Oscar Weekend Special: Event Predictions

Here are some of my predictions for this year's event:

* There will be at least one, if not multiple, musical numbers from the hosts - Anne Hathaway and James Franco both of whom have been known to sing in the past and Hathaway even took part in a musical skit with Hugh Jackman a couple of years back.

* There will be a few pointless montages during the proceedings, I'm not talking about the in memorium section but for example last year we had a 'tribute to horror' that included Edward Scissorhands.

* There will be some shots of some uncomfortable celebrities trying to smile while listening to Gwyneth Paltrow perform the Oscar-nominated track from Country Strong.

*During the 'in memorium' segment at least one of the faces will be greeted with no cheers of recognition whatsoever.

*There will be some kind of interpretive dance or gymnastics routine during the night as that seems to be a favourite as of late.

*The winner of at least one of the Short Film awards will be played off the stage by the 'you're boring us now music'.

*As neither Ben Stiller or Will Ferrell are on the list of this year's presenters I reckon it will be up to Russell Brand to do the 'comedy bit' that is usually reserved for one of those two gentlemen.

*Ricky Gervais' name will be mentioned at least once during the evening.

*A pretty actress will recount her tales of having to suffer through the sci-tech awards as one usually gets send to them as they never usually get to see a real woman normally.

*I will regret staying up to watch The Oscars once again when 5am rolls around.

Let's see how many of those come true during the night.

Just to let everybody know I will be tweeting live on twitter.com/mattstvworld if you want to check it out.

Oscar Weekend Special: Prediction Blog Three

And so finally we come to the big award - Best Picture. As with all the other categories I've put these in a Top 10 list and I have to say it was very hard compiling it.

Unlike last year whose Top 10 including the overly-worthy and overly-hyped Avatar and The Blind Side a film that I found just a little bit sickening, there's not one film among the contenders that I feel would be an embaressment to win.

As you've seen my predictions you probably know what I want to win but this year there isn't a clean winner and I think its going to be down to the wire between The Social Network and The King's Speech although I'd love it if Toy Story 3 came out of nowhere and won the thing here's my Top 10 list nonetheless.

Best Motion Picture of the Year

10. The Fighter: By no means an awful film, The Fighter is nothing more than a standard triumph-against-adversity boxing drama. It has all the Oscar hallmarks – based on a true story, features drug abuse, small town community life, family struggles and actors slimming down or donning ugly wigs in order to get Oscar recognition. There are some good performances most notably from Mark Wahlberg, who didn’t get a nomination, in the lead while the camerawork in the boxing scenes is also fairly good. However I fail to see how this film is anything special when compared to the rest of the Best Picture contenders. 


9. True Grit: It can be argued that the Coen Brothers already made a Western in their award winning No Country for Old Men however True Grit is proper old school Western. Mixing three fine central performances with a real feel that you are back in the 19^th century the Coens really achieve what they set out to do. However there is nothing really new to say here and I felt that this was a very good film but nothing special 


8. The Kids are All Right: The token offbeat comedy of the year in the sort of vein of Juno, Little Miss Sunshine or Sideways. The Kids Are All Right is full of heart and realistic characters and situations. Although not particularly cinematic the film does have some very nice shots including close-ups of character’s reactions which does add to the overall feel. Films like this very rarely triumph but it’s always nice to see at least one comedy film acknowledged every year.


7. Winter's Bone: A brutal uncompromising look at the landscape of the Ozark Mountains in Missouri and in particular one girl’s struggle to find her father and keep her family’s home. Ree’s journey around the community and the secrets she may uncover are the backbone to the film the transposition between the vast mountain exteriors and the cramped houses in which the mountain people live. There are some brilliant shots and well put-together scenes and you can almost feel like you are there. There are three terrific central performances all of which feel totally real and I am really glad that this raw independent film made into Oscar’s Top 10 list.


6. Black Swan: A very visual film about paranoia, jealousy and identity set around the world of ballet. Aranofsky’s follow-up to The Wrestler employs similar camera work on the ballet scenes as it did in the wrestling matches but this is much more lodged into the horror thriller genre. The performances from the three lead actresses are all superb and creepy at the same time and the use of sound and colour throughout the film is greatly done. 


5. 127 Hours: An interesting film that uses every cinematic trick it can. While we as an audience know what the end result is going to be getting there is never boring thanks to the script and an excellent central performance from James Franco. The merging together of Erin Ralston’s predicament with fantasy sequences and flashbacks works perfectly and some of Anthony Dod Mantle’s camerawork is superb. 


4. The King's Speech: Brilliantly played and beautifully put together this is a work of love. While not original in the least bit, the set direction is sumptuous and there are some very good shots. The performances from everybody drive the story through and the script itself is full of warmth and laughs. A classic movie but splendind nonetheless.


3. Toy Story 3: The end of an era as Woody, Buzz and the rest of the gang say goodbye. TS3 does have some better moments that its predecessors the closing scenes at the garbage dump are particularly traumatic while the prison movie spoof and the Ken and Barbie storyline add some lighter moments and some in-jokes for older viewers. Above the script the Toy Story films still know how to mould sound together and also create some great moments. This is a film about growing up and leaving behind the things we love. It would also be quite special for the film to be recognized as Best Picture, in part to award the trilogy as a whole.


