THE KING’S SPEECH Wins Best Picture; Full List of Oscar Winners

In what easily had to be one of the most painful, unfunny Oscar ceremonies in recent memory, The King’s Speech finally reached the end of its inevitable march to Best Picture.  It was the first Best Picture winner to win less than five Oscars (it won four, including Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay).  Does that make it more or less unworthy of the Best Picture crown?  I don’t know.  I don’t care. But i was wishing that The Social Network win it.

Full List of Winners Below:

 

BEST PICTURE: The King’s Speech

BEST DIRECTOR: Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech

BEST ACTOR: Colin Firth, The King’s Speech

BEST ACTRESS: Natalie Portman, Black Swan

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Christian Bale,The Fighter

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Melissa Leo,The Fighter

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: Toy Story 3

BEST ART DIRECTION: Alice in Wonderland

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Inception

BEST COSTUME DESIGN: Alice in Wonderland

BEST DOCUMENTARY: Inside Job

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT: Strangers No More

BEST EDITING: The Social Network

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: In a Better World

BEST MAKE-UP: The Wolfman

BEST SCORE: The Social Network

BEST SONG: Toy Story 3

BEST ANIMATED SHORT: The Lost Thing

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT: God of Love

BEST SOUND EDITING: Inception

BEST SOUND MIXING: Inception

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: Inception

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: The Social Network

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: The King’s Speech

 

2011 Oscar Nominations Announced; THE KING’S SPEECH Leads with 12 Nominations

The nominees for the 83^rd Annual Academy Awards have been announced.  The King’s Speech led the pack with 12 nominations.  True Grit followed with 10 nominations while early favorite The Social Network racked up eight.  Most of the nominees were easy to predict.  While I’m not surprised that John Hawkes (Winter’s Bone), Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone), and Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit) nabbed acting nominations, I’m happy they were recognized for their work.  I’m also ridiculously happy that Exit Through the Gift Shop picked up a nod for Best Documentary.

As far as snubs go, the biggest one has to be Christopher Nolan for Inception.  While he picked up the DGA nomination, the Academy chose to go with Joel and Ethan Coen for True Grit.  As someone who loved the hell out of True Grit, it’s hard for me to complain.

Winners will be announced on February 27^th.  James Franco and Anne Hathaway are set to host the awards ceremony.

 

BEST FILM

• Black Swan
  
• The Fighter
  
• Inception
  
• The Kids Are All Right
  
• The King’s Speech
  
• 127 Hours
  
• The Social Network
  
• Toy Story 3
  
• True Grit
  
• Winter’s Bone

[Matt’s note: Absolutely no surprises here, although I suppose you could argue that The Town got snubbed]

BEST DIRECTOR

• Darren Aronofsky – Black Swan
• David O. Russell – The Fighter
• Tom Hooper – The King’s Speech
• David Fincher – The Social Network
• Joel Coen and Ethan Coen – True Grit

[These five films are the real nominees and actually, the contest at this point is really between The King’s Speech and The Social Network.  I wouldn’t be surprised if Fincher ends up winning Best Director but The King’s Speechtakes home Best Picture]

BEST ACTOR

• Javier Bardem – Biutiful
• Jeff Bridges – True Grit
• Jesse Eisenberg – The Social Network
• Colin Firth – The King’s Speech
• James Franco – 127 Hours

[Oscar writers are masturbating furiously about all the jokes they can make since host James Franco is also a nominee]

BEST ACTRESS

• Annette Bening – The Kids Are All Right
• Nicole Kidman – Rabbit Hole
• Jennifer Lawrence – Winter’s Bone
• Natalie Portman – Black Swan
• Michelle Williams – Blue Valentine

[Again, no real surprises but nice to see Lawrence in the mix.  However, at this point, the race looks like a contest between Natalie Portman and Annette Bening]

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Christian Bale – The Fighter
• John Hawkes – Winter’s Bone
• Jeremy Renner – The Town
• Mark Ruffalo – The Kids Are All Right
• Geoffrey Rush – The King’s Speech

[From now on, you can say Oscar nominee John Hawkes.  That’s amazing]

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• Amy Adams – The Fighter
• Helena Bonham Carter – The King’s Speech
• Melissa Leo – The Fighter
• Hailee Steinfeld – True Grit
• Jackie Weaver – Animal Kingdom

[Very happy that the Academy recognized Weaver’s tremendous performance in Animal Kingdom even though the film barely saw a release in the U.S.]

