WRONG! The Academy Awards 2011

I used to get excited about the Oscars, but that was before I discovered, in a big way, non-mainstream and foreign language cinema. For the past decade, as I've seen more new films year on year - 212 in 2010 - The Oscars has seemed ever more like a hugely expensive salute to cinematic mediocrity, and last night was, depressingly, no different. So, let's take a look at some of the results and see why they're WRONG!

Original Score
Winner: The Social Network; Trent Reznor / Atticus Ross

Right because: This was easily the best nominated score. It's a brilliant piece of music that marries up perfectly with the film it is soundtracking, and is also an interesting and highly listenable piece in isolation.

WRONG! because: The best original score of 2010 was not even nominated. The fact that Daft Punk's score for Tron Legacy - a score so good it's more memorable than the film - didn't get nominated isn't a surprise from a body as conservative as AMPAS, but it does make a mockery of this category. The same thing is likely to happen next year; however good The Chemical Brothers' score for Hanna is I'd bet against a nomination.

Cinematography
Winner: Inception; Wally Pfister

WRONG! because: It's not that Inception had bad cinematography, in fact, as in all the other tech departments, the film excelled there. Seriously though, what the Hell does Roger Deakins have to do to win, blow every Academy member individually the week prior to voting? (legal note: I am not saying this is what Pfister did). True Grit is a truly beautiful film, and Deakins earned this with his opening shot alone, to say nothing of the last 20 years of his career.

Foreign Language Film
Winner: In a Better World

WRONG! because: I have only seen one of the nominees in this category, and I'm sure the others, including Susanne Bier's latest, are good films. I am, however, equally sure that none is as complete a masterpiece as Dogtooth. I am still yet to see a single better film since I first saw Dogtooth in October 2009 (and since then I have seen over 500 films for the first time). Yorgos Lanthimos' challenging work was never likely to win, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't have.

Film Editing
Winner: The Social Network; Kirk Baxter / Angus Wall

Right because: Again this is the correct answer from the list of nominees, a beatuiful, unshowy, job from Baxter and Wall... but...

WRONG! because: No nomination for Lee Smith's editing of Inception? Has AMPAS lost its collective mind? (note: yes). If there was only one category in which Inception deserved to win (note: there was) then it was this one, if only for Smith's astonishing feat of cutting together action scenes on four separate levels of reality in a way that was easy to follow throughout the film's last half hour.

Original Screenplay
Winner: The King's Speech; David Seidler

WRONG! because: Of the four nominees I saw in this category, not one stood out as a screenplay, and certainly none even held a candle to the fantastic writing for Four Lions. Chris Morris, Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain took a difficult subject (terrorism) and made it funny, while creating characters who were rounded, interesting, even bizarrely sympathetic at some levels. It's a beautifully executed balancing act, and it gets overlooked for an overgrown TV movie.

Director
Winner: The King's Speech; Tom Hooper

WRONG! because: Look at the competiton. EVERY other nominee delivered a better directorial job than Hooper, as did many who weren't nominated (Lee Unkrich, Danny Boyle and Debra Granik for starters). Actually the direction is the worst thing about the stodgy and inert The King's Speech (to say nothing of the fact that giving the nod to Timothy Spall's awful cartoon of Churchill should have disqualified Hooper all by itself). AND he beat David Fincher, cause, yeah, what's David Fincher ever given us... only four indisputable modern classics, including the film he was nominated for, but forget that, let's give it to the man who pointed a camera at the most ridiculously average and personality free film nominated. THIS is why I hate the Oscars.

Supporting Actress
Winner: The Fighter; Melissa Leo

WRONG! because: Well let's begin with the fact that Melissa Leo (a fine actress) is flat out fucking awful in The Fighter - not middling, not occasionally pushing the boat out too far - AWFUL. Her performance is hammier than the buffet table at a world pig farmers convention. So there's that. Then let's observe that everyone else in her category was better, especially Leo's co-star Amy Adams (along with the unnominated Mark Wahlberg the best thing in The Fighter) and Hailee Steinfeld (whose nomination here was naked category fraud, to be fair) whose remarkable performance in True Grit deserved the statuette.. Then let's remember the dignity shredding neediness with which Leo reacted to this, her second nomination. I may have hated this performance, but before those vomit inducing ads I had respect for Melissa Leo. Not so much now. A horrible result, and one that may set a bad precedent for Oscar campaigning.

