All posts tagged christopher nolan

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3:41: Thanks for reading, you can scroll down to the bottom of the page and see all the winners, neatly written in RED.

3:38: Franco and Hathaway come back on and wrap up “as oscar turn 83…our final song tonight reminds us that dreams really do come true.” The PS22 School children’s choir comes onstage to sing “somewhere over the rainbow”. Overall the show wasn’t really surprise filled, the hosting was terrible – there were good moments. The awards were handed out well, but ultimately it was a pretty weak show, and one of the most milqutoast in years. All the winners got up to sing, and the show ends on Franco and Hathaway singing with arms open.

3:37: THE KINGS SPEECH wins Best Picture!! Good one! I’m surprised, but happy!

3:34: And the winner of the 2011 ACADEMY AWARD FOR BEST PICTURE goes to…

3:31  A now the big one, BEST PICTURE. It’ll be King’s speech. There are ten of these films nominated, and every single one of them is excellent. Most years; all the films selected are seriously great, and anyone that wins is fine with me. Out of favorites mine would be ‘Social Network’, ‘Winters Bone’ and ‘The Kings Speech’. So if its any of those I’ll be happy. I’m hoping for Social Network. Now in oscar tradition; one of the greatest filmmakers of all time STEVEN SPIELBERG comes on stage to present BEST PICTURE. They use the final speech for KINGS SPEECH to go over the top of all the nominees – works wonderfully, beacuse that speech is so human, thus showcasing the humanity present in all the nominees.

3:21: Anne Hathaway comes on to present Sandra Bullock, she has this look of “I’ll never be like Natalie Portman”. She brings on Sandra Bullock, to present BEST ACTOR. Her little spiels are very funny, Bullock looks burnt out, a good trooper though. To colin firth “I heard the queen enjoyed the film, are you going back home soon?” Ha. It is so Colin Firth’s award…And the winner goes to…COLIN FIRTH FOR THE KINGS SPEECH. We all saw this coming because he was so,so,so deserving. “I have a feeling my career just peaked” haha. “I have to warn you I am feeling stirrings in the upper abdominals that are threatening to morph into dance moves – it would be extremely problematic if they make their way to my legs before I leave stage so I’ll be brief”. His speeches are always great.Very gracious and a class act, only the brits could give speeches like this. Every acting award has gone brilliantly. “now if you excuse me I have some impulses I have to attend to backstage” Add break now.

3:12: …the BEST ACTRESS award. All the nominees get clips and personal intros from Bridges. Very cool, how they actually showcase performances this time around. Natalie Portman in the bag! And the winner goes to…NATALIE PORTMAN FOR BLACK SWAN! I remember a buddy of mine Sam Rix saw Black Swan months before I did, he raved about her performance saying she was a shoe-in! Well Sam’s going to be going apesh*t right now! We all are – this is brilliant. She is tearing up – so happy to be there, and so deserving. What an astonishing performance she gave. She thanks Luc Besson, Mike Nichols…and of course “fearless leader, visionary” Darren Aronofsky. So talented and gorgeous, you gotta love her.

3:11: Franco/Hathaway are back. Now its time for actors! The hosting is now officially terrible. The worst in recent memory. The set turns into the entrance to the chinese graumans theater and Jeff Bridges come on to present…

3:06 Annette Benning comes on to present on the Governors awards from the other day. Kevin Brownloe(Spelling sorry), Francis Ford Copolla and Eli Wallach come onto stage to a massive standing ovation. Cuts to add break. 3 Hours later and the show starts to become a slog.

3:00. Back from break. Hathaway in a blue dress now. Two time academy award winner Hilary Swank comes on to present Kathryn Bigelow – who still looks goddamn stunning for her age. She is here to present the BEST DIRECTOR. This is a tough one. I’d love Aronofsky, but i’m happy with David Fincher. Such a good bunch of directors. Woah! TOM HOOPER for THE KINGS SPEECH. this is really surprising – it looks like King’s speech’s year then. I really thought Fincher was going to bag this. Well there you go…Hooper did a damn good job.

2:55: Here is Halle Berry talking about trailblazer Lena Horne- the last of the memorials. Ends with a quote from her: “Its not the load that breaks you down, its the way you carry it” – Lena Horne. next add break.

