Oscars: A Stream of Consciousness, Part 13

Best Picture

Prediction: The King's Speech

Winner: The King's Speech

16/20. 80%. I wish that score were lower.

The King's Speech: 4

Inception: 4

The Social Network: 3

The Fighter: 2

Toy Story 3: 2

Alice in Wonderland: 2

Black Swan: 1

The Wolfman: 1

True Grit: 0

Winter's Bone: 0

The Kids Are All Right: 0

127 Hours: 0

Best Picture: The King's Speech

Best Director: Tom Hooper, The King's Speech

Best Original Screenplay: David Seidler, The King's Speech

Best Adapted Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network

Best Actor: Colin Firth, The King's Speech

Best Actress: Natalie Portman, Black Swan

Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, The Fighter

Best Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo, The Fighter

Best Editing: The Social Network

Best Cinematography: Inception

Best Art Direction: Alice in Wonderland

Best Visual Effects: Inception

Best Sound Mixing: Inception

Best Sound Editing: Inception

Best Original Score: The Social Network

Best Original Song: Toy Story 3

Best Animated Film: Toy Story 3

Best Documentary: Inside Job

Best Costume: Alice in Wonderland

Best Makeup/Hair: The Wolfman

Oscars: A Stream of Consciousness, Part 12

I don't have the heart to offer any more commentary. Bleh.

Best Actress in a Leading Role

Prediction: Natalie Portman for Black Swan

Winner: Natalie Portman

14/18

Best Actor in a Leading Role

Prediction: Colin Firth for The King's Speech

Winner: Colin Firth

15/19

Oscars: A Stream of Consciousness, Part 11

In Memoriam montage. Irvin Kirshner died! So sad.

-commercial break-

We're on the final four. Actor, Actress, Director, Picture.

Best Director

Prediction: David Fincher for Director

Hilary Swank is presenting? Oh, just introducing Kathryn Bigelow.

If Tom Hooper wins Best Director then it's over and TKS wins the night. If Fincher wins, it's still up in the air. But it's still totally headed in Social Network's way. Things are unexpectedly working out in its favor, not necessarily in beating TKS, but in everything else beating TKS in the minor and tech categories.

This is it. This is what this season is coming down to. Will there be a split? History is being made either way. Here we go.

Winner: TOM HOOPER??????????? NO NO NO NO NO. NOOOOOOO. No!

The King's Speech is going to win Best Picture. Sasha Stone was half-right. Wow. What a boring conclusion to the Oscars. He does NOT deserve this. Fincher does. Nolan does. Even Aronofsky. Such a year for visionary filmmakers, and the most blandly-directed film gets Picture and Director. A travesty. It's over, and it's sad. A tragic ending.

13/17.

Oscars: A Stream of Consciousness, Part 10

It all depends on Director. Or does it? Fincher was already the favorite to win Director, as King's Speech was already the favorite to win Picture. So it looks like we'll still be in complete suspense all the way up to the end, no matter what wins what from here on out.

Okay, back to finishing up Best Original Song.

Prediction: again, Randy Newman for Toy Story 3

Winner: Randy Newman.

13/16

Oscars: A Stream of Consciousness, Part 9

Anne Hathaway presents...Billy Crystal! Probably the best Oscar host ever. I haven't seen him anywhere in a while. I miss him.

Doing a tribute to Bob Hope, who hosted the Oscars 18 times. Very good, very funny stuff. But ho-hum, really.

True Grit didn't win anything tonight. Not even cinematography. Not even costumes. Not even sound. TKS has only won one. This night could end in a thousand different ways.

Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law presenting something. They played the Sherlock Holmes score as they entered! I LOVE that score.

Best Visual Effects

Prediction: of COURSE I am predicting Inception.

Winner: Inception! That's four Oscars now. Should have been five with Art Direction, but that's okay. Woowoo! It's won the most awards so far tonight. One of the winners: "I feel like that top is still spinning...and I don't care anymore." Brilliant line.

11/14.

Best Editing

An absolute shame they didn't nominate Lee Smith for Inception. That's one of those integral components that MADE that film.

Prediction: The Social Network, of course. Editing made that film as much as Lee Smith made Inception.

Winner: The Social Network, of course! Perfect. Incredibly deserving. That's three wins so far for TSN; Score, Screenplay, and Editing.

I still have no idea what's going to happen in the end. Will The King's Speech end up eking out the win for Best Picture? It would be such a sparse win.

12/15.

