Academy Awards Predictions List: Who Will Win At The Oscars In 2011?

The Academy Awards are nearly upon us and everyone is asking who the winners will be. Here is a predictions list for this years Oscar winners:

*Winners are indicated by the Asterisk next to the nominee.

Actor in a Leading Role

•           Javier Bardem in “Biutiful”

•           Jeff Bridges in “True Grit”

•           Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network”

•           Colin Firth in “The King's Speech”*

•           James Franco in “127 Hours”

Actor in a Supporting Role

•           Christian Bale in “The Fighter”

•           John Hawkes in “Winter's Bone”

•           Jeremy Renner in “The Town”*

•           Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right”

•           Geoffrey Rush in “The King's Speech”

Actress in a Leading Role

•           Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right”

•           Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole”

•           Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter's Bone”

•           Natalie Portman in “Black Swan”

•           Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine”*

Actress in a Supporting Role

•           Amy Adams in “The Fighter”

•           Helena Bonham Carter in “The King's Speech”*

•           Melissa Leo in “The Fighter”

•           Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit”

•           Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”

Animated Feature Film

•           “How to Train Your Dragon” Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois

•           “The Illusionist” Sylvain Chomet

•           “Toy Story 3” Lee Unkrich*

Art Direction

•           “Alice in Wonderland”

Production Design: Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Karen O'Hara

•           “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1”

Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan

•           “Inception”

Production Design: Guy Hendrix Dyas; Set Decoration: Larry Dias and Doug Mowat*

•           “The King's Speech”

Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Judy Farr

•           “True Grit”

Production Design: Jess Gonchor; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh

Cinematography

•           “Black Swan” Matthew Libatique

•           “Inception” Wally Pfister

•           “The King's Speech” Danny Cohen*

•           “The Social Network” Jeff Cronenweth

•           “True Grit” Roger Deakins

Costume Design

•           “Alice in Wonderland” Colleen Atwood

•           “I Am Love” Antonella Cannarozzi

•           “The King's Speech” Jenny Beavan*

•           “The Tempest” Sandy Powell

•           “True Grit” Mary Zophres

Directing

•           “Black Swan” Darren Aronofsky

•           “The Fighter” David O. Russell

•           “The King's Speech” Tom Hooper*

•           “The Social Network” David Fincher

•           “True Grit” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

Documentary (Feature)

•           “Exit through the Gift Shop” Banksy and Jaimie D'Cruz

•           “Gasland” Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic

•           “Inside Job” Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs

•           “Restrepo” Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger*

•           “Waste Land” Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley

Documentary (Short Subject)

•           “Killing in the Name” Jed Rothstein

•           “Poster Girl” Sara Nesson and Mitchell W. Block*

•           “Strangers No More” Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon

•           “Sun Come Up” Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger

•           “The Warriors of Qiugang” Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon

Film Editing

•           “Black Swan” Andrew Weisblum

•           “The Fighter” Pamela Martin

•           “The King's Speech” Tariq Anwar*

•           “127 Hours” Jon Harris

•           “The Social Network” Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter

Foreign Language Film

•           “Biutiful” Mexico

•           “Dogtooth” Greece

•           “In a Better World” Denmark

•           “Incendies” Canada*

•           “Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi)” Algeria

Makeup

•           “Barney's Version” Adrien Morot

•           “The Way Back” Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng

•           “The Wolfman” Rick Baker and Dave Elsey*

Music (Original Score)

•           “How to Train Your Dragon” John Powell

•           “Inception” Hans Zimmer

•           “The King's Speech” Alexandre Desplat

•           “127 Hours” A.R. Rahman

•           “The Social Network” Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

•           “Tron: Legacy” Daft Punk (not on the list)***

Music (Original Song)

•           “Coming Home” from “Country Strong” Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey

•           “I See the Light” from “Tangled” Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater

•           “If I Rise” from “127 Hours” Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong

•           “We Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3" Music and Lyric by Randy Newman*

Best Picture

•           “Black Swan” Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver and Scott Franklin, Producers

•           “The Fighter” David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg, Producers

