hopinet

The 82nd Academy Awards

3rd March 2010

So it’s that time of year again, can’t believe it’s coming round already, I nearly forgot to write my post thanks Trev for reminding me! First really a few comments about this ‘Oscar’ year of movies. I say ‘Oscar’ year because we get some movies later than the US so I have not always seen them before the big night!

Overall I have felt that the standard of movies this year has not been as high as last years. Last year I spent a really long but enjoyable night at the cinema where I saw three of the movies up for best motion picture and I thought they were all absolutely brilliant movies and I think any of the 5 nominees could have won it, this year? well I’m not so sure. It’s been a year which has seen 3D movies become more popular, especially with the highly successful Avatar. I’m still not convinced, I’m also not convinced that sequels, CGI, big explosions, etc is what cinema should be about, I’m sure there’s room for them but not every movie. I truly believe going to the cinema is about the experience and as I say that doesn’t mean surround sound, lots of noise, 3D, etc what it means is sitting looking at that big screen with no distraction and being completely immersed, getting involved with the characters, laughing, crying, whatever, I love that feeling when the credits role and I don’t move for a few minutes because I’ve been left kind of speechless, then I know I’ve seen something special.

After this year I am left wondering if we are coming in to an era where the producers only want a sure fire hit rather than making a great movie. I hope this is not the case and the heart isn’t being ripped from movies because of the desire to make money. There is still the odd gem out there that reminds me why I go to the cinema and why I love movies and for every average movie I sit through it’s worth it to discover those gems.

One thought for you before I actually get on with my Oscar thoughts (kind of got a little distracted and off topic!), if you are one of those people who only goes to the cinema occasionally and only goes to watch the big stuff i.e. Avatar. Next time you go to the cinema go and see two films. The one you want to see and one you don’t know much about or you wouldn’t usually see, it won’t always be great I can’t promise you that but every now and then it will and you’ll thank me (I hope!)

So this year’s Oscars. As with last year review I won’t look at every category I will just look at five of the main ones, best Actor/Actress in a leading role and in a supporting role and then the best motion picture, this year there are ten nominees in this category rather than the normal five ……

Performance by an actor in a leading role
Jeff Bridges for ‘Crazy Heart’
George Clooney for ‘Up in the Air’
Colin Firth for ‘A Single Man’
Morgan Freeman for ‘Invictus’
Jeremy Renner for ‘The Hurt Locker’

As usual part of the difficulty in predicting for the Oscars is the fact I haven’t been able to see all the movies yet. I’ve not managed to see A single man or Crazy Heart yet. I thought both Morgan Freeman’s and George Clooney’s performances were excellent in their respective roles. Although Colin Firth picked up the award in the BAFTAs I’m not sure he’ll pick up the Oscar, by all reports it will go to Jeff Bridges.

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Matt Damon for ‘Invictus’
Woody Harrelson for ‘The Messenger’
Christopher Plummer for ‘The Last Station’
Stanley Tucci for ‘The Lovely Bones’
Christoph Waltz for ‘Inglourious Basterds’

Well this is a real difficult one for me because I’ve only seen 2 of these performances but I do actually think the winner will come from one of those two. I think the Oscars will follow the BAFTAs and give it to Christoph Waltz who was excellent in Inglourious Basterds.

Performance by an actress in a leading role
Sandra Bullock for ‘The Blind Side’
Helen Mirren for ‘The Last Station’
Carey Mulligan for ‘An Education’
Gabourey Sidibe for ‘Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire’
Meryl Streep for ‘Julie & Julia’

Unfortunately I don’t think this will be the year for Carey Mulligan, as that’s who I’d give it to. I thought she put in a great performance in An Education, one of the little Gems of this year I discovered and was talking about. It came and went very quickly at my cinema and all the praise came after it had finished but luckily I took a chance and saw a great little movie with some good performances in it. I don’t believe it should go to Meryl Streep, although it was an OK performance I’m pretty sure it wasn’t an Oscar winning performance. The tip to win is apparently Sandra Bullock.

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Penélope Cruz for Nine
Vera Farmiga for Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal for Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick for Up in the Air
Mo’Nique for Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire

Penélope Cruz for nine, really?! What did she do, she shouldn’t win. I think the two nominees in Up in the Air show what strong performances there were in that movie. Jason Reitman really seems to bring the best out of his actors/actresses as Clooney also put in a strong performance in Up in the Air. I would actually give the Oscar to Vera Farmiga because I though she was excellent, not sure she will get it though.

Best motion picture of the year
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

When I see the list I realize there have been some good movies this year but I’m not sure all of them should be nominated. Up is a definite for the best animated movie but not sure it should win Best Motion Picture. I think Avatar was a great movie experience and those that say “…but take away the CGI and 3D then what have you got” are being narrow minded the Oscars should be about which is the best movie and that may include embracing new technologies to tell a story, however I don’t think it should win, even taking the movie as a whole. My most enjoyable experience was ‘Up in the Air’ I’m becoming a big fan of Jason Reitman, I think he is a talented director who can tell interesting stories very well and bring out great performances. Having said that I think the Oscar will be given to either ‘The Hurt Locker’ or ‘Avatar’ with my tip being ‘The Hurt Locker’.

Well that’s my thought’s for another year, it’s been pretty hard this year because a lot of the movies haven’t been released over here or have not got to my cinema yet, it would be good if they could sort this out so everyone had seen the nominated movies before the Oscars.