Monday 28 February 2011

Results

Half right. Turns out I should have picked what I preferred rather than what I thought the Academy would.

Did better than the wife though.

Sunday 27 February 2011

Predicting the Oscars

There were years in the past where friends and I would attempt to predict the Oscar winners. Sometimes with rewards, sometimes just for the fun of trying to predict and understand just how Hollywood sees itself. Funnily enough, I'm not very good at predicting the Academy Awards, and to prove it, I'm going to make my predictions public this time around. I've seen the majority of the films nominated including 4 of the 5 full-length documentaries, but only a couple of the short films, and I'm not seeing True Grit until Tuesday, the day after the awards ceremony. This should be fun...

Best Pic: The Social Network (although I prefer The King's Speech).

Best Director: A toss-up between Fincher and Aronofsky. I'm gonna say Fincher, although I prefer Aronofsky or Hooper.

Best Actor: Colin Firth (although I wish he had won last year instead)

Best Supporting Actor: I'm actually thinking John Hawkes (although I think it should go to either Bale or Rush).

Best Actress: Natalie Portman

Best Supporting Actress: Hailee Steinfeld (although Bonham-Carter was excellent).

Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 3 (although I prefer How to Train Your Dragon).

Best Foreign Language Feature: In a Better World

Best Feature Documentary: Exit Through the Gift Shop (I think Restrepo is very deserving as well).

Best Original Screenplay: The King's Speech

Best Adapted Screenplay: The Social Network

Best Art Direction: Inception

Best Cinematography: True Grit

Best Costume Design: The King's Speech (although it'd be great if I Am Love won).

Best Editing: 127 Hours

Best Score: The Social Network

Best Song: Who cares, because they never get it right.

Best Makeup: Barney's Version (at least it should).

Best F/X: Inception

Best Sound Editing: Inception

Best Sound Mixing: Inception

Tomorrow, we see just how oracular I am...

Thursday 17 February 2011

Trailer : I Saw the Devil

Since leaving Korea and moving to the UK, I think I've seen less than a handful of Korean films, based on rare recommendations from friends and what little positive press there was finding its way over here. There seemed to be a dry spell after years of some incredible, often groundbreaking releases from directors such as Park Chan-wook, Lee Chang-dong, Kim Ki-duk, Bong Joon-ho, and Kim Jee-woon among others. Seems 2010 was a return to form for the Korean film industry and this film in particular has been getting a lot of attention internationally. I can't wait to see this:

Wednesday 16 February 2011

Mission Accomplished

Today, I watched Top Gun. For the first time.

And I know what you're thinking. It was just one of those movies that eluded me. Strangely enough, for decades. I just never got around to watching it.

And the rumours I've heard are true. The flight scenes hold up pretty well, and much of the rest of the film is just a short step away from being homoerotica. Geez, have you seen it as an adult?

But the best part has to be the inclusion of Tom Skerritt in the film as Viper. Man, he's so frickin' cool and underrated, it's ridiculous. And he just seems to pop up in some of the most amazing places.

Vintage Bruckheimer.

Monday 14 February 2011

The How About Project Part 4 (of 26)

Jack Nicholson simply killed in the 80s. Here are a few films from the 70s -- post-Easy Rider, pre-Shining -- that I think you should search out and watch, that is, if you love the guy as much as I think you do:

3: The Fortune
2: Carnal Knowledge
1: The Passenger

Then go watch About Schmidt one more time. Just for the hell of it. And be amazed.

Thursday 10 February 2011

X-Trailer

I love the setting and that they're seemingly playing around with history here, but nothing about this film has wowed me yet. What say you my fellow X-Geeks?

Trailer : Submarine

'Bout time I posted a trailer for a British film, yeah? This film did well during the festival rounds and I think it looks rather promising. What do you think?