Cinematography

Hugo

Art Direction

Hugo

Costume Design

The Artist

Makeup

The Iron Lady

Foreign Language Film

A Separation

Best Supporting Actress

Octavia Spencer, The Help

Film Editing

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Sound Editing

Hugo

Sound Mixing

Hugo

Documentary Feature

Undefeated

Animated Feature

Rango

Visual Effects

Hugo

Best Supporting Actor

Christopher Plummer, Beginners

Original Score

The Artist

Original Song

The Muppets

Adapted Screenplay

The Descendants

Original Screenplay

Midnight in Paris

Live Action Short Film

The Shore

Documentary Short

Saving Face

Animated Short Film

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

Director

Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist

Actor

Jean Dujardin, The Artist

Actress

Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady

Picture

 The Artist

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Since its INCEPTION, the Oscars has always been a calculated and intense campaign to crown who is KING of Hollywood’s SOCIAL NETWORK. Every movie executive thinks he is a FIGHTER out to pick a BONE and nab the statuette with TRUE GRIT. In less than 127 HOURS, we will find out at the 83rd Annual Academy Awards.

We have arrived at the moment where Hollywood’s self-important social network of Academy voters, friends, colleagues and sleeping partners (for most) will superpoke one another at the champagne bar, practise winning speeches without stuttering and confer the coveted golden statuettes to the deserving victors at the 83rd Annual Academy Awards on Feb 27 (Feb 28 Singapore time).

But why should you care?

For starters, we are seduced by the drama surrounding the studio fat cats scrambling to outsmart one another in the alley with scare tactics (slighting emails), endorsements (“for your consideration” ads) and childish antics (read: Harvey Weinstein stormed out at the Golden Globes). It’s like watching another episode of Jersey Shore, albeit with lesser makeup and trailer trash talk.

And of course we are fixated on the Oscars because eye candy hosts Anne Hathaway and James Franco have been craftily picked to win younger audiences and stoke the flames of our desires. We can only hope Anne’s chemistry with James will be as good as the one she had with Jake Gyllenhaal in Love and Other Drugs where she pranced around naked half the time. But I digress.

It’s evident the Oscars show producers are doing their darnest to attract younger viewers and hence buzz has been building around the showdown between The Social Network, acclaimed as the hyper nerdy and hipster cool movie of the twenty-something generation and The King’s Speech, the old-fashioned against-all-odds British movie favoured by the older crowd, especially the geriatric folks in the Academy who can still cast a vote ably.

Will The King’s Speech have the last word? Or can the cool nerd in the college block lure the entire academy to “like” it? I guess we have to wait till the totem falls to find out.

Best Actor

We’re looking at a sequel to last year’s fight between Jeff Bridges and Colin Firth, the former who won for Crazy Heart. This year, Bridges’ gritty performance as a Western marshal in True Grit proves the Dude deserves the statuette won but we believe it’s Colin Firth’s year in a category brimming with wonderful performances from Javier Bardem (brutal), Jesse Eisenberg (geek cool) and James Franco (gripping). Firth’s tormented portrayal of a monarch overcoming his stutter has certainly found favours with the older establishment who loves a comeback kid. Long live the King.

The spotlight is on a delicate showdown between Natalie Portman and Annette Bening, the former who put on a physiological and psychological performance in Black Swan and the latter a nuanced and subdued act in The Kids Are All Right. It was frightening to watch Portman the ballet dancer self-destruct in the name of art compared to Bening who strikes a chord with her heartfelt display of anguish and love. In a particular scene where after finding out her partner (played by the equally excellent Julianne Moore) has cheated on her, Bening sat at the dinner table with the cheating partners looking on listless, terrified and angry all at the same time. It had Oscars written on that face alone but we’re guessing Portman will win Best Actress – by a tiptoe.

Is there even any fight (pun intended) in this race? It’s a lockdown on Christian Bale to win for an insane and knockout performance in The Fighter as a former champion boxer sliding into drug addiction and mental breakdown. Props to Geoffrey Rush for squaring off with Colin Firth in The King’s Speech and putting on an articulated performance but Bale will win on his first nomination by a wide margin.

