Sometimes hitting the multiplex just isn’t in the cards. That’s when cable, the web and streaming step in to provide an instant movie fix. But how to separate the wheat from the chaff? I’m happy to help; every week I’ll pick a flick and see if it’s worth your time. This week? The Cohen brother’s remake of “True Grit”

The Story: 14-year-old Mattie Ross  heads to a small town in Arkansas to collect the body of her father, who had been killed by a no-account drunk Tom Chaney.  Chaney also took Mattie’s father’s horse and “two California gold pieces”.  She decides to hire not the “best” U.S. Marshall to track Chaney down, but the most violent; Rooster Cogburn.  Tagging along for reasons of his own is Texas Marshall LaBoef (“La-Beef”).  And so they ride out into the great Arkansas nothingness, looking to get Mattie’s revenge on.  Oh, you know it’s not that simple, right?

The Good:  It’s the Cohen brothers, what’s not to like?  Beautifully shot, wonderfully written, with a pacing to the story that spools out the tale at a clip that entertains but leaves no-one in the dust.  Relative unknown Hailee Steinfeld plays Mattie, and if you wondered why a kid would get an Academy Award nod, you haven’t seen this performance.  Jeff Bridges abides as Rooster Cogburn (hey, he’s The Dude.  Respect it.)  He’s a dirty, borderline amoral, drunken bum with a badge.  And he’s one bad shut-yo-mouth.  Bridges can deliver layers of Cogburn in one glance, and his shootin’ prowess scene with Damon’s LaBoef is hilarious and touching, all thanks to Bridges’ amazing performance.  Matt Damon as LaBoef shows that he can completely inhabit a character that isn’t Jason Bourne.  This could have easily been played tongue-in-cheek, but instead it plays in deadly earnest.  And damn if it doesn’t work.  Plus, True Grit has one of the badass-iest minimalist-throwback movie posters I’ve seen in quite a long time.

The Bad:  Um..uh…well, I didn’t like how I had to do a double-take to recognize Josh Brolin, maybe?  He’s got a face you can recognize at 100 clips, but playing Tom Chaney his usually grizzled facade is a bit indistinct.  As if the character himself is as flat as the planes of his face.  And the no-slang-havin’ speech of the characters here sometimes had me giggling, which pulled me out of the film for a second or two.  But it’s completely appropriate for it’s setting, however backward our speech has become nowadays.

The Everything Else:  Gritty.  Earthy.  Real.  That pretty much sums up all of the Cohen oeuvre, but it goes double here.  Much as with No Country for Old Men and O Brother, Where Art Thou?, the Cohen brother’s Wild Wild West is a desolate, dusty place that holds no hope of sanctuary.  It’s been said that this version hews closer to Charles Portis’ novel than the John Wayne version shot in ‘69.  But these are different times, and we as moviegoers require no whitewash to pretty up the harsh realities of living in the American West of the late 1800s.  I wish I could talk about the music here – O Brother’s soundtrack is still among my top 5 — but I was too busy enjoying the performances to focus on much else.  When a film grabs my attention and holds it fast throughout, that ain’t a bad thing.

Here’s the breakdown:
Would I watch it again?: Absolutely.  Another viewing would let me focus on the nuances of the performances, as well a the brilliant writing.
Should you see it?: Absolutely, part deux.  Fans of the Cohen brothers…well, y’all have probably seen this already.  If you didn’t catch it at the multiplex late last year, or during Oscar season, grab this puppy on Netflix/Redbox/On Demand/however-all.  Critics picked it as one of the best movies of 2010 for good reason.  It’s a great piece of filmmaking.
Netflix average rating: 4 Stars
My rating: 4 Stars

Did you see the original Tron released by Disney in 1982?  Maybe you did, maybe you didn’t.  Hey, even Steven Lisberger (original creator of Tron videogame) wasn’t sure how he was going to get the concept into a movie, but lucky for us 80’s computer nerds, he teamed with a smart movie executive to give his creation life in motion picture form.  The original was inventive, smart, and remarkably applicable to the computer terminology and concepts that pervaded the 80’s tech scene.  The sequel, Tron Legacy, is a great expounding of the story and just a delightful 3D visual to boot.  For all its technology, it displays humanity in much more abundance.

