83rd Academy Awards result…

I believed many have already known the result of the 83rd Academy Awards held recently in Kodak Theatre, Los Angeles before jumping to this page. Some might have even watched it from tv or online, some might have heard the news from tv or radio stations, some might have even watched it live at the venue itself. Anyway, I would still post the official result of the Oscar 2011.

I will also list down the nominations with the winning ones bolded as to check out which/who won or lost…Below each category is my opinion on the winner. Mainly the result seems to be predictable, but still there is few categories that gave us a shock, or I can say, surprise, as our prediction (majority) went wrong on these categories.

Best Picture

“Black Swan,” Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver and Scott Franklin, Producers
“The Fighter” David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg, Producers
“Inception,” Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers
“The Kids Are All Right,” Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray, Producers
“The King’s Speech,” Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, Producers
“127 Hours,” Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and John Smithson, Producers
“The Social Network,” Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and Ceán, Producers
“Toy Story 3″ Darla K. Anderson, Producer
“True Grit” Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
“Winter’s Bone” Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers

Analysis: I believed more than 70% picked The King’s Speech, including myself. However, I still prefer The Social Network for its brilliant in all aspects required for a movie, while The King’s Speech is more like a play of history only, but still everyone is assured that the Academy members (average with over 50 years old) are having traditional mindsets, and so they are in favour of The King’s Speech. Come on, it’s now the time for the modern society with great modern film like this to get this top award.

Actor in a Leading Role

Javier Bardem in “Biutiful”
Jeff Bridges in “True Grit”
Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network”
Colin Firth in “The King’s Speech”
James Franco in “127 Hours”

Analysis: Over 90% of people voted for Colin Firth. The main reason is not that he did extremely good in The King’s Speech, but the real answer is he lost last year. So everyone would want to erase his pain last year by giving him this year. A bit unfair to other more deserving nominees, like Jesse Eisenberg and James Franco whom did extremely well, far better than Colin Firth, to be honest. It is so easy for Colin to act in stammering, I’m sure everyone can act on that!

Actor in a Supporting Role

Christian Bale in “The Fighter”
John Hawkes in “Winter’s Bone”
Jeremy Renner in “The Town”
Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right”
Geoffrey Rush in “The King’s Speech”

Analysis: Many have predicted Christian Bale to win, and so he did. I have not much comment on this as I did not watch The Fighter, but I believed he is favoured due to his excellent performance in the film.

Actress in a Leading Role

Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right”
Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole”
Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter’s Bone”
Natalie Portman in “Black Swan”
Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine”

Analysis: Similar to best actor’s category, almost everyone wanted Natalie Portman to win this with Annette Bening, the more experienced one as the dark horse. I loved Natalie’s performance very much in Black Swan and she did impressively good, more than enough to win Best Actress. I like the winner of this category, which is very much predicted. I’m sure Academy members will not take age as a matter in all cases like seldom giving awards to the ones below 30. Experience is not the best point, the skill is the one that judges. If she didn’t win this one, I would definitely boycott the Oscar.

Actress in a Supporting Role

Amy Adams in “The Fighter”
Helena Bonham Carter in “The King’s Speech”
Melissa Leo in “The Fighter”
Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit”
Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”

Analysis: I paid not much attention to this just like the Best Supporting Actor’s category. Out of statistics I revealed earlier, Melissa Leo outshines Amy Adams in The Fighter, and finally outshines all nominees to grab this award. I believed it is well deserving.

Animated Feature Film

“How to Train Your Dragon” Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
“The Illusionist” Sylvain Chomet
“Toy Story 3″ Lee Unkrich

Analysis: 100% of people voted for Toy Story 3, but I think there are still couple of votes for the other two nominees. This is among the best animated feature films ever released by Hollywood, not only the best for the year. Everyone would boycott Oscar if this doesn’t goes to Toy Story 3 which is touching and great.

Art Direction

“Alice in Wonderland”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1″
“Inception”
“The King’s Speech”
“True Grit”

Analysis: I did not watch Alice in Wonderland. However, from my perspective after looking at its trailer, screenshots and posters, I believed there are many hard works put on making this artistically-beautiful film a success. Excellent art direction with help of technology in creating this one, Alice in Wonderland.

Cinematography

“Black Swan,” Matthew Libatique
“Inception,” Wally Pfister
“The King’s Speech,” Danny Cohen
“The Social Network,” Jeff Cronenweth
“True Grit,” Roger Deakins

Analysis: Cinematography means the way of developing a film. I’m satisfied that this award goes to Inception. It is a brilliantly-crafted film with those stunning effects, impressive idea behind the storyline and good performances by the cast.

Costume Design

“Alice in Wonderland,” Colleen Atwood
“I Am Love,” Antonella Cannarozzi
“The King’s Speech,” Jenny Beavan
“The Tempest,” Sandy Powell
“True Grit” Mary Zophres

Analysis: The costume design of characters in Alice in Wonderland is very creative, colourful and I think Colleen Atwood put a lot of time on thinking which design suits each character more. Congratulation as this brilliant work is paid off by winning this award. Some said this might goes to The King’s Speech, but I think no design is needed for the costumes in this film, just referenced it from the past, and there you go. So, Alice in Wonderland is more deserving.

