The Oscars loom. As a matter of fact, Hollywood’s yearly uber- event is just hours away now. Wolfgang Puck is massaging his squabs and gold-dusting his truffles ; the Elton John party favors have had their final blast of excess glitter. Battalions of earnest young women with clipboards and walkie-talkies are itching to start wrangling celebs and their not so significant others across the Red Carpet’s shifting tectonic plates. There’ve been so many teasers, puff pieces, previews and pure fiddle-faddle about Anne Hathaway and James Franco that I’m already pretty tired of the both of them. Why this endless need to turn the Oscars into a comedy show? Well, of course, we do know why. It’s to entice viewers who don’t give a hoot about the Academy Awards. But we don’t care about those people here, do we?
I’ve managed to see most of the major players this year (not TRUE GRIT – I wasn’t that crazy about the Kim Darby version , so I’m in no hurry to see a reboot – even by the Coens). I’ve also missed 127 HOURS and BIUTIFUL. And the heavy-handed trailer for RABBIT HOLE put the brakes on all desire I might’ve had to see that pictureany time soon) Otherwise, I’m pretty much up to speed.
Most of the main categories seem like locks this year. I’m only echoing every would-be pundit In the world when I say THE KING’S SPEECH and Colin Firth seem to have Picture and Actor trophies in the bag. And if tomorrow’s newspapers don’t feature shots of prettily pregnant Natalie Portman hoisting her own Best Actress Oscar, expect pigs to fly and Charlie Sheen to start dating Martha Stewart. The Supporting Actor statue will likely end up at Christian Bale’s house. The well-timed crescendo of KING’S SPEECH popularity positions Geoffrey Rush as a strong contender. But with Mel Gibson trumping Bale in the celebrity tantrum sweepstakes, Hollywood seems to be loving Bale again, especially his showy turn in THE FIGHTER. And a Bale victory would carry its own level of satisfaction. Cause it is pretty damn annoying that he’s never even been nominated before. I mean, didn’t the voters see THE MACHINIST? Which leaves Supporting Actress as the most fluid of the races. I don’t care for what Melissa Leo did in THE FIGHTER. An overdone version of over-the-top and then some . Leo comes off as a hardboiled dame, current go-to lady for the parts previously assigned to Claire Trevor and - later -Sylvia Miles and Diane Ladd. She was great (and pretty subdued) in FROZEN RIVER a couple of seasons back. But i really wasn’t expecting her triumphal march through nearly all the precursor awards this season. There was a grating bull-in-a-China-shop quality to those televised acceptance speeches of hers. Especially the one where she made a big megilla out of the fact that she was far too young to play Mark Wahlberg’s mother. An opinion echoed by few others. Then came an interview where she belly-ached that she wasn’t getting the kind of pre-Oscar magazine-cover spotlighting that the younger crowd were. Finally she paid for some tacky trade ad “glamour” shots of herself. They were meant to court votes but only wound up as a nasty PR bellyflop. It remains to be seen whether all this has cost Leo her front-runner spot. She has internal competition from her FIGHTER co-star Amy Adams (in a performance I really do think is sensational) . In the end, I suspect Leo will have bled votes to both Adams and Helena Bonham Carter . Carter has the KING’S SPEECH juggernaut factor going for her. And her award event appearances this year have been media bull’s eyes. The outré fashion sense and droll attitude rubbed some people the wrong way in previous years. But this season everyone seems to be vibing with her. I predict Carter will negotiate her way coolly through the Leo/Adams vote split, the romper room and granny challenges from Hailee Steinfeld and Jacki Weaver - and take the prize.
My own picks for Best of 2010
PICTURE
1. THE SOCIAL NETWORK
2. PLEASE GIVE
3. BLACK SWAN
4. WINTER’S BONE
5. THE TOWN
6. THE FIGHTER
7. ANIMAL KINGDOM
8. REMEMBER ME
9. SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE UNIVERSE
10. SALT
Runners-up
The Wolfman,I Am Love,Agora,Tangled,The King’s Speech
ACTOR
1. COLIN FIRTH “The King’s Speech”
2. MARK WAHLBERG “The Fighter”
3. BEN AFFLECK “THE TOWN”
4. JESSE EISENBERG “THE SOCIAL NETWORK”
ACTRESS
1. NATALIE PORTMAN “Black Swan”
2. JENNIFER LAWRENCE “Winter’s Bone”
3. MARY ELIZABETH WINSTEAD “Scott Pilgrim vs the Universe”
4. EMILY BLUNT “The Wolfman”
5. ANGELINA JOLIE “Salt”
SUPPORTING ACTOR
1. GEOFFREY RUSH “The King’s Speech”
2. JACK McGEE “The Fighter”
3. CHRISTIAN BALE “The Fighter”
4. ANDREW GARFIELD “The Social Network”
5 ARMIE HAMMER “The Social Network”
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
1. AMY ADAMS “The Fighter”
2. HELENA BONHAM CARTER “Alice in Wonderland”
3. BLAKE LIVELY “The Town”
4. ROONEY MARA “The Social Network”
5. ANNA LISE PHILLIPS “Animal Kingdom”
(with such a strong field this year, I have to acknowledge
two more outstanding contributions)
MARISA BERENSON ( Tilda Swinton’s mother-in-law in“I Am Love”)
and LAUREN SWEETSER
(Jennifer Lawrence’s supportive married friend in WINTER’S BONE)
I’ve managed to see most of the major players this year (not TRUE GRIT – I wasn’t that crazy about the Kim Darby version , so I’m in no hurry to see a reboot – even by the Coens). I’ve also missed 127 HOURS and BIUTIFUL. And the heavy-handed trailer for RABBIT HOLE put the brakes on all desire I might’ve had to see that pictureany time soon) Otherwise, I’m pretty much up to speed.