Supporting Actor
Winner: The Fighter; Christian Bale

WRONG! because: Christian Bale is a great actor, and he's given many Oscar worthy performances. The Fighter is his best work in a while, but it's still sometimes a very cartoony performance. It's a shame Bale had to win for this rather than, say, American Psycho (though let's not pretend that this Oscar isn't more an expression of 'whoops, Christian Bale doesn't have an Oscar yet' than approval for this performance). It's also a shame that he had to beat the much more interesting, much more internalised work of John Hawkes in Winter's Bone, to say nothing of Andrew Garfield's two unnominated turns in The Social Network and Never Let Me Go.

Actress
Winner: Black Swan; Natalie Portman

WRONG! because: The perfect example of what often happens with Best Actress; the award being given because it's just someone's turn. I understand that I'm in a minority hating Black Swan, and all the ludicrous histrionics of the acting, but I'm just baffled by how often AMPAS looks on over acting as great acting. Again of the nominees I'd have gone with Winter's Bone, and Jennifer Lawrence's strong, understated, showing, but again my real winner; Agelliki Papoulia, who plays the elder daughter in Dogtooth, was never even in with a shout for a nomination. I've no problem with Natalie Portman having an Oscar (she earned it in, at least, Leon, Beautiful Girls and Garden State), but for THIS performance, really?

Actor
Winner: The King's Speech; Colin Firth

WRONG! because: This is the most obvious and most egregious make up Oscar in a long while. Firth so obviously deserved the golden baldie last year for A Single Man, but lost out, thanks to a combination of being way too subtle in that movie and the fact that Jeff Bridges was overdue for his own 'we're sorry we didn't get round to it before' Oscar. Firth's decent enough in The King's Speech, but he's capable of so much more than is asked of him here (see Genova and A Single Man). Firth's performance doesn't hold a candle to the less gimmicky work of Jesse Eisenberg in The Social Network or Oscar co-host James Franco in 127 Hours, but their time will come, and when it does it will likely be for a middling performance, and rob a more deserving actor of their trophy, and so the cycle will go on.

Picture
Winner: The King's Speech

WRONG! because: Okay, so it's not my least favourite of the nominated films (Black Swan, since you asked), but here's the bottom line: If The King's Speech really were the best film (even one of the 20 best films) of the last 12 months I wouldn't be writing this, because if that were anything like the pinnacle of what cinema could do then it wouldn't be worth the time I spend on it. The King's Speech is oversized TV with ideas above its station. It's not a bad film, it's not a good film, it's a relentlessly average film; decent and completely unchallenging in every aspect. It doesn't come near the transcendent emotion of Toy Story 3, the generation defining drama of The Social Network or even the genre mastery of True Grit, it's a film that, were it not for this unwarranted awards attention, I'd have forgotten on rising from my seat when it ended. Ladies and Gentlemen; your Best Picture. KILL ME.

Oscars 2010 in Review

The whole night in one word? 'Meh'. It was shrug of a ceremony this year, almost every category had an air of inevitablility about it (especially the stunningly predictable Big Six). The show too was strangely listless, with the hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin never falling flat, but never really killing either and some of the presenter segments feeling rather rote.

Anyway, first up here are some pics from the red carpet and the ceremony, and following those I'll have some video clips of some of the more notable moments.


Sandra Bullock: Radiant, and a little more dolled up than she was for the Razzies the night before.
Kate Winslet: Damn.
A mannequin. Or Taylor Lautner. I really can't tell.
Why yes, I am in love with Anna Kendrick, since you ask.


Jeff Bridges: Cool man, exceedingly cool beard.
James Cameron and wife Suzy Amis.
Tina Fey: Doing her part for equality by employing a team of blind stylists.
Kathryn Bigelow is 58. No, really.


Christoph Waltz: The Jew Hunter, also the nicest man in showbiz, it seems.
Pete Docter: Winning for the wonderful, wonderful Up.
Best Supporting Actress Mo'Nique: I missed her speech (bloody internet), but apparently she avoided doing a Halle Berry, and paid tribute to Hattie McDaniel.
Bridges: Yep, still made of awesome.


Sandra Bullock: Great speech, but Oscar Winner Sandra Bullock, really?
Kathryn Bigelow makes history as the first female Best Director.

CLIPS
Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin open the show

I'll add more here tomorrow, as there ought to be more of the individual speeches online by then.

