Oscar 2011: My Year In Advance Predictions (Part 2 of 2)

Most of the films on the second half of my list are likely to be huge blockbusters, and this past year a few of those actually got in (Avatar, District 9, The Blind Side) mostly because the Academy had room for such films and they wanted to appeal to a wider audience. The goal of this year was to get ratings up, and they succeeded. I wouldn't be surprised if next year's race is similar.

-Toy Story 3 - It feels like common sense that Pixar films are naturally better in every way than any other animated films. 9 out of 10 times Pixar has made films that have been immediately awarded the title of classic. The one exception is Cars, and Toy Story 3 could easily go that way. They are both eggs from the same hen, John Lasseter, one of the co-founders of Pixar. However, over the years Pixar has matured in the way they make their films. WALL-E was arguably the darkest disney film made in the past 25 years, and both Up and Ratatouille had no problems with showing the cold harshness of life. The trailers for this film lead us to believe it's going to be more of a comedic film, but Pixar has tricked us before. They always provide more than the trailers give us, and I believe that this film will keep the honored tradition of Pixar not sucking as much as Dreamworks animation.-Inception - This project has been shrouded in mystery ever since it was announced, and you can expect Chistopher Nolan to keep it that way. Even with something as mainstream as The Dark Knight, he tried to keep the juiciest plot points out of the trailers. That's one thing that makes the director one of the classiest and most acclaimed directors of this century. When it comes to making dark, complex films there are two people whom I trust completely: Christopher Nolan and Lady Gaga. What we can tell from what he's told us about Inception is that it's an international thriller, a story of madness and lost love, and a metaphysical heist movie. That gives us an extremely vague idea of what to expect, and that's all we need to put this film on the list as one of the frontrunners.
-Iron Man 2 - This is the only film I have in these nominations that I'm unsure if it should be on this list. Don't get me wrong. I'm a huge fan of the Iron Man, and of Robert Downey Jr. and I can't wait to see the film. The reasons I have it on this list are because it's opening in the same slot that Star Trek opened to last year and that film would've been nominated this year if it weren't for a certain film that I don't care about (The Blind Side), and besides that the two films are tonally very similar. Some people went as far as saying that Iron Man was better than The Dark Knight. They are wrong, but the point is that the first film could've been nominated were there 10 nominations two years ago. If they up the ante on this film then there's little to argue the point that it will probably be in the cards come awards season. -Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 - I've always been willing to take a leap of faith for the Harry Potter franchise to be nominated for best picture, but this is different. The series has definitely had its highs (Prisoner of Azkaban, Goblet of Fire) and its lows (Chamber of Secrets), but Half-Blood Prince gave us a real feel for what the final installment(s) will be like. David Yates has proved himself a quality director, and the absense of Steve Kloves as screenwriter showed negatively in Order of the Phoenix. Add in cinematography by two time Academy Award nominee Eduardo Serra (Girl with a Pearl Earring), and music composed by three time nominee Alexandre Desplat (The Queen, Fantastic Mr. Fox) and we may have reached a peak in quality for the series. I know how unlikely a chance it is, but I just feel that people sometimes fail to recognize just how likely a possibility it very well could be.-Blue Valentine - The biggest film to debut from Sundance last year went on to take two Academy Awards (Precious). The film that left the Sundance film festival this year with the most hype was Blue Valentine. Much like (500) Days of Summer, it is told out of chronological order and it tells the story of a couple whose relationship begins to decay. The one clip released of the film didn't reveal too much of the plot, but it gave us a feel of what the film will be like. It looks to have a tone more in the area of Once than (500) Days of Summer. This is much sadder and less optimistic portrayal of lost love, and I'm looking forward to its release this december.