Being an old computer geek I loved the original, and when the ComicCon footage of the lightcycle solo match teaser for Tron Legacy hit the web two years ago – I was hooked.  It jolted me, it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up – I watched it repeatedly.  Sadly that footage is not in the film (but can still be viewed HERE in High Definition), but it was an amazing teaser of the technology in use for this film.  Stretching the bounds of how animation is filmed, special effects and CG rendered, and even live action sequences are shot – it manages to blaze a surreal and stirring playback for the eye.

Of course there are those who opt for 2D and the bells bangs and whistles of 3D become meaningless and the plot takes the foreground to any cool on screen Tron death matches.  So here’s the story:

Tron Legacy picks up just a few years beyond where the original ended.  Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges – Iron Man) the young charismatic CEO has disappeared and left his loving son Sam, an idolizing 9 year old, to deal with the fallout of a missing CEO blamed for the hit the company’s stock takes when he disappears.  Sam grows up smart but jaded on the belief that his father simply left him.  Twenty years later, as the company Flynn presided over is prepared to make its next huge software release, elder Flynn’s internal creation, CLU  prepares a major release of his own – a trip out of the digital realm and into our world.  Sam is drawn into the computer world to help his dad fight CLU and restore the free society that he created.  Unknown to Sam, inside the digital realm are remnants of his father’s greatest creation; a digital solution which could end disease, alter religious beliefs and change the world. 

For all its glitz and electronica, what you really see in Legacy is humanity.  The original just brushed on the concept of a functional life within the machine, Legacy gives it full vision.  The seedy nightclub is just one example of details used that would appeal to humans (and check out Daft Punk on the wheels of steel in the club), not necessarily to computer programs (a lamp in a room, fake apples as decorations, major eccentricities in characters).  Even the TRON battles evoked thoughts of a human desire for violence.  In Legacy, the matches aren’t just watched by an evil overarching computer system – there are literally thousands of computer programs that show up to watch and cheer and rave – there’s something odd about that.  Perhaps it was the filmmaker’s way of giving prudence to the concept of the character Quorra (Olivia Wilde – upcoming Cowboys & Aliens).  She represents a unique and different type of program than anything Flynn has ever created, and her mannerisms, strength and nobility are both human and programmatic. 

If you enjoyed the first film, you’ll love the second, 3D effects aside.   If this is your first foray into the Tron world, you’ll be treated to a great storyline, and a stirring depiction of our humanity even when ensconced by some pretty amazing feats of filmdom with CG.

4 Stars Out Of Five

Tron Legacy is rated PG for sequences of sci-fi action, violence and brief mild language.

How can you turn down a Cowboy movie? Atomic Popcorn brings a whole new look at the wild west with Paramount’s latest True Grit.

True Grit stars Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin and newcomer Hailee Steinfeld, you best not be missing this movie!

Synopsis:

Fourteen-year-old Mattie Ross’s (Hailee Steinfeld) father has been shot in cold blood by the coward Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin), and she is determined to bring him to justice. Enlisting the help of a trigger-happy, drunken U.S. Marshal, Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges), she sets out with him — over his objections — to hunt down Chaney. Her father’s blood demands that she pursue the criminal into Indian territory and find him before a Texas Ranger named LeBoeuf (Matt Damon) catches him and brings him back to Texas for the murder of another man.

Trailer:

CLICK HERE FOR YOUR PASS:

Secret Code:

ATOMIC5ST5

Make sure you check out our other free screenings in the Baltimore Area.

It would seem that brothers Joel & Ethan Coen can’t miss and this year they’re going to win more Oscars with their film True Grit. They have always made good movies, from Raising Arizona to Miller’s Crossing, Barton Fink to The Hudsucker Proxy, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Intolerable Cruelty. The Academy Award winning No Country For Old Men and now True Grit. The cast led by newcomer Hailee Steinfeld, starring Oscar winner Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Barry Pepper and Josh Brolin. Take one look at this trailer and your plans for Christmas day 2010 will be in ink- see True Grit then open the rest of my presents.

What do you think? Have you read the book written by Charles Portis? What did you think of the original adaptation starring John Wayne?

Last night, Encom, the fictional company from the movie Tron, held a press conference in San Francisco. The event was just another installment in the increasingly immersive viral marketing campaign for Tron Legacy.

“Legacy” is the sequel to the 1982 classic sci-fi film, Tron, and stars Garrett Hedlund as Sam Flynn, the 27-year-old son of Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) who investigates his father’s disappearance.

