2012 Oscars: The Best Actress Race Starts Early

Meryl Streep (left) has 2 Oscars (1979 Best Supporting Actress, Kramer v Kramer;
 1982 Best Actress, Sophie's Choice) and 16 nominations. Glenn Close (right) has
5 nominations and no wins (but 3 Emmys and 3 Tonys).

Ever since it was released that Glenn Close was playing a man in a film called Albert Nobbs she was producing and had co-written the screenplay for tongues have been wagging about her as the one to beat for the 2012 Best Actress Oscar. I have a sweet spot in my heart for Ms. Glenn Close because she is the best thing in one of my favourite movies of all time: Dangerous Liaisons.

Check this scene out and ask yourself why the Best Actress Oscar went to Cher that year!

However, now comes word that Meryl Streep, the most nominated actress of all time, is set to play former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in an upcoming film called The Iron Lady. The trailer for the latter has been released and La Streep has done one of her famous accents and incredible transformations:

Most people give the edge to Glenn because her film also has her brandishing an accent (19th century Irish), has a better director (Directed by Rodrigo Garcia, a well-known director of episodes of HBO series like Six Feet Under, Carnivale and In Treatment), a better cast (Oscar-winner Brenda Fricker, up-and-comer Mia Wasikowski (The Kids Are All Right, Alice in Wonderland), Jonathan Rhys Myers), and Glenn co-wrote the freaking screenplay and has been trying to get the movie made for 15 years! She also played the role on stage and won a Canadian Tony award (called an Obie). However, don't count out Ms. Streep either. The Iron Lady is directed by Phyllida Lloyd who directed her in her biggest box-office smash, the execrable Mamma Mia! and stars Oscar-winner Jim Broadbent and the always good Richard E. Grant.

If the movie is even half-way good, there's no question in my mind that the Academy will want to reward Glenn with atleast one Oscar (Anyone remember Emma Thompson's Oscar for Adapted Screenplay of Sense and Sensibility?) Also, Glenn currently has no Oscars on her mantel while Meryl has two.

I really don't know who I will be cheering for, I really really want Meryl to win her 3rd Oscar, but I also think Glenn Close was robbed decades ago so I really really want her to win as well.

2011 Oscars: The Winners

The winners of the 83rd Academy Awards have been announced. My 2011 Oscars predictions were announced earlier. This year I successfully predicted 7 of 8 in the big categories and 15 of 24 over all (20 of 24 if you count second guesses).

I was pretty happy with this year's awards. My favorite film of the year Inception won the most Oscars (four: Cinematography, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Visual Effects), tied with The King's Speech (Picture, Director, Actor, Original Screenplay). My hope for Best Picture was The Social Network, which won 3 Oscars (Editing, Score and Adapted Screenplay). Interestingly, Alice in Wonderland won 2 important awards (Art Direction and Costume), denying The King's Speech any kind of sweep. It was sad to see True Grit lose 10 Oscars, the most of the night, but I was glad The King's Speech lost 8, 127 Hours lost 6 and both The Fighter and The Social Network lost 5.


The biggest disappointment was Tom Hooper winning Best Director instead of David Fincher (or, hello!, Christopher Nolan), followed by Natalie Portman winning Best Actress (I wanted Annette Bening to win).
The best moment was Inception winning Best Cinematography. I still don't understand how anyone can listen to the nominated scores and think Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' for The Social Network is better than Hans Zimmer's Inception.

