Tag: Academy Awards

Oscars 2015 – Best Supporting Actor

This is another category that I have seen all of the films for, I think it makes these blog posts a lot easier (won’t always be the case as I am missing some, but you will have to wait and see which ones …). Now the selections for these seemed pretty straight forward, but I guess one was quite a surprise with Robert Duvall getting a nomination for The Judge. I was really pleased with that as enjoyed that film than it seems other people did! Everyone has been talking about Simmons easily walking away with the gold statue but I think this is a very strong category and he has some brilliant competition. This is nearly always the best category as always has very strong performances!

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Oscars 2015 – Best Picture

Eight films are going to be battling for the title of Best Picture on Sunday and I managed to see them all at the cinema before the end of January, which must be a record for a UK-based person. We usually end up with one or two films that don’t come out until March. That has still happened this year but not for any of these nominated films. I wasn’t as bothered by the Oscars last year as missed quite a few of the films. But back on track for the 2015 awards, I am going to offer some thoughts and try to pick which is my favourite but what I think will win . . . If that turns out to be different. Here it goes . . .

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Why I think Les Mis will win Best Picture!

You may think this post is a little early, because the film hasn’t even been released yet and I have only seen two slightly different trailers which don’t really give much away at all. But let’s face it by those two trailers this film is screaming out for Academy Awards. The cast they have assembled for this is pretty incredible, for such a popular musical and bringing to the big screen.

I guess with this trailer we can view it as more of a teaser trailer and a good one at that, just showing the actors/characters with Anne Hathaway singing I dreamed a dream over this.

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Oscars 2012 – The Show

There’s no business like show business . . . this is something that the Oscar’s is all about showing the world that there really is no business like show business. Billy Crystal was back to being our host again for the ninth time. It was always going to be a more traditional show after the poor attempt last year at having two young actors hosting in Anne Hathaway and James Franco, which really didn’t work. More because of Franco being so wooden than Hathaway, she didn’t really do anything wrong. But they went back to Crystal and you can’t really going too wrong with him as you know exactly what you’re going to get.

The opening monologue featured Crystal in some scenes from the nominated films and sharing a kiss with Geroge Clooney was among it. Also a small cameo from Justin Bieber which Crystal put it that it was to capture the younger audience! His opening speech also had songs about the nine best picture nominations which was actually rather clever due to the nature of some of the films.

We saw loads of different actors throughout the show hitting the stage to present the different awards. Some very charming and others relying on jokes. All of this is what we have come to expect from the ceremony, with a mixture of the current biggest selling actors along with previous Oscar winners and much-loved older actors.

The big four winners . . . aka the acting Oscar winners. These four awards are the most talked about and looked into with the Best Picture and Best Director. As they are the ones audiences pay the most attention to throughout the film going year. These are also the speeches we all want to hear! We want to see how they react and how they then act whilst holding the Oscar they have just won.

Christopher Plummer was my favorite with his “”You’re only two years older than me darling, where have you been all of my life?” that has to be my favorite quote of the night. Just fantastic from Captain Von Trapp! Who became the oldest ever Oscar winner. It makes me want to see The Beginners even more now, as my cinema didn’t screen it!

Obviously my other favorite was the ever fabulous Meryl Streep. Who I have grown to love so much over the past few years, yet I still haven’t managed to catch up on all of her films! I just thought her reaction when she won was so shocking and to be honest I was surprised that she had won as well. Her speech was then just lovely from start to finish and admitting she knows she will never be up there again! I am sure many more nominations will come her way, being the most nominated actress of all time!

The Artist was the big winner collecting best picture, actor and director. So pleased that I can say that I have seen this film as it really is a fantastic experience. As an earlier blog post stated I have only seen 2 of the films which were nominated therefore I am very pleased that I have seen the one that won. Especially that I loved it from start to finish and hope the win encourages people to go and see it!

So after the disappointed of last years Academy Awards, Oscar went back to being more basic and putting on a show that we all have been used to in the past. Therefore a winning formula and I found it very nice to watch, it flowed very well and we got to see a lot of the hottest acting talent around. Much better than last years! Helping me also see which films I now have to catch up with (ok I already knew, but the Oscar makes you want to see them more!). Until next year . . .

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2/9 Instead Of 10/10

Possibly the strangest blog title you’ve seen in a while right? Well 2/9 means 2 out of 9 of the Best Picture nominees that I have seen before this years Academy Awards. 10/10 refers to the 2011 awards when I saw 10 out of 10 of the Best Picture nominees. This explains the lack of Oscar talk on Let’s Go To The Movies this year. I don’t feel that I have seen enough of the nominated films to post comments and make predictions this year. Even more so compared to last year when I managed to see all the best picture nominated films.