Directing

“Black Swan,” Darren Aronofsky
“The Fighter,” David O. Russell
“The King’s Speech,” Tom Hooper
“The Social Network,” David Fincher
“True Grit,” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

Analysis: Over 80% predicted that David Fincher would take this award home for his brilliant directing for The Social Network. It should be a kind of consolation prize as The Social Network would have very minimal hope in winning Best Picture. Furthermore, his directing is very awesome, as I saw some clips from the Behind-the-Scenes; he really direct from every aspects to every details of the movie. Finally, Tom Hooper wins it as usually, the best director of the best picture wins. Is it very hard to direct Colin to stammer? Haha…Many would disliked the result of this category like me. It should be the time for David Fincher.

Film Editing

“Black Swan”
“The Fighter”
“The King’s Speech”
“127 Hours”
“The Social Network”

Analysis: This is like a consolation prize to The Social Network. This film truly deserved this award too. The editing is well made from every aspects in the film. The editors really know well on where to cut to other scenes, where to start the background music, etc. Good job!

Music (Original Score)

“How to Train Your Dragon,” John Powell
“Inception,” Hans Zimmer
“The King’s Speech,” Alexandre Desplat
“127 Hours,” A.R. Rahman
“The Social Network,” Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Analysis: For this category, I preferred Inception and The Social Network. Inception’s soundtracks are stunning, while The Social Network’s soundtrack are evoking emotional response with its creepy and lonely feel. Stunning soundtracks are easy to create, and so the award goes to The Social Network’s score that fits perfectly well to the film.

Music (Original Song)

“Coming Home” from “Country Strong,” Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
“I See the Light” from “Tangled,” Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
“If I Rise” from “127 Hours,” Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
“We Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3,” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

Analysis: Not much comment on this category, but I preferred I See the Light from Tangled, as it is such a romantically-beautiful song from Disney. However, We Belong Together seems to impress on more people’s hearts, accompanied by the touching story of Toy Story 3, which binds the toys together at the end too despite Andy leaving them.

Sound Editing

“Inception,” Richard King
“Toy Story 3,” Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
“Tron: Legacy,” Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
“True Grit,” Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
“Unstoppable,” Mark P. Stoeckinger

Analysis: For categories that fall under sound or those effects thingy, Inception should win. And yes, Inception won, including this one. Excellent sound editing in this film, that heightens the climax as the story progresses from dream to another dream from this film.

Sound Mixing

“Inception,” Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick
“The King’s Speech,” Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley
“Salt,” Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin
“The Social Network,” Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
“True Grit,” Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland

Analysis: Yes, another one for Inception. All the effects like visual and sound for this movie are just fantastic, and way too awesome! Without great sound mixing and editing, this sci-fi movie won’t rocks!

Visual Effects

“Alice in Wonderland,” Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1,” Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
“Hereafter,” Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell
“Inception,” Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
“Iron Man 2,” Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick

Analysis: Wow, another minor award for Inception. The visual effects from this film are stunning, and these are beautifully-created with a lot of works alongside with aid from technology. They could create a city, blow a city, they could even roll up the city of Paris in the film, hanging above you. What’s more to say?

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

“127 Hours,” Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
“The Social Network,” Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
“Toy Story 3,” Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
“True Grit,” Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
“Winter’s Bone,” Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

Analysis: This had to be seriously landed on Aaron Sorkin’s hand for writing such an impressive script for The Social Network. I personally had read the script and it is marvelous. All the dialogues are very well-written. He is the one that contributed to the success of the screenplay of the film, which is what makes the film among the best for the year. Hands down on him, nothing more to say.

Writing (Original Screenplay)

“Another Year,” Written by Mike Leigh
“The Fighter,” Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson; Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
“Inception,” Written by Christopher Nolan
“The Kids Are All Right,” Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
“The King’s Speech,” Screenplay by David Seidler

Analysis: The screenplay for The King’s Speech is good, but just not as outstanding as The Social Network winning in adapted one. I’m fine with The King’s Speech winning this, but not the Best Picture. I also would like to mention that the screenplay for Inception is a better one to win this, as the idea of Inception is very cool and creative in producing such a great movie.

No analysis for the following categories which gave me no interest on it, as I have not watched all of these features, except one which is Day and Night in Short Animated Film category.

