Netflix Instant: TV and Movie Picks

We're in a bit of a slump in terms of new releases, but there are always great films to check out on Netflix. Now that the Oscar nominations have been announced, we will begin to see some of these films featured, like a documentary on my list today!

ALMOST FAMOUS

This is such a great film that has hold up over the years. Not only is the music wonderful, but it has fun performances and super quotable lines. It's the perfect lazy Saturday film that you don't have to turn your mind off to enjoy because we are all golden gods. 

THE IMMIGRANT

This film nominated for the Palme d'Or at 2013 Cannes. I've heard great things about this film, especially in reference to Marion Cotillard's performance. It tells the story of an immigrant who becomes a prostitute when she arrives in America. It also stars Joquin Phoenix and Jeremy Renner. 

VIRUNGA

Now that the Oscar nominations are out, several films will slowly begin to pop up on streaming services. This film is nominated for best documentary and is about saving mountain gorillas in Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It's a treacherous area where gorillas are under threat of poaching and their home being destroyed. It's an interesting story about an area which has very limited access. 

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Netflix Instant TV and Movie Picks- Hope and Documentary Edition

It's been a tough week. Between the Boston Marathon bombings and the explosions in West, Texas, the news is one of the last things we want to watch. However, I know I can't tear myself away from the
TV when tragedy strikes. For the Netflix picks this week, I decided to find a few documentaries that bring some hope and maybe some inspiration to this crappy news week and to help with escaping a bit.

AMC's Best Picture Showcase Part 2 Rundown

The Oscars are over, and now we can finally prepare for the summer season. How angry were you about what films won? Did you bomb your Oscar poll because there was a tie?  Well there's always next year. We highly recommend participating in the AMC Showcase next year to get a grasp on the best picture nominees. Of course the real challenge is watching all the films in a 24 hour period, but as we mentioned last week in our rundown, Javi had a half marathon to run on Oscar Sunday (which he kicked its ass), so we opted for the two day showcase.

Here are our thoughts from part one. And now onto part two!

Oscar Nominated Animation Shorts Breakdown

Over the few years that I have been going to movie festivals, Jonesy and I have sort of carved out our specialized areas of focus. For her, it's the documentaries, and for me it's short films. Some of the most memorable pieces of film that I have gotten to experience have been 15 minutes or less. I'm not sure what it is. Maybe it's working under a time constraint that forces most filmmakers to make the most out of their film. Whatever it is, I know that I always look forward to watching the Oscar nominated shorts, especially the animated ones. I got a chance to see all of them recently. When possible, I posted the films for you to watch and some of my brief thoughts.

The first three entries were not nominated but were still showcased.

ABIOGENESIS

 Director: Richard Mans

As a big Japanese robot fan, I think I enjoyed this one the most out of sheer appreciation for the design of the robots. We begin the short with a space pod landing on a desolate planet. From there, four pods emerge and then they transform into dragonfly like vehicles in search of something. Then the vehicles transform into another weird insect-like mode that fills up with green goo. Then in yet another transformation, the four robots go back to the pod, and transform into a four legged vehicle that uses the goo to explode and create a tree bursts with life on this planet. This scene in particular is gorgeous to behold. The short in general was ingenious in its design of the robots, and I hope to see more work from these filmmakers, either in another short or in a feature-length movie.

THE GRUFFALO’S CHILD

Directors: Johannes Weiland and Uwe Heidschotter

I believe this was the longest of the shorts but it was one of the best in terms of visuals. It’s based on a book by Julia Donaldson. This short appears to have been CGI, but it had a very Claymation feel and look to the characters. The story revolves around a rabbit telling her kids the story of the Gruffalo’s Child. The Gruffalo’s Child disobeys her dad and goes into the woods. It’s more a child’s story unlike a lot more of the “serious” animation shorts. The voice cast is surprisingly full of famous British actors and actresses like Helena Bonham Carter, Tom Wilkinson, and John Hurt.

