Tag: 127 Hours

2011 Oscar Predictions Roundup

Most commentators agree on predictions for the top awards at tomorrow night’s 2011 Academy Awards presentations. According to them, the Oscar goes to:

Academy Award, Oscar

– Best Picture: The King’s Speech (with The Social Network in second);
– Best Director: David Fincher for The Social Network, with Tom Hooper a close second for The King’s Speech;
– Best Actress: Natalie Portman from Black Swan (with Annette Bening from The Kids Are All Right in second);
– Best Actor: Colin Firth from The King’s Speech (with Jesse Eisenberg from The Social Network a distant second);
– Best Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo for The Fighter, with Hailee Steinfeld for True Grit a close second.
– Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale for The Fighter, with Geoffrey Rush for The King’s Speech a close second.

Anything outside these picks will be a big surprise, but surprises are always possible. The contested areas with close two-horse races are Best Director, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Supporting Actor Categories.

For a random sampling of predictions and other Oscar news around the Internet:

– For the three contested slots of Director/Supporting Actress/Supporting Actor, Roger Ebert opts for the non-Fighter leaders and is in the Hooper/Steinfeld/Rush category. While agreeing with the consensus on the other picks, he notes that if he were voting for Best Picture, he would opt for The Social Network even as he predicts The King’s Speech to win.

– Roger Ebert’s former TV co-host Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times goes a different route, opting for the Fincher/Leo/Bale combination. Also, he is one of the few who are still predicting The Social Network as the Best Picture, although he hedges his bets by saying it might be safer to go with The King’s Speech.

– Melenia Ryzik at The New York Times liked The Fighter and is in the Fincher/Leo/Bale category. Moviephone also liked The Fighter‘s supporting nominees and is in the Fincher/Leo/Bale category, as is Rick’s Predictions at Awards Wiz.

– Peter Hartlaub at the San Francisco Chronicle agrees, going with Fincher/Leo/Bale, although he thinks The Social Network will upset The King’s Speech.

– Gregory Ellwood at the HitFlix Blog bravely predicts a Fighter split with the Supporting Acting awards going to Steinfeld and Bale.

– Jeff Johnson over at Popdose also mixes it up a little bit, going with a Hooper/Leo/Bale combination, and The Best Picture Project agrees.

– Five critics at The Guardian UK differ among themselves, but with most saying the contested three categories will go to Fincher, Bale and . . . the country’s own Helena Bonham Carter for Best Supporting Actress (The King’s Speech)! Three of the five also pick The Social Network as Best Picture.

– For another take on the Ocars, Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street makes his predictions (Best Actor: “Colin Filth”).

– Cinematical has some interesting Oscar statistics. Did you know that the movie with the highest number of Oscars while winning 100% of nominated categories was The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) with 11 wins out of 11 nominations?

– For a trip down memory lane, Salon has a slide show of past Oscar Moments Everyone Should See.

Among other big categories, the sure things seem to be Toy Story 3 for Best Animated Feature and The Social Network for Best Adapted Screenplay. The Best Documentary category seems to be a battle between Exit Through the Gift Shop and Inside Job. See Chimesfreedom’s previous post on an industry’s campaign against another Best Documentary nominee, Gasland.

Conclusion on the Big Awards? It is always tricky to predict the winners because you are not selecting the “Best” but who you think others will say is the “Best.” So Chimesfreedom will leave the predictions to others (but see related posts below for thoughts on some of the contenders). From our random sampling, it will be a big surprise if The King’s Speech does not get Best Picture or if Natalie Portman does not get Best Actress or if Colin Firth does not get Best Actor. The difference in the close races will depend on whether or not the voters completely loved The King’s Speech and how much they liked The Fighter, as The Fighter lovers are going for Fincher/Leo/Bale while The King’s Speech lovers opt for Hopper/Steinfeld/Rush.

But if predictions were always right, we would not need the awards show. So our prediction is simply that somewhere along the line, there will be a surprise or two.

  • The King’s Speech Wins Best Picture
  • An Industry Attempts to Prevent Gasland from Winning an Oscar (Mad Movies)
  • True Grit ’10 vs. True Grit ’69
  • The King’s Speech (short review)
  • Although the Oscars Passed Over “Little Richard: I Am Everything,” You Shouldn’t
  • Times Like These by The Live Lounge All-Stars

    • (Related Posts)

    What are your thoughts on the predictions? Who do you think will win? Who should win? Leave a comment.

    127 Hours (Short Review)

    During a time when I lived in Arizona, I often went hiking in the desert by myself. There is something about being alone in the wilderness by yourself that is rejuvenating. After seeing 127 Hours, though, you will think twice before heading off into the wilds alone.

    127 Hours: Between a Rock and a Hard Place, Aron Ralston

    In 2003, Aron Ralston was out hiking and climbing rocks when he fell in a canyon and a boulder trapped his arm. For the next five days, he struggled to stay alive and to try to figure out a way to escape. Anyone going to see the movie probably already knows how it ends. Knowing that, 127 Hours, which is based on Ralston’s book, Between a Rock and a Hard Place, is pretty much what you expect.

    Although I had hoped to be surprised in some way, there was not a lot beyond what I expected. The accident happens early in the movie, and then it builds toward the brutal ending, and it is rather explicit even if some of it is thankfully blurred out.

    The ending, though, was somewhat surprisingly uplifting. In the loner’s struggle to get back to civilization and to get help from other people, there is a release from the anxiety. I am not sure, though, whether or not the release came from the telling of the story or whether, as in Mel Gibson’s The Passion, the movie slowly beats you into submission with its brutality so that you feel the emotion when you are finally released from that brutality.

    Is it worth seeing? If you know what happens and you are still curious, 127 Hours is worth seeing. James Franco, as always, does a good job, which is important in a movie such as this where the lead actor must carry the film. The scenery is captivating and best seen on a big screen. And it is a compelling true story about what a human being can do in desperate circumstances.