Who's Da Boss?

ボス・ベイビー Boss Baby doesn't open here for another few weeks and I doubt whether there'll be a showing in English, so I'll just wait until it shows up on TV or perhaps it'll be shown on the plane. I did manage to scam some promotional stickers and I can send a sheet to whomsoever may request them. If there are no takers, I'll give them out to my graduating students.

Here is a Japanese trailer for your enjoyment.



And here's an English trailer for your perusal.



Hard to believe this got nominated for an Oscar!

Another Oscar nominated movie that is released soon is リメンバー・ミー Remember Me which non-Japanese audiences presumably know as Coco.

I have my doubts that it'll be released in English here either, but sometimes some Pixar movies squeak through undubbed.



The above theme song is presumably sung by the same gal who sang the Japanese version of Let It Go. I don't have time to research it further.

Here's a promotional flyer:

Hey, cool! One of the leads is portrayed by my favourite Japanese comedienne, Naomi Watanabe (of Ghostbusters fame).

I have one of her Gatcha-figures.

Another forthcoming Oscar-nominated Animated short feature is one that I know little about. ぼくの名前はズッキーニ. My Life as a Courgette/ Zucchini.



Hmm. That one is in a Swiss movie in French. No way it'll be released subbed in English.

I'll do some research on the other Animated features this weekend. Just in time for the 90th Academy Awards.

Walkers!

Today just happened to be a 6 hour marathon of Season 6 of The Walking Dead so I thought I'd use that as my movie of the day. 

A while back, I landed a few Walking Dead figures at half price. Here is one of Michonne's companions. (I wish I had a matching set.)

 

Here are a couple of promos with Norman Reedus and Andrew Lincoln for Fox Japan from a few years ago.

An awesome pranker pranks the fans in Tokyo.



Here's a long interview with Rick and Darryl.



I got doubles of some burn victims. They do have a nice set of teeth, I must say.

Caaaarl!!

Everyone's favourite villain, The Governor.

No pamphlet today because tomorrows will be doubly long. So I'll jump straight to today's snack. It's appropriate for a zombiesque theme, a marshmallow brain. Alas, I never taste-tested it but it's just a big marshmallow brain, what else would it taste like?

Today's Ghostbuster bit of paraphernalia is a pair of freshly laundered boxers. (They need to be laundered after watching Walking Dead!)

The fellow blogger to whom I going to link is a long-time creepy collaborator named Erick who runs the Wonderfulwonderblog. We've corresponded often and exchanged gifts from time to time. I'm not sure what hijinx he'll get up to this year, but I'm sure it'll be fun.

Finally, my selfless selfie is not zombie related, rather a pair of foam glasses I bought at the 100 Yen Shop the other day.

More Countdown tomorrow...

Unpredictable.

There is no easy format for me scam the nominees because they all include links therefore you will have to check out the official Academy Award nominees with trailers yourself if you're interested. I'll merely add my predictions and the odd sardonic comment here and there.

As before, I'll list the winners with a BOLD for my desired win, some italics for what I think the Academy will choose and BOTH when they overlap. The only difference is that this time, I won't print out ALL the nominees, ONLY the ones that are pertinent (or silly), you'll have to hit the link above for that

Best Motion Picture:
Lots of choices (eight) and as usual I've only seen one of them ("Grand Budapest Hotel"). The only other one playing in Japan is "American Sniper" and I may see that if I ever get around to it. As much as I'd like to see "GBH" win, I have my doubts that a comedy will take it. I really want to see "Birdman" win it but alas, I fear that honour will go to "Boyhood". (Comments: "Selma" is a dark horse. I'd rather see "Snowcatcher" nominated than "Foxcatcher".)



Best Director: (or Best Achievement in Directing if you want to be pedantic.)
Alejandro González Iñárritu is the director of "Birdman" and it would be cool to see him win. I fear that the directing of "Boyhood" over a dozen years will force the Academy to give it to Richard Linklater just for his sticktoitness. (Comment: I know that with 8 Best Pictures, 3 Directors get the shaft, I did not think they'd ignore Clint.)

Best Actor: (Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role but everyone knows what they mean.)
I have a feeling that the Academy will throw "Birdman" a bone and let Michael Keaton the award and I couldn't be happier.  (Comment: I don't know what "Foxcatcher" is about but if Steve Carrel wins, I'll go catch a fox.)

Best Actress:
The only nominated movies I've seen is "Gone Girl" and Rosalind Pike was awesome so she gets my vote. Since Meryl Streep isn't nominated as Best this year, the Academy could choose anyone else, let's say Marion Coillard for no reason at all.

Best Supporting Actor:
Once again, NO idea about these flicks. I nominate J.K Simmons because J f'n K f'n Simmons was nominated for something! I will not be disappointed if they give the nod to Robert Duvall, it'll save them giving a Lifetime Achievement award later.

Best Supporting Actress:
I plan to go see "Into The Woods" but it doesn't open here for a few more weeks. Because it's Meryl singing, I don't think she'll get a nod from the powers that be so I'll choose Emma Stone because she is just awesome and speculate that Patricia Arquette will take it.

Best Screenplay Written for the Screen:
I'd like to see Grand Budapest Hotel get something. I have a feeling Boyhood is going to do some sweeping.

Best Writing from Another Media: (or whatever)
NO idea. "The Imitation Game" for no particular reason.

Best Animated Feature:
The only category I actually care about these days...
I was going to link a trailer from each toon but the Academy in all its wisdom has deemed trailers to be USA-worthy only. I'd like to see "Baymax (Big Hero Six)" win but I'll have to wait until it's on DVD for it's only shown in Japanese here. I saw "Princess Kaguya" over a year and a half ago and though it was visually striking, I found it to be a little dull. "The Boxtrolls" and "Song of the Sea" may never make it to Japan unless they win. I had a chance to see "How to Train Your Dragon 2" last summer but never got around to it and it has not yet been released here but that will be mine and the Academy's choice.

Note: I'm getting bored and sleepy since I haven't seen most of these anyway, really quick predictions.

Best Foreign Language:
"Ida" know! "Tangerines" because they're yummy.

Best Cinematography:
Me: "The GBH". Them: "Unbroken" (?)

Best Editing:
Come on, if a movie took twelve years to make and isn't a twelve year movie to watch, the editing must have been pretty damn good. "Boyhood".

Best Production Design:
Well, "Interstellar" has to win something. I won't mind if "Into the Woods" takes it.

Best Costume:
I would love to see "Malificent" take it but it'll probably go to "Mr. Turner".

Best Makeup (and Hairstyling? When did that get added into this category?)
 Let's go Guardians of the Galaxy!

Best Score:
 Hans Zimmer did a great job with "Interstellar" but I suspect Alexandre Desplat will get the nod for something since he was nominated twice, let's say "The Imitation Game".

Best Song:
Everything is Awesome is actually a send-up of all Best Songs so it'd be awesome if it won one. But then again, cool, Glen Campbell has a tune!

Best Sound Mixing:

There was sound in "Interstellar" even though much of it took place in space? "American Sniper" unless they used a silencer.

Best Sound Editing: (what's the difference?)

