Oscars 2011

Here's who I would pick, for the categories I can be bothered to write about.  Note that I haven't seen every film in the nominations, so these views are slightly flawed but as always highly opinionated.

Best Picture - Inception.  I've heard that The Social Network is very good but, frankly, if it was as good as Inception, someone would have tied me down and forced me to watch it by now.  I've yet to see The Fighter, and I expect that to be excellent, but I'd be amazed if it was quite as good as Inception.  Black Swan is quality, but not quite that quality.  The King's Speech, other than the acting, is very mediocre.  True Grit is by the Coen Brothers, and is therefore rubbish.

Best Director - Christopher Nolan (Inception).  Yes I know he's not nominated, but he should still win.  Of those who have been nominated, I could cope if Darren Aronofsky, David O Russell, or David Fincher won.  Just please, not the Coen Brothers.

Best Actor - Colin Firth.  No debate.

Best Actress - Natalie Portman.  One reviewer summed it up as a 'career-defining performance'.  Fact.

Best Supporting Actor - Christian Bale.  He is going to be awesome in The Fighter.

Best Supporting Actress - Amy Adams.  She is also going to be awesome.

Best Original Screenplay - Christopher Nolan (Inception).  By a mile.

Best Animated Film.  Toy Story 3, obviously.  Pixar should never, ever lose this award.  Unless it's up against Shrek 1.

Best Adapted Screenplay - The Social Network.  I've heard this is excellent.

Best Art Direction - Black Swan (not nominated, but since when did I care?)

Best Cinematography - Inception.  Do not argue.

Best Sound Mixing - Inception.  I said, do not argue!

Best Sound Editing - Inception.  You have been warned.

Best Original Score - Hans Zimmer (Inception)  You get the message?  It's one of the greatest films EVER.

Best Film Editing - Inception

Best Animated Short - Day and Night (Inception was neither animated nor short)

Best Visual Effects - Inception


Totals: Inception wins 9, The King's Speech wins 1, Black Swan wins 2, The Fighter wins 2, The Social Network wins 1, Toy Story 3/Day and Night wins 2.  I missed out Best Song, Best Costumes and Best Makeup, plus all the random ones.

I doubt this will come true, and therefore I will disagree, as I always do, with the award.  Oh well, I'm happy knowing that Inception is amazing, The King's Speech is overrated, and the Coen Brothers are crap.

3 down, 3 to go

In the last two weeks I've been to the cinema three times.

First up was 127 Hours, starring James Franco as the bloke who goes trekking, gets trapped in a gorge for 127 hours and has to cut his own arm off to escape.  The film is a good watch.  The fact that the amputation scene is famous is important, because if you know it’s coming (as I did), it adds a lot of suspense the film.  James Franco gives an excellent performance, especially considering he has no other actors with him for most of the film.  At 90-odd minutes, it’s not excessively long, and the momentum and pace is maintained despite the relative lack of anything happening.  The main weakness with the film is that, basically, nothing happens.  The plot is tiny.  The direction isn’t anything to write home about either.  But Franco is very impressive, and the soundtrack is also very good.  A decent film.

Next was The King’s Speech – about the stammer of King George VI and his struggle to overcome it.  Yes, Colin Firth really is as good as people say.  His performance alone makes the film worth watching.  Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter are also as brilliant as ever.  The performances, as in 127 hours, are the reason to watch the film.  The script is good, and very funny in places, but held back by a frankly uninteresting and very obvious plot.  Therefore, massive respect to the actors for holding my attention (if a film has a poor plot, that is normally enough to turn me off).  Another decent film.

Finally, Black Swan – with Natalie Portman as a ballerina cast as the lead in Swan Lake, whose paranoia develops into disturbing hallucinations.  I joked before seeing the film that I was going to watch Portman go insane for two hours, but that really does summarise the film.  Again, the performances are excellent, particularly Portman herself.  Choreography, design, camerawork, costumes, music – all great.  This film is full of suspense, a real squirmer.  It’s not easy to watch at all, and frankly makes a mockery of the classification system, being a 15 despite explicit violence, language and sex.  Oh, and drug use (nearly forgot).  But it is really, really good.  The best film so far this year.

I don’t think I’ve ever been to the cinema this regularly before.  But it’s nice.  And there are another 3 films I hope to see soon: Hereafter, Never Let Me Go, and The Fighter.  I shall let you know my thoughts in time.