Oscar 2010 In Review

The ceremony was okay; I didn’t think the hosts were as bad as some people thought.  Overall, I was happy with the winners in the early categories (Inception winning Cinematography, Sound, Sound Editing, Visual Effects; The Social Network winning Adapted Screenplay, Editing, Score), though director and picture disappointed.  Let’s get into it.

Here are my thoughts about the main categories:

BEST PICTURE

127 Hours

Black Swan

The Fighter

Inception

The Kids Are All Right

The King’s Speech

The Social Network

True Grit

Toy Story 3

Winter’s Bone

Winner: The King’s Speech

I enjoyed the film when I watched it, but best of the year?  Well crafted, well made, good actors (Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush do play off each other very well).  But, in the end, nothing we haven’t already seen.  This post-nominations trailer makes me like the film less; give it a rest, Harvey Weinstein (The English Patient, Shakespeare in Love, Chicago).  Oscar voters love this shit.

Personal preference: The Social Network

I like the point made that this film could be about the guy who invented the washing machine and if the same level of acting (chief among the ensemble Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield), directing (David Fincher), dialogue (Aaron Sorkin!) and technical prowess (the music, the editing, the cinematography,  the sound) was brought to the table, it’d be just as good.  The film is about the founding of Facebook, but it’s also a classic story of success and betrayal.  A film where characters are giving depositions should not be this interesting, but it is. 

Snubbed for a nod: Carlos

Olivier Assayas (who directed the great French import Summer Hours 2 years ago) brings us a three-part film that was produced for French television, but also saw a theatrical release in the United States.  Eligibility rules aside, this is not only the best foreign-language film of the year, but one of the best films of the year, standing tall over other American productions.  The film chronicles the life of Carlos the Jackal (Edgar Ramirez in a charismatic performance), the Venezuelan terrorist and murderer who orchestrated bombings and assassinations across Europe and raided OPEC Headquarters in Vienna in 1975.  The behavior is seductive and repulsive, all at once.  Glad it won the Golden Globe for Best TV Miniseries/Made for TV Movie.  But it’s so much more.

BEST DIRECTOR

Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan

David O. Russell, The Fighter

Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech

David Fincher, The Social Network

Joel and Ethan Coen, True Grit

Winner: Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech

Tom Hooper (some BBC series, but also the great John Adams miniseries), meet John G. Avildsen, George Roy Hill, and Franklin J. Schaffner.  If you don’t know who those three directors are, you got the point. (Hint: Rocky, The Sting, and Patton)

Personal preference: David Fincher, The Social Network

David Fincher (Se7en, Fight Club, Zodiac, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) is hanging with Sidney Lumet (Network), Ingmar Bergman (Cries and Whispers), and Robert Altman (M*A*S*H).  Good company.*

*I’m being a snarky bastard, but yeah, those three great directors all lost to lesser work.  That’s my point.  Okay, enough complaining.

Snubbed for a nod: Edgar Wright, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Christopher Nolan (Memento, Batman Begins, The Prestige) was snubbed for The Dark Knight and is now snubbed for Inception; I guess members of the Academy hates someone else more than Fincher. 

But even so, I would have loved a director nod for Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz).  Scott Pilgrim vs. the World bombed in theaters, but this is the first movie to use the narrative language of video games (and comic books and indie rock, love it) to tell an eternal story about young love.  Every scene is packed with color, sound, clever writing, and solid acting.  Maybe the most entertaining of the films I’m talking about here.  Thank you, Edgar Wright.

BEST ACTOR

Javier Bardem, Biutiful

Jeff Bridges, True Grit

Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network

Colin Firth, The King’s Speech

James Franco, 127 Hours

Winner: Colin Firth, The King’s Speech

Along with Geoffrey Rush, Colin Firth is the best part of the film.  This win is as much a make-up Oscar for losing last year for A Single Man, which is a better film and performance.  But still, he’s fine here.

Personal preference: James Franco, 127 Hours

Of the nominees, James Franco (Milk, Pineapple Express) did the best work, essentially carrying the film on his shoulders.  All of director Danny Boyle’s stylish touches aside, without this performance, the film would fail.  It didn’t.

Snubbed for a nod (and should have won): Ryan Gosling, Blue Valentine

Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson, Lars and the Real Girl) gives a lived-in performance here as a husband trying to hold on.  The same things that made him appealing to Michelle Williams’ character at the beginning of their relationship repulses her years later.  He communicates that well to the audience, as we like him and loathe him.  A difficult task, but done masterfully here.  Give him an Oscar already!

BEST ACTRESS

Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right

Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole

Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone

Natalie Portman, Black Swan

Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

Winner: Natalie Portman, Black Swan

Portman (The Professional, Beautiful Girls, Closer) does career-best work here.  This is probably my second favorite film of the year behind The Social Network and Portman is a big reason for that. 

Personal preference: Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

Williams (Brokeback Mountain, Wendy and Lucy) plays a woman that can be judged as unlikeable when compared to her husband, played by Ryan Gosling.  But the dynamics of the marriage and who the husband and wife are before and during the relationship have a lot to say for why it all goes wrong.  She cannot be so easily judged and that’s the point. 

Snubbed for a nod: Tilda Swinton, I Am Love

Swinton has done good work before (Michael Clayton, Julia), and this is no different.  A repressed wife and mother married into a family of Italian aristocrats who finds her sensual side.  She has lost her cultural identity as a Russian when she married into this family. Sex and food can do the trick. 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Christian Bale, The Fighter

John Hawkes, Winter’s Bone

Jeremy Renner, The Town

Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right

Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech

Winner: Christian Bale, The Fighter

I hope he isn’t FUCKING DONE WITH US PROFESSIONALLY, because he’s a good actor.  Loved him in American Psycho and Rescue Dawn, and of course “he’s Batman”.  The Fighter is a pretty weak film, but Bale’s the best part.  And in a year of weak supporting actors, he’s a deserving winner. 

Personal preference: As I said, I’m glad Bale won, though the nom for John Hawkes was nice.  Winter’s Bone is a so-so film, but a great actor rising above.

 Snubbed for a nod: Andrew Garfield, The Social Network

As good as Jesse Eisenberg is as Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network, Andrew Garfield as Eduardo Saverin does betrayal and revenge very well.  When Zuckerberg makes his millions, we enjoy the success, but we feel the betrayal of his best friend.  “You better lawyer up, asshole, because I’m not coming back for 30%.  I’m coming back for everything.”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Amy Adams, The Fighter

Helena Bonham Carter, The King’s Speech

Melissa Leo, The Fighter

Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit

Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom

Winner: Melissa Leo, The Fighter

Good actress, terrible role and performance in a weak film.  I won’t fault the win.  She was great on TV’s Homicide: Life on the Street and the films 21 Grams and Frozen River.  But her role here makes Bale look even better.

Personal preference: Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit

This is really a lead performance, but I’ll support the category fraud.  Awarding child performers can be problematic; Tatum O’Neal never did better than Paper Moon.  But Anna Paquin has a nice career beyond The Piano.  So those concerns aside, Steinfeld was the heart and soul of True Grit.  She stole the movie from Jeff Bridges and gave us the emotional connection for the film.  Expect good things from her in the future.

Snubbed for a nod: Greta Gerwig, Greenberg

I’m tempted to say Naomi Watts in Mother and Child or Olivia Williams in The Ghost Writer.  But I’m going to commit my own category fraud and put Greta Gerwig in here.  She’s the sympathetic foil to Ben Stiller’s narcissistic asshole.  Stiller’s name gets you into the theater, but Gerwig is the reason to stay.