First Round of Oscar Nominations

So i'm gonna go through categories for which i've seen all of the nominated films, and work on finishing up some of the other movies so i can have discussions/predictions/preferences in all the major categories.  So let's start out with a few categories i've seen all the way through, in no particular order.

Sound Mixing
Inception
The King's Speech
Salt
The Social Network
True Grit

First, a brief note on this category.  Basically, "sound mixing" refers to the compilation of all sound effects in a film, from music and dialogue to ambient noise and sound effects.  "Sound editing" is the actual creation and construction of sound effects, either with computer audio effects or foley recording, etc.  Again this is very basic, but this category is about the overall putting together of the sound in the film, while sound editing is more about the sounds themselves.  They're both actually very important fields, it's just hard to be actively aware of that while watching a good movie.

Now, i'm not 100% sure why The King's Speech has a nomination here, as that audio all seemed pretty straightforward.  The Social Network and True Grit had a little more to do, but again, sound wasn't exactly a driving technical element for those movies.  That leaves Salt and Inception.  i saw Salt, i thought it was fun and entertaining and the sound design is definitely important , but even in technical categories, the Oscars tend to reward average movies with nominations and not awards, so i think Inception is the clear favorite here.  Also, Inception kind of deserves it - it had to juggle a whole lot of moving parts and the sound helped a lot with the transitions around time and space.


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

Melissa Leo is still the frontrunner, but she has a lot of obstacles stacked against her.  1) Splitting votes with Amy Adams, who is also an admired previous nominee. 2) Jacki Weaver, who is outstanding in her film and competing with Leo for the "worst mother of the year" award in movies. 3) Helena Bonham Carter, who will surely get votes riding the wave of The King's Speech popularity.  and perhaps most importantly 4) Hailee Steinfeld, who, though in the wrong category, gives a better performance and a more vital performance to her film - plus i think voters will probably want to reward True Grit with more than just cinematography.

Leo was wonderful, and i like a lot of her work recently (including the tv show Treme, and i'm looking forward to her work next to Kate Winslet in Mildred Pierce), and if she wins, i won't be sad or disappointed, it will be well-earned.  i don't think Carter really deserves to be here - she's a great actress with a lot of versatility, but her performance here wasn't really all that special to me.  It was serviceable, but i feel like a dozen other actresses could have played the role and achieved the same success.  Adams was also very good, but again, i felt like other actresses could have done something similar.  i was floored by Weaver, and would love to see her win here just because that would be really cool, but i have to acknowledge that it probably won't happen.  All that said, Steinfeld was really the standout here and i think she deserves the trophy - Oscars aren't totally opposed to rewarding young talent, either - let's not forgot Academy Award winner Anna Paquin (Best Supporting Actress for X-Men The Piano).  So my prediction is still Melissa Leo, with a strong chance of a Steinfeld spoiler, and while my preference is for Steinfeld, either would be deserving wins.


Best Animated Feature
How to Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
Toy Story 3

This category is hardly even a question, Toy Story 3 will win, and should win.  i enjoyed How to Train Your Dragon a lot, but we've seen so many examples now of how animated movies can elevate the format to something greater and with more depth than mere entertainment.  Sure, it had a nice message about coming together and understanding differences, but it had a couple of pretty frustrating plot issues and it just didn't resonate quite as well with me.  Good movie, yes.  Oscar winning animated film?  Probably not.  (side note: i'm curious about how there will be a How to Train Your Dragon 2 since they already trained all the dragons...)    

Okay and then there's the issue of The Illusionist.  Look y'all, i hated this movie.  i hated it because it was so awesome.  i just couldn't handle it, it ended up being just way too emotional and heartbreaking and awesome and hopeful, and i still don't know what to do about it.  So there.  It won't win because it's a little too obscure, but imagine if the emotional impact at the end of Toy Story 3 was repackaged into something a little more resembling real life... you don't want to, because you couldn't handle that either.

So yes, Toy Story 3 for the win, great movie, great adventure, and it was phase one of my farewell to my childhood.  Phase two commences this summer with HP7 Part 2...


So yes, that's the first 3 categories.  i'll be back soon with 3 or 4 more.  (i still need to watch some more movies for Visual Effects, Sound Editing, Makeup, Costumes, Song, Actor, and Original Screenplay, but i have all the others.)  see ya soon.