Documentary (Feature)

“Exit through the Gift Shop,” Banksy and Jaimie D’Cruz
“Gasland,” Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic
“Inside Job,” Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
“Restrepo,” Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
“Waste Land,” Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley

Documentary (Short Subject)

“Killing in the Name”
“Poster Girl”
“Strangers No More”
“Sun Come Up”
“The Warriors of Qiugang”

Foreign Language Film

“Biutiful,” Mexico
“Dogtooth,” Greece
“In a Better World,” Denmark
“Incendies,” Canada
“Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi),” Algeria

Makeup

“Barney’s Version,” Adrien Morot
“The Way Back,” Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
“The Wolfman,” Rick Baker and Dave Elsey

Short Film (Animated)

“Day & Night,” Teddy Newton
“The Gruffalo,” Jakob Schuh and Max Lang
“Let’s Pollute,” Geefwee Boedoe
“The Lost Thing,” Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann
“Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)” Bastien Dubois

Short Film (Live Action)

“The Confession,” Tanel Toom
“The Crush,” Michael Creagh
“God of Love,” Luke Matheny
“Na Wewe,” Ivan Goldschmidt
“Wish 143,” Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite

Overall winning statistic:

The five major winning films are the following:

The King’s Speech – winning 4 (picture, leading actor, original screenplay, directing)

Inception – winning 4 (cinematography, visual effects, sound editing, sound mixing)

The Social Network – winning 3 (adapted screenplay, film editing, original score)

The Fighter – winning 2 (supporting actor, supporting actress)

Alice in Wonderland – winning 2 (art direction, costume design)

Overall comment: As expected, the winning list that is announced for the 83rd Academy Awards seems to be satisfying overall with majority of the winners go to the ones picked in predictions by many people from different backgrounds including myself. There is still some surprises, with some awards going to the hands of not-so-deserving. I suggest that more younger members should be added into Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, so that it would be more balanced and universally-minded, with fair chances going to the young ones, by not just having young hosts only. Anyway, there it goes. It’s the end of Oscar 2011.

Countdown to Oscars: 1 day!

Yes, 24 hours later, the biggest and most prestigious annual awards presentation in film industry will begin,…the 83rd Academy Awards or commonly known as just Oscars. By the time the ceremony is held, it’s early morning in Malaysia and I have to get prepared to go for classes in the morning and the afternoon, so I’m not able to watch it live (streaming online).

The ceremony would be held in Kodak Theatre, Los Angeles where it is the permanent venue for this star-studded night in America. Many stars would be coming, including those not nominated. I won’t be listing out all the attending stars as it would be extremely long. Even some singers would attend the ceremony, including A.R. Rahman and Celine Dion. Even the hosts, James Franco and Anne Hathaway would be performing too to light up the atmosphere besides than just hosting it.

I believed many predictions made by many people of different backgrounds earlier would meet with satisfying results to be released during the show tomorrow. However, I also believed that Oscars would give us some surprises, like; maybe The King’s Speech would not win Best Picture? Maybe Annette Bening would win over Natalie Portman in Best Actress? Maybe the Academy members prefer nerd (Jesse in The Social Network) over monarch (Colin in The King’s Speech) for Best Actor? Who knows?

This year, Oscar is already giving us surprises by having the younger stars, James and Anne to be the hosts. Usually, the job would be given to those over 40 years old. Oscar is probably starting to think that it’s time for the young ones to shine as they have longer and possibly brighter future to achieve. So, by tomorrow, surprise is awaiting us on those awards’ winners. Of course, I still wish that the awards go to those who are deserving.

Besides than the awards ceremony, there are actually many other events coming in between, like the dinner, celebration party, interviews and of course the red carpet which we will be given chances to look at how beautiful/handsome the artists are with their splendid outfits. It is their night, so they will bring the best by dressing good and cool. Since I will be in campus on that period of time, I will be only posting the much anticipated result few hours later, with some descriptions of the show too…I’m definitely going to watch the show later…

Movie review: Black Swan (2010)

Black Swan is actually officially released in December 2010 in United States, so it is a 2010 film. I am curious on why this movie is not coming up yet to Malaysia…and finally, it does, a few days ago, only screening in few cinemas. I guess the government has to think over and over again whether to let this movie up on the screen in Malaysia, and finally they allowed, but with limitation to only few cinemas and delay of about 2 months.

At first, I don’t have any interest on watching this film. ‘Black Swan’…looking at the title made me thinks of a boring movie on ballet performances on Swan Lake. However, as this movie received critical acclaim, and the main cast, Natalie Portman getting praises for her role, and the movie received nominations for best picture, best actress, etc in Oscar, and so I decided to watch it, after listening to my friends’ feedbacks on it. Everything is just good! So off I go!

It is a movie about a production of Swan Lake that requires a ballerina to play both the innocent White Swan and the sensual Black Swan. One dancer, Nina (Portman), is a perfect fit for the White Swan, while Lily (Kunis) has a personality that matches the Black Swan. When the two compete for the parts, Nina finds a dark side to herself. Natalie Portman’s acting in the film is brilliant and natural. Her performance really bring us, the audiences into the film until it is like we shared the same feeling as she does, and get fully affected by her character. If the Oscar doesn’t give her the Best Actress, I’m going to seriously boycott the awards. She truly deserved it. Her acting impressed me a lot, the best of the year for a female cast. I would like to praise her for her commitment to this movie by learning ballet dance which is very difficult.

