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

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

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?

Oscars 2011 – Best Actor in a Leading Role

One last look at the five men who are up for the best actor in a leading role award. Team Firth!
Javier Bardem as Uxbal in ‘Biutiful’
I have not seen this film, so cannot comment on the performance.

Jeff Bridges as Rooster Cogburn in ‘True Grit’

Bridges is just incredible as Cogburn, he really is just incredible. After his win last year, he has followed it up with another nomination. He mumbles and acts drunk brilliantly. Manages to be so likeable at the same time!

Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg in ‘The Social Network’

Exhausting is the word I find best to describe this performance. Eisenberg is brilliant as Zuckerberg who is just way too smart for his own good, and likes to use an incredible amount of words in his general conversations. Must have been very difficult to really nail this character but that was more than achieved.

Colin Firth as King George VI in ‘The King’s Speech’

We keep hearing that it is Firth’s time, well I thought that should have come for his role in ‘A Single Man’ last year! But his performance in this film really is just incredible, we feel sorry for him, we want to help him. All just so incredible!

James Franco as Aron Ralston in ‘127 Hours’

Possibly the most difficult performance from all of the nominee’s considering it is just Franco in the film for about 80% of the time. He really takes us on the journey with him and the emotions to being trapped. Incredible performance, if it wasn’t for Firth I would have thought Franco would be walking away with the Oscar!

The Social Network (2010) Review

Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook and became the youngest billionaire in the world. This film takes us on the journey on how it was created.

Continue reading “The Social Network (2010) Review”

The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

When it was announced that the Spider-Man franchise was going to be getting a reboot everyone was very curious to who would talk over as Peter Parker from Tobey Maguire. That man is Andrew Garfield who has been becoming more well known over the past few years. Although I was quite surprised that I have seen most of his films to date! After watching him in ‘Never Let Me Go’ yesterday I decided to check what else he had been in and to my surprise I have seen most of his films (with ‘The Social Network’ on it’s way via LOVEFiLM).

I have found his performances very impressive and looking forward to watching ‘The Social Network’. I was never a fan of the previous Spider-Man films as find Tobey Maguire very frustrating to watch. He never seems to have any personality. I am hoping that Garfield can bring a new edge to Spider-Man and actually make me enjoy the films. He seems to be a fantastic talent so taking on a superhero role should really make him more well known (if that hasn’t happened already).

The first picture of Garfield as Spider-Man has been out for a couple of weeks now and it looks dark, and he looks very different. Which is not a bad thing at all, can only be a good thing. So we will see him as Peter Parker and Spider-Man and not Andrew Garfield from his previous films. We still have well over a year to wait to see him in action in the film. But I am sure we will have plenty of trailer and pictures to build it all up even more.

Who’s looking forward to this rebooting then?

BAFTAs 2011 Winners – The King Reigned!

It was certainly the King’s night at the BAFTAs when they picked up pretty much every award it was nominated for!

The Winners are:

ORIGINAL MUSIC: Alexandre Desplat for The King’s Speech
SHORT FILM: Until The River Runs Red
SHORT ANIMATION: The Eagleman Stag
SOUND: Inception
EDITING: The Social Network
MAKE UP & HAIR: Alice in Wonderland
FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
COSTUME DESIGN: Colleen Atwood for Alice in Wonderland
PRODUCTION DESIGN: Inception
SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS: Inception
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Helena Bonham Carter for The King’s Speech
OUTSTANDING DEBUT: Chris Morris for Four Lions
OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM: The King’s Speech
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Geoffrey Rush in The King’s Speech
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: David Seidler for The King’s Speech
OUTSTANDING BRITISH CONTRIBUTION: The Harry Potter Films
ANIMATED FILM: Toy Story 3
ORANGE WEDNESDAYS RISING STAR: Tom Hardy
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Aaron Sorkin for The Social Network
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Roger Deakins for True Grit
DIRECTOR: David Fincher for The Social Network
LEADING ACTRESS: Natalie Portman for Black Swan
LEADING ACTOR: Colin Firth for the King’s Speech
BEST FILM: The King’s Speech
FELLOWSHIP: Christopher Lee

London Film Critics’ Circle Awards 2011

The London Film Critics’ Circle have seemed to wait until last to have their awards given out. It is kept very British with some awards just being for a Brits performance. Which in my opinion is fair enough really as gives us the chance to honour those who may not quite be up for the Oscar. (Just yet of course). This still did not stop the King reigning the best actor award again as Colin rightly picked that up at these awards too!

Continue reading “London Film Critics’ Circle Awards 2011”

Oscars 2011 – Nominations & Predictions

20 Days to go until the 2011 Oscar ceremony, so I thought it was about time that I made the effort to actually post the nominations and my predictions for the awards as well. Looking forward to it this year and will be making the effort to stay up late to watch all the drama unfold!

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

Prediction: The King’s Speech

I think it has gained the most momentum leading up to the Oscars over the last few weeks. So I fancy it to pick up the big award.

Continue reading “Oscars 2011 – Nominations & Predictions”

BAFTA 2011 – Nominations & Predictions

Here are the nominations for this years BAFTA awards with my views and predictions. I really have a feeling that The King’s Speech will sweep the awards! My favorite two films within the nominations have to be “Inception” and “Black Swan” both incredible thought-provoking films. So I shall be rooting for them. Excellent to see “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” getting some recognition!

BEST FILM

BLACK SWAN – Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver, Scott Franklin
INCEPTION – Emma Thomas, Christopher Nolan
THE KING’S SPEECH – Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Gareth Unwin
THE SOCIAL NETWORK – Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca, Céan Chaffin
TRUE GRIT – Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen

If “The King’s Speech” does not take this award, which I think it will do. I would love to see Inception get some recognition in awards terms as it really has been one of the most talked about films in recent times.

Continue reading “BAFTA 2011 – Nominations & Predictions”

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