Same as above. (Comment: I'm sorry but anytime the Hobbit and the word editing are used together should be oxymoronic.)

Best Achievement in Special Effects:
Cool a category in which I have seen ALL of the nominees and it is a VERY close call. I'd like to see a Comic movie win it (esp. "Guardians of the Galaxy", though all are worthy) but I fear that the Academy will pooh-pooh that and grant it to "Interstellar".

Best Documentary, Feature and Best Documentary, Short:
I don't care.
Me: "Citizenfour". Them: "Last Days in Vietnam".
Me: "Our Curse" because it has the word Curse. Them: "White Earth"

Best Short Film, Animated:
Because "Me and My Moulton" is an NFB short, (Yay Canada!) AND I saw it, that'll be my choice. Them: "The Bigger Picture".

Best Short Film, Live:
I also don't care but Me: "Boogaloo and Graham" because it has the word Boogaloo. Them: "Parvaneh" because it's hard to pronounce.

Stay tuned tomorrow to see how many choices I got wrong!!!

Reality, What a Concept.

As everyone has undoubtedly heard by now, Robin Williams has passed away at the age of 63. Whether it was suicide or not is neither here nor there, he has been suffering from depression for years and finally succombed to it.

Unfortunately, the computer I'm using while on holiday in Canada won't allow me to download photos so this will have to be a verbal tribute only.

While everyone else can attest to catching him as Mork with Mindy as straight woman, I recall the initial Happy Days episodes where he made his debut. One of my first crushes was of Pam Dawber yet it was Robin and later the inspired casting of Jonathon Winters as his "son" that kept me tuning in.

Up until the early 90s, I could proudly proclaim that I had seen every Robin movie, starting of course with Popeye. Poohpoohed by critics, this movie was one of my all-time favourites and I'd play the soundtrack all the time.



I was dating a gal named Lois in the early 80s and we went to see The World According to Garp together. She was a fan of John Irving and just before the car accident, whispered to me, "Oh my God, they are following the book with this scene." Afterwards, every guy in the theatre gasped and a few girls giggled.

(A word of warning, this pc doesn't have Flash so I'm unable to view what the YouTubes are that I'm posting. Don't blame me if they're incorrect or non-pc.)



I barely recall The Survivors but do recall enjoying Moscow on the Hudson.





The Best of Times, Club Paradise (I found Rick Moranis more memorable than Robin) and Seize the Day were amusing but not extremely so. (You can search for these YouTubes yourself.) I'm fairly certain that I saw the latter movie at the Toronto Film Festival.

Then along came a little movie called Good Morning Vietnam and that changed everything. That's another soundtrack that I listened to all the time only this time I loved his improv on it more than the tunes.



Not sure if you'll be able to view this copy of The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, but you should stop reading this and watch it right now.



Then the guy starts getting oscars and nominations or other critical acclaim for Good Will Hunting, Dead Poets Society, Awakenings, The Fisher King etc. I rather liked him in Dead Again and even in lesser movies such as Hook, it had its moments because of him. One way of distinguishing between his comedy and drama: Robin with a beard--serious; Robin without a beard--funny.

I believe we now come across a movie of his that I've never seen, Shakes the Clown nor did I see (hear) his voicework in Ferngully.

Great in Alladin, uneven in Toys, and funny in Mrs. Doubtfire, a movie that inspired all kinds of cross-dressing comic roles from other lesser comedians.

We're now into some unseen territory, so I won't even comment on Being Human, Wong Foo or Nine Months.

Great in Jumanji, soso in The Birdcage and meh in Jack, Robin is proving his versatility with Hamlet and Deconstructing Harry and I must admit that I've never seen Father's Day nor Flubber.

Then along come two movies that I absolutely detest. For the first time ever, I walked out on a movie, What Dreams May Come though it wasn't that much of a hardship to leave for we had snuck into the pic in the first place. Patch Adams was sickenly sweet and definitely not to my taste but some Japanese must have liked it for there's a restaurant in Natori that has named itself after Patch Adams! Bicentennial Man is pretty poor and I can't offer an opinion of Jakob the Liar for it has gone unveiwed by me.

A.I. was pretty good, One Hour Photo is great and until you get to R.V. which I saw on Cable. Sad to say that apart from Night at the Museum 1 and 2 and Robots, I haven't seen any of his movies in this millennium.

I'm looking forward to Night at the Museum 3 and hopefully I'll catch a few more of his recent releases on Cable as well.

RIP Robin Williams, you have given me hours of entertainment and I thank you for that.

ps. I made a snarky comment on Facebook about selling a comedy album of his that I own (see this post's title) for more money now that he's gone. I hope to think he'd appreciate that line.

It's a matter of Gravity.

Whoa, has it really been over 2 weeks since I updated this bloggy thingie? Oh well, just in time for my annual Academy Award predictions. For a change, I have seen more of the Oscar pics than I have Razzies. I saw After Earth (yes, Jaden Smith deserves his award), Lone Ranger (no, Johnny Depp does not deserve his nomination) and I rather liked Stallone in both Escape Plan and Bullet to the Head, both good cheesy fun.

As for the Oscars, I have seen two of the 9 nominated Best Pictures (still a stupid idea to have 9 candidates), American Hustle and Gravity. Other than that, I've only seen The Wind Rises and a few technie noms, Iron Man 3, Star Trek into Darkness, The Hobbit DoS, and Lone Ranger since almost NONE of the other movies have been released here.

In the past, I have listed ALL the categories and candidates and chosen the winners with a BOLD for my desired win, some ITALICS for what I think the Academy will choose and BOTH when they overlap. For details, check out the 86th Academy Awards Wiki link for yourself.

1. Best Picture: "American Hustle," ''Captain Phillips," ''Dallas Buyers Club," ''Gravity," ''Her," ''Nebraska," ''Philomena," ''12 Years a Slave," ''The Wolf of Wall Street."
I enjoyed Gravity, I saw it twice, once in 2D in English and the only way to see it in 3D was to see it in Japanese. I was not disappointed in the Visuals and the insipid dialogue sounded better in Japanese. As for the other 8 movies, I drew 12 years out of a hat.

2. Actor: Christian Bale, "American Hustle"; Bruce Dern, "Nebraska"; Leonardo DiCaprio, "The Wolf of Wall Street"; Chiwetel Ejiofor, "12 Years a Slave"; Matthew McConaughey, "Dallas Buyers Club."
Of these nominees, I saw Bale in Hustle and though good, would not get my nod. I would love to see Bruce Dern win even though I know nothing about the role he played. Hey, let's through caution to the wind and have the Academy choose Leo.

3. Actress: Amy Adams, "American Hustle"; Cate Blanchett, "Blue Jasmine"; Sandra Bullock, "Gravity"; Judi Dench, "Philomena"; Meryl Streep, "August: Osage County."
This category should be altered to the "Best Actress other than Meryl Streep" Award just so others get a chance to win. Dench and Blanchett are almost ready to fall into this category as well. Though Sandra was wonderful, I'm going to have to go with Amy Adams since she really was a good Hustler.

