The Oscars: Pass the Peanuts & Predictions Please…
“Films and life are like clay, waiting for us to mold it. And when you trust your own insides and that becomes achievement, it’s a kind of principle that seems to me to work with everyone. God bless that principle… the potential that we all have for making anything possible if we think we deserve it.” Shirley MacLaine, 1983 Academy Awards
The Oscars: Best Actress Awards by cliff1066™ via Flickr
Like an annual group hug, Oscar night is another time people gather to cheer on their favorites, have a good time, and show some TV watching love by not fighting over the remote… The great thing about movies is that, in an instant, we can escape to another place, time, or experience and set our woes aside. The other thing is that there is so much access to movies today and you don’t have to venture too far to catch a flick or two. I remember back in the day when we would place an advanced request, at our local video store, for a movie we missed… back in the Blockbuster days. Now, we have Amazon downloads, Netflix, Cable Movies On Demand, Hulu and a slew of other movie distribution operators.
Even during difficult economic times, entertainment, especially movie watching, is one thing that brightens our day. I read somewhere, long ago, that during the depression era, people went to the movies to cheer up. Today, we have huge movie industries in the USA (Hollywood), India (Bollywood), and Nigeria (Nollywood); plus movies are made in practically every country in the world. Sure, the price of a movie ticket has gone up but there are free screening options, you must respond quickly, when you join groups like The CinemaSource, FilmMetro, and Gofobo.
Tomorrow, we celebrate the 83rd Annual Academy Awards and though, at least for now, yours truly won’t be on the red carpet but ensconced in front of the telly at home, I have a few predictions up my sleeve… Naturally, my predictions are not on everything. For a full list of predictions from the movie savvy and far more authoritative, I’ll invite you to check out up and coming blogger FWSF, the Oscar site, Moviefone and Gather.
I have added, below, my favorite categories and highlighted who I think would win. Feel free to dispute my choices and offer yours. Whatever you do, try to catch some of these movies; if not in the theater, then when they go to video. What are your thoughts? Oh yeah, the two highlighted for Best Picture is deliberate; they ought to have the occasional dual winners/tie. Check out my predictions below and — pass the peanuts will you… please. Enjoy! 🙂
BEST PICTURE
• Black Swan
• The Fighter
• Inception
• The Kids Are All Right
• The King’s Speech
• 127 Hours
• The Social Network
• Toy Story 3
• True Grit
• Winter’s Bone
BEST ACTOR
• Javier Bardem, Biutiful
• Jeff Bridges, True Grit
• Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
• Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
• James Franco, 127 Hours
BEST ACTRESS
• Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
• Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
• Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
• Natalie Portman, Black Swan
• Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine
BEST DIRECTOR
• Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
• David. O. Russell, The Fighter
• Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech
• David Fincher, The Social Network
• Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, True Grit
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
• Biutiful
• Dogtooth
• In A Better World
• Incendies
• Outside The Law (Hors-la-loi)
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
• Exit Through the Gift Shop
• Gasland
• Inside Job
• Restrepo
• Waste Land
POSITIVE MOTIVATION TIP: Find the time to dream; catch a movie, hear a song, enjoy a meal…
Related Articles
- My Oscar Picks!! (chiliesandpistols.wordpress.com)
- AP critics split on Oscar best picture winner (omg.yahoo.com)
- MovieMantz 2011 Oscars Predictions: Will Voters Like ‘The Social Network’? (omg.yahoo.com)
- Howell: Can a nerd topple a king for Oscar glory? (thestar.com)
PHOTO CREDITS/ATTRIBUTIONS: Photo of Katherine Hepburn’s Best Actress Oscars by cliff1066™ via Flickr
Until Next Time…
Ask. Believe. Receive. ©
Elizabeth Obih-Frank
Mirth and Motivation
Positive Kismet
let’s hope that jeff and the coen brothers have a win, but i suspect that the kings speech will have a huge sweep of awards .. 🙂
Yeah Alan, I’m with you on that one… I suspect The King’s Speech nailed it; but hey, you never know… Social Network might still ace it. 🙂
The great thing about movies is that, in an instant, we can escape to another place, time, or experience and set our woes aside…
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the same tool to escape: Internet chat with world wide connections.
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in my focus of potential winners: The King’s Speech.
nevertheless I am surprised, that a movie document of how talking is a good therapy is top ranking.
