The Beaver

Title: The Beaver
Year: 2011
Director: Jodie Foster
Writer: Kyle Killen
Starring: Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, Anton Yelchin, Jennifer Lawrence, Riley Thomas, Zachary Booth, Cherry Jones
MPAA Rating: PG-13, mature thematic material, some disturbing content, sexuality and language including a drug reference
Runtime: 91 min
Major Awards: –
IMDb Rating: 6.8
Rotten Tomatoes: 63%

I was actually really looking forward to The Beaver, and I wasn’t going to let myself get distracted from the movie by whatever personal issues Mel Gibson had going on in his life, like some suggested was going to be the case with audiences for this one. Yes, I believe Mr. Gibson is a troubled man right now, and I’m sure he needs help, but the guy is a solid actor when he wants to be, and this film had Kyle Killen’s debut script which topped the 2008 Black List, the list of the best unproduced scripts in Hollywood, it had the incredible Jodie Foster directing, and a supporting cast that included Ms. Foster herself, as well as last year’s Oscar nominee Jennifer Lawrence and Anton Yelchin. So yes, if Mr. Gibson was going to have a comeback vehicle, I was under the impression that The Beaver would be as good a shot as he would ever get.

And, in many ways, it sort of was a comeback, at least it was in my mind. I mean, it’s not a perfect film, but it’s really really good, and Mr. Gibson gives a sincerely stellar performance in it, and not for a minute was I distracted by the fact that the guy is pretty much reviled in Hollywood nowadays. It’s not a comeback vehicle in the way that Iron Man was for Robert Downey Jr. or The Wrestler was for Mickey Rourke, but it showed a troubled actor giving his all to a role, and in Jodie Foster the film found its anchor, not only does she deliver a great supporting performance, but the way she directed this one is temendous, the passion she had for this project and the faith she had in Mr. Gibson, her friend, is beautifully on display.

But I’m not entirely sure what to make of The Beaver all in all, I mean, Mr. Gibson honestly is pretty great here, and his performance as a man battling away depression in a very peculiar way really does draw us into the film, and kind of resonates with the fact that he’s having problems of his own in real life, but there was something here that in the end prevented me from loving The Beaver like I hoped I would. I think there was just no real insight into it all, no real emotional satisfaction in the end to go with the performance given by Mr. Gibson, which may just be the best one he’s given in his career, a truly high-strung and combustible piece of acting which makes the film a must-watch.

The fact that the film got a lot of attention prior to its release not for the film itself but for the art-imitates-life parallels between itself and its star was a pity, and I’m actually pretty sure the reaction to it from audiences would have been warmer with out it (as it stands it has currently made just over $300’000 even though it had a $21 million budget). But in any case, if you can distance yourself from the fact that it would be so easy to compare Mr. Gibson to Walter Black, the character he plays here, then you might just end up really appreciating The Beaver. Walter Black, you see, is a depressed man, a father of two with a crumbling marriage and professional life who just seems to be an absolute wreck. But then his wife kicks him out until he could turn it all over and he returns the next day with this new burst of energy within him, and with a beaver hand puppet to which he insists everyone should address to when speaking to him, and which he uses to address to those he wishes to talk to.

Yes, that premise is a bit odd, but the script is just so perfectly and finely tuned, and Ms. Foster’s direction is so surehanded that it works tremendously in the end. If anything, I would say that the thing that kept me from grading this film in the A-range was the fact that it lost some of that apparent oddity and became just a bit too earnest for my taste, as I would have much rather have had it be a more witty and less straightforward experience. But the performances carry it on through to near-greatness nevertheless, Ms. Foster is perfect as the wife who’s just so confused about the circumstances of his husband when he comes back talking to everyone through the puppet, but deals with it as a way to have him back.

As for the younger performers, Mr. Yelchin and Ms. Lawrence, well, they’re pretty sublime as well. Mr. Yelchin is a guy I think is just definitely poised to be a tremendous actor. I loved him in Star Trek and in the New York, I Love You short he appeared in, and I’m just waiting for him to turn in his star-making performance, which I’m hoping will be on this year’s Like Crazy which got great notices at Sundance this year. He plays Porter, Walter’s teenage son who’s not buying his dad’s shtick and wants nothing to do with him.

Ms. Lawrence plays a classmate of Porter’s, who’s the school’s valedictorian and pays him to write the graduation speech for her and together they form the movie’s secondary plot. And Ms. Lawrence is really something else here, she obviously already had that star-making performance Mr. Yelchin is still looking for with her impeccable turn in last year’s terrific Winter’s Bone (which I ranked as my fourth favorite leading actress performance of 2010), and she continues her streak with The Beaver, she’s just magnetic here. And she actually has a supporting role in Like Crazy as well, so that film certainly seems to be shaping up nicely (not to mention Felicity Jones is the lead in it!), and we’ll see how she does in a big blockbuster with this summer’s X-Men: First Class.

I really liked The Beaver. I’m not sure I think it really achieved greatness, but it certainly felt just a tiny bit shy from that. Mr. Gibson’s performance is electric and he’s the whole movie pretty much, and he just takes this film through some very dark places that are stunning to watch. But the way it was balanced with the side-plot involving Mr. Yelchin’s and Ms. Lawrence I thought was unnecessary. Don’t get me wrong, I just said that both their performances were terrific, and they are, they both really great up-and-coming actors with an honesty to their performances that feels incredible, and I really liked the story they played out here, but I just didn’t like that story in The Beaver. I think it belonged in an entirely different, though probably still as great, film, and I thought that as a result it degraded this one a bit. But nevertheless, this one’s pretty amazing on its own right, and if only because of the performance Mr. Gibson gives here, no matter what you might think about his personal life, you should totally give this one a chance.

Grade: B+

Oscar Predictions: Best Leading Actor and Actress

In my second to last Oscar Predictions post I will tackle both Lead acting races, both of which are pretty much considered locks by most, but one of which really isn’t.

BEST LEAD ACTOR

Nominees

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

In case you were wondering, this is that one that actually is a mortal lock. There’s absolutely no way in hell Colin Firth will not walk away from the Nokia Theater without the golden man firmly in his hands. He gives a masterclass in acting in The King’s Speech, not to mention he’s coming off his other Oscar-noinated stellar performance in A Single Man last year.

Should Win: Colin Firth
Will Win: Colin Firth

BEST LEAD ACTRESS

Nominees

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

These are actually my Top 5 performance by any actress in a leading role in all of 2010, so I was specifically happy about this bunch of nominees. But this is the category which I think isn’t as clear-cut as most are assuming.

Yes, Natalie Portman has swept through the precursors, and her performance, to me, is certainly the best in this group and should most certainly earn her her first Academy Award (she was previously nominated for her supporting turn in Closer).

But then there’s Annette Bening. This woman is heavily involved in the Academy, absolutely loved and revered by everyone in the business, as she should be because she’s one seriously awesome lady, and has already lost three times before (twice to Hilary Swank, one of those, to me, quite unjustly), so the Academy may feel like she’s due (and she honestly is) and give her the award, even if her performance, stunning as it may be, isn’t as great as Portman’s.

So yes, I’m saying Portman for now. Not because she has won all the other awards, just because I liked her performance better. But maybe Annette Bening will pull off the upset, I mean, just look at her face during the scene at dinner in Paul’s house and it’s tough to argue against giving her the golden man.

Should Win: Natalie Portman
Will Win: Natalie Portman

No Strings Attached

Title: No Strings Attached
Year: 2011
Director: Ivan Reitman
Writer: Elizabeth Meriwether, based on a story by herself and Mike Samonek
Starring: Natalie Portman, Ashton Kutcher, Cary Elwes, Mindy Kaling, Kevin Kline, Greta Gerwig, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Olivia Thirlby, Lake Bell
MPAA Rating: R, sexual content, language and some drug material
Runtime: 110 min
Major Awards: –
IMDb Rating: 6.1
Rotten Tomatoes: 52%

 

No Strings Attached was a far more enjoyable affair than I initially thought it would be. I mean, Ivan Reitman has done a few amazing films in his lifetime like Meatballs, Dave and, of course, Ghostbusters, but in the last decade the guy had only directed two films (My Super Ex-Girlfriend and Evolution) which were both kind of dull. But then again, this one had Natalie Portman, coming off her career-best performance in Black Swan, so she obviously elevated the project. Not to mention that Ashton Kutcher can be quite alright when paired up with the right co-star, no matter what his many naysayers may think.

And this really did feel like quite a fresh film to me. The premise was obviously a very fun one, about what happens when a sex-only, friends-with-benefits relationship starts having feelings involved, and one that will actually be sort of replicated come July in Ms. Portman’s Black Swan co-star’s, Mila Kunis, latest film called Friends with Benefits, which actually has the original title this one had and looks even better. But yes, for now we only have this one, and we can’t compare the two yet, so we’ll just judge this one for what it is, which means, judge it as one of the most solid entries in the commercial rom-com canon of the past few years.

I mean, yes, like most romantic comedies you always know the path this one is going to take, but the difference with this one is that the very charming leads and steady hand of Mr. Reitman make the ride down that path feel endlessly enjoyable no matter how predictable the destination.

