Is it me or does their seem to be have been a unprecedented volume of build-up to this years ceremony? I guess the Avatar versus Hurt Locker battle spices things up for the meeja and the unusually strong presence of UK talent attending the event has generated more column inches of speculation and interviews, then again it might just be that all the film sites I visit and podcasts I listen to have unduly influenced my perceptions. Interesting observations have been made regarding the lack of traditional star power amongst this years nominees, this is hilarious as is this, in other news I see that the Guardian has started copying me. OK, I’m exaggerating a little for comic effect. Just a little. The rules again are I’ve bolded the films I’ve seen and italicised the nominees and films I think will win. My comments will jump around the place as the Oscars are awarded so bear with me when you read this after the fact….
In the intervening weeks since the Oscar nominations were announced I’ve managed to see the overwhelming majority of nominated films, a project accelerated by my unearthing of a Chinese site that hosts DVD quality rips of many of the films that haven’t come out here yet. OK, maybe that’s cheating but I’d wager I’ve seen more of the nominated pictures than most of the venerable voting Academy. The way I look it is that I spend around £800 a year on the film industry by legitimate means – film visits and on-line subscriptions – so I’m entitled to some freebies. At least, that’s the defence my attorney will be mounting. The question is, have these efforts translated into a greater than 50% accuracy of predictions that I’ve averaged over the past few years? Yes, I think I’ve come away with something like a 65% hit rate….
Performance by an actor in a leading role
Did I get it right? – One humourous aside I’ve read recently was that Sam Rockwell should have got a best actor and best supporting actor nomination for Moon, I’m inclined to agree. Nevertheless Bridges gets it. Cool.
- Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart” (Fox Searchlight)
- George Clooney in “Up in the Air” (Paramount)
- Colin Firth in “A Single Man” (The Weinstein Company)
- Morgan Freeman in “Invictus” (Warner Bros.)
- Jeremy Renner in “The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment)
Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Did I get it right? – No surprises, yes he did. His BAFTA speech was better though.
- Matt Damon in “Invictus” (Warner Bros.)
- Woody Harrelson in “The Messenger” (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
- Christopher Plummer in “The Last Station” (Sony Pictures Classics)
- Stanley Tucci in “The Lovely Bones” (DreamWorks, distributed by Paramount)
- Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company)
Performance by an actress in a leading role
Did I get it right? – And there is no cinematic god. Quite why The Blind Side is on here at all is indicitive of a very poor choice of parts for actresses at the moment, it’s turgid, manipulative Hollywood film-making at its worst. This will not be remembered well….
- Sandra Bullock in “The Blind Side” (Warner Bros.)
- Helen Mirren in “The Last Station” (Sony Pictures Classics)
- Carey Mulligan in “An Education” (Sony Pictures Classics)
- Gabourey Sidibe in “Precious” (Lionsgate)
- Meryl Streep in “Julie & Julia” (Sony Pictures Releasing)
Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Did I get it right? – Before this during the evening it was great to see Roger Corman, Lauren Bacall and Gordon Willis briefly noted. Far too briefly though – Corman is the invisible lynchpin of modern Hollywood. As for this award, yes, and a good speech.
- Penélope Cruz in “Nine” (The Weinstein Company)
- Vera Farmiga in “Up in the Air” (Paramount)
- Maggie Gyllenhaal in “Crazy Heart” (Fox Searchlight)
- Anna Kendrick in “Up in the Air” (Paramount)
- Mo’Nique in “Precious” (Lionsgate)
Best animated feature film of the year
Did I get it right? – Naturally. Again, no suprises yet and it was certainly the best of the bunch. Looking forward to seeing it again. Vaguely annoyed that I didn’t find the time to see Coraline, The Princess & The Frog was OK if you like that sort of thing – at least it has Keith David’s vocal talents in it as the villain which was a plus.
| “Coraline” (Focus Features) |
Henry Selick |
| “Fantastic Mr. Fox” (20th Century Fox) |
Wes Anderson |
| “The Princess and the Frog” (Walt Disney) |
John Musker and Ron Clements |
| “The Secret of Kells” (GKIDS) |
Tomm Moore |
| “Up” (Walt Disney) |
Pete Docter |
Achievement in art direction
Did I get it right? – Yes, the Avatar fightback starts here.
| “Avatar” (20th Century Fox) |
|
| “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” (Sony Pictures Classics) |
|
| “Nine” (The Weinstein Company) |
|
| “Sherlock Holmes” (Warner Bros.) |
|
| “The Young Victoria” (Apparition) |
|
Achievement in cinematography
Did I get it right? – Always a big award for me, Robert Richardson is the man but here comes Avatar again. 3D and effects win.