Oscars 2010: Liveblog

EDIT: Okay, so I'm back. I've cleaned up the formatting and spellings. Pictures, video and a few general comments will apear soon, in a new post

11:41pm - Well, here we are then. I'm looking at the red carpet coverage. The stars of the silver screen are all glammed up to the nines, and here I am, sitting at a laptop in my kitchen, disheveled and wearing a slightly ratty dressing gown, and contemplating the slightly hideous fact that I'm going to be up until five or six tomorrow morning, reporting - hopefully in a sardonic and entertaining fashion - on the culmination of Hollywood's annual orgy of self-regarding celebration of cinematic mediocrity. I mean, lets face it, if the ten films nominated for Best Picture actually represented the best films of 2009 it would have been a really hideous year. Anyway, back to the red carpet, where some British non-entity is chatting to Ryan Reynolds who, shockingly, is rooting for Sandra Bullock.

11:42 - James Cameron, and the first question is where's Suzi Amis' dress from.
11:44 - Where does Cameron keep his Oscars? Apparently they move around, because they're usualy in the way. Well, he does have a few.
11:46 - Tom Ford, looking sharp as one would expect, and claiming not to be nervous. Favourites this year; Precious, Hurt Locker and Avatar... hedging his bets there.
11:48 - Dear GOD, she's not even up there yet and Mo'Nique is already giving her tearful speech about how life changing and wonderful Precious was. This is going to HURT.
11:51 - Sigorney Weaver hopes Avatar will win some awards. In other news, the sky is often blue.

11:52 - Time for a break. Is it just me, or is anyone else wondering why so much TV time is given over to 'people walking down a red rug'? They're pretty people, sure, and I'm sure it's a nice rug, but even so.

11:58 - Nick Park, up for his latest Wallace and Gromit short. He's got yet another really awful bow tie (which it turns out he made, out of wrapping paper).
00:00 am - Carey Mulligan, looking all cute and gamine, she's brought her family as guests.
00:02 - Tarantino, says he's feeling lucky. I get the feeling he'll be disappointed, at least on the big awards for himself.
00:03 - Christoph Waltz, ever modest, still rocking that excellent beard. Amazingly he still seems surprised to be nominated.
00:05 - Jeremy Renner, with his Mum, who says it's the proudest day of her life. Renner jokingly miffed that it wasn't the day he was born.
00:07 - Sandra Bullock, will they bring up her (gracious) Razzie victory last night? [Futuresam: No]

00:11 - Breaktime. Kettle on then.

00:17 - Is Quinton Aaron (of The Blind Side) just really quiet, or is Sky's mic crap?
00:19 - It's the mic. And Melanie Griffith looks like a candle that's been melted and remoulded over and over.
00:20 - SJP being asked what we can expect from Sex and the City 2. My bet? no Oscars.
00:21 - Lee Daniels may have made a tremendously overrated flick, but he looks very cool, and has a hot daughter.
00:23 - Stanley Tucci, being patronised on the occasion of his first nomination, which is hugely overdue (the nominato=ion that is).
00:25 - Colin Firth, 'fired out of a cannon sometime in September, now rounding Pluto'. Oh I hope he wins, it'll be a great speech.
00:29 - Meryl Streep and Demi Moore both looking very good.

00:30 - Back to the ads.

00:36 - Highlights package from last year, makes me REALLY hope that they go back to the usual way of presenting the acting Oscars, because those testimonials from previous winners were just mortifying.
00:38 - Clooney "aware that Jeff Bridges is going to win". Good for him.
00:39 - Bridges, less convinced of his victory than Clooney is. Just a quick note; Jeff Bridges is made of awesome, he should get an Oscar for being Jeff Bridges.
00:41 - Sam Worthington, much more entertaining than his movie, joking about worrying his girlfriend will run off with Zac Efron.
00:44 - Best Pic clips package. Bored now.
00:51 - Kate Winslet. WOW.

00:53 - Red carpet coverage is wrapping up, just crossing my fingers that my stream will now switch to the ceremony itself (which, of course, is on a different channel).

01:00 - Nearly time for the main event. I've got my scorecard here, and my predictions (which I wrote earlier), so, I'm pretty much set. Hope you enjoy the liveblog as we carry on through the night (assuming I don't nod off at my keyboard resulting in the last hour being reported as "feghuwguirwhrg jlgeroip").
01:03 - and here we go.
01:04 - Oh, joy, Claudia Winkleman (pretty, but, as far as I can tell, has the film knowledge of a fish supper) and a panel of lightweight 'experts'.
01:07 - Still NO mention of films in this coverage of the world's biggest film awards. Thanks Sky.
01:08 - A BTS package with Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, bodes well actually, light, funny and some good chemistry there.
01:10 - Ah, a mention of films, and just ten minutes in. Thery're about to discuss the 10 Best Pic nominees, with two comics and a 'film guru' I've never heard of. Where are Mark Kermode and Kim Newman when you need them?
01:13 - "Is Avatar the first blue movie nominated for best pic?" These are the jokes that we Brits are getting on this coverage? KILL ME NOW.
01:15 - Is Best Actor locked up?