Not to mention that the script is actually pretty decent, which is surprising considering the genre it was servicing, but Elizabeth Meriwether, making her feature film writing debut, gets a lot of pretty sharp and raunchy one-liners in here. Ms. Meriwether, who has written for stage and TV before this (she actually has a pilot at Fox with Zooey Deschanel attached to star), inserts quite a lot of cool gags here, as well as a few colorful supporting characters that provide our two stars a lot of room for play, and, for a January release, you really couldn’t ask for that much more.

Now, Natalie Portman is obviously amazing in anything she’s in. Personal crush aside you have to concede that the girl really makes anything she’s in marginally better than it would have probably been otherwise, and in No Strings Attached she proves just how game she can be, and considering she has four other films due this year, then I guess we better get used to seeing her ridiculously gorgeous face quite a lot. Not to mention that Greta Gerwig, who, along with Jennifer Lawrence has to be my pick for niftiest new star to come out in 2010, is also here, so she bumps up the beauty/smart/awesome quota as well.

The concept is easy to grasp, two friends who decide to start having sex while remaining nothing more than friends, but you obviously know feelings will the arise. And, as I said, that’s a pretty neat premise for a rom-com, especially when you have a script that manages to effectively capture the feelings and emotions that would probably come out of such situations.

Ms. Portman’s character, Emma, is a med student who always thinks of sex as something totally casual, while Mr. Kutcher’s is a guy who wants to become a writer and has just been dumped by his girlfriend who’s now shacking up with his father. By this you can probably gather that the guy, Adam, will end up suddenly, in full rebound mode, sleeping with Emma, and they’ll continue at it, because she doesn’t think that highly of the emotional connotations of sex, and because he, deep down, is a romantic who’s trying to make this no strings attached relationship work out.

It’s cool how the film and these actors deal with that question, of whether it’s possible or not to have sex with one person a lot without having love be a part of it, and that’s mostly precisely because of the two leads we get here. Ms. Portman and Mr. Kutcher actually have a really rad chemistry together, and they are the ones that make this film much much better than the typical rom-com commercial fodder you were no doubt expecting. Not that this one was super groundbreaking and daring or anything, if anything it didn’t even feel like an R-rated film most of the time, but it did still feel to me like a rather refreshing film that you could go see on a date.

Grade: B+

Oscar Nominations: My Reactions

The Oscar nominations were announced bright and early this morning. And while most of the nominees were predictable, there were still quite a bit of storylines to take out of the morning’s announcements.

Firstly, of course, the outrageous snub of Christopher Nolan in the Best Director category, Inception might have made the Best Picture ballot and Mr. Nolan himself got his second career Screenplay nod, but the Academy yet again failed to mention him for Best Director to make room for the Coen brothers. Another snub was The Town, which ended up with a sole Oscar nomination and got snubbed in the Best Picture as well as Director and Screenplay races, the films nominated instead were still quite deserving, but still, too little love bestowed on such a great film.

Then, on a far more positive note, this was also the year in which films that came out of Sundance came out strong at the Oscars, which is terrific news for the independent film business, The Kids Are All Right and Winter’s Bone both got 4 nominations in major races, Animal Kingdom got a Best Supporting Actress bid, and four out of the five Best Documentary nominees were shown in Park City a year ago.

As for what the nominations will mean come the big night on February 27th, well, The King’s Speech certainly got a huge boost today, scoring an even dozen nominations, the most out of any film this year. That has some people jumping from The Social Network‘s bandwagon into the one driven by Harvey Weinstein, since for the last several decades the movie with the most nominations has won the Best Picture race 75% of the time. Now, let’s play statistics for a while here, I actually still think The Social Network will still win this for now, but the stock on The King’s Speech has certainly risen in the last few weeks. First, of course, was Saturday’s PGA win, and considering that association has bestowed its award to the eventual Best Picture winner 13 out of the last 20 years it means it has the odds going for it.

But then again, lets not forget just how much The Social Network has going for itself, it pretty much swooped the Critic’s groups awards, including big wins at the Globes and the National Board of Review. Not to mention that David Fincher is the clear front-runner to win not only the Best Director Oscar, but the DGA honors that will be announced on Saturday. And really, the Best Director winner is always considered the likely victor of the big race and, in fact, the winner of the DGA award has actually went on to have their film win the Best Picture Oscar 33 times in the last 40 years.

So, who really has the advantage? I honestly don’t know, this really is one seriously tough race to call, and I won’t call it until all the remained precursors are done with. Yes, the DGA will most likely go to The Social Network, but then the BAFTAs will presumably be all over The King’s Speech considering it’s a home-grown film. The PGA win by Tom Hooper’s film was big, yes, but so were the many Critic’s Associations and Globes wins by David Fincher’s movie. So, if I may interject, I think that the one awards show that may be a big indicator as to what will happen on Oscar night will be the SAGs, taking place this coming Sunday.

Hear me out for a while, the SAG obviously doesn’t have a Best Picture award, but rather a Best Ensemble one, meaning it will honor the combined acting performances of the cast in a film. And while I still think that the front-runner for that one is The Fighter (which has four seriously spectacular performances), I can see an upset happening courtesy of The King’s Speech. The Social Network won’t win that one, it has some great performances but it can’t compete acting-wise with those two other films, so that race will be the one to prove just how much support The King’s Speech has. And if it wins that one, then I probably will update my predictions and consider it the front-runner for the Oscar, because, remember, the SAGs have many times served as indicators of Oscar upsets, I’m obviously referring to 1998, when the SAG went to Shakespeare in Love, the same film that went on to win the Best Picture Oscar over the clear favorite, Saving Private Ryan, and most recently in 2005, when Crash ended up with the SAG win and ended up upsetting Brokeback Mountain for the Academy’s top honor.

So yes, this will be a Best Picture race for the ages, one I’m really excited for and one that will come down to the very end. Will The King’s Speech end up with the win? Consolidating itself as the biggest Oscar bait there ever was in 2010, a biopic about British monarchy counting with excellent performances all around and a spectacular director working form a brilliant script. Or, will The Social Network prevail? The film with very young up-and-coming actors, directed by a director that started out working on music videos and then went on to create some of the most masterful and popular films of the last decade and a half, one about a modern phenomenon and full of quick-witted, very fast and talkative scenes. It will be a New School vs. Old School battle to the very end, the historical dramas have fared very well in the past, I’m thinking Gandhi or The English Patient, but as of late, with winners like The Hurt Locker and No Country for Old Men, it feels as though the Academy is skewing more towards films oriented to younger audiences with a more gritty sort of feel. We’re in for one very entertaining race to the finish line.

But enough about the big race, I’m sure we’ll talk much more about that in the near future, but for now let us revise all the nominations announced by the Academy today.

BEST PICTURE

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

All the usual suspects here. I went 9 for 10 as far as my predictions go, considering Winter’s Bone felt the love from the Academy big time today and crept into the big party, throwing out my original prediction for the tenth slot: The Town. Again, as for who will actually win it, I have no idea, it’s a big split between The Social Network and The King’s Speech, and we’ll have a clearer idea of the state of the race once the remaining precursors are all said and done.

BEST DIRECTOR

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

I went 4 for 5 in this one, considering I predicted the horribly snubbed Christopher Nolan to be invited to the party instead of the Coen brothers. However, True Grit got a massive ten nominations and the love went to the genius brothers instead. Which was well deserved, but it’s ridiculous that Nolan doesn’t have a Best Director nomination to his name yet. However, massive kudos to Darren Aronofsky for finally getting his first career nomination for helming what to me was the best film of 2010.

BEST LEAD ACTOR

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

Went a perfect 5-for-5 in this race, correctly predicting Javier Bardem’s nomination over Get Low‘s Robert Duvall. Still, Bardem’s nomination was much deserved, and it was awesome to see a foreign language performance getting a nod here. However, this has never been a race, the golden man probably has Colin Firth’s name engraved from this very moment.

BEST LEAD ACTRESS

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

Another category in which I went 5-for-5 in my predictions. And it really is a lovely bunch of ladies getting nominated here, Michelle Williams got her extremely deserved nomination for her beautiful work in Blue Valentine and Jennifer Lawrence capped off her breakthrough year with an invite to Hollywood’s biggest party. This is, though, still a Portman vs. Bening battle, and even though I think Portman has the edge because hers was the better performance in the better film, I’ll wait until the SAGs are done on Sunday to call her a lock.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

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

I predicted four out of the five here, the one I got wrong was Andrew Garfield who I thought would firmly land a nod but was bumped off by John Hawkes who was riding on the huge love given to Winter’s Bone here. Still, this is no contest, it’s Bale’s to lose, and he just won’t.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• Amy Adams (for The Fighter)
• Helena Bonham Carter (for The King’s Speech)
• Melissa Leo (for The Fighter)
• Hailee Steinfeld (for True Grit)
• Jacki Weaver (for Animal Kingdom)

I’ve always said this was my favorite race of the year, and even though my personal #2 pick, Mila Kunis, was left out, it really still is. I said that if Hailee Steinfeld remained here and wasn’t voted as Lead, then either Ms. Kunis or Jacki Weaver would get the boot, I picked Kunis in my predictions but apparently the Academy really loved the Australian crime saga and wanted to give it a nod, as they should have, really. Still, this is the best race there can be this year, considering I could see any of these ladies potentially winning. Amy Adams was my personal favorite of the year, and she gives her best performance yet, and considering it’s her third nomination they may (and hopefully will!) give it to her. Helena Bonham Carter may find herself winning if The King’s Speech sweeps. Melissa Leo is the current favorite, and if she wins the SAG on Sunday then this will be hers. Hailee Steinfeld carries True Grit and the voters may like to reward a young one. And Jacki Weaver created one seriously compelling character here, though considering she missed out at the SAG I think she’s the less likely to end up winning.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