•           “Inception” Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers

•           “The Kids Are All Right” Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray Producers

•           “The King's Speech” Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, Producers*

•           “127 Hours” Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and John Smithson, Producers

•           “The Social Network” Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and Ceán Chaffin, Producers

•           “Toy Story 3” Darla K. Anderson, Producer

•           “True Grit” Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers

•           “Winter's Bone" Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers

Short Film (Animated)

•           “Day & Night” Teddy Newton

•           “The Gruffalo” Jakob Schuh and Max Lang

•           “Let's Pollute” Geefwee Boedoe

•           “The Lost Thing” Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann*

•           “Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)” Bastien Dubois

Short Film (Live Action)

•           “The Confession” Tanel Toom*

•           “The Crush” Michael Creagh

•           “God of Love” Luke Matheny

•           “Na Wewe” Ivan Goldschmidt

•           “Wish 143” Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite

Sound Editing

•           “Inception” Richard King

•           “Toy Story 3” Tom Myers and Michael Silvers

•           “Tron: Legacy” Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague*

•           “True Grit” Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey

•           “Unstoppable” Mark P. Stoeckinger

Sound Mixing

•           “Inception” Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick*

•           “The King's Speech” Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley

•           “Salt” Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin

•           “The Social Network” Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten

•           “True Grit” Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland

Visual Effects

•           “Alice in Wonderland” Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips

•           “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1” Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi

•           “Hereafter” Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojansky and Joe Farrell

•           “Inception” Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb*

•           “Iron Man 2” Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick

 

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

•           “127 Hours” Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy

•           “The Social Network” Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin*

•           “Toy Story 3” Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich

•           “True Grit” Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen

•           “Winter's Bone” Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

Writing (Original Screenplay)

•           “Another Year” Written by Mike Leigh

•           “The Fighter” Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson;

Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson

•           “Inception” Written by Christopher Nolan

•           “The Kids Are All Right” Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg

•           “The King's Speech” Screenplay by David Seidler*

"The Beaver" Looks Great

Everyone thought that Mel Gibson's career was over. Allegations of Gibson's spousal assault and his crazy rants that have been recorded and played to death by certain news outlets. To see Gibson in another movie seemed all but impossible but then there was "The Beaver". Check out this trailer and try and tell me you are not interested in seeing more.

Obscure Movie Trailer - Hobo With a Shotgun

People have to see this trailer and movie based on one of the fake trailers from the Tarantino/Rodriguez Grindhouse film, Hobo with a Shotgun, which was only seen in limited showings of the film.

Top October 2010 Movie Trailers

Red (October 15th)



Let Me In (October 1st)



My Soul to Take (October 29th)



Monsters (October 29th)

MacGruber Movie Review

MacGruber as a movie is less funny than all of the MacGruber skits combine. However, there is a bit of fun to be had with the overly crude film and in it Will Forte plays a MacGyver like character who creates deadly objects with improvised items. The funny parts of this movie occur when Forte plays up the idiosyncrasies of MacGruber such as his propensity to rip the throats out of enemies (Roadhouse style) and the loud disturbing noises that he makes while in the sack with women (Forest Gump style). The plot of the movie takes much from late 80s and early 90s films and Television, with the plot of Uncommon Valor to start of with then later takes on the commonly used Nuclear Bomb pointed at the Pentagon/D.C. thing to sort of keep the story going somewhere. Many of the jokes here are overused, like the how the last name of the villain Dieter Von Cunth’s also sounds like a curse word or how MacGruber always has to carry around his car stereo as an anti-theft method. These elements of the movie are tiresome, but among the few funny portions of this film one stands out. As a move to find out what is Cunth is up to MacGruber and company visit Cunth’s club while parking MacGruber is pissed off by another driver who cuts him off. In a strange turn MacGruber quickly memorizes the license plate of the offending car, but this later comes into play in an odd way after one of MacGruber’s team mates finds a booklet filled first with an unfilled list of clues then page after page of that car’s plate number, written in an increasingly disturbing manner leading up to drawn pages where you car see crude drawings of MacGruber hanging from something taking a shit on the offending car and the next drawing is of MacGruber shitting on the head of the car’s driver. It’s a completely unexpected thing to happen in the movie and is by far its’ funniest part. What that doesn’t sound funny to you?   

