Thoughts on the Academy Award nominations

This morning the Academy Award nominations were announced. While most of the nominees were expected, there were some surprises and snubs that the web is abuzz over. As always, the Golden Globes were a decent predictor of the Oscar noms, except for the sudden recognition of "True Grit," which was by-and-large snubbed by the Globes. I'm going to go through the nominations, giving my two cents worth. I don't normally like to do this, but I'll go ahead and predict who will win using bold type. In the editorial, I'll elaborate on who I think should win.(Sorry, but I'm skipping over documentaries and short films, foreign language film, Art Direction, Costumes, and Best Makeup. My knowledge of these categories is slim at best, so any comment on them would be fruitless on my part.)

Best Picture
127 Hours*(tie)
Black Swan*
The Fighter* (tie)
Inception
The Kids are All Right
The King's Speech*
The Social Network*
Toy Story 3*
True Grit
Winter's Bone

Nothing out of the ordinary here. Some are still quibbling over the ten nominee system for Best Picture, but this year I think it works well. There aren't a whole lot of fluff nominations that got in simply because there was more room. But if I had to pick just five, I would pick the ones I starred. I love "Inception," but it should be well served in other categories and if it really came down to it, I wouldn't include it in the top five. "127 Hours" and "The Fighter" are hard to choose between because, while I trust that they are both excellent movies, they are the only two on this list I haven't seen yet. I was considering leaving off "Toy Story 3," since it will win the Best Animated Film award, but in this case it should be in the running for the big one.

Best Actor
Javier Bardem, "Biutiful"
Jeff Bridges, "True Grit"
Jesse Eisenberg, "The Social Network"
Colin Firth, "The King's Speech"
James Franco, "127 Hours"

The race here is between Franco and Firth, but the Academy just loves Colin Firth. There's still some goodwill probably floating about after Firth didn't win for his superb performance in "A Single Man," which will most likely work in his favor.

Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale, "The Fighter
John Hawkes, "Winter's Bone"
Jeremy Renner, "The Town"
Mark Ruffalo, "The Kids Are All Right"
Geoffrey Rush, "The King's Speech"

I was surprised to see Hawkes get in there, although he was good in "Winter's Bone." I was also pleasantly surprised to see Renner score a nom, although I wish "The Town" had gotten more recognition overall. I am absolutely livid about Ruffalo getting in there over Andrew Garfield, who delivered one of the best performances of the year in "The Social Network." The scene towards the end where his character realizes just how much he got screwed over should have earned him a nomination. Ruffalo was fine, but what about his role screamed "best performance of the year?"

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"

If all the hype doesn't carry her, this is a category where we could possibly see an upset. I think that's highly unlikely though, seeing as how Portman's performance speaks for itself, hype or not. This is a tough one though, since Williams and Lawrence have some good buzz behind them for their great performances. But if the Oscars are going to recognize a great juvenile performance this year, it's going to be Hailee Steinfeld's for "True Grit."

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"

I don't understand how they can call Steinfeld a Supporting Actress, as she was the star of that movie, but she might not have gotten the nom otherwise. While she deserves the nom, I don't think she's going to get the win. I'm not super upset over Mila Kunis being left out for "Black Swan." I enjoyed that movie, but her role wasn't very meaty and she didn't actually have that much to do. Her performance has been a little overhyped, so while I'm surprised they didn't nominate her, I'm not disappointed.

Best Animated Film
How to Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
Toy Story 3

I have to keep reminding myself that some foreign animated movie came out last year and they're not just nominating that Edward Norton magician movie years later. I'm curious how wide of a release "The Illusionist" received because I hadn't even heard of it until the Golden Globes. I'm surprised "Tangled" didn't get a nom. It's not like this category was overstuffed, they only nominated three movies! But this is the category will "Toy Story 3" will get its much-deserved award.

Best Cinematography
Black Swan
Inception
The King's Speech
The Social Network
True Grit

"True Grit," while not a great movie in my estimation, did look amazing. But I would love to see this one go to "Black Swan" and I think it will. Even if you hated that movie, you can't deny that the cinematography was fascinating. You could turn off the sound and just look at the movie and still enjoy it.