Most of the main categories seem like locks this year. I’m only echoing every would-be pundit In the world when I say THE KING’S SPEECH and Colin Firth seem to have Picture and Actor trophies in the bag. And if tomorrow’s newspapers don’t feature shots of prettily pregnant Natalie Portman hoisting her own Best Actress Oscar, expect pigs to fly and Charlie Sheen to start dating Martha Stewart. The Supporting Actor statue will likely end up at Christian Bale’s house. The well-timed crescendo of KING’S SPEECH popularity positions Geoffrey Rush as a strong contender. But with Mel Gibson trumping Bale in the celebrity tantrum sweepstakes, Hollywood seems to be loving Bale again, especially his showy turn in THE FIGHTER. And a Bale victory would carry its own level of satisfaction. Cause it is pretty damn annoying that he’s never even been nominated before. I mean, didn’t the voters see THE MACHINIST? Which leaves Supporting Actress as the most fluid of the races. I don’t care for what Melissa Leo did in THE FIGHTER. An overdone version of over-the-top and then some . Leo comes off as a hardboiled dame, current go-to lady for the parts previously assigned to Claire Trevor and - later -Sylvia Miles and Diane Ladd. She was great (and pretty subdued) in FROZEN RIVER a couple of seasons back. But i really wasn’t expecting her triumphal march through nearly all the precursor awards this season. There was a grating bull-in-a-China-shop quality to those televised acceptance speeches of hers. Especially the one where she made a big megilla out of the fact that she was far too young to play Mark Wahlberg’s mother. An opinion echoed by few others. Then came an interview where she belly-ached that she wasn’t getting the kind of pre-Oscar magazine-cover spotlighting that the younger crowd were. Finally she paid for some tacky trade ad “glamour” shots of herself. They were meant to court votes but only wound up as a nasty PR bellyflop. It remains to be seen whether all this has cost Leo her front-runner spot. She has internal competition from her FIGHTER co-star Amy Adams (in a performance I really do think is sensational) . In the end, I suspect Leo will have bled votes to both Adams and Helena Bonham Carter . Carter has the KING’S SPEECH juggernaut factor going for her. And her award event appearances this year have been media bull’s eyes. The outré fashion sense and droll attitude rubbed some people the wrong way in previous years. But this season everyone seems to be vibing with her. I predict Carter will negotiate her way coolly through the Leo/Adams vote split, the romper room and granny challenges from Hailee Steinfeld and Jacki Weaver - and take the prize.
My own picks for Best of 2010
PICTURE
1. THE SOCIAL NETWORK
2. PLEASE GIVE
3. BLACK SWAN
4. WINTER’S BONE
5. THE TOWN
6. THE FIGHTER
7. ANIMAL KINGDOM
8. REMEMBER ME
9. SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE UNIVERSE
10. SALT
Runners-up
The Wolfman,I Am Love,Agora,Tangled,The King’s Speech
ACTOR
1. COLIN FIRTH “The King’s Speech”
2. MARK WAHLBERG “The Fighter”
3. BEN AFFLECK “THE TOWN”
4. JESSE EISENBERG “THE SOCIAL NETWORK”
ACTRESS
1. NATALIE PORTMAN “Black Swan”
2. JENNIFER LAWRENCE “Winter’s Bone”
3. MARY ELIZABETH WINSTEAD “Scott Pilgrim vs the Universe”
4. EMILY BLUNT “The Wolfman”
5. ANGELINA JOLIE “Salt”
SUPPORTING ACTOR
1. GEOFFREY RUSH “The King’s Speech”
2. JACK McGEE “The Fighter”
3. CHRISTIAN BALE “The Fighter”
4. ANDREW GARFIELD “The Social Network”
5 ARMIE HAMMER “The Social Network”
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
1. AMY ADAMS “The Fighter”
2. HELENA BONHAM CARTER “Alice in Wonderland”
3. BLAKE LIVELY “The Town”
4. ROONEY MARA “The Social Network”
5. ANNA LISE PHILLIPS “Animal Kingdom”
(with such a strong field this year, I have to acknowledge
two more outstanding contributions)
MARISA BERENSON ( Tilda Swinton’s mother-in-law in“I Am Love”)
and LAUREN SWEETSER
(Jennifer Lawrence’s supportive married friend in WINTER’S BONE)
No comments:
Post a Comment