Saturday, October 30, 2010

BFC SCORES

Some say its just a number and doesn't mean anything, but I believe that the Broadcast Film Critic scores give a good indication for a Best Picture nomination.  Last year all of the nominees were an 85 or above. Here is a list of films that have had Oscar buzz and their scores:

Toy Story 3 – 97
The Social Network – 95
Inception – 94
127 Hours – 90
The Town – 87
The Kids Are All Right – 85
Winter’s Bone – 85
Fair Game – 83
Made in Dagenham – 83
Secretariat – 83
Shutter Island – 81
Never Let Me Go – 80
Conviction – 79
Love and Other Drugs – 77
Hereafter – 73
For Colored Girls – 61

BEST DIRECTOR



Here is a list of possible Best Director nominations:

David Fincher,The Social Network
Tom Hooper, The King's Speech
Danny Boyle, 127 Hours
Joel Coen, True Grit
Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
Christopher Nolan, Inception
Doug Liman, Fair Game
Mike Leigh, Another Year
Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right
Nigel Cole, Made in Dagenham
Ben Affleck, The Town
Martin Scorsese, Shutter Island

My best guess right now would be David Fincher for The Social Network, but we will have to see how The King's Speech and 127 Hours make out after being released.

Friday, October 29, 2010

OPENING TODAY



CONVICTION-This movie is opening in more theaters today. It did have some Oscar buzz for the performances of Hilary Swank, Sam Rockwell and Juliette Lewis. That has died down a little, but worth checking out.

SAW 3D-This is the 7th and final movie of the Saw franchise. An 8th was planned, but the poor performance of the 6th made them stop at 7, but never say never. I have liked all of the previous Saws I have seen. Great film for the Halloween weekend, but not an Academy Award winner.

If you want to see a movie this weekend that has a better chance of being in the Oscar race check out:

-THE SOCIAL NETWORK
-THE TOWN
-THE TILLMAN STORY
-SECRETARIAT

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

OSCAR NOTES





-Halle Berry will now be in the running for the film FRANKIE & ALICE. She is being pushed for a Best Actress nomination for her performance as a woman suffering from multiple personality disorder. The film will get a one week qualifying release in December before its actual release in 2011. This film was on the qualifying list in 2009 also, but can be considered again this year.  I would not count on Berry receiving a nomination, but they are giving it a try. She needs something after that great performance in CATWOMAN!

-WINTER'S BONE was released yesterday on DVD. You will be seeing this film a lot at awards time so check it out. 

-FOR COLORED GIRLS was moved up from January release to November in order to qualify for this years awards season.  Kimberly Elise and Thandie Newton will be campaigning for Supporting Actress, despite early buzz for Loretta Devine and Janet Jackson. The reviews for Tyler Perry's work have not been steller. The Hollywood Reporter described it as a "train wreck of a movie".  Sounds like the performances are good, but just another Tyler Perry film.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

A NEW WAY TO MARKET



A few movies vying for an Oscar nomination are using a line from their movie as URL to get them to go viral.
Here are the links...

http://www.youknowwhatscool.com/   THE SOCIAL NETWORK

http://www.ijustwanttobeperfect.com/   BLACK SWAN

Sunday, October 24, 2010

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE



1. "Paranormal Activity 2," $41.5 million.
2. "Jackass 3D," $21.6 million.
3. "Red," $15 million.
4. "Hereafter," $12 million.
5. "The Social Network," $7.3 million.
6. "Secretariat," $6.9 million.
7. "Life as We Know It," $6.2 million.
8. "Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole," $3.2 million.
9. "The Town," $2.7 million.
10. "Easy A," $1.8 million.

Oscar contenders are in bold.

REVIEWS

I saw a few movies this weekend trying to stay ahead of the game:


WINTER'S BONE-An Ozark Mountain girl hunts down her drug-dealing father while trying to keep her family intact. It was an official selection of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival's Dramatic Competition and was the recipient of the Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic and the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award. This film is the definition of an independent movie. It plays rather slow and the characters are the story more than the plot. Jennifer Lawrence is great in the role and deserves at least a Best Actress nomination. If you are not a fan of independent films this movie will seem slow.  It is still a Best Picture contender, but not a Best Picture winner. My Grade: B





ANIMAL KINGDOM-A teenage boy is trying to live with his arm robbing family after the death of his mother. This is another independent movie that is more about the acting. It is an Australian movie so its takes a few minutes to get used to the accent and understand what they are saying. Jacki Waver plays the Grandmother who will do anything to keep her family together. It is a great performance and deserves a Best Supporting nomination. They are sure pushing hard for it. My Grade: A-





JACKASS 3D- I can guarantee that this will not win any awards, but entertaining and in 3D. My Grade If you are a Jackass fan: B.  If you are not a Jackass fan: D

Friday, October 22, 2010

NICOLE KIDMAN BEST ACTRESS NOMINATION?