Here are the 2011 Oscar winners:

Best Picture: The King's Speech (2nd: The Social Network)
Director: David Fincher (2nd: Tom Hooper)
Original Screenplay: The King's Speech (2nd:Inception)
Adapted Screenplay: The Social Network (2nd: Toy Story 3)
Actor: Colin Firth (2nd: Jesse Eisenberg )
Actress: Natalie Portman (2nd: Annette Bening)
Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo (2nd: Helena Bonham Carter)
Supporting Actor: Christian Bale (2nd: Geoffrey Rush )
Editing: Black Swan (2nd: The Social Network)
Art Direction: The King's Speech (2nd: Inception) Alice in Wonderland
Sound: Inception (2nd: The King's Speech)
Sound Editing: Inception (2nd: Toy Story 3)
Cinematography: True Grit (2nd: Inception)
Costumes: The King's Speech (2nd: Alice in Wonderland )
Documentary: Inside Job  (2nd: Exit Through The Gift Shop)
Foreign Language: Biutiful (2nd: In a Better World)
Animated Film: Toy Story 3 
Animated Short: Day & Night (2nd: Madagascar) The Lost Thing
Live Action Short: God of Love (2nd: Wish 143)
Documentary Short: The Warriors of Qiugang (2nd: Poster Girl) Strangers No More
Makeup: Wolfman
Score: Inception (2nd: The King's Speech) The Social Network
Song: "We Belong Together" (from Toy Story 3)(2nd: "Country Strong")
Visual Effects: Inception (2nd: Alice in Wonderland

2011 Oscars: My Predictions for All 24 Categories

Here are my picks for all 24 categories in  the 83rd Academy Awards (2011 Oscars):

Best Picture: The King's Speech (2nd: The Social Network)
Director: David Fincher (2nd: Tom Hooper)
Original Screenplay: The King's Speech (2nd: Inception)
Adapted Screenplay: The Social Network (2nd: Toy Story 3)
Actor: Colin Firth (2nd: Jesse Eisenberg )
Actress: Natalie Portman (2nd: Annette Bening)
Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo (2nd: Helena Bonham Carter)
Supporting Actor: Christian Bale (2nd: Geoffrey Rush )
Editing: Black Swan (2nd: The Social Network)
Art Direction: The King's Speech (2nd: Inception)
Sound: Inception (2nd: The King's Speech)
Sound Editing: Inception (2nd: Toy Story 3)
Cinematography: True Grit (2nd: Inception)
Costumes: The King's Speech (2nd: Alice in Wonderland )
Documentary: Inside Job  (2nd: Exit Through The Gift Shop)
Foreign Language: Biutiful (2nd: In a Better World)
Animated Film: Toy Story 3 
Animated Short: Day & Night (2nd: Madagascar)
Live Action Short: God of Love (2nd: Wish 143)
Documentary Short: The Warriors of Qiugang (2nd: Poster Girl)
Makeup: Wolfman
Score: Inception (2nd: The King's Speech)
Song: "We Belong Together" (from Toy Story 3) (2nd: "Country Strong")
Visual Effects: Inception (2nd: Alice in Wonderland)

Last year I got 17 of 24 correct. We'll know how I did this year in a few hours....

OSCARS 2011: MadProfessah Predicts The Top 8 Categories

Here are my predictions for this Sunday's 83rd Academy Awards, known as the Oscars. This year I was 91% accurate in predicting the nominations in the Top 8 categories. Last year I correctly predicted 6 of 8 of the top categories and 17 of 24 overall.

Best Picture

“Black Swan”

“The Fighter”

“Inception”

“The Kids Are All Right ”

“The King’s Speech”

“127 Hours”

“The Social Network”

“Toy Story 3″

“True Grit”

“Winter’s Bone”

Should Win: The Social Network

Will Win: The King's Speech

Best Direction

Darren Aronofsky for “Black Swan”

Joel Coen and Ethan Coen for “True Grit”

David Fincher for “The Social Network”

Tom Hooper for “The King’s Speech”

David O. Russell for “The Fighter”

Should Win: David Fincher

Will Win: David Fincher

Actor in a Leading Role

Javier Bardem in “Biutiful”

Jeff Bridges in “True Grit”

Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network”

James Franco in “127 Hours”

Colin Firth in “The King’s Speech”

Should Win: Colin Firth 

Will Win: Colin Firth

Actress in a Leading Role

Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right”

Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole”

Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter’s Bone”

Natalie Portman in “Black Swan”

Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine”