• Another Year (written by Mike Leigh)
• The Fighter (written by Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson)
• Inception (written by Christopher Nolan)
• The Kids Are All Right (written by Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg)
• The King’s Speech (written by David Seidler)

I went 4 for 5 in this one, and the one I missed was the one that pains me the most not to see here which was the beautiful Black Swan screenplay, which I had in favor of Another Year, but I guess you can never count Mike Leigh out of this race, he’s just that good. As for who will win it, I would very much like to see The Kids Are All Right pick this one up, or if not then Christopher Nolan as a sort of apology from the Academy for not even nominating him for Best Director. But, most likely, this one will end up firmly in the hands of David Seidler.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

• 127 Hours (written by Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy, based on the book by Aron Ralston)
• The Social Network (written by Aaron Sorkin, based on the book by Ben Mezrich)
• Toy Story 3 (written by Michael Arndt, based on the story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich)
• True Grit (written by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, based on the novel by Charles Portis)
• Winter’s Bone (written by Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini, based on the novel by Daniel Woodrell)

As I said in my predictions, Winter’s Bone was going to put up a fight to be honored in this category. In my predictions I had The Town listed instead of Debra Granik’s film, but, as I’ve already said, the Academy shout-out the Ben Affleck film outside of Jeremy Renner’s nod, so no love here either. I like Debra Granik’s script better though (had it 6th in my Best Screenplays of 2010 list, while The Town was 15th), so I’m happy about it. Still, there’s no way Aaron Sorkin is losing this one, but then again I said the same thing about Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner’s script for Up in the Air last year.

BEST ART DIRECTION

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

Very very good bunch of nominees here, the only film I could have seen making the cut and still be happy about it would have been Shutter Island, but nevertheless, this will be a very cool race. I’m hoping Inception will prevail here, though Alice in Wonderland may have something to say about that and, if it turns out to be a sweep, so may The King’s Speech.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

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

If I would have to guess, I’d say True Grit will win this one. However, it was amazing to see Black Swan get listed here, though I would have liked to see The King’s Speech miss out on this race in favor of the wonderful job by the 127 Hours guys.

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

• Alice in Wonderland
• Io Sono l’Amore
• The King’s Speech
• The Tempest
• True Grit

As I said in my review for The Tempest, you can never count any Julie Taymor film out of the Best Costume Design race (all four of her films have now been nominated), but still, this one will most likely go to Alice in Wonderland. Cool to see Io Sono l’Amore get a nod here, too.

BEST EDITING

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

Out of the technical categories, Best Editing is the one that foretells the Best Picture winner the most, so this one is one we should pay close attention to. Since the award was introduced nearly eight decades ago, only nine films have won Best Picture without being nominated here. Which I guess also goes to explain why Crash trumped over Brokeback Mountain. But still, the two Best Picture front-runners are here, so seeing who wins may be decisive as to who takes Best Picture. My vote goes to The Social Network here, and I still can’t fathom why Inception wasn’t named.

BEST MAKEUP

• Barney’s Version
• The Way Back
• The Wolfman

They failed to recognize Alice in Wonderland in this one somehow, so I’m guessing this one’s definitely The Wolfman‘s.

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

• 127 Hours (composed by A.R. Rahman)
• Inception (composed by Hans Zimmer)
• The Social Network (composed by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross)
• The King’s Speech (composed by Alexandre Desplat)
• How to Train Your Dragon (composed by John Powell)

Usual suspects in this one. Awesome to see Reznor and Ross up for this one, and they’re definitely my favorites to end up picking the award. However, Alexandre Desplat gets his fourth nomination with this one and still hasn’t won, so if The King’s Speech ends up owning the show he could win. However, Hans Zimmer’s score for Inception, which is all sorts of mind-blowing, may end up getting the win if the Academy feels it didn’t bestow enough nominations love towards the film, he hasn’t won an Oscar since The Lion King in 1995, despite being nominated 6 additional times since.

BEST SONG

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

I honestly don’t know who will end up with the win here. All I know is that I’m happy no songs from Burlesque were named here.

BEST SOUND

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

This is the one category that had most prediction experts baffled. Everyone predicted a maximum of 11 nominations for The King’s Speech, and this is the one nobody imagined, and the one that showed us just how much the Academy loved the film. As strange as it may sound, a Sound nomination is what really let us know that it was the front-runner.

BEST SOUND EDITING

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

I really liked seeing TRON: Legacy here, and I was sure that The Social Network would get a nod here, but out of nowhere came Unstoppable and made the cut. Still, a cool and eclectic bunch.

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

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

I expected TRON: Legacy to make the cut here, but at least it got a Sound Editing nod so it didn’t go unmentioned. Still, if Inception loses this race the Oscars will have lost all credibility to me.

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

• Biutiful (from Mexico)
• Dogtooth (from Greece)
• In a Better World (from Denmark)
• Incendies (from Canada)
• Outside the Law (from Algeria)

This one’s always very tough to predict. But hopefully Biutiful will end up with the trophy.

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

• How to Train Your Dragon
• L’Illusionniste
• Toy Story 3

This one isn’t a race at all, Toy Story 3 will win this one hands down.

BEST DOCUMENTARY

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

No Waiting for Superman? Yeah, very very weird. Same with the lack of Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer. Still Inside Job would be a very cool winner, as would be Exit Through the Gift Shop, especially if we somehow get a Banksy appearance.

OscarWatch: Best Picture

Since the Academy Award nominations will be announced bright and early Tuesday morning (!) I thought I’d do seven OscarWatch posts for the main races: Screenplay (encompassing both Original and Adapted), Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Lead Actor, Lead Actress, Director and Picture.

In them I’ll detail my thoughts on the given race and how I think things are starting to shape up considering we have now seen most of the precursor awards and count with BAFTA and SAG nominations. I’ll give my personal Top 20, with a brief paragraph on each, for any given race and detail which I think will be the nominees for the Oscars come Tuesday. And in the very final pre-nominations OscarWatch post we’ll of course tackle…

Best Picture

I’ll give my Top 20 picks for the best films in all of 2010, my brief thoughts on each and then I’ll say how I think the Oscar nominations for the category will look once they’re announced on Tuesday.

As for the state of the race, well, it’s a two-way race here. The precursors gave huge momentum to The Social Network, as did its win and mini-sweep at the Globes last week. However, yesterday The King’s Speech won the Producers Guild Award, and considering it will most certainly win the BAFTA, and will have a very decent shot at the Best Ensemble SAG award this really is a two-horse race, and a very very entertaining one at that.

