Hey everyone!

Hey, I'm REALLY sorry about the massive delays that are happening on this blog, and they've been happening for a while. But I will have more time soon. I just have a harder school year then I did last year and it's finals week, so I don't have too much time. But 77 will soon be finished and a reviews of some new Oscar contenders, plus predictions about who will be nominated are coming soon....


But how are YOU? Do you have any questions? Anything you won't talk about? I'd love to have a conversation on here, it doesn't matter if there are like 30 comments on here. In fact the more the better!


By the way, you know how on facebook where you can send messages to other users? Is there something like that on blogger? Please tell me!

Golden Globe predictions

Since the Golden Globes are today, I've decided to makke my prdictions:



Best Motion Picture Drama: I'll predict The Social Network since after winning the BFCA on Friday, it has all the momentum. But I wouldn't be surprised at all if The King's Speech surprises, given the Globe's love it, or perhaps The Fighter could pull a surprise upset. But I'll stick with The Social Network...



Will Win: The Social Network


Should win: The King's Speech (Though the only other one I have seen out of these is Black Swan)


Best Motion Picture musical or comedy: I'll say The Kids Are All Right, but who knows? This is an odd category to predikct.


Will Win: The Kids Are All Right

Should win: Burlesque (I've seen both Burlesque and The Kids Are All Right, and I thought Burlesque was indeed better)




Best Director: I'm confident David Fincher will win, Tom Hooper and David O. Russel lack buzz, and Fincher is overdue.

Will Win: David Fincher

Should win: Darren Arfonsky

Best Actor in a motion Picture Drama: Collin Firth certainly, I'm pretty sure.

Will Win: Collin Firth

Should win: Collin Firth (Haven't seen the others).


Best Actor in a muusical or Comedy: Gee, this is hard, I'll say Kevin Spacey. This category has gone to WTF places in the past couple years, and I just read he never won the globe.

Will Win: Spacey

Should win: Haven't seen any


Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama: Natalie should be winning here, and if she does then her frontrunner status is assured. But I think Nicole Kidman has a really good chance at surprising, though it might seem unlikely. The globes love her, and she hasn't been in the spotlight in a long time. But Portman will probably win.

Will Win: Natalie Portman

Should win: Nicole Kidman

Best Actress in a musial or comedy:

Will win: Annete is said to be a sure thing, and I think she'll still win, but if she loses, her chance of winning is unlikely. She's lost a lot of momentum to Natalie, and she'll need a win here, and a good speech to get her chances of winning up. Who's the spoiler? Julianne could win, but it's not likely. My hope is that Emma Stone will surprise, and I think she might have a shot, but I think Annnete will triumph.
Will Win: Annete Benning

Should Win: Emma Stone:


Best Screenplay: The Social Network is the frontrunner, but The King's Speech could win as well. But the globes usually go with Adapted Screen[plays here.


Will Win: The Social Network

Should win: The King's Speech


Your thoughts?

Best Actress 1977: Diane Keaton in Annie Hall

Diane Keaton received her first Oscar nomination and won for playing Annie Hall in Annie Hall. Annie meets Alvy Singer (Woody Allen), a neurotic-comedian who she falls for. They begin a beautiful, funny romance that might not work out in the end, but it is truly wonderful to watch.



Annie Hall has always been a favorite of mine, I just love the way it's directed, and written. The screenplay is golden, though Woody's character is pretty insufferable, which is the one problem I have with the movie, but more on that later. Diane Keatoin plays Annie, an odd, sort of social outcast young woman who meets Alvy on a sort of double-date with her friend and his friend. In the beginning, Diane Keaton is simply wonderful. She's natural, luminous, funny, and a joy to watch. She shows us Annie's fears, her passions, her shyness at first., her hope that Alvy might be the right guy. Her delivery is perfect, and she's just so real here. This performance has many great moments, her la de da, the scene in they're apartment, her singing, which is lovely. Diane Keaton also develops the character wonderfully too. She starts to let the audience see that she is starting to realize they're relationship won't work out because Alvy simply cannot change. Annie starts becoming more comfortable around people, and starts to try new things, and become her own person, and Diane nails all of this. Her break-up scene with Alvy might be a bit calculated, but Diane still plays it perfectly. THe chemistry between them is fantastic.



But one problem might be that although Diane does a great job developing the character, I think she could have been given a bit more to do. I think the film focuses too much on Alvy, and they should have given Keaton a little more to do too. But this is only a minor complaint because Diane Keaton still delievers a beautiful, natural, enjoyable performance that gets

Best Actress 1977: Anne Bancroft in The Turning Point

Anne Bancroft received her fourth Oscar nomination for playing Emma Jackline in The Turning Point. Emma is a famous ballerina, who has been dancing in the company for 38 years. Years ago, she and her friend Dedee (Shirley Maclaine) were competing for the same part. Since Dedee got pregnant, Emma landed the part and became a huge star, but her life feels empty, and now that she is getting older, her stardom is going down.