Since San Diego Comic-Con last July, a viral marketing campaign for the movie has taken fans into Flynn’s Arcade, and even mailed out Encom badges to participants. (For a full recap, peruse these articles over at FirstShowing.net.) The main thrust of the campaign is that the organization “Flynn Lives” is dedicated to exposing the conspiracy behind the disappearance of Kevin Flynn.

Yesterday, the group infiltrated an Encom press conference to spread their message. After an announcement from Encom CEO Alan Bradley (played by Bruce Boxleitner in both films), several supporters stormed the stage chanting “Flynn lives, Flynn lives…” Then, an Encom helicopter circled a few times, before an unknown parachutist jumped out, landing behind the stage.

Today, two videos were released about the event. First up is a short recap of the conference:

And, now a behind-the-scenes featurette revealing Sam Flynn to be the unknown jumper:

I’m on the other side of the country, so I watched the event live on Ustream.com, but even from my bad vantage point, it was clear that something didn’t go as planned. I think the wind delayed the jumper, and caused for the confusion. In any case, it was still an awesome event. It’s amazing how much work goes into these marketing campaigns, but I know it has really piqued my interest in the film, as well as many others.

Check back here for more Tron Legacy viral news. It’s still not too late to get involved. Unfortunately, “Legacy” doesn’t hit theaters until December 17th.

The trailer you’ve all been waiting for has finally arrived. Sure, you could have seen it preview before Alice in Wonderland this past weekend but you were really waiting to see it online — after all, where else would you want to view this “legacy?” It’s only fitting that we all get a good look at yet another great Jeff Bridges project just as he’s won his first Academy Award — “The Dude Abides!” I know, you’re here for this . Pretty awesome. My anticipation for this film couldn’t be greater. I may send Disney and Jeff Bridges a handwritten thank-you letter on December 18, 2010. Anyone out there not impressed? And why? Two more questions for the impressed and depressed: what is your favorite Disney movie? What is your favorite Jeff Bridges movie? My picks: The Sword in the Stone and The Big Lebowski.

Here it is at last! The 2010 Academy Awards! Who’s bringing home the Oscars? James Cameron or Kathryn Bigelow, or will Tarantino stage an upset? Will The Dude Lebowski have a best actor win under his belt? The stars are crossing the Red Carpet right now and in a few hours Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin will be hosting 82nd Academy Awards.

Prior the main event, you can check out the AP staff picks for all of the winners and check back often as I’ll be updating all the wins with my own commentary as the evening progresses. Feel free to drop your own guesses and thoughts on the evening as it progresses.

Me, I’m pulling for District 9 for best screenplay!

See you at the Oscars!

Updated! The entire list of winners with my thoughts and earlier predictions below:

— Motion Picture: “The Hurt Locker.”

— Actor: Jeff Bridges, “Crazy Heart.”

— Actress: Sandra Bullock, “The Blind Side.”

— Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, “Inglourious Basterds.”

— Supporting Actress: Mo’Nique, “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire.”

— Director: Kathryn Bigelow, “The Hurt Locker.”

— Foreign Film: “El Secreto de Sus Ojos,” Argentina.

— Adapted Screenplay: Geoffrey Fletcher, “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire.”

— Original Screenplay: Mark Boal, “The Hurt Locker.”

— Animated Feature Film: “Up.”

— Art Direction: “Avatar.”

— Cinematography: “Avatar.”

— Sound Mixing: “The Hurt Locker.”

— Sound Editing: “The Hurt Locker.”

— Original Score: “Up,” Michael Giacchino.

— Original Song: “The Weary Kind (Theme From Crazy Heart)” from “Crazy Heart,” Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett.

— Costume: “The Young Victoria.”

— Documentary Feature: “The Cove.”

— Documentary (short subject): “Music by Prudence.”

— Film Editing: “The Hurt Locker.”

— Makeup: “Star Trek.”

— Animated Short Film: “Logorama.”

— Live Action Short Film: “The New Tenants.”

— Visual Effects: “Avatar.”

Best actor in a supporting role:

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

Updated:  And the first award of the night goes to Christoph Waltz! No surprises there, but it’s nice to see him win. Waltz was a fantastic villain and it’s good to see new fresh faces take home awards. A nice short acceptance speech that thanked his  fellow filmmakers on ‘embarking on this journey.’

