The 83rd Academy Awards-The Verdict

The 83rd Annual Academy Awards were hosted by actor James Franco and actress Anne Hathaway and was held at Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California on February 27,2011. The Oscars were distributed in 24 categories.It is interesting to see that "The King’s Speech" won 4 major awards. "Inception" too won 4 major awards,but it was all in the technical category."The Social Network" won 3 awards.

The winners for the 24 categories:

Best Picture: "The King’s Speech"
Best Direction: Tom Hooper for "The King’s Speech"
Best Actor: Colin Firth for "The King’s Speech"
Best Actress: Natalie Portman for "Black Swan"
Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale for "The Fighter"
Best Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo for "The Fighter"
Best Adapted Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin for "The Social Network"
Best Original Screenplay: David Seidler for "The King’s Speech"
Best Cinematography: "Inception"
Best Film Editing: "The Social Network"
Best Sound Mixing: "Inception"
Best Original Score: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for "The Social Network"
Best Original Song: Randy Newman for 'We Belong Together' from "Toy Story 3"
Best Sound Editing: "Inception"
Best Visual Effects: "Inception"
Best Art Direction : "Alice in Wonderland"
Best Animated Feature Film: "Toy Story 3"
Best Animated Short Film: "The Lost Thing"
Best Makeup: "The Wolfman"
Best Costume Design: "Alice in Wonderland"
Best Live Action Short Film: "God of Love"
Best Documentary Feature: "Inside Job"
Best Documentary (short subject): "Strangers No More"
Best Foreign Language Film: "In a Better World", Denmark

As the 83rd Academy Awards Approaches…

The Academy Awards anxiety is building as 5755 nomination ballots for the 83rd Oscar ceremony were mailed. The ballots were sent to voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences(AMPAS).

Ensuring that the ballots are prepared is quite a process. Prior to mailing, the PricewaterhouseCoopers's staff administers a methodical confirmation process to be sure that there are no duplicates and that nothing is missing. In addition to being counted and sorted, the ballots are numbered to assure that each one is addressed to the suitable voter.The completed ballots must be returned to PricewaterhouseCoopers by 5 p.m. PT on Friday, January 14, 2011.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) is considered the world's paramount

movie-related organization. Its members are more than 6,000 of the most proficient men and women working in cinema.

The 83rd Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Tuesday, January 25, 2011, at 5:30 a.m. PST in the academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater.The awards for marvelous film achievements of 2010 will be presented on February 27, 2011, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.The presentation will be telecast live in more than 200 countries.

'Peepli Live'-An Entry in the Best Foreign Language Film Category

"Peepli Live"  is the official entry from India for the Best Foreign Language Film Category at the 83rd Academy Awards. The film with a simple story is a black comedy about a debt-ridden farmer who creates a media rage when he announces that he will commit suicide so that his family can receive government aid. The subtle humour, which exists throughout the film, sends across the message of social awareness in a far more efficient way than a forlorn film would.

 

The film is the debut of director Anusha Rizvi, a former journalist and produced by one of India’s best and the most talented actors of Bollywood, Aamir Khan.Though the film does not consist of big-name stars in it ,it has been an instant hit with critics and viewers across the globe.

The film was released worldwide in August and screened this year at the Berlin International Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival, and the Sundance Film Festival. For now , it’s a time of waiting for Peepli Live and all its fans as the official list of nominees for the 83rd Annual Academy Awards will be announced on January 25th, 2011.

The Best Oscar Speeches for 2010

Just like the Oscar Awards, the Oscar speeches are the ones that everyone looks forward to while receiving the awards.Inspiring and true oscar speeches are the ones that actually move the audience while watching the academy awards.

Here are the some of the Best and Splendid Oscar Speeches made this year by the winners:

Screenwriter Mark Boal Receiving the Oscar Award for Best Picture for The Hurt Locker:
"We had this fantasy of making our film our way with the talent that we hoped to have, and hopefully, we would find a distributor and somebody might even like the movie.So to be standing here, this was really, truly, honestly never part of anything we ever imagined in our wildest dreams."

Sandra Bullock Receiving the Oscar Award for Best Actress for the Blind Side:

"Did I really earn this, or did I just wear ya'll down?What this film was about for me, which are the moms that take care of the babies and the children no matter where they come from.I thank my Mother for not letting me ride in cars with boys until I was 18, because she was right I would have done what she said I was gonna do."

Jeff Bridges Receiving the Oscar Award for Best Actor for Crazy Heart:

"Thank you,Mom and Dad.They loved show biz so much and I feel an extension of them. You know, this, this is honoring them as much as it is me."

Pete Docter Receiving the Oscar Award for Best Animated Feature Film for Up:

"Boy, never did I dream that making a flip book out of my third grade math book would lead to this.Thanks so much to Disney and to Pixar Animation Studios for believing in this oddball film."