The role of Emma is really a supporting one, the leading nomination is just weird, but I guess she was such a great actress, they couldn't deny her the leading nomination. Anyway, that didn't bother me. I was already prepared for the fact that she has small screen time. That isn't a problem really in her performance. Anne Bancroft does a wonderful job here, making Emma the most interesting thing in the movie. I couldn't help but feel sorry for her, since she is starting to realize that she is too old for the very best parts in ballet. Anne shows us that she is a sad woman, knowing that she could have had a life with meaning, like her friend did, and not a life with just success. I felt all her scenes with Shirley were excellent, but a problem is that these two do not seem like old friends at all. I mean, they seem like each other, but best friends? The script really should have developed they're relationship more. I also thought it was so stupid how we never actually saw either of them dance. I know we saw a bit of Emma dancing, but this woman is supposed to have been dancing for nearly her whole life, she's supposed to be amazing. I might have seen more of that had she been given more dancing scenes. And although this probably should have been in Shirley's profile, but WHY did we never see Shirley dance? Throughout the whole film, we here that Dedee was a great dancer too, but we never see her dance. NEVER.

But these are more complaints about the film then about Anne's performance. The onlly real problem with her is that there should have been more character development. I just wanted more. But Anne Bancroft really gives a very good performance here, and for this , she gets

Best Actress 1977: Shirley Maclaine in The Turning Point

Shirley Maclaine received her fourth Oscar nomination for playing Dedee, in The Turning Point. Dedee was once an extremely talented dancer in a refined dancing company, both she and her best friend Emma (Anne Bancroft). When both Emma and Dedee were auditioning for a major ballet role, Dedee got pregnant and she decided to have the baby and raise a family, while Emma got the part and became a huge star. 38 years later, they meet again. Dedee's daughter jooins the same dance company they both were in, and starts to climb her way to the top, prompting Dedee to think about her daughter's future, and the fact that she never became a star.



When The Turning Point begins, it is a an entertaining, interesting story. It really brings up our choices when we are young and how they affect us when we're older. The dancing is beautiful to watch, and I personally was excited to see how both Emma and Dedee's relationship would develop. Shirley Maclaine is wonderful here, showing us that she regrets how her life ended up and that she is afraid that her daughter will end up hurt or disappointed. Shirley has a captivating presence in these scenes, that are just beautiful. But when her daughter moves to New York, the air seems to come out of the movie and this damages both the film and everyone's performance. The movie is trying to focus on Leslie Brown exclusively, and sort of drops Shirley's character development. There are never really any good scenes afterwards, and when she has an affair, it seems so random and unbelievable. She picks up more steam in the end, I like her scene at the ballet with her old director, asking him whether if she had not gotten pregnant, had she had been picked for the role instead of Emma. Her arguement in the restaurant is also pretty good, but her fight outside is too screechy, and ridiculous, I personally felt that Anne Bancroft outshined her here, though I should rewatch the scene just to be sure. But she does have a lovely moment at the end, when she looks at her daughter, surrounded by admirers, getting the fame that she herself did not get, but Shirley shows us that Dedee is radiant with happiness about her daughter's success. But this is ruined due to the incredibly dumb ending scene with her and Anne Bancroft, which is glib and unbelievable.


Shirley Maclaine tries her best to get a strong performance out of this movie, and she does in some ways, but the awfulness of the screenplay drag her down until the badness of her performance overshadows what's good about it. She gets

The 80th Oscars, a look back: Part 2

Best Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem was the biggest lock that year, and everyone knew he'd win. The only possible spoiler was Hal Hoolbrook, due to sentiment, but I honestly feel that the Academy didn't like Into The Wild enough to give it an award. The other nominees never got enough buzz at all. I myself was dissapointed by Bardem's win, just because I hate sure-things, and because his performance didn't seem that great to me. It wasn't when I saw it two years later. Tom Wilikinson is my pick, but I should see/rewatch all of these nominees.









Best Supporting Actress: The years most unpredictable race, beating Best Actress. Everyone had a chance, except for Saorise Ronan.

At first, it was Ryan vs. Blanchett. Ryan had won all the critics awards, and received raves, but Cate had won her share of critics awards too, and the fact that she had convincingly pulled of playing Bob Dylan received great word of mouth. Cate had also won the globe too, which helped her chances. But on SAG night, when the Best Supporting Actress envelope was opened, neither of their names were in it. Ruby Dee won, for her short, yet memorable performance in American Gangster. People started to realize that she had quite a lot of sentiment,going for her, and the Academy easily could reward a veteran.


