One Hundred Movie Reviews: February 2011

The 83rd Annual Academy Awards
February 27, 2011
honoring the best in film during the year 2010

5:30 PM The show starts with clips form the ten films nominated for Best Picture. Then the hosts James Franco and Anne Hathaway inserted themselves into clips. Very much like Billy Crystal did when he hosted. Their opening "monologue" was not bad. They both drew attention to their mothers. Mothers has been chosen as a theme for the evening.

5:40 BEST ART DIRECTION presented by Tom Hanks, and the Oscar goes to ALICE IN WONDERLAND. The recipient had prepared a tiny hat for the Oscar Award that looked just like the hat worn by Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter.

5:45 BEST CINEMAGRAPHY presented by Tom Hanks, and the Oscar goes to Wally Pfister for INCEPTION.

5:50 BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS presented by Kurt Douglas a hilarious presentation which he dragged out as long as he could. The Oscar goes to MELISSA LEO for The Fighter. She was quite speechless at first, but she got going alright after she cursed a little, just the king in the The King's Speech.

6:00 BEST ANIMATED SHORT presented by Kunis and Justin Timberlake. Justin used an "app" to change the backdrop on stage. And the Oscar goes to THE LOST THING.

6:05 BEST ANIMATED FEATURE presented by Kunis and Justing Timberlake, and the Oscar goes to TOY STORY 3.

6:10 BEST ADAPTADED SCREENPLAY presented by Javiar Bardem, and the Oscar goes to Aaron Sorkin for THE SOCIAL NETWORK. His speech went on a little bit long. The music was playing louder and louder and louder.

6:15 BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY presented by Javiar Bardem, and the Oscar goes to David Seidler for THE KING'S SPEECH. "My father always said to me I would be a late bloomer. I believe I am the oldest person to ever win this award. I hope that record is broken quickly and often… I would like to thank her Majesty the Queen for not putting me in the tower for using the Melissa Leo F word... I would like to accept this on behalf of all the stutters in the world… We have a voice…"

6:20 Anne Hathaway sings a version "On My Own" in which she complains about Hugh Jackman's refusal to sing a duet with her. She was wearing a tuxedo, so James Franco came out in a dress. I hate it when drag is used as a joke like that.

6:25 BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM presented by Helen Mirren and Russell Brand. Helen speaks in French, and Brand translates hilariously, comparing Helen's performance as Queen Elizabeth II to Colin Firth's performance as King George VI and the Oscar goes to IN A BETTER WORLD from Denmark.

6:30 BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR presented by Reese Witherspoon. Reese's presentation was very ordinary, the emphasis was on the clips of the performances, and the Oscar goes to Christian Bale in the FIGHTER. Christian gives a very nice speech that ends in tears when he thanks his wife.

6:40 Somebody from the Academy and Somebody from ABC Network announced that they have renewed their contract and ABC will continue to broadcast the Oscars through 2020.

6:40 BEST ORIGINAL SCORE presented by Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman. Their introduction included some bits from some really great scores such as Star Wars, E.T. and West Side Story. Followed by clips from the nominees, and the Oscar goes to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for THE SOCIAL NETWORK

6:45 BEST SOUND MIXING presented by Matthew McConaughey and Scarlett Johansson and the Oscar goes to Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick for INCEPTION.

6:50 BEST SOUND EDITING presented by Matthew McConaughey and Scarlett Johansson, and the Oscar goes to Richard King for INCEPTION.

Marissa Tomei reviews the Academy's Scientific and Technical Awards.

6:55 BEST MAKEUP presented by Cate Blanchet, and the Oscar goes to WOLFMAN.

7:00 BEST COSTUME DESIGN presented by Cate Blanchet, and the Oscar goes to Colleen Atwood ALICE IN WONDERLAND. She also won for Chicago and Memoirs of a Geisha. She is the first winner tonight who actually had a written speech prepared. Unfortunately it was not very good, nor very well delivered.

7:05 President Obama announces that his favorite movie song is "As Time Goes By" from Casablanca. Kevin Spacey announces the first performance of a song nominated for Best Song: "We Belong Together" from TOY STORY 3 performed by Randy Newman. I've been looking forward to this portion of the show. I am almost always disappointed. This year was no exception. The piano was too loud, couldn't here the vocals. Why can't the Academy get this right. They mess up the Best Song performances EVERY year.

Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi sing "I See the Light" from TANGLED. This performance was much better, but sedate. It would be nice if this portion of the show looked and felt more like the Grammys.

7:10 BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT presented by Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhall, and the Oscar goes to Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon for STRANGERS NO MORE.

7:15 BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM presented by Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhall, and the Oscar goes to Luke Matheny for GOD OF LOVE. The recipient who is presumably the director was also the star of the film. He also pulled out a scrap of paper and started thanking people including his mother, father and love.

James Franco introduced a series of clips altered to make the following films appear to have been musicals: Harry Potter and he Deathly Hollows, Toy Story 3, Social Network and Twilight: Eclipse. It was pretty funny.

7:20 BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE presented by Opra Winfery. Winfery describes a documentary as the opposite of an escape which is what most films are, and the Oscar goes to Charles Fergunson and Audrey Marrs for INSIDE JOB. Fergunson began by stating that no financial executive has yet been sent to jail.

7:25 Billy Crystal received a standing ovation. He introduces a clip from the very first televised Oscar show hosted by Bob Hope.

7:30 BEST VISUAL EFFECTS presented by Robert Downy Jr and Jude Law. Their presentation banter was really funny, and the Oscar goes to Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb for INCEPTION.

7:35 BEST FILM EDITING presented by Rober Downy Jr. and Jude Law, and the Oscar goes to Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter for THE SOCIAL NETWORK.

7:40 Jennifer Hudson announces the performance of "If I Rise " from 127 Hours by A. R. Rahman and Florence Welch. This is a really beautiful song.

Jennifer Hudson announces the performance of "Coming Home" from Country Strong by Gwyneth Paltrow. She does a really nice job, but it is staged in such a dull way. She stands in the middle of a dark stage in a beautiful dress with a microphone and a spotlight.

7:45 BEST ORIGINAL SONG presented by Jennifer Hudson, and the Oscar goes to Randy Newman for "We Belong Together" from TOY STORY 3. Newman notes that he has been nominated 20 times and he has only won twice. He also notes that he must thank several people even though it doesn't make good television. He also complains that there were only four nominees when every other category has five nominees.

7:50 Celine Dion sang "Smile Though Your Heart is Breaking" while they show clips of people who have passed on during the past year. I didn't recognize many names or faces except Leslie Nielson, Robert Culp, Bob Boyle, Lynn Redgrave, Dennis Hopper, Blake Edwards and Lena Horne.

7:55 Halle Barry spoke a special tribute to Lena Horne, the first person of color to sign a performance contract with a major motion picture studio. Halle Barry is the first woman of color to win the Oscar for Best Actress. Lena Horne was the first woman of color to be nominated for the Oscar for Best Actress.

8:00 BEST DIRECTOR presented by Hilary Swank and Kathryn Bigelow (the first woman to win the Oscar for Best Director), and the Oscar goes to Tom Hooper for THE KING'S SPEECH. He thanked his mother for suggesting The King's Speech as a suitable film project. The moral of the story: listen to your mother.

8:05 Govenor's Awards for Lifetime Achievement presented earlier, introduced by Annette Bening: (1) Jean-Luc Godard, director, received an Honorary Award for passion. For confrontation. For a new kind of cinema; (2) Francis Ford Coppola, producer-director, received the Irving G. Thalberg Award for a consistently high quality of motion picture production; (3) Eli Wallach, actor received an Honorary Award for a lifetime’s worth of indelible screen characters; (4) Kevin Brownlow, historian and preservationist, received an Honorary Award for the wise and devoted chronicling of the cinematic parade.

8:10 BEST ACTRESS presented by Jeff Bridges. As he announced the name of each nominee, he said something nice about each nominee. This is better than last year when they chose five different people to say nice things about each nominee, but I still think it is over kill. We've seen all this sort of thing for actors. Do this for directors or producers or writers. And the Oscar goes to Natalie Portman for BLACK SWAN.

8:20 BEST ACTOR presented by Sandra Bullock. She also said nice things about each nominee as she announced their names, and the Oscar goes to Colin Firth for THE KING'S SPEECH.

8:30 BEST PICTURE presented by Steven Spielberg. A very clever set of clips with the audio from the king's speech. And the Oscar goes to THE KING'S SPEECH!

One Hundred Movie Reviews

Sunday, February 27, 2011

The 83rd Annual Academy Awards

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Erin's Oscar Picks 2010

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