Oscars: A Stream of Consciousness, Part 8

Kevin Spacey presenting Best Original Song. I don't care too much about this category, but I'ma guess...

Prediction: Randy Newman for his one song in Toy Story 3.

They're playing all the nominated songs. Some time to put down the laptop and cuddle with Nyssa.

Winner:

Wait, what? Commercial break after only two songs performed, and no award given? Eh.

Now they're doing Best Documentary Short. I'm not participating in this one. Nyssa's stirring the chocolate pudding. I'm going to have some. Again, same attitude for Best Live Action Short.

WOOOO. James Franco: "The year of the movie musical"; proof: a bunch of songs composed of autotuned film dialogue exchanges! Starting out with Harry Potter, and eventually Twilight, and some other in between. That was terrific. Or "amazing," as Nyssa says.

And now... OPRAH presenting an award! I guess she WAS nominated for The Color Purple...

Best Documentary Feature

Prediction: Inside Job

Probably Inside Job will win, but I want Exit Through the Gift Shop to win. It's my unofficial prediction. I hope it pulls it off.

Winner: Inside Job

10/13 (my score AND my birthday!)

Oscars: A Stream of Consciousness, Part 7

Commercials. I REALLY want to watch Inception again. The music makes me so nostalgic...

Cate Blanchett, the only woman to successfully play Elizabeth I, Katharine Hepburn, and Bob Dylan --- and to get Oscar-nominated for each role, and win for the middle.

Presenting Best Makeup.

Prediction: The Wolfman

Winner: The Wolfman.

Means nothing to me but another notch on my Oscar bed post.

9/11.

Best Costume Design

Prediction: The King's Speech

If TKS doesn't win this, its Best Pic chances have decreased significantly.

Winner: Alice in Wonderland! WHOA. TKS is, as Nyssa says, getting wiped up. Helena Bonham Carter made some shocked-looking facial expressions. The King's Speech can only win Actor and Director from here on out. What a skimpy Best Pic win if it does end up doing that!

9/12.

Oscars: A Stream of Consciousness, Part 6

Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman, probably Australia's two most prolific actors, are presenting the music awards! And the set played music from Star Wars, Lawrence of Arabia, E.T., and a couple others!

Best Original Score, woo WOOT.

Prediction: The Social Network, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.

I'm totally fine with TSN, Inception, or HTTYD. Not TKS or 127 Hours. A.R. Rahman is great, but eh. Not here. Desplat should have been nominated for The Ghost Writer, not The King's Speech.

Winner: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for The Social Network!

Not at ALL a King's Speech sweep as some have predicted! TSN has gotten both awards it's been nominated for so far, Adapted Screenplay and Score. TKS has only gotten Original Screenplay Could this indicate an upset for Best Pic?

6/8

Best Sound Mixing

Prediction: Inception.

If True Grit doesn't get either of the Sound awards, it won't have won anything this season!

Winner: Inception! Woo!

7/9

Best Sound Editing

Prediction: Inception

Winner: Inception!

8/10, and Inception has won 3 Oscars. Most of anyone so far, I think! And wow, all the winners have been really gracious to Christopher Nolan, the "creative force behind everything [they] did." If he can't get an official award tonight, at least he's getting his dues from his crew, who know how great a filmmaker he is.

Wonderful night so far.

Oscars: A Stream of Consciousness, Part 5

Skipping Best Foreign Film. Haven't seen any of them, but I probably should at some point.

Reese Witherspoon presenting for Best Supporting Actor!

Prediction: Christian Bale had BETTER win this. John Hawkes has a terrific face, but shouldn't have been nominated. Jeremy Renner should not have been nominated either. Sam Rockwell and Andrew Garfield should have been in their place. I like Mark Ruffalo, and am glad he's nominated. The trailer for The Brothers Bloom was kind of embarrassing for him. But he's not going to win. In any other year, I would want Geoffrey Rush to win; I love him and I love the role. But Bale deserves it.

Winner: CHRISTIAN BALE. An excellent choice. Best choice. His beard is so big! And he has no sideburns! What an incredible actor. Such a different person from his roles. A chameleon, like his Batman co-star Gary Oldman. Unrecognizable to the untrained eye.

5/7. Very nice showing so far.

Oscars: A Stream of Consciousness, Part 4

Gah! Technical troubles recovered just in time; back from commercials already.

Best Adapted Screenplay

Prediction: Aaron Sorkin for The Social Network, of course.

