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2011 Oscar Nominations

January 24, 2012 by · Comments Off on 2011 Oscar Nominations 

2011 Oscar Nominations, With the speed of a lumbering engine powered by critical hubris and self-importance, the 84th Academy Awards nominations dropped into our newsfeeds this morning with predictable result. Did you know that people liked The Descendants this year, The Artist as well? Brad Pitt and George Clooney scored the requisite Hollywood heartthrob acting votes (they will lose to the no-name French guy who doesn’t talk), while Meryl Streep got her due for sticking around. Woody Allen and Martin Scorsese were also nominated, just like they always are. It’s another Oscar ceremony, y’all!

But not to sound cynical or anything. It’s somewhat surprising, though definitely nice, to see Terrence Malick get official recognition for The Tree of Life, even if there’s almost no way the hype-happy Academy will give their highest awards to a movie with more than a handful of inscrutably artsy scenes. Equally surprising on the other end is the inclusion of Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, a movie that no one seemed to like but not for any inscrutably artsy reasons, simply because it’s kind of schmaltzy and not very good. Why not give the spot to something innocuous like Bridesmaids or even the last Harry Potter movie, if they’re trying to go commercial? Madness, it’s all madness. (I won’t even get started on Albert Brooks’ snub for Drive.) You can look at the important nominees below, or go to the Academy’s website for the full list.

Best Picture
The Artist, The Descendants, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, The Help, Hugo, Midnight in Paris, Moneyball, The Tree of Life, War Horse

Actor in a Leading Role
Demian Bichir – A Better Life, George Clooney – The Descendants, Jean Dujardian – The Artist, Gary Oldman – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Brad Pitt – Moneyball

Actress in a Leading Role
Glenn Close – Albert Nobbs, Viola Davis – The Help, Rooney Mara – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady, Michelle Williams – My Week with Marilyn

Directing
Michael Hazanavicius – The Artist, Alexander Payne – The Descendants, Martin Scorsese – Hugo, Woody Allen – Midnight in Paris, Terrence Malick – The Tree of Life

Actor in a Supporting Role
Kenneth Branaugh – My Week with Marilyn, Jonah Hill – Moneyball, Nick Nolte – Warrior, Christopher Plummer – Beginners, Max von Sydow – Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Actress in a Supporting Role
Berenice Bejo – The Artist, Jessica Chastain – The Help, Melissa McCarthy – Bridesmaids, Janet McTeer – Albert Nobbs, Octavia Spencer – The Help

2011 Academy Award Nominees

January 25, 2011 by · Comments Off on 2011 Academy Award Nominees 

2011 Academy Award Nominees, If you’re wondering what that roar of anguish was about 7:40, it was probably the sound of thousands and thousands of fans simultaneously Wailing Christopher Nolan, “No!”

In what was easily the biggest surprise of 2011 Academy Award nominations – but, unfortunately, no surprise at all – the original creator’s name was omitted from the list of finalists this year for best director, despite recognition he received the Directors Guild of America (DGA) a few weeks ago. As in 2009, when his DGA-nominated work for The Dark Knight has been ignored. And just as in 2002 when his DGA-work nominated for Memento was ignored. If my statistics are correct, that makes three times that Nolan acclaimed director by the DGA, for now, no best director Oscar nods to his name … with the exception of Rob Reiner. With all due respect, but it is not exactly the kind of company you want to keep. (At least Nolan can console himself with two nominations launch, it received the Best Original Screenplay and as a producer of one of the competitors of the year the best film.)

BEST FILM
Black Swan
The Fighter
Creation
The Kids Are All Right
King’s Speech
127 hours
Social network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone
(9 / 10 correct)

BEST DIRECTOR
Darren Aronofsky, The Black Swan
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, True Grit
David Fincher, The Social Network
Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech
David O. Russell, The Fighter
(4 / 5 correct)

BEST ACTOR
Javier Bardem Biutiful
Jeff Bridges, True Grit
Jesse Eisenberg, the social network
Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
James Franco, 127 hours
(4 / 5 correct)

BEST ACTRESS
Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence, winter’s Bone
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine
(3 / 5 correct)

Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale, The Fighter
John Hawkes, winter’s Bone
Jeremy Renner, City
Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right
Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech
(4 / 5 correct)

