Here is a list of my predictions for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards:
Leading Actor: Jeff Bridges in "Crazy Heart"
Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz in "Inglourious Basterds"
Leading Actress: Sandra Bullock in "The Blind Side"
Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique in "Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
Animated Feature: Up
Art Direction: Avatar
Cinematography: Avatar
Costume Design: The Young Victoria
Directing: Kathryn Bigelow for "The Hurt Locker"
Documentary Feature: The Cove
Documentary Short: China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province
Film Editing: The Hurt Locker
Foreign Language Film: Un Prophete
Makeup: The Young Victoria
Original Score: Up
Original Song: The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart) from "Crazy Heart"
Short Animated Film: A Matter of Loaf and Death
Short Film Live Action: Kavi
Sound Editing: Avatar
Sound Mixing: Avatar
Visual Effects: Avatar
Adapted Screenplay: Up in the Air
Original Screenplay: The Hurt Locker
Best Picture: The Hurt Locker
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Best Picture Nominees #6,7,8,and 9: Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, A Serious Man, Up, and Up in the Air
It is getting extremely close to the 82nd annual Academy Awards and I will not have enough time to post thorough reviews of the following remaining nominees: Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, A Serious Man, Up, and Up in the Air. However, I will give the ratings for each of them. Sorry for the inconvenience but it was my intention to review each of the nominees BEFORE the awards as well as post my predictions. Time did not permit thorough reviews of the last four nominees but I assure you they are all worth seeing. Here are their ratings:
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
imdb.com rating: 7.5/10
rottentomatoes.com rating: 91%
The Byrd's Eye View: 7.7
A Serious Man
imdb.com rating: 7.4/10
rottentomatoes.com rating: 87%
The Byrd's Eye View: 7.4/10
Up
imdb.com rating:8.4/10
rottentomatoes.com: 98%
The Byrd's Eye View: 8.0/10
Up in the Air
imdb.com rating:7.9/10
rottentomatoes.com 90%
The Byrd's Eye View: 8.1/10
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
imdb.com rating: 7.5/10
rottentomatoes.com rating: 91%
The Byrd's Eye View: 7.7
A Serious Man
imdb.com rating: 7.4/10
rottentomatoes.com rating: 87%
The Byrd's Eye View: 7.4/10
Up
imdb.com rating:8.4/10
rottentomatoes.com: 98%
The Byrd's Eye View: 8.0/10
Up in the Air
imdb.com rating:7.9/10
rottentomatoes.com 90%
The Byrd's Eye View: 8.1/10
Best Picture Nominee #5: Inglourious Basterds
Director Quentin Tarantino gives us yet another masterpiece. Inglourious Basterds is Tarantino's highest grossing film to date and a leading contender for the Best Picture award.
The film begins in Nazi-occupied France where Shosanna Dreyfus, a young Jewish woman witnesses the murder of her family at the hands of SS Colonel Hans Landa AKA the Jew Hunter. Elsewhere, Lt. Aldo Raine organizes a group of Jewish soldiers known to the Germans as "The Basterds" whose only mission is to hunt and kill Nazis. The Basterds join forces with German actress Bridget Von Hammersmark on a mission to kill all the members of the Third Reich, who will be attending the premiere of a Nazi propaganda film. The premiere is to be held in a cinema owned by Shosanna, who has assumed a new identity. Fates converge as Shosanna plans a revenge scheme of her own.
Inglourious Basterds is another front runner for the Oscar along with Avatar and The Hurt Locker. It is a wonderful film if you don't mind reading subtitles since only about 30% of the film is in English.
The film begins in Nazi-occupied France where Shosanna Dreyfus, a young Jewish woman witnesses the murder of her family at the hands of SS Colonel Hans Landa AKA the Jew Hunter. Elsewhere, Lt. Aldo Raine organizes a group of Jewish soldiers known to the Germans as "The Basterds" whose only mission is to hunt and kill Nazis. The Basterds join forces with German actress Bridget Von Hammersmark on a mission to kill all the members of the Third Reich, who will be attending the premiere of a Nazi propaganda film. The premiere is to be held in a cinema owned by Shosanna, who has assumed a new identity. Fates converge as Shosanna plans a revenge scheme of her own.