4. Supporting Actor: Barkhad Abdi, "Captain Phillips"; Bradley Cooper, "American Hustle"; Michael Fassbender, "12 Years a Slave"; Jonah Hill, "The Wolf of Wall Street"; Jared Leto, "Dallas Buyers Club."
I almost saw Cpt. Phillips so I'm going to go along with the Academy and choose Barkhad Abdi if only to hear Ellen mispronounce his name.

5. Supporting Actress: Sally Hawkins, "Blue Jasmine'''; Jennifer Lawrence, "American Hustle"; Lupita Nyong'o, "12 Years a Slave"; Julia Roberts, "August: Osage County"; June Squibb, "Nebraska."
Once again, the only movie I've seen in this category has been Hustle so I'll go with Jenny and since I barely know who the other actresses are, I'll choose Lupita Nyong'o.

6. Directing: David O. Russell, "American Hustle"; Alfonso Cuaron, "Gravity"; Alexander Payne, "Nebraska"; Steve McQueen, "12 Years a Slave"; Martin Scorsese, "The Wolf of Wall Street." 
I almost saw Wolf so I'm going to go with that as the Oscar pick and I'll choose the dark horse, Gravity.

7. Foreign Language Film: "The Broken Circle Breakdown," Belgium; "The Great Beauty," Italy; "The Hunt," Denmark; "The Missing Picture," Cambodia; "Omar," Palestine.
I have no knowledge of any of these, so randomly I'll go with Belgium and Palestine.

8. Adapted Screenplay: Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke, "Before Midnight"; Billy Ray, "Captain Phillips"; Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope, "Philomena"; John Ridley, "12 Years a Slave"; Terence Winter, "The Wolf of Wall Street."
Once again, I dunno but I like Steve Coogan, so I'll choose him.

9. Original Screenplay: Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell, "American Hustle"; Woody Allen, "Blue Jasmine"; Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack, "Dallas Buyers Club"; Spike Jonze, "Her"; Bob Nelson, "Nebraska."
I have to try for Hustle and what the hey, Woody hasn't won in a while and it's not like he's involved in any controversy at the moment, so I'm sure the Academy will choose him.

10. Animated Feature Film: "The Croods"; "Despicable Me 2"; "Ernest & Celestine"; "Frozen"; "The Wind Rises."
I REALLY want to see the dark horse of The Wind Rises to win but undoubtedly, it'll go to Frozen.

11. Production Design: "American Hustle," ''Gravity," ''The Great Gatsby," ''Her," ''12 Years a Slave."
I don't even know what this category entails, so I'll go Gravity and Slave.

12. Cinematography: "The Grandmaster," ''Gravity," ''Inside Llewyn Davis," ''Nebraska," ''Prisoners."
I'm hoping the Academy agrees with me on Gravity.

13. Sound Mixing: "Captain Phillips," ''Gravity," ''The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug," ''Inside Llewyn Davis," ''Lone Survivor."
The Hobbit has to win something, so how about this?

14. Sound Editing: "All Is Lost," ''Captain Phillips," ''Gravity," ''The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug," ''Lone Survivor."
 Or Howbit How about this?

15. Original Score: "The Book Thief," John Williams; "Gravity," Steven Price; "Her," William Butler and Owen Pallett; "Philomena," Alexandre Desplat; "Saving Mr. Banks," Thomas Newman.
No idea on any of these so as much as I liked Gravity's score, I don't think it'll win. Erm...Williams then.

16. Original Song: "Alone Yet Not Alone" from "Alone Yet Not Alone," Bruce Broughton and Dennis Spiegel (Oops, nomination revoked!); "Happy" from "Despicable Me 2," Pharrell Williams; "Let It Go" from "Frozen," Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez; "The Moon Song" from "Her," Karen O and Spike Jonze; "Ordinary Love" from "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom," Paul Hewson, Dave Evans, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen.

It is too bad that they didn't use the song from "The Wind Rises" and thus it wasn't nominated.



Thus I gotta go with the awesome "Let It Go."
ps. Check out my Toronto FB pals' Star Trek parody, "Make It So".



17. Costume: "American Hustle," ''The Grandmaster," ''The Great Gatsby," ''The Invisible Woman," ''12 Years a Slave."
Apart from Hustle whose costumes weren't that awe-inspiring, I'll have to go with Gatsby.

18. Documentary Feature: "The Act of Killing," ''Cutie and the Boxer," ''Dirty Wars," ''The Square," ''20 Feet from Stardom."
I dunno any of these so Dirty Wars because it sounds naughty and 20 feet.

19. Documentary (short subject): "CaveDigger," ''Facing Fear," ''Karama Has No Walls," ''The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life," ''Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall."
Once again, I dunno.

20. Film Editing: "American Hustle," ''Captain Phillips," ''Dallas Buyers Club," ''Gravity," ''12 Years a Slave."
I really don't think any movie over two hours should be nominated for best Editing, so I'll go with Gravity.

21. Makeup and Hairstyling: "Dallas Buyers Club," ''Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa," ''The Lone Ranger."
Jackass got nominated for an Oscar?? Hells bells, I gotta go with Johnny Depp!

22. Animated Short Film: "Feral," ''Get a Horse!," ''Mr. Hublot," ''Possessions", "Room on the Broom."
I truly hope we Get a Horse!

23. Live Action Short Film: "Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn't Me)," ''Avant Que De Tout Perdre (Just before Losing Everything)," ''Helium," ''Pitaako Mun Kaikki Hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?)," ''The Voorman Problem."
No idea!

24. Visual Effects: "Gravity," ''The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug," ''Iron Man 3," ''The Lone Ranger," ''Star Trek Into Darkness."
Finally a category where I've seen every movie! As much as I admire all of them, I gotta go with Gravity and Hobbit. 

Well disappointingly, apart from The Wind Rises there were NO Japanese contributions and as for Canada, I have no idea. Help me out here folks...

Mmmm. Pi!

I expected the title of this post to be "Argooooos!" and I was going to wax eloquently about Affleck's movie, Argo and Toronto's football team, Argonauts, winning the 100th Grey Cup last November.



But I'm going to give "Life of Pi" the honour of blogpost title. Congrats to Ang Lee who made all the other directors Angry (see what I did there?)

Though I didn't get to see the broadcast, I couldn't avoid reading the tweets and twitters and updates so there were no surprises for me. I will say that there was a Canadian connection in almost every win!

Without further ado, let me remind you of my predictions way back here and I'll tally my score. As per other years, I give myself 2 points for my desired movie, 1 point for the predicted Academy movie and 3 points for doubly nailing it.

(ASIDE: Japanese TV won't show the damn ceremony but it is devoting 3 hours to the Red Carpet Walk beforehand. Gawd, is it awful! Who are these goofballs?)

Okay, here we go! In reverse order from my post. Starting with Best Visual Effects, when I wrote the post, I hadn't seen Pi yet, so my choice may have differed. I chose Avengers, Academy chose Prometheus and I was wrong on both counts. The Avengers may not have won, but they did get to present it to the Life of Pi winners! Zero points!

Next up, Best Sound Mixing. I chose Skyfall, I assumed they'd choose Les Miz and I was correct! 1 Point!

Best Sound Editing: I chose Skyfall, I assumed they'd choose Django. In a surprising move, Skyfall tied with Zero Dark Thirty but I'll still scam 2 points for it.

