best animated feature - 'Despicable Me'

- and i would also like to add that even though the CGI award is going to 'TRON', i think a special mention should be given to whomever it was that put the medusa battle together in 'Clash of the Titans'... that was friggin' brilliant as well.

Did you see Black Swan, sighsnootles?  I love Natalie Portman and would love to see her win.

I haven't seen Tron either, but can't imagine it being cooler than Inception.  My favourite is Joseph Gordon Leavitt's fight scene in the hotel.  Wowza!

My somewhat less serious Oscar predictions:

- someone will win unexpectedly and people will spend the rest of their career questioning why they won

- someone will say something stupid from the stage and spend the rest of this year living it down

- someone will win (or at least be nominated) for their "body of work" even if the role they are nominated for is in an otherwise forgettable movie

- I won't stay up for the whole thing or even watch much of it. It's easier on my sanity to just read the summaries on the 'Net the next morning. If anything interesting actually happens on screen, it'll show up as a clip on Youtube or the news sites

No, I'm not a big fan of the Oscars. Why do you ask?

Mendalla

i'm with you, mendella... i never watch them live, either.  its just too easy to watch the highlight reel on the news channels the next day!!

Here is my prediction:

A bunch of movies I have not (and mostly will never) seen will win awards and an excessive obscene amount of money will be spent celebrating it.

And in the end it won't matter.   Not. AT. All

well, gord, you SHOULD see 'Despicable Me'.  thats a great movie!!

'Inception" was pretty cool, too.  and 'Clash of the Titans'??  THAT was a fun movie to see!!

but otherwise, i'm with you...  crap, the money spent on some of those after parties ALONE could feed a small third world nation for a year.

i haven't seen it, but i definetly want to at some point... i think natalie portman is going to be one of those actresses whom i quite admire, both for her film choices and her offscreen humanitarian work.  she has some major brains, thats for sure.

Agreed 100%. Fantastic movie. Should win.

"It's so fluffy I'm gonna die"

"IT'S SO FLUFFY!!!!"

now i'm starting to waver on my 'best picture' decision...

many of my friends and family have been telling me how much they enjoyed 'the social network'...

anyone else seen this one??  i have not, but i'm curious as to what anyone else thinks...

I haven't seen either; however, The King's Speech would be nominated by me for best picture.

A friend who saw Black Swan and The King's Speech said -- The King's Speech -- best picture, so, lol, on a sample of 1 ...The King's Speech would take it.

I haven't seen either; however, The King's Speech would be nominated by me for best picture.

A friend who saw Black Swan and The King's Speech said -- The King's Speech -- best picture, so, lol, on a sample of 1 ...The King's Speech would take it.

I went to see that with some friends and loved it! So funny!

To be honest, I expected a lot more of Despicable Me.  I thought it was good and had some funny and heartwarming parts... but overall I was not as engaged as I had hoped to be.

Best Movie: The Social Network

Best Actor: Colin Firth, The King's Speech

Best Actress: Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone

Best Supporting Actor: Geoffrey Rush, The King's Speech

Best Supporting Actress: Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit

Best Animated Feature: Megamind

One more prediction: I get bored about half-way through and turn on an old rerun of Hell's Kitchen.

I like morning's list but  would suggest for best picture either true grit or winters bone because they are more demanding and tough minded -  social network is tougher than kings speech which was excellent but too much a feel good movie - the acting was what made it.  The two I suggest stay with me as reflections on basic theological issues of how both bad and good are mixed - no hero who is only good.

By the way my reflection on true grit is on JesusbuddhismandJazz web site - try that site out.

Best Animated Feature. For me it would be a tie actually between Dispicable Me and How to Train Your Dragon, which was an awesome move as well.

Pan, I would concur regarding Winter's Bone being a better candidate for best picture than The King's Speech.   I hadn't thought about it in the way you present, but yes...having done so, i would concur

For acting, best actress to Jennifer Lawrence for Winter's Bone.

i am so ticked off that 'despicable me' was not nominated for best animated picture...

i'm going to skip the awards ceremony in protest.

which is no big deal, seeing as how i usually never watch them anyways....

WHAT?!?!?

 Of the nominees for Best Picture I've seen The Social Network, 127 Hours, Black Swan and The King's Speech. 

Of those, "Black Swan" is far and away the best movie in my opinion, and Natalie Portman has to be Best Actress. Aronofsky also gets best director. Fantastic development of the movie that never misses a beat from beginning to end.