Kathryn Bigelow Receiving the Oscar Award for Best Director for The Hurt Locker:

"I would not be standing here if it wasn’t for Mark Boal, who risked his life for the words on the pageand wrote such a courageous screenplay that I was fortunate enough to have an extraordinary cast bring that screenplay to life. I’d just like to dedicate this to the women and men in the military who risk their lives on a daily basis in Iraq and Afghanistan and around the world. And may they come home safe."

Elinor Burkett Receiving the Oscar Award for Best Documentary Short Subject for Music by Prudence:
"In a world in which most of us are told and tell ourselves that we can’t.Liyana, the band behind this film, teaches us that we’re wrong. Against all odds they did, so we can."

Mo’Nique Receiving the Oscar Award Best Supporting Actress for Precious:

"First, I would like to thank the Academy for showing that it can be about the performance and not the politics.Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey because you touched it, the whole world saw it."

Juan José Campanella Receiving the Award for Best Foreign Language Film for The Secret in Their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos):
"I want to thank the Academy for not considering Na’vi [the language in Avatar] a foreign language, first of all.And for letting us spend three great days in the company of incredible filmmakers."

Christoph Waltz Receiving the Award for Best Supporting Actor in Inglourious Basterds:
"Oscar and Penélope that’s an uber bingo".

Mo’Nique Receiving the Award for Best Supporting Actress for Precious:

"First, I would like to thank the Academy for showing that it can be about the performance and not the politics.Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey because you touched it, the whole world saw it."

Best Documentary:The Cove

The Cove is a 2009 American documentary film that is written by Mark Monroe and directed by former National Geographic photographer Louie Psihoyos.It is based on the yearly killing of dolphins in a National Park at Taiji,Wakayama, in Japan from the point of view of anti-dolphin-hunting campaigner.

The film focuses the fact that the number of dolphins killed in the Taiji dolphin hunting drive is many times superior than the number of whales killed in the Antarctic.Also research has revealed that 23,000 dolphins and porpoises are killed in Japan each year in the country's whaling industry. The migrating dolphins are herded into a hidden cove where they are netted and killed by using spears as well as knives over the side of small fishing boats.Portions of the film were filmed clandestinely during 2007 using underwater microphones and high-definition cameras disguised as rocks.

In addition to winning the Academy Award for Best Documentary Film, the documentary also won the U.S. Audience Award at the 25th annual Sundance Film Festival in Jan 2009.

Best Actress in a Supporting Role : Mo'Nique for Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire

The tag line for the movie 'Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire' is "Life is hard. Life is short. Life is painful. Life is rich. Life is....Precious."

Many a movies come and go. But an infrequent few arrive like gifts, sent by some cosmic messenger to stir the senses, arouse compassion and send viewers into a world made radically new by refreshed attentiveness and empathy. Such is the movie 'Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire' which surely qualifies as the most aching, poetic and incredibly beautiful film of the year.

Mo’Nique’s performance in this movie has been much appreciated that she went on to receive the Best Actress in a Supporting Role.In this movie, Mo’Nique plays the mother to an overweight, uneducated, black 16-year-old Claireece "Precious" Jones (Gabourey Sidibe).The dysfunctional family lives in the New York City neighborhood of Harlem.

For her performance, she has won several awards including a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Golden Globe Award, and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA)Award. She is the sixteenth African American actress to be given a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress,and the fourth to win.

Up:Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score

At this year’s Oscars, the award for the Best Animated Feature and the Best Original Score won by the movie "Up".The movie directed by Pete Docter and produced by Pixar Animation Studios, distributed by Walt Disney Pictures and presented in Disney Digital 3-D.

Up features the voices of Edward Asner, Christopher Plummer, Bob Peterson, and Jordan Nagai. The movie is Pixar's tenth feature film and the studio's first to be presented in Disney Digital 3-D. This movie was also shown in Dolby 3D in selected theaters.

The movie focuses on an aged widower named Carl Fredricksen and an serious young Wilderness Explorer named Russell who fly to South America in a dwelling that is suspended by helium balloons. The film has received tremendously positive reviews, and has grossed around $731 million worldwide, making it Pixar's second-most commercially winning film, behind "Finding Nemo".

From the time of its release, Up has been commended by critics. As of October 17, 2009, Rotten Tomatoes reports that 98% of critics have granted the film a positive review, based on 252 reviews, with a review average of 8.6/10.[53] The film also is credited with holding a score of 88 on the review aggregator website Metacritic as of August 1, 2009.

An interview  with the director  Pete Docter can be found in this website:

http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/336/interview-pete-docter-director-of-up

Best Feature Film: The Hurt Locker

The cast of The Hurt Locker include Jeremy Renner as Sergeant First Class William James, Anthony Mackie as Sergeant JT Sanborn, Brian Geraghty as Specialist Owen Eldridge, Ralph Fiennes (cameo).Directed by Kathryn Bigelow,the movie has dominated the Oscars winning 9 of the awards.

