Black Swan (Oscar Review)

Any category that has Win next to it is a category in which I think the film will win.


5 Nominations
Best Picture
Best Director: Darren Aronofsky
Best Actress: Natalie Portman (Win)
Best Cinematography: Matthew Libatique (Win)
Best Editing: Andrew Weisblum

Natalie Portman is an actress often associated with either The Professional or the Star Wars prequels, films that don't really show her chops as an actress.  Some films that she's great in but aren't as widely known are Garden State and Brothers.  Her performance in Black Swan falls into this latter category.  She plays a character so unlike how she is in real life that its amazing how well she pulls it off.  The character arc for Nina (Portman) is such that it requires Portman to go through the full range of emotions.  Much like James Franco in 127 Hours the entire film resides on Portman's shoulders, and if she didn't pull it off it would have made Black Swan a run of the mill thriller as opposed to the impressive freudian allegory that it is.



Even though a good 20% of the movie takes place with the camera behind Portman's head, Matthew Libatique's cinematography is impressive.  The movie is about a ballerina, and Libatique found a way to shoot ballet that essentially made the camera one of the dancers, easily conveying the sense of speed and grace that is ballet, but usually doesn't make the jump from stage to screen.  The camera has a constant fluidity to it throughout the film, and is very clearly not in any physical space, a fact made unnervingly obvious during scenes in which the camera has no reflection.  

127 Hours (Oscar Review)

Any category that has Win next to it is a category in which I think the film will win.


6 Nominations
Best Picture
Best Actor: James Franco
Best Adapted Screenplay: Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy
Best Original Score: A. R. Rahman
Best Original Song: A.R. Rahman, Rollo Armstrong, and Dido
Best Film Editing: Jon Harris (Win)


Because the movie takes place in such a cramped location the importance of editing is made more obvious.  Trying to keep up the energy of the film falls more heavily on the editor in this film than in most.  In addition to that the film relies pretty extensively on tri-split screen, and keeping three images in aesthetic unison is no small task.  The editing is also something of a masterpiece in keeping the film so short.  Just long enough to give the film an emotional impact while not becoming tedious.

The Social Network (Oscar Review)

Any category that has Win next to it is a category in which I think the film will win.


8 Nominations
Best Picture (Win)
Best Director: David Fincher (Win)
Best Actor: Jesse Eisenberg
Best Adapted Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin (Win)
Best Original Score: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (Win)
Best Sound Mixing: Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick, and Mark Weingarten
Best Cinematography: Jeff Cronenweth
Best Film Editing: Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter


The Social Network was a movie that had everyone laughing when it was announced.  "A facebook movie?" the world said, and then went laughing away waiting for better fare to come out.  From these, extremely, humble beginnings, The Social Network has emerged as the frontrunner for best picture with The King's Speech being its only real contender.  The film's success has a lot to do with the writing and directing, as opposed to the acting, which is usually what a films success is based on.

David Fincher's films have a certain feel to them, usually they take place in gritty, rundown, urban areas.  The Social Network lacks all of these.  The clean and crisp feel is juxtaposed to the grittiness of the characters, none of whom are what one might call "good".  The kinetic nature of Fincher's style keeps a story without any real action that relies entirely on dialogue interesting to a mainstream audience.


Aaron Sorkin is often considered one of the greatest living screenwriters, he is known for his heavy use of diologue, something often avoided in filmmaking, given that it is a visual medium.  His script for The Social Network (which is not 100% accurate, contrary to popular belief) makes the main character into something of a supporting character, as other people fight for him and over him.  This method of detaching the protagonist from the action is seldom used in cinema due to the logistics of having a protagonist whose main purpose in a film is to be unlikeable.  It's lucky for Sorkin that FIncher was the director, as he has experience with antiheroic voyeuristic main characters.


The music for the film has both classical tones, as well as more modern punk and electronic sounds.  The style that Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross use has a very gritty style juxtaposed against the pristine visuals.  The most famouse piece Hand Covers Bruise is played on top of almost surgically clean shots, but has a scraping violin background.  The Academy has been trying to reach a younger audience in recent years and a win going to a hipper musician might be what they need (along with nominating a notoriously anonymous street artist, Banksy)

Inception (Oscar Review)

Any category that has Win next to it is a category in which I think the film will win.



