Keep Up Movie Tome’s Oscar Predictions (2010)

Here is Keep Up Movie Tome’s Oscar predictions of 2010, courtesy of this Blog’s contributors Lew and Bob.


Best Picture

Avatar


The Blind Side


District 9


An Education


The Hurt Locker


Inglourious Basterds


Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire


A Serious Man


Up


Up in the Air

Lew’s Pick

Avatar:
This movie has broken records and new ground in the film industry. James Cameron’s extended break from the movie business ended with Avatar a film which was as technically taxing as it was breathtaking to watch.

Bob’s Pick

The Hurt Locker:
The Hurt Locker is just the well rounded film that should win for best picture. It has the acting, the war setting, the message, and it’s well put together.

Best Directing

James Cameron - Avatar


Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker


Quentin Tarantino - Inglourious Basterds


Lee Daniels - Precious


Jason Reitman - Up in the Air

Lew's Pick

James Cameron, Avatar:
This goes along with what was said about Cameron and Avatar. You can’t overestimated the difficulty and innovation the director went through to make the movie. He literally had to rewrite the book on visual effects and their place in motion pictures.

Bob’s Pick

Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker:
The only movie that can compete with Avatar is The Hurt Locker, which might win because it is gritty war film while Avatar is sci-fi and the academy has a real bias against that particular genre. The directing was fantastic and it really shows in the way Bigelow’s direction makes you as the viewer have a sense of what it is that the soldiers of the film are going through. The direction is very thoughtful and in what some might otherwise consider overly long senses, Bigelow allows the viewer to take in what the characters of the film are feeling and does so with the subtlety that only a person with a true vision can do.

Best Actor in a Leading Role

Jeff Bridges - Crazy Heart


George Clooney - Up in the Air


Colin Firth - A Single Man


Morgan Freeman - Invictus


Jeremy Renner - The Hurt Locker

Lew’s Pick

Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker:
The Hurt Locker’s main character played by Renner is as complex as they come. Renner brings this character to life, with an emotional grittiness that most find hard to stomach. And that fact that the character is based on an actual solder’s experience as a IED explosive expert while in Iraq makes the story and portrayal of the solder played by Renner all the more compelling.

Bob’s Pick

Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart:
 Who ever thinks Renner is going to win has been huffing glue since they emerged from the womb! Bridges looks like he’ll take home the Oscar this year. Clooney is playing himself again, Freeman’s had his Oscar, and who is Colin Firth anyway. There is one thing that Jeff Bridges has over Jeremy Renner that give him the edge, it’s a music movie. He’ll win showcasing flashy talent on top of great acting. He did his singing. That’s an Oscar trump card. And it makes no sense that Renner could win for the Hurt Locker since it’s a grand scale movie that does not allow too much focus on the main character. That is definitely not true for Jeff Bridges.

Best Actress

Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia


Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side


Carey Mulligan, An Education


Helen Mirren, The Last Station


Gabourey Sidibe, Precious

Lew’s Pick

Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia:
 The academy loves to give Oscars to Meryl Steep. That is why she will win.

Bob’s Pick

Gabourey Sibide, Precious:
I have a feeling about this one. Precious probably won’t win anything but best actress, and maybe supporting actress.

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

Matt Damon- Invictus


Woody Harrelson - The Messenger


Christopher Plummer - The Last Station


Stanley Tucci - The Lovely Bones


Christoph Waltz - Inglorious Basterds

Lew’s Pick

Woody Harrelson, The Messenger:

Woody’s acting has been getting progressively better since he left Cheers, and is due for and Oscar win. He was nominated for the same category a few years ago for portraying a cowboy hat wearing middle man in No Country for Old Men and should have won for that role. In The Messenger Woody’s plays a soldier who informs the families of recently deceased solders that that their loved one have died serving his or her country. Harrelson plays the commanding somewhat jaded soldier that intends to teach his new underling how the business of being the bearer of bad news these but in the end is shown the grit and hardness of his vocation from his costar Ben Frost. There are other aspects of Harrelson’s character that makes him interesting but honestly out of those nominated for this category his performance was the most impressive.

