Oscar Season: Jack's Overall Predictions

Ok, so I fell a bit behind in my predictions, so here is my ticket for most of my picks (based solely on my opinion) for tomorrow’s Oscars (I didn’t do the short films cause those would simply be shots in the dark), enjoy:

Best Picture:

• 127 Hours – Danny Boyle and Christian Colson
• Black Swan – Scott Franklin, Mike Medavoy, and Brian Oliver
• The Fighter – David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman, and Mark Wahlberg
• Inception – Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas
• The Kids Are All Right – Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, and Celine Rattray
• The King's Speech – Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, and Gareth Unwin
• The Social Network – Dana Brunetti, Ceán Chaffin, Michael De Luca, and Scott Rudin X
• Toy Story 3 – Darla K. Anderson
• True Grit – Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, and Scott Rudin
• Winter's Bone – Alix Madigan and Anne Rosellini

Best Director:

• Darren Aronofsky – Black Swan
• Ethan Coen and Joel Coen – True Grit
• David Fincher – The Social Network X
• Tom Hooper – The King's Speech
• David O. Russell – The Fighter

Best Actor:

• Javier Bardem – Biutiful as Uxbal
• Jeff Bridges – True Grit as Rooster Cogburn
• Jesse Eisenberg – The Social Network as Mark Zuckerberg
• Colin Firth – The King's Speech as Prince Albert / King George VI X
• James Franco – 127 Hours as Aron Ralston

Best Actress:

• Annette Bening – The Kids Are All Right as Nic X
• Nicole Kidman – Rabbit Hole as Becca Corbett
• Jennifer Lawrence – Winter's Bone as Ree Dolly
• Natalie Portman – Black Swan as Nina Sayers
• Michelle Williams – Blue Valentine as Cindy

Best Supporting Actor:

• Christian Bale – The Fighter as Dicky Eklund X
• John Hawkes – Winter's Bone as Teardrop
• Jeremy Renner – The Town as James "Jem" Coughlin
• Mark Ruffalo – The Kids Are All Right as Paul
• Geoffrey Rush – The King's Speech as Lionel Logue

Best Supporting Actress:

• Amy Adams – The Fighter as Charlene Fleming
• Helena Bonham Carter – The King's Speech as Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon / Queen Elizabeth
• Melissa Leo – The Fighter as Alice Ward
• Hailee Steinfeld – True Grit as Mattie Ross X
• Jacki Weaver – Animal Kingdom as Janine "Smurf" Cody

Best Writing (Original):

• Another Year – Mike Leigh
• The Fighter – Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, and Eric Johnson
• Inception – Christopher Nolan
• The Kids Are All Right – Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg
• The King's Speech – David Seidler X

Best Writing (Adapted):

• 127 Hours – Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy from Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston
• The Social Network – Aaron Sorkin from The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich
• Toy Story 3 – Michael Arndt, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, and Lee Unkrich; characters based on Toy Story and Toy Story 2
• True Grit – Ethan Coen and Joel Coen from True Grit by Charles Portis
• Winter's Bone – Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini from Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell

Best Animated Feature:

• How to Train Your Dragon – Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
• The Illusionist – Sylvain Chomet
• Toy Story 3 – Lee Unkrich X

Best Foreign language Film:

• Biutiful (Mexico) in Spanish and English – Alejandro González Iñárritu
• Dogtooth (Greece) in Greek – Yorgos Lanthimos
• In a Better World (Denmark) in Danish, Swedish, and English – Susanne Bier
• Incendies (Canada) in French and Arabic – Denis Villeneuve X
• Outside the Law (Algeria) in Arabic and French – Rachid Bouchareb

Best Documentary:

• Exit Through the Gift Shop – Banksy and Jaimie D'Cruz X
• Gasland – Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic
• Inside Job – Charles H. Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
• Restrepo – Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
• Waste Land – Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley

Best Score:

• 127 Hours – A.R. Rahman
• How to Train Your Dragon – John Powell
• Inception – Hans Zimmer
• The King's Speech – Alexandre Desplat
• The Social Network – Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross X

Best Song:

• "Coming Home" from Country Strong – Bob DiPiero, Tom Douglas, Hillary Lindsey, and Troy Verges
• "I See the Light" from Tangled – Alan Menken and Glenn Slater
• "If I Rise" from 127 Hours – A.R. Rahman, Rollo Armstrong, and Dido
• "We Belong Together" from Toy Story 3 – Randy Newman X

Best Sound Editing:

• Inception – Richard King X
• Toy Story 3 – Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
• Tron: Legacy – Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
• True Grit – Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
• Unstoppable – Mark P. Stoeckinger