“The Hurt Locker” is all about the harsh jobs of the army men who every time play with lot of risks and how they spend every day in jeopardy. The full movie has the ground base on the examination of journalist and screen writer Mark Boal while he was stationed in Iraq on a project with the chief US army bomb defusing employees.

The movie has a documentary observance as almost all the scenes are shot with a handheld camera style. The movie is based on the lives of this bomb unit and consequently how almost every day is a choice day for the unit as they defuse deadly bombs daily.Kathryn Bigelow’s remarkable directions stick the viewers towards the unit’s every mission as they face death courageously.

The Hurt Locker is neither a illustration of the compassion towards the soldiers nor a dramatic presentation. It is a poignant drama with the psyche of the soldier who is extremely confident at each moment and tackles the situation when there remains no hope. The film depicts 'Courage is not the absence of fear but the knowledge that something else is more important than fear'.

A remarkable job by Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal and Jeremy Renner in the movie "The Hurt Locker". All the Academy awards ,this movie won were well deserved ones.

Kathyrn Bigelow : Best Direction

Kathyrn Bigelow won the Oscars this year for Best Direction  for her film 'The Hurt Locker'. She made history as the first woman to receive the honor for the Best Direction at the Oscars. Previously, only three other women have been nominated for this category :Lina Wertmuller for 'Seven Beauties', Jane Campion for 'The Piano' and Sofia Coppola for 'Lost in Translation'.

The Hurt Locker has won 5 other Oscars this year including Best Picture, Best Film Editing , Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing, Best Original Screenplay.

Kathyrn Bigelow in her acceptance speech said that This is the moment of a lifetime as she received her award  from Barbra Streisand who opined the time has come.Bigelow dedicated her award to the men and women who are struggling and  risking their lives, in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Bigelow has directed several movies in the past including  'Near Dark' in 1987 , 'Blue Steel'  in 1989, 'Point Break' in 1991.She also won the Saturn Award for Best Direction  in  1995 for  'Strange Days'

Best Actress in a Leading Role: Sandra Bullock for "The Blind Side"

Sandra Bullock has eventually earned the top appreciation from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS),after being a part of  Hollywood for more than 20 years.Sandra Bullock has won her first Oscar as the Best Actress for her performance  in 'The Blind Side'. The role  she played in 'The Blind Side' was  an extremely challenging one.In the movie , she plays a prosperous home maker who adopts a black teenager and helps him tremendously to develop into a football star.

The first time Oscar nominee has beaten previous Oscar winners like Merryl Streep and Helen Mirren who were competing for the same honor. The other contenders  include Gabourey Sidibe of   'Precious' as well as Carey Mulligan of  'An Education'.

Before winning the Oscars ,Sandra  Bullock had won the Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe awards, and the Broadcast Film Critics award which was mutual with Merly Streep.Bullock rose to prominence with her incredible performance in the 1994 box office hit, ‘Speed’. Her other box office hits includes ' While You Were Sleeping', 'Miss Congeniality', 'The Proposal' .She also earned admiration from movie critics for her supporting role in the 2004 Oscar nominated movie 'Crash'.

In her acceptance speech she said 'Did I really earn this or did I just wear you all down?' She thanked all the  fantastic actors and actresses she's worked with, and looked forward to working with many more of them in future.  In a touching moment of her speech, Bullock thanked her mother for instilling the workaholic character in her to practice,practice,practice.

In reference to her mother, Bullock closed with 'She said to be an artist, you had to practice every day, and for reminding her daughters that there's no race, no religion, no class system, no color, nothing, no sexual orientation that makes us better than anyone else. We are all deserving of love. So, to that trailblazer, who allowed me to have that. Thank you.'

Best Actor in a Leading Role: Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart

Jeff Bridges won the Oscars this year for the Best Actor Award in a Leading Role for his role in ‘Crazy Heart’. In the movie , he portrays Bad Blake, a washed-up country-western singer whose encounter  with a young journalist helps him to turn his life around.He was nominated nearly 4 times previously for the Academy Awards and it’s the first  he has won the honors. His first nomination at the Oscars was for 'The Last Picture Show' ,way back in 1971.

The 60-year-old veteran is one of Hollywood's most identifiable and constantly bankable actors as well as an  element of an acting dynasty that includes his parents Dorothy and Lloyd as well as brother Beau.For Crazy Heart, Jeff Bridges once again confirmed his skill as a musician to play the alcoholic Bad Blake, a man struggling against his interior demons as he battles to bring back his glory days.