The winning streak might just continue for the cast of The Fighter. Melissa Leo, who has picked up most of the awards leading up to the Oscars, is tipped to win in a category known to have unwittingly caused careers to falter for winning actresses (read: Catherine Zeta-Jones, Marcia Gay Harden, Jennifer Connelly). Co-star Amy Adams and Hailee Steinfeld from True Grit might just cause an upset but we think Leo will stick around and score for all the crazy mothers in the world.

As much as we think David Fincher should win for The Social Network, the movie benefited more from a strong screenplay than direction. Money’s on Tom Hooper to win thanks to his win at Directors Guild and besides, The King’s Speech has much more momentum. It’s too close to call but we’re going with the tried-and-tested narrative – Best Picture wins Best Director too.

There’s always a school of thought among pundits, water-cooler speculators and Hollywood insiders on naming the Best Picture – whichever movie has momentum and buzz, whichever movie wins. And what a difference a month or two makes. Just when The Social Network was sweeping the prizes at the critics’ circles, smarty pants began to update their Facebook statuses congratulating on its pending win.

But the victory speeches are being rewritten of late with um, um, The King’s Speech, the uplifting and inspiring tale of a King-in-waiting conquering his stutter and ascending a throne of a nation in a critical time of need. With awards won at the Guilds (Producers, Directors and Screen Actors), the momentum is certainly with the royalty.

We don’t mean to ignore the other contenders, which are all commendable but if anything, the showdown is really between the older establishment which favours a traditional storytelling of overcoming odds and an edgier crowd liking a movie that attests to the zeitgeist on greed, friendships and a disconnected world that seems to yearn and build towards more connections than ever.

All rise to hear The King’s Speech on the podium.

And the other awards…

Original Screenplay
The King’s Speech for its inspiring storytelling that warms the cockles of your heart. Inception should win but we bet some of the Academy voters are still confused by the dream sequences hence giving it a miss.

Adapted Screenplay
The diagoue is rich and the banter fast and furious in The Social Network thanks to Aaron Sorkin‘s wit and bite-sized pace. Everyone’s liking it!

Editing
My head tells me it will be The Social Network for its fragmented jumps in time-space but my heart goes to 127 Hours for its dynamic and quick cuts that portray the adrenaline rush apt for a action-driven and fast-forward movie.

Cinematography
The Western landscape can’t get as dark, gritty and dangerous as it gets in True Grit with the talented Roger Deakins helming it.

Art Direction
The set’s designed so delish everyone wants to be part of the tea party in Alice in Wonderland.

Costume Design
It takes a great vision to dress Johnny Depp (just look back at his pirated history) and Alice in Wonderland brings out the mad-cap in him with frilly frocks and hats.

Makeup
I’m uncertain but I’ll go with the one with more hair – The Wolfman.

Visual Effects
Inception blew our mind with the rotating corridors and shifting skyscrapers, parts of an elaborate dreamscape accented by the brilliant visual effects.

Sound Editing
Inception, its cool sound editing matching with the trippy visual effects.

Sound Mixing
As if I can tell the difference with sound editing, but I’m going for The King’s Speech. The uncomfortable silences, the pace of the stutter, the tempermental shouts all add up to a wonderful sound mix if you ask me.

Original Score
The King’s Speech‘s deliberate score filled with painful silences and lifting notes should win.

Original Song
‘If I Rise‘ for 127 Hours by A.R. Rahman and the haunting Dido.

Animated Feature
Toy Story 3.

Illustrations courtesy of Valerie Chua.

Other Oscar features:

How the Oscars Nominees are Chosen

How to make a Best Picture

Franaway for Generation Social Network

Best Pictures According to The Zeitgeist

The Oscars race this year feels rather lacklustre, perhaps a telling reflection of the movie calendar for the past year, thanks to the writers’ strike in 2008 that seriously affected the industry, creating a ripple effect and dearth of quality screenplays. A look at the 8 major categories and I can lock in at least 6 dead certain winners. Where’s the fun then?