My guess: With the exception of Tucci, who was one-note in a revolting role, all of these performances were good. But it’s Waltz who really zings in Inglorious Basterds and elevates the movie he’s in with his presence. Waltz also doesn’t come with the baggage these others have, allowing the Academy to really focus on the singular work he’s done here.

 Matt’s Pick: Christoph Waltz

Creth’s Pick: Christoph Waltz

Brett’s Pick: Christoph Waltz

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Animated feature film

 
Up (Pete Docter and Bob Peterson)
The Princess and the Frog (Ron Clements and John Musker)
Coraline (Henry Selick)
Fantastic Mr Fox (Wes Anderson)
The Secret of Kells (Tomm Moore)

Absolutely loved the way they introduced this award, with each of the animated protagonists briefly talking about being nominated. Great way to quickly showcase the films and give the Oscar telecast some pep it’s lacking in the awkward Baldwin/Martin team-up. As I watched this I was reminded how great all of these movies are. And Up wins of course! Nice to see Pete Doctor thank his wife and family! Nice, touching moment with a cutaway to his wife in the audience.

My pick: Up has this one in the bag. The fact it was nominated for a best picture it has no chance of winning pretty much clinches it. Pixar is almost always an unstoppable beast in this category. Confession though: It’s not even close to being my favorite of the five choices. I’m a much bigger fan of Mr. Fox and Coraline, which were both odd and brilliant in equal measure. Disney had a great return to form with Princess and Secret of Kells, the mysterious visitor to the list, is a great little bit of art.

Matt’s Pick: Up

Creth’s Pick: Up

Brett’s Pick: Up

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Music (original song)  

Almost There, from The Princess and the Frog by Randy Newman
Down in New Orleans, from The Princess and the Frog by Randy Newman
Loin de Paname, from Paris 36 by Reinhardt Wagner and Frank Thomas
Take it All, from Nine by Maury Yeston
The Weary Kind, from Crazy Heart by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

The Weary Kind wins the award and takes home the Oscar! Interesting though, have they stopped performing Oscar nominated songs? Usually this one comes far later in the evening after all have played. Must have missed that. Loved this song and it makes me want to grab the soundtrack. Nice perf by Colin in the film as well.
 
Nate’s pick: The Weary Kind. Bingham and Burnett are a hard team to beat and the song is part of the film itself and related to Bridges performance. No one saw Paris, and I think the two Princess songs will cancel each other out. Although I loved Princess and the Frog, none of the songs were particularly memorable.

Matt’s pick: Down in New Orleans

Creth’s pick: The Weary Kind

Brett’s pick: The Weary Kind

________________________________

A John Hughes tribute? The classiest thing the program has done all night! Bravo! Nice to see all of those actors up there all these years later giving Hughes his due.

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Writing (original screenplay)

 The Hurt Locker (Mark Boal)
Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)
A Serious Man (Joel and Ethan Coen)
Up (Pete Docter and Bob Petersen)
The Messenger (Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman)

Mark Boal wins for The Hurt Locker. Not too surprising. This is the first win of the night for the film, and a good sign. Let’s see how the rest of the night goes.

My pick: The work that Mark Boal did here is very good in movie terms but recently there’s been plenty of discussion as to how much of it was journalistically accurate. Will that hurt its chances? In a different year, probably, but the truth is that Bigelow’s final film speaks more loudly than anything else (including the recent producer scandals) and the other nominees, save for Basterds, don’t have the gumption to best it. If the Academy does decide it wants to punish Boal, expect them to give it to Tarantino.

Matt’s Pick: The Hurt Locker

Creth’s Pick: Inglorious Basterds

Brett’s Pick: Inglorious Basterds

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Short film (animated)
French Roast (Fabrice O Joubert)
Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty (Nicky Phelan and Darragh O’Connell)
Logorama (Nicolas Schmerkin)
The Lady and the Reaper (Javier Recio Gracia)
A Matter of Loaf and Death (Nick Park

Logorama? I hadn’t heard of this one prior to the win. What a cool idea! Love the strange animation style and the basic premise; characters running about in a world made up of brand names, icons and slogans. Definitely gonna have to seek this out.
 