But what counted against all three of these women was that they're films weren't well received at all by the Academy. One's who was was Tilda Swinton. She had been a sure-bet for a nominee, yet no one ever really touted her as a winner. But she pulled a huge surprise by winning the BAFTA, and this led some pundits to predict her, spotting that Michael Clayton really didn't have much chance of a win anywhere else. This and the fact she gave a great performance tipped the odds in her favor, though in the actual voting, I bet it was a close race between her, Ryan, and Blanchett. I was rooting for Ronan at the time, and was totally shocked when Alan Arkin read Tilda's name I was predicting a win for Amy Ryan. When I saw Gone Baby Gone after the Oscars, I personally felt that Ryan's performance was more impressive, but Tilda is an extremely deserving winner. \


I loved her speech by the way!











Best Original Screenplay: Juno won, and it was a pretty sure thing. Everyone raved about the screenplay, plus it was the only way to honor Juno. It's only competition came from Michael Clayton, a terrific script, that in retrospect, probably should have won, though The Savages was great too. I was rooting for Juno at the time, and though I don't like it as much as I used to, I still think it's a worthy winner here. I felt the script did a great job of developing all the characters in the film and it was a pretty entertaining story . And some of that dialogue is really memorable.






Best Adapted Screenplay: No Country won here as well, this was an easy category to predict. Usually, though not always, the Best Picture winner picks up a Screenplay award. Diving Bell And The Butterfly and There Will be Blood were strong contenders too, but I suppose the academy really loved No Country.

My preference is Away From Her, a beautiful screenplay, and a great movie.










Overall, this was a good year for movies, not my favorite, but a good year none the less. But nearly all the winners didn't deserve it, at least to me. I personallly feel that 2006 and 2008 were better years for film, and I think I'll cover the 2008-2009 oscars next.

What werre your feelings/predictions then? What do you think now?

The 80th Oscars, a look back: Part 1

Since Oscar season is coming up, I felt that we should take a look back at the Oscars three years ago, a much different Oscar year then this or last year. Let's try to remember how we felt about the nominees and who we wanted to win and what we think of them now. I'm only going to do the first 4 out of the major 8 categories and the next 4 tomorrow.




Best Picture: No Country For Old Men won this year, sadly. It was a pretty sure thing, having won all the main precursor awards, and given that the Coen's were overdue. There Will Be Blood was buzzed about, and many now call it a masterpiece. I personally liked it, but felt it was flawed. It was too dark and offbeat for the academy, I think. Juno had a chance, given that it was the highest grossing film of the five, and was an upbeat comedy, but comedies rarely win, they probably figured the screenplay win was enough. Michael Clayton never got enough momentum to ever pull off a win, and Atonement's buzz really faded before the nominations came out, so it had no chance either.





I personally was rooting for Juno with all of my heart at the time, and was disappointed, but not surprised when it lost. I had seen it five times, and loved it when it came out. Now, I've rewatched it and found it okay, but not really oscar-worthy. I loved Michael Clayton, loved the 1str half of Atonement, was disappointed by the 2nd half. About a year or two ago, I saw No Country, I didn't really like it. It was just alright. Not that strong of a year, but perhaps I'll rewatch in the future.


Best Director: The Coen brothers won, though they're win wasn't as locked up, given Julian Schnabel was a strong compepitor as well. I need to rewatch here, plus I haven't seen Diving Bell, but I don't really want too.




Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis was a sure thing. George Clooney was once a major compepitor, but Day-Lewis was just on a roll. I was rooting for Depp at the time,, but now I just don't know. I still haven't seen Tommy Lee or Viggo Mortensen.







Best Actress: Here was the most exciting category for me. I was rooting for Ellen Page, I totally wanted her to win. I was so heartbroken when she didn't. My hopes were too high, I suppose.


I was right though in predicting that Julie Christie would lose. I thought the film was too little seen, and I think that might have been a factor. When I first saw it, I didn't think she was that great, but I just didn't how to judge subtle acting then, and was angry about her beating Ellen Page at all the precursors that year. I really underestimated Marion, I just thought a foreign language performance wouldn't win. When I saw her, I didn't like her, but my sister said I was being unfair, so I sort of talked myself into liking her. As for Blanchett, I actually thought she was great, but the film was terrible. I saw Linney afterwards, and I really liked her! And she's grown on me since! But as you can probably see, I really need to rewatch all of the nominees before I can defintely say who should have won.












Part 2 will come soon! But what were your thoughts this year, and what are your thoughts on this year looking back on it now?