2:52: we’re back for Memoriam. Celine Dion sings. A sad part of the show as always. They didn’t show Corey Haim.

2:45: Hudson is back to present ORIGINAL SONG. And the winner is surprise surprise RANDY NEWMAN FOR TOY STORY 3. Randy Newman, I love this dude, I wish he just sang “I LOVE LA’ as his speech. Such a class act. If you haven’t checked out his back catalogue you really should. “I want to be good television so badly…i’ve been on this show so many times, and i’ve slowed it down…Cinematography has so many nods, we only got four – I’m sure I could have filled a fifth spot. Next add break.

2:43: Paltrow comes on to sing her song from ‘Country Song’ this movie isn’t out or screened in Australia yet. She did pretty well.

2:40: Back. Anne: “how are you doing James?” “not good, offended by movie titles…winters bone…rabbit hole…How to train your dragon..that one is disgusting”. They bring on Jennifer Hudson to present, she’s presented A.R Rahman to sing his song with Florence, from Florence and the Machine. The song is nice. It is the best song out of all the nominees for song.

2:34: now its EDITING. This has to go to 127 HOURS. anyway lets see…nominees, nominees, the oscar go to SOCIAL NETWORK. Aww man, editing in that film was excellent – but the editing work in 127 hours was brilliant. “we want to thank everyone that Aaron Sorkin thanked.” Next add break.

2:31: ..Robert Downey Jr and Sher….Robert downey Jr. Some more shameless promotions for Sherlock 2. They bring up some of Downey Jr.s drug past. Finally some subversive and risky humor. They are here for VISUAL EFFECTS. And its obvious that inception has this one…and the winner goes to INCEPTION! so well deserved. Good to see Inception getting plenty of wins. “I think that top is still spinning”.

2:26: we’re back. Hathaway is on to present – BILLY CRYSTAL! Who should have hosted again! Its been a while since we’ve heard from him will all the 500 Sundays’ theater work he has been doing. He starts like he’s hosting. Going straight to best picture for time reasons. Oh well this isn’t true – he’s talking about the first oscars televised. Now Bob Hope…man he is so goddamn funny. “I wanted to do what bob hope did…so i moved to the valley and bought a mansion”. It feels like he is hosting again, even though for so short a time – its great. They now show a clip from the first Academy awards. Kind of nice – but a bit self congratulatory. they have him holographically presented onto a podium, kind of awesome. “due to some repair work my star is now a manhole cover” They then bring him back to life through technology “our next hosts are…:

2:19: Hathaway has a horrible dress joke, its kind of embarrassing watching this. Oprah is presenting. Cuts to Coen Brohters in their seats, Joel Coen looks asleep; that or he was texting or something. BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE. I think its going to ‘Inside Job’, but it has to be Banksy, come on! And the winner goes to INSIDE JOB. darn. Maybe its because of ‘Exit through the gift shops’ subject matter that it lost. Well atleast Inside Job was a good film – but it only won because of political reasons…which is proved by the director starting his speech with “Not a single person has been put in jail (paraphrased”. Now its the next add break.

2:17: “the year of the movie musical?” “Yes anne, let me remind you”. Its Harry Potter mashed up; by what sounds like Lonely Island/Andy Samberg. Social network “lets dance”. Hahaha this is hilarious, and awesome. Sometimes young and hip can work. AND OF COURSE, Twilight has to make an appearance at the oscars. Way to sour a funny skit.

2:14: LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM: I pick the confession. And the winner goes to GOD OF LOVE. didn’t think the film was that amazing. Well done to him though!

2:12: Franco: “he made out with my cohost…in a movie.” Amy adams and Jake Gyllenhaal. DOCUMENTARY SHORT: and winner goes to: STRANGERS NO MORE. My only complaint is that these films are never made available in Australia till long after the academy awards. So crap when you can buy them on the US Itunes and not on the Aussie store!

2:10: The add breaks are getting longer now..

2:05: Now Zachary Levi and Mandy Moore come to sing a song from ‘Tangled’. Its good I hope they get all the songs out of the way. Nope they are only doing 2 for now.

