The Oscars have been handed out to their rightful (mostly) owners, and the Zombies made their predictions. This year we didn’t know too much about the films – Essi had seen a good bunch of them, I had only a handful, but compared to last year when we were really, really digging into the bits and pieces of the films, we were really just lost. So much of our predictions were based on something else than really seeing the films – guessing, and trying to make some kind of sense of earlier awards and how the Academy would act like.
Here are our predictions – X is Timo, O is Essi and the yellow with the Oscar on top is obviously the actual winner. As you can see, Essi did much better job than I did – with 15/24 – and I did only 10/24. But next year, the tables will turn.
There’s also a bunch of comments to follow these predictions on the winners and runners up, just under the pic.
LEADING ACTOR – COLIN FIRTH (THE KING’S SPEECH)
I don’t think anybody was hugely surprised by the Leading Actor Oscar going to Colin Firth for his awesome role in The King’s Speech as the stuttering king. He respected the Nr. One Rule of Oscars as stated by Kirk Lazarus from Tropic Thunder: “Never go full retard”. “Everybody knows you never do a full retard.” “What do you mean?” “Check it out. Dustin Hoffman, Rainman, look retarded, act retarded, not retarded. Count toothpicks to your cards. Autistic. Sure. Not retarded. You know Tom Hanks, Forrest Gump. Slow, yes. Retarded, maybe. Braces on his legs. But he charmed the pants off Nixon and he won a ping-pong competition? That ain’t retarded. You went full retard, man. Never go full retard.” Putting that aside, he did an awesome role, in a don’t-go-full-retard -way: I believed him, but I simultaneously saw the enormous acting effort he did to nail down the role. I wouldn’t know who else could’ve really won this; Bardem and Bridges already have their Oscars, and Eisenberg and even Franco will have another change, unless they botch their careers up. So Colin was also the righteous choice.
SUPPORTING ACTOR – CHRISTIAN BALE (THE FIGHTER)
I don’t know anything about The Fighter, but I know that when Christian Bale sets his mind on something, he can be quite awesome. But still, I don’t like him; he’s a bit creepy. We all know the meltdown he had on set, and it’s been largely inspiration for many people in all fields of life – one of our actresses in Iron Sky actually was listening that little freakout on loop with earphones when preparing for one scene. And since I haven’t seen any other films – other than The King’s Speech, and Geoffrey Rush already has an Oscar, I’m fine with this. The Academy gets my blessing. They may rest peacefully now. I know they’ve been very nervous about this, and been flapping F5 on ZR’s website for hours after the award was handed out, and I didn’t return their calls – they must’ve been frightened to death – but it’s OK. It’s a good decision. Thank you.
LEADING ACTRESS – NATALIE PORTMAN (BLACK SWAN)
It’s amazing how beautiful actresses were nominated this year, and the most beautiful of them all – hell, apart from Essi, Natalie Portman is probably the *most* beautiful woman alive – won the award. Neither of us has seen the film, but the small clips I’ve seen are really strong, so I believe the best one won, although Essi has been appraising The Kids Are Alright also quite a lot. But it was not a competition of whether she would win or not – it was probably one of the safest bets on these Oscars. And for a good reason. And always remember, there’s so many reasons to love Natalie Portman. And, just to state it out loud, one of my biggest dreams as a director is to get to work one day together with Nicole Kidman and Natalie Portman.
SUPPORTING ACTRESS – MELISSA LEO (THE FIGHTER)
Essi picked wisely Melissa Leo, I thought of Amy Adams – just because I think Amy Adams is a lovely actress, but Essi saw the trailer and knew instantly who’s going to win. I did like Helena Bonham Carter’s role, and I think she’s absolutely one to win Oscar one day, but this wasn’t her year. That day will come, and we’ll know it when it hits, she’s a terrific actress, and looks like a billion dollars. If that expression is to say she’s beautiful, mysterious and almost cartoon-like in many ways. So, anyway, the Melissa Leo won this one from the Fighter, and I’m bound to think that The Fighter is a film worth to see.
ANIMATED FEATURE – TOY STORY (PIXAR)
Also known as the Pixar price, and it went – again – to it’s rightful owner, Pixar. I didn’t see any other films, and although I do think that The Illusionist seems like a film worth seeing, there just was no competition to the awesomeness of Toy Story 3. To me, it was the best film of 2010, and I would’ve gladly given the biggest Oscar to that (but of course, that won’t happen anytime soon…). Regardless, that’s a damn fine film, and deserves every Oscar going it’s way. This year we won’t probably see Pixar Oscar, since Cars 2 looks like … well, Cars 2. Probably a fine film, but won’t compete for Oscars (unless they come up with the category of Best Merchandise Sales Oscar), but maybe 2012, when they are pushing out their first live-action film John Carter From Mars… Impossible to say, but I have a tingling sensation that another Best Picture Oscar for Scif might be already on it’s way.