Best Sound Mixing:

• Inception – Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo, and Ed Novick X
• The King's Speech – Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen, and John Midgley
• Salt – Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan, and William Sarokin
• The Social Network – Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick, and Mark Weingarten
• True Grit – Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff, and Peter F. Kurland

Best Art Direction:

• Alice in Wonderland – Art Direction: Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Karen O'Hara
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 – Art Direction: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
• Inception – Art Direction: Guy Hendrix Dyas; Set Decoration: Larry Dias and Doug Mowat
• The King's Speech – Art Direction: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Judy Farr X
• True Grit – Art Direction: Jess Gonchor; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh

Best Cinematography:

• Black Swan – Matthew Libatique
• Inception – Wally Pfister
• The King's Speech – Danny Cohen
• The Social Network – Jeff Cronenweth
• True Grit – Roger Deakins X

Best Makeup:

• Barney's Version – Adrien Morot
• The Way Back – Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk, and Yolanda Toussieng
• The Wolfman – Rick Baker and Dave Elsey X

Best Costume Design:

• Alice in Wonderland – Colleen Atwood
• I Am Love – Antonella Cannarozzi
• The King's Speech – Jenny Beavan X
• The Tempest – Sandy Powell
• True Grit – Mary Zophres

Best Film Editing:

• 127 Hours – Jon Harris
• Black Swan – Andrew Weisblum
• The Fighter – Pamela Martin
• The King's Speech – Tariq Anwar
• The Social Network – Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter X

Best Visual Effects:

• Alice in Wonderland – Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas, and Sean Phillips
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 – Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz, and Nicolas Aithadi
• Hereafter – Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski, and Joe Farrell
• Inception – Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley, and Peter Bebb X
• Iron Man 2 – Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright, and Daniel Sudick

Oscar Season: Jack's Predictions pt. 4

Hi everyone, so I kind of blanked on writing up yesterday’s blog for my technical categories, let’s just say if Inception has a chance of winning a chunk of the evening Oscars, it’s in the sound and visuals (Social Network gets my vote for film editing). Tonight, I am going to keep the ball rolling with my picks for Animated Feature and Best Foreign Film. One category, I am 100% sure I am right, the other I haven’t a clue, but I am going on the information I have. With that being said, here are the nominees:

Best Animated Feature:

How to Train Your Dragon- Dreamworks

The Illusionist- Warner Brothers/Pathe

Toy Story 3- Pixar

Initial Thoughts: I had a gut feeling Illusionist would make the list, but I wasn’t 100% about it, especially since there were only going to be 3 nominees compared to 5 of last year, though I think there was a much better selection last year. The other two I felt were obvious choices, but I thought they would’ve gone with Tangled since it was well received and did well at the box office whereas Illusionist hasn’t made much of a splash as far as box office really. Still, I am a sucker for art house films so I am glad it’s nominated, but it won’t win because it’s kind of obvious who will.

Prediction: Pixar owned this award the moment Toy Story hit theaters, and I am not simply stating this was an obvious choice, but the right one. I have been rather hit or miss with my love for Pixar (I felt like Wall E and Ratatouille were alright), but Pixar this year and last have really raised the bar as far as material goes, I am actually worried for their next feature, Cars 2, especially since the original itself wasn’t that well received (in terms of Pixar films). Nonetheless, my pick is Toy Story 3.

Best Foreign Film:

Biutiful- Mexico

Dogtooth- Greece

In a better World- Denmark

Incendies- Denmark

Outside the Law- Algeria

Initial Thoughts: I am shocked that Dogtooth was even considered a contender for a nomination, let alone nominated. Not that it isn’t deserving, but the Academy generally votes for more traditional films, films that we would like to remake one day (because that is how we work, considering we are working on a remake of last year’s winner). Dogtooth is the kind of film that not only spits at such an idea, it down right murders any form of tradition the academy look for in a foreign film. Still, glad to see it and Biutiful nominated, would love to see the latter win but I do not like either of their chances.

Predictions: It is between Incendies and In a Better World because those are the two I think are the ones the academy are looking for (Outside the Law maybe, but I am not liking its chances). Now, here is where my guessing skills get mixed with general opinion and some facts I looked up. In a Better World won the golden globe and the winner have rarely won the Oscar as well (only twice in the past decade has a film won both). Incendies trailer really struck me, more so than the others, and I have heard strong buzz as far as its chances go, so that is my pick. There might be enough Javier Bardem love for Bituiful to upset, but I’m not convinced it will happen, oh well.

Tomorrow I shall be looking at the nominees in both Lead Acting Categories