Winner: Aaron Sorkin. The most deserved award of the whole night. Well done, Mr. Sorkin.

3/5. Not bad so far.

Best Original Screenplay

Already? Wow, they're doing this quickly. Hoping for an upset for Christopher Nolan for Inception, just as an apology for snubbing him in the Director race, but this is David Seidler's to lose. I am madly anticipating this award.

Prediction: David Seidler for The King's Speech

Winner: David Seidler! I'm right. Not exactly how I would have liked it, but I am at peace with this. He's a great guy and his own personal story is really touching and inspiring. He used to be a stutterer himself, and now you can listen to how beautiful and composed his voice is. Good for him.

4/6. Commercial time.

So far no shockers except Pfister for Cinematography, which was so deliciously excellent. Very happy to have gotten that one wrong.

Oscars: A Stream of Consciousness, Part 3

I'm segmenting these Parts by commercial breaks.

So far NOT a King's Speech sweep! Excellent.

Kirk Douglas! Here to do something. Presenting? No, according to Nyssa, just standing around on stage. Oh! Here for Best Supporting Actress. Weird choice. Hailee Steinfeld or Melissa Leo? Or a shocker? This category is wide open. A very exciting thing.

Best Supporting Actress

Prediction: Melissa Leo for The Fighter.

Winner: Melissa Leo for The Fighter! This is good. Nothing against Helena Bonham Carter, but this is another indication that The King's Speech isn't going to sweep. Leo's being sweet. I like her. WHOA. She just dropped an F-bomb. Not the classiest acceptance. In the end I'm not sure if I like her too much.

1/3

Mila Kunis from Black Swan and Justin Timberlake from The Social Network (and a lot of other things) are here to present Best Animated Feature and Best Animated Short.

The latter goes to The Lost Thing. Okay, good to know. Wow, those two winners have incredibly variating heights. (I'm not counting this in my official tally.)

Kirk Douglas was being a bit odd. I'd love to know how scripted that was, if at all. Funny at first, but I'm sure all the nominees were dying inside. Nyssa and I got a bit frustrated as well.

Best Animated Feature

Prediction: Toy Story 3

Winner: Toy Story 3. Of course. But it would have been cool if How To Train Your Dragon had won. Toy Story 3 was objectively better, but HTTYD spoke to me more. Lee Unkrich. Kind of a weird, awkward name. But it's good that he's finally getting an award for all the excellent work he does at Pixar.

2/4 so far!

Technical troubles. The web page that was streaming the Oscars suddenly started showing some random Jerry Bruckheimer movie and we're trying to find another site. I think it would have been commercial time anyway. Close of Part 3.

Oscars: A Stream of Consciousness, Part 2

Oh goodness, a wonderful beginning to the ceremonies. A satire of the more iconic Best Picture nominees starring James Franco and Anne Hathaway. Alec Baldwin makes a cameo! They're invading his dreams. Using the Inception elevator to visit the different films. Morgan Freeman narrates Alec Baldwin's dreams....

And here they are, the hosts! James Franco and Anne Hathaway. Quite an unconventional choice, but looks to be inspired. They have good chemistry. I like her better than him, in any case. Of course, I will never forget Franco's line in 127 Hours --- "...Oops." But it doesn't look like they're getting as many laughs as was probably hoped.

Okay! Tom Hanks is called up to present. This is for.... Art Direction and Cinematography.

Predictions: respectively, Inception and True Grit.

Winner: Alice in Wonderland

Disappointing. That's okay. Ugh, I forgot we have to sit through speeches. Sigh.

But hey, King's Speech didn't win! So it isn't guaranteed for a sweep.

0/1 so far.

Winner: INCEPTION!!!!!!!!!!! Wally Pfister took it! WOOOOOHOOOOO. An upset! He finally gets one! Roger Deakins was expected to get it for True Grit, because he's been overdue for so long, but Pfister has too, and True Grit was NOT Deakins's best work! Yes!

0/2, but happily so!

Oscars: A Stream of Consciousness, Part 1

Accidentally tuned in early to the Oscars and am watching the red carpet with Nyssa. It's her fault. She woke me up early.

But thank goodness she did, because it's my mom's birthday! And I needed to call her before it all started.

Nyssa actually has things to say about the fashion on the red carpet! A new perspective on the night's events. But thank goodness it's ending. Time for movie business. Or maybe just commercials.

