And the Nominees Are...!
Jan. 27th, 2011 06:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kamreadsandrecsSo the nominee list for the Oscars has (finally!) come out, and while I did manage to predict a majority of the Best Picture nominees based on the Golden Globes nominee list, there are still a couple of surprises in some of the categories that I hold in high regard.
But still, this looks to be a promising - and rather controversial, maybe - Oscar season. I'm not going to give the full nominee list, since that can easily be accessed online, but I'm going to focus on the categories that I really focus on.
Source: Wikipedia
Best Picture
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
- I haven't seen all these movies just yet,but I'm working on rectifying that. While I was able to predict, quite accurately, that certain movies like Inception, Black Swan, 127 Hours, The Social Network, The Kids Are All Right, The King's Speech and even Toy Story 3 would get nominated, I'm beginning to think that this expanded list of nominees was a bad idea. It's almost like the Academy is using a Best Picture nominee slot as a kind of "consolation prize" for movies that the public has speculated will be nominated, but which don't really belong in that list. I speak of Toy Story 3, specifically. I know I believed it would get nominated, but I thought there wouldn't be any space for it after the other fantastic and critically-acclaimed movies that appeared. Plus, after seeing the other animated movies of this year, I don't think Toy Story 3 is all that great.
Don't get me wrong: it tickles me whenever an animated movie gets nominated for Best Picture, but I don't think that Toy Story 3 was it. Maybe My Dog Tulip, or The Illusionist, though I can't say for sure on the latter since I really haven't seen it yet. But Toy Story 3? If you're going for nostalgia factor, maybe yes, but aside from that, I'm not so sure.
Best Director
Darren Aronofsky - Black Swan
Ethan and Joel Coen - True Grit
David Fincher - The Social Network
Tom Hooper - The King's Speech
David O. Russell - The Fighter
- What surprised me was that Christopher Nolan didn't get nominated at all for this category. After his work on Inception, I was thinking he would be a shoo-in for this category. I was wrong, obviously, which rather bugs me. Still, him not being nominated in this category doesn't really upset me too much this time around, because he gets nominated in the next category, which, along with Best Picture and Best Director, forms what I like to call my Grand Trinity for the Oscars.
Best Original Screenplay
Mike Leigh - Another Year
Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson - The Fighter
Christopher Nolan - Inception
Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg - The Kids Are All Right
David Saller - The King's Speech
- Although Nolan might not have been nominated for Best Director for Inception, it nevertheless pleases me that he was nominated for this category. The direction for Inception might be well-done, but I think it was the concept and story and script that really made that movie a fantastic one. It also makes me happy that The Kids Are All Right was nominated, as well as The King's Speech, since I thought the dialogue for those two movies was absolutely lovely.
As for the absence of Black Swan, I'm not surprised. It makes sense: the strength of Black Swan isn't in its dialogue, but in the story itself. If there had been a category for Best Original Storyline, as opposed to screenplay, then Black Swan would have definitely been on it.
Best Animated Feature
How To Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
Toy Story 3
- The only thing that surprised me about this list was its brevity. I was expecting The Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'hoole to be nominated if only for its visuals (which I thought were, at the very least, nomination-worthy), and I was also thinking that My Dog Tulip might slip in there, too. I'm rather surprised that they weren't given an Oscar nod. The nominees on this list were the expected favorites: I've seen the first and the last, but I've yet to get my hands on a copy of The Illusionist. Regardless, based on what the critics have been saying about it, I suppose the nomination was inevitable and logical.
Predictions? At this stage, I'm not going to make any, since I haven't seen all the nominated movies. When I've seen enough of them, I might make my predictions, and post them too, but at this point, I don't think it's worth doing so.
But still, this looks to be a promising - and rather controversial, maybe - Oscar season. I'm not going to give the full nominee list, since that can easily be accessed online, but I'm going to focus on the categories that I really focus on.
