A Perfect Trio

The Oscars rarely have a category that is 100% perfect - but last year's Animated Film category has been on my mind lately and I can't help but consider it an anomalous example of this occurrence.

You all already know my adoration for How to Train Your Dragon, which was my pick for the winner last year (not that it had any chance). I rewatched it today, and while I was expecting it to drop in my estimation, I actually enjoyed it even more, especially John Powell's marvelous score.

Toy Story 3 was a wonderful winner, the perfect ending to a masterful trilogy. Really, it could not have been a more perfect ending to the long running series and somehow it manages to pack such poignance and emotion into an action adventure movie about toys. Pixar does it again.

And finally, there was The Illusionist, which I finally caught on DVD this past week. Had I seen it before I made my top 10 list, it surely would have grasped a spot on there and I'm even tempted I now prefer it to the other two for the win. What Triplets of Belleville lacked in emotional resonance, it made up for with sly humor - the opposite is true of The Illusionist. Though it doesn't sport the mocking humor of Chomet's previous work, it is instead full of beautiful animation and emotional resonance that carries through the entire film. Truly a beautiful piece of work.

So anyway, this is a rather random post but I had to pay homage to this great trinity of films. The Oscars are not always perfect but the past two years of animated films (don't even get me started on 2010) really have been worthy contenders.

Best Score Ranking: 2010

Here's my personal ranking of this year's crop of Best Score nominees. For those of you who want to read more about these scores and what I thought of them (albeit, in a much more objective light) you can check out my post for LAMB Devours the Oscars!

5. 127 Hours - A.R. Rahman

I really think the score enhances the film though if you compare it to the others, it just seems a bit amateurish. Rahman is forced to be more traditional and unfortunately it doesn't quite work as well as "Slumdog Millionaire".

4. Inception - Hans Zimmer

Oh, Hans. I've said it before, Hans Zimmer can only write loudly and unfortunately it begins to get tiresome. I also wasn't a big fan of the movie itself. However, his style works well for "Inception", and for the most part it's a very successful score that creates a mood. It's also very important to consider that it has become really iconic since the film's release.

3. The King's Speech - Alexandre Desplat

Alexandre Desplat is never bad - this is certainly lesser work but it's still quite lovely and so, so effective. I love Desplat's orchestration...the instruments are so beautifully mixed and mingled and the tender sound is so lovable. It's not his best work, not even his best from the year but it's still amazing how unique it is.

2. How to Train Your Dragon - John Powell

In my opinion, Powell's score is the best part of HTTYD, which as you all may know, I majorly loved. The sweeping epic strings are traditional but beautiful. Powell has a lot of great moments to work with and be flashy, and his tender and fun score makes the movie soar.

1. The Social Network - Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Okay, I love this score. I'd call the "Hand Covers Bruise" theme the best opening movie theme since, like, "Lord of the Rings" or "Harry Potter". Every single piece of this score is just so, so effective and not only that, but it stands alone marvelously. A unique, fantastic masterpiece.

Should Have Been Nominated: Honestly, from the eligible scores, I think this was the best possible lineup (I haven't seen "The Ghost Writer"), except the snub for Rabbit Hole (Anton Sanko). Ineligible scores that I personally love include I Am Love (John Adams), True Grit (Carter Burwell), Black Swan (Clint Mansell) and Scott Pilgrim VS the World (Nigel Godrich).

Check out the updated overall ranking!

What were your favorite scores of the year? Sound off below!

Oscar Nomination Day Laughs and Tears

DUDE DID YOU HEAR THE OSCAR NOMINATIONS WERE ANNOUNCED TODAY!!! OMG

Anyway, needless to say, like everyone else this year's slate of nominees gave me some things that made me really happy and also some things that made me not so happy. Though, honestly, more of the former than the latter. So, here's what I thought of the noms.