Best Director
Darren Aronofsky, "Black Swan"
Joel & Ethan Coen, "True Grit"
David Fincher, "The Social Network"
Tom Hooper, "The King's Speech"
David O. Russell, "The Fighter"

In my opinion, this was the most difficult category this year. You have hyped directors, talented directors, hyped and talented directors, and everything in between vying for a spot. I'm pretty peeved that Christopher Nolan got bumped from the category. So, "Inception" was one of the best movies, it was one of the most visually skilled, its screenplay was one of the best, but apparently the director had nothing to do with any of that? I really think the reason he got bumped was because his movie was the most popular, "popcorn," blockbuster movie to get nominated. When it comes down to it, the Academy will go for the "serious" or more "artsy" films every single time and Nolan fell prey to that. I agree with what I read on another site, that the Coen brothers could have made "True Grit" in their sleep. It was a solid movie, but nothing special. This is Fincher's to lose. It's the year of "The Social Network," a movie that performed well but also maintains its "serious" cred, and the Fincher/Sorkin team is a force to be reckoned with. Their combined buzz will lead them both to major wins on Oscar night.

Best Editing
127 Hours
Black Swan
The Fighter
The King's Speech
The Social Network

How "Inception" was not nominated here, I will never know. I can understand it losing out in the bigger categories, but it should win every technical award it can. That movie would have been crap if not for the brilliant editing, and how can anyone watch the cross-cutting between the dream-levels and not think to nominate it? "The Social Network" could possibly take this one as its hype will probably bleed over into other categories, but "Black Swan" should take it.

Best Score
"127 Hours," A.R. Rahman
"How to Train Your Dragon," John Powell
"Inception," Hans Zimmer
"The King's Speech," Alexandre Desplat
"The Social Network," Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

I'd love to see Hans Zimmer win, but I'd put money down that it's going to go to "The Social Network." And I won't be that heartbroken. "Inception" had a great soundtrack, but so did "The Social Network." Its win would absolutely not be undeserved. "Inception" has received some harsh criticism from the Internet after random viral sensations lampooned its main theme, but the score was more than just that small snippet pounding during the fight scenes that people remember the most.

Best Song
"Coming Home," Country Strong
"I See the Light," Tangled
"If I Rise," 127 Hours
"We Belong Together," Toy Story 3

"Toy Story 3" will win over the other animated nom here. The only possible competition could be from the song from "127 Hours," but once again, leftover goodwill from years past when Randy Newman didn't win for "You've Got a Friend in Me" will help him out.

Best Sound Editing
Inception
Toy Story 3
TRON: Legacy
True Grit
Unstoppable

Best Sound Mixing
Inception
The King's Speech
Salt
The Social Network
True Grit

Best Visual Effects
Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1
Hereafter
Inception
Iron Man 2

I've already stated my opinions on "Inception" regarding the technical categories above, so I won't elaborate on these three categories. These will be the "Avatar" categories - where the Academy acknowledges the popular movie, but this is all it will get.

Best Original Screenplay
Another Year
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King's Speech

I'm torn here. The Globes really liked "The Kids Are All Right," but I just have a feeling that it's not going to have as much luck at the Oscars since it's sharing categories with Dramas, not just Comedies and Musicals. "The King's Speech" is tailor-made to be an Oscar darling, and you know what? It completely deserves it.

Best Adapted Screenplay
127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter's Bone

Funny how sequels are considered Adapted Screenplays, huh? But this is another one where I would put down money (hell, I'd probably bet my life on this one) that Aaron Sorkin is going to go home with this award. He did a fantastic job, he deserves it, and he's going to win. No doubts here.

First look at "Spiderman" reboot

Being a girl and a proud nerd, I have to say that this picture is all kinds of awesome. (Grabbed from Entertainment Weekly, if you want to see it even bigger and better quality). Like I mentioned in a previous post, although I think the Sam Raimi movies are, for the most part, great movies, I am really looking forward to the reboot. I do hope they avoid going too into the recent dark "Batman" territory. "Batman" fits nicely into the gritty, post-modern superhero genre. But what I like about the first two "Spiderman" movies is how much fun they are. They're light, summer blockbuster, rip-roarin' good times at the theater. Also, "Spiderman" is still kind of a campy story. You still have the origin story about the spider bite and wacky weird villains. I would hate to see the new movie take a fun comic book premise and take it way too seriously when it absolutely does not have to.

Some people were apparently concerned about Andrew Garfield's ability to play a high schooler. I think he can definitely pull it off. Tobey Maguire wasn't exactly a kid when he took on the role. I liked Maguire just fine, but he was never my favorite part of those movies. Not to mention the fact that, unlike Maguire, Garfield is actually cute. Emma Stone is playing the new love interest. Once again, Kirsten Dunst was never my favorite part of the movies, but I didn't hate her. Between "The Social Network" and "Easy A," Garfield and Stone generated a lot of positive buzz in 2010. I'm more concerned about who will be writing and who will be directing. Director Marc Webb's big claim to fame is "(500) Days of Summer," but aside from that, he just has a ton of music videos on his resume. The people behind the screenplay are likewise pretty unknown. The previous "Spiderman" flicks had a screenwriter and a director with solid, well-known bodies of work behind them. Let's hope the newbies can prove themselves worthy of Spidey.

