Pop Dandy

Best Motion Picture of the Year
Nominees:
127 Hours (2010): Christian Colson, Danny Boyle, John Smithson
Black Swan (2010): Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver, Scott Franklin
The Fighter (2010): David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman, Mark Wahlberg
Inception (2010): Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas
The Kids Are All Right (2010): Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, Celine Rattray
The King’s Speech (2010): Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Gareth Unwin
The Social Network (2010): Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca, Ceán Chaffin
Toy Story 3 (2010): Darla K. Anderson
True Grit (2010): Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Scott Rudin
Winter’s Bone (2010): Anne Rosellini, Alix Madigan

The Social Network by a mile. The Fighter or 127 hours just as easily in my book. The King’s Speech is gaining steam but I doubt it here. Everyone else is just an honor to be nominated right?

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Nominees:
Javier Bardem for Biutiful (2010)
Jeff Bridges for True Grit (2010)
Jesse Eisenberg for The Social Network (2010)
Colin Firth for The King’s Speech (2010)
James Franco for 127 Hours (2010)

I would this is James Franco’s award but Colin Firth may get it as a lifetime achievement thing much in the way of Denzel’s Training Day one.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Nominees:
Annette Bening for The Kids Are All Right (2010)
Nicole Kidman for Rabbit Hole (2010)
Jennifer Lawrence for Winter’s Bone (2010)
Natalie Portman for Black Swan (2010)
Michelle Williams for Blue Valentine (2010)

Natalie Portman deserves the win and will most likely get it. Jennifer Lawrence could throw out a surprise upset.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominees:
Christian Bale for The Fighter (2010)
John Hawkes for Winter’s Bone (2010)
Jeremy Renner for The Town (2010)
Mark Ruffalo for The Kids Are All Right (2010)
Geoffrey Rush for The King’s Speech (2010)

Christian Bale is another lock. Don’t know why Mark Ruffalo is even here. Renner and Hawkes could deserve it as well but I am sure we will be seeing them on this list a lot over the years.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Nominees:
Amy Adams for The Fighter (2010)
Helena Bonham Carter for The King’s Speech (2010)
Melissa Leo for The Fighter (2010)
Hailee Steinfeld for True Grit (2010)
Jacki Weaver for Animal Kingdom (2010)

The academy loves giving this to kids so look for a surprise win. If not her not sure who. Maybe Melissa Leo.

Best Achievement in Directing
Nominees:
Darren Aronofsky for Black Swan (2010)
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen for True Grit (2010)
David Fincher for The Social Network (2010)
Tom Hooper for The King’s Speech (2010)
David O. Russell for The Fighter (2010)

David Fincher shouldn’t win because I wouldn’t want this film to be the one he wins for. Would love for Darren Aronofsky to win here. He really stepped up with the Black Swan.

Nominees:
Another Year (2010): Mike Leigh
The Fighter (2010): Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson, Keith Dorrington
Inception (2010): Christopher Nolan
The Kids Are All Right (2010): Lisa Cholodenko, Stuart Blumberg
The King’s Speech (2010): David Seidler

I feel like the King’s Speech will get a pity win with all those noms and will propably come up real short in the end. Plus it is a movie about words.

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published
Nominees:
127 Hours (2010): Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy
The Social Network (2010): Aaron Sorkin
Toy Story 3 (2010): Michael Arndt, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Lee Unkrich
True Grit (2010): Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Winter’s Bone (2010): Debra Granik, Anne Rosellini

The odds against Aaron Sorkin’s not winning must be like 300 to 1.

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year
Nominees:
How to Train Your Dragon (2010): Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders
The Illusionist (2010): Sylvain Chomet
Toy Story 3 (2010): Lee Unkrich

I would go with How to Train Your Dragon because it is a lot more fun with a better message. Toy Story 3 has this on lock down though.

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
Nominees:
Biutiful (2010): Alejandro González Iñárritu(Mexico)
Dogtooth (2009): Giorgos Lanthimos(Greece)
In a Better World (2010): Susanne Bier(Denmark)
Incendies (2010): Denis Villeneuve(Canada)
Outside the Law (2010): Rachid Bouchareb(Algeria)

I want Dogtooth to win because it would be funny to me and it is a better film. Alejandro has all that history though and Javier Bardem.

Best Achievement in Cinematography
Nominees:
Black Swan (2010): Matthew Libatique
Inception (2010): Wally Pfister
The King’s Speech (2010): Danny Cohen
The Social Network (2010): Jeff Cronenweth
True Grit (2010): Roger Deakins

Roger Deakins better win. It is about time everyone recognize. All strong competition here though.