DRIPPED

Director: Léo Verrier

This was my least favorite of the shorts. It’s supposed to be a tribute to Jackson Pollock, but the way that it goes about is very strange. The set up is that this person can gain powers by eating paintings and being able to replicate their style. When he eats a painting by Picasso, he is able to turn into a weird monster. He obtains most of these paintings by stealing them, so he’s always on the run. Once he runs out of paintings to eat, he tries to make paintings himself and realizes he has no talent. Then he just starts throwing around paint on a canvas and is suddenly able to eat it. To me, it implies that Pollock was a hack artist, which has been a long-running argument, so I’m not sure why the director’s were trying to pay tribute to him this way. Visually, it looked to be CGI or Flash animation, but it looked super rough and low-res. I couldn’t tell if that was the intended effect but it really made a lot of the very creative transformations very blurry to see.

ADAM AND DOG

Director: Minkyu Lee

This was a beautifully animated silent short. It traces the "origins" of the wonderful thing that is the relationship between people and dogs. We see a dog going through his day trying to survive until he meets THE Adam in a field, and they strike up a pretty cool friendship. The backgrounds were my favorite part of the short. They were made so well and were full of details. My big problem with the movie is that there's no real plot. Things just happen, and then it ends.

FRESH GUACAMOLE

Director: Pes

So damn funny. I was craving guacamole afterwards.

HEAD OVER HEELS

Director: Timothy Reckhart

Having seen AMOUR and having seen this, I think I have had my fill of old people in love. It's just too much to handle. The set up is that this long time couple is living in the same house, but one lives on the roof, and the other lives in the ceiling. The care of the detail that went into designing this house was outstanding. They have two fridges stacked on top of each other that can slide up or down so each person can get their food. And then the husband has pulls and levers attached to his chair in order to let the wife be able to vacuum the ceiling. An obvious metaphor on the way that people in long-term relationships can live together but still be apart, and the effort it takes to make a marriage work, HEAD OVER HEELS was very touching and fun to watch.

Maggie Simpson in THE LONGEST DAYCARE 

Director: David Silverman

I was surprised to see a Simpson short here. But this was s surprisingly smart. I feel that this is a testament to the socially satirical show The Simpsons once was. On the surface, it's a cute 3D story of Maggie having to deal with that weirdo baby with the unibrow. But then you see the way that it comments on the state of the education system coupled with a really cute attempt by Maggie to keep a caterpillar safe as it transforms into a butterfly, and you have a very sweet short.

PAPERMAN

Director: John Kahrs

My Fantastic Fest review is here, and most of my thoughts are still the same. I actually really think that this is the one short that needs to win. It has a great story and it's pushing technology in a very interesting way with the use of CGI and hand drawn animation.

For anyone else that has seen all of the shorts, I'd love to hear what you think! The Oscars are this weekend so keep an eye for them to see who wins this category.


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AMC's Best Picture Showcase Part 1 Roundup

Every year we make the one trip to an AMC theater and sit down for almost a 24 hour period to watch their Best Picture Showcase. This year since Javi has a half marathon to go to the day after the 24 hour marathon, we decided split it up the event over two weekends. We just saw part one which included AMOUR, LES MISERABLES, ARGO, AND DJANGO UNCHAINED. Below are some of our brief thoughts.

2013 Academy Award Nominations Reactions

Well, I think some people's Oscar polls are already flipped on their head. With the nominations just being announced by the lovely Emma Stone and the (ugh) Oscar host Seth MacFarlane, the Internet is now free to make predictions and generally complain about the Oscars for the next seven weeks. That's right, the broadcast is still seven weeks away.

Click for more!

Watch Oscar winning animated short: THE FANTASTIC FLYING BOOKS OF MR. MORRIS LESSMORE

The short films are the categories that will make or break your Oscar polls. They're usually the throw away awards that people don't mind if they miss at their parties. However, over the past couple of years, local theaters have been taking a chance on these films by showcasing them the weeks leading up to the awards. Last year I was able to catch the live action shorts. This year we caught the animated shorts. And hopefully next year, catching all three categories will be on the agenda.

I thought Pixar had this award locked down with LA LUNA, which was quite cute. However, the short that stuck with me was the FLYING BOOKS by directors William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg. I loved the heart and message it spoke. Even though I adored it, I wasn't expecting it to win last night, so imagine my shock when it did!

Now it's online for your enjoyment. So please, take the 15 minutes and watch. It'll bring a smile to your face.



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A Very Boring Oscar Predictions- She said

It's Oscar weekend! I know some don't care, and some really don't care about the Oscars anymore, but it's that time of year to see what a bunch of old white guys tell us what the best films of the year are. What's sad is the Oscars have almost become too predictable and pretty much boring. Maybe it was my young age, but I remember a time when there was actual excitement and anticipation of who would go home with the gold man. Nowadays, you don't even need to see the movies to figure out who the winners will be.

