I WILL be here some day.

But until then!

Here are My Choices and My Predictions 

for the 2011 Academy Awards

Writing (Original Screenplay)

•       “Another Year” Written by Mike Leigh

•       “The Fighter” Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson;
Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson

•       “Inception” Written by Christopher Nolan

•       “The Kids Are All Right” Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg

•       “The King's Speech” Screenplay by David Seidler

Your  Choice:  Cholodenko & Blumberg  (The Kids Are All Right)    

MINE: “Inception” Written by Christopher Nolan. And for some many more reasons than you give me credit for. I'm tempted to say that you won't vote for the most INNOVATIVE film of the year because you though is was convoluted or something. But, in my opinion, it is a rare and original piece of writing. I could go on for hours about how epic and delicate the script was, but la la loo.


[I agree, it is rare and original, but it is mostly an experiment in structure that even I found confusing--and I made KF!  Inception is convoluted.  Only Leo D's performance could stand up to the clockwork machinations of the plot.  Which, to be honest, shares the weakness of films that have the oh-it-was-all-a-dream! kind of ending.  The reason that kind of ending falls flat is because it makes the viewer feel cheated.  Like the story never happened, so what the fuck am I doing here?  Only Inception uses that same cheat throughout the whole film.  The movie is written inside out, now that I think about it.  All the workings of the plot that are usually and invisibly underneath the interaction of characters have here been made completely visible.  So the film is about the trickery of the plot.  By the way, I thought Ellen Page was completely miscast, as was, uh, the guy, the driver, the actor--he was in the MI movies.  Fuck, what's his fuckin' name?  Made the film feel like it was made 10 years ago.  Was it Delroy Lindo?  What's that dude's name?]

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

•       “127 Hours” Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy

•       “The Social Network” Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin

•       “Toy Story 3” Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich

•       “True Grit” Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen

•       “Winter's Bone” Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

Your Choice:  Sorkin  (The Social Network)

 MINE: Agree. Nothing touches it.

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 Trojansky and Joe Farrell

•       “Inception” Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb

•       “Iron Man 2” Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick

Your Choice:  Franklin, Corbould, Lockley, and Bebb   (Inception)

Mine: Agree. Totally. But I legitimately wonder if people will ever acknowledge the visual artistry in the Harry Potter films. To honestly bring that world to life, I believe, is the most difficult job that any of these movies have.

[I agree, although it's not new anymore.  Inception showed us something new.  It will take this prize walkin away.]

Sound Editing

•       “Inception” Richard King

•       “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

Your Choice:  Whittle & Teague  (Tron: Legacy)

 Mine: I'm torn here. I know the sound mixing in Tron is unreal, but I think that the editing portion should fall to the Inception team.

[I agree. Very tough call.  Plus the Cohen Bros are sound wizards and do all their own shit.  This one is very tough.  But I loved the way sound was used in Tron brought the experience of the film to bear.]

Music (Original Score)

•       “How to Train Your Dragon” John Powell

•       “Inception” Hans Zimmer

•       “The King's Speech” Alexandre Desplat

•       “127 Hours” A.R. Rahman

•       “The Social Network” Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Your Choice:  Reznor & Ross  (The Social Network)

 Mine: Agree. The most unique and original score of the year. But the HTTYD score is truly a modern marvel, but people are so used to epic and sweeping scores that they become looked over.

PS AR Rahman can eat a bag o dicks

[How does one do that?  With chopsticks?]

Foreign Language Film

•       “Biutiful” Mexico

•       “Dogtooth” Greece

•       “In a Better World” Denmark

•       “Incendies” Canada

•       “Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi)” Algeria

Your Prediction:  Mexico  (Biutiful)

Mine: Agree. I guess. It had the best trailer...

[Exactly.  This is really an award for Bardem and Inairritu (sp?) whom the Academy know and love.]

Film Editing

•       “Black Swan” Andrew Weisblum

•       “The Fighter” Pamela Martin

•       “The King's Speech” Tariq Anwar

•       “127 Hours” Jon Harris

•       “The Social Network” Angus Wall and Kirk Baxte

Your Choice:  Wall & Baxte  (The Social Network)

Mine: Agree. Editors need to get more credit in acceptance speeches. They MAKE the movie.

[Get it?  Make it?]

Directing

•       “Black Swan” Darren Aronofsky

•       “The Fighter” David O. Russell

•       “The King's Speech” Tom Hooper

•       “The Social Network” David Fincher

•       “True Grit” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

Your Choice:  Fincher  (The Social Network)

Mine: Agree. Fincher is a genius.

UHHHH I think this was Costume Design?   [It was.]

•       “Alice in Wonderland” Colleen Atwood

•       “I Am Love” Antonella Cannarozzi

•       “The King's Speech” Jenny Beavan

•       “The Tempest” Sandy Powell

•       “True Grit” Mary Zophres

Your Choice:  Beavan  (The King's Speech)

  Mine: “True Grit” Mary Zophres . The most authentic feeling is often the most overlooked. In my opinion that means the designer did their jobs perfectly.

[No I'm not overlooking Zophres.  True Grit costumes were athentic looking and gorgeous with beautiful silhouettes.  I almost went for this one, but the costumes in TKS were used so specifically to characterize.  So intelligently.  At least for the 20 minutes or so that I saw.  This too is a tough call.]

Cinematography

•       “Black Swan” Matthew Libatique

•       “Inception” Wally Pfister

•       “The King's Speech” Danny Cohen

•       “The Social Network” Jeff Cronenweth

•       “True Grit” Roger Deakins

Your Choice:  Cronenweth  (The Social Network)

Mine: "Inception" Wally Pfister. SN? Really? Though executed extremely well, what else was added? The cinematography in Inception was another character. Seamlessly shifting between worlds and POVS. All while, keeping the consistent tone. It's originality alone deserves a place in the hall of fame baby!

