OUR RATING SYSTEM
(*****) = do NOT miss! This one is as good as they come.
(****) = Fantastic - It's worth the price of the ticket (and then some).
(***) = Average - Nothing really bad, nothing really spectacular...
(**) = Perhaps you should find another movie to see.
(*) =
The bottom of the barrel. It would be hard to find something less entertaining or more unworthy of your time.



Maureen
(Mo) holds a PhD in marine geophysics (Dr. Maureen, to you) and works for the U.S. Geological Survey in Santa Cruz, CA. Maureen enjoys the outdoors (skiing, swimming, hiking, camping), dogs, cooking, singing, getting into (and out of) uncomfortable situations, and most importantly, watching quality movies. She makes a point of seeing as many Oscar-nominated films as possible each year and (correctly) predicting the winners. Her role on this blog is primarily as an advisor, collaborator, and "chime in"-er.

John (Jo) holds a Bachelor's Degree in Nursing, as well as a Bachelor of Arts degree in Film Studies. He currently lives in Chicago, Illinois and works as a nurse. His one true obsession in life is movies... The good, the bad, and everything in between. Other than that, he is busy caring for his cat, painting, writing, exploring Chicago, and debating on whether or not to worship Tilda Swinton as a deity. John is the master and commander and primary author of this blog.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

*OFFICIAL 2011 ACADEMY AWARDS PREDICTIONS*


Ok folks... THEY ARE UPON US. The 83rd annual Academy Awards. After extensive discussion and analysis, these are what we have come up with, and we are convinced they are the most accurate predictions available. Feel free to exploit them at your Oscar parties... but just refer everyone to this blog after you win.



BEST PICTURE
1.) The King's Speech
2.) The Social Network
3.) The Fighter
4.) True Grit
5.) Black Swan
6.) Inception
7.) 127 Hours
8.) Winter's Bone
9.) Toy Story 3
10.) The Kids Are All Right

The PGA, SAG, DGA, and BAFTA's do not lie. The days of Social Network's domination have seem to come to a close. Expect the King's Speech to sweep.

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
1.) Natalie Portman (Black Swan)
2.) Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right)
3.) Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone)
4.) Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole)
5.) Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine)

What chances Annette Bening had of pulling an upset seem to be getting less and less likely with each passing day. Natalie Portman has won every major award so far this year and it doesn't look like she'll stop at the Oscars.

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
1.) Colin Firth (The King's Speech)
2.) Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network)
3.) James Franco (127 Hours)
4.) Jeff Bridges (True Grit)
5.) Javier Bardem (Biutiful)

The biggest lock of the night.

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
1.) Christian Bale (The Fighter)
2.) Geoffrey Rush (The King's Speech)
3.) John Hawkes (Winter's Bone)
4.) Jeremy Renner (The Town)
5.) Mark Ruffalo (The Kids Are All Right)

Some seem to believe a Geoffrey Rush upset is possible, but it seems unlikely considering he's competing with Christian Bale's career-best performance.

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
1.) Melissa Leo (The Fighter)
2.) Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit)
3.) Helena Bonham Carter (The King's Speech)
4.) Amy Adams (The Fighter)
5.) Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdon)

The toughest acting category to call this year. Melissa Leo's uncomfortable campaigning choices this season have left many voters with a bitter taste in their mouth, an act that could ultimately benefit Hailee Steinfeld. For now though, Leo is still technically our front-runner.

BEST ANIMATED FILM OF THE YEAR
1.) Toy Story 3
2.) How To Train Your Dragon
3.) The Illusionist

The Academy can finally honor the Toy Story franchise with it's first Oscar (and Pixar's zillionth).

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
1.) The Social Network (Aaron Sorkin)
2.) Toy Story 3 (Michael Arndt)
3.) True Grit (Joen & Ethan Coen)
4.) Winter's Bone (Debra Granik & Anne Rossellini)
5.) 127 Hours (Simon Beaufoy and Danny Boyle)

Aaron Sorkin's screenplay is too smart and witty not to take this, especially considering the plethora of awards he has already taken, not to mention a Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Writer's Guild trophy.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
1.) The King's Speech (David Seidler)
2.) Inception (Christopher Nolan)
3.) Another Year (Mike Leigh)
4.) The Kids are All Right (Stuart Blumberg & Lisa Cholodenko)
5.) The Fighter (Paul Attanasio, Lewis Colich, Eric Johnson, Scott Silver & Paul Tamasy)

While Inception's story is arguably the most original piece of the year, The King's Speech will easily take this. The story of David Seidler and his devotion taken to writing the screenplay is almost as inspiring as the film, itself!

ACHIEVEMENT IN ART DIRECTION
1.) The King's Speech
2.) Inception
3.) Alice In Wonderland
4.) True Grit
5.) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

An incredibly close race between The King's Speech, Inception, and Alice In Wonderland. We predict 'Speech' to take it as part of it's Oscar sweep, but any of these three could easily win.

ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY
1.) True Grit (Roger Deakins)
2.) Inception (Wally Pfister)
3.) Black Swan (Matthew Libatique)
4.) The King's Speech (Danny Cohen)
5.) The Social Network (Jeff Cronenweth)

After 9 Oscar nominations and no wins for Roger Deakins, it seems like it is finally his time to win gold. Although True Grit definitely doesn't stand as Deakins' best work behind the camera, expect him to take the award over the Guild winner (and better-photographed) Inception.

ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN
1.) The King's Speech (Jenny Beaven)
2.) Alice in Wonderland (Colleen Atwood)
3.) True Grit (Mary Zophres)
4.) I Am Love (Antonella Cannarozzi)
5.) The Tempest (Sandy Powell)

The second category where The King's Speech faces close competition with Alice In Wonderland. While 'Alice' has much more flashy costumes (which the Academy loves), The King's Speech could win based on name alone.

ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING
1.) David Fincher (The Social Network)
2.) Tom Hooper (The King's Speech)
3.) Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan)
4.) David O. Russell (The Fighter)
5.) Joel and Ethan Coen (True Grit)

An incredibly close race. While Hooper won the DGA (the season's BEST forecaster for Best Picture and Best Director), his lack of other accolades throughout the year makes his win seem like more of a fluke. David Fincher, therefore, seems poised to receive his first Oscar. This looks like it will be the 4th time since 2000 that Best Picture and Best Director split.

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
1.) Inside Job (Charles Ferguson, director (Representational Pictures))
2.) Exit Through The Gift Shop (Banksy, director (Paranoid Pictures))
3.) Gasland (Josh Fox, director (Gasland Productions, LLC))
4.) Restrepo (Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger, directors (Outpost Films))
5.) Waste Land (Lucy Walker, director (Almega Projects))

While Exit Through The Gift Shop would provide a well-deserved and enjoyable win, all signs point to Inside Job.

ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP
1.) The Wolfman
2.) Barney's Version
3.) The Way Back

There is really no appropriate way to determine the winner. Each of these film's received this sole nomination and none are extremely well-known. When in doubt go with the most noticeable work, in this case, The Wolfman.

ACHIEVEMENT IN FILM EDITING
1.) The Social Network (Kirk Baxter & Angus Wall)
2.) The King's Speech (Tariq Anwar)
3.) Black Swan (Andrew Weisblum)
4.) The Fighter (Pamela Martin)
5.) 127 Hours (Jon Harris)

Once Inception failed to receive a nomination, (in MoJo's opinion one of the worst snubs of the year) the next most logical choice was The Social Network, whose constant cross-cutting between time and location fits the bill for 'best-editing-of-these-5-nominees-but-not-necessarily-of-the-year.'

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
2.) In a Better World (Denmark)
3.) Incendies (Canada)
3.) Biutiful (Mexico)
4.) Dogtooth (Greece)
5.) Hors la Loi (Algeria)

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SCORE)
1.) The King's Speech (Alexandre Desplat)
2.) The Social Network (Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross)
3.) Inception (Hans Zimmer)
4.) 127 Hours (A.R. Rahman)
5.) How to Train Your Dragon (John Powell)

The score for Inception and The Social Network were both about as memorable as they come, but with 4 previous nominations and a very traditional score (which the Academy usually goes for), Alexandre Desplat may very well win his first (and extremely well-deserved) Academy Award

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SONG)
1.) "Coming Home" from Country Strong (Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges & Hillary Lindsey)
2.) "We Belong Together" from Toy Story 3 (Music and Lyric by Randy Newman)
3.) "I See the Light" from Tangled (Music and Lyric by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater)
4.) "If I Rise" from 127 Hours (Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido & Rollo Armstrong)

Toy Story 3 is the predicted 'front-runner' on many pundits' lists, but Best Original Song rarely goes to the most popular film. Voters screen clips from each film to see how each song is incorporated and works within its respective film, so solidly predicting a winner is difficult. 'Coming Home' seems as good a choice as any.

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING
1.) Inception
2.) TRON: Legacy
3.) True Grit
4.) Unstoppable
5.) Toy Story 3

The logical choice

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND MIXING
1.) Inception
2.) True Grit
3.) The Social Network
4.) Salt
5.) The King's Speech

True Grit could pull an upset, but Inception seems too well-locked in these technical categories to bet against it

ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS
1.) Inception
2.) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
3.) Iron Man 2
4.) Alice in Wonderland
5.) Hereafter

Inception. Duh.

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
1.) Strangers No More
2.) The Warriors of Qiugang
3.) Poster Girl
4.) Killing in the Name
5.) Sun Come Up

BEST SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
1.) Day and Night (Teddy Newton)
2.) The Gruffalo (Jakob Schuh & Max Lang)
3.) Let's Pollute (Geefwee Boedoe)
4.) The Lost Thing (Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann)
5.) Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary) (Bastien Dubois)

BEST SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)
1.) Wish 143 (Ian Barnes & Samantha Waite)
2.) Na Wewe (Ivan Goldschmidt)
3.) God of Love (Luke Matheny)
4.) The Confession (Tanel Toom)
5.) The Crush (Michael Creagh)

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