I heard that there are a number of scary or frightening scenes in the movie. After I have watched it, this movie is not a horror-based film, but it is a psychological-thriller one. It plays with mind, just like the movie ‘Inception’ (on dreams) but in total different approach, this time being targeted to the only leading character, Nina by Natalie Portman. The first half of the movie seems a bit boring to me, with plot gets dragged, but as soon as the dark side of her prevails on the second half, everything goes interesting and exciting, fast-paced and I can consider ‘epic’ especially when she finally performed the Black Swan very well.

The story goes a bit complicated, which I already expected once a movie is about dealing with mind. Nina is fantasizing a lot (or I should say hallucination) of her friend, Lily, her director, Thomas, her predecessor, Beth and even of herself which she is definitely frightened of it. So in the middle, I am even blurred by which scenes are real, which are not. Finally, at the end, I understood the whole thing, and well, it ended beautifully, for me eventhough we do not know the fate of Nina who is injured (sorry for a bit of spoiler). The last phrase she said is immensely breathtaking; ‘I felt it. Perfect. I was perfect.’ before the screen goes black.

There are also quite a number of disturbing scenes in the movie as Nina has to be dirty-minded and be seductive to perfect her role as Black Swan. I’m already expecting some parts will be cut out of the movie in Malaysia, but I’m happy with it as only a bit of these disturbing scenes are removed (the middle process removed with the beginning and end process still shown) The audiences would still know what the scenes are intending to tell us. There is one foreigner (quite an old lady) sitting beside me, and she is like really disturbed with those scenes. Finally, it’s a great piece of work, by the directors, producers and the casts. Out of 10 points, I would rate this one 7.9. It is a very good movie, but sorry, it is still not best enough to get Best Picture in Oscar or even in my opinion.

In the middle of Oscar week; a new blog’s header!

It’s been boring days for me after the Chinese New Year which falls on early this month. Having nothing much to do at home, I browsed through google and see what is the hottest topic on the second half of February. Ahh, and it’s the Oscar, the upcoming 83rd Academy Award, the most prestigious in film industry. Even, all the medias in Malaysia like radio stations and entertainment news from TV are having this issue recently.

And by now, we are already in the middle of the Oscar week. As usual, there are many news updated every day about the progress of the preparation for the awards night, the predictions, the rumours, the costumes, the nominees’ background, interviews, etc. So, I took my time browsing through all these, and soon after, I’m interested on it. Too bad, it’s not my ability to vote for Oscar as it is closed for members of Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences only.

I believed by now, many have already settled down, to wait for the big day, this Sunday (Monday’s morning in Malaysia) to witness the star-studded presentation ceremony with presence of many actors and actresses including those not nominated. This seems to be forming up a gathering of all stars, just to join the Oscar party. After the Oscar, the actors and actresses have to continue their dedication in acting on upcoming films-in-production, ready to compete in next year’s Oscar.

Since the Chinese New Year is over quite a long time ago, the header of my blog is updated with a new one, representing the month of February as well, but is in special edition. This black-themed header matches the Oscar very well with a bit of striking gold. This new header will stay on for five days till the last day of February until the release of next header for month of March to my blog.

Winning statistics in running for Oscar this Sunday

There are many accolades, awards and guilds presented before the most anticipating Academy Awards which will ends the chances for films released the previous year to be honored. Many have not even been heard before, but still these smaller awards still exist, and by counting the awards received by each Oscar nominees earlier for this year, we can check out their winning percentage for this upcoming 83rd Academy Awards. It is not 100% correct, as it is just an analysis on statistic.

Best Picture

Black Swan – won 3 awards of the similar category – 5.9%

The Fighter – won 0 awards of the similar category – 0%

Inception – won 5 awards of the similar category – 9.8%

The Kids Are All Right – won 1 award of the similar category – 1.9%

The King’s Speech – won 6 awards of the similar category – 11.7%

127 Hours – won 2 awards of the similar category – 3.9%

The Social Network – won 30 awards of the similar category – 58.8%

Toy Story 3 – won 2 awards of the similar category – 3.9%

True Grit – won 0 awards of the similar category – 0%

Winter’s Bone – won 2 awards of the similar category – 3.9%

Analysis: From the statistic above, it seems that The Social Network has higher chance of winning Best Picture of Oscar. However, many of these awards are presented much earlier even before The King’s Speech received critical acclaim.

Best Actor in Leading Role

Javier Bardem from Biutiful – won 2 awards of the similar category – 5.2%

Jeff Bridges from True Grit – won 0 award of the similar category – 0%

Jesse Eisenberg from The Social Network – won 6 awards of the similar category – 15.7%

Colin Firth from The King’s Speech – won 25 awards of the similar category – 65%

James Franco from 127 Hours – won 5 awards of the similar category – 13.1%

Analysis: Jeff Bridges won last year, so he won’t be winning this year. Colin Firth is the top favourite while dark horse goes to Jesse Eisenberg. James Franco is the host of the awards, so it would be a bit awkward for him to get the award.