Best Live Film Short: I had NO idea, so I chose Death of a Shadow, they'd choose Buzkashi Boys and something called Curfew won. Zero!

Best Animated Short: I put all my eggs in the basket for Maggie Simpson but that was before I found out that Seth would be host. No way, his Family Guy competition would win! Paperman won. Good for Disney, bad for Simpsons! Zero!



Best Production Design: I chose The Hobbit on behalf of myself and the Academy and was wrong for it went to Lincoln. Zero!

Best Original Song: I assumed it'd go to Les Miz though I chose Skyfall. It won! 2 points! Way to go Adele!

Best Original Score: I went Skyfall and they'd go Lincoln. Once again I'm not disappointed by Pi winning. but Zero!

Best Makeup and Hairstyling: (Since when was Hairstyling added to this category? Wrong again. I guess making Anne Hathaway look good while crying and singing trumps Hitchcock and Hobbits! Zero!

Best Foreign Film: You can't get much more foreign than a Canadian movie but War Witch was too French. But wait, Amour was in French as well and it won! Ah well, it scores me a Point. (No big surprise that it won considering that it was up for Best Pic as well.)

Best Film Editing: Points go to me for Argo though I thought that Zero Dark Thirty would win something. 2 Points!

Best Documentary Short: I landed another 2 Points for choosing Inocente over Open Heart. I'll take the points where I can.

Best Documentary Feature: Neither Plague Survivors nor Invisible Wars won this one. It went to Searching for Sugar Man. (Huh?) Zero!

Best Costume Design: I wanted the Japanese woman, Eiko Ishioka, to win for Mirror Mirror though I assumed it'd go to Les Miz. Wrong again...Anna Karenina. Zero! Sad to say that Ms. Ishioka passed away in Jan. 2012. At least she'd won a previous Oscar for Bram Stoker's Dracula!

Best Cinematography: I said Skyfall before I'd seen Pi and I wish I had chosen it for it took the big prize. I do get a Point for it though.

Best Original Screenplay: I assumed it'd go to Quentin for Django Unchained and I wasn't disappointed! Nailed it for 3 points!

Best Adapted Screenplay: I said Argo; they'd say Lincoln. I nailed it for 2 points! By the way, there are some storyboards by Jack Kirby that may have been used for the original movie. Whether or not they were used, they certainly are cool!

Best Animated Film: My love for Frankenweenie was left unrewarded but the Pixar Academy Award did go to Brave so I still get a Point.

Best Supporting Actress: My hope for a Musical to win came through for Anne Hathaway sobbed her way into an Award (She also wins for best Nips.) Too bad Aunt May/Gidget/Flying Nun/ Mrs. Lincoln, Sally Field didn't win. 2 Points.

Best Actress: On a fluke, I thought they'd choose Jennifer Lawrence and I was right. I chose Quvenzhané Wallis on a whim--nope. I get 1 Point though!

Best Supporting Actor: I enjoyed him as QT's Nazi, and he won in 2010 so I chose Christoph Waltz for Django Unchained. I thought that Alan Arkin might get a nod (he is getting on in years), but nope. Still 2 Points!

Best Actor: I would have liked to have seen Wolverine Hugh Jackman win it but I'm not surprised that Daniel Day Lewis was Linked in Lincoln. Gets me a Point.

Best Director: I assumed it'd go to Spielberg and I hadn't seen Life of Pi, otherwise I would have chosen it (I think I deserve 1/2 point). I went out on a limb with Beasts Of The Southern Wild - Benh Zeitlin. Couldn't be further off, but I would have scored big at Vegas.

Best Picture:  I'm not disappointed that Argo won (I still get a Point) but it would have been cool to see Django win. Worst part of Argo from what I can see is that it played fast and loose with the facts, glossing over the Canadian aspect and giving the credit to the CIA. Kudos to Jimmy Carter for coming clean!



My tally is 1+1+2+1+2+1+2+3+1+2+2+1+2+2+1=25/69 Not my worst score, but not very good either!

As the week rolls on, I may have more to say about the Oscars as I see a few more speeches and clips from the broadcast. I would like to see the Boobies song!

Yay: Ang Lee!

The Envelope Please.

I intended on doing this post earlier and now the darned Golden Globe winners have already been announced. In an effort to do my predictions unbiased, I've tried to ignore them but those darn Internetters won't yell Spoiler Alert! (Ok, I heard that Wolverine won something, Brave won something and Les Miz won something.)
The complete list of the 83rd Annual Academy Award nominations were announced Tuesday and just like last year, I will put my desired win in bold and what I think will win in italics or both if they overlap.
I think every year I see fewer and fewer Oscar movies so this will be as tough as ever. To aid my vast Japanese readership, here is a link in Japanese.

BEST PICTURE
Amour     Never heard of it. Probably something to do with Love.
Argo      I almost saw this but it disappeared quickly. I wouldn't mind this winning something as it shows Canadians as heroes.
Django Unchained     Not released yet. Definitely want to see it. Hope it wins!
Les Misérables     My favourite joke about this: "The name's Miserables, Les Miserables." (Victor Hugo via Ian Fleming.) In theatres now, doing well. Will see it someday.
Life Of Pi     I like movies about math but doesn't this one go on ad infinitum?
Lincoln     I am really shocked that the movie about Lincoln fighting Vampires got so many nominations!
Zero Dark Thirty     Never heard of it. Probably something to do with 00000X6.
Beasts Of The Southern Wild     Never heard of it. Probably something to do with wild beasts of the south.
Silver Linings Playbook     Never heard of it. Probably something to do with clouds & silver linings.

BEST DIRECTOR
I haven't seen any of these and have little desire to see any of them either. None of these strike me as winners, so I'll have to guess!
Life Of Pi - Ang Lee
Lincoln - Steven Spielberg
Amour - Michael Haneke
Silver Linings Playbook - David O. Russell
Beasts Of The Southern Wild - Benh Zeitlin (Long shot or what!)


BEST ACTOR
Yet again, all unseen. It would be nice to see a male lead in a musical win an Oscar. When is the last time that happened?
Denzel Washington - Flight
Bradley Cooper - Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis - Lincoln
Hugh Jackman - Les Misérables
Joaquin Phoenix - The Master

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
I like all of these actors so it's a tough call.

Alan Arkin - Argo
Christoph Waltz - Django Unchained
Robert De Niro - Silver Linings Playbook
Philip Seymour Hoffman - The Master
Tommy Lee Jones - Lincoln

BEST ACTRESS
Not only do I know nothing about the movies, I know very little about these actresses. I think I'll go with a longshot.

Emmanuelle Riva - Amour
Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook
Jessica Chastain - Zero Dark Thirty
Quvenzhané Wallis - Beasts Of The Southern Wild
Naomi Watts - The Impossible

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Since Meryl Streep wasn't nominated for anything, maybe we'll see a new winner this year.

Amy Adams - The Master
Anne Hathaway - Les Misérables Again crossing my fingers for a singing role.

