Oscar Round-Up: The King’s Speech Dominates

Last night’s Oscars weren’t full of a lot of surprises, especially at the top, where The King’s Speech took home the awards for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actor for Colin Firth and, in a slight surprise, Best Director for Tom Hooper, who beat out David Fincher for the Social Network. Speaking of the Facebook movie, the early Oscar frontrunner only ended up with two statues, one for Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for Best Original Score and the other for Aaron Sorkin for Best Adapted Screenplay. Also unsurprisingly, Natalie Portman won Best Actress for Black Swan, and Melissa Leo and Christian Bale won the supporting categories, both for The Fighter. See the complete list below:

BEST PICTURE:
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King’s Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone

DIRECTING:
Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
David O. Russell, The Fighter
Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech
David Fincher, The Social Network
Joel and Ethan Coen, True Grit

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE:
Javier Bardem, Biutiful
Jeff Bridges, True Grit
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
James Franco, 127 Hours

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE:
Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:
Christian Bale, The Fighter
John Hawks, Winter’s Bone
Jeremy Renner, The Town
Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech
Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:
Amy Adams, The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter, The King’s Speech
Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit
Jackie Weaver, Animal Kingdom

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
127 Hours (Fox Searchlight), Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing), Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
Toy Story 3 (Walt Disney), Screenplay by Michael Arndt. Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
True Grit (Paramount), Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Winter’s Bone (Roadside Attractions), Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
Another Year (Sony Pictures Classics), Written by Mike Leigh
The Fighter (Paramount), Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson. Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
Inception (Warner Bros.), Written by Christopher Nolan
The Kids Are All Right (Focus Features), Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
The King’s Speech (The Weinstein Company), Screenplay by David Seidler

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
Biutiful
Dogtooth
In a Better World
Incendies
Outside the Law

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM:
How to Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
Toy Story 3

CINEMATOGRAPHY:
Black Swan (Fox Searchlight) Matthew Libatique
Inception (Warner Bros.) Wally Pfister
The King’s Speech (The Weinstein Company) Danny Cohen
The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing) Jeff Cronenweth
True Grit (Paramount) Roger Deakins

FILM EDITING:
Black Swan (Fox Searchlight) Andrew Weisblum
The Fighter Paramount Pamela Martin
The King’s Speech (The Weinstein Company) Tariq Anwar
127 Hours (Fox Searchlight) Jon Harris
The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing) Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter

DOCUMENTARY:
Exit through the Gift Shop (Producers Distribution Agency) Banksy and Jaimie D’Cruz A Paranoid Pictures Production
Gasland Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic A Gasland Production
Inside Job (Sony Pictures Classics) Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
Restrepo (National Geographic Entertainment) Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger An Outpost Films Production
Waste Land Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley (Arthouse Films) An Almega Projects Production

DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
Killing in the Name (dir: Jed Rothstein)
Poster Girl (dir: Sara Nesson)
Strangers No More (dir: Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon)
Sun Come Up (dor: Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger)
The Warriors of Qiugang (dir: Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon)

ORIGINAL SCORE:
How to Train Your Dragon (Paramount) John Powell
Inception (Warner Bros.) Hans Zimmer
The King’s Speech (The Weinstein Company) Alexandre Desplat
127 Hours (Fox Searchlight) A.R. Rahman
The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing) Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

ORIGINAL SONG:
Coming Home from Country Strong (Sony Pictures Releasing (Screen Gems)) Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
I See the Light from Tangled (Walt Disney) Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
If I Rise from 127 Hours (Fox Searchlight) Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
We Belong Together from Toy Story 3 (Walt Disney) Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

VISUAL EFFECTS:
Alice in Wonderland (Walt Disney) Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (Warner Bros.) Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
Hereafter (Warner Bros.) Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell
Inception (Warner Bros.) Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
Iron Man 2 (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment, Distributed by Paramount) Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick

ART DIRECTION:
Alice in Wonderland (Walt Disney), Robert Stromberg (Production Design), Karen O’Hara (Set Decoration)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (Warner Bros.), Stuart Craig (Production Design), Stephenie McMillan (Set Decoration)
Inception (Warner Bros.), Guy Hendrix Dyas (Production Design), Larry Dias and Doug Mowat (Set Decoration)/span>
The King’s Speech (Paramount), Eve Stewart (Production Design), Judy Farr (Set Decoration)
True Grit (Paramount), Jess Gonchor (Production Design), Nancy Haigh (Set Decoration)

COSTUME DESIGN:
Alice in Wonderland (Walt Disney) Colleen Atwood
I Am Love (Magnolia Pictures) Antonella Cannarozzi
The King’s Speech (The Weinstein Company) Jenny Beavan
The Tempest (Miramax) Sandy Powell
True Grit (Paramount) Mary Zophres