Source: Wikipedia
Best Picture
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
- I haven't seen all these movies just yet,but I'm working on rectifying that. While I was able to predict, quite accurately, that certain movies like Inception, Black Swan, 127 Hours, The Social Network, The Kids Are All Right, The King's Speech and even Toy Story 3 would get nominated, I'm beginning to think that this expanded list of nominees was a bad idea. It's almost like the Academy is using a Best Picture nominee slot as a kind of "consolation prize" for movies that the public has speculated will be nominated, but which don't really belong in that list. I speak of Toy Story 3, specifically. I know I believed it would get nominated, but I thought there wouldn't be any space for it after the other fantastic and critically-acclaimed movies that appeared. Plus, after seeing the other animated movies of this year, I don't think Toy Story 3 is all that great.
Don't get me wrong: it tickles me whenever an animated movie gets nominated for Best Picture, but I don't think that Toy Story 3 was it. Maybe My Dog Tulip, or The Illusionist, though I can't say for sure on the latter since I really haven't seen it yet. But Toy Story 3? If you're going for nostalgia factor, maybe yes, but aside from that, I'm not so sure.
Best Director
Darren Aronofsky - Black Swan
Ethan and Joel Coen - True Grit
David Fincher - The Social Network
Tom Hooper - The King's Speech
David O. Russell - The Fighter
- What surprised me was that Christopher Nolan didn't get nominated at all for this category. After his work on Inception, I was thinking he would be a shoo-in for this category. I was wrong, obviously, which rather bugs me. Still, him not being nominated in this category doesn't really upset me too much this time around, because he gets nominated in the next category, which, along with Best Picture and Best Director, forms what I like to call my Grand Trinity for the Oscars.
Best Original Screenplay
Mike Leigh - Another Year
Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson - The Fighter
Christopher Nolan - Inception
Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg - The Kids Are All Right
David Saller - The King's Speech
- Although Nolan might not have been nominated for Best Director for Inception, it nevertheless pleases me that he was nominated for this category. The direction for Inception might be well-done, but I think it was the concept and story and script that really made that movie a fantastic one. It also makes me happy that The Kids Are All Right was nominated, as well as The King's Speech, since I thought the dialogue for those two movies was absolutely lovely.
As for the absence of Black Swan, I'm not surprised. It makes sense: the strength of Black Swan isn't in its dialogue, but in the story itself. If there had been a category for Best Original Storyline, as opposed to screenplay, then Black Swan would have definitely been on it.
Best Animated Feature
How To Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
Toy Story 3
- The only thing that surprised me about this list was its brevity. I was expecting The Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'hoole to be nominated if only for its visuals (which I thought were, at the very least, nomination-worthy), and I was also thinking that My Dog Tulip might slip in there, too. I'm rather surprised that they weren't given an Oscar nod. The nominees on this list were the expected favorites: I've seen the first and the last, but I've yet to get my hands on a copy of The Illusionist. Regardless, based on what the critics have been saying about it, I suppose the nomination was inevitable and logical.
Predictions? At this stage, I'm not going to make any, since I haven't seen all the nominated movies. When I've seen enough of them, I might make my predictions, and post them too, but at this point, I don't think it's worth doing so.
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Date: 2011-02-10 10:38 am (UTC)I liked The Kids Are All Right, but I don't get why it's getting so much attention. Writing was good, but I don't know. It wasn't great enough for me, and Annette Bening was okay.
Sam! You should watch Peacock. :) It went straight to video, and I think it's such a shame. Cillian Murphy is just AMAZING in it, imo. He's really such an underrated actor.
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Date: 2011-02-10 02:18 pm (UTC)And I think the primary strength of The King's Speech is a combination of a lovely script and a cast that could actually support the strength of it. Sometimes you only get one or the other, but The King's Speech is both. The moment they said Colin Firth was in it, I knew it was likely to be good, especially in association with Tom Hooper was director.
I liked The Kids Are All Right mostly because of its premise: a lesbian couple with children, portrayed in such a manner that it was comfortable to watch. I thought that was important: that it can make a homosexual couple come off as comfortable.
And I will hunt that movie down. I do enjoy Cillian Murphy (saw him in Girl with a Pearl Earring and adored him from that point onward), and yes, I do agree he's an underrated actor :D.