This has led me to a different approach for tonight’s Oscars, which I have set to record on Sky+ and not really sure if I am looking forward to them very much. I will of course still watch it tomorrow when I get a chance, but I will probably be checking to see who won which award in the morning!

As I haven’t seen many of the nominated films this year (which has often been due to lack of time at the cinema, or not appearing at the cinema at all). I have decided to do my predictions on the big awards using only the films I have seen:

Best Picture, between The Artist and The Descendants . . . it has to be The Artist. I enjoyed it from start to finish and thought it was just an amazing journey.

Best Actor in a Leading Role, between Clooney, Dujardin and Oldman I am going to go for Dujardin just because he had to use actions rather than words. But I wouldn’t be disappointed if either of the other two walked away with the award.

Best Actress in a Leading Role, between Mara, Streep and Williams I am going to say Williams was my favorite. I thought she was pretty perfect as Monroe.

Best Actor in a Supporting Role, between Branagh and Nolte without a doubt for me Branagh’s performance is on a different level. I still haven’t got over Nolte being nominated I couldn’t understand a word he was saying throughout Warrior.

Best Actress in a Supporting Role, between Bejo and McCarthy it would have to be Bejo such a moving performance in a film I really enjoyed. Yes I did love Bridesmaids but didn’t think any of the performances would get an Oscar nom.

Those are the only one’s I’ll do as let’s face it, it really is not as fun having only seen two or three of the nominations! I guess I have a few films to catch up on from 2011! Any thoughts on which ones not to see is much appreciated!

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Oscars 2011 – Winners

The winners of the 2011 Academy Awards. The only big shock had to be Tom Hooper picking up the Best Direction Oscar for The King’s Speech ahead of big favorite David Fincher for The Social Network.

Best Picture: The King’s Speech
Best Director: Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech
Best Actor: Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
Best Actress: Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, The Fighter
Best Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Best Original Song: We Belong Together, Toy Story 3
Best Editing: The Social Network
Best Visual Effects: Inception
Best Documentary: Inside Job
Best Live Action Short Film: God of Love
Best Documentary Short Subject: Strangers No More
Best Costume Design: Alice in Wonderland
Best Makeup: The Wolfman
Best Sound Editing: Inception
Best Sound Mixing: Inception
Best Original Score: The Social Network
Best Foreign Language Film: In A Better World
Best Original Screenplay: The King’s Speech
Best Adapted Screenplay: The Social Network
Best Animated Feature Film: Toy Story 3
Best Animated Short Film: The Lost Thing
Best Cinematography: Inception
Best Art Direction: Alice in Wonderland

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Oscars 2011 – The Show

Well this year the approach from the Academy was to have two young actors to host. This called upon nominee James Franco and Anne Hathaway to add a different edge to the Oscars ceremony.

The main theme of the evening seemed to be looking back at the past of the Oscars, taking into consideration how times have changed. Including music and some scenery from different Oscar winning films of the past. Obviously all eyes were on Franco and Hathaway, who in my opinion were very disappointing. Hathaway was given the over the top, in your face excited role while Franco just stood looking slightly upwards. Which made the audience feel awkward, he did not look comfortable on the stage at all!

The main part I actually thought was amusing from Hathaway had to be seeing “On My Own” claiming that Hugh Jackman would not do a duet with her this year. (After she done one with him when he was the host). Personally I would have liked to see Jackman host again! Or even Alec Baldwin who I thought was fantastic with Steve Martin last year. Baldwin was involved in the opening segment which poked fun at Inception and going into his dreams to steal hosting tips. This let us see Franco and Hathaway in many of the nominated films.

Yes whilst this opening was was amusing, it seemed to all go very downhill from that point. I didn’t even manage to stay up and watch all of the ceremony. The tiredness and boredness really did take over and I went to bed, didn’t think I would miss very much as no shocks had occurred with the supporting actor/actress awards. Have to mention Kirk Douglas who was rather heartbreaking to watch as he really struggled to get his words out, yet managed to still be so funny and likable.

In my opinion I found the show quite a flop.

What does everyone else think?

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Oscars 2011 – Red Carpet

A trip down the red carpet before the Oscar ceremony. Often the red carpet is more important than the actually show for fashion reasons.

My favorite dress had to be Reese Witherspoons, so elegant.

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Oscars 2011 – Live Blog

Live updates with my thoughts on the 2011 Oscars!