01:27 - My stream went down just after that last post, but it looks like I've found an alternate one JUST in time for the awards to start. I'm now looking at the American, rather than the British, feed.

01:30 - and here we go. They're introducing the actor/actress nominees to begin with. Slightly odd choice.
01:32 - Neil Patrick Harris. Ace.
01:33 - Well, in concept anyway. I'm guessing Joss Whedon didn't write this song. It might have been funny if he had.
01:34 - Oh please let the host segment be funny.
01:35 - That first joke was spoiled in the BTS package, but it's funny still.
01:36 - Meryl Streep liked the gag about her having 'most losses'.
01:37 - Vera Farmiga looks gorgeous, but these jokes about pronunciation aren't really working for me.
01:38 - They're really hitting Meryl Streep, but she's loving it, and the jokes about Precious are pretty solid, especially the reference to CAA.
01:41 - Um. What WAS the punchline on the Avatar joke?
01:42 _ "Christoph Waltz played a nazi obsessed with finding jews, well Christoph... the motherload". That's the line of the night so far for me.
01:43 - Taylor Lautner, just as plastic in real life then.


01:44 - Best Supporting Actor
Prediction: Christoph Waltz – Waltz has won every award in sight since Inglourious Basterds premiered at Cannes, and there’s almost no way that he can lose here, unless the academy is completely overcome by the fact that Christopher Plummer is really quite old and has never been nominated before, despite a distinguished career.
Preference: None really, I’ve only seen two of the films here.

01:45 - Thank GOD, one presenter and a clip for each performance. So much better than the recent format experiments.
01:48 - WINNER: Waltz [1/1]
01:49 - "Oscar and Penelope; That's an uber bingo". A graceful and humble speech, as expected, and a deserving winner.

01:50 - Best Pic presentation: The Blind Side, by star Sandra Bullock's Proposal co-star Ryan Reynolds. The only BP nominee I haven't seen. Looks cheesier than a warehouse full of gorgonzola.

01:52 - Breaktime. I need a cuppa.


01:55 - Back, with Diaz and Carrell. Cameron Diaz can't read an autocue.
01:58 - Best Animated Film
Prediction / Preference: Up – Pixar’s best film since Toy Story 2, a gorgeously realised, incredibly moving film. The only way it won’t win here is if its Best Picture nomination splinters its vote.
01:59 - WINNER: Up [2/2]


02:02 - Original Song
Prediction / Preference: The Weary Kind – Crazy Heart has a lot of great music in it, this might not be the best song in the film, but it is the only one of the four I’ve heard from this list that I’d listen to outside of the film.
I'm having REAL trouble with this stream, hoping it'll correct itself yet.
02:04 - WINNER: The Weary Kind [3/3]
02:05 - "I love you more than rainbows baby". Nurse, nurse, the sickbag.

02:06 - Best Pic package for District 9. Stream seems okay now, phew.

02:07 - Break, and oh I fucking had to say it, didn't I?
02:10 - Three awards in, three good picks. This can't last.


02:11 - Robert Downey Jr and Tina Fey presenting Original screenplay with gags about the difference between what actors look for in scripts and what writers look for in actors "phone scenes so I don't have be in the same room as that insane actress I hate"
02: 14 - Original Screenplay
Prediction: Inglourious Basterds – Tarantino’s latest has been widely regarded as one of his best, and its hard to imagine that the film won’t win anything besides Christoph Waltz’ supporting actor trophy, and this seems to be the easiest for Tarantino to win, perhaps as an apology for not yet getting around to giving QT Best Director.
Preference: Up – Hilarious, and easily the most emotional film of the year.
02:15 - WINNER: The Hurt Locker. [3/4]. Sweep time, methinks.
02:16 - Dedicated to the troops, and to his Father, in a nice speech that never got political in an overt way.

02:17 - Molly Ringwald and Matthew Broderick with a tribute to John Hughes. Well deserved. Seems like a truly affectionate pair of speeches, again without being too sentimental.
02:19 - Wonderful to see a filmmaker who was so much part of my childhood not just thrown into the In Memoriam montage.
02:22 - Ally Sheedy is on the verge of tears there, but amazingly this is staying dignified.

