OSCAR PREDICTIONS

IN RED: WILL WIN

IN BLUE: WHAT I THINK SHOULD WIN

Best Motion Picture of the Year
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids are All Right
The King's Speech
The Social Network
127 Hours
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter's Bone

This category is a toss up between The King's Speech and The Social Network. Social Network will be revered years from now as a defining movie of the 2000s. King's Speech will be long forgotten 10 years from now as a good but ultimately safe Oscar pick. If The Social Network, doesn't win, I'll be disappointed. But I fear that The King's Speech has somehow gained steam and will win the big award.

Performance by an 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)

I'm sorry, but Portman sucks in the Black Swan. She delivered a surface level performance with no subtlety whatsoever. Black Swan is an interesting but overrated film, and the love for Portman's melodramatic role will forever be remember as a major Oscar faux-pas. Jennifer Lawrence gave the bravest performance of the year, and if not her, Annette Bening deserves an Oscar for her nuanced performanced in Kids.

Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Javier Bardem (Biutiful)
Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network)
Colin Firth (The King's Speech)
James Franco (127 Hours)
Jeff Bridges (True Grit)

Firth is great in King's Speech, but he did better work last year for A Single Man, and I think he'll do better after this. Eisenberg's performance in Social Network is staggering...he disappears into the role and is working 1000% of the time, even when he isn't the focus of the scene. But Firth will win.

Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
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)

Bale will win this. Upset maybe by Rush, but I think Bale will win. He deserves it and gave the best supporting performance. I wouldn't mind seeing John Hawkes take it either.

Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams (The Fighter)
Helena Bonham Carter (The King's Speech)
Melissa Leo (The Fighter)
Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit)
Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom)

Leo is great in The Fighter and I'll be fine if she wins. But Steinfeld was revelatory in True Grit, though the role SHOULD be considered a lead. And if Bonham Carter wins, so help me...

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year
How to Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
Toy Story 3

Toy Story 3 will win, but I'd say that either How to Train Your Dragon could certainly sneak by. Or The Illusionist could as well. But TS3 is a safe bet. I'd rather see Tangled up there.

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

Poster Girl is only truly engaging one in my opinion.

Best Short Film (Animated)
Day & Night Teddy Newton
The Gruffalo Jakob Schuh and Max Lang
Let's Pollute Geefwee Boedoe
The Lost Thing Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann
Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary) Bastien Dubois

I admit bias on this one for Madagascar, but they are actually quite good. But The Gruffalo seems like the most awards-friendly. But I'd jump for joy to see Madagascar win.

Best Short Film (Live Action)
The Confession Tanel Toom
The Crush Michael Creagh
God of Love Luke Matheny
Na Wewe Ivan Goldschmidt
Wish 143 Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite

Its shot overseas and the story is compelling. It will take the prize. An win by Wish 143 or The Crush could also happen.

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

Inception should take all of the design categories. It deserves it.

Achievement in Cinematography
Black Swan (Matthew Libatique)
Inception (Wally Pfister)
The King's Speech (Danny Cohen)
The Social Network (Jeff Cronenweth)
True Grit (Roger Deakins)

Deakins should have won years ago (Jesse James anyone?) and will probably win for his tremendous work on True Grit. But Wally Pfister really did some amazing stuff in Inception and deserves it.

Achievement in Costume Design
Alice in Wonderland (Colleen Atwood)
I Am Love (Antonella Cannarozzi)
The King's Speech (Jenny Beaven)
The Tempest (Sandy Powell)
True Grit (Mary Zophres)

I HATED Alice in Wonderland, but that wasn't the costume designer's fault, and she deserves it. The King's Speech could be boring choice on this.

Achievement in 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)

Fincher made a movie about Facebook a thrill ride. He deserves outright. If Tom Hooper wins, I'll be depressed. The King's Speech was a good movie, but it could have easily been an HBO film.

Best Documentary Feature
Exit through the Gift Shop Banksy, director (Paranoid Pictures)
Gasland Josh Fox, director (Gasland Productions, LLC)
Inside Job Charles Ferguson, director (Representational Pictures)
Restrepo Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger, directors (Outpost Films)
Waste Land Lucy Walker, director (Almega Projects)

Banksy's film is a hoot, but Inside Job will take it because of its relevance.

