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.
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