Things That Made Me Smile

• JACKI WEAVER. Sure, it came at Mila Kunis's expense (or was that Hailee Steinfeld's fault) but since Weaver was kind of iffy it made me so happy to hear her name being called. I can't wait to see her on Oscar night.
• JOHN HAWKES. What a very pleasant surprise! Jennifer Lawrence is fantastic but it's Dale Dickey and Hawkes that really shine in "Winter's Bone" so I'm glad to see at least one of them getting recognized.
• "How to Train Your Dragon" and "The Social Network" in Best Score. In fact, that whole Best Score category is pretty good. The music branch didn't screw it up too badly, did they! But those two are particularly deserving (more thoughts on this category later).
  
  
  What would "How To Train Your Dragon" have been without it's stellar John Powell score?
  
  
• "Dogtooth" in Best Foreign Film. HELLLLL YESSSSS.
• The Christopher Nolan snub. I know I'm going to get a lot of hate for that, and honestly I do feel sorry for the guy, but he was the weakest link in that category and though Id've preferred the spoiler to be Debra Granik or Luca Gaudagnino or someone like that the Coen Bros. are totally deserving.
• "Exit Through the Gift Shop" in Best Documentary. So, the Documentary branch has proven that they don't just care about relevant subject matter, and that they just award really good documentary filmmaking! Yea!
• "I Am Love" in Best Costumes. I think it speaks for itself, but the Costume Branch always seems to throw a bone to movie bloggers (remember "Bright Star" last year? heh)
  
  
Ooooh so pretty!


• Michelle Williams bringing the otherwise sadly ignored "Blue Valentine" to at least one nod. I wish it had been Ryan Gosling but I'm super happy for her since the performance was wonderful and she totally deserves it.
• The fact that I predicted 10 out of 10 in Best Picture. I mean, not that it was that hard, but still.

Things That Made Me Frown

• The lack of "Scott Pilgrim" in the visual effects category. I don't want to call it a snub because maybe it was never that realistic to begin with but it's a real pity.
• Andrew Garfield's snub. I suppose this is John Hawkes's fault and I'm happy for him but Garfield gives a fantastic performance and it's depressingly ironic how he was shafted, just like Eduardo in the movie.
• The Best Song category. I didn't really have any favorites going in but that group is really weak. I think this category becomes increasingly irrelevant as the years go along...
• Julianne Moore's "snub". The more I think of it, the sadder it is. In my opinion, Moore's performance is superior to Annette's and she is just as overdue as Bening, if not more so. It's odd how out of the two performances, it was Bening's and not Moore's that took off. I think Bening is totally deserving but I wish they'd gone for two leading lady noms from the same movie this year.
  
  
It's okay Julianne. You'll get your Oscar soon.


• Mila Kunis won't be an Oscar nominee. I'm totally okay with her not getting nominated (duh, Jacki Weaver), but the idea of her being an Oscar nominee was so awesome to me. Plus, what clip would they have used for her? HA!

So there you have it. All in all, it's a pretty satisfying group of nominees and I can't wait for the big night. Comment below on your reactions to the big announcement! :)

Final Oscar Predictions (AKA Peer Pressure)

Well, I wasn't going to do this. I was going to leave the Oscar predictions to everyone else but here I am! Hehe. So here are my predictions. With alternates! Yay!

Best Picture

127 Hours

Black Swan

The Fighter

Inception

The Kids Are All Right

The King's Speech

The Social Network

Toy Story 3

True Grit

Winter's Bone

Alt: The Town

I was this close to not predicting "Toy Story 3". I've had this bad feeling about it from the beginning of the season and I'll kick myself if it does get snubbed but it just seems like it's doing too well. Otherwise, perhaps the "127 Hours" thing is just wishful thinking but it and "The Town" both seem to be in the same kind of buzz boat so I'm thinking it'll be the former that makes it in due to other possible nods (Franco, screenplay, cinematography?).