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

• Another Year
  
• The Fighter
  
• Inception
• The Kids Are All Right
  
• The King’s Speech

[It’s tough to see The King’s Speech not winning this although I think these are all worthy films, although I would have liked to seen Black Swanpick up a nomination]

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

• 127 Hours
  
• The Social Network
  
• Toy Story 3
  
• True Grit
• Winter’s Bone

[This is Aaron Sorkin’s award to lose.]

BEST ANIMATED FILM

• How to Train Your Dragon
  
• The Illusionist
  
• Toy Story 3

[And the award for Best Toy Story 3 in Best Toy Story 3 goes to…]

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

• Biutiful
  
• Dogtooth
  
• In a Better World
  
• Incendies
• Outside the Law

[There are a lot of Dogtooth fans out there that are very happy this morning since the film didn’t seem likely to receive a nomination.  I personally haven’t seen the film yet, but it’s been on my list for a while now]

BEST DOCUMENTARY

• Exit Through the Gift Shop
  
• Gasland
• Inside Job
  
• Restrepo
• Waste Land

[Banksy is now not only one of the world’s most popular street artists.  He’s an Oscar nominee.  Also, the second biggest snub has to be not nominating Waiting for “Superman”.  Why does the Academy hate children?!]

BEST EDITING

• Black Swan
• The Fighter
  
• The King’s Speech
  
• 127 Hours
• The Social Network

[Very surprised Inception didn’t get nominated in this category.  The editing in that film is so crucial to the storytelling.  In 127 Hours, it’s fine, but slightly abrasive]

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

• Black Swan
• Inception
• The King’s Speech
  
• The Social Network
• The King’s Speech

[This is a tough category, but it’s one of the few where Black Swan could take home the prize]

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

• Alice in Wonderland
  
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1
  
• Hereafter
• Inception
• Iron Man 2

[Two major surprises in this category: First, there are five nominees when usually there are only three.  Second, Hereafter?  Really?  For what?  Afterlife blur effects?  Yeah, the tsunami scene is cool, but it doesn’t hold a blurry candle to the entirety of how Edgar Wright used effects in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World]

BEST MAKEUP

• The Way Back
  
• The Wolfman

[Oh, Make-up.  You’re such a lazy category.]

BEST ART DIRECTION

• Alice in Wonderland
  
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1
  
• Inception
• The King’s Speech
  
• True Grit

[Alice in Wonderland does have impressive art direction…provided you’ve never seen a Tim Burton movie before]

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

• Alice in Wonderland
  
• I Am Love
  
• The King’s Speech
  
• The Tempest
• True Grit

[I’m betting The King’s Speech will win because dressing people in period costumes is apparently the most amazing thing ever]

BEST SOUND MIXING

• Inception
• The King’s Speech
  
• Salt
• The Social Network
  
• True Grit

BEST SOUND EDITING

• Inception
• Toy Story 3
  
• TRON: Legacy
  
• True Grit
  
• Unstoppable

BEST SCORE

• How to Train Your Dragon
  
• Inception
• The King’s Speech
  
• 127 Hours
• The Social Network

[It was a long shot, but I was hoping Daft Punk would get a nomination for their TRON: Legacyscore.  Oh well.]

