My 2011 Oscar Predictions: Who Will Win?

BEST PICTURE

Will Win: ‘The King’s Speech’
Watch out for: ‘The Social Network’
My vote: ‘Black Swan’

BEST DIRECTOR

Will Win: Tom Hooper
Watch out for: David Fincher
My vote: Darren Aronofsky

BEST ACTOR

Will win: Colin Firth, ‘The King’s Speech’
Watch out for: none
My vote: Javier Bardem, ‘Biutiful’

BEST ACTRESS

Will win: Natalie Portman, ‘Black Swan’
Watch out for: Annette Benning, ‘The Kids Are All Right’
My vote: Natalie Portman

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Will win: Christian Bale, ‘The Fighter’
Watch out for: none
My vote: Bale is good, but I was actually more impressed by John Hawkes

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Will win: Melissa Leo
Watch out for: Hailee Steinfeld, ‘True Grit’
My vote: Hailee Steinfeld

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Will win: ‘Inside Job’
Watch out for: ‘Exit through the Gift Shop’
My vote: –

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

Will win: ‘Toy Story 3’
Watch out for: none
My vote: ‘Toy Story 3’ (In time: I’ve seen ‘The Illusionist’ trailer in the movies this weekend and it stunned me)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Will win: ‘The King’s Speech’
Watch out for: ‘Inception’
My vote: ‘Another Year’

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Will win: ‘The Social Network’
Watch out for: none
My vote: ‘Winter’s Bone’

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Will win: ‘In a Better World’
Watch out for: ‘Biutiful’
My vote: ‘Biutiful’

BEST ART DIRECTION

Will win: ‘Alice in Wonderland’
Watch out for: ‘The King’s Speech’
My vote: ‘Alice in Wonderland’

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Will win: ‘True Grit’
Watch out for: ‘Inception’
My vote: This is a tie between ‘Black Swan’ and ‘True Grit’

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Will win: ‘The King’s Speech’
Watch out for: ‘Alice in Wonderland’
My vote: ‘Alice in Wonderland’

BEST FILM EDITING

Will win: ‘The Social Network’
Watch out for: ‘The King’s Speech’
My vote: ‘Black Swan’

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Will win: ‘The Social Network’
Watch out for: ‘The King’s Speech’
My vote: –

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

Will win: I actually have no idea… ‘We Belong Together’ from ‘Toy Story 3’?
Watch out for: ‘I See the Light’, ‘If I Rise’…
My vote: –

BEST SOUND MIXING

Will win: ‘Inception’
Watch out for: ‘The Social Network’
My vote: ‘True Grit’

BEST SOUND EDITING

 

Will win: ‘Inception’
Watch out for: ‘True Grit’
My vote: ‘Toy Story 3’

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Will win: ‘Inception’
Watch out for: ‘Alice in Wonderland’
My vote: ‘Inception’

BEST MAKE UP

 

Will win: ‘The Wolfman’
Watch out for: ?
My vote: –

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM

Will win: ‘Day & Night’
Watch out for: ?
My vote: –

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT

 

Will win: ‘Strangers No More’
Watch out for: ‘Killing in the Name’
My vote: –

BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT

 

Will win: ‘Na Wewe’
Watch out for: ?
My vote: –

Alright, gentlemen, shall we begin 1965?

I’m a huge Mad Men fan, and it goes far beyond Betty Draper’s costumes. I’m not really into following lots of TV series, even the hyped ones (never saw a single Lost episode in my life), but ever since watching Mad Men‘s pilot, I wanted to see the next episode and the next one and the next one… Of course I don’t have the required patience to wait for them to be broadcasted on danish TV (who the hell does?!?), so…. I’m currently “already” watching season 4. We have seen a few hints of slight change in the past season (remember one of Don’s mistresses’ beatnik friends?), but the real 1960’s has finally begun, and don’t you just love the signs? Of course change comes slowly, and a considerable part of the characters still live in the errr…. 1950’s. Pete Campbell, for instance. I loved that scene when he, in all his future daddy-to-be glory is making business with possibly equally respectable family men whereas Peggy is leaving for lunch and fun with her artsy pals. And then he notices her gaze, she smiles, and it’s such an enigmatic smile…