Everyone has been throwing out their picks that they'd write down on their Oscar ballot, so I thought I would do the same. Now I have two different picks for each category. The first is what my heart wants, and the second is what I would bet on if this were a Blackjack game in Vegas.

The Academy Awards airs tomorrow at 7pm on ABC.


Check out my picks after the jump.

AMC Presents Their Annual Best Picture Showcase

With the Oscar nominations out, if you're like me, then there was always one or two of the nominees that you missed in the theatre. For the past few years, AMC Theatres showcase all the films nominated for Best Picture in a marathon. For the past two years, the showcase has been split over two Saturdays because of the number of films nominated. However, they always have a few theatres that show all, whether it's the nine films this year or the ten last year, in one day.

Today their schedule for the showcase went live, and here's the breakdown:

Saturday, February 18:

11:00AM: War Horse
1:40PM: Moneyball
4:10PM: The Tree of Life
7:30PM: The Descendants

Saturday, February 25:

11:00AM: Hugo 3D
1:20PM: The Help
4:00PM: Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
7:15PM: The Artist
9:05PM: Midnight in Paris

And for the hard core people, here is the schedule for the all day marathon:

Saturday, February 25:

11:00AM: Hugo 3D
1:20PM: The Tree of Life
3:55PM: The Help
7:20PM: The Artist
9:20PM: The Descendants
11:30PM: Midnight in Paris
1:20AM: War Horse
4:00AM: Moneyball
6:20AM: Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

I for one plan on attending this event again. I've gone the past two years, and it's always such a fun time. It's nice to be able to see all the nominees on the big screen before the awards are handed out. The AMC theatre near me always has trivia and prizes during the breaks, and last year there was a contest to see who could each the most large popcorns. I believe the record was six.


Check out AMC's website for all the details.

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84th Annual Oscar Nominations Are In And THE ARTIST Isn't Nominated For Everything (But The Academy Still Snubs Good Movies)!

Earlier today, The Academy came out with their nominations for their prestigious Oscar awards.
And usually we don't care too much about these, but for the sake of being legit, we figured we'd include some thing about it.

 Hit the jump to hear our thoughts.

Behind the Scenes: Andy Serkis shows us why he should be nominated for RISE

There's been lots of talk over the past couple months about Andy Serkis's performance in RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES. We were huge fans of the movie and put the film on each of our respective Top Films of the year lists. Most agree that the movie is such a success hangs on Serkis's performance as Caesar. Even James Franco wrote a piece championing for Serkis for Deadline.com

Today, Hitflix posted an exclusive video showing a CG-free Serkis as he performs the emotional scene of Caesar saying goodbye to Franco's character. The first half of the video is Serikis with just the sensors on his face and body, and the second half shows the finish product that was seen in the movie. If there was any doubt of what he brought to the film, this clip will put that to rest.





Oscar nominations haven't been announced yet, but I hope that academy members realize that this is the future of movies, and we will probably be seeing more and more performances that use this type of motion capture.

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THE IRON LADY full U.K. trailer

It's not a huge secret that those of us here at WDYMS adore Meryl Streep. She's THE movie star of her generation, and apparently it's a widely regarded fact that she's super hot (or so my cohort tells me).

So, it's pretty much fact that most projects she touches turn to gold, and it appears that her latest film, THE IRON LADY, will be no different. The biopic will follow the rise of former British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. Now, I have no doubt Meryl will be brilliant and probably nab her 17th Oscar nomination. However, it'll be interesting to see how the director, Phyllida Lloyd, who directed Streep in MAMMA MIA!, is able to pull off this story because it is tonally so different than what I'm expecting this biopic to be.

Time will tell if Lloyd can pull off a drama, but take a look at Streep, who's almost unrecognizable, in the trailer below.




THE IRON LADY starring Meryl Streep and Jim Broadbent will be released in New York and Los Angeles on December 30, 2011 and wide on January 12, 2012 


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Oscar Reactions

Javi: Well the big day has come and gone. The Oscars are over, and now studios can go back to releasing movies that AREN'T about British people from the past with middling problems. It almost makes me look forward to the ridiculous summer movies coming up. Anyway, just a few thoughts about the show and then the winners and losers of the night.