| “Avatar” (20th Century Fox) |
Mauro Fiore |
| “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” (Warner Bros.) |
Bruno Delbonnel |
| “The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment) |
Barry Ackroyd |
| “Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company) |
Robert Richardson |
| “The White Ribbon” (Sony Pictures Classics) |
Christian Berger |
Achievement in costume design
Did I get it right? – Whoever writes these intro speechs should be shot. Heart before my head, should have gone with the old stuff which always has the advantage….The Young Victoria wins. Good for the UK, we are always good at this.
| “Bright Star” (Apparition) |
Janet Patterson |
| “Coco before Chanel” (Sony Pictures Classics) |
Catherine Leterrier |
| “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” (Sony Pictures Classics) |
Monique Prudhomme |
| “Nine” (The Weinstein Company) |
Colleen Atwood |
| “The Young Victoria” (Apparition) |
Sandy Powell |
Achievement in directing
Did I get it right? – Well, at least I’ve seen them all. Being a crypto-commie left wing liberal I’d love to see a woman finally win this category and it would be richly deserved in this case, EDIT – I’m overjoyed that Kathryn secured this one. Here is my previous reportage.
| “Avatar” (20th Century Fox) |
James Cameron |
| “The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment) |
Kathryn Bigelow |
| “Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company) |
Quentin Tarantino |
| “Precious” (Lionsgate) |
Lee Daniels |
| “Up in the Air” (Paramount) |
Jason Reitman |
Best documentary feature
Did I get it right? – I managed to see all of these, not a bad effort although I was helped with a couple of them being aired on UK TV. The Cove and The Most Dangerous Man in America were the leaders in this category for me and I’m happy to see The Cove win despite its vague blurring of lines of genre accuracy…
“Burma VJ” (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
A Magic Hour Films Production |
|
“The Cove” (Roadside Attractions)
An Oceanic Preservation Society Production |
|
“Food, Inc.” (Magnolia Pictures)
A Robert Kenner Films Production |
|
“The Most Dangerous Man in America”
A Kovno Communications Production |
|
“Which Way Home”
A Mr. Mudd Production |
|
Best documentary short subject
Did I get it right? – Alas no. Irritating speech. Music By Prudence got it.
“The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner”
A Just Media Production |
|
“The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant”
A Community Media Production |
|
“Music by Prudence”
An iThemba Production |
|
“Rabbit à la Berlin” (Deckert Distribution)
An MS Films Production |
|
Achievement in film editing
Did I get it right? – Another win for me. This is going well. For the narrowing down of the immense amounts of footage that was shot and keeping the sense of space and danger present throughout the numerous set-pieces, this is well deserved.
| “Avatar” (20th Century Fox) |
Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron |
| “District 9” (Sony Pictures Releasing) |
Julian Clarke |
| “The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment) |
Bob Murawski and Chris Innis |
| “Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company) |
Sally Menke |
| “Precious” (Lionsgate) |
Joe Klotz |
Best foreign language film of the year
Did I get it right? – Another big one for Hollyweird, a bit of a shock with this win. Argentian cinema has been getting a lot of attention recently and I’ll chalk this up as yet another curious sign of the divisons between American film-making and foreign material. Like last year they seem to have rejecting their kin but I haven’t seen the winner so I can’t comment further. Watch this space.
| “Ajami”(Kino International) |
|
| “El Secreto de Sus Ojos” (Sony Pictures Classics) |
|
| “The Milk of Sorrow” (A Wanda Visión) |
|
| “Un Prophète” (Sony Pictures Classics) |
|
| “The White Ribbon” (Sony Pictures Classics) |
|
Achievement in makeup
Did I get it right? – Why only three nominees? Anyway, a suprising yes! Wasn’t really expecting that…
| “Il Divo” |
Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano |
| “Star Trek” |
Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow |
| “The Young Victoria” |
Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore |
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
Did I get it right? – I’m losing count and this nonsense dance business isn’t helping. Bastard, it goes to Up…
| “Avatar” (20th Century Fox) |
James Horner |
| “Fantastic Mr. Fox” (20th Century Fox) |
Alexandre Desplat |
| “The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment) |
Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders |
| “Sherlock Holmes” (Warner Bros.) |
Hans Zimmer |
| “Up” (Walt Disney) |
Michael Giacchino |
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
Did I get it right? – No, I should have reassessed after seeing the movie yesterday but here we are. Crazy Heart took it.
| “Almost There” from “The Princess and the Frog” (Disney) |
|
| “Down in New Orleans” from “The Princess and the Frog” (Walt Disney) |
|
| “Loin de Paname” from “Paris 36” (Sony Pictures Classics) |
|
| “Take It All” from “Nine” (The Weinstein Company) |
|
| “The Weary Kind” from “Crazy Heart” (Fox Searchlight) |
|
Best motion picture of the year
Did I get it right? – No, and quite brilliantly so. Go and see the Hurt Locker now, a great fillm that deserves its attention. More later…..