Personal Top 20

1. Black Swan – My favorite film of the year by heaps and bounds, a true masterpiece, directed by one of Hollywood’s most ambitious and perfectionists minds, featuring a handful of exceptional performances and just nailing every single frame.This is intense and passionate filmamaking at its very best, and were it up to me it would win absolutely everything.
2. The Social Network – This is being heralded as the film of a generation. And as huge a statement as that may seem, it’s really kinda sorta on the money. A film about the phenomenon that’s consuming huge amounts of time of our lives, directed to perfection by a guy who can’t seem to do a bad thing and who started directing music videos, bolstering sensational performances by a cast full of up and coming actors, and with a script full of words and witty remarks. This really is the film of a generation.
3. Inception – This was the popcorn film that was actually stimulating, the smartest film of the year directed by the visionary we have all embraced like crazy into our lives. This was the one everyone talked about even months after its release, the one that when released on home video showed us just how awesome a blu-ray can really be, the one that had some seriously amazing performances and a very emotional story in the midst of all its visual spectacle. True innovative filmmaking.
4. Blue Valentine – The rawest, most emotional film experience I had in all last year. Bolstered by two pitch-perfect performances by Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams, this film showed how quick love can start, and how quick it can all end. It’s portrayal of a crumbling marriage is a very powerful thing to watch, the actors putting everything on the line, masterful stuff all around.
5. The Kids Are All Right – This one has superb performances around the board, and tells a very contemporary story about family which we can all relate to in one way or another. Beautifully written, directed and acted, The Kids Are All Right was one of the best films of year just because of that, but it became even better when you realized just how much the writers knew their wine.
6. Somewhere – Sofia Coppola’s back at it again, coming back to the stuff she’s comfortable with, and directing a quiet and gorgeous film. One which takes quite a bit from her own experiences as the daughter of a big star, and has her exploring celebrity like few directors can.
7. Never Let Me Go – And I’ll say it one final time in these OscarWatch posts, this was, to me, the most underappreciated film of 2010 by a fair amount. Capturing the style and essence of the Kazuo Ishiguro novel it was based on was going to be a tough task for anyone to accomplish, and yet Mark Romanek did so splendidly, directing Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield and Keira Knightley to beautiful performances.
8. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World – A truly original film, one that captures to perfection the style and flair of the graphic novels I love so much and that found in Edgar Wright the perfect director to convey the precious little life of Scott Pilgrim, and in Michael Cera the perfect guy to bring the character to life. This one goes by really fast, with its stunning visuals and cool one-liners, and every last second of it is pure bliss.
9. Toy Story 3 – There hasn’t been an official confirmation that this will be the last Toy Story film. But if it is, it’s probably the most graceful conclusion to any trilogy ever, coming full circle, full of memorable moments, of huge laughs, of meaningful tears. A beautiful film that ranks amongst Pixar’s best.
10. 127 Hours – A really powerful film, this one is. James Franco delivering the best performance of his career for director Danny Boyle, who entrusted him with portraying Aron Ralston, the real life man who was trapped when a boulder crashed his arm in a Utah canyon. The result is really breathtaking, with a stunning performance by Mr. Franco, sharp directing and writing by Mr. Boyle and some really gorgeous cinematography.
11. True Grit – The Coen brothers are at it again with True Grit, continuing the ridiculous string of stunning films. They also have a wonderful cast full of amazing veterans in Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon and Josh Brolin and found in Hailee Steinfeld one of 2010’s coolest new stars, who clearly has a very bright future in front of her. If you liked Intolerable Cruelty, and manage to ignore that underwhelming The Ladykillers then you just might say the have a perfect body of work.
12. Winter’s Bone – Debra Granik creates a very bleak and somber atmosphere for her film about the Ozarks, and found in Jennifer Lawrence the perfect actress to bring Ree to life, and carry and bring a speck of hope to the film. This is a real starmaking turn from her, and what lies in her future is just amazing to think about.
13. The Town – The film that proved to us that Ben Affleck really is a fantastic director. A film that was extremely entertaining and full of spot-on performances by a cast that included Mr. Affleck himself, as well as Jeremy Renner, Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm, Pete Postlethwaite, Blake Lively and Chris Cooper.
14. The King’s Speech – If you exclude Black Swan this is the best-acted film of all 2010, the sort of thing you can write “Oscar bait” on, everyone delivering some truly masterful performances, directed by Tom Hooper from a fantastic script. If Black Swan was a very polarizing film, this is one I cannot see anyone not really falling in love with, if anything just because of how amazing Colin Firth is in it.
15. The Fighter – Yes, this is another rather predictable boxing film, but the real-life story and people in it make it a very very compelling family tale. This is not a boxing film with a human story in it, but a human story with boxing in it. The performances here are just amazing, with Amy Adams, Melissa Leo, Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg all doing wonders with their characters.
16. Let Me In – The fact that this film ended up being nearly as perfect as the original Swedish one is the biggest compliment one could give it. This is the perfect definition of a good remake, one that never once tries to lose the essence of the original, but that adds enough spice of its own to separate itself from it in order to be judged on its own.
17. Greenberg – Noah Baumbach yet again delivers a darkly comic script and amazing directing chops to a small little film that deals with the intricacies of an offbeat character. That character is played by Ben Stiller in what might be the performance of his career, a nuanced portrayal that was perfect in all the best ways. Not to mention that it was also the film that introduced us to Greta Gerwig, and she’s all sorts of lovely.
18. Kick-Ass – A very fun film to watch, one that honors its graphic novel roots, isn’t afraid to show a cursing thirteen-year-old or hugely graphic and gnarly violence. This really is a treat for the eyes, one that has Nicolas Cage in full-on spectacle mode being awesome, and in Chloë Moretz one of the best finds of the year.
19. Animal Kingdom – The stunning portrayal of the Australian criminal underground world. The performances here are just stunning to watch develop, the script is really clever and the film is just intensely plotted and structured to deliver a really thrilling ride.
20. Biutiful – This is a very powerful film, one that’s many times hard to watch, but one that’s extremely rewarding to watch as well. Bursting to life by a beautifully raw performance by Javier Bardem and confident filmmaking by Alejandro González Iñárritu, it’s strong stuff, but compelling, too, and one that will have you leaving the theater and really thinking deep about what you just saw.

How I Think the Oscar Nominations Will Look Like (in alphabetical order)

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

The Town and 127 Hours are the wildcards for me here. The other 8 I think are guaranteed to score an invite to the big race. I named both The Town and 127 Hours as hypothetical candidates, but I could actually see either one of them being bumped off the shortlist in favor of Winter’s Bone, we shall wait and see what happens Tuesday morning.

OscarWatch: Best Director

Since the Academy Award nominations will be announced bright and early Tuesday morning (!) I thought I’d do seven OscarWatch posts for the main races: Screenplay (encompassing both Original and Adapted), Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Lead Actor, Lead Actress, Director and Picture.

In them I’ll detail my thoughts on the given race and how I think things are starting to shape up considering we have now seen most of the precursor awards and count with BAFTA and SAG nominations. I’ll give my personal Top 20, with a brief paragraph on each, for any given race and detail which I think will be the nominees for the Oscars come Tuesday. In this post I’ll tackle…

Best Director

I’ll give my Top 20 picks for best job at directing a film in 2010, my brief thoughts on each and then I’ll say how I think the Oscar nominations for the category will look once they’re announced on Tuesday.

As for the state of the race, I actually would stop calling it a race at all anymore. This award, no matter the outcome of the Best Picture one, will end up in David Fincher’s hands for sure.

Personal Top 20

1. Darren Aronofsky (for Black Swan) – Yes, the award will go to David Fincher, but Darren Aronofsky is my personal pick for an inch. And that’s because Black Swan was my favorite film of the year by so much more than an inch. This is a masterpiece, a magnificent triumph in filmmaking, and Darren Aronofsky did a perfect job handling the reigns of it.
2. David Fincher (for The Social Network) – David Fincher is the real deal, you look at his filmography and the titled you see are spellbinding: Fight Club, Se7en, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Zodiac. This is a guy who has made some of the definitive films of the last decade and a half, and this may just be his crowning achievement, just an amazing job by him.
3. Christopher Nolan (for Inception) – The smartest film of all 2010, the kind of film that had you really working to keep up with it, and craving a repeat viewing to see what you may have missed. This was all executed to perfection by Christopher Nolan, who also wrote the film and was in charge of making “Did it stop spinning?” one of the most asked questions of all last year.
4. Derek Cianfrance (for Blue Valentine) – I kind of fell in love with this film when I saw it, and it had a lot to do with the two lead performances. And those performances were directed to perfection by Derek Cianfrance, who also co-wrote the film and crafted a gorgeous look at a painful marriage.
5. Edgar Wright (for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) – I’m a massive fanboy of Edgar Wright, and I’m also a massive fanboy of the Scott Pilgrim graphic novels. When I first heard he was the one to be put in charge of bringing them to life I thought that if anyone was to succeed at that task it was probably going to be him. And sure enough, he created one of the most original and fun films of 2010 with a marked imprint of his very unique vision.
6. Lisa Cholodenko (for The Kids Are All Right) – This is a wonderful film and it the woman handling the reigns, and also the one who co-wrote it, is at ease here, exploring very complex human emotions and situations. An exemplary piece of work.
7. Joel Coen & Ethan Coen (for True Grit) – I’m starting to think there should be a campaign to name the Coen brothers the definitive American filmmakers of our time. They always tackle very different topics, eras, and genres, and they always produce work of the highest of qualities. Here they go forth an make a western, the genre you’d never suspect would fit to their artistic sensibilities, and yet the wonderful language of the book they adapted, as well as the perfect group of actors they got made it look easy for them to craft a seriously great film.
8. Tom Hooper (for The King’s Speech) – This is probably the most prestigious film of 2010. Everyone loves it, it marries to perfection the historical biopic film aspects with mass appealing themes, and it has Tom Hooper sitting firmly on the director’s chair, working with a bunch of very talented and recognized thespians. He did a truly amazing job here, and if Fincher wasn’t such a lock to win the Oscar I’d call Mr. Hooper his biggest threat.
9. Sofia Coppola (for Somewhere) – I’ll forever be a lover of everything Sofia Coppola does. And Somewhere is no exception, coming back from the larger scaled Marie Antoinette to return to the quiet, patient and beautifully observant films she does so well. Marie Antoinette was actually pretty amazing, but this is a return to her comfort zone, to where her aesthetic lies and where she can excel at telling small but beautiful stories.
10. Ben Affleck (for The Town) – Here was the film that confirmed to everyone that Ben Affleck as a director is most certainly the real deal and not a one-hit-wonder who got lucky with the sublime Gone Baby Gone. He directs an all-star cast to some spectacular performances (I gave five of the film’s performances mentions in previos OscarWatch posts, including the one Mr. Affleck gave himself), and creates a bank heist movie that feels really fresh and doesn’t abuse any of the many genre clichés that would have been so easily to fall into for any lesser talented filmmakers.
11. Danny Boyle (for 127 Hours) – Slumdog Millionaire, his Oscar-winning previous effort, was going to be a tough act to follow. And Danny Boyle traded the very busy and loud streets of Mumbai and its many characters for a canyon in Utah in which his single character would be trapped for most of the film. And it paid off tremendously, with Mr. Boyle adding a very different and yet equally deserving film to his outstanding resumé.
12. Debra Granik (for Winter’s Bone) – This was one very very cool cinematic experience for me in 2010, and how Debra Granik portrayed this very tough and very real region of the U.S. was just impeccable. Anchored by some awesome performances from breakout star Jennifer Lawrence and John Hawkes this was just a sensation film.
13. Mark Romanek (for Never Let Me Go) – The music video director went back to feature films for the first time since One Hour Photo, and the result is the film that I have been calling the most underappreciated movie of 2010 in pretty much every OscarWatch post yet. This really was a beautiful adaptation of the Kazuo Ishiguro novel, full of pitch-perfect performances and able to create a very unique and fitting mood.
14. Lee Unkrich (for Toy Story 3) – Pixar keeps its perfect streak alive with Toy Story 3, as the film managed to tell a story about growing up, about the blows life may deal us with, about friendship and love. It had huge laughs, great adventures, tearful moments, and everything else one could have wished for.
15. David O. Russell (for The Fighter) – I loved The Fighter, and a lot of it had to with how David O. Russell chose to tell this story. Not using the many familiar themes and motifs that were available to huge extents, but using them as a backbone to tell a story that we all knew how it would end and still making it exciting and getting amazing performances from every single member of his cast.
16. Mike Leigh (for Another Year) – There’s probably not a single living director who’s better at exploring the human psychology during everyday tasks than Mike Leigh. And Another Year is another prime example of why that is, this is just one very very good film, with a trio of awesome performances and a great overall feel.
17. Noah Baumbach (for Greenberg) – Noah Baumbach is a guy I think can do no wrong. Greenberg is an exquisite exploration of its main character, a guy who’s not that easy to love, but who’s actually very easy to relate to and really care for. The situations created and explored by Mr. Baumbach and his cast, all of whom are uniformly excellent (especially Ben Stiller and the lovely Greta Gerwig), are just terrific to watch.
18. Clint Eastwood (for Hereafter) – I know some people didn’t love Hereafter, but I thought it was tremendous. And that was mostly because of Mr. Eastwood, who got some very fine performances from his cast and dealth with a very interesting topic in a very interesting way. Why some people weren’t so fully on board with this film is something I won’t ever really understand.
19. John Cameron Mitchell (for Rabbit Hole) – This was a very difficult film to really manage. And yet the result was something spectacular, with John Cameron Mitchell dealing with the hard material wonderfully, directing Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart to some perfect performances in the process.
20. Matthew Vaughn (for Kick-Ass) – Last spot in the rankings goes to Matthew Vaughn, who directed one of the funnest films in all 2010 and captured to perfection the graphic novel style of it all, crafting memorable characters and scenes, not to mention that this was what sparked Chloë Moretz’s career, so we have him to thank for that.