My pick: A Matter of Loaf and Death. The Lady and the Reaper is a really fantastic bit of animation, but I suspect that voters are more than happy to welcome Park and his animated characters back into the Oscar fold.

Matt’s Pick: French Roast  

Creth’s Pick: French Roast

Brett’s Pick: A Matter of Loaf and Death

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Documentary (short subject)

China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province (Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill)
The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner (Daniel Junge and Henry Ansbacher)
The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant (Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert)
Music by Prudence (Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett)
Rabbit à la Berlin (Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra)

Music by Prudence wins and it certainly was a worthy film. I have to say though, that was a terribly rude and awkward moment where one of the winners interrupted the other and then steamrolled them by using the excuse “they always let the man talk first’. Totally unprofessional, but then that seems to be the theme this year.

My pick: Music by Prudence: I’ve seen exactly one of these short films, and by default that’s the one I picked. It helps that Music By Prudence is a delightful little movie and may actually have a shot at it.

Matt’s pick: Music by Prudence

Creth’s pick: Music by Prudence

Brett’s pick: Music by Prudence

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Short film (live action)

 
The Door (Juanita Wilson and James Flynn)
Instead of Abracadabra (Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellström)
Kavi (Gregg Helvey)
Miracle Fish (Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey)
The New Tenants (Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson)

Never seen the New Tenants but it looks interesting. I was just eager to wash the taste of that last embarrasing display away but then the technical team goes right ahead and plays music over one of the recepients as he’s talking. I’m pretty sure they did this two years ago too when Stewart was hosting. If I remember correctly, it was for ‘best song’ when Falling Slowly from Once won.

My pick: Miracle Fish is a perfectly quirky bit that I enjoyed very much. Will it win? Hard to say. The Door might have a shot as well. Kavi’s worth seeing too. Hoping to see a collection of these released soon so I can catch up with the rest.

Matt’s Pick: Kavi  

Creth’s Pick: Kavi

Brett’s Pick: Miracle Fish

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Makeup

Il Divo (Aldo Signoreti and Vittorio Sodano)
The Young Victoria (Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore)
Star Trek (Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow)

Star Trek wins! Awesome. Loved the work they did here and feel they captured the ST universe in a way it previously hadn’t been. For a franchise that started out with the worst kind of pancake makeup, they have come a very long distance. Must say though, after five seconds Stiller’s Na’vi routine wasn’t working for me.

My  pick: Star Trek. Granted, the makeup in Young Victoria is fantastic, but Trek isn’t just giving us the best conceivable version of these characters, visually speaking, it’s also delivering subtle suggestions of the older actors in the younger actors and that’s really hard to pull off. My personal favorite makeup job is the little alien who looks like he’s made out of Cabbage but let’s give some shout outs to the green gal too.  

Matt’s pick: The Young Victoria

Creth’s pick: Star Trek

Brett’s pick: The Young Victoria

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Writing (adapted screenplay)

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

Precious wins the award! I didn’t see this one happening at all, but you know, at least this throws in some surprises. Precious was a difficult work to translate to film and Fletcher managed it beautifully. A great script for a great movie and a pretty darn good acceptance speech too. Maybe Precious will have a bigger night than we guessed.

My pick:  District 9. Although I loved the wonderfully witty screenplay for In the Loop, I don’t believe it has any sort of chance at winning. That may be true too for District 9, but if you consider the fact that it’s one of two big sci-fi pictures nominated this year and the other has been chastised for a lackluster script and generic story, it might pull an upset. The script had all the nuance and originality lacking in Avatar, but it’s highly probable that Up in the Air could gum up the works. I can see this going either way and I’m pulling for Blomkamp. If the Academy wants to honor him at all, this is probably the only feasible chance to do so.

Matt’s Pick: Up In The Air

Creth’s Pick: Up In The Air

Brett’s Pick: Up In The Air

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Actress in a supporting role

Mo’Nique in Precious

Vera Farmiga in Up in the Air
Penélope Cruz in Nine
Anna Kendrick in Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal in Crazy Heart

Mo’Nique taking the award and doing it with some class and style. I liked this moment a lot. Maybe the best one so far. Go Precious!

My pick:  Mo’Nique

Vera Farmigia is definitely my personal favorite of five and the work she does in Up In The Air is mostly very subtle for long stretches of the film. Ultimately though, it’s Mo’Nique who makes the biggest leap forward from previous roles and hers is also the performance that is most emotionally commanding. I think she’s got this one.