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter, The King’s Speech
Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit
Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom
(4 / 5 correct)

Best Original Screenplay
Lisa Cholodenko, Stuart Blumberg, The Kids Are All Right
Mike Leigh, another year
Christopher Nolan, Inception
David Seidler, The King’s Speech
Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson, Keith Dorrington, The Fighter
(4 / 5 correct)

BEST SCREENPLAY ADAPTATION
Michael Arndt, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Lee Unkrich, Toy Story 3
Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy, 127 hours
Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, True Grit
Debra Granik, Anne Rosellini, winter’s Bone
Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
(5 / 5 correct)

Best Animated Film
How Dragons
The Illusionist
Toy Story 3
(3 / 3 correct)

Best Original Song
“Home Coming”, strong country
“I see light,” Tangled
“If I Rise,” 127 hours
“We Belong Together” Toy Story 3
(3 / 4 correct)

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Biutiful, Mexico
Dogtooth, Greece
In a better world, Denmark
Fires, Canada
Outside the law, Algeria
(4 / 5 correct)

Best Documentary
Exit through the gift shop
Gasland
Inside Job
Restrepo
Waste Land
(3 / 5 correct)

Best Original Score
How Dragons
Creation
King’s Speech
127 hours
Social network
(4 / 5 correct)

Best Cinematography
Black Swan
Creation
King’s Speech
Social network
True Grit
(5 / 5 correct)

Best Editing
Black Swan
The Fighter
King’s Speech
127 hours
Social network
(4 / 5 correct)

Best Art Direction
Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter & Deathly Hallows: Part I
Creation
King’s Speech
True Grit
(4 / 5 correct)

Best Costume Design
Alice in Wonderland
I Am Love
King’s Speech
The Tempest
True Grit
(4 / 5 correct)

Best Sound Editing
Creation
Toy Story 3
Tron Legacy
True Grit
Unstoppable
(3 / 5 correct)

SOUND MIXING
Creation
King’s Speech
Salt
Social network
True Grit
(3 / 5 correct)

Best Visual Effects
Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter & Deathly Hallows: Part I
Below
Creation
Iron Man 2
(3 / 5 correct)

Best Makeup
Barney’s Version

The Way Back
The Wolfman
(2 / 3 correct)

Best Short Documentary
Killing in the Name
Poster Girl
No More Strangers
Sunrise
The Warriors Qiugang

BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT
Confession
The Crush
God of Love
Na Wewe
Hot-143

BEST SHORT FILM
Day & Night
The Gruffalo
Let’s pollute
The lost thing
Madagascar, travel book (Madagascar, a travel diary)

Total applications:
King’s Speech – 12
True Grit – 10
Inception – 8
Social networks – 8
Fighter – 7
127 hours – 6
Black Swan – 5
Toy Story 3-5
The Kids Are All Right – 4
Winter’s Bone – 4
Alice in Wonderland – 3
Biutiful – 2
Harry Potter & Deathly Hallows: Part I – 2
How Dragons – 2
Animal Kingdom – 1
Another year – 1

Barney’s Version – 1
Blue Valentine – 1
Country Strong – 1
Dogtooth – 1
Exit through the gift shop – 1
Gasland – 1
Below – 1
I Am Love – 1
The Illusionist – 1
In a better world – 1
Fire – 1
Inside Job – 1
Iron Man 2-1
Outlaw – 1
Rabbit Hole – 1
Restrepo – 1
Salt – 1
Tangled – 1
The Tempest – 1
The city – 1
Tron Legacy – 1
Unstoppable – 1
Waste Land – 1
The Way Back – 1
The Wolfman – 1

Oscar Nominations

January 25, 2011 by · Comments Off on Oscar Nominations 

Oscar Nominations, The Oscar race officially begins this morning when the nominations for the 83rd Annual Academy Awards are announced in Beverly Hills.
At 5:38 PT / 8:38 ET, Tom Sherak, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and winner of last year supporting-actress, Mo’Nique, will announce the finalists in 10 categories: lead actor, lead actress, actor support, supporting actress, animated feature, directing, foreign language film, adapted screenplay, original screenplay and best picture.