Achievement in Makeup
Barney's Version
The Way Back
The Wolfman

I HATED The Wolfman, but the make-up was impressive.

Achievement in Film Editing
Black Swan (Andrew Weisblum)
The Fighter (Pamela Martin)
The King's Speech (Tariq Anwar)
127 Hours (Jon Harris)
The Social Network (Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall)

The best edited film of the year...bar none.

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

I assume it's good...my one uninformed pick.

Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score)
How to Train Your Dragon (John Powell)
Inception (Hans Zimmer)
The King's Speech (Alexandre Desplat)
127 Hours (A.R. Rahman)
The Social Network (Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross)

A groundbreaking score that moves scoring into a more digital age. Desplat is the upset here but he is one of my least favorite composers and does nothing memorable in King's Speech. Heck, he even ruined Harry Potter 7.0's score this past year.

Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song)
"Coming Home" from Country Strong Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
"I See the Light" from Tangled Music and Lyric by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
"If I Rise" from 127 Hours Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
"We Belong Together" from Toy Story 3 Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

TS3 will win because it's Randy Newman, but Tangled's songs will be remembered years from now.

Achievement in Sound Editing
Inception
Toy Story 3
TRON: Legacy
True Grit
Unstoppable

Inception for sure. Otherwise, I'd pick Unstoppable.

Achievement in Sound Mixing
Inception
The King's Speech
Salt
The Social Network
True Grit

Inception will win this, but Social Network also did a solid job.

Achievement in Visual Effects
Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Hereafter
Inception
Iron Man 2

Inception delivered the most seamless visual effects. It's a travesty that the fake looking Alice is even nominated. Just because your movie is wall-to-wall effects doesn't mean it deserves a nomination.

Adapted Screenplay
127 Hours (Simon Beaufoy and Danny Boyle)
The Social Network (Aaron Sorkin)
Toy Story 3 (Michael Arndt, story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich)
True Grit (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen)
Winter's Bone (Debra Granik and Anne Rossellini)

The safest bet of the night.

Original Screenplay
Another Year (Mike Leigh)
The Fighter (Paul Attanasio, Lewis Colich, Eric Johnson, Scott Silverand Paul Tamasy)
Inception (Christopher Nolan)
The Kids are All Right (Stuart Blumberg and Lisa Cholodenko)
The King's Speech (David Seidler)

If think Nolan deserves this for wrapping his head around the plot, though he lays it on thick with that bloated 30 minutes. Another Year also would be nice. But it seems King's Speech has the momentum.

2010's BEST & WORST

BEST & WORST MOVIES OF 2010
____________________

THE TOP 10

1. Winter's Bone
An unflinching look into the lives of a lesser known America. The screenplay is perfect and Jennifer Lawrence deserves the Best Actress Oscar over any contender this year.


2. The Social Network
Fincher took what was essentially a deposition-turned-screenplay into a riveting character study that will be remembered twenty years from now as a landmark turn-of-the-century movie. The only thing that would keep it from being completely iconic is Fincher's visual restraint, which is unusual for him. Eisenberg is deserving of the Best Actor Oscar for creating a character that is both despicable and empathetic. People accuse the role of being too simple, but that's the beauty of it...Eisenberg gets lost in it.


3. Waiting for Superman
Perhaps the most important movie of the year in terms of its message. Some teachers don't like the message because they won't admit the system's flaws. But this is saying is that instead of inventing Charter schools, why can't every public school in America be held to a high standard? And it's riveting storytelling to top it off.



4. Inception
Despite an over-bloated last half hour, Nolan's dream-scape masterpiece is still a spellbinding feat in original visionary storytelling.



5. Green Zone The most underrated movie of the year is also its best action movie. Unfairly compared to the Bourne saga, this film is actually light years better than any of those films. It's riveting and relevant, which yet another rock solid performance from Damon.


6. The King's Speech The feel-good movie of the year also educated on a little known subject of World War history. The acting is sublime and Rush surely deserves an Oscar for his nuanced performance as Lionel Logue. Firth deserved it last year for "A Single Man", but he's still amazing in this.



7. The Ghost Writer
Another overlooked movie from 2010, this is Polanski's best movie in years and the lead actors turn in some of the best performances of their careers. Thought-provoking and intense.



8. Mother
A Korean-language tour-de-force. The second best performance by actress this year is by Hye-Ja Kim. A slow burning but completely engaging who-dun-it.