Here is the link to an updated trailer for RABBIT HOLE.  I can see a Best Actress nomination for Nicole Kidman just from this trailer. Too early to predict a winner, but a nomination looks good.


RABBIT HOLE TRAILER

OPENING TODAY




HEREAFTER-A few months ago this movie was getting some Oscar talk due to the trailer and Clint Eastwood as director. More people have seen it now and the reviews are not very good. Many people thought it was slow and didn't like the ending. It has a Metacritic rating of 56% (Oscar films usually have 76 or above) and RottenTomatoes only at 51%.

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2- They say if you were scared by the first one than this is even more scary. This time around the family sets up a camera because they think people are breaking in at night. It wont win any awards, but reviews have been good. (RottenTomatoes 75%).

WAITING FOR SUPERMAN-This could very well be in the Best Documentary category this year. A lot of good reviews on this doc about our failing school systems.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

BEST PICTURE UPDATE




I made some more changes to my Best Picture nomination list.  Many of these films still have not been released, but here is my updated list of predictions.

-THE SOCIAL NETWORK

-THE KING'S SPEECH

-127 HOURS

-TRUE GRIT

-BLACK SWAN

-THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT

-TOY STORY 3

-INCEPTION

-THE FIGHTER

-WINTER'S BONE

I removed ANOTHER YEAR and put WINTER'S BONE back in from my previous list.  All of the Gotham Independent Award nominations it received is bringing it back out. TOY STORY 3 will probably come out of the list eventually. The reason they added Best Animated Feature was for films like TOY STORY 3, but Disney is pushing hard for Best Picture category.

As of now I still predict that THE KING'S SPEECH will take home Best Picture.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

GOTHAM INDEPENDENT FILM AWARDS





The Gotham Independant Film Award Nominations have been announced. Winter's Bone with 3 nominations is back in the Oscar race. Jennifer Lawrence is well on her way to a Best Actress nomination. Six out of the last seven winners of the Best Breakthrough Performance winners went on to a Best Actress nomination.  The Gotham Award winners will be announced November 29th. WINTER'S BONE will be on DVD October 26th.


Best Feature
“Black Swan”
“Blue Valentine”
“The Kids Are All Right”
“Let Me In”
“Winter’s Bone”

Best Documentary
“12th and Delaware”
“Inside Job”
“The Oath”
“Public Speaking”
“Sweetgrass”

Best Ensemble
“The Kids Are All Right”
“Life During Wartime”
“Please Give”
“Tiny Furniture”
“Winter’s Bone”

Best Breakthrough Director
Kevin Asch for “Holy Rollers”
Lena Durham for “Tiny Furniture"
Glenn Ficarra, John Requa for “I Love You Phillip Morris”
Tanya Hamilton for “Night Catches Us”
John Wells for “The Company Men”

Best Breakthrough Performance
Prince Adu for “Prince of Broadway”
Ronald Bronstein for “Daddy Longlegs”
Greta Gerwig for “Greenberg”
Jennifer Lawrence for “Winter’s Bone”
John Ortiz for “Jack Goes Boating”

Monday, October 18, 2010

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE RESULTS

 


JACKASS 3D kicked ass this weekend. It was the biggest opening in October ever for a movie. It's not going to win any awards, but here is the top ten from the weekend with the Oscar potentials underlined:
 
1. "Jackass 3D," $50 million.
2. "Red," $22.5 million.
3. "The Social Network," $11 million.
4. "Secretariat," $9.5 million.
5. "Life as We Know It," $9.2 million.
6. "Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole," $4.2 million.
7. "The Town," $4 million.
8. "My Soul to Take," $3.2 million.
9. "Easy A," $2.7 million.
10. "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps," $2.4 million.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Here is a list of current potential Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor:




Geoffrey Rush, THE KING'S SPEECH

Mark Ruffalo, THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT

Andrew Garfield, THE SOCIAL NETWORK

Bill Murray, GET LOW

Justin Timberlake, THE SOCIAL NETWORK

Jeremy Renner, THE TOWN

Jim Broadbent, ANOTHER YEAR

Vincent Cassel,THE BACK SWAN

My pick to win right now would be Geoffrey Rush.

Friday, October 15, 2010

OPENING TODAY


RED-Not going to win any awards, but it has received some decent reviews.

JACKASS 3D- This will definitely not show up on any awards list, but if you are a JACKASS fan its a must see.

HEREAFTER-There has been some Oscar buzz, but the reviews haven't been stellar. We will have to see how it does at the Box Office.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

LIST OF 65 FOREIGN OSCAR ENTRIES




Here is the official list of the foreign Oscar Entries. Good luck seeing all of these films. I would wait until the nominations are announced before checking any of them out.