We know you have to win the office pool and impress the female receptionist.Well, try upping the stakes in the dramatic showdown between David and Goliath, ex-wife versus ex-husband, bomb squad versus blue creatures, $1.5 million versus $237 million, you versus the impressionable female receptionist, or simply The Hurt Locker and Avatar. Despite upsizing to include 10 nominations, the playing field narrows into a lockdown between the low-budget suspenseful war drama The Hurt Locker (picture below) and the spectacular 3D fantasy epic Avatar (picture above) in the Best Picture category.

Both films have been sweeping wins at awards’ dinners and critics’ circles, but in my opinion, the year’s best belongs to Up in the Air, the all-American movie about retrenchment, unemployment, ambitions, traditions and coping with the new world order, clearly a true reflection of our times. The Zeitgeist would agree (in fact, read about his top 10 movies of 2009). Doesn’t the Academy just love to award movies that are of the zeitgeist, of the moment (read: Chicago’s win in 2003)? How UITA lost its frontrunner momentum still befuddles me. But I digress from the Avatar-Hurt Locker love fest.

Maybe the Academy couldn’t resist some drama. After all, they are in the business of moviemaking. The recent controversy surrounding THL producer Nicolas Chartier’s ban from attending the Oscars after his email urging voters to not vote presumably for Avatar is an example of raising alarm over smoke. Plus all eyes will be on THL director Kathryn Bigelow and Avatar director, a.k.a. king of the world, James Cameron, once-married couple and present rivals in the Best Director category.

And who can resist a triumph of the underdog story? We want THL to win, not just Best Picture, but also Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. We want indie pictures to put in a good fight. Slumdog Millionaire, Little Miss Sunshine, Brokeback Mountain – these are some of the movies we were rooting for in recent times. We hear some folks still can’t quit griping over Brokeback’s loss to Crash.

Categories from Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress to Best Adapted Screenplay are locked in and those Up in the air include Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay and just maybe, and I meant maybe in the strictest sense, Best Actress. And that’s because I’m in love with Carey Mulligan, whom Variety hails as the next Audrey Hepburn. Again, I digress with this crush. And so here are my humble and serious predictions for your consideration. You can paint me Na’vi blue if I don’t score at least 6 out of 8 correct predictions this time round. Eltu ayoe eywa hapxi kewong!

Best Actor

Colin Firth, A Single Man

George Clooney, Up in the Air

Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart

Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker

Morgan Freeman, Invictus

Alcoholic, estranged father, triple divorcee and a has-been country singer relegated to singing in the saloons. Jeff Bridges inhabits the multiple challenging roles as Bad Blake in Crazy Heart, which is what voters love. During an early scene where Bridges reclined in a chair with his beer belly exposed and a glass of whiskey in his hand, you knew that sense of grittiness would send him on the highway to Oscar glory. Bridges is one of the most underrated – 5 nominations so far – actors who deserves to win.

Best Actress

Carey Mulligan, An Education

Gabourey Sidibe, Precious: Based on the novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire

Helen Mirren, The Last Station

Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia

Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side

My heart says Carey Mulligan, but my head knows Sandra Bullock will be the sentimental favourite to win as the fearless and feisty Leigh Ann Tuohy, mother to an African-American teenager who life coached and pushed him to succeed in football. Bullock is a spitfire and the Academy loves a comeback win (after a series of flops before The Blind Side) for one of their own darlings. Brit Mulligan ranks as an outsider with her classy turn in An Education. Fingers crossed she wins, which would be a wonderful blind side.

Best Supporting Actor

Christopher Plummer, The Last Station

Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

Matt Damon, Invictus

Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones

Woody Harrelson, The Messenger

Evil reigns in 2 outstanding roles here – Stanley Tucci as a serial killer and Christoph Waltz as the delicious and devilish Nazi officer Colonel Hans, who strikes fear with his cold and calculated gaze. Don’t bet against the latter evil incarnate.