ART DIRECTION – ALICE IN WONDERLAND (ROBERT STROMBERG AND KARIN O’HARA)
Art Direction is basically pulling the vision out of the director’s head and transferring it to the screen into real or CGI sets. A good art director is aware of what the director wants, and when he or she is in synch, their ideas become something extraordinary. Tim Burton has always been very careful with the art directors he’s been working with, and no matter what people say of Alice in Wonderland, it was quite a world of it’s own. This Oscar seems also to be the one where they tuck Harry Potter every year, but I think Inception was a real contestant there. The world of Inception was precise and beautiful as well, especially when the city bended on itself… That was filmmaking, I tell ya.
CINEMATOGRAPHY – INCEPTION (WALLY PFISTER)
Yes, there was a lot of super-high-speed camera in Inception, and the whole cinematography of the complex and multi-layered Inception was very well taken care of, so I think the Oscar went to a right person. He shot most (if not all?) of Christopher Nolan’s films, and always with such excellency, such grandness and such Hollywoodness that one can only admire his work. He’ll be out for quite a bunch of Oscar nominations in his career, that’s for sure.
COSTUME DESIGN – ALICE IN WONDERLAND (COLLEEN ATWOOD)
A two-time Oscar winner Colleen Atwood just nailed the third award from Alice In Wonderland, and that’s no wonder. I did for some reason think that King’s Speech would get it, because I did like the way the film looked like, and like the stuff people were wearing, and it felt like it was very well in period (not to say that I’m an expert in early 1900′s British garderobe, but when things are right, you just know it – that’s the magic of details).
DIRECTING – THE KING’S SPEECH (TOM HOOPER)
The reason we need film directors is because otherwise all the films would be like this. There was quite a formidable bunch of very possible winners, and I think the biggest fight of the Oscars was actually the Directing Oscar this year. Fincher’s been evading evading Oscars from day one, and so has Aronofsky and both absolutely deserve an Oscar, but this time it fell on the lap of Tom Hooper from his astonishing work on The King’s Speech. I do think it went to the right address but I wouldn’t have been at all surprised if it were either of the others. But to be honest, we’ll be seeing Aronofsky and Fincher at Oscars in the years to come, and they’ll get their Oscars and lifetime achievements when they’re old – but with Tom Hooper I can’t be that sure. He’s a tremendous director, but maybe not as prolific as his younger older, more American colleagues.
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE – INSIDE JOB (CHARLES FERGUSON)
I was really, really, really hoping for Banksy to win the Oscar, and I think most of the viewers were as well. Exit through the Gift Shop was quite possibly the best documentary I had seen since… I don’t know when. It wasn’t even a documentary, it was a performance and a statement, which most of the viewers managed to miss completely, and this – I think – was its demise in Oscars. Exit Through the Gift Shop went full retard. Inside Job, on the other hand, seemed to be – as the commentators in Finnish TV pointed out pretty well – a safe bet for American audience. A subject where it’s easy to blame Everyone Else, instead of looking into the mirror. It’s the multi-billionaires, not us. But it was, I really trust, a good documentary. Hope to get to see it one day.
DOCUMENTARY SHORT – STRANGERS NO MORE (KAREN GOODMAN & KIRK SIMON)
We picked the best name for the price, and failed. Really, had no idea about the film at all, just… picked one. That’s all. Nice. Good. Very good.
FILM EDITING – THE SOCIAL NETWORK (KIRK BAXTER, ANGUS WALL)
What is a good edit in a film? The one you pay no attention to, yet the film manages to grab you by the balls and push you around for 2 hours, and you’re all in for it. That’s good editing. It’s not split screens, scattered storytelling or whatever the hell you might think, it’s just about rhythm of the whole film and how to achieve it. The Social Network probably deserves it, but there’s great editors nominated there as well, but I wouldn’t have any real idea what else it could be. Well, I suggested 127 Hours because I don’t know why… It’s kinda hard to say, I’m just starting my editing progress of my film and I think I’m going to be wiser after the next 9 weeks about what is and what is not good editing.
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM – IN A BETTER WORLD (SUSANNE BIER)
The one thing you can count on Foreign Language Films is that there’s always one film you’ve ever heard of, and that film won’t win it. This is what happened this year as well, but it’s great because the price went to Scandinavia – Denmark! Congratulations! A lot of good things have come from Denmark, so In A Better World is definitely on my list of films I do want to see.
MAKEUP – THE WOLFMAN (RICK BAKER, DAVE ELSEY)
The Wolfman didn’t shine, although it had a good cast, but the makeup was quite natural choice for the Oscars. Werewolf transition is one of the most traditional Hollywood special makeup tricks, and here we see it again, this time using the most modern technology.
