale actually is. There are obvious parallels to Bull here, but Bale makes the actual character of Dicky so engaging and watchable with such determined commitment that  it would be a sin for the statue to go anywhere else. It's not about weight loss, or learning to fight, it's his performance and, like Firth, it's remarkable.

Actress in a Leading role

Jennifer Lawrence- Winter's Bone

The film really, REALLY drops in the last half hour and does the classic Oscar nom convention of 'Let's not resolve everything or show important scenes' but there is no denying the strength of Jennifer's performance as 17 year old Ree. She literally carries the narrative as leading 'powerful' teenager and doesn't do it in that Juno/Dawson's Creek 'World's against me' kind of way. She also, at risk of sounding too 'luvvie-dharling' shows a huge range. She does deserve the Oscar in comparison to the other girls here..Although my other half thinks it should go to 'Natalie Portman'. To me most of her on-screen time seemed like your classic GCSE 'troubled-girl' performance. 

That and turning into a duck. 

MY bird, however, says 'She proper learned Ballet tho didn't she'? Yeah. I suppose so. But this is the Oscars right? We award acting I was led to believe? Meh. Go do your chicken dance elsewhere love.

Actress in a Supporting Role

Melissa Leo- The Fighter

This character could have been SO easily mis-cast: 'Annoying mother/agent'. All I could think of was other actresses playing this part and hamming it up just for Oscar season. To me, it's a really honest performace. That's what I took away from this movie and I think that she deserves it over the other candidates just for that. At no point did I think 'What a good actress' because I believed the character. Hope that makes sense? If not, go watch Big Momma's House.

Animated Feature Film

Toy Story 3

I LOVE Chris Sanders and Dean Deblois... but Toy Story had that edge. I don't even really rate TS1/2 but the third was incredible. Sanders and Deblois made my FAV ever Disney film.. but I'm afraid Buzz and Woody have the edge here. Sorry. It's actually the best film I've seen in 3D. What an ending.

Art Direction

The King's Speech

At ANY point did you question anything about the set/surroundings in this film. Were you just totally, totally sucked in. Yep. Me too. It was so beautiful and, at times, felt like you were actually watching a documentary set in 1936! Unreal.

Cinematography

True Grit. 

At times I thought I was actually The Searchers. Part of the convention of this genre is making sure the cinematography is outstanding. Sort that out and all you need to fall back on are the other manageable conventions: Lone wanderer. Debt to pay. Framed doorways. Redemption.  Yeah, it's a new classic.. but why in god's name did Bridges insist on doing his Scruffy the Janitor impression throughout the movie. Still.. it looked nice. Ford would be proud.

Costume Design

The King's Speech

This was a VERY tough choice for, to me, it was a two horse race between this and Grit. This got the edge for the sheer AMOUNT of work that had to be done and the range of costumes we saw that subtly evolved. Hell.. we can all go out and dress as Cowboys (Stands back and awaits angry rant from Coen fans).

Directing

The Kings Speech.

ARGH! This was the hardest one of all, and the reason I wanted to take on this challenge in the first place. This year, for the first in ages, I LOVE all the directors and as I watched each film I put a new Director in this category to win. Black Swan's script, to me, was pretentious and awful but still shot very, very well (How many times did Cassel want to remind us that she could dance the White Swan but he was not sure about the Black Swan!? Yawn). Boyle was amazing in the way that he shot 127 hours and didn't make it boring AT ALL (Think 'Buried'). The Figher was simply outstanding and I've not even mentioned Social Network yet! But.. I think.. for all the subtle (albeit probably un-intentional) nods in framing to Taxi Driver, never having ECU until Bertie approached a microphone, for making the Royals seem like people you would WANT in your house and the way he dared to make an engaging film that could have SO easily been a mundane Sunday tea-time BBC Drama it has to go to King's Speech. There. 

Film Editing

127 Hours

You may not have noticed, but no more than 3 seconds go by without a cut. Pretty goddamn special for a film with a fixed location. Literally. But still, the most powerful cut of all is the one towards the end... (chortle). Sorry.

Makeup

The Wolfman

Yeah. It was bad. Like, really REALLY bad.. but I don't think I could live with myself if I didn't vote for the Werewolf movie. Sorry everyone. Also, the Wolf wasn't so bad now was it? At least it wasn't all CGI like in the OTHER werewolf/vampire/emo saga! And at least it ate people rather than fix their motorbikes. 

Music (Original Score)

The King's Speech

It was good.

Music (Original Song)

If I Rise- 127 hours

So was this

Best Picture

The Kings Speech

Reasons:

• It could have been a boring as hell Sunday Drama.
• The acting is incredible
• It's shot in an incredible way
• It's SO tense when it wants to be
• It's funny
• It's sad
• The story is fascinating
• Most importantly: It's not up it's own rectum.

Erm.. Yeah. That's an Oscar right there I think.

Sound Editing

Tron:Legacy

BECAUSE IT DESERVED AN EFFECTS NOD!! SO IT'S GETTING THIS ONE! The story is awful but why the hell was it not given an effects nom! Rubbish. For that alone I hope it takes this Oscar home and scratches off the 'Sound Editing' recessed lettering and replaces it with effects. Plus, it was actually very well Sound edited. Especially when compared to the others.