Inglourious Basterds is another front runner for the Oscar along with Avatar and The Hurt Locker. It is a wonderful film if you don't mind reading subtitles since only about 30% of the film is in English.
imdb.com rating: 8.4/10
rottentomatoes.com rating: 89%
The Byrd's Eye View: 8.2/10
rottentomatoes.com rating: 89%
The Byrd's Eye View: 8.2/10
Best Picture nominee #4: The Hurt Locker
The Hurt Locker is one of the most critically acclaimed films of the year and definitely a front runner for this year's Best Picture award. It is probably the best film yet to be made about the war in Iraq. War veterans have attacked the film by saying it inaccurately portrays wartime conditions. But let's face it, controversy always falls upon Best Picture candidates before the Oscars. Slumdog Millionaire was accused of exploiting its child actors and A Beautiful Mind was slammed for "whitewashing" John Nash's life by excluding Nash's alleged anti-semitism and his divorce and remarriage to his wife. Despite these allegations, the cast and crew of The Hurt Locker did their best to make the film as authentic as possible. The film was actually shot in the Middle East, some locations were less than a couple of mile from the Iraqi border.
The film is about the everyday dangers faced by an Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) unit during the early months of the Iraqi invasion. Sergent First Class William James becomes the new leader of an EOD unit after the previous leader was killed by an improvised explosive device (IED). His methods of approaching an expected IED lead the rest of his team to consider him reckless. He approaches an IED before sending in a bomb disposal robot. If he is told to abort, he stubbornly removes his headset and continues to work. The skills he possesses are unmatched despite his somewhat cocky attitude.
In my opinion, The Hurt Locker is the odds on favorite to win the Oscar.
The film is about the everyday dangers faced by an Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) unit during the early months of the Iraqi invasion. Sergent First Class William James becomes the new leader of an EOD unit after the previous leader was killed by an improvised explosive device (IED). His methods of approaching an expected IED lead the rest of his team to consider him reckless. He approaches an IED before sending in a bomb disposal robot. If he is told to abort, he stubbornly removes his headset and continues to work. The skills he possesses are unmatched despite his somewhat cocky attitude.
In my opinion, The Hurt Locker is the odds on favorite to win the Oscar.
imdb.com rating: 8.0/10
rottentomatoes.com rating: 97%
The Byrd's Eye View: 8.4/10
rottentomatoes.com rating: 97%
The Byrd's Eye View: 8.4/10
Best Picture nominee #3: An Education
There's not really much to say about this one. Although it is a decent film and was well received by critics, there's nothing really spectacular about it.
An Education is a coming-of-age story about Jenny, a teenage girl who has ambitions of attending Oxford in the future. Her life changes after meeting David, a charming rich man nearly twice her age. A relationship forms between the two and David uses his charm to convince Jenny's parents to let him take her to concerts, jazz clubs, and even to Paris. After seeing the lifestyle that David can provide, Jenny begins to doubt her future plans of pursuing an education.
I was surprisingly pleased by this movie but thought that (500) Days of Summer would have been a better candidate for Best Picture. It surprised me that Alfred Molina did not receive a nomination for his acting. Overall, it is a decent film, but I wouldn't count on it winning Best Picture.
An Education is a coming-of-age story about Jenny, a teenage girl who has ambitions of attending Oxford in the future. Her life changes after meeting David, a charming rich man nearly twice her age. A relationship forms between the two and David uses his charm to convince Jenny's parents to let him take her to concerts, jazz clubs, and even to Paris. After seeing the lifestyle that David can provide, Jenny begins to doubt her future plans of pursuing an education.
I was surprisingly pleased by this movie but thought that (500) Days of Summer would have been a better candidate for Best Picture. It surprised me that Alfred Molina did not receive a nomination for his acting. Overall, it is a decent film, but I wouldn't count on it winning Best Picture.
imdb.com rating: 7.6/10
rottentomatoes.com rating: 94%
The Byrd's Eye View: 7.3/10
rottentomatoes.com rating: 94%
The Byrd's Eye View: 7.3/10
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Best Picture nominee #2: District 9
No, this is not a joke. District 9 is indeed nominated for Best Picture at this year's Academy Awards. Although the nomination is surprising, the film itself is pretty good.
The film centers around the arrival of an alien spacecraft over South Africa. After several months of inactivity from the craft, an exploratory team raids the ship and discovers over a million extraterrestrials who are given refuge on Earth in a military guarded slum known as District 9. An organization known as Multinational United or MNU takes charge of relocating the aliens to a larger area known as District 10. Wikus van de Merwe, an MNU operative is in charge of evicting the aliens and relocating them. After searching the shack of one of the aliens, Wikus discovers a canister that sprays him with black fluid. He begins to feel ill and his arm soon begins to mutate into an alien appendage. He is quickly taken into MNU custody where they discover he is now able to use alien weapons due to his mutating DNA. Scientists intend to study Wikus but he escapes and discovers that the canister that sprayed him contained fluid that could reactivate the alien mothership. He is told by one of the aliens that if he can retrieve the canister and help the aliens escape, his mutation can be cured. The irony is that as Wikus becomes more like an alien, the more humane he eventually becomes.