How I Think the Oscar Nominations Will Look Like (in alphabetical order)

• Darren Aronofsky (for Black Swan)
• David Fincher (for The Social Network)
• Tom Hooper (for The King’s Speech)
• Christopher Nolan (for Inception)
• David O. Russell (for The Fighter)

I think Aronofsky, Fincher, Hooper and Nolan are all 100% sewn up to get nominations. And the fifth slot is a battle between David O. Russell and the Coen brothers for True Grit, but with the latest precursors indicating that the former holds the advantage in that square-off.

OscarWatch: Best Lead Actress

Since the Academy Award nominations will be announced bright and early Tuesday morning (!) I thought I’d do seven OscarWatch posts for the main races: Screenplay (encompassing both Original and Adapted), Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Lead Actor, Lead Actress, Director and Picture.

In them I’ll detail my thoughts on the given race and how I think things are starting to shape up considering we have now seen most of the precursor awards and count with BAFTA and SAG nominations. I’ll give my personal Top 20, with a brief paragraph on each, for any given race and detail which I think will be the nominees for the Oscars come Tuesday. In this post I’ll tackle…

Best Lead Actress

I’ll give my Top 20 performances given by actresses in a leading role in 2010, my brief thoughts on each and then I’ll say how I think the Oscar nominations for the category will look once they’re announced on Tuesday.

As for the state of the race itself, I’d very much like to call it a lock and say Natalie Portman will no doubt win this one. However, I don’t think we should count Annette Bening out just yet. I mean, I’d call it an 85% certainty that Ms. Portman will win this one, but Ms. Bening has already lost twice in this race (and I’m guessing that on both occasions she came in second in voting) so she’s due, and actors and audiences both love her, so an upset may occur.

Personal Top 20

1. Natalie Portman (for Black Swan) – My favorite film of the year, my favorite performance of the year. I would love to see Annette Bening win because I thought she was robbed that first time she lost, but considering this performance by Ms. Portman then I’ll be sorry to tell her she should brace herself for a third loss.
2. Michelle Williams (for Blue Valentine) – Michelle Williams I think I’ve never seen do a single bad thing. And she, alongside Ryan Gosling (who I ranked 3rd in my Best Lead Actor rankings), is just dynamite here. Providing a brutally honest and painful look at a very troubled marriage.
3. Annette Bening (for The Kids Are All Right) – She’s undeniably great here, and she’s an awesome woman. The dinner scene at Paul’s house, from her singing that Joni Mitchell song, to finding out about her wife’s cheating and the expressions in her face, that’s all unbelievable acting from a woman who’s incredibly good at picking the right projects and is one of the best in the business.
4. Jennifer Lawrence (for Winter’s Bone) – One of the breakout stars of 2010, she carries her little film to absolute greatness with a remarkably grounded performance which gives a speck of hope to a horribly bleak film.
5. Nicole Kidman (for Rabbit Hole) – Nicole Kidman hasn’t been this good since The Hours. This was her passion project, she helped produce it and she stars in it, giving a gut-wrenching performance as a mourning mother.
6. Julianne Moore (for The Kids Are All Right) – She goes head to head against Annette Bening in here, as her character goes through an emotional rollercoaster which she conveys to perfection.
7. Carey Mulligan (for Never Let Me Go) – And I’ll say it one more time, Never Let Me Go, my official selection for the most underrated film of 2010. Carey Mulligan comes off her stellar star-making performance in last year’s An Education to star in this one, and she’s just amazing in it too.
8. Lesley Manville (for Another Year) – Mike Leigh’s films are always an actor’s dream if the actor is willing to shed off any sort of vanity they may have and just lay it all on the line for the amazing director. Lesley Manville does just that, and the performance we end up seeing is a thing of beauty.
9. Tilda Swinton (for Io Sono l’Amore) – I’m a big fan of Tilda Swinton, who already has an Oscar, and the work she did in this gorgeous Italian film is amazing, I seriously doubt a nomination will happen, but, much like Javier Bardem’s in the Best Lead Actor race, it would be kinda nice to see a foreign language performance get an acting nod.
10. Noomi Rapace (for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) – She’s generating some very nice buzz for her role in this one, the first entry in the Swedish adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s novels, and it’s all well deserved. She has a toughness that’s just brilliant to watch develop.
11. Anne Hathaway (for Love and Other Drugs) – This film is one I thought was severely underrated, and Anne Hathaway’s performance was truly amazing here. She won’t get nominated, but this only builds up her string of amazing acting in very solid films, and I can’t help but think she’ll get one of those golden men in the future.
12. Kirsten Dunst (for All Good Things) – Consider this mention my official “welcome back” card for Ms. Dunst. We hadn’t seen her in anything for quite some time, so just the sight of her was something I cherished, the fact that she went on and delivered a very good performance was just additional icing on an already very sweet cake.
13. Sally Hawkins (for Made in Dagenham) – Though this wasn’t as amazing as her performance in Happy-Go-Lucky (which the Academy failed to recognize) it was still buzzing with the charismatic energy Sally Hawkins has, and the film is a lighter than most Academy baits so it has that fresh appeal going for it.
14. Annette Bening (for Mother and Child) – A double-honoree in my rankings here, this was a film I thought was seen by too few people and was also full of impeccable performances. Ms. Bening’s was the finest of the bunch, as is usually the case.
15. Naomi Watts (for Fair Game) – To go toe to toe with Sean Penn, and actually manage to out-do him is something very few actors can accomplish. Naomi Watts does just that in Fair Game, a film in which she gets to play Valerie Plame and does some incredible things with the role.
16. Diane Lane (for Secretariat) – This film was supposed to be much more an awards bait than it eventually turned out to be. But I still thought it was a very very good inspirational film, anchored by a very nice performance by Ms. Lane.
17. Chloë Moretz (for Let Me In) – 2010 was also the year in which we discovered Chloë Moretz, first in Kick-Ass and then in Let Me In. The latter was the one in which she delivered her better performance, and, even though the film was well-received, very few people actually saw it. If you haven’t done so, please watch it, it’s nearly as perfect as the original Swedish film on which it’s based, and has Ms. Moretz bringing her A-game.
18. Kristen Stewart (for Welcome to the Rileys) – You just have to watch Ms. Stewart’s non-Twilight roles to really see how great an actress she actually is. Yes, her style of acting may be the same in all her films, kind of fidgety and quiet, but that gives each of her characters something rather unique. In Welcome to the Rileys she plays a troubled girl to tremendous results, going head to head with James Gandolfini in some really tough scenes.
19. Gwyneth Paltrow (for Country Strong) – The film eventually wasn’t as amazing as it first seemed it would be. But Gwyneth Paltrow was still amazing in it. I’ve heard a lot of people say she’s way overrated, but I disagree, I think she’s pretty damn awesome in everything she tackles.
20. Amanda Seyfried (for Chloe) – As always, the final spot of my Top 20 goes to a sentimental favorite of mine. Here it’s Amanda Seyfried, who does wonders with the titular role in Chloe, having some electrifying scenes alongside Julianne Moore.

How I Think the Oscar Nominations Will Look Like (in alphabetical order)

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

First time in my OscarWatch for the acting races that the five nominations I imagine the Academy will name matches five-for-five with my five favorite performances of the year. Natalie Portman and Annette Bening are the mortal locks, with the award itself being a fight between the two of them, a fight in which Ms. Portman currently has the edge. Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Lawrence also look like very strong bets. As for that fifth slot, there’s a few ways in which that one could go, Michelle Williams I think will make the cut, and if she doesn’t I’d say it won’t happen because the voters will have put Hailee Steinfeld of True Grit as Lead instead of Supporting and she ended up bumping Ms. Williams off the shortlist.

