Oscar 2010 Predictions: Original Score

Definitely one of the most competitive competitions this year is for Original Score, and even though this should be a two horse race, somehow it's been made into something more by The King's Speech. I'm not going to lie due to my affinity towards Alexandre Desplat, because The King's Speech is the least deserving score on this slate. I take into account 127 Hours, whose sole melody I remember "Lovely Day" by Bill Withers. Desplat's work on the film boiled down to the simple suites that he's been doing for year, and it was nowhere near as expansive and emotional as his work on Deathly Hallows: Part 1, nor anywhere close to the originality he brought to The Ghost Writer. I absolutely adore Desplat's work, which is the main reason I acknowledged him as the greatest contributor of 2010. He deserves to receive recognition, but not this year, and not for this score. He's got better work on the horizon, most notably Deathly Hallows: Part 2 and The Tree of Life.

How to Train Your Dragon was John Powell's greatest achievement in years, weaving so many memorable themes that equal the works of John Williams in his heyday. That being said, he's not going to take the gold with this particular work. The two scores in this race with the greatest chance at victory utilized the electronic in a fascinating way. My personal pick is quite obviously Inception, which is Hans Zimmer's most original score in years. Nobody else could have done it like him. The other is Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' work on The Social Network. Whoever has griped at the score not expanding the feel of the film should shut it. They're only pissed that TRON Legacy didn't get in, and while I appreciate Daft Punk's work, I didn't realize until just recently how similar their score is to the score for The Dark Knight. Getting back to Reznor and Ross, their score defined our generation in a way that the film came just short of, not that they were aiming at capturing that. The Golden Globe win in favor of The Social Network raised the stakes of this particular race, and it'll be interesting to see what goes down later this month.

1. Inception
2. The Social Network
3. How to Train Your Dragon
4. 127 Hours
5. The King's Speech

Will Win: The Social Network
Should Win: Inception
Potential Upset: The King's Speech
Should Have Been Nominated: The Ghost Writer

Awards 2010: Cesar Award Nominations

I know it's ridiculous to post a story on a bunch of films that nobody has ever heard of before, but I've always admired the choices of the French awards known as the Cesar Awards. It's not surprising that Of Gods and Men was nominated for the top prize, but The Ghost Writer also made the cut, surprisingly enough. Carlos failed to make the top prize, but settled well enough for the lower categories. The Social Network and Inception were the American nominations for Foreign Language Film, while Academy Award winner The Secret in Their Eyes also made it in. Perhaps it's not too relevant, but it's certainly interesting.

Best Film
“Gainsbourg”
“The Ghost Writer”
“Heartbreaker”
“Mammuth”
“The Names of Love”
“Of Gods and Men”
“On Tour”

Best Director
Olivier Assayas (“Carlos”)
Bertrand Blier (“The Clink of Ice”)
Roman Polanski (“The Ghost Writer”)
Mathieu Amalric (“On Tour”)
Xavier Beauvois (“Of Gods and Men”)

Best Actor
Gérard Depardieu (“Mammuth”)
Romain Duris (“Heartbreaker”)
Eric Elmosnino (“Gainsbourg”)
Jacques Gamblin (“The Names of Love”)
Lambert Wilson (“Of Gods and Men”)

Awards 2010: National Society of Film Critics

It's not really spreading the wealth if you mention the runners-up in the category, but I guess these precursors just wanted to give the losers the illusion that they just barely lost out. That's not really the case, because the rankings don't give any idea how big the gap in between may be, and it only makes people feel worse in any case. Ignoring the runners-up, The Social Network took away the most wins with the NSFC, and Olivia Williams (The Ghost Writer) continues to be an outside contender that we can dream will be nominated for the Oscars, but the odds are still against her.

Best Picture: "The Social Network"
Runner-up: "Carlos"
Second runner-up: "Winter's Bone"

Awards 2010: USC Libraries Scripter Nominations

Once again, off the wall ideas of what might be nominated for the screenplay categories. Enjoy it for what it is, which is a slight leg up for The Ghost Writer.

"The Ghost Writer"
"127 Hours"
"The Social Network"
"True Grit"
"Winter's Bone"

The Weekend Report: The Wicked Flee

What? There are absolutely no new releases this weekend? Well that makes another one of these posts seem rather superfluous, but I might as well do it anyway. There were a lot of under-appreciated films released this year, mostly on account of the fact that people were stupid with their time and money and decided to see The Last Airbender, Yogi Bear, and Little Fockers. As a matter of fact, at the end of this, I'm going to give you a list of all the films you shouldn't see. There are better ways for you to use your time, and that's pretty much the inspiration for this series.

Among the early and unappreciated films of the year was Roman Polanski's The Ghost Writer. It's gotten a somewhat strong following from critics this year, but there's a broader audience that I believe would truly embrace it if they gave it a chance. Another film people were afraid to give a chance until it was released was How to Train Your Dragon. I'm not sure if there are still people out there who haven't seen it out of disgust with Dreamworks' other features, but it's definitely worth checking out. There were also a great many films that inexplicably bombed at the box-office. MacGruber was never expected to do well, but it's an extremely funny film for what it is. It's not exactly good, but it's entertaining.

Best Contribution to 2010: Alexandre Desplat

I had some trouble thinking of the man/woman who I believe gave the biggest contribution to the film industry this year, because Leonardo DiCaprio is the automatic first choice for most. He had two films on his resume for this year, one of which is up for best picture this year. On the other hand, Shutter Island was originally intended for release last year. It's a great film, but the only reason it's part of this year at all is because Paramount Pictures didn't want to spend money on an Oscar campaign. Also worth mentioning is Jeff Bridges, who legitimately had two films this year, TRON: Legacy and True Grit, both of which were awesomely entertaining on their own levels. However, the person who I personally believe did the most for this year was composer Alexandre Desplat. I've dedicated several posts simply to praise him, because his work this year has been substantial. His least successful work of the year was his score for Tamara Drewe, which seemed to come and go rather quickly in a narrow part of the year.