Best Actress in Leading Role

Annette Bening from The Kids Are All Right – won 7 awards of the similar category – 19.4%

Nicole Kidman from Rabbit Hole – won 0 awards of the similar category – 0%

Jennifer Lawrence from Winter’s Bone – won 5 awards of the similar category – 13.8%

Natalie Portman from Black Swan – won 23 awards of the similar category – 63.8%

Michelle Williams from Blue Valentine – won 1 award of the similar category – 2.7%

Analysis: The analysis for this category is similar to that of Best Actor in Leading Role. Very high chance that Natalie Portman will win for her breakthrough performance in Black Swan. Annette Bening is the dark horse here.

Best Actor in Supporting Role

Christian Bale from The Fighter – won 28 awards of the similar category – 75.6%

John Hawkes from Winter’s Bone – won 2 awards of the similar category – 5.4%

Jeremy Renner from The Town – won 0 award of the similar category – 0%

Mark Ruffalo from The Kids Are All Right – won 2 awards of the similar category – 5.4%

Geoffrey Rush from The King’s Speech – won 5 awards of the similar category – 13.5%

Analysis: It seems that Christian Bale will take home this award with over 75% of probability. Geoffrey Rush is a less-attacking dark horse here.

Best Actress in Supporting Role

Amy Adams from The Fighter – won 2 awards of the similar category – 5.7%

Helena Bonham Carter from The King’s Speech – won 3 awards of the similar category – 8.5%

Melissa Leo from The Fighter – won 13 awards of the similar category – 37.1%

Hailee Steinfeld from True Grit – won 11 awards of the similar category – 31.4%

Jacki Weaver from Animal Kingdom – won 6 awards of the similar category – 17.1%

Analysis: Melissa Leo outshined Amy Adams from the same film, while Hailee is the dark horse, racing near to get the award. However, I think Hailee (15 years old) is too young for the award, as what Oscar usually thinks.

Best Directing

Daron Aronofsky for Black Swan – won 4 awards of the similar category – 10.8%

David O. Russell for The Fighter – won 1 award of the similar category – 2.7%

Tom Hooper for The King’s Speech – won 4 awards of the similar category – 10.8%

David Fincher for The Social Network – won 28 awards of the similar category – 75.6%

Joel Coen and Ethan Coen for True Grit – won 0 award of the similar category – 0%

Analysis: David Fincher is going to get this award probably for his brilliant directing of The Social Network. Two less-attacking dark horses; Daron Aronofsky and Tom Hooper.

Best Original Screenplay – Fight of either The King’s Speech or Inception.

Best Adapted Screenplay – Over 90% that Aaron Sorkin’s The Social Network would win this.

The King’s Speech vs The Social Network

I have watched both of the movies mentioned above, and it seems there will be a serious fight between them in the upcoming 83rd Academy Awards or well known as Oscar. Both are the current hottest contenders for the Best Picture of the year, to be revealed this Sunday’s night (Monday’s morning in Malaysia).

The official nominees for the Best Picture are:

Black Swan – definitely going to watch it by this week as it received critical acclaim and high appraisal for Natalie Portman.

The Fighter – no interest on this kind of movie.

Inception – one of the best for the year, in music, in visual effects, and in original screenplay too (brilliant idea).

The Kids Are All Right – not available yet in Malaysia.

The King’s Speech – an epic historical drama film, but for me, it’s not the best for the year.

127 Hours – a movie based on a true story with brilliant performance by the one and only main cast, James Franco.

The Social Network – a movie on Facebook founding that leaves a great impact on the modern society with focus on friendship. The best of the year.

Toy Story 3 – a very touching animated film with great adventure.

True Grit – Not interested in this type of movie.

Winter’s Bone – Not available yet in Malaysia.

Out of the 10, I have watched 5, and will turn to 6 by end of this week before the Academy Awards presentation night. This is the first time I have been focusing so much on this awards, the biggest in film industry because I have watched many of those nominated films, so I have great interest on it for this year (based on movies released in 2010).

I have created a post on the official nomination list of the 83rd Academy Awards, to be hosted by young stars, James Franco and Anne Hathaway.

https://vincentloy.wordpress.com/2011/01/26/83rd-academy-awards-oscar-2011-nomination-list/

That post also includes my predictions and my favourite picks (which are separated). I believed for each year, the results that are announced are not fully satisfying. Same goes to this year.

Before the Oscar, there have been many awards (some I have not even heard before), and their picks go to either The King’s Speech and The Social Network. The King’s Speech won a lot, especially at British Annual Film and Television Awards (BAFTA) while The Social Network won big in Golden Globes Awards. However, if we checked on the statistics, The King’s Speech won more than The Social Network.