Bob’s Pick

Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds:

His portrayal of the strangle crazed, Jew hunter Nazi stole the film from every other actor or actress he shared a scene with. Waltz had possibly one of the best performances of the year hands down.

Best Supporting Actress

Mo'Nique, Precious


Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air


Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air


Penelope Cruz (Nine)


Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart

Lew’s Pick

Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart:

She is due for an Oscar.

Bob’s Pick

Mo’N ique, Precious:

Two of the nominations are for actresses from Up In The Air, which didn’t have any memorable acting. Maggie Gyllenhaal is Maggie Gyllenhaal. Then you just have a song and dance performance by Cruz going up against a heavy drama performance by Mo’Nique, and dance never beats drama at the Oscars. That’s like bringing a knife to a gun fight.

Best Adapted Screenplay

An Education, Nick Hornby

District 9, Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell

Precious, Geoffrey Fletcher


Up in the Air, Jason Rietman and Sheldon Turner


In the Loop, Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci and Tony Roche

Lew’s Pick

In the Loop, Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci and Tony Roche:

The film is intricate in its social nuance and it’s wonderfully witty and cleaver. By far In The Loop is the best written screenplay in terms of dialogue, originality and social commentary.

Bob’s Pick

District 9, Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell:

Just give it to District 9. I didn’t like the other screenplays.

Best Original Screenplay

The Hurt Locker, Mark Boal


Inglorious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino


A Serious Man, Joel and Ethan Coen


Up, Bob Peterson and Pete Docter


The Messenger, Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman

Lew’s Pick

Inglorious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino:

Tarantino made a very original story, but that’s not the reason it will win. You can tell that a screenplay is well made when you incorporate language as an essential element of the story. This is hardly ever seen on film, the incorporation of lingual transitions into the story was done so naturally it makes those nonsensical and ridiculous transitions seen so many time in films where the Russian speaker mid sentence breaks into fluent English (with an accent, usually British). And who never wanted to assassinate Hitler that would be awesome and it was great to watch from Tarantino’s unique perspective.

Bob’s Pick

The Messenger, Bob Peterson and Pete Docter:

It’s probably going to be Inglorious Basterds, but let’s go for the underdog, which is The Messenger. It’s a great story, and it’s just the type of indie movie to get a best original screenplay award.

Best Animated Feature

Coraline


Fantastic Mr. Fox


The Princess and the Frog


The Secret of Kells


Up

Lew’s Pick

Up

Up is the most popular and best animated film of the year hands down. It had so much heart and was incredibly imaginative, the colours and grandeur of this child’s movie is so potent it is the Toy Story of this year.

Bob’s Pick

Up

It’s definitely going to be Up that wins. The other movies are too unpopular to have a chance.

The Wolfman Review - Don't Listen To Any Critic But Me

Don’t listen to the reviews for 2010's The Wolfman, the remake of the horror classic. It has received horrible reviews and a very low rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Having recently seen this movie, the negative reviews seem ridiculous. Yes, it’s not good as could have been, but it is a descent monster movie. In fact, the only conceivable reason for the negativity is a prejudice by those who loved the original and those who are used to the present gory, action filled werewolf films. Maybe they didn’t understand that it was a throwback to the old monster movies, where action and suspense weren’t as important as the monster itself. That’s exactly what they did with The Wolfman, and they did it well.

It’s also surprising that people were upset it didn’t have more horror or suspense, because you shouldn’t expect that from a movie like this. It’s not a suspense movie, it’s a monster movie. There is a difference. It was actually reminiscent of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Maybe because Anthony Hopkins is in it? Who knows. Speaking of which, he really added to the movie with his creepy and emotionless portrayal of the father of the wolfman, although the acting of the rest of the cast may have been a little too relaxed for the movie. Some advice for people who want to enjoy this movie: just take for what it is and don’t expect it to be a bloodbath like most werewolf movies.