Helen Hunt - The Sessions
Sally Field - Lincoln "They like me, they really really like me again." I'd like to see this as Sally's opening acceptance speech.
Jacky Weaver - Silver Linings Playbook

BEST ANIMATED FILM
Curiously three out of five are stop-action and none are CG. Liked Brave, loved Frankenweenie, will probably enjoy the other three on DVD since they won't come here in English. Slightly irked that "Up on Poppy Hill wasn't even considered.

Brave
Frankenweenie
Paranorman
The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists
Wreck-it-Ralph

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
I'm going to go with the Canuck connection. Winner may go to the Lincoln logs.
Chris Terrio - Argo
Lucy Alibar, Benh Zeitlin - Beasts Of The Southern Wild
David Magee - Life Of Pi
Tony Kushner - Lincoln
David O. Russell - Silver Linings Playbook

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
I'm going to go all in with QT.

Michael Haneke - Amour
Quentin Tarantino - Django Unchained
Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola - Moonrise Kingdom
Mark Boal - Zero Dark Thirty
John Gatins - Flight


CINEMATOGRAPHY
I'd like to have a movie that I've actually seen win something, so Skyfall!!

Anna Karenina - Seamus McGarvey
Django Unchained - Robert Richardson
Life Of Pi - Claudio Miranda
Lincoln - Janusz Kaminski
Skyfall - Roger Deakins

COSTUME DESIGN
Ever since Edith Head died, I have no idea who'd win in this category.

Anna Karenina - Jacqueline Durran
Les Misérables - Paco Delgado
Lincoln - Joanna Johnston
Mirror Mirror - Eiko Ishioka She's Japanese so she gets my encouragement by default.

Snow White And The Huntsman - Colleen Atwood

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Huh? No idea. 

5 Broken Cameras
The Gatekeepers
How To Survive A Plague This might have zombies, so it gets my nod.
The Invisible War A complete guess.
Searching For Sugar Man

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
Huh? No idea again.

Inocente It sounds as though it could be French Canadian.
Kings Point
Mondays At Racine
Open Heart
Redemption

BEST FILM EDITING
Argo - William Goldenberg
Life Of Pi - Tim Squyres
Zero Dark Thirty - Dylan Tichenor, William Goldenberg
Lincoln - Michael Kahn
Silver Linings Playbook - Jay Cassidy & Crispin Struthers

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Amour - Austria Wait, isn't this also up for best picture?

Kon-Tiki - Norway
No - Chile
A Royal Affair - Denmark
War Witch - Canada Duh.


BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING
Because The Hobbit was in super-duper high-def, some could see (I couldn't) that the makeup was less than pristine. Therefore I'm going to go with the master of suspense.
Hitchcock - Julie Hewett, Martin Samuel, Howard Berger
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Peter Swords King, Richard Taylor, Rick Findlater
Les Misérables - Lisa Westcott

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Anna Karenina - Dario Marianelli
Argo - Alexandre Desplat
Life Of Pi - Mychael Danna
Lincoln - John Williams
Skyfall - Thomas Newman

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
'Before My Time' from Chasing Ice
'Everybody Needs A Best Friend' from Ted
'Pi's Lullaby' from Life Of Pi
'Skyfall' from Skyfall I actually like this song. Very retro-Bond sound.

'Suddenly' from Les Miserables

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Anna Karenina
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Les Miserables
Life Of Pi
Lincoln

BEST ANIMATED SHORT
Adam and Dog
Fresh Guacamole
Head Over Heels
Maggie Simpson In "The Longest Daycare" Oh please, please, please...

Paperman

BEST LIVE FILM SHORT
Asad
Buzkashi Boys It sounds pretentious and the Academy likes that.
Curfew
Death Of A Shadow It sounds cool.
Henry

BEST SOUND EDITING
Argo
Django Unchained
Life Of Pi
Skyfall
Zero Dark Thirty

BEST SOUND MIXING
Argo
Les Miserables
Life Of Pi
Lincoln
Skyfall

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Life Of Pi
Marvel Avengers Assemble The only Comic Book nomination, so come on!
Prometheus
Snow White And The Huntsman

It's late so for the last several entries, I did away with a commentary. Good luck everyone!!

Getting Nailed!

The results have been tallied and shall we see how well I did? Similar to previous years, I'll give myself 2 points for my desired movie, 1 point for the predicted Academy movie and 3 points for doubly nailing it.

Best Picture:
"The Artist"
Way off on this one. Neither Hugo nor The Help came through. I should have wimped out and joined Bafta, Golden Globes, etc.

Best Director:
Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist"
I missed out on Hugo, but guessed right for the Academy. Semi-nailed it: 1 point.

Best Actor:
Jean Dujardin, "The Artist"
I didn't see this one coming. Neither my Gary Oldman nor their Brad Pitt (wishful thinking) came close.

Best Actress:
Meryl Streep, "The Iron Lady"
Doubly nailed it! 3 points!

Best Supporting Actor:
Christopher Plummer, "Beginners"
Doubly nailed it! 3 points!

Best Supporting Actress:
Octavia Spencer, "The Help"
My pipe dream of Melissa McCarthy was not to be but I get 1 point for the Academic pick.

Best Original Screenplay:
"Midnight in Paris" - Woody Allen
Missed out on the Academy's Separation, but I nailed it: 2 points!

Best Adapted Screenplay:
"The Descendants" – Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash
Never even heard of this one.

Best Animated Feature:
"Rango"
Slam dunk! 3 points!

Best Foreign Language Film:
"A Separation" (Iran)
No Canadian content here. I did get the Academy pick: Foul shot, 1 point.

Best Documentary Feature:
"Undefeated"
Not even near the basket.

Best Cinematography:
"Hugo" – Robert Richardson
I get 2 points for my pick, looks like War Horse is still in the barn.

It opens next week. I hope to see it then...









Best Film Editing:
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" – Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter
Woohoo! I missed Hugo but landed a point by the Academy.

Best Art Direction:
"Hugo" – Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo
I dunked a two pointer but it looks like War Horse has fallen off the saddle.

Best Costume Design:
"The Artist" - Mark Bridges
Hey, I get two points on a lucky bounce, nada for Jane Eyre.

Best Original Score:
"The Artist" – Ludovic Bource
My Williams was washed aShore. No points.

Best Original Song:
"Man or Muppet" from The Muppets – Bret McKenzie
Surprisingly, they went with the suckier option! No points.

Best Sound Editing:
"Hugo" – Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty
My Drive stalled and the War Horse broke its leg. Nada.

Best Sound Mixing:
"Hugo"– Tom Fleischman and John Midgley
No Canadian content yet again for Moneyball and the War Horse is off to the glue factory.

Best Visual Effects:
"Hugo" – Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossmann, and Alex Henning
Big disappointment for Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Maybe the title was too long for the envelope. Hugo was just the right length: 1 point.

Best Makeup:
"The Iron Lady" – Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland
Just hoping Harry Potter and some fantasy makeup would get the nod but nope it goes to Thatchering up Meryl. Good for a point though!

Best Animated Short:
"The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore"
Neither Canadian movie (Dimanche nor Wild Life) came through. Never heard of the winner, no points.

Best Live Action Short:
"The Shore"
I went for Time Freak but got a lucky tip off from the Academy. 1 point.