Colin Firth would be a worthy choice for Best Actor, although my dark horse would be James Franco in 127 Hours. It's not the type of movie that would appeal to everyone, but Franco basically puts on a one-man performance for most of the movie and is very good. In that sense it's more demanding than what Firth had to do.

But that's only based on having seen 4 of the movies. I plan to watch a few more later today after a wedding, because my daughter's at a sleepover so I have the time. See if any of the others I watch change my mind.

 Let me know what you think of Winter's Bones.

It didn't have a huge budget,...I liked the various aspects of human relationships that were touched....

Just watched it. In all honesty, I didn't really care for it. It didn't change my mind that Black Swan and Natalie Portman should get those respective Oscars. Hoping to catch True Grit at the theatre in Niagara Falls tonight.

 wow, really -- you didn't like it? hmmm... I thought it did a great job of showing a groups norms...and how you need to be part of it to know how to move appropriately. It spoke to the power of those who are supposed to not have power (the men in charge, the women relationship/control), the power of drugs in lands where there seems to be no hope, family...  

Hey it's all subjective, Pinga. Just didn't hit home with me for some reason. On the other hand, I wasn't expecting to like Black Swan (which I saw earlier) and I got blown away by it, so maybe it was unfair to watch the two of them on the same day! Perhaps Winter's Bone just suffers by comparison.

 winter's bone has such a low budget, that anything around it will make it look hokey....it is the underlying movie that got me....i wouldn't have wanted to watch it and king's speech on same day for same reason.

winters bone - 2million

 black swan - 13 million

king's speech - 15million

true grit - 38 million

pinga makes a good point about the cost - we saw frozen river and winters bone on the same day and because they were low budget - it showed.   We liked both and recomend both - both tough minded movies -  have not yet seen black swan but have seen all the rest - any of these movies deserve best picture - and the king for acting that transcends the genre.

 frozen river was another good movie...great discussion one, in fact...but...i don't think it had the quality of winter's bone.

Really enjoyed True Grit. Thus far, Black Swan's still my choice for Best Picture. But having seen True Grit, I think 14 year old Hailee Steinfeld should win Best Supporting Actress hands down but I don't understand why she's not nominated for Lead Actress - since she's the ONLY actress of any significance in True Grit and it's a pretty substantial part with probably more screen time than Jeff Bridges who gets nominated for Lead Actor! Go figure!

Pinga you are correct - not enough money to make it.

 Posted this as a note on Facebook in preparation for tonight. Thought I'd share it here and bump this thread up.

My thoughts about tonight's award ceremonies.

So, a conversation after church today has compelled me to put in writing my thoughts about tonight's Academy Awards. This is really the first year I've seen almost all of the films nominated in the major categories, so I feel I actually have something to contribute to the discussion! So, here are my thoughts and predictions:

Best Picture: I loved Black Swan. I think it's hands down the best of the nominated movies. In my opinion it has no close competition. I fear, though, that for some inexplicable reason, the fix is in for The King's Speech, which I think is highly over-rated. It was a good movie, but not great. It wouldn't even be my second choice for Best Picture. I'd rate True Grit and 127 Hours ahead of it and I found The Social Network to be more enjoyable. I haven't seen Toy Story 3 but doubt that an animated film will win Best Picture. The "what?" moment here for me is Winter's Bone. It was a thoroughly unpleasant movie with unpleasant characters and a dull story. Some have said it should be judged differently because it was low budget. Sorry. That's like saying the Yankees need 95 wins to take the AL East but the Blue Jays only need 85 because they have a lower payroll. Winter's Bone doesn't belong - and why 10 nominees now? Stick with 5. Stick with quality. And in that top 5 should be Animal Kingdom, which was a very good movie, better than at least half of those that did get nominated.

Best Director: Again I'd go with Black Swan's Darren Aronofsky who built the movie beautifully and kept me interested (and with a growing interest) all the way through. I thought Danny Boyle did a great job directing 127 Hours and I'm a bit surprised that he didn't get a nomination.

Best Actor: Hmmm. This one's close. I'd give it to James Franco for 127 Hours. That was not an easy role. For a significant part of the movie he was a one-man show and he kept me watching even though there didn't seem to be a lot that could be done. Here, though, I wouldn't be disappointed to see Colin Firth win for The King's Speech. He did a good job of drawing me into the King's emotional angst over his speech impediment. I haven't seen Biutiful so can't comment on Javier Bardem.