BEST SONG

• “Coming Home” from Country Strong
• “I See the Light” from Tangled
• “If I Rise” from 127 Hours
• “We Belong Together” from Toy Story 3

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT

• Killing in the Name
  
• Poster Girl
  
• Strangers No More
  
• Sun Come Up
  
• The Warriors of Qiugang
  

BEST ANIMATED SHORT

• Day & Night
  
• The Gruffalo
  
• Let’s Pollute
  
• The Lost Thing
  
• Madagascar, Carnet de Voyage
  

BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT

• The Confession
  
• The Crush
  
• God of Love
  
• Na Wewe
  
• Wish 143
  

 

 

Anne Hathaway Cast as Selina Kyle (aka Catwoman) in THE DARK KNIGHT RISES; Tom Hardy to Play Bane

Here are two major pieces of The Dark Knight Rises news that you can take to the Gotham City bank.  First up, Warner Bros’ has announced that Anne Hathaway has been cast as Selina Kyle.  Kyle’s alter-ego is Catwoman, but the press release doesn’t mention the character.  They only refer to Hathaway’s role as “Selina Kyle”.

The other major piece of news from the press release is that Tom Hardy will be playing the Batman villain Bane.  It was previously rumored that Hardy would be playing villainous psychologist Dr. Hugo Strange.  Personally, I think Strange is a more interesting character than Bane, whose claim to fame is that he broke Batman’s back in the comics.   The Dark Knight Rises is due out July 20th.

As previously reported, The Dark Knight Rises is rumored to have two leading female characters.  One was to be a villain and the other was to be a love interest.  The character Talia al Ghul was rumored to be in the movie and presumed to be the villain since she’s the daughter of the villain fromBatman Begins, Ra’s al Ghul.  However, the inclusion of Kyle complicates matters.  Catwoman/Selina Kyle works perfectly as both a love interest AND a villain.  However, if she doesn’t become Catwoman in the movie, then presumably she stays as the “love interest” and not the villain.  But it would be bizarre to try and hold Catwoman for a fourth movie when Nolan has said that he plans to make The Dark Knight Rises his finalBatman movie.

As for Bane, I’m surprised a character that super-natural and comic-book-y has made it into Nolan’s grounded-in-reality Gotham City.  For those unfamiliar with the character, Bane is hooked up to a chemical known as “Venom” that causes his body to become super-muscular when injected.  He also wears (in the comics) a Mexican wrestling mask.  Of course, the press release states that this will be a “new interpretation” of Bane.

Here’s the press release:

BURBANK, CA, January 19, 2011 – Warner Bros. Pictures announced today that Anne Hathaway has been cast as Selina Kyle in Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight Rises.” She will be starring alongside Christian Bale, who returns in the title role of Bruce Wayne/Batman.

Christopher Nolan stated, “I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Anne Hathaway, who will be a fantastic addition to our ensemble as we complete our story.”

In addition, Tom Hardy has been set to play Bane. Nolan said, “I am delighted to be working with Tom again and excited to watch him bring to life our new interpretation of one of Batman’s most formidable enemies.”

Nolan will direct the film from a screenplay he wrote with Jonathan Nolan, from a story by Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer. Nolan will also produce the film with his longtime producing partner, Emma Thomas, and Charles Roven.

“The Dark Knight Rises” is slated for release on July 20, 2012. The film will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

—

 

 

Jesse Eisneberg and Dana Carvey Set to Host SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE

With his performance in The Social Network generating a lot of buzz for a Best Actor nod when Oscar nominations are announced on January 25th, there’s no better time for NBC to announce that Jesse Eisenberg will host Saturday Night Live on January 29th. Though Eisenberg has mostly played the straight man, even in comedies like Zombieland, I’m looking forward to seeing him cut loose a little bit for the late night sketch comedy series. The actor will be joined by musical guest Nicki Minaj who is also making her SNL debut.

In addition, NBC annnounced that former SNL alum Dana Carvey is returning for his fourth time as host of the sketch comedy series. His appearance seems somewhat spontaneous considering he’s been mostly out of the spotlight for the past few years and he doesn’t seem to have anything to promote. However, if Carvey is returning, I’m willing to bet some other SNL alums might stop by for a surprise appearance. My fingers will be crossed for Mike Myers to show up for a new Wayne’s World sketch. Linkin Park will also appear as the musical guest. Sound good?