Awards 2010: L.A. Film Critics Association Award Winners

Finally, somebody is breaking the mold of what is expected, meanwhile giving us some gentle encouragement in weak areas. I commend the Los Angeles Film Critics for their choices, because they kind of decided to do things their own way. They got some mad love for that five hour feature Carlos, and it shows. Of course, they still put their best foot forward in awarding The Social Network, which you could criticize for getting all this buzz, but do you honestly have any real problems with this film? Be serious with yourself. David Fincher made a pretty tight and flawless feature.

I'm glad Colin Firth is getting some wins for his brilliant Best Actor turn in The King's Speech. Supporting Actor is the only one I have a slight problem with, because A Prophet was technically released last year, but the performance was still tops. Also glad that Olivia Williams almost won Supporting Actress for her performance in The Ghost Writer, and that the film tied for Best Musical Score. Ultimately, it's nice to have a different flavor in the mix when it comes to these critics awards. I was getting a little irritated with some of the choices.

Best Picture: The Social Network
Runner-up: Carlos

Best Director: David Fincher (The Social Network)/Olivier Assayas (Carlos)

Best Actor: Colin Firth (The King's Speech)
Runner-up: Edgar Ramirez (Carlos)

Best Actress: Kim Hye-ja (Mother)
Runner-up: Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone)

Best Supporting Actress: Niels Arestrup (A Prophet)
Runner-up: Geoffrey Rush (The King's Speech)

Best Supporting Actress: Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom)
Runner-Up: Olivia Williams (The Ghost Writer)

Best Screenplay: The Social Network
Runner-up: The King's Speech

Best Cinematography: Black Swan
Runner-up: True Grit

Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 3
Runner-up: The Illusionist

Best Foreign Language Film: Carlos
Runner-up: Mother

Best Documentary: Last Train Home
Runner-up: Exit Through the Gift Shop

Best Musical Score: The Ghost Writer/The Social Network

Best Production Design: Inception
Runner-up: The King's Speech

The Best of Alexandre Desplat

What is perhaps my most anticipated soundtrack of this year, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, seems almost destined for an Oscar nomination for Alexandre Desplat. In the past, Desplat has been able to do wonders with so little. His scores for such small films like The Queen and Fantastic Mr. Fox have earned him enough acclaim to make him a rising presence, with another score for The King's Speech on the way.. He's one of the most spectacular composers working in the business today, and a personal favorite of mine. Even the films he's worked on that have critically flopped have had stellar scores attached to them. It seems proper to go over his best work to date. His works speaks for itself, so enjoy and comment on your thoughts.

The Special Relationship

New Moon

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Fantastic Mr. Fox

The Ghost Writer

Tamara Drewe

The Painted Veil

Quick Critiques: August 15 - 21

District 9

4+ Viewing
A- It's been about a year since the film came out, and at the time there was talk that the film was pretty great, but would never be nominated for Best Picture. Five months later, the film makes it into the big ten, and though some wrote it off immediately as a treat-to-be-nominated film that didn't have much chance at winning, I beg to differ. I knew immediately that this film had more of a chance at winning than Avatar, because of what District 9 had that that film didn't: a screenplay nomination. This film was superbly written and performed, and that's what captivated me the most. The visual effects, editing, and cinematography were amazing, but all second to what made the film spectacular. One year later, this film continues to deliver.

Shoot 'Em Up
1st Viewing
B Going into this movie, I knew what it was meant to be. Just another non-stop sexy action fest with witty one-liners galore, and I appreciated that. This film was never meant to have any deep meaning, and it really didn't. It was just looking for an excuse to kill people, and I found their excuse justifiable. There is some brilliant gun fighting in this movie, especially in the mid-section sex scene. Were we really under the assumption that this film wouldn't have a sex scene somewhere in it? Who are we kidding. That's what we want, and they deliver. Paul Giamatti's performance is good, but we don't come here for him.

The Ghost Writer
1st Viewing
A- Even imprisoned, Roman Polanski is one spectacular filmmaker. I skipped out of seeing this film in theaters at the last moment and opted instead to see Greenberg. In hind sight, not the best decision I could've made. Despite some dark subject matter that could have easily been a slow and boring two hours, this film springs with a liveliness rare to find in this kind of drama. There is an intriguing mystery at the heart of this film, and the revelation at the end is very powerful. The cinematography is stunning, as is the energetic score by Alexandre Desplat. Ewan McGregor usually sticks with the same sort of role, but he makes it work because he's superb within it. Going into The Ghost Writer, I was prepared for a slight disappointment, but it never came. If this were released towards the end of the year, it would be up for Oscar contention. As it is, it's a well paced early year thriller.

The Hurt Locker
3rd Viewing
A Many will remember that the first time I reviewed this film (what I refer to as the dark times of H.o.C.), I didn't really appreciate it at all. I was very limited minded back then, and I wasn't able to see the film for what it was: a riveting, high tension, action-drama set in the Iraq war. I changed my opinion of the film as the Oscars were approaching, and this film was claimed to be neck and neck with Avatar. I had to take a side, so I sided with this film, and I absolutely fell in love with it. Jeremy Renners performance is amazing, as are the cameo performances by Ralph Fiennes and Guy Pierce. I've had rough relationship with The Hurt Locker, but ultimately, a beneficial one.