9. Piranha 3D
Strange pick, I know. But here is a movie that knows exactly what it is and plays that card to the n'th degree. It's fast, fun, and bloody disgusting. You don't even need the 3D to enjoy the camp awesomeness of this first-rate creature feature.



10. Black Swan
A confounding film because its visual splendor outweighs its overall simplicity. I'm not sure if it thinks its deeper than it truly is, but as a modern retelling of Swan Lake, it's hypnotic ride from start to finish, with gorgeous cinematography and Oscar-worthy editing. And Portman is good, just 'showy' good, not very subtle in her characterization. Giving her the Oscar is the safe choice.


Notable mentions:

The Kids Are All Right
A brilliantly written and flawlessly acted comedy.


Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows, Part 1
Not the best of the series, but still a cut above most big-budget fare. And the best acted of the series so far. Will probably fare better as a double feature with Part 2.


Going the Distance
An underrated comedy gem that towers over the rest of the romantic trash released this year. And honest and funny film.


Let Me In
Dare I say better than the original? The only thing that keeps it from being so great is shoddy sfx and a feeling of deja-vu. But the screenplay actually improves on the tension and plot-structure of the original.


Predators
A worthy sequel and throwback to the originals. Exciting and very well acted.


Resident Evil: Afterlife
Don't judge me for this. But this is a first-class thrill ride and some of the best use of 3D thus far.


Toy Story 3
Despite having a conventional plot, what makes this work so well is its themes. Growing up is indeed tough.


Tangled
The best animated movie of the year because of the sheer exuberance displayed on screen. This made me feel like a kid again. The only downside is that the songs are "Little Mermaid" or "Lion King" memorable.



OVERRATED MOVIES OF 2010

MONSTERS
A technical marvel, but just too boring to recommend.

127 HOURS
The Boyle film that I don't really care for. His visual style took over the story and instead of serving it, it smothered the story. And I had no sympathy for the lead character, who reminded me of why I also hated "Into The Wild".

HEREAFTER
A neat idea is essentially stillborn as a movie. It just chugs along at a pace that even Eastwood can't justify.

SALT
Completely predictable trash.

RED
Mildly entertaining, but nothing more. Not sure why this was such a hit?

DESPICABLE ME
A cute movie, but unlike most other animated films this year, the humor was simple too obvious.


THE WORST OF 2010

Robin Hood
The worst movie of 2010. A complete waste of talent. Ridley Scott was on vacation and Crowe did it for the money. An awful awful movie.

Sex & The City 2
Sets the woman back 20 years and promotes racial insensitivity to boot. Michael Patrick King, you're show was always superficial treacle. And now this movie unveils what it always was. Gone is even an iota of smart writing.

Grown Ups
So many supposedly funny people manage to make a comedic abortion of a movie. The only funny joke involves a reference to Idi Amin. After that, I tuned out.

Cop Out
So bad, it's NO good. There is not a single joke that works. An embarrassment for all involved.
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Nic's took a paycheck for this surprisingly stale family adventure. This is boring corporate-driven film-making at its worst.

Knight & Day
How could such a great idea go so completely wrong? Completely preposterous and humorless. And I haven't even seen The Tourist...

Twilight: Eclipse
The best of the trilogy, but still pre-adolescent trash. In five years, everyone will realize they were duped into seeing what was essentially The Days of Our Vampires, already based off of terribly written books.

The Wolfman
Such a great concept squandered because of unsure direction and studio tampering. Even the casting is off. It does get points for a cool wolf vs wolf fight, but otherwise, it sucks.

Wall Street 2
Stone has lost it. While the acting mostly works, the screenplay gives most of the characters very little to work with. Years in the making and this is the best they could come up with? At least it plays as economically relevant.

Due Date
A complete misfire. Barely any comedy and plain mean-spirited. How could so much talent do so wrong? Just watch "The Hangover" again.

FITREC Photo Examples

PHOTOS OF FITREC shot with the Canon EOS 5D Mark ii

AT AUNTIE DASSIE'S

My great week-end at Auntie Dassie's in Oneonta. Love 'em so much! Ate amazing curry goat and roti, played Wii sports, and got acquainted with all the awesome mammals!


















My great week-end at Auntie Dassie's in Oneonta.

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DEMO REEL

Stills from movie where I was BEHIND the camera.