Director

Darren Aronofsky, "Black Swan"

David Fincher, "The Social Network"

Tom Hooper, "The King's Speech"

Christopher Nolan, "Inception"

David O. Russell, "The Fighter"

Alt. Debra Granik, "Winter's Bone"

Debra has support in high places. So, perhaps she could pull a spoiler. But who'd she kick out?

Lead Actor

Jeff Bridges, "True Grit"

Robert Duvall, "Get Low"

Jesse Eisenberg, "The Social Network"

Colin Firth, "The King's Speech"

James Franco, "127 Hours"

Alt. Ryan Gosling, "Blue Valentine"

Totally playing it safe with the Duvall thing, though I think it's doubtful. But, as much as I'd love to see Gosling get it, I just feel like it's very unlikely.

Lead Actress

Annette Bening, "The Kids Are All Right"

Nicole Kidman, "Rabbit Hole"

Jennifer Lawrence, "Winter's Bone"

Natalie Portman, "Black Swan"

Hailee Steinfeld, "True Grit"

Alt. Michelle Williams, "Blue Valentine"

Honestly, that fifth spot is SO scary. It could be anyone, it could be Tilda Swinton for all I know! Her age aside, the category fraud thing could either get Steinfeld snubbed totes (think Cotillard and Laurent last year) or upgraded (Winslet or Castle-Hughes?). At least there'll be something surprising. You know, I fear for Nicole Kidman. I really want her to get nominated but she could be the surprise snub. Seriously people, watch out.

Supporting Actor

Christian Bale, "The Fighter"

Andrew Garfield, "The Social Network"

Jeremy Renner, "The Town"

Mark Ruffalo, "The Kids Are All Right"

Geoffrey Rush, "The King's Speech"

Alt. John Hawkes, "Winter's Bone"

I'd like to see John Hawkes in here, but this category seems locked and he'd probably have to kick out Garfield, which would also be very sad. Otherwise, Rush isn't going to win so is it bad to say that I don't really care about this category...?

Supporting Actress

Amy Adams, "The Fighter"

Helena Bonham Carter, "The King's Speech"

Mila Kunis, "Black Swan"

Melissa Leo, "The Fighter"

Jacki Weaver, "Animal Kingdom"

Alt. Hailee Steinfeld, "True Grit"

Well, with Hailee out of the way, there's room for everyone to be happy! Ha. Right. The problem with this lineup is that the Oscars rarely make everyone happy, so having Kunis and Weaver is probably not going to happen. I'm going to go and make the risky prediction anyway.

Original Screenplay

"Another Year"

"The Fighter"

"Inception"

"The Kids Are All Right"

"The King's Speech"

Alt. "Please Give"

Well, Mike Leigh is popular here. I'd like to see "Please Give" pull a spoiler but I think it'll be one of those surprising WGA things that doesn't go anywhere.

Adapted Screenplay

"127 Hours"

"The Social Network"

"Toy Story 3"

"True Grit"

"Winter's Bone"

Alt. "The Ghost Writer"

The writers have really good taste and aren't afraid to be unique, so "Ghost Writer" is very probable. I'd like this lineup though, I really do. Strong group of movies.

Foreign Film

"Biutiful"

"Confessions"

"In A Better World"

"Incendies"

"Life Above All"

Yes. I really want "Confessions" to get nominated because I really want to see it. Haha! I'm so selfish.

Animated

"How To Train Your Dragon"

"The Illusionist"

"Toy Story 3"

Alt. "Tangled"

Pleeeeease no "Tangled". I forgot about "Despicable Me" but...hopefully the Academy does too. Hehe!

Documentary

Uh...I don't really know but please "Exit Through the Gift Shop"? Teehee.

Costumes

"Black Swan"

"True Grit"

"The King's Speech"

"Alice in Wonderland"

"Burlesque"

Alt: "Made in Dagenham"

Cinematography

"Black Swan"

"Inception"

"The King's Speech"

"The Social Network"

"True Grit"

Alt: "127 Hours"

Art Direction

"Alice in Wonderland"

"Black Swan"

"Inception"

"The King's Speech"

"Shutter Island"

Alt: "True Grit"

Editing

"127 Hours"

"Black Swan"

"Inception"

"The King's Speech"

"The Social Network"

Alt: "The Fighter"

That was a toughie. I think "Black Swan" is very likely the snubee for "The Fighter" but for now...

