2010 Oscar Results – Avatar will be Hurting

The results are out and Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker was the big winner. She is now the first female director to win best Director at the Academy Awards. Ben Stiller dressed up as a Na’Vi. Sandra Bullock is the best and worst actress and The Dude won best actor. Neil Patrick Harris opened the proceedings with a song while Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin hosted the show.

Best Supporting Actor:

* Matt Damon – Invictus
* Woody Harrelson – The Messenger
* Christopher Plummer – The Last Station
* Stanley Tucci – The Lovely Bones
* Christoph Waltz – Inglourious Basterds

Best Animated Feature Film:

* Coraline
* Fantastic Mr. Fox
* The Princess and the Frog
* The Secret of the Kells
* Up

Best Original Song:

* “Almost There” from The Princess and the Frog
* “Down in New Orleans” from The Princess and the Frog
* “Loin de Paname” from Paris 36
* “Take It All” from Nine
* “The Weary Kind” from Crazy Heart

Best Original Screenplay:

* Mark Boal – The Hurt Locker
* Quentin Tarantino – Inglourious Basterds
* Oren Moverman and – The Messenger
* Joel and Ethan Coen – A Serious Man
* Pete Docter and Bob Peterson – Up

Best Animated Short:

* French Roast
* Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty
* The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)
* Logorama
* A Matter of Loaf and Death

Best Documentary Short:

* China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province
* The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner
* The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant
* Music by Prudence
* Rabbit à la Berlin

Best Live-Action Short:

* The Door
* Instead of Abracadabra
* Kavi
* Miracle Fish
* The New Tenants

Best Make-up:

* Il Divo
* Star Trek
* The Young Victoria

Best Adapted Screenplay:

* Neill Blomkamp and – District 9
* Nick Hornby – An Education
* Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci and Tony Roche – In the Loop
* Geoffrey Fletcher – Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire
* Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner – Up in the Air

Best Supporting Actress:

* Penelope Cruz – Nine
* Vera Farmiga – Up in the Air
* Maggie Gyllenhaal – Crazy Heart
* Anna Kendrick – Up in the Air
* Mo’Nique – Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire

Best Art Direction

* Avatar
* The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
* Nine
* Sherlock Holmes
* The Young Victoria

Best Costume Design:

* Bright Star
* Coco Before Chanel
* The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
* Nine
* The Young Victoria

Best Sound Editing:

* Avatar
* The Hurt Locker
* Inglourious Basterds
* Star Trek
* Pixar’s Up

Best Sound Mixing:

* Avatar
* The Hurt Locker
* Inglourious Basterds
* Star Trek
* Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Best Cinematography:

* Maurio Fiore – Avatar
* Bruno Delbonnel – Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
* Barry Ackroyd – The Hurt Locker
* Robert Richardson – Inglourious Basterds
* Christian Berger – The White Ribbon

Best Original Score:

* James Horner – Avatar
* Alexandre Desplat – Fantastic Mr. Fox
* Marco Beltrami & Buck Sanders – The Hurt Locker
* Hans Zimmer – Sherlock Holmes
* Michael Giacchino – Pixar’s Up

Best Visual Effects:

* Avatar
* District 9
* Star Trek

Best Documentary Feature:

* Burma VJ
* The Cove
* Food, Inc.
* The Most Dangerous Man in America
* Which Way Home

Best Film Editing:

* Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron – Avatar
* Julian Clarke – District 9
* Bob Murawski and Chris Innis – The Hurt Locker
* Sally Menke – Inglourious Basterds
* Joe Klotz – Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire

Best Foreign Language Film:

* Ajami – Israel
* El Secreto de sus Ojos – Argentina
* The Milk of Sorrow – Peru
* Un Prophéte – France
* The White Ribbon – Germany

Best Actor:

* Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart
* George Clooney – Up in the Air
* Colin Firth – A Single Man
* Morgan Freeman – Invictus
* Jeremy Renner – The Hurt Locker

Best Actress:

* Sandra Bullock – The Blind Side
* Helen Mirren – The Last Station
* Carey Mulligan – An Education
* Gabourey Sidibe – Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire
* Meryl Streep – Julie & Julia

Best Director:

* Kathryn Bigelow – The Hurt Locker
* James Cameron – Avatar
* Lee Daniels – Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire
* Jason Reitman – Up in the Air
* Quentin Tarantino – Inglourious Basterds

Best Picture:

* Avatar
* The Blind Side
* District 9
* An Education
* The Hurt Locker
* Inglourious Basterds
* Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire
* A Serious Man
* Up
* Up in the Air

There you have it. Did they make the right choice. Should The Hurt Locker have won best picture? In 10 years time which will you remember the most – The Hurt Locker or Avatar?