02:23 - Samuel L Jackson presents Up for Best Picture. Odd pairing, even though he's worked for Pixar.

02:25 - another break already? It's gonna be a long night isn't it?


02:28 - Carey Mulligan and Zoe Saldana presenting short films awards. I haven't seen any of the nominees at all, hence no predictions.
02:30 - Nice package, with previous winners who have gone on to make features. I'm liking the format tonight.
02:32 - Animated Short WINNER: Logorama. The clip looked very cool, but I'm shocked that Nick Park's latest Wallace and Gromit lost. "No logos were harmed during the making of the project".
02:35 - Documentary Short WINNER: Music by Prudence.
02:37 - Live Action short WINNER: The New Tennants.


02:38 - Ben Stiller as a Na'vi. "It was between this and the nazi uniform, but the show seemed a little Hitler heavy"
02:39 - Make up
Prediction: Star Trek – This one tends to go to the flashiest nominee.
Preference: God, I don’t care. There’s really no work that sticks out here.
02:40 - "after I announce the winner I will stand as far away from them as possible, so as not to demean their moment of triumph". WINNER: Star Trek [4/5]

02:43 - Jeff Bridges presents A Serious Man for Best Pic.
02:45 - Break time.


02:48 - Rachel McAdams and Jake Gyllenhaal presenting.
02:49 - Adapted Screenplay
Prediction: Up in the Air – The precursors seem to have this down as the year’s outstanding adaptation.
Preference: An Education, despite its awful final scene, it’s full of wit and solid drama.
02:50 - WINNER: Precious [4/6]. Ugh.
02:51 - First tears of the night "This is for everybody who works on a dream every day, precious boys and girls everywhere" and, apparently everyone else in the world. Well, that was genuine, and yet just a bit sickly.

02:52 - Martin: "I wrote that speech for him". Steve Martin rules, by the way.
02:53 - Highlights of the Governors awards (essentially so that we don't have to sit through the 'boring' lifetime achievement awards).
02:54 - Nice to see Roger Corman honoured, that man's done more to break new talent than almost anyone, we owe him weeks, perhaps even months, worth of great movies.

02:56 - Shit. Now this stream's gone.


03:00 - Best Supporting Actress
Prediction: Mo’Nique – Precious is being spectacularly overrated by award bodies, but Mo’Nique is the best thing about the film by a country mile, and it’s hard to deny that she’s worthy of her frontrunner status here.
Preference: Anna Kendrick – A performance that is in equal parts hilarious and moving, given by one of the most consistently interesting young talents around right now.
WINNER: Mo'Nique [5/7]. Missed the speech searching for a stream.


03:05 - Sigourney Weaver presenting Art Direction
Prediction: Avatar – I have a feeling that Avatar will take home a clutch of technical awards, and you can’t deny that its design is pretty stunning.
Preference: The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus – Gilliam’s latest is a mess, but it is an intricate, gorgeous, mess.
03:06 - WINNER: Avatar [6/8]. "Jim Cameron, this Oscar sees you". GROAN. PUKE.


03:08 - Costume Design, presented by Tom Ford and Sarah Jessica Parker. Well, who else?
Prediction: The Young Victoria – This tends to be a period movie award, The Young Victoria is the kind of thing that the Academy likes here; pretty frocks in a period flick.
Preference: I know nothing about clothes, and care less, but Audrey Tautou looked sensational in Coco Before Chanel, so that’ll do.
03:11 - WINNER: The Young Victoria [7/9]. Yep, just make some old fashioned frocks and you're something of a shoo in here. She dedicates it to costume designers who work on contemporary films, and don't get as recognised. Good for Sandy Powell.

03:12 - Charlize Theron presenting the package for Precious.
03:13 - time for another break. I'm surprisingly awake, if now a little cold.

03:18 - Paranormal Activity sketch. Scarier than Paranormal Activity.
03:19 - Taylor Lautner and and Kristen Stewart introduce a tribute to horror movies.
03:20 - Wow. Leprechaun at the Oscars.
03:21 - EDWARD SCISSORHANDS?!
03:22 - Apparently only America makes horror films.


03:22 - Anna Kendrick and Zac Efron (and a Morgan Freeman voiceover) present the sound awards. In the most populist nod I've seen they're demonstrating sound work using The Dark Knight.
03:24 - Sound Editing / Sound Mixing
Prediction: Avatar – The sound categories tend to go to the technically favoured film each year, that’s Avatar this time. Transformers 2 might sneak in for sound mixing, if only because it’s REALLY FUCKING LOUD.
03:25 - Sound Editing WINNER: The Hurt Locker [7/10]. Yep, sweep time.
03:27 - Sound Mixing WINNER: The Hurt Locker [7/11]. See above.