LINK TO COMPLETE LIST

BEST DOCUMENTARY





Documentaries are my favorite type of film, so there is usually a good list of documentary nominations every year. Here is a list of possible nominations and their release dates:

-THE TILLMAN STORY ( Now Playing)
-INSIDE JOB ( Now Playing)

-WAITING FOR SUPERMAN (Now Playing)
-CLIENT 9: THE RISE AND FALL OF ELIOT SPITZER (November 5th)
-COUNTDOWN TO ZERO (July 23rd, DVD release date unknown)
-RESTREPO (DVD December 7th)
-TABLOID (unknown)
-EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP (DVD now)
-FREAKONOMICS (Now Playing)


INSIDE JOB looks like the front runner at this point.

Monday, October 11, 2010

MY BEST PICTURE NOMINATIONS UPDATE

Things are starting to come together for a list of possible 10 Best Picture nominations. Many of these films still have not been released, but here is my updated list of predictions and my prediction for Best Picture.

-THE SOCIAL NETWORK

-THE KING'S SPEECH

-127 HOURS

-TRUE GRIT

-BLACK SWAN

-THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT

-TOY STORY 3

-INCEPTION

-THE FIGHTER

-ANOTHER YEAR

I removed HEREAFTER and WINTER'S BONE from my previous list.

As of now I predict that THE KING'S SPEECH will take home Best Picture.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE RESULTS

 
 
  Here are the results from this weekend. THE SECRETARIAT did not do as well as predicted. The only real possible nomination from this movie would be Best Actress for Diane Lane. THE SOCIAL NETWORK came out on top for the 2nd week in a row. Here is a list of the results. Nominations are possible from the films in bold:
 
1. "The Social Network," $15.5 million.
2. "Life as We Know It," $14.6 million.
3. "Secretariat," $12.6 million.
4. "Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole," $7 million.
5. "My Soul to Take," $6.9 million.
6. "The Town," $6.4 million.
7. "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps," $4.6 million.
8. "Easy A," $4.2 million.
9. "Case 39," $2.6 million.
10. "You Again," $2.5 million.

THE WAY BACK


THE WAY BACK was not set to be released until January 2011. The movie studio is realeasing it for one week in December in order to qualify for this years awards. It is Peter Weir's first fim in seven years. It has had mixed reviews from some of critics that viewed in Telluride. Here is the just released trailer:

THE WAY BACK TRAILER

Saturday, October 9, 2010

BLUE VALENTINE NC-17?



BLUE VALENTINE has had Oscar buz since the beginning of the year. The word is that Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams turn out some of the best acting performances of the year. The MPAA is recommending an NC-17 rating due to a few sex scenes. Apparently they look as though real sexual relations are taking place on film. This goes to show the acting strength of Gosling and Williams. Unfortnately an NC-17 will never win an Academy Award or be released in many theaters.  Check out the just released trailer below.


BLUE VALENTINE TRAILER HERE

Friday, October 8, 2010

OPENING TODAY



THE SECRETARIAT- The reviews have not been stellar, but remember THE BLIND SIDE? The reviews for that movie were not good, but Sandra Bullock pulled one out. same could happen for Diane Lane. She is getting a lot of positive reviews for her performance. Possible Best Actress nomination, but the film probably wont get much more.


LIFE AS WE KNOW IT- Romantic comedies always do well at the box office regardless of the quality.
I can guarantee that Katherine Heigel and Josh Duhamel will not be in any Oscar category for this movie or any movie this year...or next year.


MY SOUL TO TAKE- Another Wes craven horror film. If you want to see a horror type film with Oscar contention see NEVER LET ME GO.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

THE SOCIAL NETWORK (My Review)


 The story is about Mark Zuckerberg and the "other" founders of Facebook. It is based on the book  "The Accidental Billionaires" by Ben Mezrich. Mark played by Jesse Eisenberg is a computer programming nerd at Harvard University. A way to social network college students at his school eventually leads to a global way of communication.  Along with that comes many legal and personal problems for Zuckerberg.
     The films beings with a great two person dialogue between Zuckerberg and his girlfriend Erica. This scene is long but really showcases the writing talents of Arron Sorkin. This exchange sets up the tone for the entire movie. You get the sense that Zuckerberg may not be a real nice guy. He is approached by twins both played by Armie Hammer. I had no idea that the twins were played by the same person until after the movie. These guys have an idea for a website that Zuckerberg and his best friend Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) take and run with. Then the lawsuits begin. A lot of the movie takes place in two deposition rooms with flashbacks. It makes it a little hard to follow at first, but then it begins to make sense. Sean Parker played by Justin Timberlake is introduced about halfway in the film. He is the founder of Napster who is very interested in helping Zuckerberg expand Facebook. Parker had a greater role in Facebook than I knew. Timberlake can actually act.  He is very believable as the guy with all of the ideas, but just cant execute them.
     This movie is all talk and can seem slow, but the film is not boring. There is far from any action, but Sorkins screenplay and the acting of the cast make this movie one of the best. The real acting talents come out in the last ten minutes when everything comes to a head and the true personalities of the characters comes out. THE SOCIAL NETWORK will without a doubt be nominated for Best Picture, Director and screenplay. Eisenberg, Timberlake and Garfield should all be nominated in the acting categories.

