I've Obviously Gone Around the Bend...

...and moved into a very bad place with The King's Speech.

2011's Nominees: Part 1 of 12

I can't believe I am trying to commit to making 12 posts about the Oscars before they arrive on February 27th at the same time as I study for my comprehensive exams, but I am. This is also partially because of my friend Julie and our (competitive? yes) quest to see all of the year's films. There are 36 films in competition this year (I am exempting myself from the documentaries and the shorts) and I will go through each nominee one by one. Hopefully this is a fun exercise, and if I am down on your favorite film of the year, please feel free to speak up and defend it. I expect that my opinion about this year's favored movie might engender a few raised eyebrows. So, here goes:

THE KING'S SPEECH

12 Nominations:

  · Best Picture

  · Best Director: Tom Hooper

  · Best Original Screenplay: David Seidler

  · Best Actor: Colin Firth (A Single Man)

  · Best Supporting Actor: Geoffrey Rush (Quills, Shine, Shakespeare in Love)

  · Best Supporting Actress: Helena Bonham Carter (The Wings of the Dove)

  · Best Editing: Tariq Anwar (American Beauty)

  · Best Cinematography: Danny Cohen

  · Best Art Direction: Eve Stewart (Topsy-Turvy) and Judy Farr

  · Best Costume Design: Jenny Beaven (The Bostonians, A Room with a View, Maurice, Howards End, The Remains of the Day, Sense and Sensibility, Anna and the King, Gosford Park)

  · Best Original Score: Alexandre Desplat (The Queen, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Fantastic Mr. Fox)

  · Best Sound Mixing

Director: Hooper
Cast: Firth, Carter, Rush, Guy Pearce, Michael Gambon, Derek Jacobi, Jennifer Ehle, Claire Bloom, Eve Best, Timothy Spall

 
Twelve nominations is a whole Hell of a lot. I don't think anyone expected this good of a showing from this small film, but here it is. The King's Speech is a crowd pleaser and a feel-good film and an overcoming-my-disability narrative. I also find the film to be rather sex-negative, for what it's worth. But everyone seems to love it. I mean, it's okay and all that, but it's rather uneven at times and – just take a look up there at the poster – is it a comedy? a WWII drama? I don't think Tom Hooper has any idea, actually. What I do know is that this film is heartwarming and is going to win Best Picture. Zzzzz.
Will Win: Picture, Actor, Original Screenplay, Costume Design, Score
Might Also Win: Director, Art Direction
My Rating: #19 out of 40

TRUE GRIT

10 Nominations:

  · Best Picture

  · Best Director: Joel Coen (Fargo, No Country for Old Men) & Ethan Coen (No Country)

  · Best Adapted Screenplay: Coens (Fargo, O Brother Where Art Thou?, No Country, A Serious Man)

  · Best Actor: Jeff Bridges (The Last Picture Show, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, Starman, The Contender, Crazy Heart)

  · Best Supporting Actress: Hailee Steinfeld

  · Best Cinematography: Roger Deakins (The Shawshank Redemption, Fargo, Kundun, O Brother, The Man Who Wasn't There, No Country, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, The Reader)

  · Best Art Direction: Nancy Haigh (Barton Fink, Bugsy, Forrest Gump, Road to Perdition, Dreamgirls) and Jess Gonchor

  · Best Costume Design: Mary Zophres

  · Best Sound Mixing

  · Best Sound Editing

Director: Coens
Cast: Bridges, Steinfeld, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Barry Pepper

 
I don't think anyone expected this film to do as well as it did, and it looks as though it would have made a Best Picture nomination even if there had only been five. I think this is a big surprise and I am delighted by it. The Coens have always been superb filmmakers and that the Academy has come to love them as much as they have is really very cool. Tone down the excitement, though. It's not going to win that many.
Will Win: Cinematography
Might Win: Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Adapted Screenplay
My Rating: #8 out of 40

THE SOCIAL NETWORK

8 Nominations:

  · Best Picture

  · Best Director: David Fincher (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)

  · Best Adapted Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin

  · Best Actor: Jesse Eisenberg

  · Best Editing: Kirk Baxter & Angus Wall (both for Benjamin Button)

  · Best Cinematography: Jeff Cronenweth

  · Best Original Score: Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross

  · Best Sound Mixing

Director: Fincher
Cast: Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Armie Hammer, Max Minghella, Erica Albright, Rashida Jones