03:28 - Elizabeth Banks presents a [miniscule] package from the sci-tech awards.

03:29 - Travolta presents Inglourious Basterds for Picture.


03:34 - Sandra Bullock presenting
Cinematography
Prediction: The White Ribbon – Michael Haneke’s latest is a stunning visual achievement; every frame a gorgeous piece of art in itself, if enough people see it then it ought to win.
Preference: Antichrist – How the best looking film of last year, if not the last five, didn’t get nominated is utterly beyond me. Among the nominees The White Ribbon is the correct choice.
03:35 - WINNER: Avatar [7/12]. F u c k.

03:37 - Demi Moore, and the Ghost music. Here comes the In Memoriam montage. Get your tissues.
03:38 - Oh, balls. James Taylor is mullering In My Life.
03:41 - Well, that ruined what's usualy a moving moment.


03:45 - JLo and Sam Worthington. Of course, it's such an obvious pairing. Hmmm, Worthington DOES always sound wooden and bored, it's not just his acting.
03:47 - Original Score
Prediction: Up – Michael Giacchino has had much acclaim and several awards for this score, and I imagine that this will be one more.
Preference: None really, for me a good score is one I don’t really notice, as long as Avatar[ded] doesn’t win I'll be fine.
03:49 - Honestly, do we really need the fucking interpretive dance? Give us Roger Corman's speech instead, Academy.
03:50 - All the coreography to Up's moving score just feels... wrong.
03:52: WINNER - Up [8/13]. Lovely. Giacchino is writing a lot of effective, but not hectoring, music. A nice speech paying tribute to being told that being creative is 'not a waste of time'.


03:54 - Gerard Butler and Bradley Cooper
Visual Effects
Prediction: Avatar – even if it’s locked out in every other category, Avatar will win here.
Preference: District 9 – Effects very nearly as good as Avatar’s, on a tenth of its budget, surely the bigger achievement.
03:55 - WINNER: Avatar [9/14]. Well, obviously.

03:56 - Jason Bateman for Up in the Air. Really, could they not find anyone who isn't IN the thing to pimp it here?

03:58 - I'm whipped, and I'm beginning to flag here, especially since a lot of the next hour is likely to be very predictable.


04:01 - MATT DAMON
Best Documentary Feature
Prediction: This is an incredibly difficult call and, to my shame, I haven’t seen any of the films so I’m just going with the most critically acclaimed – The Cove.
04:05 - WINNER: The Cove [10/15]. The comedy indian guy from Short Circuit has an Oscar.


04:05 - Tyler Perry "they just said my name at the Oscars, I better enjoy it because it'll never happen again". Damn straight Tyler.
Editing
Prediction / Preference: The Hurt Locker – This seems to be regarded as one of the great dramatic achievements of the year, and editing feels more like an artistic category than a technical one. Avatar will probably take the more technical categories, but this just feels like The Hurt Locker’s award. It’s also the best of a very mixed bag (Precious’ editing is appalling, and its nomination is a joke).
04:08 - WINNER: The Hurt Locker [11/16]. Oh thank GOD it wasn't Precious.

04:08 - Keanu Reeves for The Hurt Locker.

04:10 - My back's starting to hurt now, it's sitting still for so long that's doing it.


04:14 - Almodovar and Tarantino. Now THAT'S a directorial pairing I'd be intrigued by
Best Foreign Language Film
Prediction / Preference: The White Ribbon – Of those I’ve seen this is one of just two truly outstanding films in the three Best Picture categories. I imagine that it is razor thin between The White Ribbon and A Prophet, and will largely come down to which is more widely seen, but I think Haneke will sneak this one from Audiard.

04:17 - WINNER: The Secret in Their Eyes [11/17]. Well, there's the night's surprise winner.
Thanks the academy "for not considering Na'vi a foreign language". Nicely done.

04:19 - Kathy Bates for Avatar.

04:20 - Another break? Are they running short this year?
04:23 - Well, just the four biggies left. Prepare for a dull, predictability packed, half hour.