8 Nominations
Best Picture
Best Original Screenplay: Christopher Nolan
Best Original Score: Hans Zimmer
Best Sound Editing: Richard King (Win)
Best Sound Mixing: Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo, and Ed Novik (Win)
Best Art Direction: Guy Hendrix Dyas, Larry Dias, and Doug Mowat (Win)
Best Cinematography: Wally Pfister
Best Visual Effects: Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley, and Peter Bebb (Win)


The two sound categories have a tendency to win together due to the close work that the nominees have to do together in both categories.  One of the most subconscious things in Inception are the sound cues throughout the film.  The music and the sound are intrinsically linked and the way that sound plays such an important part in the plot will no doubt be noticed by the Academy.  Their are minute things that make important sounds, such as the spinning top.  As well as sounds that had to be mixed to be identical multiple times over, such as the recurring train.

Something interesting that happened at the oscars this year was the lack of a nomination for Nolan in the Best Director category.  The Art Direction nomination might have something to do with that.  The intricate quality of Inception is heavily influenced by the art directors, and many of Nolan's directorial choices would go through them to be made for the screen.  The entire layout of each of the dream levels had to be made in such a way as to allow for all of them to feel very much in reality but also be utterly unique to each other.

The special effects in Inception are groundbreaking.  This is the first time in cinema history that a 360 degree gimble has been used (the device used to spin the hallway).  That along with the mind bending nature of many of the dream sequences, such as the penrose stairs, and the folding city, ensure this award.

True Grit (Oscar Review)

Any category that has Win next to it is a category in which I think the film will win.


10 Nominations
Best Picture
Best Director: Joel and Ethan Coen
Best Actor: Jeff Bridges
Best Supporting Actress: Hailee Steinfeld
Best Adapted Screenplay: Joel and Ethan Coen
Best Sound Editing: Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
Best Sound Mixing: Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff, and Peter F. Kurland
Best Art Direction: Jess Gonchor and Nancy Haigh
Best Cinematography: Roger Deacons
Best Costume Design: Mary Zophres (Win)

The costume design in True Grit is great in that all the costumes are clearly from the same time period but differ for each character.  Rooster Cogburn's (Bridges) rundown duster with his ever present eye patch give the impression of a man who had a prime at one time, but has since passed it.  The simple dress that Mattie Ross (Steingeld) wears in the beginning of the film, indicates her simple manner, and disregard for beautifying herself.  As the film progresses she changes into more manly attire, but does not pretend to be a man.  The difficult task was keeping all the different costumes unique, given the limited color pallet, as well as the heavy use of leather and corduroy worn by people living in the old west.

The King's Speech (Oscar Review)

Any category that has Win next to it is a category in which I think the film will win.

12 Nominations
Best Picture
Best Director: Tom Hooper
Best Actor: Colin Firth (Win)
Best Supporting Actor: Geoffrey Rush
Best Supporting Actress: Helenha Bonham Carter
Best Original Screenplay: David Seidler (Win)
Best Original Score: Alexandre Desplat
Best Sound Mixing: Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen, and John Midgley
Best Art Direction: Eve Stewart, Judy Farr
Best Cinematography: Danny Cohen
Best Costume Design: Jenny Beavan
Best Film Editing: Tariq Anwar


The King's Speech is the kind of film that has been getting oscar buzz since it first showed up in the oscar circuit.  Colin Firth, has been the frontrunner for this award since the film was released to the public.  Although I personally think that James Franco should win the award, I see the appeal of Firth.  He plays a character who is attempting to overcome an obstacle and though he's perfect as the role, and the speech impediment seems real, his character doesn't really have much of an arc, and Firth doesn't really get to show off his full acting range in the part.

The screenplay is witty and meaningful.  Many of the lines between Logue (Rush) and Prince Albert (Firth) are taken straight from the real life Logue's notes.  Although the dialogue doesn't have the same staccato and wit that The Social Network has it certainly beats out the other contenders in the category, none of which really rely on wordsmithing in the way The King's Speech does. 

This Blog

So I have decided to begin a blog about movies.  I will typically be doing movie reviews but I'll also be mentioning any major events that are going on in the film industry, for example my first blog will be about the 2010 Oscar Nominations.  My Name is Alex Galloway and I'm an aspiring filmmaker.  The main film crew I work with is Golden Lobster Films (found HERE).  Ive seen round about a 1000 films, give or take, and am a fan of most genres.