Golden Globe Predictions

I still have four reviews left to do on 2010 films (namely: Blue Valentine, Biutiful, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest and Country Strong), but I’ve now seen all of the 2010 films I intend to see (210 in total) and thought that since I probably won’t do all four of those reviews in one swoop before the weekend I should do a post about my predictions for the Golden Globes, which are taking place this Sunday.

I’ll outline each category, list the nominees, do a brief parragraph about the state of the race and then pick the one I think is going to win, and the one I’d pick to win were the Globes up to me. And since I’m also an avid TV-watcher I’ll weigh in on those race, too.

BEST MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA

Nominees

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

State of the Race

Much like at the Oscar’s, one would think the big race is going to come down between The King’s Speech and The Social Network, and in all likelihood that’s what’s gonna happen at the Globes, too. However, don’t count The Fighter out of this one just yet, as it may ultimately deliver a huge upset and further establish itself as a real threat to the aforementioned two-pack come Oscar time, this is, after all, the same organisation that went with Babel in 2007, and with Atonement a year after that.

Who I Think Will Win

I’m guessing The Social Network here. It has pretty much swept through the precursor awards, and unless something bizarre happens then the Globe should be another trophy for its crowded mantelpiece, and a big stepping stone for the Oscar.

Who I Would Give the Globe To

If I ran the Globes then I would give the award to Black Swan, no questions asked. This to me was, far an out, the best film in all of 2010 and a true modern masterpiece.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA

Nominees

• Halle Berry for Frankie and Alice
• Nicole Kidman for Rabbit Hole
• Jennifer Lawrence for Winter’s Bone
• Natalie Portman for Black Swan
• Michelle Williams for Blue Valentine

State of the Race

Portman is thought to be a lock to win this one, and with good reason, she gives the best performance of her career in what, to me, was the best movie of the year, so she should no doubt get her second Globe (she has already won for Closer) and further cement herself as the leader of the pack come Oscar time. However, the Globes absolutely LOVE Nicole Kidman, having already bestowed three of their awards to her (To Die For in ’96, Moulin Rouge! in ’02 and The Hours in ’03) so that upset wouldn’t be that crazy.

Who I Think Will Win

Though the Kidman upset is something I could see happening this really is Portman’s to lose, and I don’t think she will.

Who I Would Give the Globe To

As I said, Ms. Portman delivers the best performance of her career in the best film of the year, so this should no doubt go to her. However, if by some reason she finds herself losing the award to Michelle Williams for Blue Valentine then I actually won’t be that pissed.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA

Nominees

• Jesse Eisenberg for The Social Network
• Colin Firth for The King’s Speech
• James Franco for 127 Hours
• Ryan Gosling for Blue Valentine
• Mark Wahlberg for The Fighter

State of the Race

Look, the Best Actor race, in the Globes, or the SAGs, or the Oscars or in any other precursor award is not really a race at all. If you’ve seen The King’s Speech then you know what I mean, Colin Firth gives a masterclass in acting in that movie, and he won’t find himself losing any of the big ones. If I had to pick a threat to his throne I’d say Jesse Eisenberg or James Franco, but I really don’t see that happening.

Who I Think Will Win

Colin Firth, no questions asked. The man has had an illustrious career, and here he tops himself delivering a truly unbelievable performance that should easily grant him his first Globe.

Who I Would Give the Globe To

Much like in the Best Actress race, I’ll say there’s no way I wouldn’t give it to Mr. Firth. However, if he should lose to Ryan Gosling for Blue Valentine, then I won’t be so pissed.

BEST MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL

Nominees

• Alice in Wonderland
• Burlesque
• The Kids Are All Right
• Red
• The Tourist

State of the Race

This was the race that caused the most outrage when the nominations were announced. The quality of the films here, with the exception of the sublime The Kids Are All Right, is truly abysmal. Personally even, the grades I gave to the films are all over the place Alice in Wonderland got a B from me, Burlesque a C+, The Kids Are All Right an A+, Red a B and The Tourist a C+. Considering slots could have been filled with much worthier nominees such as Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Greenberg, Easy A, Cyrus or Love and Other Drugs this is really shameful.

Who I Think Will Win

The Kids Are All Right will probably be an eventual Best Picture nominee at the Oscars, as well as player in some of the other big races, while the other films won’t even in any sort of contention for any major awards at the Oscars. So yes, it’s The Kids Are All Right all the way here. Though considering the Globes were stupid enough to nominate this bunch of films an upset could somehow happen.

Who I Would Give the Globe To

As I said, I gave The Kids Are All Right an A+, while no other nominee got even a B+. Enough said.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL

Nominees

• Annette Bening for The Kids Are All Right
• Anne Hathaway for Love and Other Drugs
• Angelina Jolie for The Tourist
• Julianne Moore for The Kids Are All Right
• Emma Stone for Easy A

State of the Race

With the exception of Angelina Jolie this race did have some worthy nominees. But considering the Best Actress race at the Oscars is thought to be a battle between Natalie Portman and Ms. Bening and the former isn’t in this race then I’d say the latter has this one in the bag.

Who I Think Will Win

Annette Bening, hands down. And I really don’t see any of the other nominees delivering an upset.

Who I Would Give the Globe To

And, again, Annette Bening, no question.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL

Nominees

• Johnny Depp for Alice in Wonderland
• Johnny Depp for The Tourist
• Paul Giamatti for Barney’s Vision
• Jake Gyllenhaal for Love and Other Drugs
• Kevin Spacey for Casino Jack

State of the Race

This is another race I really don’t understand. The HFPA obviously loves Johnny Depp (as we all do) but a single nomination would have done, especially considering that The Tourist was horrible and that nod could have gone to a much more deserving Ben Stiller for Greenberg.

Who I Think Will Win

If the HFPA loved him enough to nominate him twice for two sub-par performances considering what he’s done in the past, then I’d say they’ll love him enough again to actually give him the damned award for Alice in Wonderland.

Who I Would Give the Globe To

I actually haven’t seen Barney’s Vision yet, but my guess is that Paul Giamatti would be a deserving winner. My pick, however, would most certainly be Jake Gyllenhaal for Love and Other Drugs, a film I thought was rather underappreciated.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOTION PICTURE

Nominees

• Amy Adams for The Fighter
• Helena Bonham Carter for The King’s Speech
• Mila Kunis for Black Swan
• Melissa Leo for The Fighter
• Jacki Weaver for Animal Kingdom

State of the Race

The Best Supporting Actress race to me has been by far the toughest one to call throughout the whole season, as it’s full of equally deserving and amazing performances. I could genuinely see any of these five ladies winning the Globe and thinking they earned it. Just a very very tough one to call.

Who I Think Will Win

My guess is that it’ll come down between the two ladies of The Fighter. And with good reason since they’re both unbelievable in it. Melissa Leo has the flashier role and is loved by everyone in Hollywood, so she’d be the more conventional pick. But I’m biased towards Ms. Adams because I love her and actually thought she was better in it, so I’ll go ahead and bet on her.

Who I Would Give the Globe To

As I just said, Amy Adams I thought was amazing in The Fighter, but if I had to power to pick whichever one I wanted I probably would have to go with Mila Kunis, just because in a dream world Black Swan would sweep with everything.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOTION PICTURE

Nominees

• Christian Bale for The Fighter
• Michael Douglas for Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
• Andrew Garfield for The Social Network
• Jeremy Renner for The Town
• Geoffrey Rush for The King’s Speech

State of the Race

The usual suspects here, and my guess is that at least four of them will repeat with an Oscar nomination. Michael Douglas is the one I think may not get an Oscar nomination, in favor of probably Mark Ruffalo or John Hawkes, but he got in with the Globes because they adore him. Though the race was once thought to be a head-to-head between Christian Bale and Geoffrey Rush the latest precursors have cemented Mr. Bale as the clear leader in the race.

Who I Think Will Win

Christian Bale should win this one easily, his was a knockout performance and I don’t see even Mr. Rush beating him. However, as I said, the HFPA loves Michael Douglas, and considering how much he’s gone through lately a win from him here wouldn’t be that out of the blue, though ultimately it’s still quite unlikely.

Who I Would Give the Globe To

I guess I’d give it to Bale, as well. Not only because his performance was terrific but because he’s due some recognition for his work, which he really hasn’t gotten in the past. Though a part of me would love to see Andrew Garfield winning this one.

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

Nominees

• Despicable Me
• How to Train Your Dragon
• L’Illusionniste
• Tangled
• Toy Story 3

State of the Race

The state of the race with the Animated Film category is that it’s never really been a race. Toy Story 3 had this one in the bag the second it came out.

Who I Think Will Win

Again, this isn’t even a question. Toy Story 3.

Who I Would Give the Globe To

These are actually all very good animated films, but none comes close to achieve what the geniuses at Pixar did with Toy Story 3.

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Nominees

• Biutiful from Mexico and Spain
• Le Concert from France
• The Edge from Russia
• Io Sono l’Amore from Italy
• In a Better World from Denmark

State of the Race

To be honest I haven’t seen neither The Edge nor In a Better World, so I can’t really comment fairly in this race. However, Biutiful was such a knockout film to me, that I can’t see it losing. Though I0 Sono l’Amore would also be a worthy adversary.

