Oscar Picks 2011!

Hello Movie Folks!


Crazy Movie Guy A-GoGo has all your Oscar picks for 2011 along with the reasoning behind them.  Please note, I'm limiting this to just a few categories.  Anyway, here are the picks:


Best Documentary: Exit Through The Gift Shop
Banksy's documentary challenges what a documentary should be, all the while making it extremely interesting and innovative. 


Best Foreign Film: Biutiful
This is probably the one with the best name recognition and considering the academy has gone with more obscure foreign films in the past few years, I expect they'll go with the film with a known director and actor.


Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 3
Not surprising, and Pixar continues its dominance.


Best Adapted Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin- The Social Network
Once again, not surprising.  Sorkin's Script has won major awards in the pre-oscar race, and don't be surprised if he takes home the statue again tonight.


Best Original Screenplay: Christopher Nolan- Inception
This is a consolation prize for Nolan, considering that Nolan wasn't nominated for Best Director.  This way the Academy can give him a prize without giving him Best Director.


Best Supporting Actress: Hailee Stenfield- True Grit
The big shocker of the night comes in this category.  Steinfeld and the film have been gaining steam, so if she comes home with the Oscar I wouldn't be surprised.


Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale- The Fighter
This category is wide open with no clear front runner, although Geoffrey Rush may be a strong contender, he has already won the Oscar in the past; although John Hawkes has been gathering steam for his performance, I feel that he is too much of an unknown to win.  Expect Bale to take home the Oscar for his performance as Irish Mickey Ward's drug addicted brother. 


Best Actress: Annette Bening- The Kids Are All Right
Although Portman deserves and should win for "Black Swan", Bening is the sentimental favorite to win.  Plus she has alot of clout considering she is married to Mr. Warren Beatty.


Best Actor: Colin Firth- The King's Speech
Really no surprises.  Firth is going to win Best Actor.  End of story.


Best Director: David Fincher- The Social Network
This is not surprising either, Fincher has won the major pre-oscar awards and will probably win again.


Best Picture: The King's Speech
Although "The Social Network" may take it, The King's Speech is more of an Oscar Choice, and a damn good movie.  That is all for the picks!

Oscar Nominee Picks for 2011!

Hello Folks,

Sorry I haven't been keeping up with the blog posts as much as I would like to.  Basically when you're trying to find a job, apply to Grad School, work at an internship, and have no internet access, its gets tough to keep a blog.  However, since the Oscars are down the road, I thought I would do the service of who I think will be nominated for the award ceremony and who I would like to see nominated, although some of these are mere pipe dreams.  Please note I didn't use every single category or have seen every single film.  These predictions are based on the films and performances I have seen and from what I've read and heard.  Also, this is just a Nominating prediction, not the actual winner prediction.

Best Supporting Actress:
Mila Kunis- Black Swan
Helena Bonham Carter- The King's Speech
Melissa Leo- The Fighter
Julianne Moore- The Kids are All Right
Hailee Steinfeld- True Grit

All of these choices make sense; considering the buzz each of these performances are getting.  Steinfeld is probably the dark horse to get nominated, but her performance has earned great reviews, and the Academy loves nominating kids (i.e. Tatum O'Neil, Saiorise Ronan, etc.)

Best Supporting Actor:
Christian Bale- The Fighter
Andrew Garfield- The Social Network
Geoffrey Rush- The King's Speech
Mark Ruffalo- The Kids Are All Right
Vincent Cassell- Black Swan

This is where it gets interesting.  The academy loves guys who are villains, so don't be surprised if Cassell gets nominated for Black Swan, considering his dark and creepy turn as the director of the Ballet Company.

Best Actress:
Natalie Portman- Black Swan
Annentte Benning- The Kids Are All Right
Anne Hathaway- Love and Other Drugs
Jennifer Lawrence- Winter's Bone
Michelle Williams- Blue Valentine

Is it any coincidence that Hathaway gets nominated the same year she is co-hosting the Oscars with James Franco?  The answer: I don't think so!  The Academy to tune in, so getting a young "dynamic" (aka sexy) host and having that host get nominated for an Oscar, makes this drama in and of itself.  Plus it will probably equal better ratings for the telecast.

Best Actor:
Colin Firth- The King's Speech
Jeff Bridges- True Grit
Jesse Eisenburg- The Social Network
Edgar Ramirez- Carlos (dark horse)
James Franco- 127 Hours

Now this will be interesting.  Although I don't think Edgar Ramirez has a snowball's chance in hell of getting nominated (which is a damn shame), his role as Carlos the Jackal was by far the best performance I have seen all year.  Talk about a guy who had to do everything for the role (changing physical appearance, speaking in five different languages, being in every scene) Ramirez did it all and more.  Anyway, since the whole status of Carlos is weird (it was a french mini-series that was released at the Cannes Film Festival and later released theatrically in the US along with it being aired on American TV), I think Ramirez will unfortunately be locked out.  Expect Mark Wahlberg from "The Fighter" to take Ramirez' place or Javier Bardem for "Biutiful."  Plus Franco hosting the Oscars + being nominated= Higher Ratings.

Best Director:
Christopher Nolan- Inception
David Fincher- The Social Network
David O. Russell- The Fighter
The Coen Brothers- True Grit
Oliver Assayas- Carlos

This is once again wishful thinking on my part, but I would love to see Assayas be recognized for his excellent work on "Carlos."  See the above posting on why I don't think he will be nominated, but Assayas deserves at least some recognition for making a film that has 7 different languages and is set in nearly a dozen countries, spanning three continents.  Anyway, substitute Assayas for Danny Boyle (127 Hours) or Tom  Hooper (The King's Speech) and you got your nominations.

Best Picture:
Toy Story 3
The King's Speech
The Fighter
Inception
The Social Network
True Grit
The Town
Black Swan
The Kids Are All Right
127 Hours

Really, these nominations aren't at all that surprising.  Almost everyone has known that these ten films will be nominated.  Also, I really wish that the Academy would do away with the ten nominees, it makes the selection crowded and also includes mediocre movies that should not be included.  Anyway that is the Oscar nomination list.  Come back in a few weeks to see how my picks stacked up to the actual nominations.