Visual Effects

"Alice in Wonderland"

"Harry Potter And the Deathly Hallows Part 1"

"Inception"

"Iron Man 2"

"Tron Legacy"

Alt: "Scott Pilgrim VS The World"

PLEEEEASE let it be Scott Pilgrim. But I didn't want to jinx it by predicting it.

Makeup

"Alice in Wonderland"

"Barney's Version"

"True Grit"

Alt. "The Wolfman"

Remember that weird "Il Divo" nom last year? Yep.

Original Score

"How to Train Your Dragon"

"Inception"

"The King's Speech"

"Never Let Me Go"

"The Social Network"

Alt: "127 Hours"

I've not seen "Never Let Me Go" yet, but I'd be happy with this crew of nominees. Actually, as long as "Dragon" and "Network" get this, I'd be happy. Ecstatic, in fact! Oh, I hope it happens.

Original Song

If I Rise from "127 Hours"

I See the Light from "Tangled"

Sticks and Stones from "How to Train Your Dragon"

We Belong Together from "Toy Story 3"

You Haven't Seen the Last of Me from "Burlesque"

Alt. Um, something from "Country Strong"?

Hm, this should be interesting. I honestly have no idea.

I won't predict the sound categories. But wouldn't it be lovely if the much deserving "Scott Pilgrim" made it into one of those? Ha. Who am I kidding.

Anyway, so, who's excited for the Oscar nominations? I actually have a big recital tomorrow night, so hopefully they're to my liking. Or else it might not go so well. Kidding!

Some Oscar Predictions...

Okay, so I very much enjoy the Oscars, and I do like reading other people's predictions, but sometimes I feel like I don't really have the knowledge or do enough research to formulate my own. But! I'm going to try anyway, just for fun. And I think some of these pics are stupidly risky, but hey! I might be right. So, here we go...

Best Picture

127 Hours

Another Year

Black Swan

The Fighter

Inception

The Kids are All Right

The King's Speech

The Social Network

True Grit

Winter's Bone

Let me explain something. I did not include "Toy Story 3" because, though the general consensus is that it's going to get nominated...I just have this feeling about it. Like...neither of the other Toy Story movies were nominated for Best Picture before. And the only other "third movies" that have been nominated were "The Godfather Part III" and "LOTR: ROTK", and, Toy Story ain't one of those. But, hey. It'll probably happen and all of my denial will be for naught. Moving on...

Best Director

Danny Boyle, 127 Hours

David Fincher, The Social Network

Tom Hooper, The King's Speech

Mike Leigh, Another Year

Christopher Nolan, Inception

Pretty obvious here. Veterans, best-picture-frontrunners, the works.

Best Actress

Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right

Lesley Manville, Another Year

Julianne Moore, The Kids Are All Right

Natalie Portman, Black Swan

Naomi Watts, Fair Game

Hm, I feel really good about the top four, but I struggled to pick the last...there are so many possibilities. I went with Watts because her part seems somewhat baity. Plus, her role is a bit different - Bening, Manville and Moore are in lighter, indie movies that I think will keep Anne Hathaway and Jennifer Lawrence out. So, Watts it is. Plus, we mustn't forget that Watts has had a good year, with a hilarious turn in "You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger" and giving an absolutely heartbreaking performance in "Mother and Child".

Also, I don't think that Diane Lane can be compared to Sandra Bullock any more. Sandra had WAY more unexpected buzz last year and "The Blind Side" unbelievably got some amazing reviews. "Secretariat" is kind of dead, at this point.