Who I Think Will Win

I’m hoping Biutiful. However, maybe the film was a bit too tough and raw for voters to see in its entirety, or at all, and that may sway them in another direction.

Who I Would Give the Globe To

Biutiful. One of the most powerful films to have come out in all 2010.

BEST DIRECTOR – MOTION PICTURE

Nominees

• Darren Aronofsky for Black Swan
• David Fincher for The Social Network
• Tom Hooper for The King’s Speech
• Christopher Nolan for Inception
• David O. Russell for The Fighter

State of the Race

The Best Director race seems to be a six-way race, with Joel & Ethan Coen for True Grit trying to get into the race (most likely at the expense of David O. Russell), they failed to get in here and with the DGA, so I’m guessing they may also miss out at the Oscars, though you never know with those two geniuses.

Who I Think Will Win

I really can’t see a scenario in which Fincher doesn’t leave with the Globe firmly in his hands.

Who I Would Give the Globe To

Again, I’m biased as hell because I think Black Swan was the best film of the year by a mile, so I’ll say Aronofsky. Though Fincher is equally deserving.

BEST SCREENPLAY – MOTION PICTURE

Nominees

• Simon Beaufoy and Danny Boyle for 127 Hours
• Christopher Nolan for Inception
• Stuart Blumberg and Lisa Cholodenko for The Kids Are All Right
• David Seidler for The King’s Speech
• Aaron Sorkin for The Social Network

State of the Race

This one also isn’t that much of a race, it’s Aaron Sorkin’s to lose. And he just won’t.

Who I Think Will Win

Mr. Sorkin has this one in the bag.

Who I Would Give the Globe To

I’m a lover fast dialogue and witty remarks, and as such there’s no way I wouldn’t give it to Aaron Sorkin.

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE – MOTION PICTURE

Nominees

• Alexandre Desplat for The King’s Speech
• Danny Elfman for Alice in Wonderland
• A.R. Rahman for 127 Hours
• Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for The Social Network
• Hans Zimmer for Inception

State of the Race

This one’s a pretty damn competitive race. Desplat, Zimmer and the Reznor and Ross collaboration all seem to have pretty good odds to me.

Who I Think Will Win

Again, I could potentially see all three of the ones I named above coming out winners, but if I had to guess I’d say that Hans Zimmer is the most likely to win for his fantastic score for Inception and pick up his third career Globe.

Who I Would Give the Globe To

Personally the score I loved the most was the one Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross created for The Social Network, so that’s definitely my pick. Not only that, but seeing Trent Reznor win a Globe and make a speech would be the icing on the cake.

—Now over to the TV categories—

BEST TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA

Nominees

• Boardwalk Empire
• Dexter
• The Good Wife
• Mad Men
• The Walking Dead

State of the Race

Two rookie series making the shortlist, with Boardwalk Empire being a predictable entry and The Walking Dead being a much more surprising freshman nominee. Good stuff.

Who I Think Will Win

Mad Men hasn’t lost this category before, and my guess is that they’ll make it four in a row here, as they rightfully should. Though I could actually see an upset at the hands of Boardwalk Empire happening.

Who I Would Give the Globe To

Out of the five nominees Mad Men to me is by far the best series, so I would give it to them, no doubt.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA

Nominees

• Julianna Marguiles for The Good Wife
• Elisabeth Moss for Mad Men
• Piper Perabo for Covert Affairs
• Katey Sagal for Sons of Anarchy
• Kyra Sedgwick for The Closer

State of the Race

The usual choices in Marguiles, Moss and Segdwick. And then we have two more surprising picks in Sagal and Perabo. I was extremely happy to see Sagal nominated, since I think she’s riveting in Sons of Anarchy. As for Ms. Perabo, on the other, I’m not entirely sure what the HFPA was thinking with that nomination. Granted, I’ve only seen two episodes of Covert Affairs in my life, but unless Ms. Perabo seriously stepped up her game on the ones I haven’t seen I can’t really get the nomination.

Who I Think Will Win

I could see Ms. Sedgwick winning this one, but my guess is that the HFPA will go with Julianna Marguiles for her fantastic work in The Good Wife.

Who I Would Give the Globe To

I’m a huge fan of The Good Wife, so for me it’s Julianna Marguiles for sure. Though Elisabeth Moss I’d like seeing winning this one, too.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA

Nominees

• Steve Buscemi for Boardwalk Empire
• Bryan Cranston for Breaking Bad
• Michael C. Hall for Dexter
• Jon Hamm for Mad Men
• Hugh Laurie for House

State of the Race

Very solid picks here, with Steve Buscemi breaking into the pack for his amazing job in Boardwalk Empire’s first season, and Bryan Cranston finally getting in for his masterful job in Breaking Bad.

Who I Think Will Win

Bryan Cranston hasn’t lost at the Emmy’s for his performance in Breaking Bad so far, winning three times in a row, and yet the Globes hadn’t even nominated before, which I’m taking as a sign that they don’t love him as much. And because of that I’ll go ahead and say that Jon Hamm will pick up his second Globe for portraying Don Draper come Sunday. Though an upset at the hands of Buscemi is something I could see happening.

Who I Would Give the Globe To

Were it up to me I would no doubt give it to Cranston, no other nominee comes close to his level of acting in Breaking Bad.

BEST TELEVISION SERIES – COMEDY OR MUSICAL

Nominees

• 30 Rock
• The Big Bang Theory
• The Big C
• Glee
• Modern Family
• Nurse Jackie

State of the Race

Usual suspects here, too. Though I thought it was nice to see The Big C break into the race (most likely at the expense of The Office), however, as we saw last year, this race will probably come down to a fight between the two sophomore series: Modern Family and last year’s winner, Glee.

Who I Think Will Win

They rewarded Glee last year for it’s breakout first season, and while it’s having a very strong sophomore showing I’m hoping the HFPA will be smarter this time around and give the trophy to Modern Family.

Who I Would Give the Globe To

I’d give it to Modern Family. I was kind pissed it didn’t win last year so this one would be deserving.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES – COMEDY OR MUSICAL

Nominees

• Toni Collette for United State of Tara
• Edie Falco for Nurse Jackie
• Tiny Fey for 30 Rock
• Laura Linney for The Big C
• Lea Michele for Glee

State of the Race

Pretty predictable stuff here, with Laura Linney being the only newcomer in comparison to a year ago, replacing Cougar Town’s Courtney Cox. And to be honest, she’ll probably win it.

Who I Think Will Win

I loved Laura Linney in The Big C, I thought she did some really fine acting and the Globe should be hers, no problem.

Who I Would Give the Globe To

I’d get a knife and cut the Globe in two, give one half to Ms. Linney and the other to Ms. Fey.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES – COMEDY OR MUSICAL

Nominees

• Alec Baldwin for 30 Rock
• Steve Carell for The Office
• Thomas Jane for Hung
• Matthew Morrison for Glee
• Jim Parsons for The Big Bang Theory

State of the Race

Compared to last year, David Duchovny was exchanged for Emmy-winner Jim Parsons. And that’s a good thing, considering I have a feeling that Mr. Parsons may just win the Globe, too.

Who I Think Will Win

As I just said, I’m guessing Mr. Parsons will follow his Emmy victory with a much deserved win at the Globes. But then again, you really can’t ever count Alec Baldwin out. And, to be honest, I could also see a Matthew Morrison victory here, though I really wouldn’t like that one bit.

Who I Would Give the Globe To

Jim Parsons all the way.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

Nominees

• Hope Davis for The Special Relationship
• Jane Lynch for Glee
• Kelly MacDonald for Boardwalk Empire
• Julia Stiles for Dexter
• Sofia Vergara for Modern Family

State of the Race

Good stuff all around here, a varied pool of nominees who all have done terrific jobs.

Who I Think Will Win

I guess it’s common knowledge that Jane Lynch will be the favorite to win this one so long as she’s playing Sue Sylvester. But I have a hunch that my personal favorite, Kelly MacDonald, may be able to pull off an upset.

Who I Would Give the Globe To

Kelly MacDonald. Steve Buscemi may get the beefiest scenes to showcase his talents in Boardwalk Empire, but Ms. MacDonald is as much of a reason for my continued viewing of the superb HBO series.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

Nominees

• Scott Cann for Hawaii Five-0
• Chris Colfer for Glee
• Chris Noth for The Good Wife
• Eric Stonestreet for Modern Family
• David Strathairn for Temple Grandin

State of the Race

There’s not a single repeat nominee from last year, in which John Lithgow won for his stellar turn in Dexter, so that’s pretty interesting. Kudos to the HFPA for rewarding Mr. Caan with a nod, he’s the main reason why the reinvented Hawaii Five-0 is so good right now.

Who I Think Will Win

I would think Chris Colfer has the better shot at the trophy here.

Who I Would Give the Globe To

I wouldn’t mind seeing Mr. Colfer pick up the Globe here, as he’s really terrific in his dramatic scenes on Glee. Though Eric Stonestreet would also be a very welcome winner.

And that’s it for my Globe predictions. I realize it’s a horrible lenghty post, and I’m fearing it’ll all look bad and too long when displayed in the site, but I just thought I’d share my thoughts before the ceremony on Sunday. Next year I’ll give the predictions in bits and pieces and not in just one 3750+ word entry.