Best Supporting Actor. To me this is a tough to call 2-way race between Geoffrey Rush for The King's Speech and Mark Ruffalo for The Kids Are All Right. Both pull off the tough job of being clearly in a supporting role but also seeming to be absolutely central to the story. Slight edge to Rush perhaps, but I loved Ruffalo's work.

Best Actress. Given the nominees this is a hands down no contest win for Natalie Portman from Black Swan. I liked both Nicole Kidman in Rabbit Hole and Michelle Williams in Blue Valentine, though. Williams did a great job playing the same character at two different points of her life, and Kidman captured the emotional essence of her character well. Both are great runners up, but neither hold a candle to Portman. 

Best Supporting Actress. Here is the puzzle and problem of the 83rd Academy Awards, because the way this is nominated affects several other categories. How can you not give an Oscar to Hailee Steinfeld? She carried True Grit on her shoulders from beginning to end. Her relatively high profile male co-stars were totally and completely overshadowed by her; her character was the lynchpin of the movie and she got more screentime than anyone else - including Jeff Bridges. So why is she nominated for Supporting Actress? She should be nominated for Best Lead Actress, and she'd give Natalie Portman a run for her money and maybe even beat her out. But she's nominated here. She has to win. She was brilliant. But if the nominations were done properly, I'd give this award to Amy Adams for The Fighter. I wouldn't have thought of her in this role. She's generally played the cute & sweet type - as in Enchanted or Julie & Julia. She blows that stereotype out the window with a wonderful performance here, establishing her as a more capable and versatile actress than I imagined her to be, but she gets stuck going up against Steinfeld, who has to win something! Jackie Weaver from Animal Kingdom is also a worthy nominee. I wonder why Helena Bonham Carter was nominated. She didn't blow me away as Elizabeth Bowles-Lyon. I guess she was nominated because she was in The King's Speech, and it seems to be the movie of choice this year. And I wonder why Mila Kunis wasn't nominated in this category for Black Swan. And - frankly - I think (given that Hailee Steinfeld was the lead in True Grit) Jeff Bridges should have been nominated (and could possibly have won if he had been nominated) for Supporting Actor for True Grit. So Steinfeld's nomination - while deserving - is problematic in a number of ways.

So, those are the main ones. Other thoughts.

Undoubtedly Toy Story 3 will win for Best Animated Feature. I haven't seen the nominated movies in this category, but I'm very surprised that Despicable Me (which I have seen) wasn't nominated. I thought it was a very good movie - which means I should at some point watch these other nominees.

Best Cinematography? I don't even know what cinematography is to be honest. I know someone who watched Winter's Bone and said of it "the cinematography was great." Translation: "What a lousy movie but I have to say something good about it because it's inexplicably nominated for Best Picture!"

Now, I confess - I'm something of an afficionado of werewolf movies, and so I anxiously awaited the remake of The Wolfman. Enjoyed it, but thought it nothing special. But because it's a werewolf movie I hope it wins for its one and only nomination - Best Makeup - and let's face it, if you can turn Anthony Hopkins into a menacing werewolf, you've accomplished something!

Now, I know this isn't the Razzie Awards, but - based on what I've seen - if I were giving the award for the worst movie of 2010 it would go hands down to The Switch. First, because it stars Jennifer Aniston who couldn't carry a movie as the star if her life depended on it, and second because you really have to be wincing in pain and sheer distaste about a movie whose plot revolves around a guy who replaces a hand-picked donor's sperm with his own and fathers a child as a result. Plus, you know there's a problem when the most memorable scene in a supposed comedy is watching a kid get deloused. Ouch.

i'm with you pretty much all the way... i would LOVE to see colin firth win.  one of my friends had an interesting comment about him after seeing that movie.  she commented that colin firth was ALWAYS going to be mr. darcy from 'pride and prejudice'.  until she saw him in 'the kings speech'.  now THAT is some good acting!!

i too was very disappointed that 'despicable me' didn't get a nod.  just the idea of the movie, where you are really rooting for the bad guy?  great. 

ah well. 

 really? that was your interpretation of winter's bone.  wow.  so different from mine.  A very interesting and powerful movie in my opinion about relationship and a culture unknown to most of us...

 Diversity is what makes life fun, Pinga. Life would be so boring if we all agreed on everything. Dreadful movie, that Winter's Bone.

lol -- and a good friend of mine despised the Black Swan. 

** Pinga spits on the ground.....ya wanna make something of it?

well, i got two right.

Winter bone was a powerful movie - have not yet seen black swan.

i haven't either... although i did watch all six star wars movies yesterday, so i definetly got a good hit of natalie portman!!