Matt’s Pick: Mo’Nique

Creth’s Pick: Mo’Nique

Brett’s Pick: Mo’Nique
 

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Actress in a leading role

 
Meryl Streep in Julie & Julia
Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side
Helen Mirren in The Last Station
Gabourey Sidibe in Precious
Carey Mulligan in An Education

Bullock takes the award! I can live with that. She had a cute little acceptance speech. Loved the line “Did I deserve this, or did I just wear you down?” Nice addition of shouting out to all the mothers who “take care of the babies” and the tribute to her own late mother. Good for you Sandy!

My pick: There’s probably a very good chance Bullock will walk away Sunday with the Oscar. Part of it may come from the fact she’s surrounded this role with several lackluster comedies that aren’t very flattering to her acting ability. Where that worked against Eddie Murphy back in 06, it works for Bullock because Blind Side came after those other films and aimed at and surprised her fan base. However, I’m going with Gabourey Sidibe because it stands to reason that if Mo’nique can win for Precious than certainly the big beating heart of the movie, Sidibe, has a shot. Add to that the fact that Sidibe is a first-time actor who takes a problematic, easily-botched role and gives us a completely plausible and sympathetic human being. She should win and I think she’s got more of a chance than most think.

Matt’s Pick: Meryl Streep

Creth’s Pick: Sandra Bullock

Brett’s Pick: Sandra Bullock

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Actor in a leading role

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

My pick: Bridges, no contest. Jeff has been doing great work all through his career and I’ve got a soft spot for his performances in Fearless and Starman. Even if you aren’t as familiar with Bridges past work or aren’t a fan, it’s hard to argue with how completely he embraces the character of . You couldn’t ask for a more plausible grizzled, world-weary country singer, even if Kris Kristofferson was playing the part himself. I suppose Clooney has a shot, but I’m pretty sure we are gonna get to hear The Dude give his acceptance speech.

Who didn’t guess that Bridges acceptance speech would be the most fun. It’s always great to hear a winner use terms like ‘groovy’ and the ‘biz’ in the middle of a big spiffy event like the Oscars and be completely sincere about it. Bridges is the man and his few minutes on stage were genuinely more heartfelt than a good bit of the rest of this. Entertaining too.

Matt’s Pick: Jeff Bridges

Creth’s Pick: Jeff Bridges

Brett’s Pick: Jeff Bridges

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Foreign language film
Ajami (Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani, Israel)
A Prophet (Jacques Audiard, France)
The Secret of Her Eyes (Juan Jose Campanella, Argentina)
The White Ribbon (Michael Haneke, Germany)
The Milk of Sorrow (Claudia Llosa, Peru)

The Secret of Her Eyes takes the award! I rather like that something I’m not familiar with won. Every time that has happened in the past in this category. I find myself seeking it out and being rewarded with a treasure. I’m looking forward to catching up with this one. Seriously, though, see A Prophet if you can, it’s fantastic.

My pick: This is a hard one because I’ve only actually seen two of these, A Prophet and The White Ribbon. My guess is that both of them are the primary contenders and both are worthwhile movies. The Academy has gone flipping for Haneke before and he won big accolades at Cannes last May, so Ribbon has that going for it. For my money, A Prophet is possibly the best film of the year and after Sunday I’m confident that it will have the same kind of unexpected publicity that previous winners like Lives of Others and Departures got.

 Matt’s Pick: A Prophet

Creth’s Pick: The White Ribbon

Brett’s Pick: The White Ribbon

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Directing

 
Avatar (James Cameron)
The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow)
Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)
Up in the Air (Jason Reitman)
Precious (Lee Daniels)

Bigelow gets the award! This sets Hurt Locker up for the big win! I expected this, but it’s really shaping up to be a steamroll for Locker vs. Avatar. Add in that sort of ridiculous Stiller moment and I think it’s safe to say Cameron’s reception here isn’t what it was some 12 years ago. Kudos for Bigelow giving a modest acceptance speech that never referred to herself as queen or included a line about her dominion over the planet.