Tom Hanks is apparently presenting the first award. Traditionally this is either Best Supporting Actor or Actress, but I hear they might be switching it up this year. Doing this could indicate whether the night will be a King's Speech sweep (as many are predicting) or if the wealth is going to be shared around.

Oscar Predictions

BAFTAs came out today, the final major awards ceremony before the Oscars in two weeks. It is time to make my official predictions.

nominations first, then predicted winner

Best Picture:

The King's Speech

The Social Network

Inception

Black Swan

The Fighter

True Grit

The Kids Are All Right

Toy Story 3

Winter's Bone

127 Hours

Projected Winner: The King's Speech

Best Director:

Tom Hooper for The King's Speech

David Fincher for The Social Network

Darren Aronofsky for Black Swan

Joel and Ethan Coen for True Grit

David O. Russell for The Fighter

Projected Winner: David Fincher for The Social Network

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy for 127 Hours

Michael Arndt for Toy Story 3

Aaron Sorkin for The Social Network

Joel and Ethan Coen for True Grit

Debra Granik for Winter's Bone

Projected Winner: Aaron Sorkin for The Social Network

Best Original Screenplay:

David Siedler for The King's Speech

Christopher Nolan for Inception

Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg for The Kids Are All Right

Mike Leigh for Another Year

Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, and Eric Johnson for The Fighter

Projected Winner: Christopher Nolan for Inception

Best Actor in a Leading Role:

Jeff Bridges for True Grit

Javier Bardem for Biutiful

Colin Firth for The King's Speech

Jesse Eisenberg for The Social Network

James Franco for 127 Hours

Projected Winner: Colin Firth for The King's Speech

Best Actress in a Leading Role:

Annette Bening for The Kids Are All Right

Natalie Portman for Black Swan

Jennifer Lawrence for Winter's Bone

Nicole Kidman for Rabbit Hole

Michelle Williams for Blue Valentine

Projected Winner: Natalie Portman for Black Swan

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

Geoffrey Rush for The King's Speech

Christian Bale for The Fighter

John Hawkes for Winter's Bone

Mark Ruffalo for The Kids Are All Right

Jeremy Renner for The Town

Projected Winner: Christian Bale for The Fighter

Best Actress in a Supporting Role:

Amy Adams for The Fighter

Melissa Leo for The Fighter

Hailee Stanfield for True Grit

Helena Bonham Carter for The King's Speech

Jackie Weaver for Animal Kingdom

Projected Winner: Melissa Leo for The Fighter

Best Editing:

The Social Network
The King's Speech

The Fighter

Black Swan

127 Hours

Projected Winner: Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall for The Social Network

Best Cinematography:

The Social Network

The King's Speech

True Grit

Inception

Black Swan

Projected Winner: Roger Deakins for True Grit

Best Original Score:

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for The Social Network

Alexandre Desplat for The King's Speech

Hans Zimmer for Inception

John Powell for How to Train Your Dragon

AR Rahman for 127 Hours

Projected Winner: Reznor and Ross for The Social Network

Best Art Direction:

Inception

The King's Speech

True Grit

Alice in Wonderland

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I

Projected Winner: Guy Hendrix Dyas for Inception

Best Sound Editing:

Inception

True Grit

Toy Story 3

Unstoppable

Tron Legacy

Projected Winner: Inception

Best Sound Mixing:

Inception

The Social Network

The King's Speech

True Grit

Salt

Projected Winner: Inception

Best Visual Effects:

Inception

Alice in Wonderland

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I

Hereafter

Iron Man 2

Projected Winner: Inception

Best Animated Feature:

Toy Story 3

How to Train Your Dragon

The Illusionist

Projected Winner: Toy Story 3

Makeup, Costume Design, Foreign Film, Documentary, etc., I don't really know, nor do I really care.

Who this cashier be?

I am a prospective student, amateur writer, and a cashier for The Home Depot.

Currently I am working on a novel (Metagopolis Book I), short story (Cellular Sorcery), talk for church ("The Fruits of Repentance"), and this blog (A Reasonable Alternative). Also occasionally in the works is a complex video game I plan to one day create called "The Dragon and the Dove."

Realistic goal: become a video game scriptwriter.

Dream: publish the novels and make money from them.

This blog: a commentary on every piece of media I see, read, or play. From time to time I will also write about ideas, either ones I have or ones someone else has shared with me.

That be it! (For now.)

