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.

Two Bad Movies Go Head To Head: Whiteout vs. Armored… which is worse?

2009 had its share of good movies, Star Trek, District 9, Inglorious Bastards, Avatar, etc. It also, had many stinkers, and the most surprising of which were Wolverine Origins and Transformers 2. Though a few lesser known movies that will be hitting the video rental shelves at around the same time are the focus of this article, they are Whiteout and Armored. The reason being they were both heavily advertized but fall short of anything even resembling memorable.

First off Armored, a movie about a group of security guards who drive money around protecting it from would be thieves. Sounds boring right? Yeah… it’s boring not only because of the subject matter but mostly because of the dialogue. It’s cheap and over used banter is so predictable that you almost think while watching it that the writer intended it to be ironic. No such luck. The movie plays out in a nonsense fashion coupled by a few unintentional and intentional deaths along the way. The hero is a VET of the Iraq war who has followed in his father’s footsteps to become a guardsman. Any attachment the viewer may have to the characters dissolves through the hole in the plot. Here’s a question, if these armored cars carry so much money wouldn’t it make sense for them to be lojacked? Every city vehicle nowadays has a GPS tracking its movements just in case it goes where it is not supposed to go, wouldn’t an armored car carrying millions of dollars have the same very basic safety feature. The idea that Mat Dillon could pull off a caper was enough of a stretch but to even mention a GPS tracker in the dialogue is just lazy. This is an awful movie and a waste of time, there are no redeeming qualities to it whatsoever.

Now for Whiteout. Kate Beckinsale stars in the South Pole who done it. The movie is based on a graphic novel like many films these days, but this problem in this movie is the lack of surprise. In comparison to Armored Whiteout is the better film. The reason? Even though Whiteout is predictable and a bit silly, (silly being the chase sense where Beckinsale incredibly slowly unhooks then hooks herself onto a guide rope while being chased by a man wheedling a climbing axe… who then does the same.) If you can look past such underwhelming parts of the film you can enjoy a few story points rarely seen in any movie staring a beautiful woman. Spoilers ahead! In the movie Beckinsale’s character has a few extremities amputated, how many times do you see that in a movie?

Both of these films are not very good, but if you want the lesser of two movie evils watch Whiteout. Or just don’t what either and save yourself the disappointment.

James Cameron’s Avatar | The Most Original Movie With The Least Original Story

The motion picture Avatar was such an enormously plugged movie that you might think after it you might as well die and save yourself the disappointment of watching any other films/sunsets/your fist child being born, because nothing will compare to the singular visual experience that is Avatar. Well, no. What this movie is though is among the best of 09’ and by far the most original… in a way. You see, so many freaking movies these days are based on other – that is financially proven, stories whether it be a comic book or TV series. The only way you can get a movie made these days is if you have some help from Marvel or Gene Rodenberry. That is what makes Avatar a pure and original film, it went from James Cameron’s brain to the big screen, plus a few decades in between, but for all intents and purposes THE FILM is original. On the other hand though, the story is very familiar. The movie plays out much like Dances With Wolves, lest Kevin Costner. Not to mention in Dances With Wolves, the back drop as beautiful as it was, can not compare to the magical world of Pandora. Every thing in this world is new, or a slight variation on what we have on Earth, most of the beasts of burden on Pandora are six legged, or dragons. The thing which makes the planet interesting to experience is its unpredictability. So much though has gone into the interactions of characters and the surrounding plants and animals, it is astonishing to watch on its own. The fact is anything on Pandora is more interesting than anything on Earth, in terms of visual aesthetics.

The Na'vi are the race of humanoids that live on Pandora. They look like a mixture of cats and people, if they had the skin of blue dolphin. The weird thing is they are kind of sexy in a beastiality kind of way. They have large eyes, small wastes and are 10 feet tall. It’s important to note that this description is the same as that of a supermodel and don’t think Cameron did know that. The wonderful thing about this new technique used to make this film allows you to forget that you are watching manufactured images. Cameron used head mounted cameras to capture the expressions of the actors while they played out each scene, really bringing to life the digitally rendered avatars. You can really see emotion in the facial expressions and most importantly the intensity of the eyes. The connection the Na’vi have with nature doesn’t seem to get preachy either. The eco-fighter undertones of the story are superfluous. The go green or good home mentality is more of a story mover than a weepy ballad for the Greenpeace type. The film may be set on the distant moon of Pandora but the story is as earthbound as the come. It’s the classic story of boy occupy’s the mind of an alien avatar (body), and then meets alien girl who he then falls in love with… the oldest story in the book. In all seriousness though, the story as simple as it is allows for the world in which it is told, to tell a story of its own. So, in actuality the film shares its time telling a story of adventure and romance while allowing the audience to experience the other, grander overall story with is the world of Pandora.

What of the 3D? Well, as impressive a feet Avatar is, the 3D element is hardly a key part of the experience. Having spent the extra coin to see the film in 3D I can say that after the hour it takes for your eyes to adjust to the effect it goes mostly unnoticed aside from a few exceptional sense where the barrel of a gun seems to leave the screen entirely and during a scene where the ash and embers which rain from the sky seem to be peppering in rest of the theater. However, all of the hype surrounding the films release in 3D seems to have just been a ploy to get asses in the seats. If anything the avid moviegoer should be exited about seeing Avatar in theater in an IMAX or digital HD theater, so they can see every detail of the world so carefully created by Cameron. It looks unlike anything you have seen on the big screen before.

Most importantly, Avatar has one of the greatest action sequences of recent years. Dragons versus Helicopter Gunships… need I say more.

Well do I? Leave a Comment!

Top 20 Best Movies Of The Decade

1. There Will Be Blood

2. No Country for Old Men

3. A History of Violence

4. District 9

5. Lost In Translation

6. Donnie Darko

7. High Fidelity

8. The Dark Knight

9. Kill Bill

10. Star Trek

11. X-2

12. Gladiator

13. Blackhawk Down

14. Bourne Identity

15. Superbad

16. Half Nelson

17. Thank You for Smoking

18. Sunshine

19. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

20. 300