First, the show. Apparently, a lot of the Internet hated the show, and they blame a lot of it on James Franco. He was tweeting, texting, and seemed overall distracted by the whole "hosting" thing. What's funny is that what people thought to be robotic and apathetic, I found to be part of his rather stoned composure. Then again, that's why I got so annoyed with Anne Hathaway's high school cheerleader act; she seemed to be trying to make up for Franco's attitude, but it got tiring so quickly for me. At first, the enthusiasm was slightly endearing, you could tell the young hosts were pretty excited to be in the presence of all of the invited stars of Hollywood, but by the time we saw that atrocious auto-tune number and Anne Hathaway seemed to be more amused about her dresses and being peppy, I was turned off by the whole affair. I get the reasons why people were turned off by James Franco's act, but I can't help but feel that maybe he was mimicking the way most of us actually feel about the Oscars and their "celebration" of film. I will say, this year was an experiment that failed, but please don't bring back someone safe like Billy Crystal.

Now, let's talk the actual awards. The big surprise for me was that there was no one movie that won a lot of awards. THE KING'S SPEECH and INCEPTION won four awards each, followed by THE SOCIAL NETWORK. It seems to speak volumes to me that there weren't any big sweepers this year. The Academy apparently couldn't decide between awarding originality or just going with the same old stuff. This trend started early in the night with Melissa Leo winning for THE FIGHTER. I am not knocking down her performance, but it would still have been amazing to see young Hailee Steinfeld win for TRUE GRIT. The fact that INSIDE JOB won over EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP continued the predictable trend for the evening, and it almost felt that the Academy did not want to deal with Banksy's antics. I will complete go all Armond White on Jonesy here and say the Auto Tune scenes from the movies would've been cool. A year ago. Just saying guys if that Home Intruder song hadnt been so big, it would've felt more relevant.

The big surprises of the night for me were the trophies for ALICE IN WONDERLAND, THE WOLFMAN, and a non-Pixar animated short winning (THE LOST THING.) With the Best Actor, Actress, and Supporting categories all being very obvious to everyone involved, the end of the night really came down to THE KING'S SPEECH and THE SOCIAL NETWORK. By snubbing David Fincher and THE SOCIAL NETWORK, the Academy has shown that progressive and original film making has no place in their ranks. I think that Spielberg said it best when he mentioned CITIZEN KANE, ET, and STAR WARS among movies that did not win Best Picture Oscars, right before announcing THE KING'S SPEECH as the Best Picture. A little passive aggressive, but it speaks volumes. With this, I leave you all with a very thought provoking article by Drew McWeeny. I'll be taking his advice next year. Although it's still kind of cool to say that I'm listening to Oscar winner Trent Reznor's Pretty Hate Machine from now on.


Jonesy: I remember when the Oscars use to be unpredictable. It was always up in the air who would walk out with a trophy. In the past few years, the Oscars seem to have taken a turn for the, well... boring. There never seem to be any upsets, you can always tell when it's a very political year (i.e. the Denzel Washinton and Halle Berry year), and they seem to never recognize anything truly new or innovative. It's all about the sweeping epics or personal dramas.

This "boring" trend is also apparent with the recent choice of hosts. Now, I understand the academy is trying to draw in young crowd with Hathaway and Franco hosting, but something just seemed off last night. The opening montage was a lot of fun, but once they got onstage, it seemed very lackluster. Franco didn't seem interested at all, and maybe he wasn't. So, Hathaway overcompensated with being overly bubbly, and in turn they didn't mesh well. Is that what the academy thinks young people relate to? Bubbliness or disinterested-ness?

The part I did enjoy the most was the short auto-tunes section. Then again, any chance to get Harry Potter more screen time makes me happy.

As for the awards themselves, I echo my cohort that I'm surprised no movie swept the awards. The academy appeared to spread the awards around. I was very proud of INCEPTION taking home four awards for all their amazing technical achievements. The acting awards, again, were predictable and boring. I was shocked that David Fincher was snubbed for Director. I figured he would win Director with THE KING'S SPEECH taking home Picture, that way both movies would get a taste of the big awards. However, when Tom Hopper's name was called, then I had, for a moment, a fleeting hope that THE SOCIAL NETWORK would take home Picture. However, then the academy went back to their old ways of giving the Director and Picture to the same movie. Again, boring.