04:25 - Oh, cock. Back to this shitty testimonial thing for Best Actor.
Prediction: Jeff Bridges – He’s clearly the favourite, and a sentimental choice, a great actor whom the Academy has passed over for too long. This isn’t his best work, but it’s hardly Scent of a Woman either.
Preference: Colin Firth – An actor who has really broadened his horizons in the last few years, and done a lot of good work. This is a tour de force, and a beautifully underplayed piece of work, which is why he won’t win.
04:27 - I wonder if the actors delivering these speeches wrote them themselves. I hope so.
04:29 - "It is Ted, isn't it?" That's line of the night sewn up.
04:30 - You know something, they nailed that format there, much more sincere than it felt last year.
04:32 - WINNER: Bridges [12/18]
04:33 - He's having fun. 'Mom and Dad, look'.
04:35 - Jeff Bridges is exceptionally cool. That is all.


04:40 - Best Actress
Prediction: Sandra Bullock – Every now and then the Best Actress Oscar has to go to a big star, Julia Roberts had her turn for Erin Brockovich and this is Bullock’s. I haven’t seen the film yet, but Bullock has never, that I’ve seen, been anyone other than Sandra Bullock on screen.
Preference: Carey Mulligan – Of the four I’ve seen here this easily the best performance, and it announces Mulligan as an interesting new talent to watch, cast from the Audrey Hepburn mould.
04:43 - This is feeling more scripted than the Best Actor line up, stiffer, and it's not working so well.
04:48 - WINNER: Bullock [13/18]. Sandra Bullock has an Oscar. Jennifer Jason Leigh has never been nominated, just saying.
04:50 - A genuine speech; warm and funny. I like Sandra Bullock, from what I know of her, as a person but I wish she was a better actress.


04:54 - Best Director
Prediction / Preference: Kathryn Bigelow – It’s well past due for a female director to win, and Bigelow, what with her guild win, seems to have it sewn up. It also helps that her is the best directorial job in this category.
04:55 - WINNER: Bigelow [14/19]. The first Female Best Director, after just 82 years.


04:58 - Tom Hanks presenting Best Picture
Prediction: A tough call, but I think the momentum is running The Hurt Locker’s way. Unfortunately the producer sending anti-Avatar emails to academy members may have annoyed them into voting for the big, blue piece of shit.
Preference: Up – The only nominee that deserves to be regarded as among the best films of 2009.
WINNER: The Hurt Locker [15/20].
I'm just so pleased that the Academy didn't down the blue kool aid.

05:00 - Well. I'm done for now. I'll have final thoughts and I'll tidy this post up in the morning, well perhaps the afternoon. That's it. Hope you enjoyed it. I did, more than I thought I would. Now, I need my bed.

Oscar Nominations 2010

Yes, it’s that time again, award season is in full swing and the nods for the culmination of Hollywood’s three months of self-satisfied backslapping for yet another year largely comprising films of crushing banality and mediocrity. There’s a possibility of some surprises this year, with the Best Picture category featuring 10 nominees for the first time since the 1950’s in a naked attempt to widen the Oscars appeal, by making sure that some big box office hits get into the category. It was, of course, all caused by the ‘snubbing’ last year of audience favourite The Dark Knight (never mind that that staggeringly overrated film didn’t deserve a nod).

Anyway, here are the nominations in the major categories, along with my thoughts on them.

In response to one of the comments I've italicised the nominees that I've seen in each category.



BEST PICTURE
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

What About?
These are pretty much the ten that everyone expected. It would have been great to see The White Ribbon or Antichrist sneak in, but Oscar doesn’t do that kind of movie in Best Picture, especially when it is trying to broaden its appeal. Nice, though, to see Pixar’s instant classic Up break out of the animation ghetto.

My Pick
Up. An Education is an excellent film (with a horrible last scene), but Up is one of the most emotional experiences I’ve had in a cinema.

Winner
Avatar. The only possible spoiler is The Hurt Locker, but I think box office will see Cameron crowned King of the world again.


BEST DIRECTOR
Avatar: James Cameron
The Hurt Locker: Kathryn Bigelow
Inglourious Basterds: Quentin Tarantino
Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire: Lee Daniels
Up in the Air: Jason Reitman

What About?
Pete Docter for Up, Lars Von Trier for Antichrist, Michael Haneke for The White Ribbon. Any of these could (and indeed should) be in place of Lee Daniels here, whatever the strengths of Precious his direction, with its wildly miscalculated fantasy scenes and pornographic use of slo-mo in the abuse scenes, isn’t one of them.

My Pick
Kathryn Bigelow. The Hurt Locker is two thirds of a great movie, and much of that is down to Bigelow’s controlled yet visceral take on the material.

Winner
Kathryn Bigelow. She won the DGA, which is almost as good as engraving her name on the Oscar. If Cameron takes this (which he could, the others are just there for the gift bags) look for The Hurt Locker to take Picture.