Peggy is a chapter apart. Like all major female characters in the show, she’s particularly complex. A feminist, indeed, ahead of her time as well, and who would have said so? (Remember her suggesting you know what to Don in her first week at work as a plain secretary?) Peggy is capable of abandoning her newborn in the name of ambition (what else, then? she even knew she could have had Pete if she wanted), of sleeping with a much older man for pure lust, but then she fakes a so-called virginity to her fiance… (I don’t think I actually understood why). It’s also interesting to see her swinging between 3 worlds: her job as a copywriter at the agency, her family, her friends… The latter makes her look more conservative than she actually thinks she is, although that moment she said yes, please to a joint was epic. She clearly had a catholic upbringing, which may explain why she still acts a certain way sometimes. And why she can tolerate certain things at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, that despite its modern makeup has A LOT to change. Only the thirst for money makes those Ad men sound progressive. Or not even that. Roger Sterling, really? No business with the yellow people? Because of World War II?!?

Characters such as Peggy have started a silent revolution. Of course the real revolution will begin a few years from now, when Sally Draper is a teen. I don’t think the show will last this long (I wish!), but I smile even now by imagining Sally rebelling against that terrible mother of hers, and taking part in political actions of her time. As for now, Peggy should dump that boring boyfriend of hers and have a lesbian affair with that pretentious photographer who doesn’t wear makeup and probably don’t even shave her armpits instead. Oh, and I miss Sal! He deserves to come back to the show, this time as a proud gay man. Let the real 1960’s begin.

P.S.: This song reminds me of Peggy ^.^

they didn’t want to belong.

Innocence (2004), The Virgin Suicides, Picnic at Hanging Rock.

the wings of the dove.

I don’t know why I had waited so long to see this film, and now I see how I had judged it wrong, imagining it to be a sort of romantic threesome in Italy. It’s simply a period love tale, predictable – though at the same time revealing unexpected results. Seeing it with modern eyes, it might seem slightly moralistic, but that’s what has made it so heartbreaking. And isn’t Helena Bonham Carter wonderful? It’s shivering to see her character’s transformation, from an apparently naive girl willing to give up a life of wealth for love, to a sagacious, even cold woman who desires everything.

one hundred days after childhood.

I really wanna see this film.

love story.

Please, HELP! I wanna see this film so badly, but can’t find it anywhere…

stories.

Some of you must be familiar with the work of the young swedish photographer Arvida, but I’m not sure if you’ve already seen the videos she’s been making and displaying on the blog entitled Stories, which is runned “by Arvida Byström and you”, in the artist’s own words. I have followed these stories from the beggining, and every single episode makes me look forward to the next one.

A Single Man

I’m so looking forward to seeing this film, everything looks so pretty in it.

Oskar.

Anthony, bullied at school
Get your own back now you are cool
Or are you scared bunking off though you’re a toff?
It’s all gone wrong again, you’ve got Double Maths. 

But the teacher’s got no control
The boys all run riot
“You will stay quiet or you will die.”

Tony, at the back of the gym
Smoke another one, your chances are slim,
‘Cause here they come again
And they got you on the ground.
Tasting blood again;
At least it’s your own.

“It was to be two and a half weeks of travelling before the Dauphine was officially handed over to France. Marie Antoinette would in effect cross the whole of central Europe in her passage from Vienna to Versailles. She spent a great deal of this time cooped up in her velvet-and-gold carriage; sometimes the day’s journey would last over nine hours. Essentially she was a royal package, sealed with the double-headed eagle of the Habsburgs and the fleur-de-lys of the Bourbons.”  (Antonia Fraser, Marie Antoinette)