Before The King’s Speech, it is only The Social Network that steals the media attention for its brilliant acting, adapted screenplay, directing, editing and original score. After the release of The King’s Speech, everyone turned to this epic historical drama film, while there are only a bit of attention on the other nominees. A bit unfair, and predictable, that The King’s Speech will win the Best Picture at the Oscar.

The Social Network still has the chance to take the most prestigious award home. For me, I seriously like this movie a lot. For me, it’s not only the best picture of the year, but also among the best for the past ten years. I believed many people like The Social Network more than The King’s Speech, but they have to predict The King’s Speech to win because they have known the style of Oscar voters who are more into The King’s Speech. Of course, these predictors do not wish their predictions wrong, so they picked The King’s Speech rather than their own favourite, The Social Network.

For the Best Actor, the main fight is still between Colin Firth from The King’s Speech and Jesse Eisenberg from The Social Network. Same case as for the Best Picture category. Colin Firth lost last year, and so he will definitely going to win this year, unless Oscar wanted to give us a surprise. Colin’s acting is good as the King, but just not as perfect as Jesse as Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg. His character is more outstanding. This is the first time Jesse received an Oscar nomination and I think he is already well satisfied with that. He even won some smaller awards in Best Actor category for his impressive role in The Social Network. Oscar will definitely thinks that he is too young (28 years old) for their Best Actor award. Oh..please, age is not a factor! The acting is the main point! If Colin lost last year, why everyone want to give the award to him this year despite there is no breakthrough in his performance.

Jesse and Colin chatting at the Oscar Luncheon:

For the Best Actress category, I think there is no fight at all, as everyone is looking forward to Natalie Portman‘s excellent performance in Black Swan, the movie I’m anticipating for this Oscar week. Same case for the Best Animated Film, which will definitely goes to Toy Story 3. A bit weird that Tangled and Despicable Me are not in the nomination. Nothing much to say for Best Supporting Actor as my favourite, Andrew Garfield from The Social Network is not nominated. He did a good job in the film alongside with Jesse Eisenberg.

From left to right: Jesse Eisenberg and Colin Firth for Best Actor, and Natalie Portman for Best Actress.

Many have already confirmed that David Fincher is going to win Best Director for The Social Network and Aaron Sorkin for Best Adapted Screenplay. As for Best Original Score, there is a slight fight between The Social Network and Inception, but I think Oscar would prefer The Social Network as they do not like sci-fi based music too much. For many other categories, I’m not interested.

So, finally, what I think is that The Social Network will not win the Best Picture while there are many other not-so-prestigious awards waiting for it. The King’s Speech is going to win Best Picture (eventhough I disagreed but have to accept this upcoming fact) and Best Actor, and some others, probably not more than four. The King’s Speech is definitely going to lost in Best Supporting Actor and Actress category (to be honest). Anyway, both films will win big at the star-studded night.

The official movie trailers for The King’s Speech and The Social Network:

You have to really watch this two movies and judge on your own, which is better? I have to accept the fact that everyone has different opinions.

So, here is basically my summary of my predictions and all those things about Oscar. Nominated in the Oscar is already a gift, winning it is like a gift above a gift, a prestigious one. I really hoped that the Oscar voters really think and decide well in voting, as their votes decide the winners and the losers on this most important film awards. Ohh, I want to watch the awards presentation! Can I watch it live in Malaysia? Most probably no…too bad….

For The Social Network, you are still the best movie of the year for me and many of us!

—————————————————–

Ohh….,this is my 555th post of my blog! What a nice number!

Movie review: 127 Hours (2010)

Now only I recalled on this movie I had watched during my flight to Dubai for my previous Italy trip. I did not write a review on it until now. Currently, it’s the Oscar Week as the 83rd Academy Awards will be held this Sunday night (Monday’s morning in Malaysia) and 127 Hours is nominated in Best Picture.

This is a movie released in 2010, but only will be available in cinema in Malaysia on early March 2011. I am glad to have watched this awesome movie much earlier, in the flight that took more than six hours. The film stars James Franco as real-life mountain climber Aron Ralston, who became trapped by a boulder in Robbers Roost, Utah, for more than five days in early 2003 before amputating his arm with a dull knife.

So, it is basically a one-man’s show, with everything focusing on James Franco on how he survived 127 hours trapped, day-dreaming on his childhood, etc. There is no doubt a great performance by him as he steals the whole show from beginning to the end. Eventhough the movie spends mostly of the time on the trapped boulder, but it definitely won’t get you boring. There is quite a number of intense moments, especially when he is trying to remove his hand.

There is not much dialogues, and if there is, it is basically James Franco talking to the video he recorded which is kind of interesting. His acting is brilliant and full of emotion, and for me as the audience, I can really feel the pain he is suffering while being trapped as well, in a matter of life and death; I am being brought into the movie. It is definitely worth-watching and I will rate this movie 7.6. Too bad the chance for this movie to get Best Picture for Oscar is very minimal, as well as James Franco for the Best Actor. Better luck next time.