MAKEUP
Barney’s Version, Adrien Morot
The Way Back, Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
The Wolfman, Rick Baker and Dave Elsey

SHORT FILM, ANIMATED
Day & Night (dir: Teddy Newton)
The Gruffalo (dir: Jakob Schuh and Max Lang)
Let’s Pollute (dir: Geefwee Boedoe)
The Lost Thing (dir: Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann)
Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)

SHORT FILM, LIVE ACTION
The Confession (dir: Tanel Toom)
The Crush (dir: Michael Creagh)
God of Love (dir: Luke Matheny)
Na Wewe (dir: Ivan Goldschmidt)
Wish 143 (dir: Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite)

SOUND EDITING
Inception, Richard King
Toy Story 3, Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
Tron: Legacy, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
True Grit, Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
Unstoppable, Mark P. Stoeckinger

SOUND MIXING
Inception, Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick
The King’s Speech, Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley
Salt, Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin
The Social Network, Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
True Grit, Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland

 

Academy Award Nominations Announced

After all the speculation, we finally have our nominees! The King’s Speech lead the nominations with twelve, with The Social Network also doing pretty darn good. The nominations are below, along with our suggestions of who was snubbed in the major categories. We’ll have some more insightful predictions to share before the February 27 ceremony.

Best Picture
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King’s Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone

Who Was Snubbed: Blue Valentine. One of the most heartwrenchingly good films I saw all year, the movie was repeatedly snubbed in all the earlier award shows and ceremonies, so it’s lack of nom

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

Who Was Snubbed: Ryan Gosling, Blue Valentine. It was good to see his co-star get a nomination for Best Actress, but Gosling delivered the best performance of his career this year. The question though, of course, is who would you swap out in a tight category.

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

Who Was Snubbed: Julianne Moore, The Kids Are All Right. Annette Bening won the Globe, and there were of course limited slots, but Moore added so much humor and warmth to the film, and is the only glaring omission in this category.

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

Who Was Snubbed: Andrew Garfield, The Social Network. It was a breakout year for Garfield, but apparently the Academy isn’t ready to extend an invitation to their club just yet. This is another packed category though, so it’s not a huge stretch to see why he was left out.

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

Who Was Snubbed: Leslie Manville, Another Year. You want to see one of the best simultaneously funny and heartbreaking performances of the year, check out Ms. Manville’s. Easily my favorite not to be nominated.

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

Who Was Snubbed: Derek Cianfrance, Blue Valentine. The first time director was going to get snubbed no matter what, but his film is among the most overlooked of the year.

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

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

Best Foreign Film
Biutiful (Mexico)
Dogtooth (Greece)
Hors la Loi (Outside the Law) (Algeria)
Incendies (Canada)
In a Better World (Denmark)

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

Documentary (Feature)
Exit through the Gift Shop
Gasland
Inside Job
Restrepo
Waste Land

Documentary (Short Subject)
Killing in the Name
Poster Girl
Strangers No More
Sun Come Up
The Warriors of Qiugang

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

Sound Editing
Inception
Toy Story 3
Tron: Legacy
True Grit
Unstoppable

Art Direction
Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Inception
The King’s Speech
True Grit

Costume Design
Alice in Wonderland
I Am Love
The King’s Speech
The Tempest
True Grit

Film Editing
Black Swan
The Fighter
The King’s Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network

Makeup
Barney’s Version
The Way Back
The Wolfman

Music (Original Score)
How to Train Your Dragon
Inception
The King’s Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network

Music (Original Song)
“Coming Home” from Country Strong
“I See the Light” from Tangled
“If I Rise” from 127 Hours
“We Belong Together” from Toy Story 3

Short Film (Animated)
Day & Night
The Gruffalo
Let’s Pollute
The Lost Thing
Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)

Short Film (Live Action)
The Confession
The Crush
God of Love
Na Wewe
Wish 143d

Golden Globe Nominations Announced

It’s that magic time of year again where the Golden Globe nominations come out and get us excited for the Oscar race, and remind us of all that good TV we’ve been watching. The big guns movie wise got a plethora of nods in the categories that mattered, though True Grit was shut out, perhaps because no one has seen it yet, though it hasn’t stopped some other awards. Thanks to the odd Musical or Comedy category at the Globes, we get a nomination for The Tourist, the “thriller” that got nearly universal critical scorn which made nothing at the box office. Boy, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association sure are tastemakers! The TV nominations are also fairly predictable, but the results should be interesting. Ricky Gervais will host the ceremony January 16. The nominations:

Best Picture, Drama
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The King’s Speech
The Social Network

Best Director
Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
David Fincher, The Social Network
Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech
Christopher Nolan, Inception
David O. Russell, The Fighter