Greenberg

Title: Greenberg
Year: 2010
Director: Noah Baumbach
Writer: Noah Baumbach, based on a story by himself and Jennifer Jason Leigh
Starring: Ben Stiller, Greta Gerwig, Rhys Ifans, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Merritt Wever, Chris Messina, Brie Larson, Juno Temple, Mark Duplass
MPAA Rating: R, some strong sexuality, drug use and language
Runtime: 107 min
Major Awards: –
IMDb Rating: 6.4
Rotten Tomatoes: 75%

I had seen Greenberg back in March but for some reason apparently forgot to do the review for it. But anyways, I’ve seen it on blu-ray a bunch of times since and I can still say that it’s one seriously good film. I say this because I’m inclined to love every single thing Noah Baumbach does and because this film introduced me to Greta Gerwig, who’ll most certainly be, alongside Jennifer Lawrence, my favorite newcomer of 2010. Not to mention the score was done by James Murphy from LCD Soundsystem.

Seriously though, this one helluva film. A film that boasts an incredible performance by Ben Stiller in the leading role, a role which was originally intended for a guy in his early thirties and rewritten to fit Mr. Stiller. And what a smart decision that was, because this is a role Mr. Stiller fully owns, giving the best performance of his career to date.

This is also a film that takes a very cool look at Los Angeles. Mr. Baumbach’s script makes the city another character in this film, and it had been a while since a film had featured Los Angeles and its traits so well. And he was aided by the cinematography of Harris Savides, the man behind other city-friendly films such as American Gangster, Milk and Zodiac.

This one is right up there with Mr. Baumbach’s The Squid and the Whale, another funny and yet a bit sad film of his. That’s how he does things, he always finds humor in places we wouldn’t think had it, and makes everything feel very real, adding his smart wit to every situation and making them that much better. His ability to get us to connect with people who could have easily been painted as unlikable is exquisite.

And much like in The Squid and the Whale, the bittersweet perspective he explores here is achieved so amazingly by a great ensemble of actors. Not only is Mr. Stiller amazing, but there’s also Ms. Gerwig, who as I said above will go down as one my favorite new stars of 2010. She is infinitely charming, and her performance is right up there with Mr. Stiller’s, effortlessly conveying a girl who’s certain about a number of things, and confused about many more to perfection. And there are also very good performances by Rhys Ifans, Jennifer Jason Leigh as well as an appearance by the lovely Brie Larson, who apparently is also awesome outside United States of Tara.

Seriously though, Mr. Stiller gives a wonderfully nuanced performance, as a man who won’t necessarily be better off by the end of the movie, but that will certainly have evolved by the time it’s all said and done. And that’s the magic about Greenberg, that the outlook Mr. Baumbach provides never carries any sort of condescension to it, he just takes a very subtle look at the life of this man, and we start noticing that nothing good is coming out of it. This sort of ambiguity is handled extraordinarily well by Mr. Baumbach, who reels us in slowly but surely until we are totally engaged to this character, and when we get to that point we’ll realize just how much of a knockout this film is.

Because, honestly, this is a bitter life we’re observing. And yes, there will be laughter, but there will come a point in which we’ve come to care so much about Roger Greenberg that the laughs won’t be that easy, and they’ll come with pain for this guy. This is a man who has apparently come to terms with the fact that world hasn’t been especially nice to him, and has just decided to roll with the punches instead of really making that much of an effort to change the circumstances.

And Mr. Baumbach creates this character very well. He is, after all, a person very much like someone we all most likely know, the guy who’s mad at the world, who’s mad at himself and takes it out on everyone that approaches him and who seems not to care at all about himself or others. This is a character that’s not easy at all to write, it could have easily been caricatured by many, and yet Mr. Baumbach finds a way to paint him in a most human light, and he is aided to great measures by Mr. Stiller who seriously embodies this man.

Roger Greenberg, then, returns to Los Angeles, the city he once fled from after walking away from the band he was in right in the brink of getting to reach stardom, leaving his bandmates with nothing. But yes, he comes back, to house-sit for his brother who’s on vacation and make sure the dog doesn’t die. There is a number his brother has left for him, the one for Florence, the family’s assistant, who, the note explains, will pretty much know where everything is and how everything works.

Florence is the character the adorable Ms. Gerwig palys. And she is another very human character, another character who by the ink of a more conventional writer would have played by the rules stereotypical movies have set out for a girl like her, but Mr. Baumbach creates in her another unique character. She’s a confused girl, she plans everything to perfection for one family and yet seems to have no concrete plan for herself. She has to be one of my favorite characters all this year in the movies, and the fact that she’s played by Ms. Gerwig only adds to my liking of her.

As I said, there is not much happiness in Greenberg. There are many fun moments, but it’s not a happy movie at its core, not by a longshot. We see how Greenberg interacts with people, not only with Florence who he eventually ends up having sex with and developing a very iffy sort of relationship with, but also with Ivan, one of his former bandmates he screwed things up for, and with Beth, a girl he was once in love with and who now has an established family life.

Greenberg is just a very cool film. One I sincerely loved, not only because of the reasons I stated above which were that it was done by Mr. Baumbach and had Mr. Stiller giving his best performance, nor because it introduced me to such a lovely actress in Ms. Gerwig. But because it approaches this man in the best of ways, he gets us to empathize with a character many movies would get us to dislike thoroughly, he gets us to understand and care for this man in the best of ways, and the result is one seriously terrific film.

Grade: A

Centurion

Title: Centurion
Year: 2010
Director: Neil Marshall
Writer: Neil Marshall
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Dominic West, Olga Kurylenko, Riz Ahmed, Noel Clarke, Liam Cunningham, Imogen Poots
MPAA Rating: R, sequences of strong bloody violence, grisly images and language
Runtime: 97 min
Major Awards: –
IMDb Rating: 6.4
Rotten Tomatoes: 56%

Neil Marshall does a good job directing Centurion, this is a huge film that he directed with just a $12 million budget, and he gets the most out of every penny, delivering some pretty nifty action scenes in the B-movie sort of style his films always seem to have. Just watch his insanely good The Descent to get to know how good this guy can be. Other than the action, however, there’s not that much to love here, because the screenplay, also written by Mr. Marshall, isn’t really good at all, the dialogue feels kinda off and the characters aren’t developed as nicely as they could have been.

Go see Centurion if you like your battles bloody and well done and if you don’t care much at all about proper character development, because that’s pretty much exactly what you’ll be getting here. And if you consider that the lead actor is Michael Fassbender then you’ll probably be thinking that this could have been quite better.

Mr. Fassbender is a guy most definitely on the rise, he came on to the scene in 2006, when he played Stelios in 300, and then a couple years later is when I started taking notice of this guy after seeing his performance in Steve McQueen’s Hunger, one of the most harrowing performances I saw in all of the past decade. Last year he was in Inglorious Basterds and this year he made an appearance in the dreadful Jonah Hex. And the guy is set to have a very busy 2011, a year in which I reckon he’ll finish cementing his status as a star. He’ll first pop up in the new Jane Eyre adaptation alongisde Mia Wasikowska, Jamie Bell and Judi Dench; then in April he’s set to appear in Haywire, Steven Soderbergh’s next film alongisde the likes of Ewan McGregor and Antonio Banderas; and then in June he’ll be leading an all-star cast in a sure blockbuster, appearing as the young Magneto in Matthew Vaughn’s X-Men: First Class alongside James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, January Jones and a lot of other awesome people. And if you think that wasn’t enough he also has A Dangerous Method coming, that one being David Cronenberg’s next feature, starring alongisde Cronenberg’s usual collaborator Viggo Mortensen as well as Keira Knightley; not to mention the just-announced Shame which will reunite him with his Hunger director and see him next to my personal favorite, Carey Mulligan.

So yes, I’m a fan of Michael Fassbender. I haven’t had that much to judge him by, but Hunger alone makes me want to see what this guy does next, and just judging by the pedigree of the projects he’s signed on to for next year, I can tell that this guy is at least very smart when picking his projects, and that he likes to keep his plate busy, striking while the iron’s hot, wise move.

But back to Centurion, the film tells the story of a group of Roman soldiers who fight behind enemy lines in a beautiful Scottish landscape. So there’s a lot of running away from the enemies and doing their best to remain alive against the odds.

That landscape I mention is another reason for this being such a bearable film even though the characters are so one-dimensional, or in some cases pretty much non-dimensional. The Scottish highlands portrayed here are beautifully shot, the color scheme looking lovely against our tale of people running behind those shades of gray and blue, and then that lovely contrasting shade red when there’s blood involved. And when there is blood involved, it’s involved by the gallons, splattering out of the unfortunate chopped-up victims like crazy, looking cartoonish at times, but in the most awesome of ways.

I didn’t really know what to make of Centurion, I loved it when they got into the fighting scenes, and I loved how the scenery looked as they were running from the Picts that were chasing them, all shown in some pretty rad long shots. But I just couldn’t fathom how little we got to know our characters. The structure of the narrative is quite pleasing, but the dialogue just leaves too much to be desired, there’s a lot of expletives being thrown by the soldiers but there’s not much else, these guys being reduced many times to not much more than the bodies we’re seeing running along that beautiful scenery or being killed in really nifty ways. And when you have Mr. Fassbender and Dominic West, who’s from The Wire which means he can do no wrong, you just get a feeling that this could have been much more.

Grade: B-