2:01: they have a montage asking the public what their favorite movie song is. They are really pimping the “Young and Hip” oscar thing this year. Holy shit Obama! I was laughing too hard and missed his favourite song. Kevin Spacey sings some ‘top hat’ and then starts presenting Randy Newman, who is performing his song from Toy Story 3. The sound and levels are fuc*ked here, Newmans voice is drowned out horribly. Man..

1:58: COSTUME DESIGN: and the winner goes to ALICE IN WONDERLAND. No surprise, competition in this category was weak. Alice is deserving – some great work in that movie.

1:55: Cate Blanchett comes on the present the award for MAKE UP: The winner goes to THE WOLFMAN Good to see Rick Baker winning, he only really wins for his work before…but he’s already won like 10 oscars hasn’t he? I should check that. Oh nope; no need, they just said he’s won 8. Shortest speech ever. “thanks to my wife; you were right”.

1:53: Hosting is awful this year; not much time with the hosts either: Marisa Tomei comes on to look back on the Academy scientific and technical awards. Spider cam/leCam is the big winner for its development in camerawork.

1:48. SOUND EDITING. Winner goes to…INCEPTION! Awesome.

1:45 franco: “i am now six degrees from Kevin Bacon away from our next presenters…look it up on the internets” Franco is so cool. McCounaghey and Johansson. Now its the sound mixing awards, the technical awards run – johansson seems to be clinging really hard to McCoungaghey – maybe she is looking for a new beau… SOUND MIXING: and the winner goes to INCEPTION!!! Awesome; i thought so; Sound was so integral to that film. It’ll win the next sound award too.

1:40: Hathaway; in a strange dress. “he can sing he can dance…the wolver to me rine” Hugh jackman and nicole kidman come to present: They are doing silent film…it goes into MUSIC and the orchestra is revealed they blast: STAR WARS, LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, ET. Etc etc. Pretty cool reveal. They are presenting ORIGINAL SCORE: And the winner should go to Social Network…I want How to train your dragon to win. Would be awesome for Social to win, just because of the Trent Reznor factor. Inception’s score is iconic…either way i’m happy. How about you? And the winner goes to…TRENT REZNOR AND ATTICUS ROSS for SOCIAL NETWORK. this is awesome, “wow, this is really happening”…”david fincher…david fincher…thank you”.

1:39: Heres the academy president speech; notoriously the most boring and self-congratulatory part of the show. Massive yawn.

1:38: Channel 9 isn’t playing adds for movies; they are playing “two and half men” and “Big bang theory” adds.

1:29: Reese Witherspoon is on. She looks beautiful as always.SUPPORTING ACTOR. I hope this goes to Bale; everyone I’m sitting with thinks it should be Rush. I’d be happy either way; everyone in this category was so good. . and the winner goes to…CHRISTIAN BALE! Yes! Its finally time he won! “what the hell am i doing next to all of you?” haha, nice. “its good to be a movie where it actually means something”. The real dickie stands up “theres my quacker!”. “there are many movies that are brilliant that no-one ever hears about”. Good speech, short and quick. Very serious though.

1:27: Russell Brand and Helen Mirren; for some more shameless ‘Arthur’ plugging. They are speaking in foreign. “What helen said was my performance as a queen was more impressive than Firth as a King”. Funny. FOREIGN FILM. I hope Biutiful wins. And the winner goes to IN A BETTER WORLD. I have a screening for this next week – I’m told its excellent. Well done.

1:23: we’re back from back: with singing. I was hoping the songs were going to be removed from the show. Here she goes Hathaway singing. “someones a hugh jackass, I wont say who – I thought Australians were our allies” – wow a whole song about Australians. Its a whole song about Hugh Jackman…man…this is kind of trite – girl can sing though! Act/sing shes a threat to hollywood in some ways. Franco comes on in drag! Awesome. “you got to wear a tuxedo so I wore this…”i just a text from Charlie Sheen!” Franco is gold!

1:16: ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Got to be INCEPTION, but KINGS SPEECH will probably win. And the winner goes to: THE KINGS SPEECH. Yawn, I love the kings speech – buts its excellent because it is classically made. Its far from Original though. Poor, poor nolan. Speech is funny “I believe I’m the oldest person to win this award, i hope that record is broken quickly and often”. Good speech.