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but I am glad, that talking and listening – like in the King’s Speech – are noticed as important experience.
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at least all of us bloggers do have the same joy of talking and listening daily – with postaday2011
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Well, as we all predicted, The King’s Speech won and talk continues 🙂 I love Colin Firth’s work so it’s a joy to see him win for his efforts! 🙂
Eliz
hi Eliz,
I’ve made a quotation of your great introduction in my daily post:
flickrcomments.wordpress.com/2011/02/27/oscar/
I hope that will support your work!
Thank you and I appreciate the support! 🙂
E
my personal favorite:
The King’s Speech…
The Social Network
Black Swan…
Well, at least all of those movies won stuff in different categories… I was glad it wasn’t a clean sweep… They all went home with a win or more. 🙂
Eliz
The King’s Speech and Colin Firth are apt to be celebrated tonight.
Don’t know much about the other “contenders.”
Thanks, Eliz.
They were indeed the clear winners and I’m glad it turned out well. Social Network didn’t do too badly either. 🙂
Thank you!
E
Looking forward to watching the Academy Awards. I too, believe the King’s Speech and Colin Firth- have nailed it. But, who knows when it comes down to the voter’s choice.
Elizabeth a ” Very good post as always” ……………:)
Thank you Penny! Keep me posted on the email and kudos on your new job. I’m sure all the winners are still holding unto their Oscars as they walk around their homes. I enjoyed the event. 🙂
Thanks,
Eliz
It would be interesting to see if another movie becomes the spoiler.
The King’s Speech is heading in as a favorite but could get trumped.
The other choices work for me and I hope they win too.
B
Well, they didn’t get trumped after all and, as my kids were saying, it was all quite predictable. But at least a deserving movie won. 🙂
Thanks,
Eliz
I love watching the Academy Awards presentation because we don’t really go OUT to the movies…we wait till we can rent them for $1 and enjoy them at home. So on Oscar night, we get to see who’s who and what’s what…not that we agree with the winning choices most of the time. 🙂
Thanks, Eliz, for a great post about a topic that is near and dear to many people…I know lots of folks have Oscar parties and stuff like that…I think it’s just that people enjoy bonding over something fun sometimes.
Thanks Viv, I didn’t see that many either and look forward to renting them for further enjoyment. Our tickets are very high in NY and if I don’t get the free screening tickets, I wait a little or try a matinee. 🙂
Eliz
I actually rarely ever see all the nominees.. as much as I’d like to, some of them really just don’t interest me!
I made my predictions about a month ago.. going to see how well my guesses do tonight! 🙂
I think you did pretty well… This year, the choices were somewhat predictable. I haven’t seen all the movies but will plan to see as many as is feasible via rentals and such. 🙂
Thanks,
Eliz
I love to watch the Oscars but I am sorry to say I did not see one movie this year that is up for an award. I’ll be watching anyway.
Hi Barb,
Did you enjoy the event after all? I don’t think it matters if we haven’t seen the nominated; at least we get to look forward to seeing a winning flick! 🙂
Thanks,
Eliz
I am so unbelievably out of touch that I haven’t even seen One of the movies you have in your predictions! How embarrassing!
Now that you have a winning list, I think it would make movie watching easier… You can choice what you really want to see. 🙂
Thanks,
Eliz
I love watching the Academy Awards! It’s one of the events that I get to see different stars in one show. I admin only seeing Toy Story 3 out of the nominees. (Shows how I’m still a kid at heart. LOL).
Thanks for another great post Eliz!
My kids raved about it and I was sick the day they went to watch it. I probably would see less if I didn’t have teens in my household. They are movie buffs and either drag us or their friends to see movies… I haven’t seen all the nominees either. 🙂
Thanks,
Eliz
I’m reading this after the fact. Sadly, I missed all the excitement of the Oscars this year. I still do not know who won. (I know, I know). I do miss the bonding that comes with events like this and the Super Bowl. Your words motivate me to return. Accomplishing that task and keeping my little guy happy is not easy but this post reminds me of what I’m missing so an attempt shall be made to secure some time back for me. Thank you.
Oh don’t worry, the great rental market would soon deliver its fruits to your doorstep. Actually, my predictions above were pretty accurate except in the documentary where “Inside Job” won. The King’s Speech took home the best picture Oscar… all the rest was as expected. Take your time as they’ll be around. I missed many and will wait for the DVDs myself 🙂
Thanks,
Eliz