My pick: This is a really interesting category. Kathryn Bigelow battling it out with ex-husband James Cameron? How ‘bout the fact both have atypical Oscar juggernauts that feature men of war in pictures awash in adrenaline and action? That being said, I think this one belongs to Kathryn. Balancing realism, exhilaration and escapism (even if we are ready to get back out five minutes in) is hard to do and she excelled at it. There are suspense pieces in this film that Hitchcock would be proud of. Bigelow deserves it and I think she will easily dethrone the King of the World on this one.

Matt’s Pick: The Hurt Locker

Creth’s Pick: The Hurt Locker

Brett’s Pick: Avatar

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Best picture

Avatar (James Cameron and Jon Landau, producers)
District 9 (Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, producers)
An Education (Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, producers)
The Hurt Locker (nominees to be determined)
Inglourious Basterds (Lawrence Bender, producer)
Precious (Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, producers)
A Serious Man (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, producers)
Up in the Air (Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, producers)
The Blind Side (nominees to be determined)
Up (Jonas Rivera, producer)

And The Hurt Locker claims the big prize! Awesome and nicely done. In the end, I think this was the right choice. A pretty strong close to an evening I felt was otherwise rather haphazard. All in all, I guess it’s about what one expects from The Oscars.

__________________________________
 
Art direction

 
Avatar (art direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg; set decoration: Kim Sinclair)
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (art direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro; set decoration: Caroline Smith)
Nine (art direction: John Myhre; set decoration: Gordon Sim)
Sherlock Holmes (art direction: Sarah Greenwood; set decoration: Katie Spencer)
The Young Victoria (art direction: Patrice Vermette; set decoration: Maggie Gray)

What? Avatar won? How did this happen? Amazing acceptance speech though from Robert Stromberg, who shared the award with Rick Carter and Kim Sinclair. “You know, 13 years ago, the doctors told me I wasn’t going to survive and I thought that this dream of standing here would never come true,” he said. “And here we are…” This is perhaps the most well deserved award of the night, save for the vfx guys. Cameron and the rest wouldn’t even be here without them.

My pick: Avatar. This is where the movie is going clean house. Half the reason it’s been nominated for the big prizes is because of how breathtakingly ground-breaking it is on the technical end of things. If you can point out a more stunning elaborate use of art direction this year, I don’t think it will be found on that list. The other films are fine, but none of them frankly come close to what Cameron’s team put together. Pandora was an entire world and culture that felt organic as you were watching it.

Matt’s Pick: Avatar

Creth’s Pick: Avatar

Brett’s Pick: Avatar

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Cinematography

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

My pick: Avatar. The man invented his own camera specifically for the film. Nuff said. Unless of course, you feel that what was done on the movie is less ‘cinematography’ then special effects editing. Still, some of the best and most effective 3-D shots in the films were captured on the ship and inside the human compound. I’m guessing the only potential competition is Hurt Locker, which found fresh, harrowing ways to visualize the explosions.  

Finally, some reliable Avatar love! Still, I don’t think the movie got the traction it expected. Oh well, it’s not like a lack of awards is going to keep Cameron awake at night. I hear it’s easy to get back to sleep on a bed of money.

Matt’s Pick: Inglorious Basterds

Creth’s Pick: Avatar

Brett’s Pick: Avatar

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Costume design
Bright Star (Janet Patterson)
Coco Before Chanel (Catherine Leterrier)
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (Monique Prudhomme)
Nine (Colleen Atwood)
The Young Victoria (Sandy Powell)

Yawn. The Young Victoria wins. Deserving? sure. Best work of the nominees? No. SandyPowell doing faux modesty while name dropping her three wins is pretty much par for the Oscar course.

My pick: Bright Star. Period pieces always stand a great chance in this category but there is something wholly refreshing and authentic about the work done in Bright Star, the touching biopic about John Keats and his love Fanny Brawne. Fanny herself was a fashion designer and made many of her own clothes which are highlighted extensively in the picture. But it isn’t just that, it’s the perfect way in which all of the clothing/wardrobe choices accentuate and define the characters. The cinematography on the film was deeply sumptuous and the costume work managed to keep pace with it. Fabulous stuff.

Matt’s Pick: The Young Victoria

Creth’s Pick: The Young Victoria

Brett’s Pick: Bright Star

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Documentary (feature)

 
Burma VJ (Anders Østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller)
The Cove (nominees to be determined)
Food, Inc (Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein)
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers (Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith)
Which Way Home (Rebecca Cammisa)

The Cove wins the award! Good form and perhaps it will lead others to discover this great film. As usual, there are those pesky shots of the other nominees looking on longingly as the winners take the stage. If I were Daniel Ellsberg, I think I’d look at those cutaways of me and feel like I had just shown up to school naked.