I guess the last big question for die-hard fans is this - to organically web-shoot or not to organically web-shoot? I'm a nerd in many ways but I'm no comic book nerd so I have no strong opinion one way or the other. I like the look of organic web-shooters, but if it's such a big deal, cede to the fanboys on this point.

My Favorite Things of 2010

I've read around a thousand lists of "Best movies of the year," "Worst movies of the year," "Biggest breakout stars of the year," etc. I didn't want to do a cliche one like that, so instead I'll do a super creative list of things that made me happy this year. Enjoy, and feel free to yell at me for anything I missed. It's been a long year, after all, and I know I didn't remember everything.

"Inception" gives us a 2 for 1 gift
I thought I'd put the obvious one up front. We got a thrilling, summer popcorn movie combined with a thoughtful, mind-bending film rolled into one amazing time at the movies (or three, depending on how many times you saw it. I couldn't get enough!) "Inception" is one of my new favorite movies of all time. No other director can make blockbuster movies that are incredibly popular, incredibly smart, and incredibly original like Christopher Nolan.

The continual rise of AMC
I'm slowly falling in love with this channel. From top-notch original programming like "Mad Men" and "Breaking Bad" to quality movies that aren't just whatever they could get the rights to and throw on the air, they live up to their slogan of "story matters here." I don't think "The Walking Dead" lived up to its fantastic premise, but AMC deserves all due credit for making an effort to have all-around quality programming.

BBC's "Sherlock"
From "Doctor Who" writer Steven Moffat, "Sherlock" had a lot of the charm and energy of Moffat's "Doctor Who" contributions. A modern updating of the Sherlock Holmes stories could have easily been a disgrace to Sherlock's history, but it turned out to be an extremely entertaining and smartly produced TV series. It's easily one of the best things I've watched this year and I can't wait for more episodes.

"Southland" lives
NBC couldn't hold on to it, but TNT knew better and kept this great cop drama on the air, even renewing it for another season to air soon. I don't like procedurals, but I do love lawyer and cop dramas when they're more sophisticated and realistic than the hundreds of "CSI"s and "Law & Order"s out there.

"Cougar Town" keeps getting better and better
I'm really hoping I won't be saying this still next year as it pains me to admit, but "Modern Family" seems to have peaked in its first year. But "Cougar Town" worked out its kinks, ditched the off-putting premise, and became a terrific sitcom that has the same silly yet smart comedy that show creator Bill Lawrence put in "Scrubs."

"Fringe" crosses over to the Other Side
I've raved about this show all over my blog, so I won't bother to reiterate my praise, even if it does completely deserve it. After all the highly advertised 'next big things' in SciFi that sputtered and died, it's nice to have one show around that nails the big narrative scope and intimate character development that all those other ones promised but couldn't deliver on.

Andrew Garfield
I had no idea whatsoever who this guy was when they announced him as the lead actor in the "Spiderman" reboot. I wasn't excited already because I thought the first two movies were very good. But after seeing him in "The Social Network," I couldn't wait to see more of him. Jesse Eisenberg plays it cold and distanced, but Andrew Garfield brings the emotional weight of the film. It excited me to uncover another tidbit of why I thought he looked so darn familiar. He had a lead role in the two-part "Doctor Who" episode "Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks." He definitely has my attention now!

"Toy Story 3"
So many people of my generation were terrified that our childhood memories of the first two movies would be retroactively tarnished by an awful addition to the franchise years later. Imagine our relief when the third movie was every bit as wonderful as the first two. Who knew three animated kid's movies could be so emotionally affecting and enjoyable by young and old equally. More than a success due to nostalgia alone, this third film earned all the praise it got.

"24" ends
I loved this show for a long time but the last few seasons went really downhill and it broke my heart. The character assassination of Tony Almeida was bad enough, but Katee Sackhoff's Dana Walsh storyline put the final nail in the coffin and it became crystal clear - "24"'s time had come and gone and it was time to go.

"Ugly Betty" ends on a high note
No one really noticed when "Ugly Betty" recovered from its creative slump and got back to its first season goodness. By then, the show was canceled and was wrapping things up. But unlike other shows that march slowly toward their death with dwindling writing quality, "Ugly Betty" avoided that bitter end and proved that it deserves a fond place in our memories.