2. The Social Network: A classic Hollywood story about jealousy, pride and invention told around the creation of one of the greatest social phenomenon in recent memory. The story of the creation of Facebook isn’t exactly visually breathtaking but it is a very well-told well-acted piece about a lot of young men sitting in rooms and talking. The fast-paced dialogue matches the theme of the digital age and the story flips between creation and lawsuit with ease. Even though there’s not much going on cinematically it is still a great film and deserves some recognition from Oscar.



1. Inception: I think if 2010 is going to be remembered for one film in particular then Inception would be it. Incredibly bold and brave with breathtaking visuals and a very smart and complex concept it was almost the anti-blockbuster but went onto make millions. It still stands up after multiple watchings and you notice things every time as it is incredibly designed and very well acted. There may be one or two problems with the script in terms of the expositional dialogue being used but overall this film will definitely be hailed as a modern classic 
 

But don't take my word for it last year of the 24 categories I only guessed 11 right but if you haven't been keeping up with the blogs this is my full list of predictions: 

Best Picture: 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: Helena Bonham Carter (The King’s Speech)

Best Director: David Fincher (The Social Network)

Best Original Screenplay: David Seidler (The King’s Speech)

Best Adapted Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network)

Best Animated Film: Toy Story 3

Best Foreign Film: Civilisation

Best Documentary Film: Restrepo  

Best Cinematography: Roger Deakins (True Grit)

Best Editing: Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall (The Social Network)

Best Art Direction: Eve Stewart and Judy Farr (The King’s Speech)

Best Costume Design: Colleen Atwood (Alice in Wonderland)

Best Make-Up: Rick Baker and Dave Elsey (The Wolfman)

Best Original Score: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (The Social Network)

Best Original Song: If I Rise by AR Rahman and Dido (127 Hours)

Best Sound Mixing: Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo and Ed Novik (Inception)

Best Sound Editing: Richard King (Inception)

Best Visual Effects: Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley, Pete Bebb and Paul J Franklin (Inception)

Best Animated Short: Day and Night  

Best Documentary Short: Killing in the Name

Best Short Feature: Wish 143

 

Oscar Weekend Special: Prediction Blog Two

Back for a second time here, for those of you who missed the first blog, for the majority of the categories I am producing a Top 5 list in the order of who I think should win and then in bold is the nominee who I think will win. This time we are looking at acting, directing and writing plus the other feature awards.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

1. Colin Firth (The King's Speech)

2. James Franco (127 Hours)

3. Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network) 

4. Jeff Bridges (True Grit)

First of all I am yet to see Biutiful so I can’t comment on where Javier Bardem fits in on the list. However it won’t really matter as Colin Firth will win and I think its about time, he probably should’ve won last year but A Single Man wasn’t your particular Oscar film. This year Firth has done everything right playing a real-life monarch who had a disability and looks at his relationship with a civilian. If anyone else deserves the award it is probably James Franco as the whole of 127 Hours completely rested on his shoulders and he did a really good job of making what could’ve been a slight story into a great feature film. Jesse Eisenberg, like Franco, will no doubt find Oscar success later in his career but here he should be just happy with his nomination in what was a brilliant role and I really enjoy how Eisenberg was able to use body language to get his character across without having to recite a dozen lines. Finally last year’s winner Bridges puts on a decent performance as Rooster Cogburn but I found it a bit caricaturish in parts. But Firth puts on a tour de force performance full of warmth and pathos and out of the four that I’ve seen I care about his character the most.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role 

1. Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone) 

2. Natalie Portman (Black Swan) 

3. Annette Bening (The Kids are All Right) 

4. Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine) 

5. Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole)  

 

This is a very strong category with only Nicole Kidman’s over-acting in Rabbit Hole not deserving of this award. In Blue Valentine, Michelle Williams makes what could be quite a difficult and dislikeable character both sympathetic and real. If Annette Bening had campaigned better in this season this could’ve been ‘her turn’ in that she’s previously been nominated three times and her role in The Kids Are All Right sees her both go gay and have a bit of a drinking problem. But for me the issue with Bening’s role is that she is part of an outstanding ensemble of five actors rather than just being out on her own like some of the other performers here. For me the best actress out of these five is Jennifer Lawrence who owns Winter’s Bone and has whole scenes where it is just her and the moody cold atmosphere that are ultimately compelling. Winter’s Bone would fall down with out Lawrence her performance as the girl who has to find her father or she will lose her house is just utterly brilliant and one of my favourites of last year. But unfortunately Lawrence will have to wait her turn because Natalie Portman will win this award. Not that its not a deserved nomination as Portman’s multi-layered role as Nina the innocent girl who needs to find her darker side in order to play the Black Swan part in Swan Lake. The interesting nature of the film means that Portman has to go out of her comfort zone and play a character who isn’t sure of her own mind. Another reason Oscar will go for her is that she physically altered her body type in order for us to believe that she had been dancing for years. All in all a deserved winner but I still preferred Lawrence.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