“Avatar” (20th Century Fox)
A Lightstorm Entertainment Production |
|
“The Blind Side” (Warner Bros.)
An Alcon Entertainment Production |
|
“District 9” (Sony Pictures Releasing)
A Block/Hanson Production |
|
“An Education” (Sony Pictures Classics)
A Finola Dwyer/Wildgaze Films Production |
|
“The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment)
A Voltage Pictures Production |
|
“Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company)
A Weinstein Company/Universal Pictures/A Band Apart/Zehnte Babelsberg Production |
|
“Precious” (Lionsgate)
A Lee Daniels Entertainment/Smokewood Entertainment Production |
|
“A Serious Man” (Focus Features)
A Working Title Films Production |
|
“Up” (Walt Disney)
A Pixar Production |
|
“Up in the Air” (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios)
A Montecito Picture Company Production |
|
Best animated short film
Did I get it right? – In two minds on this one, Logorama was the best film but that’s another fail on my part as A Matter of Loaf And Death failed. Check out Logorama below, it’s great…
“Logorama (Autour de Minuit)”
An Autour de Minuit Production |
|
“A Matter of Loaf and Death” (Aardman Animations)
An Aardman Animations Production |
|
Best live action short film
Did I get it right? – Bollocks, this is not going well. No. It was ‘The New Tenants’….
“The Door” (Network Ireland Television)
An Octagon Films Production |
|
“Instead of Abracadabra” (The Swedish Film Institute)
A Directörn & Fabrikörn Production |
|
“Kavi”
A Gregg Helvey Production |
|
“The New Tenants”
A Park Pictures and M & M Production |
|
Achievement in sound editing
Did I get it right? – Yes, that’s better. If I can get onto Ladbrooks.com I’ll wager the other sound award will go the same way…
| “Avatar” (20th Century Fox) |
Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle |
| “The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment) |
Paul N.J. Ottosson |
| “Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company) |
Wylie Stateman |
| “Star Trek” (Paramount) |
Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin |
| “Up” (Walt Disney) |
Michael Silvers and Tom Myers |
Achievement in sound mixing
Did I get it right? – Result. Hurt Locker doing well here….and puts me equal at the halfway mark.
| “Avatar” (20th Century Fox) |
|
| “The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment) |
|
| “Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company) |
|
| “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” (Paramount) |
|
Achievement in visual effects
Did I get it right? – Hardly suprising, but yes. Having watched some of the extras on the Star Trek Blu-Ray that I rented recently I was quite impressed with their combination of old school in-camera FX such as forced perspectives, messing about with aspect ratios and other tricks of the trade which you can date back to Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd – any other year and they would have probably secured my support. But of course it is Avatar’s year and rightfully so.
| “Avatar” (20th Century Fox) |
|
| “District 9″ (Sony Pictures Releasing) |
|
| “Star Trek” (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment) |
|
Adapted screenplay
Did I get it right? – In The Loop was apparently the most expletive fuelled nominee in Oscar history – there’s something for the UK to be proud of. I was voting with my heart not my head and have been subsequently punished – Precious took it. A third of the way through and it ain’t looking good…
| “District 9” (Sony Pictures Releasing) |
Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell |
| “An Education” (Sony Pictures Classics) |
Screenplay by Nick Hornby |
| “In the Loop” (IFC Films) |
Screenplay by Armando Iannucci |
| “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Lionsgate) |
Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher |
| “Up in the Air” (Paramount) |
Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner |
Original screenplay
Did I get it right? – Damn no. Could be the start of a slide in Hurt Lockers favour….2 for 2 at this point. Oh, unexpected John Hughes moment…well, that was vaguely cool….here is the better montage though.
| “The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment) |
Written by Mark Boal |
| “Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company) |
Written by Quentin Tarantino |
| “The Messenger” (Oscilloscope Laboratories) |
Written by Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman |
| “A Serious Man” (Focus Features) |
Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen |
| “Up” (Walt Disney) |
Screenplay by Pete Docter |
Overall I thought that the hosts were rubbish and I’m too tired to add up the numbers to see if i cracked that 50% target. As an aside it was amusing to see a horror movie montage during the awards that will no doubt be picked apart by certain bloggers and websites, gimme a couple of days to prepare a response to this unexpected kudos to cinemas bastard yet most profitable child. It’s a sign of the times of course, couple that with the likes of Avatar and you have a temperature gauge of something….
March 8, 2010 | Categories: Current Affairs, Film | Tags: academy awards, avatar, Cinema, Film, Hollywood, Movies, Oscars | 4 Comments
Minty's Menagerie 
Recent Comments