Best Supporting Actress

Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air

Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart

Mo’Nique, Precious: Based on the novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire

Penelope Cruz, Nine

Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air

We know Mo’Nique is a sure-win as the abusive and deranged mother of a teenage daughter. She was a monster who made us hate her despite playing a character that was supposed to win our hearts. Mothers are supposed to be nice. I wanna do a shout out to the sensational Penelope Cruz as the mistress who seduces the audience with a sexy and titillating dance number. Damn, those legs are hot! Who knew ropes could be so fun?

Best Director

Lee Daniels, Precious: Based on the novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire

James Cameron, Avatar

Jason Reitman, Up in the Air

Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker

Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds

We’re about to witness history here. Kathryn Bigelow will be the first female director to win the award for steering The Hurt Locker. Bigelow worked magic not in the explosion but in the sequence leading up to it, the minutes, the seconds and suspense that is killing the audience. It’s a masterful and realistic work of Hitchcockian suspense – way better than rendering 3D effects on a computer.

Best Picture

An Education

A Serious Man

Avatar

The Blind Side

District 9

The Hurt Locker

Inglourious Basterds

Precious: Based on the novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire

Up

Up in the Air

Stranger things can happen when it comes to a Best Picture. Gatecrashers (Crash), surprised winners (Shakespeare in Love) and those with momentum that never made it. Up in the Air is an example of a piece of work with great buzz as early as last autumn, but somehow the pendulum has swung in The Hurt Locker’s favour after it won several awards, including its esteemed win at the Directors Guild of America awards.

The category takes another strange or complex turn with a new voting style: voters vote in order of preference, which means every film gets a vote, so it boils down to the second, third or even fourth choices. This translates into a tight race hence many are throwing Avatar into the mix for a two-horse race thanks to its populist wave.

I’ll go with The Hurt Locker simply because it has momentum.

More insights on the 10 nominees here.

Best Original Screenplay

A Serious Man

The Hurt Locker

Inglourious Basterds

The Messenger

Up

It’s a tale of 2 brilliant screenplays so vastly different in their treatment – one doesn’t say much except to build on what is unseen and the other talks way too much, smacking of wit, pomposity and fun. We’re referring to The Hurt Locker and Inglourious Basterds, the 2 films locked in a tight race. Quentin Tarantino is such a fave with actors and actresses in the Academy so the lobbying might help. We’ll go with The Hurt Locker considering its potential in Best Picture. Usually, a Best Picture and Original Screenplay go well together, like entrée and dessert.

Best Adapted Screenplay

District 9

An Education

In the Loop

Precious: Based on the novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire

Up in the Air

It’s my favourite film of the year so I will be partial and generous in my plaudits here: The writing is sharp, clever and lucid, possessing a playful wit. Jason Reitman proves he can write and direct and after 3 successful features (Thank You For Smoking, Juno and Up in the Air). It hurts to know UITA might not win Best Picture, but at least, it lands and wins something.

And the rest of the categories:

Best Animated Film – Up, up and away!

Best Art Direction – Lush forest, forest fairies and those darn mountains hanging in mid-air! Somebody bring me to Pandora. Avatar by a mile.

Best Costume – It’s a fine, fine line between fashion and costume and the pieces in Coco Before Chanel serve the film well.

Best Cinematography – Again, bring me to Pandora. In 3D. Avatar, no contest.

Best Documentary – The Cove. Inspiring, moving and this is how a documentary is supposed to be made: with bravery and passion.

Best Film Editing – How do you create suspense? Cut scenes according to precision (wires, facial expression, cutting wires, facial…boom!). Kudos to The Hurt Locker.

Best Makeup – I’ve no idea and it’s the strangest category with 3 nominations only. Say, Star Trek?

Best Music (Original Score) – Avatar. Hello? It’s James Horner, the Titanic man.

Best Music (Original Song) – ‘The Weary Kind’ in Crazy Heart. That song has so much gravitas especially after you’ve watched the film.

Best Sound Editing – The Hurt Locker.

Best Sound Mixing – See above.

Best Visual Effects – No brainer. Give it up for Avatar.

Do you agree with Ronald’s predictions? Take the challenge! Let’s see who shall paint who blue! Comment away.