 My Grade: A-

PIXAR PUSHING FOR BEST PICTURE

    



     Pixar is going full steam ahead with Toy Story 3.  They are pushing for a Best Picture award. There is no doubt that it will nominated in the animation category and has a pretty good chance for a Best Picture nomination. Remember tt was the highest grossing movie of the year at $400 million. I have not seen Toy Story 3 yet, but I have heard that it is the best of the Toy Story trilogy. My guess is a Best Picture nom., but not a winner.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

CURRENT STATE OF THE RACE

   



     Well THE SOCIAL NETWORK has been released. It performed a little less than hoped. It was predicted to do $25 million, but ended up at around $23 million. The movie also had its official academy screening and although the member are not supposed to speak, the comments were mixed. Some loved it and applauded at the end. Others said that it was "too cold" or had too many flaws to win Best Picture.
     All I keep hearing is that its too early to begin predicting nominations. Especially between THE SOCIAL NETWORK and THE KING'S SPEECH.  There are still a lot of films to be released before the end of the year. The trailer for TRUE GRIT was just released (link is below). The trailer looks like a definite Best Picture nomination.  It will be interesting to see if THE SOCIAL NETWORK cannot maintain itself. Sometimes films that come out strong too early end up fading away. It could come down to TRUE GRIT or THE KING'S SPEECH. But we still have to wait and see what BLACK SWAN does. It may be too gritty for a Best Picture, but Natalie Portman is a good bet for a Best Actress nomination. We also still have to see what 127 HOURS and THE FIGHTER do.
     Jesse Eisenberg as Best Actor does not seem likely at this point. He has a great chance at a nomination, but Eisenberg is playing a neurotic guy while Jesse admits to being neurotic in real life. He is really just reading Aaron Sorkins great script, so not sure how much acting is really happening. Colin Firth in THE KING'S SPEECH is playing King George VI who stammers (not stutters) and from what I have read really plays the part with emotion. Although Jeff Bridges won last year he cannot be counted out for TRUE GRIT.


TRUE GRIT TRAILER

Sunday, October 3, 2010

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE RESULTS



Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday  Final figures will be released Monday. The bold titles are Ocar contenders. Did you see any films on this list?

1. "THE SOCIAL NETWORK," $23 million.
2. "Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole," $10.9 million.
3. "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps," $10.1 million.
4. "THE TOWN," $10 million.
5. "Easy A," $7 million.
6. "You Again," $5.6 million.
7. "Case 39," $5.35 million.
8. "LET ME IN," $5.3 million.
9. "Devil," $3.7 million.
10. "Alpha and Omega," $3 million.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

MICHAEL CAINE EXPLAINS INCEPTION ENDING



In this artical Micheal Caine explains the end of INCEPTION. Be advised that this is a spoiler alert.


INCEPTION ENDING LINK

GREAT IDEA

This is a great idea. Hopefully it moves forward!



CLICK HERE FOR LINK

Friday, October 1, 2010

OPENING TODAY




THE SOCIAL NETWORK-After weeks of hype the day is finally here. This film will be nominated in all sorts of categories. It comes in and the highest rated movie of the year. This is a must see if you want to see all of the movies before Oscar Night.

LET ME IN-A bullied young boy befriends a young female vampire who lives in secrecy with her guardian. It has had some good review, but no Academy Awards talk.

FREAKONOMICS-"Some of the world's most innovative documentary filmmakers will explore the hidden side of everything". Some have this on their Best Documentary nomination list. The reviews haven't been great. If you have seen THE SOCIAL NETWORK, maybe worth checking out.


When you see THE SOCIAL NETWORK please leave your comments here. I Would like to know what everyone thinks.

IS DAVID O. RUSSELL TOO HATED TO WIN AN OSCAR?

   



     The Director of THE FIGHTER David O. Russell is not very well liked in Hollywood. For years there have been rumors that nobody would work with him because of his tantrums. He directed I HEART HUCKABEES and his raving rant at Lily Tomlin went viral. (see link below).  While working on his latest film NAILED James Caan walked off the set and quit. George Clooney got in to a fist fight with him during the filming of THE THREE KINGS. It is possible that the Academy dislikes him enough to completely shut him out of any nominations, or at least Best Director nomination for THE FIGHTER.
    
LINK TO RUSSELL TANTRUM