District 9 is an excellent action packed sci-fi thriller and deals with many real issues such as racism and social segregation. Though it may be a long-shot to win the award, District 9 is still a great film.
The film centers around the arrival of an alien spacecraft over South Africa. After several months of inactivity from the craft, an exploratory team raids the ship and discovers over a million extraterrestrials who are given refuge on Earth in a military guarded slum known as District 9. An organization known as Multinational United or MNU takes charge of relocating the aliens to a larger area known as District 10. Wikus van de Merwe, an MNU operative is in charge of evicting the aliens and relocating them. After searching the shack of one of the aliens, Wikus discovers a canister that sprays him with black fluid. He begins to feel ill and his arm soon begins to mutate into an alien appendage. He is quickly taken into MNU custody where they discover he is now able to use alien weapons due to his mutating DNA. Scientists intend to study Wikus but he escapes and discovers that the canister that sprayed him contained fluid that could reactivate the alien mothership. He is told by one of the aliens that if he can retrieve the canister and help the aliens escape, his mutation can be cured. The irony is that as Wikus becomes more like an alien, the more humane he eventually becomes.
District 9 is an excellent action packed sci-fi thriller and deals with many real issues such as racism and social segregation. Though it may be a long-shot to win the award, District 9 is still a great film.
imdb.com rating: 8.3/10
rottentomatoes.com rating: 90%
The Byrd's Eye View: 7.8/10
rottentomatoes.com rating: 90%
The Byrd's Eye View: 7.8/10
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Best Picture Nominee #1: Avatar
The Academy Awards are only one week away. As promised, I will review the 10 Best Picture Nominees with the exception of The Blind Side, which I didn't get the opportunity to see. The nominee that I will focus on today will be Avatar. As you all may know, Avatar shattered box office records and was the first film to ever earn over $2 billion worldwide. Avatar had finally taken the record of highest grossing film away from Titanic, and rightfully so.
Avatar would be considered by many to be the front runner for this year's Best Picture award. It's groundbreaking visual effects make it a wonder to see in 3-D and IMAX.
The film is set in the year 2154 when humans are mining for a precious mineral called unobtanium on Pandora, a moon in a distant star system. Pandora is inhabited by a tribe of 10 ft. tall humanoid aliens known as the Na'vi. In order to facilitate relations with the Na'vi as well as conduct research on Pandora, scientists grow Na'vi human hybrid bodies known as avatars operated by genetically matching humans. Jake Sully, a paraplegic ex-marine is given the opportunity to infiltrate the Na'vi and gain their trust after scientists discover that the Na'vi colony is sitting on top of the largest deposit of unobtanium on Pandora. Sully is told that if he succeeds in getting the Na'vi to cooperate, he would receive treatment for his paraplegia. Sully's loyalties are soon shaken after he becomes close to the tribe and ultimately results in a full scale war.
Avatar is without a doubt one of the best movie-going experiences I've ever had. It is definitely a front-runner for the Oscar this year.
Avatar would be considered by many to be the front runner for this year's Best Picture award. It's groundbreaking visual effects make it a wonder to see in 3-D and IMAX.
The film is set in the year 2154 when humans are mining for a precious mineral called unobtanium on Pandora, a moon in a distant star system. Pandora is inhabited by a tribe of 10 ft. tall humanoid aliens known as the Na'vi. In order to facilitate relations with the Na'vi as well as conduct research on Pandora, scientists grow Na'vi human hybrid bodies known as avatars operated by genetically matching humans. Jake Sully, a paraplegic ex-marine is given the opportunity to infiltrate the Na'vi and gain their trust after scientists discover that the Na'vi colony is sitting on top of the largest deposit of unobtanium on Pandora. Sully is told that if he succeeds in getting the Na'vi to cooperate, he would receive treatment for his paraplegia. Sully's loyalties are soon shaken after he becomes close to the tribe and ultimately results in a full scale war.
Avatar is without a doubt one of the best movie-going experiences I've ever had. It is definitely a front-runner for the Oscar this year.
imdb.com rating: 8.5/10
rottentomatoes.com rating: 82%
The Byrd's Eye View: 8.0/10
rottentomatoes.com rating: 82%
The Byrd's Eye View: 8.0/10
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