Visual Effects

Inception

Okay. You get it. Mind you, it the effects are incredible. As in jaw-dropping. Still would have liked to see Tron here. Remember, we're not marking you on plot in this Category..

Sound Mixing

Social Network

Just incredible. I'm sorry I've snubbed you so far Mr Fincher. You get to take this one home with you. You do actually win in this category though because the mix is incredible. Bravo. It was a tough year to be an awesome movie.

Writing: Adapted Screenplay

127 Hours

A 2 hour film about a man in a cave. How in god's name did anyone even BEGIN to write this.. let alone make in engaging. Some brilliant lines and inspired scenes. This could have so easily been a flashback-fest with the event itself being halfway through the film. Certainly the most deserving nom here.

Writing: Original Screenplay

The King's Speech

Okay, okay. But look at the others! 'Kids' was just an Oscar cheap-shot and it was performance's over plot. Fighter was great visually but, sorry 'Rocky' anyone? It had to be King's Speech. Great, inspired moments of dialogue that shoot out at you with a plot that moves at such a pace and has SO many moments of powerful tension and emotional wallops! For those that want Inception to get this? When we were kids didn't we always end stories with 'And it was all a dream.. or was it?'

So there you go. Those are the films I think deserve to win. I've left out a couple because I've not seen all contenders and it would not be fair. For sake of argument (and a gamble) I'd like to predict the others just to see, on Oscar night, how many I get right! Hope you don't mind

Doc: Feature:

Exit through the Gift Shop

Doc: Short

Killing in the Name

Foreign Language Film

Biutiful

Short Film (animated)

Day and Night (I've seen this one and it is awesome)!

Short Film (live action)

The Confession

Laters Younglins,

Al

Good Scenes in Bad Films/Bad Scenes in Good films

So, it's the movie equivalent of a Gherkin in a McDonalds Hamburger... a bad scene in a great film.. but what is the worst offender?

I've been thinking of this for a while now.. and it's especially hard because the movie has to be SO awesome that watching it would be like opening the Ark of the Covenant and cross legged in front of it. Even Indy would be screaming at Marion to make sure it had her full attention.

Yet, by comparison, the offending scene would have to be such an almighty stinker. Imagine watching a family leave a Veterinary surgery without the Dog they went in with. Worse than that.

So here it is...

The 'Lovemaking' scene in The Watchmen (2009. Zac Snyder)

Yep. That's it.

Zac Snyder (Who recently signed up to direct Superman 6.. or whatever you want to call it now) created a near perfect movie. One that defied time and space and silenced the geek community. He created the impossible. Forget loaves and fishes, completing the Kessel Run or rescuing the Princess in Donkey Kong. This is harder...

He made a decent version of the Watchmen.

Yup. That's it. In fact, for 'decent' read 'Knocked out of the park of Epic'. Something even Terry Gillingham.. with his Ricrollin' 'Never Gonna Give You Up' attitude on every project he ever faces, couldn't do this! He cast it aside like yesterday's Coconuts. Nobody thought it could be done. The critics. The comic book fans... Hell,  I bet, even Alan Moore, on his Deathbed, will actually sit up and say 'The boy Zac went and done good'.

Slow Mo? Overused? Who cares! It looked da bomb. Even pre- free-dee! Costumes? We were all so skeptical when 'that' cover of Empire featured Z3-listers dressed in what looked like  'Watchmen' fancy dress that some cosplay nerds pieced together in their mums basement... yet when push came to shove, can you imagine The Comedian wearing anything else? It looked incredible!

And lets not forget the opening scene! Dylan? Death? Cuban Missile Crisis? YES PLEASE!

So... whilst all this is going on.. when all logic and reason was defied and even the ENDING was improved, what let it down?

The insult of one the best songs in the world being played over what can only be described as the most difficult 3 mins of anyones life.

A spurt of flame, some VERY awkward faces and the majestic use of the word 'Hallelujah'. Yeah. This is one of those moments where you turn to the person next to you and apologise. You don't know why, but you do.

I mean, seriously, it has to be the most awkward scene in history! No. Most awkward MOMENT in history! My Dad once sat me down and explained the rules of contraception and I would rather go through that again fifty times over rather than watch this scene in a room with more than one person. If there are two people together, lets say 2 lads, it's just very upsetting. A guy and girl? Just wrong. A bunch of people? At least 3 members of the audience will make excuses and leave. And.. if you;re on your own?

That's worse.

Watching it on your own means that you feel a little dirty. In fact, one eye stays permanently fixed on the door.

Hell, at least when my Dad explained 'You-know-what' to me it was a one-off! I never had to go through it again. Sadly, this movie is SO good that I have to watch this scene at least 30 more times in my lifetime. Oh... and it also ruined a brilliant song.

Well, to be fair. Alexandra Burke did that.

So there you have it. Zac Snyder, you are a legend. I have total faith in your Superman-handling abilities but please... please... stay away from lovemaking 'moments' like this in the future. I can only imagine the horror of what a Kryptonian/Human slo-mo scene of 'relations' will look like, scored with Gary Jules' 'Mad World' or Oldfield's 'Tubular Bells' and, needless to say, the results would be petrifying.

You got everything else right tho. Well done dude.

Well... except for that actor who played Ozymandias. He sucked.

Al