1. Geoffrey Rush (The King's Speech) 

2. Christian Bale (The Fighter)

3. Mark Ruffalo (The Kids are All Right) 

4. Jeremy Renner (The Town) 

5. John Hawkes (Winter's Bone)

Again a strong category with three quite intense performances, one very laid back turn and one that’s sort of in the middle. Like with Natalie Portman, Christian Bale will win thanks to a performance which is both intense and that he’s changed his body type to play. For me Bale is almost too much in The Fighter playing a larger-than-life crack addict who needs to sort his life out in order not to drag his brother down. Jeremy Renner is able to make himself seem taller than Ben Affleck with his almost scary performance in The Town while John Hawkes is also very in your face as uncle Teardrop in Winter’s Bone however neither are in the film enough to justify winning this award. Mark Ruffalo meanwhile is the complete opposite playing the chilled out restaurant owner who finds out when he was a sperm donor he fathered two kids via a lesbian couple. Ruffalo’s character is probably too relaxed to get him the Oscar but nonetheless he is great in that film. But for me, and perhaps quite controversially, Geoffrey Rush is the best thing in The King’s Speech. As speech therapist and failed actor Lionel Logue he is compelling, incredibly funny and a joy to watch. But Rush has already got an Oscar and Bale hasn’t so this will be ‘his year’.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

 1. Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit) 

2. Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom) 

3. Melissa Leo (The Fighter) 

4. Helena Bonham Carter (The King's Speech) 

5. Amy Adams (The Fighter)

This is the only category where I’m not quite sure who’s going to win. The smart money would be on Melissa Leo, she won the Golden Globe and the SAG award and has been campaigning hard but Bonham Carter has got a lot of heat behind her heading into the Oscars. I personally think the latter will get the surprise win as she’s possibly due a win and her BAFTA acceptance was fairly entertaining and the Academy will hope that her Oscar speech will be equally watchable. I thought Leo’s turn was just a bit better mainly because she’s given more time to play the awful matriarch of the large family although she is quite over-the-top it is still a very engaging and scene-stealing role whereas Bonham Carter doesn’t get enough time to shine and is overshadowed by the two male leads. If there’s one actress that should win it is 14 year old Steinfeld who is in every scene of True Grit and completely owns it. Steinfeld’s Mattie Ross is both mature and childlike in equal measure and she makes the film the gripping masterpiece that it is. Jacki Weaver’s terrifying matriarch is better than Leo’s mainly because she goes from happy and joyous to actually evil at some parts of the film. But again as long as Amy Adams doesn’t win for just acting a bit tough and being quite pretty in a film of unattractive people then I’ll be happy.

Best Achievement in Directing

1. David Fincher (The Social Network)

2. Darren Aranofsky (Black Swan) 

3. Joel and Ethan Coen (True Grit) 

4. Tom Hooper (The King's Speech) 

5. David O Russell (The Fighter) 

 

In the Oscar tradition of being ‘someone’s year’ this year it is David Fincher’s. The Social Network probably isn’t up there with Seven, Fight Club or Zodiac in terms of a Fincher film but he should still be given an Oscar for a film which has been hailed as some as a ‘modern American classic’ but that might be due to Aaron Sorkin’s script more so than Fincher’s. Personally I’d be happy with Aranofsky winning than I would Fincher as Black Swan is an interesting film and he himself always makes great personal pictures that aren’t always Oscar fodder. Of the others the Coens have already got their award, Tom Hooper will have his day and David O Russell really doesn’t deserve to be there. This category is almost more interesting for those who have been over-looked as I think Christopher Nolan and Danny Boyle produced better directed films in Inception and 127 Hours respectively.

Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen 

1. Another Year (Mike Leigh) 

2. The Kids are All Right (Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg) 

3. Inception (Christopher Nolan) 

4. The King's Speech (David Siedler) 

5. The Fighter (Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson and Keith Dorrington) 

Best Original Screenplay usually goes to something a bit more low-key and quirky my personal favourite is Another Year but that’s mainly because it is a very British story and the characters are very British indeed. The Kids Are All Right seems like a film that would normally win as it is the token offbeat indie comedy but it does have a lot of heart, wit and beautifully drawn character. But David Siedler’s script for The King’s Speech is a labour of love and has been years in the making and therefore will see him get the award. Nolan’s script for Inception is full of good ideas but some of his characters don’t feel that developed and The Fighter’s script is very clichéd indeed.

Best Screenplay Written Based on Material Previously Produced or Published 

1. The Social Network (Aaron Sorkin)

2. 127 Hours (Simon Beaufoy and Danny Boyle) 

3. Toy Story 3 (Michael Arndt, John Lassetter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich) 

4. Winter's Bone (Debra Granik and Anne Rossellini) 

5. True Grit (Joel and Ethan Coen)  

This is one that is easy to call as Aaron Sorkin’s screenplay for The Social Network is basically what makes the film. Witty, fast-paced but with interesting characters, Sorkin’s award is already in the bag the only controversy over this is that the work it has been adapted from wasn’t finished before the script was written. Of the other four I found that the only two fictional literary adaptations Winter’s Bone and True Grit were great because of their visuals and acting rather than their script. Beaufoy and Boyle make 127 Hours an engaging film from a story which wouldn’t have seem very interesting before. And Toy Story 3’s inclusion in this category seems odd yet the script was very funny and moving and does indeed deserve to be alongside these other scripts.