 
This was the frontrunner for months, won every critics' award under the sun — like a juggernaut that couldn't be stopped. But on the morning when the nominees were announced, the wind went out of the sails of Fincher's movie. It's a shame, really. The Social Network is a much better movie than The King's Speech. But it also isn't a real Oscar-type of a movie. And it is about something that the old white people voting for the little gold men do not really understand: the facebook. Still, I am expecting it to do well on February 27th.
Will Win: Director, Screenplay, Editing
Might Win: Cinematography, Sound Mixing
My Rating: #10 out of 40

2010 in Review

LOVED
~ ~
1. Biutiful
2. Black Swan
3. The Illusionist
4. A Prophet
5. The Kids Are All Right
6. Another Year
7. 127 Hours
8. The Secret in Their Eyes
9. Mother and Child
10. Mesrine: Part 1 - Killer Instinct
11. Fish Tank
12. True Grit

REALLY LIKED
~ ~
13. Inception
14. The Social Network
15. White Material
16. The Town
17. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
18. Ajami
19. Kick-ass
20. I Am Love
21. How to Train Your Dragon
22. Toy Story 3
23. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
24. Father of My Children
25. Rabbit Hole
The Way Back
Dogtooth
Unstoppable
Eyes Wide Open

LIKED
~ ~
Spring Fever
The King's Speech
The Girl Who Played with Fire
The American
Get Low
Tron: Legacy
Undertow (Contracorriente)
Blue Valentine
The Milk of Sorrow
Leaving (Partir)
Tangled
The Fighter
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
Mother
Country Strong
Winter's Bone
Fair Game
Love & Other Drugs
Charlie St. Cloud
Prince of Persia: the Sands of Time

LIKED MORE THAN I DISLIKED
~ ~
Iron Man 2
Valentine's Day

BARELY LIKED MORE THAN I DISLIKED
~ ~
Animal Kingdom

DISLIKED
~ ~
Outside the Law
Barney's Version
Hereafter
Alice in Wonderland
Agora
It's Kind of a Funny Story
Never Let Me Go

HATED
~ ~
I Love You Phillip Morris
The Tempest 

COMPLETE AND TOTAL WASTE OF TIME
~ ~
Salt
The Wolfman
Despicable Me 

My Best Actor Picks for 2010
My Best Actress Picks for 2010
My Supporting Actor Picks for 2010
My Supporting Actress Picks for 2010

This Is a Post about Two Things, Actually

After the Oscar nominations on Tuesday, I make an annual effort to see all of the nominated feature-length films. I exempt myself from the docs and the shorts, just to keep myself sane. (I'm not really that into documentaries if you haven't noticed.) There have been years when the Oscar nominations have come out and I have had only one movie to see. That was when I was living in Los Angeles. So, now I live in Tallahassee and it's a little harder to see all the movies I want to see, and I have eighteen to see. This is my to-do list for 2010:

1. Alice in Wonderland (Funny, because I was planning on avoiding this altogether...)
 
2. Biutiful (I've been dying to see this.)

3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (I don't know what happened; I just never managed to go.)

4. Another Year (Another one I've been dying to see.)

5. Barney's Version (I am not particularly interested in Paul Giamatti, but I am hoping this is funny.)

6. Blue Valentine (This comes out on Friday in Tally.)

7. Dogtooth (Κυνόδοντας) (This is on Netflix instant.)

8. Hævnen (In a Better World) (I love Susanne Bier! This should be good. I didn't know she was making Danish movies again.)

9. Hereafter (I have to figure out how to catch this one. I tried earlier but the film was canceled.)

10. Hors-la-Loi (Outside the Law) (Playing nowhere. But I already love anything titled this.)

11. Incendies (This comes out in April '11)

12. Iron Man 2 (Oops. Should have seen this when I had the chance.)

13. Rabbit Hole (I love JCM, so I plan to like this, although I think the play is a little, shall we say, underwhelming.)

14. Salt (On its way via Netflix. Should be fun.)

15. The Tempest (Ugh. I was hoping to avoid this. It looks like a train wreck. Maybe it will fall into the so-bad-it's-good category.)

16. The Wolfman (I am excited for this one.)

17. Unstoppable (And this one.)

I saw the eighteenth last night. It was Peter Weir's The Way Back starring Ed Harris (who I always associate with Peter Weir, for some reason), Jim Sturgess, Colin Farrel, Saoirse Ronan, Gustaf Skarsgård, and Dragos Bucur.

