Oscar Picks

I have picks in every category I'm going to put either a T next to a name for "Think it will win" or a W next to the name for "Want to win". There are even a few where that will be the same.

Best Picture
Black Swan W
The Kings Speech T

Best Actor
Colin Firth T&W

Best supporting Actor
John Hawkes W
Geoffery Rush T

Best Actress
Annette Bening W
Natalle Portman T

Best supporting Actress
Helena Bonham Carter T&W

Best Director
Darren Aronofsky W
Tom Hooper T

Best Documentary Feature
Exit Through the Gift Shop T
Gasland W

Best Documentary Short
Killing in the Name T&W

Best Foreign Language Film
Biutiful T&W

Best Original Screenplay
Inception W
The Kings Speech T

Best Adapted Screenplay
The Social Network T
Winter's Bone W

Best Cinematography
Inception T&W

Best Makeup
Wolfman T&W

Best Art Direction
Inception T&W

Best Animated Short Film
Day&Night T&W

Best Animated Feature Film
Toy Story 3

Best Live Action short Film
The Crush T&W

Best Visual Effects
Inception T&W

Best Costume Design
Alice in Wonderland W
The King's Speech T

Best Film Editing
127 Hours T&W

Best Sound Mixing
Inception W
The King's Speech T

Best Sound Editing
Inception W
The King's Speech T

Best Original Score
127 Hours T
Inception W

Best Original Song
127 Hours for the song "If I Rise" T
Toy Story 3 for the song "We Belong Together" W

Some of my guesses are based on other awards shows, some are by watching as many of the films as I could, and some are based on the things I've read.

So What did everyone else guess?

Winters Bone

This is a film I've seen having the genre list as noir, mystery, thriller, and drama. Personally I really see the drama but don't get the rest. In noir you have the femme fatale, and the entire movie all be it very interesting story will be very bleak. In this there are moments of happiness and no femme fatale. While there is a bit of mystery as to where the father that the main character (Ree) is searching for there is not really a mysterious side to it. Thriller I don't get at all, it's not a film that keeps you on the edge of your seat, nail biting, and you don't feel that constant need to see what is going to happen next. From the sounds of that you would almost think I didn't like the film, not so. The dialog is short, to the point, and in some ways is a character of it's own. The acting is extremely well done, nothing looks out of place, and for as sad and depressing as a lot of it is you still feel a sense of hope all through out it.
I should really give a short description of this storyline, to make it clear this is not a film to see when you are depressed.
Ree is a 17 year old girl who is taking care of her two younger siblings, and her mentally ill mother. When she finds out her drug-dealing crank-cooking father put up the house and their land as bail she needs to find him to not loose the family home for him not showing up to court. Mean while the uncle, aunt, grandfather and other various members of her family are so against her looking for her father they do become violent.
The family dynamic in this film is truly important as many members of the family fear many other members of the family yet they believe in protecting their "kin".
In short this is a very good film but not one to see when you are feeling even a little down. I give this film an A.

I do feel the need to say one last thing about this film. If you watch this on DVD check out the special features. You end up finding out a lot of the cast is actually people from about the town, and scenery wasn't things built for this film or brought in from L.A.

Official site
http://www.wintersbonemovie.com/

IMDB
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1399683/

Gasland

This is a documentary about the evils of mining natural gas and what it does to the people around it. I personally find it very difficult to review documentaries as really the only thing that really should be done is to report on it not give opinion, when that is really what a review is in many ways.
So taking opinion out of this I do think it is an important film to see. Not only do we get the information about what is happening to the water of the people around the mining but we see how that affects everyone. I never would have thought about how a river in Georgia could have anything to do with what I have coming out of the faucet here in California. When shown a map of all the rivers, and streams really connect in the end. Now I'm not saying all the water over there ends up over here, no what I am saying is just a simple it is all connected, just like we as people are all connected in some way or another. It is important to know how, and why people are being hurt, so that we may be able to stop it from happening anymore, and avoid it for our friends and family.

I give this film an A.