Best Animated Feature film

1. The Illusionist 

2. Toy Story 3 

3. How to Train Your Dragon 

Don’t get me wrong I loved Toy Story 3 and it was in my Top 5 films of the year and it should win Best Picture rather than the Animated Oscar, which it will win. But in terms of using animation as an art form I felt the French, The Illusionist did it much better using barely any dialogue it creates two lovely and real characters and makes you care about them throughout the film’s running time but because it isn’t an in your face family film it won’t win. Meanwhile I felt How to Train Your Dragon was only mediocre and don’t understand why it has been included in this category over Chico and Rita.

Best Foreign Language Film

Nominees:

Biutiful (Mexico)

Civilisation (Denmark)

Dogtooth (Greece)

Incendies (Canada)

Outside the Law (Algeria)

Unusually I have only seen one of these five films – that being the very weird and strange Greek film Dogtooth which I think is lucky to get a nomination and won’t win. I would think Biutiful would be the favourite due to Javier Bardem’s acting nominations this season but the film itself seems to be getting mixed reviews. After watching the trailers my pick would go between the Danish film Civilisation, released over here as In a Better World, and the French Canadian Incendies both deal with family issues and war-torn countries. The final nominee, Outside the Law, about the Algerian independence from France looks long and sprawling and apparently isn’t very good. Just based on the fact that it won the Golden Globe I’m going to plump for Civilisation but think Incendies has a good chance

Best Documentary Feature

1. Restrepo 

2. Inside Job 

3. Exit Through the Gift Shop 

4. Gasland  

 

Like with the Best Lead Actor award here I am yet to see Waste Land which only opened on Friday in the U.K. Putting my prediction down for this award I had to sort of go where I thought the voters would. I think the rich executives and producers may not vote for a film which criticises the rich and wealthy in Inside Job about the recession and what caused. Gasland, about oil production and sale, has been lobbied and companies have lobbied the academy to remove it from the list. Also controversial is Exit Through The Gift Shop mainly because it is directed by infamous street artist Banksy and also that parts of it may be completely acted and therefore sort of nullifies its qualification to be in the documentary category. But my favourite, and what I think will win, is Restrepo as I believe it will appeal to all members of the Academy as the film-makers have been put at risk making the film, it took over a year to make, is a labour of love and is about the troops and we all know how patriotic the Academy are. Personally I also found it compelling, well-made, funny, gripping and exactly what documentary-filmmaking should be about. 

Next up the Top 10 Best Picture nominees in order and a recap of my predictions in full. 

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day One Hundred and Two - One Hundred and Three: The Soldiers Coming Back and The Women that Wait for them

So we're back in the saddle, and as it's Oscar Weekend I'm guessing I'm going to have carry over the Oscar challenge for another year as at the moment we're still straddling around in the 1940s.

First up is The Long Voyage Home, a nominee from 1941, which looks at a group of men journeying back from service in the West Indies firstly to Baltimore and then to England. This is very much a film about men trapped in an enclosed space as one-by-one they become increasingly suspcious that the Englishman Smitty is actually a German spy. When they finally confront him and torture him it turns out that he is no more than a recovering alcholic who has run away from his family and is concealing his true identity because he is ashamed. The scene in which he breaks down is made even more poignant when Smitty is killed shortly after by a German plane making all the other men decide not to sign up for another tour of service on the ship and instead decide to help the mild-mannered Ole return home to Sweden. However, in the final part of the film, Ole is drugged and kidnapped and forced onto another ship so his shipmates help him escape but in the confusion the ship sets sail with one of their number, their sort of leader the Irish Driscoll, on board and they soon hear that the ship was blown up by a German torpedo with all the men still on board. The film has a sort of a happy ending as Ole does return to Sweden but the rest of the men decide to travel on and return to the ship. I did enjoy this film, for the most part, especially the scenes in which the men are trying to occupy themselves on the voyage home. I loved Ian Hunter as the tragic Smitty and Thomas Mitchell as Driscoll who at times seemed like the only reasonable person on the ship. But the actor in the cast who surprised me most was John Wayne, so much so that at the start of the film I didn't even realise it was him. Wayne's Ole is completely differnet from most of the other parts he plays, he is understated, softly-spoken and feels very much like a real character. The film sort of falls down in the final third with the stupid stuff involving the drugging and Driscoll's death but other than that a solid film and a worthy nominee.