This is a really solid movie with some excellent storytelling in it. It feels like a Peter Weir movie, if that makes any sense: I guess I feel like I am used to him making very good pictures that not a lot of people actually care about. I like his movies a lot, but excitement tends to be lost on critics.  

The Way Back is a survival story. Seven men escape a gulag in Siberia in the late 1930s or early 1940s. They flee Siberia, walking a thousand kilometers to Mongolia, and then across the Mongolian desert, through Tibet, and over the Himalayas, to freedom in India. They walked. So: it's a film about survival, about human limits, about kindness, and (ironically, since they are fleeing Stalin) community and working together.

It's an ensemble film, as well, with Jim Sturgess as the ostensible focus, but with great performances from all the principles. I was particularly moved by Gustaf Skarsgård's work. He has a haunted face to begin with (you may remember him from the Swedish film Evil) but his character in this is a really fascinating portrait of a man who needs forgiveness.

And let's just say it: I love Colin Farrell. He plays a Russian criminal in this, and he is fabulous. He disappears into the role, speaking only broken English, and performing in a role that is nowhere near the star part. This is a man who doesn't need to be the star of a film. He takes a great character part, just because it's a good part for him. Very cool.

The Way Back is a bit tough to watch at times -- walking across the Mongolian desert isn't exactly good for the health -- but I thought it was worth it.

When Friends Speak a Different Language

Aaron: Okay, this is church so don't tell anyone—
Dan: What is that: "church"?
Aaron: It means it's a secret and I shouldn't be telling you so don't go spilling tea everywhere.
Dan: No, I get it. But why is that "church"? When you say church I just feel like you're saying it's not true.
Aaron: Well, it's like confession or something, right? The priest doesn't tell anyone after you tell him.
Dan: Yeah. Okay, I get that.
Aaron: You know the gays have a whole language to themselves. It's very complicated.
Dan: Yeah. They should have a Rosetta Stone for that shit.
Aaron: They do. It's called sucking dick.
Dan: ...

I'm Wishing...

The 2010 Oscar nominations come out tomorrow morning. If you know me, you know that this is like Christmas morning for me. This is my favorite day of the year. I will be thinking about this all day and so I thought I would post a couple of wishes I have for tomorrow. Now, I am being realistic about this. I am not holding out hope, for instance, that my second-favorite film of the year, Sylvain Chomet's The Illusionist, gets nominated for Best Picture. That would just be ridiculous. Well-deserved, but impossible. I am restricting my hopes to those I think are actually possible:

Best Picture
127 Hours. To my mind this is a much better movie than The King's Speech or The Fighter, and it's infinitely more interesting than the snooze-fest that is Winter's Bone.

Best Actor
I am rooting for Robert Duvall from Get Low in this category. And I haven't seen Biutiful, but even without seeing it I am rooting for Javier Bardem.

Best Actress
Again, without seeing it, I am rooting for Lesley Manville in Another Year. I think she is a very long shot and I don't see how it can happen, but I am crossing my fingers. I would root for Tilda Swinton's genius performance in I Am Love, but I am bound to be disappointed there.

Best Supporting Actor
I think this race is kind of wide open. I have two serious wishes: Armie Hammer for The Social Network and Matt Damon for True Grit. Wouldn't both of those be fun?

Best Supporting Actress
Again, I think we are looking at a pretty wide-open race. Anything could happen in these supporting categories this year: which is what makes them exciting! I am wishing for Barbara Hershey for Black Swan (a conceivable longshot) and - without seeing the film - Dianne Weist for Rabbit Hole just for fun.

Other Wishes, Other Dreams
I am hoping that Tom Hooper gets locked out of the Best Director category in favor of the Coen Brothers.
I am also hoping that The Illusionist makes it into the Best Animated Feature category. (This should happen, but is not a sure thing.)
I am hoping for a song entry for the Gwyneth Paltrow vehicle Country Strong (yes, you read that correctly).
Mostly I am hoping that Black Swan and 127 Hours do really, really well.

Can't wait 'til tomorrow!!

Latent Catholicism

The other day in an art gallery my eye was drawn to a piece that clearly had been influenced by the culture of the Catholic church. It was a wooden piece that looked like it came out of a very old sanctuary of some sort. And it was painted bright red. I loved it.

When I half-jokingly explained my attraction to the piece by referring to my own latent Catholicism, a friend objected. You can't be Jewish and Protestant and atheist (my actual chosen religious belief), yet also in possession of a latent Catholicism, so his logic went.