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World | If You Are Debating Seeing the Movie Here’s a Pros and Cons List That Could Sway You One Way Or Another

Why You Might Hate Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

You are unwilling to give the story large amounts of leeway in terms of believability.

You do not think that Canadian City should be featured in any film unless it’s in a negative light.

You hate Canadians.

You hated Arrested Development and its entire cast.

You have never played a video game.

You have never been in a band or have wanted to be in a band so that you would be cool.

You have never had a conversation with young hipsters about society, music, video games or comic books.

You have no tolerance for the abstract.
You are a lover of David Lynch films.

You can’t stand 8bit music.

You have never said while on a recreational drug: I wish there was a movie that could match my imagination or my ability to hallucinate.

You can’t stand dry humor matched with music and special effects.

Why You Might Love Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

You dig hot chicks dressed in Steampunk attire.

You have played the following video games: Zelda, Mario Bros., Final Fantasy, Tetris and any interactive arcade game that requires movement of the feet in a coordinated fashion. 

You have been in a relationship with a high school student while not in high school yourself.

You will watch anything with a backstory sequence that is drawn in Manga style where the moon is shot with supernatural vegan powers yielded by Superman himself.

You have always wanted to see a movie with scenes that fully utilize visual effects where they are usually never use.

You have seen (not liked) Brazil.

You have seen (not necessarily liked) The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.

You have heard of the following bands: Wavves, Born Ruffians and Foals. 

You are ready for a new take on an old genre.

You have had a fantasy about Princess Zelda that you are not particularly proud of.

You simply can’t wait to see Michael Cera in the Arrested Development movie.

You like Youth in Revolt both as a film and as a general principle.

Batman: Under the Red Hood | Why DC Cartoon Movies Are Good

This Cartoon Movie Is Better Than Any Single Episode.

Batman aficionados should get their utility belts ready because DC has recently put out the latest installment of Batman. The story of Batman: Under the Red Hood follows Batman voiced by Bruce Greenwood (Start Trek, John From Cincinnati) in his investigation of a new criminal force in Gotham City called The Red Hood. The main story takes place 5 years after the brutal murder of Robin at the hands of The Joker. The Joker is voiced by John Di Maggio whose raspy voice you may recognize from Futurama as the lovable alcoholic robot Bender. The Red Hood is voiced by Jensen Ackles, that’s right one of the Winchester brothers from Supernatural. To top things off Neil Patrick Harris who was the voice of the short lived but very good Spider-man cartoon, he is filling in the voice for Nightwing. So, if there was ever a movie to have a cartoon nerdgasm over its Batman: Under the Red Hood.

It Is more Than Just The Voice Actors.

The story of this DC film is one of the best stand alone Batman cartoons movies ever made. It manages to play out one of those what if scenarios that comic book types love to concoct: What if Robin were murdered by The Joker? What would Batman do, would he break his moral code and kill The Joker to avenge his partner and friend? This movie also touches on another issue often brought up by Batman followers, what would Batman do if there were another vigilante in Gotham and he didn’t play by such noble rules? What if this protector of the city would kill? These are the scenarios that get to unfold in Batman: Under the Red Hood.

Batman: Under the Red Hood (The Story)

As a new power moves in on the Black Masks territory a red hooded (its more of a red helmet that covers the face), gun touting tough guy who calls a meeting with all of the head crime lords under the thumb of the Black Mask and shows them that he means business by giving them a duffle bag filled with the heads of their bosses. The Red Hood promises them all protection from Black Mask and Batman as long as he gets a 40% cut of the profits and they don’t push drugs on kids or innocents. This is the sort of moral relativism that Batman can’t stand so you can see that the two of them, both Batman and Red Hood are going to but heads down the line and Black Mask will be stuck in the middle.