So while the men are journeying home what are the women up to? Well the answers to that are found in a nominee from the 1945 cereony - Since You Went Away. The film has a mightly impressive ensemble cast headed up by Claudette Colbert, in what many consider her final great role. Colbert almost didn't take the part as a wife and mother waiting to hear news of her husband in the war, as she didn't think she was old enough to play the mother of two teenage girls. The story concerns the Hilton family and specifically Anne and her two daughters - Jane and Brig played respectively by Jennifer Jones and Shirley Temple trying to cope during 1943. The Hiltons are short on money so take in the long-in-the-tooth former serviceman Colonel Smogget, in order to keep up with the rent. Smogget's grandson Bill comes to visit him to tell him he's joined the army, however Smogget isn't really interested but Bill does end up falling in love with Jane and the two begin a relationship which is cut short by Bill's tragic death. The other story cocerns Anne herself who is faithful to her husband despite being wooed by long time friend Tony, she also has to consider he place in the war effort and what she is actually doing to help after being apalled by comments made by her snooty friend Emily. Since You Went Away was one of the famous 'womens pictures' of the 1940s and was absolutely tremendous making what could've been just a romantic drama and turning into a film about family, friendship, belonging and finding your place. Colbert was denied the Best Actress Oscar as it went to Ingrid Bergman in Gaslight but she is fantastic here as are everyone in the cast which, as well as the three main actress, includes Joseph Cotten, Monty Wooley, Agnes Moorhead, Lionel Barrymore and Hattie McDaniel. Although many will be unfamiliar with the film itself, the scene in which Jane chases after Bill's train has been spoofed in many films most famously in Airplane. Overall another film that deserved all the praise it got but another film that was left out in the cold so the completely average Going My Way could scoop all of that year's prizes.

Okay so we're back on the road agin, more to follow.

Oscar Weekend Special: Prediction Blog One

So its all come down to the Oscars tomorrow night and the 5th Annual Oscar Blog will be making its appearance sometime during the week. But as I have the film blog now I am doing a weekend of predicting all 23 of the categories and also giving my own views on what should win. Most of the categories I will rank in a top 5 list of what I'd prefer to win and the nominee in bold indicates who I think WILL win. As you can expect I don't agree with a lot of what I think will win but that's jsut me being difficult as usual.

The first blog starts with what I consider the 'secondary' awards. I'm not meaning to be insulting to any cinematographers, art directors, sound editors or short animators (or tall animators come to that) but these are sort of the 'backstage' awards that a lot of us, myself not included, have to wait through to get to the acting and directing stuff. But this year the cinematographers et al have contributed to some of the biggest films of the year and you can probably work out straight away what I think should win Best Picture.

Best Achievement in Cinematography 

 1. Inception (Wally Pfister)

2. Black Swan (Matthew Libatique)

3. True Grit (Roger Deakins)

4. The King’s Speech (Danny Cohen) 

5. The Social Network (Jeff Cronenweth)

To kick off this blog with a category that I’m not quite sure what will win. Personally I would really like Inception to take home as many awards as possible and as the cinematography in that film is the most interesting of the five here as it moulds the different dream levels together and works in different ways throughout the film to amp up the tension. Wally Pfister is the slight favourite here but I think the Academy will award honour Roger Deakins who has been nominated many times but has never won. His work on True Grit is very good indeed, not his best, but still adds a lot of detail and character to the film which would’ve been lost in lesser hands. I also enjoyed Matthew Libatique’s work in Black Swan both during the ballet sequences and the avant garde sequences as Nina starts to lose her mind. But I just have a feeling in my water that this is Deakins’ year.

Best Achievement in Editing 

1.127 Hours (Jon Harris)

2.Black Swan (Andrew Weisblum) 

3.The Social Network (Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall) 

4. The Fighter (Pamela Martin)

5. The King’s Speech (Tariq Anwar)

Here I feel Baxter and Wall’s work on The Social Network will win this award mainly due to the fact that they deftly cut between the two different timelines with ease. Saying that I preferred the work done in both 127 Hours and Black Swan the former because of all the quick cuts between Aaron’s body parts to demonstrate his worry and anguish that he may never get out of the situation and the latter that ramps up the tension and cuts between various characters facial expression quickly cutting between Nina and Lily’s faces on the other characters’ bodies.

Best Achievement in Art Direction

1. Inception (Guy Hendrix Dias, Larry Dias and Douglas A Mowatt) 

2. The King’s Speech (Eve Stewart and Judy Farr) 

3. True Grit (Jess Gonchor and Nancy Haigh)

4. Alice in Wonderland (Robert Stromberg and Karen O’Hara)

5. Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part One (Stuart Craig and Stephanie McMillan)

Of course this award should go to Inception for its differently designed dream levels and its use of spaces, and it did win the BAFTA, however I feel that the academy will go to The King’s Speech. Personally I feel that one of the best things about The King’s Speech was its Art Direction from the period detail downed to the design of Logue’s room where a lot of the action takes place everything was designed meticulously and I have no problem with it winning. Of the other three only True Grit’s scenery and dedication to the recreation of a Western town really impressed me.

Best Achievement in Costume Design

1. Alice in Wonderland (Colleen Atwood) 

2. The Tempest (Sandy Powell)

3. The King’s Speech (Jenny Beavan)

4. True Grit (Mary Zorphes)

5. I Am Love (Antonella Cannarozzi)

Again it seems to be a battle between Collen Atwood and Sandy Powell, the latter of whom won last year for The Young Victoria and the former who will probably take this year’s prize. The costumes in Alice in Wonderland were by far the best thing about it and Atwood, already a two-time winner, really put love and care into making each costume fit the character and bring it to life. Powell’s designs on The Tempest were also fantastic mixing together classic Shakespearian garb and giving it a modern twist. If Alice in Wonderland doesn’t win this award then it will most likely go to The King’s Speech and costume did play a vital role in that film with the transposition between George VI’s royal regalia and Logue’s tatty suits. In fact all of this year’s nominees are perfectly deserving of the award as costume did play a vital role in all five.