Should Win: Annette Bening 

Will Win: Natalie Portman

Actor in a Supporting Role

Christian Bale in “The Fighter”

John Hawkes in “Winter’s Bone”

Jeremy Renner in “The Town”

Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right”

Geoffrey Rush in “The King’s Speech”

Should Win: Christian Bale 

Will Win: Christian Bale 

Actress in a Supporting Role

Amy Adams in “The Fighter”

Helena Bonham Carter in “The King’s Speech”

Melissa Leo in “The Fighter”

Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit”

Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”

Should Win: Helena Bonham Carter 

Will Win: Melissa Leo 

Adapted Screenplay

Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy for “127 Hours”

Aaron Sorkin for “The Social Network”

Michael Arndt, story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich for “Toy Story 3″

Joel Coen and Ethan Coen for “True Grit”

Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini for “Winter’s Bone”

Should Win: Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network

Will Win: Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network

Original Screenplay

Mike Leigh for “Another Year”

Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson. Story by Keith Dorrington and Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson for “The Fighter”

Christopher Nolan for “Inception”

Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg for “The Kids Are All Right”

David Seidler for “The King’s Speech”

Should Win: Christopher Nolan, Inception

Will Win: David Seidler, The King's Speech 

MOVIE REVIEW: Winter's Bone

The breakout film of the 2010 Sundance film festival was this little picture called Winter's Bone which won the Grad Jury Prize. Directed by Debra Granik from a script co-written by the director and Anne Rosselini, adapted from the novel of the same name by Daniel Woodrell. Woodrell is known for his bleak crime novels set in the Ozarks and the film sets out to capture the bleak depiction of desperate poverty which leads to rampant criminality in rural areas. And nails it.

The film stars Jennifer Lawrence as Ree Dolly, John Hawkes as Teardrop, Dale Dickey as Merab and Garrett Dillahunt as Sheriff Baskin. Lawrence (Best Actress) and Hawkes (Best Supporting Actor) have received acting nominations for the 2011 Oscars. Frankly, I thought Dickey was robbed for not getting a Supporting Actress nod but that category, like every year, was pretty tough this year. The film was also nominated for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay.

I first saw the film on a flight and only caught 90% of it since I was grading papers at the time but even absent-mindedly watching the film you come away with an impression of an austere landscape and emotionally draining movie. Later as the end-of-year accolades started piling up for Lawrence's performance (which are fully deserved--it's amazing what she does as a 20-year-old actress playing a teenager here) I rented the film via redbox.com so the Other Half could see it, and I could watch it (again),with my full attention. Even knowing the major plot points the second time, the film has an absorbing, powerful impact.

The basic story involves Lawrence who plays a 17-year-old girl named Ree Dolly whose father has disappeared after putting up the house where Ree, her two much younger siblings (8-year-old sister and 12-year-old brother) and mentally addled mother live, as collateral for his bail bond. If he doesn't show up, then the Sheriff says they will have a week to get out and go somewhere, but as the film makes very clear (with multiple shots of burned out cars, tiny colorless houses packed to the wrappers with detritus and mementos) Ree has nowhere else to go. Ree is determined to find her father, dead or alive, in order to save her family, and this entails her being forced to come face-to-face with the more unsavory branches of her gnarled family tree, most specifically her uncle (named Teardrop for the tattoo on his face) as well as her neighbors who will apparently do almost anything to hide their secrets from strangers and family alike.

Title: Winter's Bone.
Running Time: 1 hour, 40 minutes.
MPAA Rating: R for some drug material, language and violent content.
Release Date: June 11, 2010.


Plot: B.
Acting: A+.
Visuals: A-.
Impact: A-.

Overall Grade: A- (3.667/4.0). 

MOVIE REVIEW: Black Swan

I finally saw Black Swan. The film has been nominated for 8 Academy Awards (including Best Picture) and star Natalie Portman is the clear frontrunner for Best Actress. It was directed by Darren Aronofsky, who also made the films π and The Wrestler (see MadProfessah's review).