Precious, 2009 – Movie Review

Director: Lee Daniels
Starring: Gabourey Sidibe, Mo’Nique, Paula Patton, Mariah Carey, Lenny Kravitz

Reviewed by pjowens75.

PRECIOUS: Based on The Novel PUSH by Sapphire

Some movies are harder to watch than others. Not because they’re bad, but because they show us a world that makes us uncomfortable; a world that we know exists, but have never consciously wanted any part of. They make us uncomfortable because they are real…too real.
PRECIOUS: Based On the Novel PUSH By Sapphire is one of those movies. It shows us a world so bleak and full of despair that we find ourselves squirming in our seats. But director Lee Daniels doesn’t shove it into our faces or hit us over the head with it. Instead he shows us this world through the eyes of one young girl who is caught in the middle of it all.

Claireece P. Jones is the “Precious” of the title, and is played by Gabourey Sidibe. She is an overweight 16 year old who is pregnant with her second child. But this is not a movie about dealing with the consequences of her own bad choices, but of dealing with the situations that have been forced upon her. For both babies are the results of being raped and abused by her own father. And in one of the welfare system’s many unfairnesses, Precious is suspended from school, seemingly slamming the door on the only escape from her terrible life.

But the biggest villain in this movie, even more than the abusive father, or the system seemingly at odds with itself, is Precious’ own mother Mary, unforgettably played by Mo’Nique. She allows the sexual abuse to take place, to produce babies and increase the size of her welfare check, and is constantly abusive to Precious, intentionally tearing apart her hopes & dreams, calling her “stupid” and saying “I knew I should’ve aborted you.” Mary is a woman with no redeeming values whatsoever and may easily be one of the most hateful characters ever filmed. It is to Mo’Nique’s credit that she makes her so much more than the one dimensional caricature tempted by the script. We can see all the calculating rationalizations going on inside her as she heaps abuse after abuse on all of those around her.

Eventually, Precious finds her way to an alternative school, and in the midst of her uncaring world, finds people who do care, in friends and in a teacher, Ms. Rain (Paula Patton), who gives her a journal and makes her write something in it, every day, even if she must force herself to do it.

And gradually, just as Precious slowly learns to care about herself, we begin to care about her and hope that the seething volcano of emotions we see building inside her will erupt, bringing explosive justice to all her abusers. But this isn’t an action film where the villains “get it” in the most gruesome ways imaginable. No, this is real life, and when the eruption finally does happen, we may not be completely happy with the outcome, but must be satisfied simply with the hope that Precious is taking control of her life and is on her way out of her predicament.

And perhaps that is what makes us so uncomfortable, not the content of the film itself, but the knowledge that this world really exists and is every bit as dark and unfair as the movie portrays. And perhaps we are upset that the filmmakers have spoiled our bright sunny day by making us aware of this world. But it is a world we should be aware of. And it is well written, directed, and especially acted movies like PRECIOUS that keep bringing it to our attention in a way that makes us care.

2010 BAFTA Nominations

The nominations are out for The British Academy of Film and Television Arts 2010 awards. Not really anything that surprising and I think Avatar will clean up, although An Education may do quite well (although I didn’t actually enjoy it). Avatar, The Hurt Locker and An Education each have 8 nominations.

I’ve put my thoughts on who I think will win after each one.

Have a look at the nominations and let me know what you think. Who will win? Who should have been nominated?

Best film
Avatar
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Precious
Up In The Air

It think this one will be a close run battle between Avatar and The Hurt Locker. Hopefully The Hurt Locker will take it.

Leading actor
Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart)
George Clooney (Up In The Air)
Colin Firth (A Single Man)
Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker)
Andy Serkis (Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll)

Jeff Bridges won a Golden Globe for his performance in Crazy Heart. However, as it is a British Award it could be between Firth and Serkis. Probably Firth, but as Serkis is playing a real person who had a disability and he sings I’m going with him. I would have liked Sam Rockwell to have been in the nominations as his performance in Moon is the best I’ve seen in a long time.