Best Achievement in Music: Original Score 

1. The Social Network (Trent Reznor) 

2. 127 Hours (A R Rahman)

3. Inception (Hans Zimmer)

4. The King’s Speech (Alexandre Desplat)

5. How to Train Your Dragon (John Powell)

An interesting mixture here in which only Powell’s traditional animation score for How to Train Your Dragon is perhaps undeserving and should’ve been replaced with Clint Mansell’s haunting Black Swan music. Desplat, who won the BAFTA, may be in here but mainly because the Americans believe that the rousing music in the film’s conclusion was composed by him and not by Beethoven. I really enjoyed Hans Zimmer’s booming and tense Inception music and A R Rahman’s well paced and energetic 127 Hours offering. But there can only be one winner here Trent Reznor and his interesting mix of styles in The Social Network in which he transplants a central theme that stays in your head long after you’ve seen the film.

Best Achievement in Music: Original Song 

1. We Belong Together by Randy Newman (From Toy Story 3) 

2. If I Rise by Dido and A R Rahman (From 127 Hours) 

3. I See the Light by Alan Menken (From Tangled)

4. Coming Home by Tom Douglas, Hilary Lindsey and Troy Vergas (From Country Strong)

It will be astounding if such a visual film as 127 Hours only wins the award for Best Song. having said that the number by Dido and Rahman is possibly the most interesting and off-beat of the four on offer here. Personally I would like to see Newman recognised for his work on all three Toy Story films with a win here and that may well happen but I’m going for the 127 Hours number in which, on the night, Florence Welch will take over from Dido and sing it which can only be a good thing. But as long as Coming Home, which will be performed on the night by Gwyneth Paltrow, doesn’t win then I’m fine.

Best Achievement in Sound Mixing 

1. Inception (Laura Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo and Ed Novick) 

2. True Grit (Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F Kurland) 

3. The King’s Speech (Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley) 

4. Salt (Jeffrey J Haboush, William Sarokin, Scott Millan and Greg P Russell) 

5. The Social Network (Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten)

The mixture of sounds used in Inception and the way in which Zimmer’s soundtrack is boomed throughout the film can be the only sensible choice of this line-up. 

Best Achievement in Sound Editing  

1. Inception (Richard King)

2. Tron: Legacy (Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague)

3. Toy Story 3 (Tom Myers and Michael Silvers)

4. True Grit (Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey)

5. Unstoppable ( Mark P Stoeckinger)

Again a lot of different sound effects to edit together means that Richard King’s work on Inception is really the only choice here.  

Best Achievement in Visual Effects 

1. Inception (Chris Corbould, Andre Lockley, Pete Bebb and Paul J Franklin)

2. Alice in Wonderland (Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips)

3. Hereafter  (Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojansky and Joe Farrell)

4. Iron Man 2 (Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick)

5. Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part One ( (Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi)

I think this will wrap up Inception’s trio of awards as the special effects team did a wonderful job on this film from making the building fold in on itself to the floating scenes in the elevator shaft. While Alice in Wonderland’s effects were fairly impressive and I did like the tsunami recreation in Hereafter, Inception is the only winner here.

Best Achievement in Make-Up 

1. The Wolfman (Rick Baker and Dave Elsey) 

2. Barney’s Version (Adrian Morot)

3. The Way Back (Eduoard F Henriques, Greg Funk and Yolanda Toussieng)

Unusually none of the three nominees here were nominated for the make-up and hair award at the BAFTAs so there’s no indication who’s going to win. But seeing as six-time former winner Rick Baker is involved and The Wolfman is the only one of these three films to heavily use a lot of make-up I’m making that my prediction. However, Black Swan should be in this list and should rightfully be the winner.

Best Documentary Short

Nominees:

Killing in the Name

Poster Girl

Strangers No More

Sun Come Up

The Warriors of Qiugang

It may come as no surprise that I haven’t watched any of these short documentaries however I have watched trailers and clips of all. There does seem to be a lot of interesting subject matters – Poster Girl about an all-American cheerleader turned ruthless soldier, Son Come Up about Pacific islanders forced to move from their habitat and The Warriors of Quigang about a village community coming together to rise up against a chemical company. The winner could be Strangers no More about a school in Tel Aviv that brings together children of all races and religions. However I suspect the winner will Killing in the Name a film made by a Muslim man whose wedding was invaded by suicide bombers who killed 27 members of his family including his and his new wife’s fathers. The film looks incredibly moving and shocking but with a big question behind it, it is also very relevant to what shockingly is still happening today.

Best Animated Short

Nominees:

Day and Night

The Gruffalo

Let’s Pollute

The Lost Thing

Madagascar: A Journey Diary

In last year’s animated short category a French satirical film beat the Pixar short that aired before Up. That could happen again this year with Let’s Pollute, a film that mocks the public information films, going up against Day and Night which aired before Toy Story 3. Of the clips and trailers I’ve watched my favourite was the Australian, The Lost Thing a kind of stop-motion fantasy film but I think the popular choice will reign supreme and Day and Night will get it. If not it will most likely go to a film I didn’t really care for, another French film – Madagascar: A Journey Diary which sort of had a mish-mash of animated styles but wasn’t very engaging. The British hope here – The Gruffalo doesn’t really have a chance against the mighty Pixar offering.