Best Actress, Drama
Halle Berry, Frankie & Alice
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

Best Actor, Drama
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
James Franco, 127 Hours
Ryan Gosling, Blue Valentine
Mark Wahlberg, The Fighter

Best Musical Or Comedy
Alice In Wonderland
Burlesque
The Kids Are All Right
Red
The Tourist

Best Actress, Musical Or Comedy
Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Anne Hathaway, Love & Other Drugs
Angelina Jolie, The Tourist
Julianne Moore, The Kids Are All Right
Emma Stone, Easy A

Best Actor, Musical Or Comedy
Johnny Depp, Alice In Wonderland
Johnny Depp, The Tourist
Paul Giamatti, Barney’s Version
Jake Gyllenhaal, Love & Other Drugs
Kevin Spacey, Casino Jack

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter, The King’s Speech
Mila Kunis, Black Swan
Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom

Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale, The Fighter
Michael Douglas, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
Andrew Garfield, The Social Network
Jeremy Renner, The Town
Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech

Best Screenplay
Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
Christopher Nolan, Inception
Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg, The Kids Are All Right
David Seidler, The King’s Speech
Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy, 127 Hours

Best Original Song
“You Haven’t Seen The Last of Me,” Burlesque
“Bound To You,” Burlesque
“Coming Home”, Country Strong
“I See The Light,” Tangled
“There’s A Place For Us,” Voyage Of The Dawn Treader

Best Animated Film
Tangled
Toy Story 3
How To Train Your Dragon
Despicable Me
The Illusionist

Best Foreign-Language Film
I Am Love
Biutiful
The Concert
The Edge
In A Better World

Best TV Drama
Boardwalk Empire
Dexter
The Good Wife
Mad Men
The Walking Dead

Best Actress, TV Drama
Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife
Piper Perabo, Covert Affairs
Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men
Katey Sagal, Sons Of Anarchy
Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer

Best Actor, TV Drama
Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Michael C. Hall, Dexter
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Hugh Laurie, House

Best TV Comedy
30 Rock
The Big Bang Theory
The Big C
Glee
Modern Family
Nurse Jackie

Best Actress, TV Comedy
Toni Collette, The United States Of Tara
Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Laura Linney, The Big C
Lea Michele, Glee

Best Actor, TV Comedy
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Steve Carell, The Office
Thomas Jane, Hung
Matthew Morrison, Glee
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory

Best Supporting Actress, TV
Hope Davis, The Special Relationship
Jane Lynch, Glee
Kelly Macdonald, Boardwalk Empire
Julia Stiles, Dexter
Sofia Vergara, Modern Family

Best Supporting Actor, TV
Scott Caan, Hawaii 5-0
Chris Colfer, Glee
Chris Noth, The Good Wife
Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family
David Strathairn, Temple Grandin

Best TV Miniseries
Carlos
The Pacific
Temple Grandin
You Don’t Know Jack
Pillars Of The Earth

TUiW Goes to the Savannah Film Festival, Day 5

The Illusionist

The Illusionist

Fans of animation must do anything in their power to go see The Illusionist, the gorgeous French film from the studio that made the Oscar nominated Triplets of Belville. Should Toy Story 3 get nominated for Best Picture, I’d hope The Illusionist would take home a statue. The animation is tremendous, with much care and craft going into a film that reminds us that you don’t need computer animation or 3D to make something great. The story of a magician seeing the prestige of his profession starting to decline and the girl that he takes under his wing, The Illusionist is funny, touching, and dark, a perfect trio that come together to create a film you won’t soon forget.

Monogamy

Despite a solid and charming performance from Rashida Jones, Monogamy was a dull, poorly paced film. Clearly aiming to be a quirky indie, Monogamy moves at times at a glacial pace and features disorganized structure throughout. Just describing the plot is hard to do, but at its most basic, its about a photographer who begins to question his relationship when he secretly photographs a woman who engages in public displays of sexuality. Maybe its an interesting idea, but for the most part, the film doesn’t really know what its getting at and leaves too many threads hanging by the end.

The Conspirator

For weeks, we had been guessing what the secret Director’s Choice film would be, but in the end it seemed like Robert Redford’s newest film, The Conspirator, would be the pick, given that it was shot in Savannah. Telling the story of Mary Surratt, charged for conspiring in the Lincoln Assassination and sentenced to death. It’s a fascinating story that ends up being presented dully. Robin Wright, as the titular character, does a good job playing the innocent victim, and Tom Wilkinson is terrific as well, but flat performances from star James McAvoy and supporting cast Evan Rachel Wood and Alexis Bledel take you out of the story. The film looks very nice, and it was exciting to see Savannah pose as Washington D.C., but ultimately The Conspirator is just too dull of a film to generate any Oscar buzz.