Tagged: Hailee Steinfeld

Oscar Predictions and Thoughts for 2011

So as everyone among the film community know, it is Oscar time babyyyyy!!! So that means get ready for some of the biggest upsets, wins, and probably tearful moments of the year. It was a great year in the film, and this is what has all come down to it people. The big night, and here are my predictions, I hope I do well.

Best Animated Feature: Will Win: Toy Story 3 Should Win: Toy Story 3 Wild Card: How To Train Your Dragon

Best Documentary Feature: Will Win: Restrepo Should Win: Restrepo Wild Card: Exit Through The Gift Shop

Best Foreign Language Film: Will Win: In a Better World Should Win: Dogtooth Wild Card: Biutiful

Best Documentary Short, Best Live Action Short, Best Animated Short: Will Win: Can’t say I care too much

Best Editing: Will Win: The Social Network Should Win: The Social Network Wild Card: Black Swan

Best Cinematography: Will Win: True Grit Should Win: Inception Wild Card: The King’s Speech

Best Visual Effects: Will Win: Inception Should Win: Inception Wild Card: Alice in Wonderland

Best Sound Editing: Will Win: Inception Should Win: Inception Wild Card: Unstoppable

Best Sound Mixing: Will Win: Inception Should Win: Inception Wild Card: The Social Network

Best Art Direction: Will Win: Alice in Wonderland Should Win: Inception Wild Card: The King’s Speech

Best Costume Design: Will Win: Alice in Wonderland Should Win: Alice in Wonderland Wild Card: True Grit

Best Makeup: Will Win: The Wolfman Should Win: The Way Back

Best Original Score: Will Win: The Social Network Should Win: The Social Network Wild Card: Inception

Best Original Song: Will Win: We Belong Together (Toy Story 3) Should Win: We Belong Together (Toy Story 3) Wild Card: I See The Light (Tangled)

Best Adapted Screenplay: Will Win: The Social Network Should Win: The Social Network Wild Card: 127 Hours

Best Original Screenplay: Will Win: The King’s Speech Should Win: Inception Wild Card: The Fighter

Best Supporting Actress: Will Win: Hailee Steinfeld Should Win: Melissa Leo Wild Card: Amy Adams

Best Supporting Actor: Will Win: Christian Bale Should Win: Christian Bale Wild Card: Geoffrey Rush

Best Actor: Will Win: Colin Firth Should Win: Jesse Eisenberg Wild Card: James Franco

Best Actress: Will Win: Natalie Portman Should Win: Natalie Portman Wild Card: Annette Bening

Best Director: Will Win: David Fincher Should Win: David Fincher Wild Card: Tom Hooper

Best Picture: Will Win: The King’s Speech Should Win: The Social Network Wild Card: Toy Story 3

I must say that this is a pretty solid year for the Oscar’s this year. All the nominees look just about right the only problem is how will the picks turn out? This year, everything seems like it’s coming down to Old School (The King’s Speech) vs. New School (The Social Network). The past couple of years The Academy (I hate that word) has been looking more towards hip, new films to win it’s Oscar Best Picture. Films such as Slumdog Millionaire, The Hurt Locker, and American Beauty have all been unconventional new films that have seen their taste of Best Picture gold. But there has also been countless period piece wins for films such as Gladiator, Shakespeare In Love, and The English Patient. Also, many other major award shows have already presented the Best Picture win to The King’s Speech which is really chasing up people’s noses, as many other award shows have been choosing The Social Network as theirs. In my opinion, I liked Inception more than both of them, and yeah it’s nominated, but in all honesty it has no chance of winning. When it comes down to it I think that The Social Network should win, because it is an age-defining film, that went from being known as “The Facebook Movie” to being known as the top contender for every Oscar it’s nominated for. I hope that The Academy goes for the new school, because if they had The King’s Speech win, everyone would feel robbed really.

As for Best Actor, I think that Firth deserves to win for all his years dedicate to films, but Eisenberg fully deserves it. I think what the Academy is doing more and more now, is honoring actors & actresses not for just a certain performance they had, but their careers and saying that it’s their time. I don’t mind seeing stars like Jeff Bridges, Kate Winslet, or Colin Firth win an Oscar, because of the career they have but I’d rather see the “best performance of the year award” go to the BEST PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR.