Also, I remember when ALICE IN WONDERLAND came out last year, and I do not remember people loving really anything about that movie. Why in the world does the academy love it so much?? That was very surprising too.

I've read a lot of people giving the Academy crap because they don't recognize the truly great movies that come out, and that they seem to be getting more and more predictable. However, they do, somewhat, listen to outcry from the community. When THE DARK KNIGHT wasn't nominated, there was an uproar, and what happened? The next year we had ten best picture nominees. There are always going to be movies which should have won. Just like Speilberg stated at the awards shows, THE SOCIAL NETWORK will now join the ranks of STAR WARS and CITIZEN KANE, the latter considered the be THE best movie of all time. If we want the awards to be fun and unpredictable again, then we have to do what we're doing now. Writing about it and getting our opinions out there. Because like THE SOCIAL NETWORK says, the Internet is written in ink.

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Our Oscar Predictions

As you get all fancied up this Sunday evening for your annual Oscar party or you're content to sit at home and watch it with your dog/cat/ferret/fish and a bowl of popcorn as you curse the heavens that Christopher Nolan wasn't nominated for Best Director, we've compiled our picks for this years ceremony (along with a few little thoughts here and there). Maybe this will help you decide who or what to pick on your ballot so you'll be the talk at the water cooler the next day (do companies really still have those?), or maybe you're set in stone that HARRY POTTER will win something dang it(!)...either way, here are our thoughts..for better or worse:

Oscar Nominated Live Action Shorts

This past weekend we had the awesome opportunity to watch (at the amazing Alamo Drafthouse) the Oscar Nominated Live Action Shorts. Now, this category has people scratching their heads because if you're not a frequent of the festival circuit, when in the world would you ever seen/heard of these shorts? So, when you go to your Oscar party and fill out your ballot, you're picking the one that sounds the best or (hopefully) blindly choosing a winner. Well, thankfully more and more independent theatres are showing these shorts, so obsessed movie-goers have a chance to see this unique category.

THE CONFESSION

Tanel Toom

A National Film and Television School Production

A young boy preparing for his first confession worries that he has no sins to report, so he enlists a friend's help in committing one.

Jonesy: As the most produced-looking movie of the bunch, THE CONFESSION explores the causes of our actions from the most innocent among us. The short looks astounding. The main boy, played by Lewis Howlett, reminded me of a young Haley Joel-Osment. Howlett has such power in his subtle performance and amazingly was able to create such a dynamic character in a short amount of time. This short will probably take home the gold statue.

Javi: I can't begin to tell you how moving this movie was. This short is the most stylistic in terms of production value. It conveys a great (almost) horror-movie-esque atmosphere that mimics the young boys' dilemmas and feelings. It features themes that resonate with anyone that has ever had to keep a secret or messed up as a kid. The sound design for this short is amazing, and the ambient noise is almost another character altogether in the way that it interacts with the boys in their struggles.

WISH 143

Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite

A Swing and Shift Films/Union Pictures Production

When a terminally ill young boy is granted a wish by a charitable foundation, he makes a surprising request.

Jonesy: My favorite of the shorts we saw. WISH 143 takes a look at a 16 year-old boy dying of cancer, and his final wish for his life...to get laid. No Disney World trip or meeting a Futbol star. No, just sex. This movie is a roller coaster of emotions, yet it has so much heart. The boy only has a few months to live, and the air is thick with the impending end. The story brings to light the power that human connection has on everyone's life.

Javi: Oh man this was such a 180 from the previous short. The kid that was dying was hilarious; his character couldn't help but show bravery by laughing at death and constantly joke to the Make-A-Wish guy or to the priest/mentor. The rather humorous nature of the short doesn't prepare you for some of the more emotional sections where the weight of the situation really hits home. I felt the way that the boy finally deals with rejections, trying to get laid, and even his own feelings provided the most realistic and satisfying ending.

NA WEWE

Ivan Goldschmidt

A CUT! Production

In 1994, as the Rwandan genocide spills over into neighboring Burundi, a bus is attacked by a group of rebels.

Jonesy: When I first realized the subject matter of NA WEWE, I was expecting a tragic tale. However, I was surprised at how universal the themes were and how smart the movie was. The dialogue between the rebels and the innocent was smart and witty. There were so many play on words that I only wish I was that sharp. This was the only short, however, that I felt didn't have a definite ending, and there were more ideas and character choice's I wanted it to explore.