ORIGINAL SCORE – THE SOCIAL NETWORK (TRENT REZNOR & ATTICUS ROSS)
To me, the Original Score was the most interesting and game-changing Oscar this year. First, I was hoping it to become a competition between Daft Punk (who did Tron), Social Network and Inception, but unfortunately – and out of no real reason – Daft Punk wasn’t even nominated. But more importantly, Reznor won. The old industrial freak who crafted himself through game soundtracks(Quake), collaborating with such filmmakers as David Lynch and Oliver Stone (Lost Highway and Natural Born Killers’ soundtracks) into an Oscar-winning composer outdid himself, but more than that, it was a brave move from the Academy to give the price to him, when Zimmer had simultaneously released his much more traditional but breathtakingly beautiful Inception… But really, Reznor nailed the score with Brian Enoesque minimalistic precision. But Reznor didn’t work alone – one could say that without the help of Atticus Ross, already a celebrated soundtrack artist (Book of Eli), he couldn’t have succeeded in the first place. I’m terribly happy for this Oscar on so many levels – mainly, because this might be a sign that also we’ll get past the typical soundtrack music in the future more easily, and get to hear more experimental soundtracks also in major films.
ORIGINAL SONG – TOY STORY (RANDY NEWMAN)
As it was tweeted, Randy Newman should accept all the Oscars and give all the speeches in the future. His sovereign, relaxed and ironic approach to the price – this was his 20th Oscar nomination, and second Oscar – was fun and to the point. He noted that above all, the Oscars are supposed to be good TV. And that’s what he delivered. He’s a super-professional, and will probably be popping up at the Oscars in the years to come, and his awesome song for Toy Story 3 definitely deserved all the appraise it got.
ANIMATED SHORT FILM – THE LOST THING (ANDREW RUHEMANN, SHAUN TAN)
It’s a shame I didn’t get to see even the short animated features this year, since I’ve so far always loved them quite a lot in Oscars. Of course I had seen Day & Night, loved it, but the price went to another film called The Lost Thing, of which I know nothing but it did look quite beautiful the seven seconds of it that I got to see. Congratulations, I’m sure you’ll get picked up, and have a great career at Pixar. I envy you… Well, thinking it another way, hope to see you around at Pixar one day!
LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM – GOD OF LOVE (LUKE MATHENY)
Another I-Have-No-Idea-What-You-Are-Talking-About -price, we hadn’t seen anything, and had no idea about the winners, so there’s nothing much to say.
SOUND EDITING & MIXING – INCEPTION (LORA HIRSCHBERG, GARY RIZZO, ED NOVICK & RICHARD KING)
I’ve always wondered why are Sound Editing & Mixing a different category, where as Visual Effects and Special Effects are not. Not to say that mixing and editing wouldn’t be a completely different crafts, but so are VFX and SFX. If someone can give me a feasible explanation, I’d loved to hear it. But Inception, yeah, well – what’s there to say? A technical Oscar, and Inception was by far the technically most satisfying movie of 2010, so it was the right address.
VISUAL EFFECTS – INCEPTION (CHRIS CORBOULD, ANDREW LOCKLEY, PETER BEBB, PAUL J. FRANKLIN)
I do have a bit of a problem of this category, knowing how much different worlds VFX and SFX can be. In my understanding and experience, Special Effects means everything that happens for real, and Visual Effects everything that’s created with a computer. So for example, rigging a huge rotating room and total zero gravity would be Special Effects, and creating a fire-breathing CGI dragon would be Visual Effects – and probably these two departments wouldn’t ever even get to meet or know each others’ names. But this year, there was Inception and Alice In Wonderland competing for the same price, and as it is well known, Alice was mostly CGI with so much green screen in the studio Tim Burton had to wear purple glasses to not to go crazy, where as Inception was basically made for real. Now don’t take me wrong, I do think Inception deserves the Oscar, but I’m just confused here – how can these two entities even begin to compete? It’s just two so completely different worlds…
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY / ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY – THE SOCIAL NETWORK / THE KING’S SPEECH (AARON SORKIN / DAVID SEIDLER)
The big fight in these oscars boiled down to The Social Network and The King’s Speech. Since both won their own categories of script, it was really hard to guess who’s gonna win, but as the Directing and Lead Actor went to The King’s Speech, it wouldn’t have made too much sense if The Social Network had won. But I’m sure every one of the scripts were amazing.
THE BEST PICTURE – THE KING’S SPEECH (THE WEINSTEINS)
Essi was saying The Social Network, and out of a brainfart mind of mine I said Inception (mainly because it’s always the movie that I least want to win that wins this price, but I should’ve been a bit more realistic…), but we both were wrong. It was, of course, The King’s Speech. And quite well-deserved one it was. I was secretly crossing my fingers for Toy Story 3 or maybe even Winter’s Bone which was a real indie film, but The King swoop the table and so it should’ve been. And remember, these 10 films were really well-deservedly aiming for the Best Picture, and (maybe apart from 127 Hours, which was fine but really, what was it doing in this category?) will remain legendary films of 2010′s in the years to come.
All together, the road was bad but the race was good. The gala was a bit crappy, but the films were particularly interesting this year. Next year, after we’re done with Trekathon, I’m going to be watching only films and my plan is to have seen every single one of the films of the next Oscars!
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