Best Live Action Short

Nominees:

The Confession

The Crush

God of Love

Na Wewe

Wish 143

A good category for the British Isles – the English The Confession and The Irish The Crush are both contenders up against Na Wewe a film about the conflict in Burundi and God of Love an American indie comedy about a jazz singer who is given love darts from God. But I think the Brits will win here with Wish 143 a film packed with proper actors and has an interesting subject matter about a boy who is dying of cancer and wants to lose his virginity before he goes. The film’s selling point is that the director Ian Barnes recovered from cancer himself so there’s a personal touch to this bittersweet comedy. 

Next up in the predictions we have the awards for acting, directing and writing plus the animated, foreign and documentary features. 

BAFTA Predictions

Yes tonight it's the big bash awards-wise on this side of the Atlantic as we have the annual BAFTA film awards. Unlike our American counterparts the BAFTAs is never considered important enough to be given a live televised ceremony so instead at 9pm we only get 2 hours of what the BBC think are the highlights. But for what it's worth here are my two cents:

Best Film, Best Actor (Colin Firth), Best Original Screenplay, Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, Best Film Music - The King's Speech
While it won't do a clean sweep, in my opinion, the BAFTAs will certainly honour this year's runaway British runaway success story with a plethora of awards including the top prize. There's no doubt in my mind that Colin Firth will pick up the best actor award and that it's screenplay will knock off its closest rivals - The Kids are All Right and Inception. And it's also got to get all the sort of arty and musicy awards as well but I think the technical awards will go elsewhere. I say these are only my thoughts and maybe the other actors and the director will be honoured as well but I've got a feeling that there is going to be a spread of the awards as the BAFTAs always like to point out where the Oscars got it wrong hence...

Best Director (Christopher Nolan), Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Sound, Best Visual Effects - Inception

The barmy decision not to nominate Christopher Nolan in the Best Director category at the Oscars means that he will no doubt pick up the award in his homeland. I don't think that The King's Speech is a film that particularly survives on who it's director is and probably Tom Hooper will have a long and succesful career. But Inception really is Nolan's film and as he's a Brit I reckon the BAFTAs is the place to honour him. As its one of the most cinematic films of the year I reckon that it will grab all these awards which it deserves especially for Visual Effects. The only one it may not get is Best Cinematography as it could be Roger Deakins' year for his spectacular work on True Grit.

Best Actress (Natalie Portman) and Best Hair and Make-Up - Black Swan

I don't know if Portman is as safe here as she is at the Oscars in terms of picking up the Best Actress award. The fact that both Annette Bening and Julianne Moore are nominated for their roles in The Kids are All Right either means that BAFTA is pretty hot on that film or they're going to cancel each other out. Noomi Rapace's nomination is an interesting one and I'd like to see her get it but I don't think its going to happen. But Portman's biggest threat is a 14 year old called Haille Steinfeld who at the Oscars is nominated for Best Supporting Actress but in her role as Mattie Ross in True Grit she truly is the leading star and in my opinion gives a better all round turn than Portman but I'm still going to plump for Portman just because I think she's going to get the clean sweep.

Best Supporting Actor - Christian Bale (The Fighter)

Again someone who has been doing clean sweeps this awards season and someone who deserves it. Although his role as the drug-addled Dickie in The Fighter isn't his best role it is still a hell of a performance and is one that deserves accolades. However his competition here is a bit different than elsewhere although he is coming up against Geoffrey Rush and Mark Ruffalo the other two Brits nominated - Andrew Garfield and Pete Posslethwaite aren't up for the Oscar. If they wanted a King's Speech clean sweep Rush might get it, and I actually preferred his performance and also Garfield may get it in terms of him not being nominated for the Oscar. But if anyone is to knock Bale from his perch it is going to be the late great Pete Posslethwaite who is nominated for his very scary role as the crime leader The Florist in The Town. It would be a testament to his years of service to the British film industry if he were to win but would it seem that they were honouring such a small role just because the man has died? I just think Bale has the edge tonight.

Best Supporting Actress - Lesley Manville (Another Year)

This is where I'm sticking my neck out a little bit as this is my most brave prediction of them all. But Best Supporting Actress is an interesting category as the Oscar favourite, The Fighter's Melissa Leo, isn't nominated despite her co-star Amy Adams still appearing in the list. Alongside Adams there is only one other actress who has been nominated at the Oscars that being Helena Bonham Carter who may again get the award if The King's Speech is going to sweep the board. Out of the other three we have Barbara Hershey as the scary mother in Black Swan and Miranda Richardson as Barbara Castle in Made in Dagenahm both fine performances but both don't really leave an impression. But if a Brit is to win then I'd rather Lesley Manville over Bonham Carter or Richardson. Manville's fragile, funny and human performance in Mike Leigh's Another Year was one of my favourite of the year. It has been cruelly overlooked at all the American awards and I thik it would only be right if the Oscars gave Manville her due.