Best Actor

Jeff Bridges, True Grit

Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network

Colin Firth, The King's Speech

James Franco, 127 Hours

Mark Wahlberg, The Fighter

Jesse Eisenberg is really wishful thinking, though I think he definitely has a shot. Firth and Franco, I think, are definitely in. Wahlberg and Bridges look good on paper, but it depends on the movies. So we'll just wait and see.

Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams, The Fighter

Helena Bonham-Carter, The King's Speech

Macy Gray, For Colored Girls

Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit

Jackie Weaver, Animal Kingdom

Ha! This may seem way too weird to actually happen, but I think that the five I chose actually all have a pretty good shot. Amy Adams and the Academy get along well, and they'll surely like that she's playing "off-type" (unless Leo steals her thunder). I cannot WAIT for Helena, she will surely be nominated. I chose Macy Gray because she's getting some early good reviews, and this would be the perfect category for a singer-gone-actress to catch a surprise nom. I'm curious about Steinfeld, but it was between her and Barbara Hershey and I figured that they'll only choose one crazy matriarch (Jackie Weaver, who's got a great campaign).

Best Supporting Actor

Christian Bale, The Fighter

Vincent Cassell, Black Swan

Andrew Garfield, The Social Network

Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right

Geoffrey Rush, The King's Speech

These are just some weird guesses. I really want Garfield and Ruffalo to get in, so hopefully it happens. Rush is fo-sho. Cassell is interesting, and maybe they'll go for it, you know, to spice things up. And I'm not a big Bale fan but if he's good it's a baity role...

SO that's it from me for now. I might predict some of the smaller categories later if I get inspired. But what do you think? This is my first time making predix so advice and comments are appreciated as always! :)

Best Animated Film...From Best to Worst

I love this category at the Oscars for obvious reasons. Anyway, commentary to follow.

1. Spirited Away (2002)
2. Wall-E (2008)
3. Ratatouille (2007)
4. Up (2009)
5. Wallace and Gromit (2005)
6. The Incredibles (2004)
7. Finding Nemo (2003)
8. Shrek (2001)
9. Happy Feet (2006)

Obviously "Spirited Away" is first. And "Wall-E" is just beautiful.

The best year overall (nominees-wise) was by FAR 2005. "Corpse Bride", "Howl's Moving Castle" and "Wallace and Gromit" would have all been truly worthy winners. This past year was also extremely strong, even though "Up" was my favorite, I would have been extremely happy to see any of the other nominees win.

2006 was ridiculously weak. At the time, I was psyched that "Happy Feet" beat out "Cars" - but on a recent rewatch of "Happy Feet", I was extremely disappointed...it's a snooze fest. I'll review it in more depth at a later time. I'll have to rewatch "Monster House", because I didn't like "Cars" either.

And how about Pixar needs to stop dominating this category? Just kidding. In my opinion, they much deserved it every time they won (and, I'm inclined to say, every time they lost, too). However, I do believe the reign of Pixar is coming to an end (or at least a break). It should be interesting to see how "Toy Story 3" does this year with the Academy...and with critics in general. We don't have much longer to wait to find out for ourselves, now do we?

Anyway, the other three films that Pixar seems to have in production right now aren't really psyching me out that much. "Cars 2"? Ugh. I am not at all interested to see that. "Brave" sounds interesting, hopefully it's up to par. And according to Wikipedia, they're also working on "Monsters Inc. 2" which...should be...interesting! It could be really good, we'll just have to wait and see.

I'm personally getting extremely excited about "The Illusionist" though - you know, Sylvain Chomet's film. I'm actually anticipating it so badly. And, random thought..."Persepolis" was amazing, would it not be lovely to see Marjane Satrapi adapt one of her other graphic novels? ("Chicken With Plums" plz)

Anyway, comment below on whether you agree or disagree on my ranking, the Academy's choices, and your thoughts on Pixar's future and the future of animation in general!

