OSCAR WATCH: BAFTA Awards

Take that James Cameron! In the final knockout round before the Oscars, The Hurt Locker really steamrolled the competition, winning for Director, Picture, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing and Sound. Finally, Carey Mulligan got some recognition for her outstanding performance in "An Education". Below is the full rundown of the winners, I don't know why I make predictions anymore, I only got 9 out of 21 correct!

Best Picture (pictured above)
The Hurt Locker

Best British Film
Fish Tank

Best Actress
Carey Mulligan, An Education

Best Actor
Colin Firth, A Single Man

Supporting Actor
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

Supporting Actress
Mo’Nique, Precious

Best Director
Kathryn Bigelown, The Hurt Locker

Tweet

OSCAR WATCH: BAFTA Predictions

Here we go, the last big one before the Oscars! I'm hoping the Brits support their home girl (Carey Mulligan) for this one.

Best Picture
The Hurt Locker

Best British Film
An Education

Best Actress
Carey Mulligan, An Education

Best Actor
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart

Supporting Actor
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

Supporting Actress
Mo’Nique, Precious

Best Director
Kathryn Bigelown, The Hurt Locker

Tweet

OSCAR WATCH: The Nominees

With the Oscars fast approaching, I realized that it doesn't make sense to have an "Oscar Watch" section on the blog and not review all of the "Big Ten". So here are the 5 Best Picture nominees that I haven't reviewed already. Starting with my personal fav of this group, Inglourious Basterds.

INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS - I saw this film a while back and although I liked it, I wasn't raving about it. However, over time I have come to realize how superb this film is. It has really grown on me. Although "The Hurt Locker" and "Avatar" are the 2 films most expected to contend for the big prize, it is interesting to note that "Basterds" prevails where both of them falter. "Avatar" loses points on acting and screenplay, while "The Hurt Locker" loses out in the box office. "Basterds" however, has covered all corners, with Christoph Waltz (Supporting Actor) and Quentin Tarantino (Original Screenplay) looking to be heavy favourites and it also made good money. In true Quentin-style, this film is wildly entertaining, but more importantly, it has an amazing cast and is well-shot and well-written.

Tweet

OSCAR WATCH: OSCAR Nominations

So, the internet is non-existent here, so updating this blog is going to be difficult. For now, there might not be a "Movie of the Week" every week. Here are the nominees...

Best Picture
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Avatar
Up in the Air
Precious
Up
A Serious Man
The Blind Side
Inglourious Basterds
District 9

Best Actress
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Helen Mirren, The Last Station
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Gabby Sidibe, Precious
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia

Best Actor
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
George Clooney, Up in the Air
Colin Firth, A Single Man
Morgan Freeman, Invictus
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker

Supporting Actor
Matt Damon, Invictus
Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

Supporting Actress
Penelope Cruz, Nine
Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart
Mo’Nique, Precious

Best Director
James Cameron, Avatar
Lee Daniels, Precious
Jason Reitman, Up in the Air
Kathryn Bigelown, The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds

Tweet

MOVIE OF THE WEEK/OSCAR WATCH: Precious

What a heart-wrenching film! It really succeeds because it's so raw. Nothing is "prettied up" in the movie. Precious' life is as bad as it gets (16 with 2 kids by her father, one who is retarded, she's obese, illiterate etc etc). Definitely not for the lighthearted. As far as Oscar buzz goes, "Precious" is currently a lock for nominations for Best Picture, Actress, Supporting Actress and Adapted Screenplay. The other strong possibility is Best Director. The highlight for me was definitely Mo'Nique's performance. As a comedian, she played the evil Mary Jones so well, it's actually scary. If she doesn't win Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars, then something's really wrong.

Tweet

OSCAR WATCH: SAG Awards

This is really late. But there's not much to report. The only suprise was Sandra Bullock, who is really picking up steam in the Oscar race. At this point, she seems to be on course for the Academy Award. The winners...

Best Ensemble
Inglourious Basterds (pictured above)

Best Actress
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side

Best Actor
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart

Best Supporting Actor
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

Best Supporting Actress
Mo’Nique, Precious

Tweet

OSCAR WATCH: SAG Predictions

This one's coming a bit early, as I'll be travelling for the next 2 days. The 16th Annual Screen Actors Guild awards will air on TNT and TBS on Saturday Jan 23rd at 8pm ET.

Best Ensemble
Inglourious Basterds

Best Actress
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia

Best Actor
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart

Best Supporting Actor
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

Best Supporting Actress
Mo’Nique, Precious

Tweet

OSCAR WATCH: BAFTA Nominations

The nominations for the BAFTA awards have been announcement and as expected, they've been a lot kinder to "An Education". Here is the full list:

Best Picture
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Avatar
Up in the Air
Precious

Best British Film
An Education
Fish Tank
In the Loop
Moon
Nowhere Boy

Best Actress
Audrey Tautou, Coco Before Chanel
Saoirse Ronan, The Lovely Bones
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Gabby Sidibe, Precious
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia

Best Actor
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
George Clooney, Up in the Air
Colin Firth, A Single Man
Andy Serkis, Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker

Supporting Actor
Alec Baldwin, It's Complicated
Christian McKay, Me and Orson Welles
Alfred Molina, An Education
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

Supporting Actress
Anne-Marie Duff, Nowhere Boy
Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
Kristin Scott Thomas, Nowhere Boy
Mo’Nique, Precious

Best Director
James Cameron, Avatar
Neill Blomkamp, District 9
Lone Scherfig, An Education
Kathryn Bigelown, The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds

Tweet

Cheesiest Movie Quotes

We've all seen movies where they say things and you think "Oh Come On!" or "Did he/she really just say that?". Here's a cool youtube vid that compiles many of those great quotes. Enjoy.

Tweet

MOVIE OF THE WEEK: Sherlock Holmes

This was another one of those really fun films. It had everything - humour, action, romance and of course, mystery. Robert Downey Jr completely owned his role. It was perfect for him, as he is just so charismatic. Jude Law was also good as his bumbling sidekick. I can't really think of anything else to say, but if you're looking for a good time at the movies, go watch "Sherlock Holmes".

Tweet