"True," I thought. And then I objected. The truth is, Protestantism comes out of a deeply rooted Catholic tradition, and therefore anyone who grows up Protestant also grows up with the Catholic structural paradigm, even though many protestants (certainly Baptists) would be loath to admit this.

At any rate, I certainly am in possession of a latent Catholicism. I'm actually really into Catholicism. I think that if I were to return to Christianity in some way, Catholicism would be the first thing I would look up. I say this mostly because of the magic that is such a huge component of Catholic belief. Certainly many Christian rituals contain magic – the marriage ceremony is an obvious instance: it is a sin to have sex and then poof it is not a sin to have sex: magic – but I feel like Catholicism has more magic in it. The doctrine of trans-substantiation is a magical moment at every single mass, but I feel like there are a lot of other magical moments: magical artifacts, totems, ritualized behaviors that impart some magical blessings or cleansings. I don't really know enough about it to make a list of these items; I guess it's more just an impression of Catholicism. Perhaps the Baptists have just as many, although I can't think of too many off the top of my head...

Fascism Now?

As I read Klaus Theweleit's two-volume opus Male Fantasies, I came across two sequences that reminded me of today's politics in the United States. The word fascism makes me a little uncomfortable when transferred into our current idiom, but I just couldn't help but think of the USAmerican political climate while reading these words:

From Vol. 1:
it is on the basis of a distinction made unconsciously, an opting for a stream or dam (and not on the basis of any analysis of interests of class membership!), that the fascist sees anyone different from himself as a "communist." "Girl! Raging storms at sea! Hurricane!"—this is enough. [The fascist thinks:] Only a cultural Bolshevist could have written these words. To the fascist unconscious, the distinctions it makes appear accurate—a fact that Left consciousness refuses to perceive. The argument that a social democrat is not a communist, a communist not an anarchist, and that none of these categories has anything to do with Jews, has never had much effect. The fascist unconscious perceives an essential sameness in all of the categories (and in the many others that made the spectrum of concentration-camp prisoners so diverse that Rudolf Höss tried to classify them like so much exotic fauna.)

More than anything I see this as a warning to the Left that distinctions between different factions on the Left mean nothing to those on the extreme Right, and that clinging to definitions and distinctions as though they will exempt one or the other of the factions on the Left from annihilation by those on the Right is simply foolish. So, too, does this remind me that it is the task of those who consider themselves on the Left to identify with others of those on the Left. In other words, I am a person of color, I am an oppressed religious minority, I am a transgendered person in need of medical care, I am an undocumented worker, I am a lesbian who wishes to serve openly in the military, I am an Iraqi civilian, I am homeless. If I cannot imagine these and more identifications, I am capitulating to nonsense because those on the far Right already see me as identical with those marginalized bodies. The word liberal itself is meant to marginalize in just this way.

From Vol. 2 of Theweleit:
No matter how the fascist leadership is portrayed: as racketeers (in Brecht's Arturo Ui); as stand-up comics (Chaplin, in The Great Dictator) [...] every one of these denies the nature of fascism as a popular movement (albeit not a movement of the people in its entirety).
In the early Freikorps period, the fascists were known only as work-shy "soup troops"; they were dubbed "bloodhounds" only when witnessed in action. An initial attitude of mocking arrogance (fascism as stuff-and-nonsense) then gave way to accusatory fury. Such was the development we traced in the German Communist Party's (KPD) attitude toward the Freikorps; and it was later precisely mirrored by their response to NSDAP victory: by their ill-judged "conviction" that the Nazis, incompetent as they were, would either throw in the towel after a few months in government or would be perfunctorily dismissed by a newly enlightened people. The party responded to defeat by adopting the posture of victimized innocent [...]; it limited its resistance to a few ineffectual insults imputing to the fascists a lack of aptitude for government.

Theweleit was writing in 1978.

To continue to mock those on the far Right who many (on the Left) perceive as ignorant or stupid or incapable of effective governance is to ignore a) those persons' very real popularity and b) the very real damage those persons could do if and when they achieve the power they seek. To refuse to engage these apparently ignorant or ineffectual voices and to, instead, mock them or remain bemused by them is to have already granted them power. This is the history Theweleit charts in the 1920s in Germany.

The Flood!

I am currently reading the most fascinating book! It is all about Fascism and psychoanalysis. I am not sure how well-respected this gigantic study by Klaus Theweleit is in the areas of Violence Theory and Gender Theory and Sexuality Theory, but I for one am a big fan. I don't have a lot that I want to say about this; the book is about the German proto-fascist male and the demand to dam up sexuality in favor of rigidity and some kind of fascist notion of true maleness.