Best Score Ranking: 1998 Musical or Comedy

This is a very nice category. I'm glad they don't still split the scores up, because that's weird. But, still, this is a great year and I quite love all the scores (except Patch Adams. Sorry Marc!) I'll do the Drama portion of 1998 later. Enjoy!

5. Patch Adams - Marc Shaiman



I'm being maybe a wee bit harsh with only 2 stars, because it's quite a nice score. But...is it Oscar worthy? Not really. Simply because, don't we hear this same sort of thing in every single family movie ever made? I mean, just take any good ol' family film and you'll hear this same exact soundtrack. Just sayin'.

4. A Bug's Life - Randy Newman



Pixar movies always have such great scores! And, my heart melts for Randy Newman. It's really a touching little score, very cute, very nice, and perfect for the movie. Just like most of Randy Newman's work. Haha!


3. Mulan - Jerry Goldsmith, Matthew Wilder, David Zippel



I like the songs more than the actual score, but really, it's great. Jerry Goldsmith is a master, and this is an interesting medium to see him work with! It surpasses many, many Disney movie scores. And yeah, I know I picked the most cliche song in the movie as my sample clip, but I LIKE IT! :( ahaha


2. Prince of Egypt - Stephen Schwartz, Hans Zimmer



I'm not a humongous fan of Hans Zimmer - sometimes I feel like his music is just a little bit too LOUD ALL THE TIME! But, that being said, Prince of Egypt is an absolutely wonderful score and some of the songs, especially "Deliver Us", are just...GOOSEBUMP inducing. *Shudder*

1. Shakespeare in Love - Stephen Warbeck



Was this even a question? This score wipes the FLOOR with all of the others! Stephen Warbeck's subtle, gorgeous work was the icing on the cake that made me love Shakespeare in Love. It doesn't try to be "period", it doesn't try to be overly romantic, it just works so naturally and it makes me feel so warm inside!

If you're curious as to how these scores stack up against the others I've ranked, go check out the newly updated Overall Ranking.

So, what did you all think of 1998? Was Shakespeare your favorite, or did you prefer one of the others? Do you have a particular year you want to hear about next? React down below!

Best Score Ranking: 2009

As a musician, I always find the music categories of the Academy Awards interesting (albeit frustrating at times). Thus, I'm going to start occasionally rating their Best Score nominees, and giving them "scores" of their own! Ahaha. It's inspired by the Best Leading/Supporting Actress rankings of Sage Slowdive and Joe Burns on their blogs.

I'll make this thing more or less frequent, depending on how you guys respond!

So let's start with last year - 2010. From least to most favorite. With a rating of 1-5 "cinematic music notes". Haha.

5. Sherlock Holmes - Hans Zimmer

It's a lot of fun and definitely in the character of the movie, but Hans Zimmer is sort of just doing his same old thing, and he hasn't really trumped a lot of his past work (Lion King!!!)

4. Fantastic Mr. Fox - Alexandre Desplat

So cute and wonderful! Perfect for the movie, which I also loved. Not my favorite Desplat score from the year, but still quite perfect, and a great surprise nominee.

3. Avatar - James Horner

I really love the music for this movie. Sure, Horner uses a lot of his old material, and it's "I See You" over and over, but...those grand scenes with this beautiful work in the background are just irresistable.

2. The Hurt Locker - Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders

I really, really like that this was nominated. The theme is fantastic, and the atmospheric music for the "suspensful" scenes really added to the movie, without being overbearing. Quite a deserved nominee.

1. Up - Michael Giacchino

Yes! I went with the actual winner, but really, it's marvelous! One of my absolute favorite scores of the decade, with such an absolutely wonderful theme. Makes me tear up every time I hear it!

Should Have Been Nominated...

Broken Embraces (Alberto Iglesias), Coraline (Bruno Coulais), Julie and Julia (Alexandre Desplat), Ponyo (Joe Hisaishi), Where the Wild Things Are (Carter Burwell and Karen O), and so many more, this was a great year for movie scores.

React below!!! I need some ideas since this is new. What year should I do next?