Official site
http://www.gaslandthemovie.com/

IMDB
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1558250/

The Kids Are All Right

Short review here since there is really not much to say. This is just a really good film that has to do with life. I know some people might want to put this in the drama category, or the comedy category, I've even heard the dramady category get mentioned every now and again about this film. I think the dramady might be the closest because that is really the best way to describe life. This movie is really just all the relationships we have in our lives, the love relationships, the parent child relationship, and best friend relationship.
I don't think I should really need to mention how wonderful the acting is in this as it does star some greats like Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, and Mark Ruffalo. I the acting done Josh Hutcherson, and Mia Wasikowska was really well done. I had never seen Wasikowska in Alice in Wonderland, and had never seen Hutcherson however after seeing their performances in this I went and looked them up in IMDB and have found a few movies to add to my Netflix queue.
I will say there are a few sex scenes in this and some small amount of drug use, this may not be the film to see for your next family film night, it would however be a great date night and talk about it after movie.
I give this film an A.

Official site
http://filminfocus.com/the_kids_are_all_right

IMDB
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0842926/

Getting on a schedule

So if you have been watching the page you may have noticed I am running on a kind of schedule. Most of the time I'll be posting late Tuesdays and Fridays. However right now because the Oscars are coming up I'll be posting a few extra ones.
Happy reading all.

The Social Network

Ask anyone what this movie is about and they will say Facebook, and while on the surface that may be true there is much more going on here. In many ways this seemed more like a Shakespeare storyline set to the internet and college. Here we have a very smart guy that is just not socially adept that feels wronged by his girlfriend and wants to do something to get noticed by the popular people. It is really a story we have seen hundreds of times before. The only change here is there is some truth (and there is some discussion about how much) to the story. Along with a smart guy trying to get noticed you have the betrayal of a friend, the greedy guy that takes all he can, and the innocent yet angry.
I'm sure over the past 4 months since this film came out you have heard about the acting jobs from Jessie Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, and Justin Timberlake. Let me reasure you it is all well deserved, the surprise for me was actor Armie Hammer as the Winklevoss twins. Not only did he play both characters but he did it amazingly. At no point of the film did I think "hey that's the guy from Gossip Girl". So often you get actors that while they understand they are in the supporting role they seem to want to take over the scene. While he may not have the long list of films that some do I think we will start seeing more of him very soon.
Now I can't really talk about this movie without mentioning David Fincher, and Aaron Sorkin. Sorkin is a long time favourite of mine with his quick signature dialog, and fleshed out characters. Amazing is the only way I can describe what he writes and the way he writes it. Fincher also a favourite of mine, bringing everything little thing in. The are times in the film your not just watching but you are there.
In the end while there are a few small continuity errors they weren't really enough to take away from the film for me. This is an engaging, interesting film and I give it an A.

official site
http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/thesocialnetwork/

IMDB
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1285016/

The Town

Normally I'm not a person that is really in to the bank robbery movies, but after hearing people rave about this film for the better part of a year and seeing all the nominations it got I thought maybe I should check it out. The only thing I can say is shame on everyone that puts this in the category of bank robbery movies. Now I'm not going to say that this doesn't have a lot to do with robbing banks, however I think film is far more about relationships and what they truly mean in our lives. This film is about how the people in our lives affect us and how what we do affects them. The relationships that often go deeper than love. How many of us have friends that are more like siblings and we say we would die for, yet if the time were to come would we really, the things we hide from our significant others, and the things we hide from our selves. While someone that takes things at face value could watch this film and see a movie about 4 guys robbing banks, and armored trucks, if you are someone that will really take the time to watch this film and take in all into consideration you will find a true love for the story.
The acting in this film was over all really well done. Ben Affleck did a truly wonderful job in both acting and directing, still I would say really needs to work on checking the continuity. There are several times the trees on the street keep going from being green to full golden brown colours of fall. There was also at least 3 times I saw New Jersey licence plates on the police cars when this whole film is suppose to be placed in a suburb of Boston and in Boston. Biggest problem for me was really the accent being there then not being there for Jeremy Renner's character. While Renner's acting was truly fantastic the way he kept dropping the thick Southie accent was really obvious.
Last but not least the language. So I had heard from many people that there was a lot of swearing in this movie. They were right. There is several conversations that uses F*#K! about every other word. Most of the time that would kind of bother me as it often shows a lack of imagination, however in this film it is fitting. The 4 main guys in this film are suppose to be rather uneducated, and thugs. The language itself is practically a character. To the people that complained about the language all I can say is get over it, many real people talk that way and this is suppose to be realistic.
Now for my grade. I have a problem with the errors, I truly want to give this an A but just can't justify that. Every time I saw an error it pulled me right out of the film for a few seconds and those seconds add up. I give this film a B.