I wanted to share a quote from chapter two of the book. Theweleit places this quote from Brecht as the header to his chapter entitled "Floods, Bodies, History." Brecht says:

The raging stream is called violent
But the riverbed that hems it in
No one calls violent.

Theweleit takes this to mean that we refer to our libidinal desires (the stream, the flood, Eros) as violent, we experience the feelings of these desires as violent, even - a rush of blood to the face as we feel shame or lust or love or attraction, and we speak of our desires as uncontrollable, as compulsions, as powerful beyond measure (love conquers all, we say).

But in Theweleit's gloss of the Brecht poem he takes it to mean that the forces which stem that tide of desire, the rules which we use to govern our libidinal drives, the powers that regulate, monitor, surveille, and otherwise limit or even direct the streaming forces of pleasure that surge through us (and toward the beloved), those forces are the powers which we ought to perceive as violent.

It is the riverbed that shapes the river's direction – and not the river itself – that is violent.

Thoughts on Movies 2011-2013

A
~ ~
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012)
The Adventures of Tintin (2011)
Albert Nobbs (2011)
All Is Lost (2013)
American Hustle (2013)
Amour (2012)
Anna Karenina (2012)
Anonymous (2011)
Another Earth (2011)
Argo (2012)
The Artist (2011)
Attack the Block (2011)
August: Osage County (2013)
The Avengers (2012)

B
~ ~
Bad Grandpa (2013)
Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)
Before Midnight (2013)
Beginners (2011)
A Better Life (2011)
Blue Is the Warmest Color (2013)
Blue Jasmine (2013)
The Book Thief (2013)
Brave (2012)
Bridesmaids (2011)
Broken City (2013)
Bullhead (2012)
The Butler (2013)

C
~ ~
The Cabin in the Woods (2012)
Captain America: the First Avenger (2011)
Captain Phillips (2013)
Chico & Rita (2011)
Cloud Atlas (2012)
Compliance (2012)
Copie Conforme (Certified Copy) (2011)

D
~ ~
Dallas Buyers Club (2013)
Dangerous Liaisons (危險關係) (2012)
A Dangerous Method (2011)
The Deep (2013)
The Deep Blue Sea (2012)
The Descendants (2011)
Despicable Me 2 (2013)
Django Unchained (2012)
Don Jon (2013)
Drive (2011)

E
~ ~
Elysium (2013)
Enough Said (2013)
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011)

F
~ ~
50/50 (2011)
Flight (2012)
Footnote (2012)
Frances Ha (2013)
Frankenweenie (2012)
Frozen (2013)
Fruitvale Station (2013)

G
~ ~
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
Goodbye First Love (2012)
The Grandmaster (2013)
Gravity (2013)
The Great Beauty (2013)
The Great Gatsby (2013)

H
~ ~
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)
Le Havre (2011)
Haywire (2012)
The Help (2011)
Her (2013)
Hitchcock (2012)
The Hobbit: an Unexpected Journey (2012)
The Hobbit: the Desolation of Smaug (2013)
Holy Motors (2012)
Hugo (2011)
The Hunt (2013)
Hyde Park on Hudson (2012)

I
~ ~
The Ides of March (2011)
Immortals (2011)
The Impossible (2012)
In a Better World (2011)
In Darkness (2011)
In the House (2013)
In Time (2011)
Incendies (2011)
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
The Invisible Woman (2013)
The Iron Lady (2011)
Iron Man 3 (2013)

J
~ ~
J. Edgar (2011)
Jane Eyre (2011)
John Carter (2012)

K
~ ~
Killer Joe (2012)
The Kings of Summer (2013)
Kon-Tiki (2013)
Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)

L
~ ~
Labor Day (2013)
Life of Pi (2012)
Lincoln (2012)
The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)
The Lone Ranger (2013)
Lone Survivor (2013)
The Lucky One (2012)

M
~ ~
Magic Mike (2012)
Man of Steel (2013)
The Man with the Iron Fists (2012)
Margin Call (2011)
Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)
The Master (2012)
Melancholia (2011)
Midnight in Paris (2011)
Mirror Mirror (2012)
Les Misérables (2012)
Moneyball (2011)
Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
Monsieur Lazhar (2012)
Monsters University (2013)
Mud (2013)
The Muppets (2011)
My Week with Marilyn (2011)

N
~ ~
Nebraska (2013)
No (2013)

O
~ ~
Oblivion (2013)
Only God Forgives (2013)