1:12: ADAPTED SCREENPLAY. This is going to SOCIAL NETWORK hands down. No contest…unless…unless…and the winner goes to…AARON SORKIN: THE SOCIAL NETWORK. I Love Sorkin. He is giving a serious speech here, unlike his hilarious Golden Globes speech. “I wrote this movie, but Fincher made the movie”. He made the movie of “any screenwriters dream”. Very gracious. Heres the music – i can’t believe they are playing him off. Sorkin battles it…but…but…”Your father just won the award now I’ve got to demand some respect.

1:11: Hathaway on her own: Now they are doing a feature on the very first academy awards. Boring. Javier Bardem and Josh Brolin come on together to host, wearing white tuxedos!

1:06: Come on How to train your dragon! BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: and the winner goes to….probably Toy Story…..but…its…TOY STORY 3 now its Pixars year again. Lee Unkrich, director gets up. Always a good speech giver. “Pixar the best place to make Movies!” no doubt.

1:03: Timberlake “im banksy” kunis “no your not” man that was lame. BEST ANIMATED SHORT. someone makes an app joke. God. They bring up SHREK as an example of great animated features? sigh. It goes to THE LOST THING I didn’t think it was the best but okay. An aussie that wins! YAY for us. The two winners look like Schwarzenneger and Devito…the aussie version of course.

1:01: Hathaway “its the young and hip oscars!” so flat and horrible. Timberlake and kunis presenting:

12:57: Leo: “Mine!? FOR ME!?” awesome. SHe aks douglas “what are you doing later on?”…She’s crying, good on her – she is just an icon at the moment. She’s overwhelmed. “when I watched Cate years ago It looked so FU*CKING easy! WHOOPS!” Awesome. First good speech moment. Thanks everyone. Looks like she wasn’t crying some bad lighting on the show. she still seems overwhelmed. Long speech. ‘its about selling motion picutres and respecting the work!” awesome. well done.

12:52. We’re back from break with Kirk Douglas. Man its sad to see Kirk Douglas like this. Old and hard to understand – but its only because he is a living legend. I wonder how he feels about his son “charlie”. He is doing BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS. It’ll be Leo or carter. But I want steinfeld to win! COME ON! GO! GO!…they are going through clips off all the actors: I love this and missed it in the last few years – its good to see actual clips unlike in previous years. Now Jacki Weaver and Australia gets broadcast to millions of people! YAY! Good luck. Leo was amazing. Here we go the winner is….king kirk douglas quips “hugh jackman is laughing hes australian, firth is not laughing he is british” awesome. And the winner goes to….come on…douglas drags it out hysterically…so awesome…”you know I remember…I’ll never forget this moment, three times and I lost everytime” hahahahaha awesome. Winner goes to MELISSA LEO. brilliant! Well deserved, but damn Hailee steinfeld…oh well. I love leo.

12:47: CINEMATOGRAPHY goes to INCEPTION I thought Inception was going to be snubbed, but there you go. I’m cool with this. It would be great if INCEPTION gets more wins.

12:43 ART DIRECTION: It goes to ALICE IN WONDERLAND. damn, it was fine but come on over ‘Inception’ and ‘True grit” darn.

12:42: First award! Tom Hanks. He’s talking about how Gone with the Wind has great art direction and thinks like that. So the show is going to look at previous winners prior to giving out the awards. They are bringing art direction and cinematography: TITANIC is used as a good example.

12:41: They are doing odes to classic films: First is Gone with the wind.

12:37: Franco is filming off his Iphone. So far this is a good start. Hathaway is nervous as fu*k. Franco is class. It looks like its going to be all young jokes. She’s over the top and he is calm. Its a buddy cop dynamic – don’t know if its working that well. Jokes aren’t hitting. “james you are nominated tonight are you nervous”..”no what do you win? Money or something?”. Not funny. Very stilted. They are getting their moms to stand up in the auditorium. Franco’s grandmother. its sweet – but whatever – “I just saw marky mark!” Hilarious, franco: “thats actually Mark whalberg.” “Kids are alright: Lesbians….black swan: dancing lesbians” – Jokes not hitting that well. This doesn’t bode well.