Best Documentary Short:
"Saving Face"
My biggest letdown is that Tsunami and the Cherry Blossoms missed the net. Yeah, acid in the face is important but so are the thousands of tsunami victims!

What's my tally? 24/74 (74=22X3+9-1, plus nine for best pictures minus one for only two songs) which based on my wacky scoring method, means I got just one more point than last year. If I just go by how many movies where I got at least a point, I correctly chose 13/23. Not too shabby.

Now I can't wait for the Golden Raspberries!

Cherry Blossom Picking!

It's time once again for me to make my Oscar predictions based on no foreknowledge other that an uncanny knack at guessing wrongly. Click the label at the bottom of this entry entitled "Oscar" or "Academy Awards" to see any of my past entries, such as last year's.

You can pick your own nominees here. This is really the first time that I've looked at the list of nominees and a few things really stand out: (1)I have seen fewer nominated movies this year than in any of my previous Oscar Picks! (2)Only two songs this year! (3)Huh? Both Harry Potter: 7.5 and Transformers: Pink Floyd & the Dark Side of the Moon got 3 nominations and neither Thor nor Captain America received any! (And based on the undoubtedly fixed choices at that link, Transformers will win two of them!) (4)No Disney/Pixar nominations! (5)Billy Crystal is back as host! That is good news but how will he compare to this guy?

Since I have seen a total of 4 of the above (3 of those in the Visual FX category), I have my doubts whether I'll be very accurate this time round.

Ya know, I don't really care who wins what provided that
The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom wins for Best Documentary – Short Subject!

As per previous years, my rules are as follows: I will put my desired win in bold and what I think will win in italics or both if they overlap.
Starting at the bottom of the Wiki page, we have:
Best Visual Effects
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 –
Hugo
Real Steel
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Since this is the only category in which I have actually seen some of the entries, I can state with absolute certainty that my choice would be RotPotA. "Real Steel" was cute and "Harry Potter" was gripping at times (I hadn't seen any of the "HPs" between 4 & 7) but Apes was amazing! The segue between live action/cgi was seamless. When is Andy Serkis going to recognized for his outstanding work?
But the nod will probably go to Hugo. If it goes to Transformers, I will just barf!

Best Film Editing
The Artist
The Descendants
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Moneyball
I haven't seen any of these (that'll be a common theme today) so I will forego the sarcasm for the majority of categories and just skip to the choices. No idea so...I want Hugo; maybe Dragon Tattoo will win.

Best Costume Design
Anonymous
The Artist
Hugo
Jane Eyre
W.E.
My biggest who cares category!

Best Makeup
Albert Nobbs
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 –
The Iron Lady
Remember when Makeup used to go to creatures and now it just goes to someone made up to look older or like another extant person?

Best Cinematography
The Artist – Guillaume Schiffman
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo – Jeff Cronenweth
Hugo – Robert Richardson
The Tree of Life – Emmanuel Lubezki
War Horse – Janusz Kamiński
I hope to see both Hugo and War Horse this week so then I can judge better, but on a hunch, I'll vote Hugo and they'll vote War Horse.

Best Art Direction
The Artist – Laurence Bennett and Robert Gould
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 – Stuart Craig and Stephanie McMillan
Hugo – Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo
Midnight in Paris – Anne Seibel and Hélène Dubreuil
War Horse – Rick Carter and Lee Sandales
See above!

Best Sound Mixing
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Moneyball
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
War Horse
Who knows? Since a fellow Canadian, David Giammarco for “Moneyball” is nominated, I suppose he gets my vote.

Best Sound Editing
Drive
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
War Horse
Since David Giammarco didn't get nominated twice and all the other movies did, I want to make a soundbite for "Drive" because I really like its Director, Albert Brooks and I'd like to see it win something.

Best Original Song
"Man or Muppet" from The Muppets
"Real in Rio" from Rio
These two songs both suck royally. On general principle I was going to vote for "Muppets" but it sucks more than Rio! If these are the songs that made the cut, I can only imagine how horrible the others must be!


Best Original Score
The Adventures of Tintin – John Williams
The Artist – Ludovic Bource
Hugo – Howard Shore
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Alberto Iglesias
War Horse – John Williams
The only other movie of all those nominated that I've seen is "Tintin" and I felt that it was the best Score that Williams has done in ages, therefore it has to get my nod. On the other hand, Howard Shore is Canadian, so I wouldn't mind if the Academy gives an Oscar to him.

Best Animated Short Film
Dimanche
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
La Luna
A Morning Stroll
Wild Life
Both Dimanche and Wild Life are Canadian so I simply must vote for one of them. But the guys who penned Wild Life are from Calgary, a city I don't like, therefore Dimanche! Judge for yourself:

Best Documentary – Short Subject
The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement
God Is the Bigger Elvis
Incident in New Baghdad
Saving Face
The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom – Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen
You already know my opinion on this one, I only hope that the Academy agrees with me.

Best Documentary – Feature
Hell and Back Again
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory – Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky
Pina
Undefeated
Even though I didn't see the previous two Paradise Lost movies, I'll vote for the third in the trilogy. As for the Academy...? Pina has Wim Winders, and he's the only person I've heard of.

Best Live Action Short Film
Pentecost
Raju
The Shore
Time Freak
Tuba Atlantic
Who knows? Time Freak has a freaky title, so that's for me!

Best Foreign Language Film
Bullhead (Belgium) in Dutch and French
Footnote (Israel) in Hebrew
In Darkness (Poland) in Polish – Agnieszka Holland
Monsieur Lazhar (Canada) in French
A Separation (Iran) in Farsi – Asghar Farhadi
I did a lesson today about all the Canadian nominees so I could go for "Monsieur Lazhar" but since In Darkness is a co-Canadian production, I'd rather vote for it. Cool stuff about living in the sewers during WWII. The Twittering voices are all atwitter about "A Separation", so who am I to deny the masses?

Best Animated Feature
A Cat in Paris
Chico and Rita
Kung Fu Panda 2
Puss in Boots
Rango
I really wanted to see "Rango" but it was only shown here in Japanese. Of course since "Tintin" isn't really animation due to some bizarre rule, it doesn't qualify. My choice therefore is コクリコ坂から,予告編. What it isn't nominated! Okay, back to Rango.

Okay, now we're getting to the good stuff, none of which I have any insight but speculation...

Best Writing – Adapted Screenplay
The Descendants – Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash from The Descendants by Kaui Hart Hemmings
Hugo – John Logan from The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
The Ides of March – George Clooney, Grant Heslov, and Beau Willimon from Farragut North by Beau Willimon
Moneyball – Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin; Story by Stan Chervin from Moneyball by Michael Lewis
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan from Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré
In Grade 8, I was the Soothsayer in "Julius Caesar" and I uttered the line "Beware The Ides of March" therefore that gets my vote. Or Hugo, either one is okay by me.

Best Writing – Original Screenplay
The Artist – Michel Hazanavicius
Bridesmaids – Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo
Margin Call – J.C. Chandor
Midnight in Paris – Woody Allen
A Separation – Asghar Farhadi
I hear that Woody was back in good form with this one, though I do wish he'd return to New York and become funny again. A Separation will win because it's Farsical.