Still I will say this is really a film worth seeing. If you get a chance please do.

Official site
http://thetownmovie.warnerbros.com/dvd/

IMDB
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0840361/

Inception

If this review were a letter to a person in stead of being a blog/article, it would be a thank you letter to Christopher Nolan. Every film he has done is mesmerising, thought provoking, and yet comes from something simple. The idea of going in to another persons dream isn't new. We have seen it in movies before with sci-fi movies like Dreamscape, and the horror movies of Nightmare on Elm St movies. Still taking this idea and turning it into something really new. Not only is this an action film, but it is a film about moving on in life when needed, always willing to let yourself dream big, and not giving up. It is odd that I should see two movies so close together that would blur the line of reality, and dream world so much, however in this film you do often get a moment to realize when that is going to happen. I'm sure by now you have noticed that I still haven't said much about the overall storyline. Well other than saying this is an action film you really need to figure out what this movie was for you. I guess at the basis you can say plant an idea and see where it goes.
Lets talk for a moment about the acting shall we. Personally I felt all of the acting in this was stellar. This all-star cast did not disappoint, and even surprised me a little. While I have always been a fan of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, I don't think this level of action was required of him until this. I can't imagine at this point how great the acting is by the men nominated for Academy Awards Best Supporting Actor but it makes me want to see them all that much more if they somehow did a better job. I can truly say that I loved every bit of acting in this film, and that includes the very important extras. So often people are put in the back round and just told to be, here they are a true part of the story.
This review is kind of all over the place and I do know that, I that is large in part because the film itself it all over the place. However the film does come to a point just as this review does, so here goes. I give this film and A+.

I will add however this is not a film to see when you can't give it your full attention. Don't drink anything before you have to watch this so you end up having to take a bathroom break, don't eat, don't cuddle while watching it, nothing don't do anything other then have your eyes on the screen because if you don't you will miss something. Also if I had the chance I would have gone out with a friend afterward to talk about this one.
Thank you again Mr. Nolan for this wonderful work of art.

Official site
http://inceptionmovie.warnerbros.com/dvd/

IMDB
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1375666/

Hellboy

I saw this last night completely going in thinking I was going to hate it and ended up loving it. I think the only comic book films I have liked more was the Michael Keaton Batman's and the Spiderman (the first one). It has something to offer on just about every emotional level. If you get a chance to see this please do and let me know what you thought. It is much more then a comic book film. The acting in this is really well done, and although it has one liners in it they are good funny one liners unlike many that are just stupid. The special effects in this were also very good. Not overdone but just enough. I give this film an A.

IMDB
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167190/

Beauty & the Briefcase

This review will be really short because this is just one of those simple movies. Beauty & the Briefcase is a cute, simple, predictable movie that while it has a good message does not have a lot of substance to it. Hillary Duff plays an aspiring writer that goes on an under cover mission to find the man of her dreams in a suit. The message of course if people often don't know what they really want until they are about to loose it. None of the acting in this is stellar and you don't really think it will be going in. In the simplest of terms (and most of the time I hate saying this) this is a chick flick. A feel good movie you can watch with a few friends while you are talking because you wont miss too much at the same time.
I give this movie a B-.

IMDB
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1493842/