This is the second consecutive year that the best-picture field is enlarged to 10 films. Producers Guild – which gave its top honor to the King’s Speech on Wednesday – also named 10 films for best picture and if the guild is revealed, as usual, to be an indicator of Oscar nominations, these films can be in the running for the grand prize:

• 127 hours: James Franco star in this film directed by Danny Boyle Aron Ralston, the climber who had to take drastic measures to save his own life after his arm was trapped by a boulder during a solo hike to 2003 Moab, Utah.

• Black Swan: Darren Aronofsky’s psychological drama about a troubled ballerina, played by Natalie Portman wants to play both light and dark sides of the Swan Queen in Black Swan. Portman won a Golden Globe Jan. 16 for best actress in a drama for his role.

• The Fighter: Mark Wahlberg’s work of love, based on the true story of boxer return “Irish” Micky Ward (Wahlberg) in the 1990 TE with the help of his crack-addicted brother Dickie (Christian Bale) and domineering mother (Melissa Leo). Bale and Leo Globe winners are also supporting actor and actress.

• Inception: brain twister Christopher Nolan on a thief for hire (Leonardo DiCaprio), which can seep into the dreams, trafficking in the most remote corners of the unconscious and unearth dark secrets.

• The Kids Are All Right: Annette Bening and Julianne Moore play a couple of lesbians whose teenage children decide to find their father’s sperm donor (Mark Ruffalo), leading to all sorts of complications in their lives. Bening won best actress in a comedy or musical Golden Globe.

• Speech of the King: The story of how King George VI (Colin Firth) took the throne of England to the abdication of his brother and, with the nation on the brink of war, desperately need a cure for his severe stuttering. The solution came in the form of a speech Orthodox (Geoffrey Rush). Firth has already won the best actor / drama Globe for the role.

• Social networks: David Fincher skewering look at the genesis of Facebook and its founder, Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg), who started on the social networking site while a student at Harvard. He made himself and a resounding success with a single mind, which does not bode well for those close to him. The film won best drama at the Golden Globes.

• The Town: Ben Affleck directed and stars in this gritty story of a band of Boston race of bank robbers and FBI agent (Jon Hamm) is on their heels. Jeremy Renner has been widely accalimed to play a thief hothead.

• Toy Story 3: Sheriff Woody (voice of Tom Hanks), Buzz Light year (Tim Allen) and their buddies get the treatment in 3-D as owner Andy prepares to head to college in this final entry in the trilogy Toy Story. Packed in a box for the attic, they are mistakenly sent to a daycare full of kids toys and destructive power-hungry. The film won the Golden Globe for best-animated film.

• True Grit: Joel and Ethan Coen’s remake of the 1969 film that won John Wayne an Oscar, this time with Jeff Bridges as the drunken, Marshall Rooster Cogburn shameful and Hailee Steinfeld as the teenager who hired him to find the man who killed his father.

The Oscars will be presented Sunday, Feb. 27 and broadcast live on ABC. Guests this year are actors Anne Hathaway and James Franco.

Nominations for the 2011 Oscars will be announced at 8:30 ET today. Natalie Portman, Christian Bale, Annette Bening, “The Social Network”, “True Grit,” “The Fighter” and “The King’s Speech” are among those who should hang nodding. Come back with Speakeasy for a complete list of finalists this year.

What Fantastic Four Member Dies: Nearly fifty years after Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch and the Thing have been introduced worldwide, said Tuesday fans which member will meet their demise in Fantastic Four No. 587. [Spoiler Alert! Stop reading now if you do not want to know who dies! Start] Let’s stay with that. The thing has survived another year, Invisible Woman will live to see another day, and Mr. Fantastic will continue to be part of the Marvel comic book. Sorry, Human Torch. Before starting the fans mourning the death of the superhero, there’s more bad news. No question. 588 of the comic series will last at least for now. [AP]

Lil Wayne’s Spring Tour: Lil Wayne, who was recently released from prison on charges of firearms, takes the road for his “I Am Music II” tour. The rapper will kick off its tour in an arena in Buffalo, NY, March 18 before hitting 24 more cities. Tickets for the tour, which ends on May 1 in New Jersey, will be available from February 4. The rapper plans to release his upcoming album “Tha Carter IV” in the spring. [LAT]

Source: http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/movieawards/oscars/2011-01-25-oscar-nominations-preview_N.htm

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