Best Supporting Actress
Bérénice Bejo – The Artist as Peppy Miller
Jessica Chastain – The Help as Celia Foote
Melissa McCarthy – Bridesmaids as Megan Price
Janet McTeer – Albert Nobbs as Hubert Page
Octavia Spencer – The Help as Minny Jackson
I liked Melissa in that sitcom she did with Christina Applegate. The Academy is all Help crazy, so it's Octavia all the way.

Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh – My Week with Marilyn as Laurence Olivier
Jonah Hill – Moneyball as Peter Brand
Nick Nolte – Warrior as Paddy Conlon
Christopher Plummer – Beginners as Hal Fields
Max von Sydow – Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close as The Renter
Christopher Plummer all the way!

Best Actress
Glenn Close – Albert Nobbs as Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis – The Help as Aibileen Clark
Rooney Mara – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo as Lisbeth Salander
Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady as Margaret Thatcher
Michelle Williams – My Week with Marilyn as Marilyn Monroe
Meryl as Maggie, say no more.

Best Actor
Demián Bichir – A Better Life as Carlos Galindo
George Clooney – The Descendants as Matt King
Jean Dujardin – The Artist as George Valentin
Gary Oldman – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy as George Smiley
Brad Pitt – Moneyball as Billy Beane
I gotta go with Gary, it's about time he won something (since he won't be nominated as Commissioner Gordon.) I'm not sure who the popular vote would be but lets go on a limb with Brad!

Best Director
Woody Allen – Midnight in Paris
Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist
Terrence Malick – The Tree of Life
Alexander Payne – The Descendants
Martin Scorsese – Hugo
Another shoulder shrug so I'll go Hugo, they'll go The Artist.

Best Picture
The Artist – Thomas Langmann
The Descendants – Jim Burke, Jim Taylor, and Alexander Payne
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close – Scott Rudin
The Help – Brunson Green, Chris Columbus, and Michael Barnathan
Hugo – Graham King and Martin Scorsese
Midnight in Paris – Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum
Moneyball – Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz, and Brad Pitt
The Tree of Life – Dede Gardner, Sarah Green, Grant Hill, and Bill Pohlad
War Horse – Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy
Once more on a limb with Hugo but I really think that the Academy is going to go for The Help.

Let's see how I fared tomorrow!

Stupid Internet Spoilers!

I wanted to remain ignorant of the main Oscar Wieners and follow along but it's impossible to gain access to any site without the big winners being revealed. So, I've head over to the Wiki page and clicked to the last page thus I can work my way backwards.

The complete list of the 83rd Annual Academy Award nominations were announced Tuesday and just like last year, I will put my desired win in bold and what I think will win in italics or both if they overlap.

Starting at the bottom of the Wiki page, we have:

Best Film Editing:
I chose 127 Hours because they actually edited it down and my prediction came true for the longest movie,
The Social Network (Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter) won it.

Best Visual Effects: I chose Alice in Wonderland realizing and expecting Inception (Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley, and Peter Bebb) to win, which it did.

Best Costume Design:
The Academy agreed with me and chose Alice in Wonderland (Colleen Atwood) but I thought that they might go for The King's Speech.

Best Makeup:
The Wolfman (Rick Baker and Dave Elsey)...Nailed it. The Oscar boys rightfully chose this one along with me.

Best Art Direction:
Once again I underestimated the Academy's love for Inception and my choice Alice in Wonderland (Art Direction: Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Karen O'Hara) won.

Best Cinematography:
Nailed it! Inception (Wally Pfister) justifiably walked away with it.

Best Sound Editing:
I erred in both my desire, Tron: Legacy and my prediction, TS3, leaving "Inception" (Richard King) sounding off with very Sound wins.

Best Sound Mixing: "Inception" (Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo, and Ed Novick) won this as well. I had my tongue placed in my cheek when I chose Salt and True Grit.

Best Original Score:
I was way off with this one, hoping that How to Train your Dragon might win something and predicting that The King's Speech would take it. Rather surprisingly, the Hoity Toity ones chose a rather trendy score with "The Social Network" (Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross)

Best Original Song:
"We Belong Together" from Toy Story 3 (Randy Newman) was what I hoped for though I was afraid that "I See the Light" would take it.

I missed both of the following two categories, but then again I hadn't seen any of them when I made my predictions (then again, who has seen any of these?)
Best Live Action Short Film:
"God of Love" (Luke Matheny) beat out The Crush, and Na Wewe.

Best Animated Short Film:
"The Lost Thing" (Andrew Ruhemann and Shaun Tan) beat out The Gruffalo and Let's Pollute.

Hmm. I missed these as well...
Best Documentary Feature:
"Inside Job" (Charles H. Ferguson and Audrey Marrs) beat out Gasland and Waste Land.

Feature Best Documentary – Short Subject:
"Strangers No More" (Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon) beat out The Warriors of Qiugang which was both my choice and prediction.

Best Animated Feature:
No surprise whatsoever where Toy Story 3 (Lee Unkrich) conquered my favourite, How to Train Your Dragon. Sigh.

Best Foreign Language Film:
In a Better World (from Denmark in Danish, Swedish, and English – Susanne Bier) is what I thought the Academy would choose though I wanted Incendies to win because it's Canadian.

Best Writing – Original Screenplay:
"The King's Speech" (David Seidler) stole the honours away from both Inception and The Fighter.

Best Writing – Adapted Screenplay:
The Social Network (Aaron Sorkin from The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich) took it as expected though it sure would have been nice to see the Coens win for True Grit.

Best Supporting Actor:
My prediction was spot on for Christian Bale (The Fighter as Dicky Eklund) took it though I'd have liked to have Geoffrey Rush win.

Best Supporting Actress:
Though "Melissa Leo" (The Fighter as Alice Ward) won, I predicted her costar Amy Adams and wanted Helena Bonham Carter to take it.

Best Actor:
Colin Firth (The King's Speech as Prince Albert, Duke of York / King George VI) duked it out with another Dude Duke, Jeff Bridges in his Duke tribute.

Best Actress:
I nailed Natalie Portman (Black Swan as Nina Sayers / The Swan Queen)! I wish!!

Best Director:
I erred with "Tom Hooper" (The King's Speech) winning it, though I predicted David Fincher to scoop it up and desired Joel Coen and Ethan Coen. Maybe next year.

Finally,
Best Picture:
The King's Speech (Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, and Gareth Unwin) scammed it as expected though once again, I'd like to have seen any of the other 9 to take it, specifically True Grit.

So, what's my total? Last year, I gave myself 2 points for my desired movie, 1 point for the predicted Academy movie and 3 points for doubly nailing it. My undesired prediction came through 8 times, my desire came through thrice (6pts) and I doubly predicted thrice as well (9pts) which gives me a total of 23/72 or about 1/3. Considering a saw next to none of these movies, I think I fared fairly well. Biggest disappointment was with "True Grit" (0/10) and "How to Train Your Dragon" (0/2), a bit of a surprise that "Alice in Wonderland" won 2/3 and I'm content that "Inception" gathered 4/8.

Now that I've given my summation, I'm off to the Blogosphere to learn about the ceremony itself and maybe catch a few highlights on the YouTube BoobTube.

Academically Speaking.