It is said that Bridges, who remarkably played a pianist in 1989 in The Fabulous Baker Boys, initially passed on the script for Crazy Heart after realising that there was no music attached to it.But the participation of musician T-Bone Burnett developed  his interest in the project and he rapidly signed on for the role. Many of Burnett's songs performed by Bridges were written with the actor in mind.

Burnett also helped Bridges flesh out his character by teaching him in the sort of music Bad would have listened to at some stage in his formative years. In a latest interview Bridges said that Burnett did a really fantastic thing by giving him  a breakdown of the music Bad might  have listened to growing up in Fort Worth, Texas, where T-Bone also grew up.

Lately, Bridges has appeared in several successful films, including the Oscar-nominated Seabiscuit and 2008's hit Iron Man. He will next be visible in Disney's Tron Legacy, a sequel to the 1982 film in which he also acted.Bridges is also preparing to reunite with the Coen brothers for a remake of the western True Grit, where he will enact the character  of  Rooster Cogburn, the role made popular by John Wayne in the 1969 original.

In his acceptance speech,Bridges said "I thank my wonderful director for his ability to instill self-confidence in his actors. Thank you my wonderful team that kept me together. I also want to thank my gorgeous wife (Susan Geston) with whom I have spent more than 33 years and also my three girls without whom I wouldn't be where I am."

At the Oscars this year…

The 82nd Academy Awards began  with The 82nd Academy Awards began  with Neil Patrick Harris's rousing musical number,  rousing musical number,  after which the co-hosts Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin came on stage. Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin were successful in setting a light ambience with their  sense of humor.

A chief alteration in this year's show was the increase in the Best Picture category from five nominees to ten. Decades before, the category had incorporated ten nominees and then was reduced to five. The decision to once again include more nominees came in order to take in good  films that ordinarily would not be chosen. This variation  didn’t do much to the actual show except that ten movies were introduced for the category during the ceremony instead of five.

An additional difference was introduction of the category of Original Score was displayed with music from each nominated film being played as a choreographed dance took place in the stage. The dancing itself was visually stimulating but occasionally it did not match up well with the music being played and it made for a peculiar performance overall.

Overall, the ceremony went off apparently without a hindrance; the speeches were kept short and there were no awfully embarrassing mishaps. The ceremony seems to be moving in  the direction of a more solemn show incorporating more music and dance in its place of the Oscars of old with comedic genius Billy Crystal. Every Oscar Ceremony brings new movies and new changes to the event and the 82nd Academy Awards also witnessed several modifications.

The Major Winners of Oscars 2010

	Best Direction
	Kathryn Bigelow for 'The Hurt Locker'
	Best Picture
	The Hurt Locker
	Best Animated Feature Film
	Up
	Best Actress in a Leading Role
	Sandra Bullock for 'The Blind Side'
	Best Actor in a Leading Role
	Jeff Bridges for 'Crazy Heart'
	Best Actress in a Supporting Role
	Mo'Nique for 'Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire'
	Best Actor in a Supporting Role
	Christoph Waltz for 'Inglourious Basterds'
	Best Cinematography
	Mauro Fiore for 'Avatar'
	Best Makeup
	Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow for 'Star Trek'
	Best Documentary Short
	Music By Prudence
	Best Documentary Feature
	The Cove

And the winners of the 82nd Academy Awards....

	Best Writing:(Original Screenplay)
	The Hurt Locker Written by Mark Boal

	Best Writing:(Adapted Screenplay)
	Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher

	Best Short Film(Animated)
	Logorama
	Nicolas Schmerkin

	Best Short Film(Live Action)
	The New Tenants
	Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson

	Best Visual Effects
	Avatar
	Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones

	Best Sound Editing
	The Hurt Locker
	Paul N.J. Ottosson

	Best Sound Mixing
	The Hurt Locker
	Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett

The most awaited event of the year - Oscars 2010

Its that time of the year again for the Hollywood's biggest event - Oscars 2010.The event will witness stunning stars descend on the red carpet in their chic suits / flowy gowns and vintage jewellery and walk away with the golden statuettes.


The 82nd Annual Academy Awards will be held at the Kodak Theatre on Mar 7th at Hollywood,Los Angeles and awards will be presented for stupendous performances for the year 2009.Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin will be hosting this spectacular event, which is the most watched event across the globe.

Oscar Nominations for Best Picture

Avatar
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds

Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire
The Blind Side
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

Oscar Nominations for Best Actress/Actor in a Supporting Role

Actress in a Supporting Role

Penelope Cruz in 'Nine'
Vera Farmiga in 'Up in the Air'
Maggie Gyllenhaal in 'Crazy Heart'
Anna Kendrick in 'Up in the Air'
Mo'Nique in 'Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire'

Actor in a Supporting Role

Matt Damon in Invictus
Woody Harrelson in 'The Messenger'
Christopher Plummer in 'The Last Station'
Stanley Tucci in 'The Lovely Bones'
Christoph Waltz in 'Inglourious Basterds'