BEST ACTOR
Jeff Bridges: Crazy Heart
George Clooney: Up in the Air
Colin Firth: A Single Man
Morgan Freeman: Invictus
Jeremy Renner: The Hurt Locker

What About?
Ed Asner in Up. A brilliant performance, with only his voice as a tool.

My Pick
None as yet, I’ve only seen two of the films.

Winner
Jeff Bridges. He’s a great actor, nominated four times previously but still without a win, he’s 60 now, it just seems like it’s time he had an Oscar.


BEST ACTRESS
Sandra Bullock: The Blind Side
Helen Mirren: The Last Station
Carey Mulligan: An Education
Gabourey Sidibe: Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire
Meryl Streep: Julie & Julia

What About?
First off… MERYL STREEP? Really? I actually sort of liked Julie and Julia, but that performance was nothing but an impression, nothing beneath the (overblown) surface. Does she just need to breathe in and out to be nominated now? How about Katie Jarvis in Fish Tank, or Sasha Grey in The Girlfriend Experience, or Charlotte Gainsbourg’s lacerating work in Antichrist? But no, Meryl fucking Streep doing an impression. Fuck.

My Pick
Carey Mulligan. A remarkable performance, full of life, energy and truth.

Winner
Sandra Bullock, alas.



BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Matt Damon: Invictus
Woody Harrelson: The Messenger
Christopher Plummer: The Last Station
Stanley Tucci: The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz: Inglourious Basterds

What About?
Anthony Mackie in The Hurt Locker, a strong, low key performance showing an actor of great conviction.

My Pick
None as yet, I’ve only seen two of the films.

Winner
Christoph Waltz, he’s been picking up gongs since Cannes, and hey, Oscar likes ham.


BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Penélope Cruz: Nine
Vera Farmiga: Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal: Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick: Up in the Air
Mo’Nique: Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire

What About?
Marion Cotillard in Nine? She’s the only good thing in the movie, and suggests so much more than the songs allow her to express with just her silent performance. I also really would have liked to see Rosamund Pike’s wonderfully funny work in An Education nominated.

My Pick
Anna Kendrick. She’s the heart and soul of Up in the Air and gives Natalie such depth and intricacy as a character. The scene after she’s dumped by her boyfriend is hilarious, and she should win for that alone.

Winner
Mo’Nique. It’s a terrific performance, but, I thought, hamstrung by the scripts lack of depth.


ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Coraline: Henry Selick
Fantastic Mr. Fox: Wes Anderson
The Princess and the Frog: John Musker and Ron Clements
The Secret of Kells: Tomm Moore
Up: Pete Docter

My Pick
Up, obviously

Winner
Up, unless the Best Picture nomination splits the vote, in which case this becomes harder to call, with only The Secret of Kells out of the running.




FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Ajami
El Secreto de Sus Ojos
The Milk of Sorrow
Un Prophète
The White Ribbon

What About?
The whole system for picking the nominees in this category is stupid, why, for the love of God, can’t the Academy just consider every non-english language film released in the US in the eligible period, we’d see better lists that way.

My Pick
The White Ribbon is a great film, and though I’ve three to see on this list Haneke’s return to first class form certainly deserves the Oscar on its own merits.

Winner
The White Ribbon. I just think its going to be more widely seen than A Prophet.


BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
The Hurt Locker: Mark Boal
Inglourious Basterds: Quentin Tarantino
The Messenger: Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman
A Serious Man: Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Up: Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy

What About?
(500) Days of Summer, Fish Tank

My Pick
Up. A beautifully written film that resonates for days after you see it

Winner
Inglourious Basterds. As when Pulp Fiction was nominated, this is likely to be QT’s booby prize.


BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
District 9: Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
An Education: Nick Hornby
In the Loop: Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire: Geoffrey Fletcher
Up in the Air: Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner

My Pick
An Education (despite the hideous voiceover in the last scene)

Winner
A tough call, but like the Original screenplay category I think this could be a booby prize, this time for An Education.


CINEMATOGRAPHY
Avatar: Mauro Fiore
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Bruno Delbonnel
The Hurt Locker: Barry Ackroyd
Inglourious Basterds: Robert Richardson
The White Ribbon: Christian Berger

What About?
Oh, I don’t know, how about Antichrist, it’s only the single most visually beautiful film of the last five or ten years.

My Pick
The White Ribbon, every frame is a piece of art.

Winner
Avatar. Because it is expensive, popular and profitable. I hate the Oscars.