Javi: This was a very uneven short. Like Jonesy said, it was a very odd at how it dealt with the character story arcs. It was very clever in that you needed to pay attention in order to understand what was going on.  But even with the clever dialogue, the story itself is very odd and it takes a while to get going, which says something when the movie was about 15 minutes.  Definitely, it's my least favorite of the shorts.

THE CRUSH

Michael Creagh

A Purdy Pictures Production

Eight-year-old Ardal has a crush on his teacher and is devastated to learn she has a fiancé.

Jonesy: We've all had that one teacher we've had a crush on, and the lonely, young Ardal takes his crush on his teacher to another level. When he finds out his teacher is engaged, he decides to take matters into his own hands. THE CRUSH is a cute yet somewhat tense short. It plays with the idea of the extremes someone would go to be with someone, but from the point of view of a child. The short ends up being somewhat frightening and twisted with an unsettling ending.

Javi: Here's where I wish that THE CONFESSION had not been screened first because it really changed the tone of this short for me, which I sort of resented.  It's actually a lot more lighthearted than it seems at first by the time the climax comes.  But the child, Ardal, is the cutest little kid ever, his mentality is both childish and yet more clever than that of most adults around him and it makes the short that much better. This was my favorite short of the bunch.  

GOD OF LOVE

Luke Matheny
A Luke Matheny Production

A love triangle between two musicians and a young woman takes a surprising turn when one of them finds a collection of magical darts.

Jonesy: This was my shouldn't-be-but-is-favorite of the five.  It was fun and whimsical, and I thoroughly enjoyed the portrayals of love.  The most stylized of the nominations, GOD OF LOVE has a smokey, jazzy vibe as a young 20-something is given the power of cupid.  The cinematography is reminiscent of (500) Days of Summer but with a jazz lounge feel.  The movie is a quirky and fun and lets you dive into a uniquely painted world. 

Javi: This is what was weird because I did like this movie, but I couldn't help but thinking a "Wes-Anderson-Fan-Film" when I saw this.  The black and white world coupled with the stylish musicians that have MacBooks, mopeds, and bow ties were very appealing, but it almost felt boring in that regard.  The story itself is really clever in the way that the protagonist is seduced by his magic darts and ultimately grows because of them.  This short was definitely the most fun of the bunch.


The Oscar Nominated Live Action Shorts are now playing at The Inwood in Dallas for a limited engagement.

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Oscar Nominations 2011-Reactions!

It's about that time again... the Academy announces its award nominees, and movie nerds all around Twitter and the Interwebs get riled up.  Here at WDYMS, we figured we'd jump on the bandwagon:
(Full disclosure: between both of us, we have not seen all of the movies nominated)

Javi: Whenever I compile my Top 10 list of the year, I try to think of what was good but  also something off the beaten path that might make someone appreciate films in a different way than what everyone else is saying.  The Oscars this year seem to have looked at the every movie site's Top 10 and just copy and pasted it.  There are very few surprises, but it was more surprising at what isn't there.  

The big issue this year is The King's Speech.  I haven't seen this movie, and yet I don't care to because this movie looks boring Oscar bait.  It is the cinematic equivalent of a finely crafted pop song ready to go to the Top 40 and night clubs, but in this case 100% more British.  There's a reason why I am anti-Clint Eastwood and to a lesser extent anti-Daniel Day Lewis; their strategies are always to release Oscar bait movies every year.  It is very repetitive and frankly, artistically dishonest, more Eastwood than Day-Lewis, although that might be a personal bias.  

But I regress. The real shame here is poor Christopher Nolan, who directed one of the best stories of this year, on a technical sense, and was completely left out of the race, even if INCEPTION was nominated for Best Picture. If I had to guess, the King Speech director nomination for Tom Hooper was put there just for the potential of letting this movie sweep the major awards. If it ends up winning a lot and since every other director was legitimate, I guess Nolan was seen as the easily expendable one.  Another big shame is not including Ryan Gosling for his performance in BLUE VALENTINE.  It was one of the most tragic and believable performances of this year, and to me nothing will top it.  