Insight: Gardens by the Bay, Singapore

Gardens by the Bay comprises three gardens around the Marina Channel in the southern part of Singapore . Once the Marina Barrage is ready, the Marina Channel will, over two years, become a fresh water lake and supply 10 per cent of Singapore’ s water needs. The total size of Gardens by the Bay is 101 hectares or 177 football fields.  Bay South is 54 hectares, Bay East is 32 hectares and the Bay Central is 15 hectares, taking over the Marina City Park.

International master plan design competition was held in early 2006, and the winning design goes to Grant Associates for Bay South and Gustafson Porter for Bay East (both companies from UK). Bay Central will be developed later and will becomes the last phase which will ends before 2015. The first phase will be completed by 2011.

Bay South features floral displays and tropical blooms and foliage. Its recreational amenities include an outdoor concert and events arena, and a flower fairground that will be home to the Singapore Garden Festival. The unique feature of this garden will be a cool conservatory complex which will allow visitors to enjoy flowers from around the world in a cool environment. Attractions include Conservatory Complex, Super Trees, Horticultural Show Gardens, Heritage Gardens, The World of Plants, Main Events Space and Flower Market.

The 32-hectare linear garden called as Bay East embroiders a stretch of the Marina Channel Promenade, providing landscaped access to a strategic portion of Singapores waterfront. It serves as the link between Bay South and Bay Central. It will form an uninterrupted sweep of garden space around the waterfront, linking up with East Coast Park, which extends along much of Singapore’s south-eastern shoreline.  Development of Bay East will be themed for aquatic sports and waterfront recreation such as canoeing, non-motorised sports such as sculling and dragon boat races. This garden has been developed as an interim park in conjunction with Youth Olympic Games 2010 and will be opened to public after February 2011. Attractions include Food Gardens, Water Gardens, Boating Quay and Theme Building.

Bay Central is a linear garden with a waterfront promenade stretching 2.8 km which will serves as an urban connector between the other two gardens, providing access to cultural activities at The Esplanades Theatres on the Bay Arts Centre. Bay Central does not require a master plan due to smaller area, and hence no winning design is selected for it. However, design came out from some favourited ideas submitted from previous competition that failed to win as well as from public feedbacks.

Some of the key features and activities at these gardens include two conservatories for cool climate plants, mass floral displays showcasing horticulture and floriculture at its best, areas for garden festivals, open spaces for concerts and performances, water-based activities, beachfront gardens. Being fully aware of global issues related to climate change, NParks is exploring sustainable energy and water technologies for the Gardens.  This includes research on energy modelling and the latest cooling technologies for the Cooled Conservatories at Bay South. The commissioned study has shown that by applying a combination of the latest cooling technologies, the energy consumption for the Conservatories will be lower than that of a comparable commercial building of similar size in Singapore.

Gardens by the Bay epitomises NParks’ vision of creating a City in a Garden.  Gardens by the Bay will capture the essence of Singapore as the premier tropical Garden City with the perfect environment in which to live, work and help make Singapore a leading global city of the 21st century. The Gardens will put in place a pervasive garden ambience and quality living environment from which Singapore’s downtown will rise, and steer Singaporeto the forefront of the world’s leading global cities. It will complement and complete the necklace of attractions that have been planned for around Marina Bay.

This project will defines Singapore as the world’s premier tropical garden city.

Check out the official website of this giant-scale project:

http://www.gardensbythebay.org.sg/

The pictures from this post are not mine and the information from the post is obtained from research throughout the internet. Just for sharing!

>——————————————————

Okay…it seems that I’m heavily promoting Singapore in my blog here. Just had a great interest on it! No more continuing posts on Singapore already. I have already made unbelievably 5 posts about the country. That’s all. Actually, there are still quite a lot of good things to write about this highly-developed country.

Insight: Resorts World Sentosa, Singapore

Yes, again, I remembered I have written a post about it quite a long time ago, even before it is completed. Even until now, the whole resorts is not fully completed yet, with construction going on at the Maritime Museum and Marine Life Park that holds the world largest oceanarium. The opening of the resorts was on 20th January 2010, over a year ago. However, for the full completion date, it should be by 2012.

The ride of Battlestar Galactica roller coaster in the Universal Studio Theme Park has reopened after a year of closure due to technical problem. The total area of the resorts is approximately 500 000 square metres. The S$6.59 billion (US$4.93 billion) resort is developed by Genting Singapore. It is one of the world’s most expensive casino properties, after Marina Bay Sands. The resort occupies over 49 hectares (121 acres) of land and, when fully open, will employ more than 10,000 people directly.

The construction of this mega resorts began in 2007 after Resorts World Sentosa won the bid, lead by the Chairman, Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay in 2006. There is six hotels alone in the resorts; Crockfords Tower, Equarius Hotel, Festive Hotel, Hard Rock Hotel, Hotel Michael and Spa Villas, providing a total of over 1840 rooms. The resorts was designed primarily by American architect, Michael Graves.