Leading actress
Carey Mulligan (An Education)
Saoirse Ronan (The Lovely Bones)
Gabourey Sidibe (Precious)
Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia)
Audrey Tautou (Coco Before Chanel)

It will probably be Carey Mulligan and, even though I didn’t like the film, she did do a cracking job. My personal choice would be Audrey Tautou.

Supporting actor
Alec Baldwin (It’s Complicated)
Christian McKay (Me And Orson Welles)
Alfred Molina (An Education)
Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones)
Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds)

It’s a bingo! Christoph Waltz has got to win that one.

Supporting actress
Anne-Marie Duff (Nowhere Boy)
Vera Farmiga (Up In The Air)
Anna Kendrick (Up In The Air)
Mo’Nique (Precious)
Kristin Scott Thomas (Nowhere Boy)

I haven’t seen any of those films unfortunately, but I call Mo’Nique.

Outstanding British film
An Education
Fish Tank
In The Loop
Moon
Nowhere Boy

Moon should win, but I reckon the BAFTA will go to An Education.

Outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer

Lucy Bailey, Andrew Thompson, Elizabeth Morgan Hemlock, David Pearson (directors, producers – Mugabe And The White African)
Eran Creevy (writer/director – Shifty)
Stuart Hazeldine (writer/director – Exam)
Duncan Jones (director – Moon)
Sam Taylor-Wood (director – Nowhere Boy)

Again I am going to have to go with Duncan Jones for Moon. Just a fantastic film.

Director
James Cameron (Avatar)
Neill Blomkamp (District 9)
Lone Scherfig (An Education)
Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker)
Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds)

Like Best Picture I think it will be The Hurt Locker or Avatar. Hopefully whichever one that doesn’t get best picture should get it. My personal choice would be either Neill Blomkamp or Quentin Tarantino.

Original screenplay
The Hangover (Jon Lucas, Scott Moore)
The Hurt Locker (Mark Boal)
Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)
A Serious Man (Joel Coen, Ethan Coen)
Up (Bob Peterson, Pete Docter)

Adapted screenplay
District 9 (Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell)
An Education (Nick Hornby)
In The Loop (Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche)
Precious (Geoffrey Fletcher)
Up In The Air (Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner)

Film not in the English language
Broken Embraces
Coco Before Chanel
Let The Right One In
A Prophet
The White Ribbon

Animated film
Coraline
Fantastic Mr Fox
Up

Music
Avatar (James Horner)
Crazy Heart (T-Bone Burnett, Stephen Bruton)
Fantastic Mr Fox (Alexandre Desplat)
Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll (Chaz Jankel)
Up (Michael Giacchino)

Cinematography
Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The Road

It would be good if The Road won this one, but Avatar is bound to pick this one up.

Editing
Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Up In the Air

Production design
Avatar
District 9
Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince
The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus
Inglourious Basterds

Doctor Parnassus should get this one, but Avatar will probably be the winner.

Costume design
Bright Star
Coco Before Chanel
An Education
A Single Man
The Young Victoria

Sound
Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Star Trek
Up

Out of those Star Trek had the best sound. A good mix of stuff from the original series and a massive soundscape to go with the visual effects. A great documentary on the Blu-Ray covers how they made many of the sounds.

Special visual effects
Avatar
District 9
Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince
The Hurt Locker
Star Trek

This one has got to go to Avatar.

Make-up & hair
Coco Before Chanel
An Education
The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
The Young Victoria

Short animation
The Gruffalo
The Happy Duckling
Mother Of Many

Short film
14
I Do Air
Jade
Mixtape
Off Season

The Orange Rising Star Award (voted for by the public, nominations announced earlier this month)
Jesse Eisenberg
Nicholas Hoult
Carey Mulligan
Tahar Rahim
Kristen Stewart

2010 Golden Globe Nominations

The nominations for the 2010 Golden Globe Awards are out and to be honest there is not that much of a surprise. However, they are often give a good idea as to what will show up in the Oscars – (THE RESULTS ARE NOW OUT AND THE WINNERS ARE…)

Nice to see Inglourious Basterds nominated and Avatar has slipped in there despite not being on general release yet.