The complete list of the 83rd Annual Academy Award nominations were announced Tuesday and just like last year, I will put my desired win in bold and what I think will win in italics or both if they overlap.

1. 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."
Of this year's TEN best pics, I've only seen one of them, "Inception" but I don't think it's deserving of the main prize. So I'll take a guess at "The King's Speech" which I think will sweep this year's wins as well as nominations. But ya know what would be really cool if it won? True Grit!



2. Actor: Javier Bardem, "Biutiful"; Jeff Bridges, "True Grit"; Jesse Eisenberg, "The Social Network"; Colin Firth, "The King's Speech"; James Franco, "127 Hours." He got the Golden Globe so I think Colin will get this nod as well. But ya know what would be really cool if he won? Jeff Bridges!

OOPS:

3. 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."
NO idea, but I like what Natalie Portman did in the preview, so that's good enough for me and I think the Academy will agree with me.



4. 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."
Bale won the GG for Rocky VI "The Fighter" but I love Geoffrey Rush. Here is his best role to date:



5. 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."
Once again, I have no idea and haven't seen any of these performances. How about I choose HBC for Alice in Wonderland "The King's Speech" and I'll throw a dart at Amy Adams for the win.



6. Directing: Darren Aronofsky, "Black Swan"; David O. Russell, "The Fighter"; Tom Hooper, "The King's Speech"; David Fincher, "The Social Network"; Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, "True Grit."

Nope, ain't seen any of them. The Academy jumps on the bandwagon with "The Social Network" and me, I'm gonna keep choosing this until it wins. "True Grit."

(Note to self: do a mashup of "The King's Speech" done by Tobe Hooper.)

7. Foreign Language Film: "Biutiful," Mexico; "Dogtooth," Greece; "In a Better World," Denmark; "Incendies," Canada; "Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi)," Algeria.
Well, I simply must go with "Incendies" cuz it's Canadian but what wacky spelling...

Oh, it's French-Canadienne! Screw that, I'll go with Biutiful from Mexico, at least they know how to spell. How about "In a Better World" by those Danes.

8. Adapted Screenplay: Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy, "127 Hours"; Aaron Sorkin, "The Social Network"; Michael Arndt, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich, "Toy Story 3"; Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, "True Grit"; Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini, "Winter's Bone."



Wow, that's an awful lotta writers for "TS3" which I hear is a remake of the first two so I'll go with the Coens once again for TG and Aaron Sorkin will walk away with the prize.

9. Original Screenplay: Mike Leigh, "Another Year"; Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson and Keith Dorrington, "The Fighter"; Christopher Nolan, "Inception"; Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg, "The Kids Are All Right"; David Seidler, "The King's Speech."

Wow, that's an awful lotta writers for "The Fighter" which I hear is a remake of the Rocky movies (actually I just made that up.) Since I've actually seen one of these movies, I'll vote for the incredibly confusing and cliff-hanging screenplay from Christopher Nolan.



10. Animated Feature Film: "How to Train Your Dragon," ''The Illusionist," ''Toy Story 3."
Haven't seen TS3 yet but I would love to see HtTYD win!!

I have NO IDEA why this movie was included in the Animated category!

11. Art Direction: "Alice in Wonderland," ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1," ''Inception," ''The King's Speech," ''True Grit." I want to see AiW win something, so I'll vote for it but the powers that be may give it to Inception. I sure hope they don't give it to this:

12. Cinematography: "Black Swan," ''Inception," ''The King's Speech," ''The Social Network," ''True Grit."
Truly breathtaking Cinematography on Inception. Gotta win!



13. Sound Mixing: "Inception," ''The King's Speech," ''Salt," ''The Social Network," ''True Grit."
Let's throw Salt on an old wound and take a dark horse pick here (because who really cares about Sound Mixing, anyway?) Perhaps True Grit will finally win something.



14. Sound Editing: "Inception," ''Toy Story 3," ''Tron: Legacy," ''True Grit," ''Unstoppable."
Oooh, Tron was nominated for something? I gotta choose it. The Academy will go for TS3.
Just listen to the sound on this. How could it not win?



15. 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.

Once again, I want to give HtTYD a heads-up so John Powell gets my nod. As for those guys who seal the envelopes...I dunno...Desplat because his name sounds like a Don Martin sound effect.



16. Original Song: "Coming Home" from "Country Strong," Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey; "I See the Light" from "Tangled," Alan Menken and Glenn Slater; "If I Rise" from "127 Hours," A.R. Rahman, Dido and Rollo Armstrong; "We Belong Together" from "Toy Story 3," Randy Newman.
I just listened to "I See the Light" and my ears began to bleed, so I'm sure it'll win. I'm going to forgive Randy for "Short People" and give him another chance for "We Belong Together."



17. Costume: "Alice in Wonderland," ''I Am Love," ''The King's Speech," ''The Tempest," ''True Grit."
One of my favourite aspects of AiW is the Costuming, so you know what I'm picking. Off the top of my Edith Head, though, I'll choose "The King's Speech" but it would be acceptable if this won...




18. Documentary Feature: "Exit through the Gift Shop," ''Gasland," ''Inside Job," ''Restrepo," ''Waste Land."
Huh? I dunno, how about "Waste Land" because I once read TS Eliot's poem and "Gasland".



19. Documentary (short subject): "Killing in the Name," ''Poster Girl," ''Strangers No More," ''Sun Come Up," ''The Warriors of Qiugang."
Once again, Huh? It's the only Asian choice this year, so "The Warriors of Qiugang" for all the marbles. (Trailer here.)

20. Film Editing: "Black Swan," ''The Fighter," ''The King's Speech," ''127 Hours," ''The Social Network."
The Editors were working hard to get "127 Hours" down to 94 minutes, so that's my choice. "The Social Network" is the longest movie of the five, so it'll get chosen.



21. Makeup: "Barney's Version," ''The Way Back," ''The Wolfman."
It has to be "The Wolfman", the back and forth from reality to CGI was seamless.

22. Animated Short Film: "Day and Night," ''The Gruffalo," ''Let's Pollute," ''The Lost Thing," ''Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)."
Cool, "The Gruffalo" looks pretty good. But let's get political and "Let's Pollute."



23. Live Action Short Film: "The Confession," ''The Crush," ''God of Love," ''Na Wewe," ''Wish 143." No Way will Na Wewe win but I like bongos. I was rather surprised to see this nominated...



24. Visual Effects: "Alice in Wonderland," ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1," ''Hereafter," ''Inception," ''Iron Man 2."
As much as I liked "Iron Man2", it wasn't Oscar material. So I'm all for Alice in Wonderland but won't be disappointed if Inception wins.



Well this year must be a new record for me. I have seen a total of 6, Alice in Wonderland, Inception, Iron Man2, How to Train Your Dragon, Wolfman and Tron Legacy. I wonder if any of the will win. We shall see...

Dropping A Log!

So these are what could have won...

French Roast



Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty



Click this for: The Lady and the Reaper.

For a smattering of W & G watch "A Matter of Loaf and Death" trailer or the whole thing (for now...)


Wallace And Gromit - A Matter Of Loaf And Death

DANMAN | MySpace動画

And this is a bit of the short that won...

Logorama:



meh.