P
~ ~
Pacific Rim (2013)
Pain & Gain (2013)
ParaNorman (2012)
The Past (2013)
Philomena (2013)
Pieta (2013)
The Pirates! Band of Misfits (2012)
The Place beyond the Pines (2013)
Prisoners (2013)
Prometheus (2012)
Puncture (2011)

Q
~ ~
Le Quattro Volte (2011)

R
~ ~
Rango (2011)
Real Steel (2011)
Rio (2011)
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)
A Royal Affair (2012)
The Rum Diary (2011)
Rush (2013)
Rust and Bone (2012)

S
~ ~
Saving Mr. Banks (2013)
A Separation (2011)
The Sessions (2012)
Seven Psychopaths (2012)
Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
The Skin I Live In (2011)
Skyfall (2012)
Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)
The Spectacular Now (2013)
Spring Breakers (2013)
Stoker (2013)
Super 8 (2011)

T
~ ~
Ted (2012)
This Is 40 (2012)
The Three Musketeers (2011)
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)
To Rome with Love (2012)
Trance (2013)
Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)
The Tree of Life (2011)
12 Years a Slave (2013)
Tyrannosaur (2011)

U
~ ~
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2011)

W
~ ~
War Horse (2011)
War Witch (2013)
Warrior (2011)
The Way Way Back (2013)
Weekend (2011)
Win Win (2011)
The Wind Rises (2013)
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
The Wolverine (2013)
World War Z (2013)
Wreck-it Ralph (2012)

Z
~ ~
Zero Dark Thirty (2012)

Movie Blog?

I love having a movie blog.
I hate living in Tallahassee.
There are so many movies I still want to see for 2010.
Can I see any of them? No.
This is me complaining about it.
Okay. I'll shut up now.

Why Am I Not in New York for This?

Best Supporting Actress 2010

My top choices in the order I would place them on my Academy ballot if I were allowed to vote. I have five with one runner-up:

S. EPATHA MERKERSON, Mother and Child


DALE DICKEY, Winter's Bone


SISSY SPACEK, Get Low


BARBARA HERSHEY, Black Swan


MELISSA LEO, The Fighter

Runner-up:

BLAKE LIVELY, The Town

Related:
My Best Supporting Actress Picks for 2009
My Best Supporting Actress Picks for 2008
My Best Supporting Actress Picks for 2007

Best Supporting Actor 2010

My top choices in the order I would place them on my Academy ballot if I were allowed to vote. I have five favorites with two runners-up:

GUSTAF SKARSGÅRD, The Way Back


GUILLERMO FRANCELLA, El Secreto de Sus Ojos
(The Secret in Their Eyes)


BARRY PEPPER, True Grit


ARMIE HAMMER, The Social Network


MARK RUFFALO, The Kids Are All Right

Runners-up in alphabetical order:

LUCAS BLACK, Get Low


MANOLO CARDONA, Contracorriente (Undertow)


PABLO RAGO, El Secreto de Sus Ojos
(The Secret in Their Eyes)

Related:
My Best Supporting Actor Picks for 2009
My Best Supporting Actor Picks for 2008
My Best Supporting Actor Picks for 2007

Love This

Best Actress 2010

My top choices in the order I would place them on my Academy ballot if I were allowed to vote:

LESLEY MANVILLE, Another Year


TILDA SWINTON, Io Sono l'Amore (I Am Love)

KRISTIN SCOTT THOMAS, Partir (Leaving)


ANNETTE BENING, The Kids Are All Right


NATALIE PORTMAN, Black Swan

Runners-up in alphabetical order:
Annette Bening, Mother and Child
Noomi Rapace, Män Som Hatar Kvinnor (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)
Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

Related:
My Best Actress picks for 2009
My Best Actress picks for 2008
My Best Actress picks for 2007

Best Actor 2010

My top choices in the order I would place them on my Academy ballot if I were allowed to vote:

TAHAR RAHIM, Une Prophète (A Prophet)


ROBERT DUVALL, Get Low


JESSE EISENBERG, The Social Network


JAMES FRANCO, 127 Hours


COLIN FIRTH, The King's Speech

Runners-up, alphabetically:
BEN AFFLECK, The Town
CHRISTIAN BALE, The Fighter
RYAN GOSLING, Blue Valentine
CRISTIAN MERCADO, Contracorriente (Undertow)

Related:
My Best Actor picks for 2009
My Best Actor picks for 2008
My Best Actor picks for 2007