I personally hope Jeff Bridges gets the award for best actor as the Dude abides.

The awards will be given on Sunday 17th January 2010 on NBC.

Best Motion Picture — Drama
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglorious Basterds
Precious
Up in the Air

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture — Drama
Emily Blunt, The Young Victoria
Sandra Biullock, The Blind Side
Helen Mirren, The Last Station
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Gabire Sadibe, Precious

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture — Drama
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
George Clooney, Up in the Air
Colin Firth, A Single Man
Morgan Freeman, Invictus
Tobey Maguire, Brothers

Best Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy
(500) Days of Summer
The Hangover
It’s Complicated
Julie & Julia
Nine

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy
Sandra Bullock, The Proposal
Marion Cotillard, Nine
Meryl Streep, It’s Complicated
Meryl Streep, Julie and Julia

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy
Matt Damon, The Informant
Daniel Day Lewis, Nine
Robert Downey Jr., Sherlock Holmes
Joseph Gordon Levitt, (500) Days of Summer
Michael Stuhlbarg, A Serious Man

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Mo-Nique, Precious
Julianne Moore, A Single Man
Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
Penelope Cruz, Nine

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Matt Damon, Invictus
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
Christopher Waltz, Inglorious Basterds
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger

Best Animated Feature Film
Coraline
The Fantastic Mr. Fox
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
The Princess and the Frog
Up

Best Foreign Language Film
Barria
Broken Embraces
A Prophet
The White Ribbon

Best Director — Motion Picture
Kathryn Bigelow, the hurt locker
James Cameron, Avatar
Clint Eastwood, Invictus
Jason Reitman, Up in the Air
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds

Best Screenplay — Motion Picture
Up in the Air
It’s Complicated
District 9

Best Original Song — Motion Picture
“I Will See You,” Avatar
“The Weary Kind,” Crazy Heart

What do you think of the nominations? Who should have been nominated but wasn’t? Who would you like to see win?

Quentin Tarantino’s Top Films of 2009

He hasn’t seen a few films such as Avatar and The Lovely Bones, but his list of the top 8 is pretty good.

I agree with him on a few of them. However, I haven’t seen all of the films and I have to disagree with him and many other people on An Education being a great film. I thought it was absolutely dreadful – like a poor ITV Sunday evening drama with poor characterisation, ridiculous story and it seemed to lose its nerve half way through (yes I know it is based on a true story). After reading good things about it I really wanted to like it, but it sucked big ones. As for Carey Mulligan’s character everyone is raving on her performance which was good, but I just wanted to shake her character and say stop being so stupid….Hmm well that turned into a bit of a rant didn’t it!

Star Trek and Drag Me to Hell were both excellent.

I’ll let Quentin get on with it.
Vodpod videos no longer available.

more about "Quentin Tarantino’s Top Films of 2009", posted with vodpod

What do you think of his list? Agree or disagree?

I’ve not posted my 2009 Year in Review which includes my Top 10 Movies.

Source: THR

Precious – New Poster

Posters – G.I. Joe, Couples Retreat, Five Minutes of Heaven, Precious, Surrogates, The Informant

HOME

Precious – Trailer

Lee Daniels’s Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire is a vibrant, honest and resoundingly hopeful film about the human capacity to grow and overcome.

Set in Harlem in 1987, it is the story of Claireece “Precious” Jones (Gabourey Sidibe), a sixteen-year-old African-American girl born into a life no one would want. She’s pregnant for the second time by her absent father; at home, she must wait hand and foot on her mother (Mo’Nique), a poisonously angry woman who abuses her emotionally and physically. School is a place of chaos, and Precious has reached the ninth grade with good marks and an awful secret: she can neither read nor write.

Precious may sometimes be down, but she is never out. Beneath her impassive expression is a watchful, curious young woman with an inchoate but unshakeable sense that other possibilities exist for her. Threatened with expulsion, Precious is offered the chance to transfer to an alternative school, Each One/Teach One. Precious doesn’t know the meaning of “alternative,” but her instincts tell her this is the chance she has been waiting for. In the literacy workshop taught by the patient yet firm Ms. Rain (Paula Patton), Precious begins a journey that will lead her from darkness, pain and powerlessness to light, love and self-determination.

The film also stars Lenny Kravitz.

Discuss in the forum

HOME