Some retractions

Okay, Nyssa is playing through Assassin's Creed 2, and I'm quite enjoying being a spectator. The story is getting twistier and deeper, and I really have no idea what to expect (although I am predicting that the Templars will have been the good guys all along). Recently we found a glyph on the side of a tall building that is the same symbol we see so prominently etched in blood on the walls of Desmond's cell at the end of the first game. Apparently it was planted there, along with some kind of computer code, by the previous subject/prisoner of the Templars, "Subject 16," whose fate we do not know, but whose cryptic last words provide clues as to a greater secret of which we have only seen the tip of the iceberg. (At least, that's what the title of the Xbox Achievement was when we completed this segment of the game --- "Tip of the Iceberg".) So I am quite quite quite interested to see how all this stuff plays out.

And MY, how the gameplay has expanded from the first game! There are actual PUZZLES in this one, with platform/Prince of Persia style solutions! And we also did a puzzle that had us examine 10 paintings of mythical/religious scenes and "pick" the ones that had a "core" similarity (their words; the common theme of the paintings was "apples"). My point is, this game is CULTURED, with ART and HISTORY and conflicting PHILOSOPHIES!

I still bemoan the Farmville sidequest. It just seems gratuitous. BUT it is not essential to the progression of the game, and Nyssa seems to like it, so once again, I guess everybody wins! hooray!

I'm having a (few) problem(s) with Assassin's Creed 2.

Here's the thing: I enjoyed the first one, but thought it could be improved upon. One of the problems with that game is that I found it more entertaining to explore the world using Crusade-era parkour jumping and climbing techniques than what the core of the gameplay was meant to be. I could never get tired of punching a random civilian or guard and then taking off running, pushing past the footsoldiers and knocking the archers down from the rooftops. What the game wanted me to do was pick pockets, eavesdrop on conversations, and interrogate certain people who my assassin character then killed after listening to what they had to say (which felt entirely unnecessary and made me feel guilty). Then, of course, was the implausibility of the gameplay, of the hiding in haystacks and jumping from hundreds of feet up and landing perfectly safely in those same haystacks; the idiocy of the guards chasing me, who could run, jump, and climb as easily as I could but who wouldn't think to look in this arbitrarily placed hiding spot on the rooftops when trying to find me; and many, many other things. It felt quite silly, but at the same time it was quite fun.

Of course I did eventually beat the game, and my motivation for that was story. Altair was, of course, an idiot; his dialogue was poorly written and poorly voiced, and I wondered how a professional assassin could be so stupid and gullible. But the overall story intrigued me greatly. Lots of philosophical and literary references, the most prominent of which --- "Nothing is true; everything is permitted" --- is from one of my favorite books, The Brothers Karamazov. Unfortunately they never really discuss the idea in any kind of depth, but it was a cool and rather uppity reference, and I appreciated that. The story --- that of an ancient feud between two orders, the Assassins and the Templars, and spanning several centuries --- ended on a terrific cliffhanger, so of course I needed to play the next one to find out exactly what the heck is going on here. So in that game disc went.

The problem I have (one of multiple, actually) is that there's too much gameplay. Too many additions to the game that prevent the story from advancing. They've practically included Farmville with the potential to expand your real estate and an in-game economy. They've added armor and the need to occasionally repair it (which costs money) and you have to go to doctors to be healed (which also costs money) and then they've added the possibility of a dozen or more different kinds of weapons our main character can use. Just too many features that I don't particularly care about, features that consequently get in the way of the storytelling and slow it down to a discouraging pace.

They also changed the interface and map system, which isn't terrible, but I believe it was unnecessary. I still haven't gotten used to it.

Another problem I have is the graphical upgrade. It was exactly the same thing that happened with Kingdom Hearts 2. Sure, it looks great now, but it doesn't look or feel like the same game. It feels too clean and polished. I just don't feel like a bad-A assassin like I used to as Altair. This affects the overall feeling I get from playing the game. Running and climbing and jumping aren't nearly as fun as they used to be, partly because of the graphical change, and partly because even before our main character Ezio becomes an assassin he can do it all with ease. In the very beginning he has a footrace with his brother up to the top of a very tall church, before he learns any of the assassin stuff. It cheapens the assassin aspect of the game, and makes it not as fun. I much preferred the art direction and visual style of the first game. This one feels more like a cartoon.

But this all works out, because Nyssa really likes the game, doing all the sidequests and playing with the Farmville stuff and all of the stuff that I don't like having to do. This allows me to just pay attention to the story, which I hope turns out to be as fantastic as the hints and clues and mysteries suggest it will be. So everybody wins. Yay?

-Neal