"Avatar" gets shut out at the Oscars
As the Oscar season roles around again, people are disputing the validity of nominations for ten films or for blockbuster films. But if "Avatar" can be a frontrunner, then so can "Inception" and other great movies that also happened to be wildly popular. As much as I think blockbuster movies deserve recognition when they're good, movies should win Academy Awards for having the whole package. Brilliant visuals should win technical awards. Brilliant visuals plus superb writing and acting should win Best Picture.

"Breaking Bad" winning big at the Emmys
Speaking of the whole package, "Breaking Bad" definitely has it. As much as I've wanted "Dexter" to get some love for a while and as exquisite as "Mad Men" is, "Breaking Bad" is shockingly terrific. Shockingly in that it has shocking moments, not that I expected it to be bad. Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul absolutely earned those Emmy awards. Their performances are fearlessly genius and unparalleled in the television world.

"Billionaire" by Travie McCoy & Bruno Mars
I'll admit, I'm not an avid listener of Top 40 like I used to be, finding most of it to be overly autotuned and unoriginal. I don't like the state of pop music right now, I think American Idol alums only add to the generic singles, and rap/hip-hop has never been my favorite genre. (I don't say this to be an old timer at heart or a smug, arrogant hipster, I just like to be honest). But I really loved this song. So much of hip-hop that turns me off has to do with the Kanye West-type arrogance in the music. Social commentary and innovation, yes please. Giant egos going on and on about how awesomely badass and rich they are, no thank you. "Billionaire" came at a good time, when the economy was in a bad place and everyone could relate to this earnest song about the natural desire to have the freedom and joy that money can bring.

"Night Work" by the Scissor Sisters
Not nearly as popular in their native US as they should be, the Scissor Sisters released another album this year. The delightful new addition brought us more quality pop, heavily influenced by the best of disco and dance music. They also released the ridiculously upbeat song "Isn't It Strange," which got a place in the new "Shrek" movie. Still filthy, still gorgeous, I hope the Scissor Sisters keep putting out great music like they have this year.

"Kick-Ass" says 'yes' to violence and swearing
Is it base of me to say that I enjoyed the hell out of this movie? Is it immature of me to admit that I loved all the graphic violence? I don't care what anyone says, I had a great time watching this one and wish it had done better so we would get a sequel. It also got Mika to release another single specifically for this movie, so all things considered, this movie made me very happy this year.

Ben Affleck keeps directing
It looks like "Gone Baby Gone" was just the beginning. I don't care if Affleck ever acts again, but I can't wait to see what he does next behind the camera.

Mark Pellegrino scores some high-profile roles
Alright, Lucifer on "Supernatural" is definitely not a high-profile role. He was probably recognized mostly for his work as the abusive Paul Bennett on "Dexter." But he also got the role as the mysterious Jacob on "Lost." I may not have liked the direction "Lost" took towards the end, but Pellegrino was game to fill in the convoluted blanks in the story.

The pervasive use of "Sunshine (Adagio in D Minor)"
And I thought I'd put the bizarrely specific one last. I love this simple yet moving piece of music by composer John Murphy. It's showing up all over the place now, from episodes of "V" and "The Walking Dead" to the climax of "Kick-Ass" (which also used Murphy's "In the House, in a Heartbeat" from "28 Days Later.") I even heard it in a trailer for some Javier Bardem movie. It's quickly becoming the new go-to piece of music, much like the oft-used "Lux Aerterna" from "Requiem for a Dream."

In Theaters: "The Social Network"

The trailers:

"Red" - This would look subpar, but Helen Mirren stars in the ensemble. She's a fantastic actress and she's done plenty of eccentric roles before, so it might be worth the price of admission just to see her kicking some ass. The trailer didn't wow me, but it's a neat concept so I really hope it turns out well.

"Never Let Me Go" - I'm surprised how little Keira Knightley is advertised for this one since she's arguably the bigger star. Carey Mulligan has been in more recent films and might be the better actress. Or at least she's been in better roles. It also stars Andrew Garfield, who has a lead role in "The Social Network." I'm still not entirely clear on the premise of this movie, but it has three great leads so it's up to the writers and director to screw that one up.

"Unstoppable" - I saw a poster for this one walking into the theater and wondered what Chris Pine's next post-"Star Trek" vehicle would be. Apparently it's about a runaway train and the people trying to stop it. Denzel Washington and Pine are incredibly likeable actors, but I have a feeling the concept could produce either a brilliant movie or a painfully stupid one.