The Dark Knight is called to a meeting with the Red Hood at the chemical factory where he accidentally created The Joker. Interestingly in this version of the Batman, Joker mythos The Joker had been one of the original Red Hoods and falls into a vat of chemicals as that persona. Batman admits to the latest Red Hood that this factory is the location of one of his greatest failures the other being the death of Robin. Batman at this point in the story already suspects that the Red Hood that his is dealing with now is Robin, as impossible as that might be. The two of them get into a bit of a pissing contest but end up having to fight together against a group of assassins sent by Black Mask. The only difference real difference between the two masked men is that Red Hood is more than willing to kill the assassins, demonstrated by the Red Hood’s unnecessary use of a powerful Taser which leaves on of the attackers with less weight on his shoulders.

Batman and The Red Hood part ways under poor conditions and Batman still not able to understand how his former partner can be alive and seemingly brutal. 

As a matter of self-preservation the Black Mask formulates a plan to recruit The Joker to take care of his new competition while employing an age old focusing technique, punching his lackies one after another. Very Zen. But things don’t go quiet the way the Black Mask thought it would. After busting The Joker out of Arkham Asylum in order to eliminate the underlings of Red Hood, Black Mask soon finds himself being deuced with gasoline right along side of the hoodlums he sent The Joker to kill. The cookout was being held atop of a turned over armored vehicle on one of Gotham’s bridges. The Joker’s plan to draw both Batman and Red Hood out happens just after The Joker ignites his passengers only to have them be put out by a Batwing moments later, but while Batman is playing fireman Red Hood captures The Joker.

What Happened to Jason Todd A.K.A. Robin?

Batman after digging up his former partner’s body discovers that his body has been replaced by a high quality silicon duplicate, which along with some DNA recovered from an encounter with Red Hood leads him to believe that Jason is in fact alive. But this begs the question who is capable of resurrection within the Batman universe. The answer, Ra's al Ghul leader of a secret league of assassins with the sole purpose of destroying civilization as we know it. It turns out that while Batman and Robin were investigation some of Ra’s exploits in eastern Europe, Ra’s hired The Joker to distract The Dark Knight by capturing his partner. But Ra’s found out just how unpredictable The Joker can be when he killed Robin. Since this was never the intention of Ra’s to kill the partner of a man he truly respects, he attempts to make amends by submerging Jason Todd’s body into the Lazarus Pit (the magical pool that Ra’s uses to rejuvenate his aging body). After Jason’s body has been resurrected he bursts out of the strangely coloured pool kills one of Ra’s al Ghul’s guards and dives off of a cliff.

Don’t Be A Kidder, Let’s All Die Together.

Batman, now fully apprised of the situation, sets out to find Jason/Red Hood and The Joker. Meanwhile, Red Hood and The Joker are getting reacquainted in a bit of a role reversal Jason begins to beat The Joker with a crowbar in the same fashion he was beaten nearly to death by The Joker. The Joker familiar with his own brand of cruelty realizes that he is being given beating by the boy wonder himself, not needing any rationalization for the very alive Robin, The Joker takes his beating in good humor.          

Batman and Red Hood get into a final battle that climaxes with a stand off between Batman, the now unmasked Jason Todd (Robin) and The Joker.  Jason can’t understand how he couldn’t kill The Joker after he murdered him and insists that if Batman were the one killed by The Joker, Jason would have killed The Joker without hesitation. Batman attempts an explanation for why he cannot kill The Joker even to save the people his might kill in the future and avenge those he has killed in the past. It would be too easy for him to kill The Joker, and that it is this difficult distinction that separates Batman from the people he puts in jail.    Now with a bomb ticking toward zero, Jason gives Batman an ultimatum: kill me or else I kill The Joker.  Batman firm in his belief that there is no justice is killing another person regardless of the circumstances simply turns and walks away. But in classic Batman style the world’s greatest detective manages to disable his former partner’s gun and defuse the stand off. The Joker having been locked up for the last couple of years can’t help but make a play to go out with his arch enemies in one big bang. He breaks free from Jason and pins Batman as the final second of the bombs timer countdown. The bomb goes off, both Batman and The Joker manage to survive (for some reason) but Jason is nowhere to be found.