Texarkana Entertainment Blog

We are three days out from Oscar giveaway day, and only now do I have time to look at the list of nominees more closely to see who I predict to win the big prizes.

More and more, I think the buzz will be borne out with victories for “The Artist,” which in addition to a lot of positive chatter has brought home BAFTAs and Golden Globe victories. Its Oscar victory seems inevitable. For a few months, I thought “Hugo” would be the winner, but I think the Michel Hazanavicius silent flick carries too much feel-good nostalgia about cinema history to be denied. Hollywood will feel good giving it the nod here at the Academy Awards, and Hollywood—as a colossal, dream-making machine—likes to pat itself on the back—not necessarily such a bad thing here with a movie that has been heaped with such near-universal adulation.

I’ll take Jean Dujardin over George Clooney and Gary Oldman (who maybe, just maybe, could win it) for the Best Actor in a Leading Role, the great Christopher Plummer for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Viola Davis from “The Help” (over steely Meryl Streep in “The Iron Lady”) for Best Actress in a Leading Role, and Octavia Spencer for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.

I love Davis and will also absolutely love seeing her on stage as an Oscar winner. I’m also rooting big for the ditty “Man or Muppet” to take home a win for “The Muppets,” which I would have liked to see land more nominations. I’m hopeful it will reel in Best Original Song.

I’ll tap Hazanavicius for Best Director, though perhaps Woody Allen could sneak in with a win? Animated Feature Film? “Puss in Boots.” Foreign Language Film? “A Separation” from Iran, which would be quite a proud achievement for the film scene there, to say the least.

What do you think?

- Aaron Brand

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Academy Award nominations were announced this week. Ten films stack up as Best Picture nominees and I suspect “The Social Network” hype may have peaked too soon for it to be a lock as the winner. The fun Facebook flick rode waves of year-end adulation, but I’m hoping Academy voters see it for what it is: a bit shallow for a true Best Picture. I loved “The Social Network” because it made social connections and whizkid entrepreneurship seem sexy and exciting. It’s one of the best movies of 2010 and totally enjoyable, but, seriously here, stacked up against great movies like “Inception” or “True Grit” it seems a bit paltry. As for a winner, I like “The King’s Speech” or maybe even “True Grit” more and more as upset hopefuls given their nomination tallies. I don’t think “Inception” stands a chance, unfortunately, but would love to be wrong.

While most nominations seemed plausible, there is one glaring omission. The intricate puzzle created by Christopher Nolan in “Inception” failed to land its director a nomination, which is inexcusable. I’d much prefer a Best Direction nomination for Nolan over the  overwrought work in “Black Swan.” I suspect David Fincher’s competency in “The Social Network” may win in the end. Hopefully, partial amends will be made by honoring Nolan for his original screenplay work.

A fantastic inclusion in the Best Documentary Feature category is “Exit Through the Gift Shop,” the sly Banksy examination of graffiti art, hype and artistic obsessions. Immensely entertaining, it’s also a thoughtful film, one of the best I saw last year.

Here are some other (tentative) picks for Oscar winners: Colin Firth for Best Actor, Christian Bale for Best Supporting Actor, Natalie Portman for “Black Swan,” and “Toy Story 3″ for Best Animated Feature Film. I have no idea on Best Supporting Actress, though I’d love to see Hailee Steinfeld win for her wise-beyond-her-years work in “True Grit.”

- Aaron Brand

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Now out on DVD is a movie generating a lot of buzz as one of the best of the year, “The Hurt Locker.” The Kathryn Bigelow-directed film has landed on many “Best of 2009″ lists, though it only saw a limited release this past year. I don’t know the reasons behind that decision, but it’s too bad the movie didn’t get wider distribution. It deserved it. A suspenseful, thoughtful film about the experience of war, “The Hurt Locker” follows an American bomb squad in Iraq and its new leader, Staff Sergeant William James, who has a unique and what appears at first to be a reckless and dangerous approach to his job. James and his two EOD (Explosive Ordnance Device) partners, Sanborn and Eldridge, tackle tricky, tense situations on the streets of Baghdad, and the movie’s pace seems to capture that frenetic madness they face every day. With only 38 days left on their tour, the tension mounts: Will they make it home? For her great direction, Bigelow has an outside chance at landing an Oscar for best director, I think, even if James Cameron took home top director honors at the Golden Globe Awards. Her style here makes you feel as if you’ve been dropped directly into the combat zone. It’s a great film and highly recommended.

- Aaron Brand

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I vowed in my advance Oscars story on a Sunday Accent page that I’d eat my keyboard if Heath Ledger didn’t win an Academy Award last night.

Well, thank goodness he did indeed win in one of the more touching moments in recent Oscar history. (By the way, the photographers here were ready to take photos of me and the keyboard if I’d lost out.) Last night, I thought the Ledger family’s appreciation for the film community and their choice to celebrate Heath’s life work softened some of the dramatic blow of the moment. Good on them. 

Here are some random thoughts on last night’s show. It sure was cute to see the “Slumdog Millionaire” kids up there on stage at night’s end. They’ve made an incredible journey. And that movie. It went from nowhere-on-the-radar to the all-but-inevitable best motion picture choice in a few weeks. The introduction of the nominees for acting awards this year gave the actors their proper due; it was nice to hear why they were nominated, and can you imagine being an actress introduced to the world by Sophia Loren? Kate Winslet’s win was long overdue, and her speech was every bit as emotional as we could imagine. She’s the best actress out there now. As to the song-and-dance numbers, they were a bit more engaging than the usual fare, I thought, and Hugh Jackman was a fun master of ceremonies. Though I didn’t pick all the winners, I didn’t think there were any big surprises last night. 

On that note, it looks like “Slumdog Millionaire” is FINALLY at the local Cinemark theater. Go see it. 

- Aaron Brand

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That’s how the nominees shape up for the 81st Annual Academy Awards.

“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” earned 13 nominations while “Slumdog Millionaire” garnered 10, both landing nods for the Best Picture category. Other nominees for that most coveted award are “Frost/Nixon,” “Milk,” and “The Reader.” I still think “Slumdog” has the upper hand (and have predicted it will win on this blog), but that many noms (and Brad Pitt’s great performance) make “Button” a powerhouse. Despite the bleak setting and some brutal sights, “Slumdog Millionaire” is essentially a romantic, life-affirming film about destiny, the kind of film perfect for big Oscar. But “Benjamin Button” is artful and masterful, weird and wonderful, and has hearthrob starpower in Pitt. I’ll root for “Slumdog” but if “Benjamin Button” should win, I’ll be nearly as happy. 

The surefire chatter is bound to bubble over “The Dark Knight” and its lack of a Best Picture nomination. A couple aspects of the film may have barred it from getting a best flick nomination – its massive, mainstream popularity, for one thing, and the fact it’s a pretty bleak and scary film. Heath Ledger, to no one’s surprise, gets a Best Actor in a Supporting Role nomination. I believe he’ll win. 

The other categories I’m still pondering. 

A full list of nominees: 81st Annual Academy Awards. 

- Aaron Brand

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