12:32: Montage of Best Picture winners. This is a really nice montage scored to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’s score for Social Network. “Live from the Kodak Theater…”  Now its a series of skits where Franco and Hathaway get inserted into the best picture winners and ask the characters for advice. Inception: The hosts asks leo for advice “proove its a dream!” Alec Baldwin is on the plane – funny. They go into his dreams for the secrets of hosting. THe ask zuckerberg for help “he has no legal obligation” – Franco: ‘you’ve just lost a facebook friend!”. Fighter. Franco is owning but Hathaway is missing a bit. Grit: franco “I loved you in tron”, hathaway: “can we wait till matt damon gets back?”. Freeman starts narrating ahhaha. Kings speech: Franco at the mic “Whats Up!” – Hathaway “from the future: Microphones get smaller”. Black Swan: “the brown duck” Franco: “Seduce her!”. Franco is gold man, like Pineapple express gold. More baldwin: “if this were my dream id be hosting the oscars” “you just go inception!”. Baldwin to Freeman: “Who are those people?”. Now its back to the future – their doing old films – shame they didn’t get inserted into ‘winters bone’ or animated into ‘toy story 3′. THey blast off in the dolorean and…walk onto stage..

12:31: Show starting now…

12:30: Geoffrey Rush is there “I’m not a Las Vegas Man” on the King Speech looking like winning. Richard Wilkins brings the King’s speech down to a “buddy Movie” – rush: “its called The kings speech – Not the Kings speech therapist”

12:25: I wonder if Bansky will be on the red carpet? We only got five minutes till the show starts. We’ll see if Franco and Hathaway work…

12:23: Blanchett looks like she is dressed in cardboard. Michelle Williams looks amazing. Bonham Carter! She looks “gothic Victorian” -Hilary Swank is there too. What THE FU*K IS Mark Ruffalo’s wife wearing?

12:20: Sandra Bullock, aussie presenters say “she is in a better place than last year” – they are making it entirely about her divorce. Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban. She’s here for ‘Rabbit Hole’ and was excellent in it – but it will be portmans. She graciously wishes luck to all the other Aussie nominees.

12:15: wow, Mila Kunis looks amazing. So does Scarlett Johansson. Heres 14 year old Hailee Steinfeld from ‘True Grit”. I really hope she wins. Wilkins just called the Coen’s ‘dirty old men’. She looks so happy to be there, she was the best – good luck.

12:12: Russell Brand on Australia “we made your country we can take it back” – Wilkins actually asks why he isn’t there with Katy Perry, Brand laughs it off. He then shamelessly plugs Arthur “Its actually longer than 3 minutes its very exciting” – he’s funny. The aussie presenters say “he should host the oscars next year” I agree.

12:10: So here we go, Red Carpet has started with old mate Richard Wilkins. We’ve seen Jackie Weaver, Paltrow, and Melissa Leo.

12pm: Red Carpet

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Hello Guys!

It’s that awesome/contentious/self-congratulatory time of year again: Where we gambling/film addicts like to play the ballot and pick the winners. Yes it’s that time, “Live from the Kodak Theater….”

Yes, it’s the ACADEMY AWARDS.

The biggest night in Hollywood, and one of the biggest nights for American Film.

Here at 12pm Sydney Time (or basically whenever the show starts live in your area); I’ll be Live Blogging The 83rd Academy Awards: I love this time of the year and even though your view on the importance of an Oscar win will differ – you can’t argue that the show and the wins/losses is always something worth discussing. Ultimately I think that awards are a bit self congratulatory – and a bit unnecessary  (as there really isn’t a “best film” of 2011) but whatever; this is a day of show – and its fun! Picking the winners and all that jazz… anyway wheres the fun without the predictions:

This list will be updated as we go; with the winners listed in RED. You can see all these and my predictions: alongside and below the OSCAR Poster. Enjoy:

Writing (Original Screenplay): What should win: Inception. What will win: The King’s Speech. WINNER: KINGS SPEECH

Writing (Adapted Screenplay): The Social Network. .No real question here. WINNER: SOCIAL NETWORK

