Jmunney's Blog

These are my choices for the top performances/accomplishments in films of 2010 in each of the cinematic categories honored by the Academy Awards.  I suppose that you could say if I were unilaterally choosing the Oscar nominees, these would be the nominees.  In a few of the design and technical categories (particularly Makeup and Sound Editing), I did not feel completely equipped to be picking the best, but I did what I could.

Picture
A full blog post detailing my top ten list is here.
Inception
The Social Network
The Fighter
Black Swan
Toy Story 3
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Let Me In
The King’s Speech
Easy A
Splice

Director
Christopher Nolan, Inception
David Fincher, The Social Network
David O. Russell, The Fighter
Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
Matt Reeves, Let Me In

Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio, Inception
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
James Franco, 127 Hours
Mark Wahlberg, The Fighter

Actress
There are a few performances here from movies that I didn’t think were otherwise that great.
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit
Emma Stone, Easy A

Supporting Actor
Christian Bale, The Fighter
Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech
Andrew Garfield, The Social Network
Justin Timberlake, The Social Network
Vincent Cassel, Black Swan
Jonah Hill, Cyrus

Supporting Actress
Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Barbara Hershey, Black Swan
Marion Cotillard, Inception
Amy Adams, The Fighter
Delphine Chanéac, Splice
Mila Kunis, Black Swan

Adapted Screenplay
Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
Roman Polanski, The Ghost Writer
Joel and Ethan Coen, True Grit
Matt Reeves, Let Me In
Michael Arndt, Toy Story 3

Original Screenplay
Christopher Nolan, Inception
David Seidler, The King’s Speech
Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson, and Keith Dorrington, The Fighter
Bert V. Royal, Easy A
Vincenzo Natali, Antoinette Terry Bryant, and Doug Taylor, Splice

Editing
Lee Smith, Inception
Kirk Baxter Angus Wall, The Social Network
Pamela Martin, The Fighter
Andrew Weisblum, Black Swan
Thelma Schoonmaker, Shutter Island

Cinematography
Wally Pfister, Inception
Matthew Libatique, Black Swan
Danny Cohen, The King’s Speech
Bob Richardson, Shutter Island
Roger Deakins, True Grit

Art Direction
Inception
Shutter Island
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Black Swan
Tron: Legacy

Sound Mixing
Inception
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
The Social Network
The Fighter
Black Swan

Sound Editing
Inception
Shutter Island
Toy Story 3
Tron: Legacy
Unstoppable

Costume Design
Inception
Black Swan
The King’s Speech
The Social Network
True Grit

Score
Hans Zimmer, Inception
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, The Social Network
Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel De Homem-Christo, Tron: Legacy
Alexandre Desplat, The Ghost Writer
Heitor Perreira and Pharrell Williams, Despicable Me

Song
“The Clap,” written by Dan Bern and Mike Viola, Get Him to the Greek
“Chop and Change,” written by Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney, Twilight: Eclipse
“Heavy in Your Arms,” written by Florence Welch and Paul Epworth, Twilight: Eclipse
“Fun, Fun, Fun,” written by Pharrell Williams, Despicable Me
“Eclipse (All Yours),” written by Emily Haines, James Shaw, and Howard Shore, Twilight: Eclipse

Foreign Language Film
I saw two foreign language films from 2010 – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl who Played with Fire – but I believe that neither one was eligible in this category, as they were not released in their home country last year.  But since they were released stateside in 2010, they were eligible for all the other categories.  Also, I believe there can be only one film nominated per country per year.

Documentary Feature
I saw four documentaries from 2010.  Here’s how I rank them:
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Waiting for ‘Superman’
Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
Catfish

Animated Feature
Toy Story 3
How to Train Your Dragon
Despicable Me

Visual Effects
Inception
Hereafter
Tron: Legacy
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Makeup
Black Swan
The Fighter
Let Me In
Shutter Island
Jonah Hex

A bit of a revision to my Oscar post from yesterday.  Regarding Visual Effects, I completely forgot to consider Tron: Legacy, which could very well blow away the two contenders that I mentioned – Hereafter and Inception.  As for Makeup, I really don’t know if Inception is the top contender or not (or if it is even a contender at all).  All I had to go on for this category was what awardsdaily.com – one of my main sources for Oscar news – had to offer, and according to the folks over there, only Inception and Shutter Island have been targeted as Makeup contenders so far.

The big Academy Awards prognosticators have already switched it into high gear in predicting the nominations for the 83rd Academy Awards, which will take place on ABC the night of Sunday, February 27, 2011, with co-hosts James Franco and Anne Hathaway (unusual choices, but judging by their performances as hosts of Saturday Night Live, I think that they will be able to handle the proceedings).  So I figured it is time for me to add my early perspective.  Here are my predictions for the nominees in the six major categories (predicted winners are in bold):

Best Picture
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King’s Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network
The Town
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Don’t count out Inception, the movie everyone was talking about this summer, and things could change completely once The King’s Speech goes into wide release, but right now, Social Network, the best-reviewed movie of the year, is the front-runner.
Also with a chance: Winter’s Bone

Director
Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
Danny Boyle, 127 Hours
David Fincher, The Social Network
Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech
Christopher Nolan, Inception
Fincher has the edge over Nolan in a battle between two directors who should have been nominated more often than they have been (this’ll be Fincher’s second, Nolan’s first).

Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio, Inception
Michael Douglas, Solitary Man
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
James Franco, 127 Hours
The surest bet of the awards season appears to be Firth gobbling up every major lead acting accolade.
Also with a chance: Javier Bardem, Biutiful

Actress
Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
Julianne Moore, The Kids Are All Right
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Winter’s Bone is too small, and the Kids leads may cancel each other out, which moves victory to Portman’s direction.
Also with a chance: Noomi Rapace, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Supporting Actor
Christian Bale, The Fighter
Andrew Garfield, The Social Network
Armie Hammer, The Social Network
Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech
Justin Timberlake, The Social Network
In a crowded field, the best bet is the new Peter Parker for being, as Entertainment Weekly Oscar Watcher Dave Karger calls him, “the … moral center” of The Social Network.
Also with a chance: Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right

Supporting Actress
Helena Bonham Carter, The King’s Speech
Barbara Hershey, Black Swan
Mila Kunis, Black Swan
Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit
This category is a little difficult, as none of my picks are in movies that are yet in wide release.  This could come down to a battle of scary moms (Hershey, Leo) versus the Queen Mum (Bonham Carter), but this category’s history of awarding young newcomers bodes well for 13-year-old Hailee Steinfeld.
Also with a chance: Amy Adams, The Fighter

As for the other categories…

Adapted Screenplay
Aaron Sorkin (Social Network) is one of the most beloved screenwriters in the biz today.

Original Screenplay
The speechwriting of David Seidler (The King’s Speech) or the layered puzzle from Christopher Nolan (Inception)?  This looks about dead even right now, so I’ll go with Nolan.

Editing
Unless The Social Network wins everything, Lee Smith ought to be recognized for keeping everything well-timed and in the right place for Inception.

Cinematography
How about Christopher Nolan standby Wally Pfister (Inception) picking up his first win?

Animated Feature
Too bad for How to Train Your Dragon, Despicable Me, and Tangled that they were released the same year as Toy Story 3.

Art Direction
With a lack of any viable colorful nominees, we must look for something expansive and chalk up another victory for Inception.

Costume Design
When nothing else sticks out, go period – The King’s Speech.

Documentary Feature
Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work and Facebook mystery Catfish were surprisngly left off the list of semifinalists, but Inside Job, the tale of the financial meltdown, was always going to be the favorite, with Waiting for “Superman” providing some competition.

Foreign Language Film
Lead Actor candidate Javier Bardem could propel Mexico’s Biutufil to a win.

Makeup
Inception, apparently.

Original Score
If you’re looking for iconic, look no further than Hans Zimmer’s bludgeoning work for Inception, but don’t count out Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor’s dark atmospherics in The Social Network.

Song
I’ve got “The Clap” from Get Him to the Greek.

Sound Mixing and Editing
Inception should sweep up the technical categories.

Visual Effects
Inception will have a chance if old-fashioned camera tricks are considered as much as CGI; otherwise, Hereafter should win on the strength of the tidal wave sequence.

Animated Short
Probably something from Pixar.  Maybe Day and Night (not to be confused with Knight and Day), which played in theatres before Toy Story 3. 

Documentary Short
Maybe something about China.

Live-Action Short
Maybe something about somebody with cancer.

Sandra Bullock pulled off a landmark twofer in the most recent awards season, becoming the first person to win both an Oscar and a Razzie in the same year. But as bad as All About Steve is, it is not bad enough to warrant a spot on the IMDB Bottom 100.  The Mo’Nique-starring Phat Girls, on the other hand, is, currently holding the #77 spot.  With her supporting actress win for Precious, Mo’Nique is now both an Oscar winner and the star of one of the 100 worst movies of all time.  And she is actually not the first to have such a wide-ranging career.  Here are some others:

-Louis Gossett, Jr., Best Supporting Actor Winner for An Officer and a Gentleman, also starred in Why Did I Get Married, Too? (#88).
-Forest Whitaker, Best Actor Winner for The Last King of Scotland, also starred in Battlefield Earth (#89).
-Ben Affleck, Best Original Screenplay Winner for Good Will Hunting, also starred in Gigli (#90).
-Cuba Gooding, Jr., Best Supporting Actor Winner for Jerry Maguire, also starred in Daddy Day Camp (#95).
-George Kennedy, Best Supporting Actor Winner for Cool Hand Luke, also starred in Bolero (#99).

Precious itself has quite the cast.  One of Mo’Nique’s co-stars was Mariah Carey, who of course also appears in the Bottom 100 at #55 with Glitter.