[I think tone is precisely the reason TSN will win.  The visual tone of the film created a powerful sense of place.  When I watch that film I feel like I'm in it.  I didn't feel that way at all while watching Inception.  I never really felt like I was in a dream.  I felt I was in a video puzzle box.  That's what the cinematography amounts to in that film, no matter how flawlessly rendered.  What's working against Inception is that the cinematography exists to further a contraption, a plot experiment--not a real story.]

Art Direction

•       “Alice in Wonderland”
Production Design: Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Karen O'Hara

•       “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1”
Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan

•       “Inception” 
Production Design: Guy Hendrix Dyas; Set Decoration: Larry Dias and Doug Mowat

•       “The King's Speech” 
Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Judy Farr

•       “True Grit” 
Production Design: Jess Gonchor; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh

Your Choice:  Dyas, Dias, & Mowat  (Inception)

Mine: Agree. But KS and TG give it a run for it's money.

[Yeah, I agree.  Very tough call.  But I'm standing by Inception for this one, even though I just had a weird kind of premonition that it will go to The King's Speech.  Weird.]  

Actress in a Supporting Role

•       Amy Adams in “The Fighter”

•       Helena Bonham Carter in “The King's Speech”

•       Melissa Leo in “The Fighter”

•       Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit”

•       Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom"

Your Choice:  Bonham Carter  (The King's Speech)

Mine: Melissa Leo followed CLOSELY by Amy Adams in "The Fighter". With all due respect, other than the incredible appraisal when she hears him speak on the record, what else does Helena really DO in the movie. She plays the archetype well, but doesn't really fill it as much as the ladies in The Fighter. Ha! Haven't yo only seen 30 minutes of the Kings Speech?

[I don't know if Melissa Leo is even likable.  I get that she's a damn fine actress.  OK, I didn't see The Fighter.  I have to ask myself why.  I've had plenty of chances.  I just have no desire to see that film in the theatre.  Part of the reason is that I don't want to spend 2 hours with a screaming dysfunctional family that beats on each other, led by Melissa Leo as the psychotic mother.  Who wants to spend time with that?  And all of her shenanigans with her Oscar campaign...  I don't know -- is she even likable?  Is this the actress the Academy wants to bear their imprimatur?  I doubt it.  On the other hand, I was so impressed with HBC's perf as the wife of the king.  I'm always impressed by the way she inhabits the characters she plays.  This might be the award that goes to an actor for her body of work.  But she fucking nailed the Queen, yo.  Emotionally present and totally convincing in every scene.  That I saw.]

Actress in a Leading Role

•       Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right”

•       Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole”

•       Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter's Bone”

•       Natalie Portman in “Black Swan”

•       Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine

Your Choice:  Portman  (Black Swan)

 Mine: Agree. It's her year. What a fucking year for Leading Ladies though, right?

[Exactly.  This makes me think that there should be, like, one Oscar every year that could be awarded to someone without regard to the vote, or in addition to the vote.  So everybody gets their Oscar but then one special Oscar goes to a special deserving soul in case they get fucked over by the vote.  This year, that award would have to go to Michelle Williams, absolutely brilliant in Blue Valentine.  (Overlooking Ryan Gosling was a crime.)  Heartbreaking.  I loved this film, and MW's performance is right at the very core of it.  She carries the film, and she is a powerhouse, and if Natalie Portman hadn't gone to the undiscovered country of her own soul, MW would be my pick.  I say, let's give Michelle Williams the Weirding Prize.]

Actor in a Supporting Role

•       Christian Bale in “The Fighter”

•       John Hawkes in “Winter's Bone”

•       Jeremy Renner in “The Town”

•       Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right”

•       Geoffrey Rush in “The King's Speech”

Your Choice:  Hawkes  (Winter's Bone)

 Mine: Bale. Hands down. Though the movie I have yet to see is Winter's Bone, so I can't debate.

[Nor I The Fighter.  But I have...seen the trailer...and I can see what Bale is doing and it looks pretty intense and all actory.  I know he'll get it -- again, for a body of work, but Hawkes in WB was possessed.  Brilliant.]

Actor in a Leading Role

•       Javier Bardem in “Biutiful”

•       Jeff Bridges in “True Grit”

•       Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network”

•       Colin Firth in “The King's Speech”

•       James Franco in “127 Hours”

Your Choice:  Bridges  (True Grit)

Mine: Firth. I need to see True Grit again.

[Well, I'm predicting Firth, too, but I think Jeff Bridges gave the best, most amazing performance of the lot.  Of course I didn't see 127 Hours.  Or Biutiful.  So I guess I don't really don't know what the fuck I'm talkin' about on this one.  But how can it not go to Firth?]

Best Picture

•       “Black Swan” Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver and Scott Franklin, Producers

•       “The Fighter” David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg, Producers

•       “Inception” Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers

•       “The Kids Are All Right” Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray, Producers

•       “The King's Speech” Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, Producers

•       “127 Hours” Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and John Smithson, Producers

•       “The Social Network” Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and Ceán Chaffin, Producers

•       “Toy Story 3” Darla K. Anderson, Producer

•       “True Grit” Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers

•       “Winter's Bone" Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers

Your Choice:  Rudin, Brunetti, De Luca, and Chaffin   (The Social Network)

Mine:  Rudin, Brunetti, De Luca, and Chaffin (The Social Network)

HERE WE GO!

But lets be honest. The ACADEMY AWARD GOES TO...