I will say, as a personal note, I am amazed that Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World did not get nominated for Editing, Sound Mixing, Best Original Song, or even Best Visual Effects.  For anyone that has seen the movie and can appreciate the technical aspects of it, you can see that it's true that some recognition was in order.

Overall, this year left me with the impression that slowly but surely the Oscars are getting to the point of being as political as the Grammys.  Their complete lack of recognition of anything not catered 100% to them makes it seem obvious that they are phasing out recognition for excellence across the world of cinema.  Just the tiny scope of what they want to see.  


Jonesy:  For me this year, there were some interesting choices from the academy.  First, I am very disappointed in Christopher Nolan's snub for director.  Unfortunately, the academy doesn't seem to care too much for pure action movies, so I guess Inception's movie nomination will have to be enough. 


I feel he was snubbed to make room for the new academy's golden boys, The Coen Brothers.  Now, I like their movies, I do, but like my cohort mentioned Eastwood above, the Coens seem to have a knack for only releasing toward the end of the year, once a year.  That doesn't mean I write off their movies because I still go into their movies with as open-minded as possible, and I may like it or I may not.  But it's just an observation...


The only acting race that will be interesting to see is Best Supporting Actress.  I think it'll be anyones game, but how fabulous would it be for Hailee Steinfeld to win?


Toy Story 3.  Where do I begin?  Here's what the academy needs to do...either get rid of Best Animated catagory since there are ten nominations or don't let animated movies get Best Picture nominations since they have their own category. 


I am surprised with the amount of nominations The King's Speech received, but I'm also shocked with how many True Grit received since it apparently missed the drunken Golden Globe boat a couple weeks ago.  How do you go from nothing to 10 nominations?  What if it beats Social Network and The King's Speech (the apparent front runners) for Best Picture? That'd be a fun twist.


All in all, the academy is not where it should be in terms of recognizing great non-bait movies (cough, cough, Scott Pilgrim).  However, they're leaps and bounds where they use to be.  At least there are no sweaping epic war movies this year.  In the past, little movies like Winter's Bone, The Kids are All Right, and 127 Hours would have never had a snow ball's chance in hell in getting recognized.  In fact, besides Inception and Toy Story 3, all the movies deal with either personal or family drama.  Interesting. 


On a happier note...Yay for John Powell's HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON score getting a nomination!


And here are the nominations:

Best Picture

“Black Swan”
“The Fighter”
“Inception”
“The Kids Are All Right ”
“The King’s Speech”
“127 Hours”
“The Social Network”
“Toy Story 3″
“True Grit”
“Winter’s Bone”


Best Direction
Darren Aronofsky for “Black Swan”
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen for “True Grit”
David Fincher for “The Social Network”
Tom Hooper for “The King’s Speech”
David O. Russell for “The Fighter”


Actor in a Leading Role
Javier Bardem in “Biutiful”
Jeff Bridges in “True Grit”
Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network”
James Franco in “127 Hours”
Colin Firth 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”


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 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”


Adapted Screenplay
Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy for “127 Hours”
Aaron Sorkin for “The Social Network”
Michael Arndt, story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich for “Toy Story 3″
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen for “True Grit”
Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini for “Winter’s Bone”


Original Screenplay
Mike Leigh for “Another Year”
Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson. Story by Keith Dorrington and Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson for “The Fighter”
Christopher Nolan for “Inception”
Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg for “The Kids Are All Right”
David Seidler for “The King’s Speech”


Animated Feature
“How to Train Your Dragon”
“The Illusionist”
“Toy Story 3″


Art Direction
“Alice in Wonderland”: Robert Stromberg (Production Design), Karen O’Hara (Set Decoration)
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1″: Stuart Craig (Production Design), Stephenie McMillan (Set Decoration)
“Inception”: Guy Hendrix Dyas (Production Design), Larry Dias and Doug Mowat (Set Decoration)
“The King’s Speech”: Eve Stewart (Production Design), Judy Farr (Set Decoration)
“True Grit”: Jess Gonchor (Production Design), Nancy Haigh (Set Decoration)


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


Documentary (Feature)
“Exit through the Gift Shop”
“Gasland”
“Inside Job”
“Restrepo”
“Waste Land”


Documentary (Short Subject)
“Killing in the Name”
“Poster Girl”
“Strangers No More”
“Sun Come Up”
“The Warriors of Qiugang”



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


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


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 Trojanski 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