Pre-Oscar Nom Blog

Good evening neglected faithful readers. It has been a long, long time since I have written. It's been about a year or so since I started this blog, mainly because I watched the film Julie & Julia (due to Meryl Streep's Oscar nom) and became inspired to start a blog, originally about the Oscars. We are a few weeks away from the nominations being announced, and just over a month away from the ceremony.

A change to the awards show new to last year was the expansion of the Best Picture category. Historically only five films were nominated, the field was increased to ten pictures. As fas as I know the logic behind the move was to have more films nominated that were seen by wider audiences, attempting to increase viewers. A nice idea, but I felt that it was quite obvious which films of last years ten nominees would have been in the category had it only been five, and which would not have.

Moving on, I've been doing an alright job of being proactive in my movie going of films that will likely be nominated. A nice precursor of potential nominees to come are the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild awards. Nominees for these awards are likely to be mirrored by the Oscars with some variation. The goal every year is to see every film nominated for Best Picture, and each individual acting category. I always cross my fingers for double dipping opportunities like seeing Up in the Air for the Best Picture nod, as well as nods for acting for George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, and Anna Kendrick.

So the films that have been crossed off the list of likely nominees are:
The Social Network
Black Swan
The King's Speech
True Grit
The Fighter
Inception
Winter's Bone
Toy Story 3

These are speculative picks of course, but most are based off other nominations. The King's Speech might get my highest recommendation, along with the Social Network. Both are films about topics that wouldn't necessarily be overly interesting, but due to the writing and directing are movies that clip along and are extremely entertaining despite not having stereotypical climactic events.

Black Swan is the newest film from Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler, The Fountain) which on the surface is a movie about the ballet but is really a psychological thriller that was sincerely thrilling.

The Fighters plot line is far from fresh. Underdog boxing stories have been done to death, but this film focuses more on the the fighters that are outside of the ring. Christian Bale should walk away with a statue for his performance, which you'd think was over done until you see the actual footage during the credits of the man he is portraying.

Inception. Leo. Christopher Nolan. The smartest box office hit in a while. One that just about everyone loved to death. Will be nominated but will not win.

Toy Story 3 is the clear favorite for Best Animated Feature, and will pop into the ten Best Picture nominees, but did face some tough competition this year from Despicable Me and How to Train Your Dragon. No chance Toy Story 3 takes home Best Pic, but Pixar will continue it's dynasty at the Oscars.

Winter's Bone is a slow, gritty drama that isn't for everyone. Powerful performances and character driven, won't get much attention from most film goers but will snag some nominations.

True Grit, all you need to say is Jeff Bridges and the Coen brothers. The best western I've seen in years and easily one of the Coen brothers best. It was fun seeing Matt Damon with a handle bar mustache as a perky Texas Ranger.

It's too early to predict having not seen everything I'd like to, and with the nominations not being out yet, but I'm going to take a stab at who I think will win.

Best Picture - The Social Network
Best Actor - Colin Firth in The King's Speech
Best Actress - Natalie Portman in Black Swan
Best Supporting Actor - Christian Bale in The Fighter
Best Supporting Actress - Amy Adams in The Fighter

I would be okay with Geoffrey Rush winning Best Supporting Actor, he was fantastic in the King's Speech. Melissa Leo was also great in the Fighter, she could win and I would be okay with it.

So I'm about to watch The Kids Are All Right, Annete Bening and Julianne Moore are getting buzz for this movie, so perhaps an update will come later on. Until then, buh-bye.