Black Swan is a bona fide hit, having been made for a mere $13 million and as of February 1 2011, grossed nearly $100 million.

I, however, was not so impressed. I can see clearly why Portman is a near-lock for the Best Actress Oscar, mainly because she is in nearly every frame of the film and it's impact is centered around her performance. She plays Nina Sayers, a beautiful, timid (but obsessive) ballet dancer who gets the lead role as the White Swan in Swan Lake. In this production one dancer will play the Swan Queen and the Black Swan. Nina apparently starts to go insane under the strain of trying to change her essentially innocent "White Swan" nature into the villainous, aggressive "Black Swan." Nina's alter ego Lily in the film is played by Natalie Portman's best friend Mila Kunis, another dancer in the company who has the risky temperament better suited to the Black Swan. Lily is either trying to loosen up Nina and admires her dancing or (as seen from Nina's warped perspective) Lily is stalking Nina and will stop at nothing until she replaces Nina as the star of the show.

Other actors in the movie are Winona Ryder as the bitter, over-the-hill ballerina who Nina is replacing as the star of the ballet company, Vincent Cassel as the main choreographer/artistic director of the ballet company and Barbara Hershey as Nina's mom. Hershey is particularly striking because she is very clingy, almost to the point of smothering. But what makes Hershey memorable is her appearance; her face is bloated (from excessive plastic surgery?) and many times when she appears on screen and the rhetorical question "What is up with her face?" comes unbidden into the viewer's mind.

Overall, the word that comes to mind to describe Black Swan is "overwrought." The film is described as a "psychosexual thriller" by some critics, but this assumes a very heterosexual male viewpoint (which is an odd thing to say about a film which is based in the behind-the-scenes milieu of ballet). Even watching the film as a gay man I can appreciate Natalie Portman's beauty and she clearly carries the film. However, what happens to her character has clearly been written by a straight man (let's just say there's a lot of shots of scantily clad dancers and a fairly explicit, nudity-free lesbian sex scene between Kunis and Portman). The film doesn't really have much to appeal to either gay men or straight women (apart from the fabulous ballet costumes); there are very few shots of any hot, athletic bodies of male dancers, for example. Are women who watch the film supposed to identify with Nina or Lily or just be appalled at what the effects of obsession-compulsion can be? There is no female character which has a positive sense of agency--except perhaps Lily, but she is fetishized as an outsider ("Just flew in from San Francisco"). Meanwhile the central male character  is clearly an asshole but this goes unchallenged because he's the boss--sexual harassment is assumed and normalized.

Black Swan is a film which is worth seeing for Natalie Portman's lead performance--in the comfort of your own home.

Title: Black Swan.

Running Time: 1 hour, 50 minutes.

MPAA Rating: R for strong sexual content, disturbing violent images, language and some drug use.

Release Date: December 3, 2010.

Plot: B-.

Acting: A. 

Visuals: A-.

Impact: C-.

Overall Grade: B-/C+ (3.00/4.0).

OSCARS 2011: The King's Speech Set For Sweep

The Oscars race has become clearer in the last few weeks as the main guilds, the Producers Guild (PGA), Directors Guild (DGA) and Screen Actors Guild (SAG), have all awarded The King's Speech their highest award, making an Oscar night of historic proportions seem like an inevitability.

Director Tom Hooper, a first-time DGA nominee won the DGA award and is probably a frontrunner for the Best Director Academy Award despite critical clamor for The Social Network's David Fincher. The top PGA award went to The King's Speech, which is significant because, like the Oscars, 10 films were eligible for the top honor. At the SAG Awards Colin Firth continued his sweep of the pre-Oscar awards for Best Actor and the film won the Best Ensemble award.

Other frontrunners for Oscars are Natalie Portman (Black Swan) for Best Actress and Christian Bale (The Fighter) for Best Supporting Actor. Some people think Melissa Leo (The Fighter) is also a lock for Best Supporting Actress, but I have my doubts.

