Final Oscar Predictions: A Royal Flush?

  The long and winding road that began with my initial predictions in early April of last year, finds a last place of rest in the following post. 

   So much can change in the full year of an Oscar race.  My initial pick to win Best Picture was Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life, which ended up being pushed back until 2011.  Once they announced that the move was official (back in August), I switched to David Fincher’s upcoming Facebook movie, The Social Network, as the film to beat.  I have to admit that it was the trailer that sold me from the very start.  The Radiohead cover of “Creep”, by the women’s choir known as Scala, sent chills down my spine as we got our first glimpse at what would become arguably the best film of the year.  The Social Network remained in my predicted winner spot for over 5 months, and began an unprecedented run through the critics awards taking almost every single one, including the NY Film Critics, LA Film Critics, The Hollywood Foreign Press (Golden Globes), and the Critics’ Choice Award.

   Read more on my end of the year review and see my final Oscar predictions after the jump…

Award Contenders Reader’s Predictions

For the second season, we held an Oscar predictions contest. That event closed today at noon (est.) and allowed us to compile the consensus of our readers and select who you think is most likely to take home the Oscar.   Many of the categories were close to capturing 100% of the votes, such as Toy Story 3for Best Animated and both, Best Actor/Actress in a Leading Role, for Firth and Portman.  There were a few very close “races”, especially for Documentary Feature. Inside Job just barely edged out Exit through the Gift Shop  -with a single vote.  The Live Action Short category was also very close and the votes were spread evenly across all 5 choices.  Here are the results:

Best Picture: The King’s Speech [79%]
Best Director: David Fincher – The Social Network [45%]
Best Actor in a Leading Role: Colin Firth – The King’s Speech [92%]
Best Actress in a Leading Role: Natalie Portman – Black Swan [90%]
Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Christian Bale – The Fighter [94%]
Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Melissa Leo – The Fighter [77%]
Best Adapted Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin – The Social Network [90%]
Best Original Screenplay: David Seidler – The King’s Speech [71%]
Best Animated Feature Film: Toy Story 3 [96%]
Best Documentary Feature Film: Inside Job [35%]
Best Foreign Language Film: Biutiful (Mexico) [57%]
Best Original Score: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross – The Social Network [46%]
Best Original Song: “We Belong Together” by Randy Newman – Toy Story 3 [50%]
Best Cinematography: True Grit [57%]
Best Art Direction: Alice in Wonderland [38%]
Best Costume Design: Alice in Wonderland [61%]
Best Makeup: The Wolfman [75%]
Best Film Editing: The Social Network [45%]
Best Visual Effects: Inception [92%]
Best Sound Editing: Inception [87%]
Best Sound Mixing: Inception [90%]
Best Animated Short Film: Day & Night [44%]
Best Live Action Short Film: Wish 143 [27%]
Best Documentary Short Film: Strangers No More [31%]

   Thank you to all those that participated! And if you made it ‘ official’ by including your name and email address, you are entered into the 2nd Annual Award Contenders Oscar Contest.  Best of luck to you all.

Oscar Presenters List Keeps Growing

 Most up to date list, with the newest names in bold (though I’m sure someone new will be announced within an hour or two of this post): 

  • Mila Kunis
  • Amy Adams
  • Matthew McConaughey
  • Helen Mirren
  • Hilary Swank
  • Annette Bening
  • Halle Berry
  • Russell Brand
  • Jeff Bridges
  • Sandra Bullock
  • Robert Downey Jr.
  • Tom Hanks
  • Hugh Jackman
  • Scarlett Johansson
  • Nicole Kidman
  • Jude Law
  • Alan Menken, Mandy Moore, Zachary Levi, Randy Newman, Gwyneth Paltrow, A.R. Rahman (musical performers)
  • Marisa Tomei
  • Florence Welch
  • Oprah Winfrey

The Hangover Part Two Teaser

 To quote BNL:  “Haven’t you always wanted a monkey?”

   The boys are back in the most anticipated comedy sequel of the year.  Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Jeffrey Tambor, Mike Tyson, Justin Bartha, and Ken Jeong will star.  Due out May 26th.

   Check out the trailer and synopsis after the jump…

Hear My Final Oscar Predictions Tonight!

  I will be joining Jason O’Brien on his weekly Oscar talk show, Oscar, Oscar!, on BlogTalkRadiotonight.  He has assembled a panel of three “expert” Oscar pundits to join him in unveiling their final predictions, and I was lucky enough to be chosen to participate. 

   The show will begin at 10:00 p.m. EST.  Click the image above to access the show.  Should be a good one!  Hope to see you there!

First Two Awards To Set Tone?

 Pete Hammond at Deadline.com has discovered what the first two awards will be at the Oscars this Sunday:

I’ve learned 2-time Oscar winner and Academy favorite Tom Hanks will be the first presenter and name winners in both the Art Direction and Cinematography categories right off the bat. Best Picture frontrunner The King’s Speech is up for both, so the world will quickly get an idea whether that Best Picture nominee is able to mount a sweep right in the first few minutes of Sunday’s Oscar show.

   If The King’s Speech takes both awards, then hold on to your butt’s… it’s going to be a long night for the royal drama.

In Theatres for Friday, February 25th

  It’s Oscar weekend!!  That being said, if you are going to the theatre this weekend I would recommend trying to see anything that you might have missed up until now. 

   If you are already up to par on the Oscar nominated films, here is what is slated for release on Friday:

   The Farrelly Brothers brought us films like There’s Something About Mary, Dumb and Dumber, and Me, Myself and Irene.  So if their type of humor is your thing, then you will probably want to check out Hall Pass, starring Owen Wilson, Jason Sudeikis, Christina Applegate, and Jenna Fischer.  The film centers around two married men who are given a week to engage in the single life.  Excited by their new freedom, the twist comes when they realize the deal means their wives get the same luxury.  The early word is that it is pretty funny, so if you want something light before the heavy award weekend, maybe Hall Pass will do the trick.

   See what else is out after the jump…

Costume Designers Guild Winners

For those of us torn between Alice in Wonderland and The King’s Speech for Best Costume Design on our Oscar ballots, this should only muddy the waters a bit further:

The King’s SpeechBlack Swan and Alice in Wonderland took the top feature film honors Tuesday evening at the 13th Costume Designers Guild Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

Jenny Beavan won excellence in period film for The King’s Speech, while Amy Westcott earned her award for excellence in contemporary film for Black Swan and Colleen Atwood for excellence in fantasy film for Alice in Wonderland.

On Video for February 22nd

With such a busy week in front of us, I’m going to be rather brief with this Video posting.  You’ll still get a list of what is out and what I recommend, just in a ‘nutshell.’

   The film trilogy based on Steig Larsson’s Millennium series is out today (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest).  The first film was one of my favorites of the year.  I am yet to see the final installment, but feel the first two are good enough to make this series well worth checking out.  David Fincher (The Social Network) is currently remaking the Swedish films.

   See what else is out after the jump…