Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Oscars

"James Franco killed my Pa, and I'm gonna find him!"
Though this isn't a dedicated film blog, I write and think about movies often enough that I would like at least to mention The Oscars, and mention that, though I see far fewer movies than I did when I was in school, I saw the front-runner (The King's Speech, with Nathan at Harrisburg's Midtown Cinema) and the runner-up (True Grit, with Heather and Kelly at the Anthony Wayne Theater in Wayne) in the nomination race, and loved them both. I also saw the critics' choice to lead the pack (The Social Network, with Laribee & co., on the East Shore somewhere), and didn't like it at all.

Mostly this post is an excuse to share the list of nominees, my picks (see below), and to mention an interview I heard with True Grit's composer, Carter Burwell. Stay tuned for the second half of the show where Zlatne Uste, hosts of my favorite music festival, the Zlatne Uste Golden Festival, play live!

Greg's (undoubtedly biased, uninformed, and skewed) Oscar Picks
Best Picture: Social Network (though I'd love if Winter's Bone -- or anything else, really -- won)
Actor in a Leading Role: James Franco in 127 Hours
Actor in a Supporting Role: John Hawkes in Winter's Bone
Actress in a Leading Role: Natalie Portman in Black Swan
Actress in a Supporting Role: Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit
Animated Feature Film: Toy Story 3
Art Direction: The King's Speech
Cinematography: True Grit
Costume Design: I Am Love
Direction: David O. Russel for The Fighter
Documentary: Exit Through the Giftshop (though I'd love if Gasland won)
Documentary Short: I have no idea. In the interests of a full slate, I'll pick Killing In The Name
Film Editing: 127 Hours
Foreign Language Film: (also no idea) Incendies
Makeup: Barney's Version
Music (Original Score): Inception
Music (Original Song): Coming Home from Country Strong
Short Film, Animated: Day and Night
Short Film, Live Action: God of Love (chosen solely for its synopsis)
Sound Editing: True Grit
Sound Mixing: Inception
Visual Effects: Inception
Writing (Adapted Screenplay): Winter's Bone
Writing (Original Screenplay): Another Year
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2 comments:

Joel said...

I didn't like "The Social Network" either, but I seem to be very much in the minority in that opinion. What didn't you like about it? For me, it was just irredeemably sexist and patriarchal in its portrayal of all of the female characters.

January 26, 2011 at 9:06 AM
Greg said...

I couldn't connect to any of the characters -- the movie shifts between various characters' viewpoints, and that formal play is something I liked about the movie. The problem was, the movie didn't make me care enough about the characters for me to care when or why it shifted. It was mostly a detective game: "Oh, we're in Zuckerberg's subjectivity now. Now we're in Saverin's. Well."

January 26, 2011 at 10:57 AM

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