OSCARS 2011: 91% Accurate in Nominations Predictions!

I did pretty well in my predictions of the Oscar nominations, out of 45 possible correct nominations in the Top 8 categories, I predicted 4 of the 8 categories completely correctly (Picture, Actor, Supporting Actress and Adapted Screenplay) and I had only one wrong in the four others, or 41/45 or 91.1% accuracy.I'm especially prod of getting all 10 Best Picture nominees correct.

Best Picture(10 out of 10)

• 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 

Best Director (4 out of 5)

• Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
• David Fincher, The Social Network
• Tom Hooper, The King's Speech
• Christopher Nolan, Inception Joel & Ethan Coen, True Grit
• David O. Russell, The Fighter

Best Actress (4 out of 5)

• Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
• Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
• Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone
• Natalie Portman, Black Swan
• Hilary Swank, Conviction Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

Best Actor (5 out of 5)

• Javier Bardem, Biutiful
• Jeff Bridges, True Grit
• Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
• Colin Firth, The King's Speech
• James Franco, 127 Hours

Best Supporting Actress (5 out of 5)

• Amy Adams, The Fighter
• Helena Bonham Carter, The King's Speech
• Melissa Leo, The Fighter
  
• Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit
• Jackie Weaver, Animal Kingdom

Best Supporting Actor (4 out of 5)

• Christian Bale, The Fighter
• Andrew Garfield, The Social Network John Hawkes, Winter's Bone
• Jeremy Renner, The Town
• Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right
• Geoffrey Rush, The King's Speech

Best Original Screenplay (4 out of 5)

• Stuart Blumberg and Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right
• Andres Heinz, Mark Heyman and John J. McLaughlin, Black Swan Mike Leigh, Another Year
• Christopher Nolan, Inception
• Eric Johnson, Scott Silver, and Paul Tamasy, The Fighter 
• Dave Seidler, The King's Speech

Best Adapted Screenplay (5 out of 5)

• Michael Arndt, Toy Story 3
• Simon Beaufoy and Danny Boyle, 127 Hours
• Joel & Ethan Coen, True Grit
• Debra Granik and Anne Rosselini, Winter's Bone
• Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network 

OSCARS 2011: Nominations Announced

The 83rd Academy Award nominations were announced this morning. The King's Speech leads with 12, followed by True Grit with 10 and The Social Network and Inception with 8 and The Fighter with 7. More analysis later on. but for now here are the top 8 categories:

Best Picture
“Black Swan”
“The Fighter”
“Inception”
“The Kids Are All Right ”
“The King’s Speech”
“127 Hours”
“The Social Network”
“Toy Story 3″
“True Grit”
“Winter’s Bone”

Best Direction
Darren Aronofsky for “Black Swan”
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen for “True Grit”
David Fincher for “The Social Network”
Tom Hooper for “The King’s Speech”
David O. Russell for “The Fighter”

Actor in a Leading Role
Javier Bardem in “Biutiful”
Jeff Bridges in “True Grit”
Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network”
James Franco in “127 Hours”
Colin Firth in “The King’s Speech”

Actress in a Leading Role
Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right”
Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole”
Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter’s Bone”
Natalie Portman in “Black Swan”
Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine”

Actor in a Supporting Role
Christian Bale in “The Fighter”
John Hawkes in “Winter’s Bone”
Jeremy Renner in “The Town”
Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right”
Geoffrey Rush in “The King’s Speech”

Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams in “The Fighter”
Helena Bonham Carter in “The King’s Speech”
Melissa Leo in “The Fighter”
Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit”
Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”

Adapted Screenplay
Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy for “127 Hours”
Aaron Sorkin for “The Social Network”
Michael Arndt, story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich for “Toy Story 3″
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen for “True Grit”
Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini for “Winter’s Bone”

Original Screenplay
Mike Leigh for “Another Year”
Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson. Story by Keith Dorrington and Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson for “The Fighter”
Christopher Nolan for “Inception”
Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg for “The Kids Are All Right”
David Seidler for “The King’s Speech”