Best Adapted Screenplay - The Social Network

I've really not got a lot to say on this one other than I will eat my hat if Aaron Sorkin doesn't get this award. I think in terms of the awards season this is the only one that is guarenteed as The Social Network wouldn't be anything if it weren't for Sorkin's re-working of the story of the creation of Facebook. We are given a lot of great dialogue that feels real and characters that are sympathetic and do the wrong things for what they feel are the right reasons. Although 127 Hours' screenplay did impress for the way that Simon Beaufoy was able to stretch the material and make it a story worth caring about there's no doubt in my mind whatsoever that Sorkin's going to win.

Best British Film - Four Lions

I'm really torn once again here as last year was such an astounding year for British films. Best British Film does usually go to a film that hasn't been given as much exposure elsewhere and usually if a British Film is going to win Best Film it won't win this award as well. That means The King's Speech is out of the running and in my opinion 127 Hours is as well as that's been given quite a lot of plaudits over in the States. As much as I loved Another Year and Made in Dagenham both of them have sort of a quaint very old-school British feel to them I wouldn't mind if either of them won and the latter may have a chance but I just think that it's not going to happen. And that's mainly because this award usually goes to something a bit brave or a bit different something that looks at another side of Britain and in the last few years the award has gone to This is England and Fish Tank so Chris Morris' Four Lions should be the front-runner. A very funny film about suicide bombers doesn't seem like something that should work but thanks to its central cast and the direction of Morris it is pulled off and even makes the bombers look sympathetic. Overall this is impossible for me to judge but I'd like to see BAFTA go brave and give Morris his due.

Best Film Not in the English Language - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

This is another hard category to judge as there's some impressive films in this list. I Am Love and Biutiful have both been quite sucessful in terms of Festival wins and the latter has also had Javier Bardem's Best Actor nominations to steam it forward. Of Gods and Men is another one that did very well at Cannes and critically has been lauded as one of the best of the year. The Argentinian crime thriller The Secret in their Eyes was one of my favourite from last year but already has the Oscar won. But if I were to select a winner I would go with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo a franchise that has become a runaway success with all three films in its trilogy doing well at the Box Office which is astounding for a foreign film. The BAFTAs have recognised that and have placed the film in a few categories this year but I reckon its success and its Lead Actress' peformance will count in its favour and it will be named Best Foreign Film.

Best Animated Film - Toy Story 3

Another obvious choice here. Unlike at The Oscars were it is nominated against the brilliant The Illusionist. Toy Story 3's competiton at the BAFTAs comes from two mainstream Hollywood animations - How to Train Your Dragon and Despicable Me. The dragon film was alright and had some impressive sequences but Despicable Me was very underwhelming and unremarkable. The final film in the Toy Story franchise was bright, funny, moving and engaging and should be honoured in the Best Film category. But Woody, Buzz et al will have to deal with just winning the Animated category. And while I'm on it where is The Illusionist? And Chico and Rita? And Mary and Max? Oh well.

Orange Rising Star Award - Andrew Garfield

The last two years it has been fairly easy to pick the winner of this award as it was the person who had the most fans who were willing to pick up the phone and vote for them. Noel Clarke had the Doctor Who brigade behind him in 2009 and last year the Twi-Hard made sure it was Kristen Stewart's year but this year's five nominees aren't associated with a particular franchise so its much harder to pick. The only American of the five is Emma Stone who I loved in Easy A but I don't think enough Brits are familiar with her to vote for her. Gemma Arterton had a great year combining roles in pitiful Hollywood fare like Clash of the Titans with roles in more interesting British films like Tamara Drewe and The Disappearance of Alice Creed but again not enough people saw these films to vote for her. But people did go and see Kick Ass, Inception and The Social Network so for me its between Aaron Johnson, Tom Hardy and Garfield. I think in terms of phone votes it won't be Hardy even though he stole most of the scenes in Inception again he hasn't done enough to warrant people voting for him. It might be Johnson thanks to the comic book geeks love of Kick Ass but my money owuld be on Garfield simply because loads of geeks love The Social Network and he's also got Never Let Me Go out at the cinemas at the moment. I think Garfield is a tremendous talent and has shown this on T.V. for several years now and with him playing the new Spiderman I do think that his star has sufficiently risen.

Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer - Gareth Edwards (Monsters)

Again a hard one for me to judge as this category does include some of my favourite films of the year. It would be quite cool for Banksy to win the award for his faux documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop just for the speech. Similarly its nice to see small British films like the gritty The Arbour and the brilliant Skeletons given recognition. But again for me its between two - Chris Morris could well get the award but its more likely that Four Lions will get British Film instead. But Gareth Edwards seems like the right choice for this award as he took a small budget and used to make a film that look like a blockbuster. Monsters was a subtle film part sci-fi part road movie with Edwards creating most of the effects on his computer and casting mainly non-actors to give Monsters a very real edge. Edwards is a hell of a talent and I think that's why this award should go to him.

But then again what do I know The King's Speech could win everything and Toy Story could be Social Network for the Adapted Screenplay award but I'm just going with my instincts combined with my personal feelings of the films that dominated what I consider to be a very good year for films in general.