The Big Guessy Game.

GOLDEN GLOBE….BAFTA….OSCARS..

A coupla years ago I wrote the following for Reelshow Mag.

 

The sceeners for next years Oscars will soon be winging their way over to me...one of the great things about being a voting member of BAFTA...and the great guessing game begins.

See how accurate I was with my choices below 

 

February 15, 2011 by Richard Dodd

Ok..we have had the rest now try the best..Its the BIG one

OSCAR Time

Male Actors.
 
Bardem….Beautiful….wonderful performance, as always. This fella can really act and is probably among the top ten globally.

Bridges….True Grit…Another screen giant he always seems to fill the screen with his personality and in this role he had a legend to portray..He did it as well as anyone could…Even Wayne.

Eisenberg….Social Network ,..A very difficult role with what should have been a very boring story, but Eisenberg made it something else…not an Oscar winner tho…maybe it had something to do with the SouthPark delivery.

Firth….The Kings Speech…Never been a fan of Mr Firth ..I always thought he was playing himself all the time. I was reluctant to watch this movie..to date I have seen it at least three times…Maybe Firth was born to play this particular role.

Franco..127 Hours…I never saw this movie so cannot judge but the accounts from other sources give Mr Franco a pat on the back.

Result….Firth…..He is bloody brilliant..

Leading Actresses.

Bening…The Kids are All Right….ok..but it did not grab me…no real highs or lows.

Kidman…Rabbit Hole same as above…forgotten the movie already..Usual solid performance from Nicole tho..

Lawrence…Winters Bone…didn’t see the movie.

Portman….Black Swan…If there was ever something designed to make me want to blow my brains out it is films about ballet dancers..this is a good example of that. Portman does it well tho..

Williams…Blue Valentine….I don’t think I managed to stay for the entire movie.

Result…By a country mile…Portman

Supporting Actors.

Bale…The Fighter…Bale was acting his heart out with this…and it showed…its not supposed to..

Hawkes…Winters Bone….Didn’t see the movie..

Remmer…The Town…cant remember him..

Mark Ruffallo…The Kids are All Right… He got lost in the crowd here..

Rush…The Kings Speech…Wonderful…simply wonderful..

Result….Rush..


Supporting Actresses.

Adams..The Fighter..Hmmm.

Bonham Carter…The Kings Speech…made the old Queen Mum quite sexy..Played it well.

Lee…The Fighter….Hmmm.

Steinfeld…True Grit….made the movie for me..

Weaver…Animal Kingdom…Didn’t see the movie..

Result…Steinfeld….by a short nose..


Animation.

How to train your Dragon…Loved it..

The Illusionist….didn’t see the movie..

Toy Shop…Brilliant..as usual..and therein lies the problem

Result…How to train your Dragon


Directors.

Aronovsky…The Black Swan…Excellent work…made even ballet dancing seem entertaining…some nice sex scenes …scary stuff.

O Russell…The Fighter…Competent..just did not get to gonad grabbing level..

Hooper…The Kings Speech…This fella took a story about someone’s speech impediment…yes that’s what its about.. someone who cant speak properly..and has made a block buster out of it…How Fecking clever is that…and it looks brilliant..

Pincher…Social Network…very good movie..wrong year..

Coen Brothers…True Grit…why did they feel the need to bother..competently done as usual. but hey…go look at the original.

Result…The Kings Speech..Tom Hooper…for its sheer chutzpah..

The Academy may see things somewhat differently to me…surprise surprise..They won’t be too keen on another Brit film picking up the top awards so there might be a little partisanship creeping in..Thats OK its their festival…but we will be back…dadum.

Richard Dodd  D.O.P