My pick: The Cove. Easily one of the most entertaining documentaries I’ve seen in some time, The Cove plays out like a narrative adventure while also drawing alarming attention to its subject. There’s a really fine line it walks between trying to give us a story we can follow and deliver a fair and intelligent look at all sides of the issue. There’s an odd mash-up of Jacques Cousteau meets Ocean’s Eleven. I’m counting on this one to take home the gold.

Matt’s pick: Food Inc.

Creth’s pick: The Cove

Brett’s pick: The Cove

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Film editing

 
Avatar (Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron)
District 9 (Julian Clarke)
The Hurt Locker (Bob Murawski and Chris Innis)
Inglourious Basterds (Sally Menke)
Precious (Joe Klotz)

This is the death blow to Avatar. The Hurt Locker grabs the film editing award.

My  pick: The Hurt Locker. Yes, this is another significant technical achievement that seemingly Avatar should scoop up. There’s more going on here though. Typically if a film wins film editing it also wins best picture. There have been very few deviations from this theory. If the Academy goes for Hurt Locker in the best pic and directing category, which I suspect they might, then it’s not a big stretch to give it this too. It’s also helpful that Hurt Locker may actually be more deserving of the editing award than Avatar. The suspense scenes are integral to the Hurt Locker and it’s the way all of those elements are cut together that makes those scenes work.

Matt’s pick: Avatar

Creth’s pick: Inglorious Basterds

Brett’s pick: The Hurt Locker

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Music (original score)
Avatar (James Horner)
Fantastic Mr Fox (Alexandre Desplat)
Up (Michael Giacchino)
The Hurt Locker (Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders)
Sherlock Holmes (Hans Zimmer)

Up wins? I can certainly live with that. Afterall, Michael Giacchino did some great work, not just on this but the Star Trek score as well. Nice job Giacchino!

My  pick: Avatar. A fine epic score that sometimes scoots over into new age ambient chanting a bit too much for my taste, but is engaging all the same. Is it the best score? Nah. That’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, hands down. But Avatar’s score is integral to the overall effect of the movie and that’s going to work in its favor. Plus, a lot more people saw Avatar than Fox.

Matt’s pick: Avatar

Creth’s pick: The Fantastic Mr. Fox  

Brett’s pick: Avatar

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Sound editing

 
Avatar (Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle)
The Hurt Locker (Paul NJ Ottosson)
Inglourious Basterds (Wylie Stateman)
Star Trek (Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin)
Up (Michael Silvers and Tom Myers)

More awards for The Hurt Locker! Expect the sound mixing to follow suit then.

My pick: Avatar. Cameron is a technical guru and in addition to the slamming visuals his film has some of the finest sound design I’ve ever heard. This, perhaps as much so as the 3D, goes a long way to making the movie an interactive experience. Nothing else comes close.

Matt’s Pick: Avatar

Creth’s Pick: Avatar

Brett’s Pick: Avatar

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Sound mixing

 
Avatar (Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson)
The Hurt Locker (Paul NJ Ottosson and Ray Beckett)
Inglourious Basterds (Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano)
Star Trek (Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J Devlin)
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Greg P Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson)

My pick: Avatar. Duh.

Matt’s Pick: Avatar

Creth’s Pick: Avatar

Brett’s Pick: Avatar

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Visual effects

 
Avatar (Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R Jones)
District 9 (Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken)
Star Trek (Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton)

Avatar. As far as the Academy is concerned, I tend to think awarding Avatar’s visual effects is to honor it for everything they valued about it. I can’t see it having gotten nominated for best picture without that massive box office. Again, it little matters about the lack of other awards. People will be watching this for years to c0me on home video I think and Cameron and his artists landed a grand achievement.

My pick: Avatar. All of these are great looking movies and best of all, each also happens to be a stellar science fiction movie. Back in 99 there was an upset where Matrix bested Phantom Menace for visual effects, mostly because voters thought of Matrix as the better movie. Could that happen again with District 9? Not a chance.

Matt’s Pick: Avatar

Creth’s Pick: Avatar

Brett’s Pick: Avatar