Visual Effects: Inception. It’ll be a joke if Hereafter wins it. Potter will get rewarded massively with Part 2. WINNER: INCEPTION

Sound Mixing: Inception. Mixed bag it could go to anything really. This or Social, either way it should beInception. WINNER: INCEPTION

Sound Editing: Same as above; a mixed bag. My pick is on Inception. It’ll get snubbed all over; they’ll give it the tech awards instead. WINNER: INCEPTION

Short Film Live Action: The Confession. Only saw a few of these. Didn’t like Wish 143 as much as I did The Confession. Na Wewe could take it though. WINNER: GOD OF LOVE

Short Film Animated: Saw all of these. They are all great. My favourite was: Madagascar Carnet de Voyage.What will win: Day and Night. WINNER: THE LOST THING

Documentary Short: Have not seen a single one; none of these are available yet in Australia. WINNER: STRANGERS NO MORE

Music (Original Song): Uh none of these songs are good…..Tangled? Randy Newman for the win…because he is Randy Newman. WINNER: RANDY NEWMAN

Music Original Score: What should win: All of them are so good; but I think How To Train Your Dragon was the best. Inception will probably (and as well deserves to) win because its score is Iconic; if not a little simplistic. WINNER: SOCIAL NETWORK

Make Up: The Wolfman was a joke of a film, it was Computer Generated 80% of the time anyway. Rick Baker has done much more seminal work and if he wins it’ll only be because of what he has done before. Barney’s Version is still not out in Australia; so I can’t speak for that – so my pick is on The Wolfman. The Way Backdeserves this one – but it winning is a long shot. WINNER: THE WOLFMAN

Foreign Language: I loved Biutiful and it will probably win. I haven’t seen Incendies or Outside The Law; but I can’t imagine any of them being better than Dogtooth. Which should win this one. WINNER: IN A BETTER WORLD

Film Editing: 127 HOURS! If it doesn’t win this one I’ll be shocked. Its likely that The Kings Speech will clean up from here on out; so be it – it was a wonderful film. But 127 HOURS had amazing editing. WINNER: THE SOCIAL NETWORK

Documentary Feature: Exit through the Gift Shop. Inside Job seems to be the winner – I’ve seen them both and come on! Exit Through The Gift Shop is a classic. WINNER: INSIDE JOB

Directing: Aronofsky should get this – but the academy is going to give it to Fincher – unless of course Tom Hooper and his film The Kings Speech seriously clean up big time. WINNER: TOM HOOPER, THE KINGS SPEECH

Costume: True Grit all the way. I have a feeling that Alice In Wonderland will win it though. WINNER: ALICE IN WONDERLAND

Cinematography: All of the films here are brilliantly shot; but I’m siding with Roger Deakins and True Grit. Social Network probably wins this though. WINNER: SOCIAL NETWORK

Art Direction: Will win: Alice In Wonderland. What should win: Inception or True Grit. WINNER: ALICE IN WONDERLAND

Animated Feature: What should win: How To Train Your Dragon. What will win: Toy Story 3 WINNER: TOY STORY 3

Supporting Actress: Who will win: Melissa Leo. Who should win: Hailee Steinfeld. Wild card: Helena Bonham Carter (depending on The Kings Speech’s love). WINNER: MELISSA LEO

Lead Actress: Natalie Portman; no contest. WINNER: NATALIE PORTMAN

Supporting Actor: Christian Bale: no contest.WINNER: CHRISTIAN BALE

Lead Actor: Colin Firth: no contest. WINNER: COLIN FIRTH

Best Picture: I’m going to say The Social Network. Although all things look like its The Kings Speech. If anything it looks like the director/film will be split apart. Im thinking Fincher for director and Speech for film. WINNER: THE KINGS SPEECH

Anyway….

Should be fun – I hope there isn’t some disastrous robbing of awards and I hope there isn’t too much self congratulatory pats on the back. Anyway; James Franco and Anne Hathaway are unusual Hosts for the night – and the results (as well as the winners) should be interesting. Anyway; lets enjoy this incredibly, incredibly, incredibly long show together!

Note: Winners will be listed in Bold so you can scroll through easily, after the show is done.

Note: Page will be scrolling up as I update; just refresh the page as needed. Cheers!