Each hotel is designed with a different theme, catering to both the leisure and business visitors. The resort is split into west, central and east zones. The central zone consists of Crockfords Tower, Hotel Michael, Festive Hotel, Hard Rock Hotel, casino, restaurants, galleria or known as the Forum (shopping outlets). The west zone consists of Equarius Hotel, Spa Villas, Marine Life Park, Maritime Xperimental Museum, waterfront and spas. The east zone consists of the most popular attraction, Universal Studios Theme Park (first in South East Asia) that further subdivides into 7 zones; Sci-Fi City, Ancient Egypt, New York, The Lost World, Far Far Away, Madagascar and Hollywood.

Near the Forum is the Festive Walk, where visitors can enjoy the walk around the resorts, accompanied by shops, Lake of Dreams, gardens, fountains, etc. Another famous attraction is the Crane Dance, a night performance of brilliant colours at the waterfront. The resorts is also linked to the Imbiah Lookout where all the previous attractions of Sentosa Hill are located including a Merlion, Tiger Sky Tower, SkyRide, Luge Ride, beach, forest walk, etc.

The natural beauty of Sentosa, which includes lush forests, inspired the design and drove the architects to make sure Resorts World did not overpower the landscape and would fit in seamlessly, Burke said. To do so, green-colored, curved roofs constructed from lightweight ETFE plastic decorate the tops of the resort’s two tallest building, the Hotel Michael and Crocksford Hotel. Each is imprinted with a foliage-like pattern to help the buildings blend into the natural landscape, as well as increase energy-efficiency by allowing control over the amount of light that enters inside to reduce the need for air conditioning. Throughout the site are a series of eco-cooling pedestrian pathways that link he resort’s areas like a “yellow brick road,” according to Graves.

Of course it is impossible for me to describe on each attractions and hotels available in the resort complex. It is just too much in this large-scale project. As a summary of its architecture, it is a tropical design approach to the resorts, well suited in Singapore, a tropical country.

To read more, click on this link below:

http://www.worldarchitecturenews.com/index.php?fuseaction=wanappln.projectview&upload_id=13922

For the official website of Resorts World Sentosa, here is the link:

http://www.rwsentosa.com/language/en-US/Main/RWS

All the pictures in this post are not mine and the information from this post is obtained from research throughout the internet.

Insight: Marina Bay Sands, Singapore

I went to Marina Bay Sands on early 20th February 2011, three days after the grand opening of this gigantic project that costs over s$ 8 billion, celebrated with fireworks, Wonder Full light and water show and opening of ArtScience Museum. I remembered I have a post on this project quite a long time ago, when the project is still under construction. Now, I will bring the readers further in to know Marina Bay Sands better.

It is an integrated resort fronting Marina Bay in Singapore, covering a total area of 560 000 metres square. The construction began in 2007 after Las Vegas Sands won the bidding of the site, lead by the founder, Sheldon Adelson. The architect behind this project is Moshe Safdie. It is known as one of the world most challenging construction ever attempted and reaches a height of 194 m.

The resort features a 2,561-room hotel, a 120,000 sq.m. convention-exhibition centre, The Shoppes mall, an Art & Science museum (in shape of lotus), two Sands Theatres, seven “celebrity chef” restaurants, two floating pavilions, a casino with 500 tables and 1,600 slot machines. The complex is topped by a 340m-long SkyPark with a capacity of 3,900 people and a 150m long infinity swimming pool, set on top of the world’s largest public cantilevered platform, which overhangs the north tower by 67m.

Moshe Safdie designed an Art Path within the resort, incorporating seven installations by five artists including Zheng Chongbin, Antony Gormley, and Sol Lewitt. The pieces are meant to play on environmental influences including light, water and wind, integrating art with architecture.

The design of three towers of the hotel, each consisting of 55 stories, is inspired by a stack of cards which has the greatest influence to the visual of the city. The unusual form creates a distinct silhouette, which can be seen across the marina from all areas of the city and from the sea.

It is topped by the submarine-shaped Skypark, now dominate the view from Singapore’s downtown. It is the latest government promoted project aimed to enhance the city-state’s standing as a top-end tourist destination and develop the Singapore brand through the use of architecture.

Read more at Suite101: Marina Bay Sands – Architecture Changing The Face Of Singapore http://www.suite101.com/content/marina-bay-sands—architecture-changing-the-face-of-singapore-a225343#ixzz1EaCQZmjA

There is this link below that provides many facts and data regarding Marina Bay Sands. The site also offers a lot of stunning pictures and architectural diagrams.

http://www.archdaily.com/70186/marina-bay-sands-safdie-architects/

Check out its official website too:

http://www.marinabaysands.com/

All pictures in this post are not mine, and the information from this post is obtained by research through google.