When it comes to the Best Actress category, it seems like Natalie Portman is the sole winner for here, as she has won almost every single Best Actress nomination at every award show. However, there is once again that little idea that it’s Annette Bening’s “time” to win, as she has been nominated twice, and still has not won yet even though her career has been going on for so long. I want Portman to win, and most likely she will, but I still have a feeling that The Academy may pull something out of their pockets and surprise us all with a Bening win.

I’m very disappointed that my main man Christopher Nolan was not nominated for Best Director this year. He was snubbed for The Dark Knight, and now he’s being snubbed again, and it just pisses me off knowing that certain directors that do such a good job with daring material, don’t get the credit they deserve. I think if Nolan was nominated, he should have won, but I know it’s The Oscars, and not everything works out the right way.

This year had great films, and I’m glad to see that the Oscars have turned out to be this way. I loved 2010 as a year, and the films made it awesome. Here’s to 2011, and let’s just hope that the Oscars are awesome.

Thanks everybody for always reading, and keep on checking!!

About these ads

True Grit (2010)

The Dude playing a sheriff. This is heaven.

Fourteen-year-old Mattie Ross’ (Hailee Steinfeld) father has been shot in cold blood by the coward Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin), and she is determined to bring him to justice. Enlisting the help of a trigger-happy, drunken US Marshal, Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges), she sets out with him – over his objections – to hunt down Chaney. Her father’s blood demands that she pursue the criminal into Indian territory and find him before a Texas Ranger named LeBoeuf (Matt Damon) catches him and brings him back to Texas for the murder of another man.

The western genre has been kind of dead as of lately. I mean there have been your occasional westerns like Appaloosa, or 3:10 To Yuma awhile back for that matter, but never has there been one in the last couple of years that has brought it back to the “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly” stages it used to be. But I think it just needed somebody who could handle it right, and those were The Coens.

The Coen Brothers direction is solid here. They use a lot of time to focus on the story, and keep the pace going at a minimal pace. The script that they wrote is also very good for this movie, as it keeps humor, in light of the bad and serious tone this film tries to maintain throughout the whole film. I was glad to see The Coens do something completley different, and once again, keep me watching.

However, my problem with this film is that it just kind of disappointed me. I like how they focuses on the story a lot, but the pace at times, was just way too slow. It would get to a point, and I thought it would go somewhere, and then it just ended up going right back to the dead pace. I will not lie this film is very enjoyable, but the problem was that there are certain times, where the film feels like it doesn’t have much really going on, so they just throw in a little gun-fight. The gun-fights were good in this film, but they didn’t come all the time to keep me entertained, because there still were some dry parts.

Jeff Bridges as usual, is the effin’ man in this film, playing Rooster Cogburn. He’s very good at playing the rough, tough, and stubborn man, who also has a good heart, and you have a feeling that in the end he will do the right thing. Sometimes it was hard for me to understand just what on the earth he was saying, but he is still always a joy to watch. Matt Damon is also very good here playing LaBeouf, giving us that dry, sophisticated timing we haven’t seen from him in so long. It all reminds us as to why he really is one of the best stars out there, and should be given each and every role he is offered. New-comer Hailee Steinfeld is perfect in this role, as Mattie’s Ross, as she is the heart of the movie, and we have to kind of rally around her for this film to work, and we do. She also shows that she can hang with stars such as Bridges, and Damon, and I cannot wait to see what she has planned next. Josh Brolin is also strangely good as Tom Chaney, and Barry Pepper also shows up, doing what he always does best. He gets under-casted, but doesn’t let you forget that he was in this film after all.

The main gripe I had with this film was the fact that I was kind of expecting something new, and improved to the Western genre, since this was done by The Coens and all. But instead, I didn’t get that. It all felt too by-the-book, and certain things happened, that you knew were going to happen, and it’s kind of a disappointment, cause this is The Coens, who are always known for keeping you on the edge of your seat, and surprising the hell out of you. But instead they just keep us entertained, which isn’t so bad, I just was expecting something so much more.

Consensus: True Grit is entertaining, with some good action, and great performances from the cast, but almost a big disappointment as I was expecting something more, and different from The Coens, and instead got your average, generic western, with more wit, and less surprises.

7.5/10=Rental!!