The film: "The Social Network" is the Facebook movie. It takes its subject very seriously though, which doesn't seem so strange when you get into the nitty gritty of the lawsuits that came out of its birth. If you've read a single other review of this movie, you've probably read plenty of praise for it. The professional critics are completely gaga over it; last I checked, it had a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. I'm not prefacing with this statement because I'm going to bash the film. In fact, it was a really good movie. But it falls short of greatness with some characterization problems. The directing is great and the screenplay is whip-smart. What else would you expect from David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin? But the problem with that Sorkin dialogue is that, while it is quick and witty, it's not entirely realistic. The first ten minutes of the film introduce you to his style really well and you immediately get the picture that you have to pay attention to catch it all.

Jesse Eisenberg's dialogue as Mark Zuckerberg is the quickest and that serves to show what a genius he is but it also feeds into his characterization problems. Among an otherwise excellent cast, Eisenberg is the weak link. Not because he's bad in it, but because he's just not given much in the way of development. You really do only scratch the surface of his character which isn't very good for a movie about him. It chronicles what he does, but not all of why he does it. Is he really an asshole? Is he a sad, misunderstood kid with social issues? I know that's probably intentional to leave it open to interpretation, but his character didn't ring as true as the others did. Eisenberg does the best he can, but the flaws are in the writing, not the acting. There are moments where he truly does seem concerned for his friends, and they're touching, but the moments quickly pass and he goes back to being a mostly one-dimensional jerk. While the real people behind the film might be upset by the film's representation of Zuckerberg, they shouldn't worry since you don't forget for a moment that this is a fictional character. I don't think the real Zuckerberg is anywhere near as bitter, introverted, or socially inept as the fictional Zuckerberg.

The rest of the cast is great, including Justin Timberlake. I didn't know who Andrew Garfield was before this movie, except that he was cast as the next Spiderman. Now I can say wholeheartedly that I would love to see him as Peter Parker since I loved him in this movie as Eduardo Savarin, Zuckerberg's friend and co-founder of Facebook. His excellent portrayal unfortunately underscored how unrealistic Eisenberg's character was, but it was still a delight to watch Garfield since he is the second biggest role in the film. My favorite part was the climax where Eduardo and Zuckerberg finally separate as Eduardo is pushed out of the company. It was interesting to see how Eduardo went from his best friend to his legal enemy in just one scene, especially opposite the ongoing Winklevoss twins' storyline about trying to get to legal action for almost the whole movie. Speaking of, Armie Hammer was also great playing the twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. They weren't portrayed as black-and-white as I was expecting. I thought they'd be the douchebag rich WASPs that the Ivy League is apparently full of. While they are Children of Privilege and Entitlement, they are also two hard-working, honest young men who get screwed over and are rightfully pissed off about it. The don't get nearly as screwed over as Eduardo in the powerful climax scene, but they don't grate on the nerves like I thought they would.

As for the women in the movie, they are mostly relegated to background roles. And I don't mean that as a slam, but as a statement of fact. I've seen too many articles that slam the film for its depiction of women but they really don't have a leg to stand on. But it's an easy story to grab onto where you can make an issue out of the simple fact that the leads are all men and the women involved are mainly their prizes for fame and fortune. Basically any film that doesn't equally proportion men and women is sexist for some people. Mostly women is fine, but mostly men is not. I hate these arguments, because sometimes you just don't have a lot of female roles. This is based on true events and real people, and most of the people involved were men. They weren't intentionally excluding females, they just weren't awkwardly adding any. The few women in the film are models and shallow party girls. Do these professional critics not remember college? Just like it's unfair to portray a whole gender in a negative light, it's equally unfair to portray a whole gender in an entirely positive light when that's just not accurate. There are tons of college girls like this, especially in the environments the lead men are in, who latch onto the hot guys who look like they're going places or just want to party in the prime of their lives. Rooney Mara's character Erica, Zuckerberg's girlfriend in the beginning of the movie, shows that Sorkin doesn't just hate women here. She's intelligent and even-headed and she's the one woman Zuckerberg can't get out of his mind even while sexy bimbos are all over the place. Also, most of the females in this movie are young girls, not thirtysomething women. You have to look at the setting and the context of a movie. When a lot of it is set in happening clubs and raging college parties through the perspective of some young, arrogant men, you shouldn't be surprised when all the females around aren't perfect ideals of womanhood.

To step back down from my soapbox, I'd like to conclude my review by saying that this is a very good movie and well worth seeing. It's slightly different than you may anticipate, though. The darker tone might throw some for a loop who were expecting a light drama about college kids making a website. This movie is much less about the social experience of young people and what it means to put that online or why Facebook became integral to our lives and more about the founding of a major website and the ensuing legal problems. I was hoping for more of the former, especially amidst all the praise for the film for being a great comment on my generation, but it's still a compelling movie.

My grade: B