  • Well I made the decision to watch E! for the red carpet coverage, which I have no idea if it was a good thing or a bad thing. Ready for the Oscar ceremony to start on Sky Movies.
  • Alec Baldwin included in the opening scenes with James Franco and Anne Hathaway. Appearing in all the best picture nominees. Brilliant start!
  • Ahhh Morgan Freeman making a little appearance too!
  • Very clever editing Franco and Hathaway into the films!
  • Hugh Jackman looked like he wanted to be back on the stage!
  • Getting the parents and grandparents involved. Very funny! Especially Franco’s grandmother saying Marky Mark! Mark Wahlberg, love it!
  • A look back at ‘Gone with the Wind’ the ultimate classic ❤
  • Tom Hanks presenting ART DIRECTION – WINNER – Alice in Wonderland
  • CINEMATOGRAPHY – WINNER – Inception
  • Credit given to Christopher Nolan!
  • Awww Kirk Douglas! Standing ovation for him. He’s just incredible for his age. Very funny with both Franco and Hathaway. Struggling to speak bless him!
  • BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS – WINNER – MELISSA LEO for The Fighter
  • Now for a very over the top speech . . . Or maybe not, she actually sounds very nervous. Just dropped the f-word too.
  • Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis presenting. Timberlake claiming to be Banksy!
  • BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM – WINNER – THE LOST THING
  • BEST ANIMATED FEATURE – WINNER – Toy Story 3
  • Hathaway talking about the very first Academy Awards
  • Presenters Josh Brolin and Javier Bardem . . . wearing old school white tux’s.
  • BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY – WINNER – The Social Network – Aaron Sorkin
  • BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY – WINNER – The King’s Speech – David Seidler
  • Oldest person to win that award, he hopes its broken quickly and often.
  • Hathaway performing musical number, directed at Hugh Jackman . . . Using ‘On My Own’ from Les Mis. Franco comes on in a very pink dress. Charlie Sheen joke!
  • Helen Mirren and Russell Brand presenting
  • BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM – WINNER – IN A BETTER WORLD (DENMARK)
  • Reese Witherspoon presenting. BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR – WINNER  – CHRISTIAN BALE for The Fighter
  • He actually sounds rather nervous with his speech, Dicky Eklund is there too 🙂 Very emotional in his speech, especially towards his wife and daughter.
  • Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman presenting . . . Aussie rules!
  • BEST ORIGINAL SCORE – WINNER – THE SOCIAL NETWORK
  • SOUND MIXING – WINNER – INCEPTION
  • SOUND EDITING – WINNER – INCEPTION
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Oscars 2011: 10 out of 10 for Best Pictures

I have managed to achieve what would seem impossible and watch all ten of the best picture nominations before the Oscar ceremony. Usually this is not possible due to UK release date. But this year a lot of the films seem to have been earlier than usual in the Oscar race. With the help of LOVEFiLM for a couple of Blu Ray’s to make sure I achieved the goal of seeing each film before the ceremony. I am still no further forward in being able to predict the winner the Academy will choose. I mean we know they have made some mistakes in the past.

This is the second year in row which has seen 1o films being nominated for Best Picture. Which allows a few films into the category which would not make the final 5 in the old format. I guess this is just a way to make some films more well-known. Or for the more seen films to receive a nomination. Who can really tell . . . but does that mean they have a better chance of winning? Probably not.

The ten films which have been nominated this year all bring something very different to the Oscar stage. I have to say out of them the ones I have enjoyed the most have to be Black Swan and Inception, with True Grit and The King’s Speech following them.

Black Swan and Inception both had very similar impacts on me as I was still thinking about them days after seeing them at the cinema. They really get into your head and stick in there too. Make you really think about the film, and keep you trying to figure out how you perceive them.

127 Hours (Review)

Stuck between a rock and a hard place. A man must keep himself alive by any means possible after having his arm trapped by a bolder.

Black Swan (Review)

A Ballet dancer trying to take on the difficult role in Swan Lake, whilst trying to deal with her life at the same time.

The Fighter (Review)

The rise of Micky Ward as a boxer, looking into his family life and relationships with his brother, mother and girlfriend.
Inception (Review – not yet written)

A very interesting look into what could happen if you could plant ideas or take them away, by entering someone’s dream.
The Kids are All Right (Review)

A look into how the family dynamics differ in a same sex marriage with children.
The King’s Speech (Review)

A look into how King George VI overcame his speech problems after his older brother abdicated the thrown.
The Social Network (Review)

A look back at how Facebook came into being during Zuckerberg’s time at Harvard and the lawsuits which followed.
Toy Story 3 (Review)

We go on another adventure with our favorite toys, when Andy is now leaving for college.
True Grit (Review)

A remake of the classic John Wayne film, but with the Coen Brothers edge on it. Brilliant story of retribution.

Winter’s Bone (Review)

A young woman trying to find out what exactly happened to her father, leads her into very dangerous territory.

 

WHO DO YOU WANT TO WIN?

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