Best Achievement in Editing
Nominees:
127 Hours (2010): Jon Harris
Black Swan (2010): Andrew Weisblum
The Fighter (2010): Pamela Martin
The King’s Speech (2010): Tariq Anwar
The Social Network (2010): Kirk Baxter, Angus Wall

127 Hours almost didn’t feel directed but edited so many disolves. The Social Network could steal it away and I wouldn’t be that upset.

Best Achievement in Art Direction
Nominees:
Alice in Wonderland (2010): Robert Stromberg, Karen O’Hara
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010): Stuart Craig, Stephenie McMillan
Inception (2010): Guy Hendrix Dyas, Larry Dias, Douglas A. Mowat
The King’s Speech (2010): Eve Stewart, Judy Farr
True Grit (2010): Jess Gonchor, Nancy Haigh
Every scene of Inception is a work of art, but if there is an upset look at True Grit.
Best Achievement in Costume Design
Nominees:
Alice in Wonderland (2010): Colleen Atwood
I Am Love (2009): Antonella Cannarozzi
The King’s Speech (2010): Jenny Beavan
The Tempest (2010/II): Sandy Powell
True Grit (2010): Mary Zophres

This is the only one that seemed like real work. Everything else has been done before.

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score
Nominees:
127 Hours (2010): A.R. Rahman
How to Train Your Dragon (2010): John Powell
Inception (2010): Hans Zimmer
The King’s Speech (2010): Alexandre Desplat
The Social Network (2010): Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross

Hans Zimmer is always competition if his name is even close to the list but The Social Network will win and deserves it more. Give it to the rock star.

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song
Nominees:
127 Hours (2010): A.R. Rahman, Rollo Armstrong, Dido(“If I Rise”)
Country Strong (2010): Tom Douglas, Hillary Lindsey, Troy Verges(“Coming Home”)
Tangled (2010): Alan Menken, Glenn Slater(“I See the Light”)
Toy Story 3 (2010): Randy Newman(“We Belong Together”)

I am not a fan of any of these really. It is a shame Scott Pilgrim didn’t get nominated for any of their amazing music. I mean how awesome would it have been Beck rocking out the house.

Best Achievement in Sound Mixing
Nominees:
Inception (2010): Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo, Ed Novick
The King’s Speech (2010): Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen, John Midgley
Salt (2010): Jeffrey J. Haboush, William Sarokin, Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell
The Social Network (2010): Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick, Mark Weingarten
True Grit (2010): Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff, Peter F. Kurland
The Social Network had good use of sound but Inception all the way.

Best Achievement in Sound Editing
Nominees:
Inception (2010): Richard King
Toy Story 3 (2010): Tom Myers, Michael Silvers
TRON: Legacy (2010): Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Addison Teague
True Grit (2010): Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey
Unstoppable (2010): Mark P. Stoeckinger

I really hope Tron: Legacy wins because let’s face it, it was the best part of the movie, but Inception is gonna win all of the technical awards.

Best Achievement in Visual Effects
Nominees:
Alice in Wonderland (2010): Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas, Sean Phillips
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010): Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz, Nicolas Aithadi
Hereafter (2010): Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojansky, Joe Farrell
Inception (2010): Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley, Pete Bebb, Paul J. Franklin
Iron Man 2 (2010): Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright, Daniel Sudick

No other film on this list even seem like competition.
Best Documentary, Features
Nominees:
Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010): Banksy, Jaimie D’Cruz
GasLand (2010): Josh Fox, Trish Adlesic
Inside Job (2010): Charles Ferguson, Audrey Marrs
Restrepo (2010): Tim Hetherington, Sebastian Junger
Waste Land (2010): Lucy Walker, Angus Aynsley

Exit Through the Gift Shop was the most talked about documentary not made by Michael Moore in some time. The Inside Job has a small chance for an upset.

2010 was a solid year for music, not a mind blowing year, but a lot of solid releases and new bands making head waves. I spent most of the year listening to older power metal albums and college radio albums of the 1980s and 90s. Though there were some bands that I listened through several spins. My Top 10 were:

10. Drive By Truckers “The Big To-Do”
9. The Radio Dept “Clinging to a Scheme”
8. Best Coast “Crazy for You”
7. The Miniature Tigers “Fortress”
6. Kanye West “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy”
5. Toro Y Moi “Causers of This”
4. The Black Keys “Brothers”
3. The Sword “Warp Riders”
2. Arcade Fire “The Suburbs”
1. Surfer Blood “Astro Coast”

Sitcoms and animated shows have ruled most of my viewing in 2010 with a few exceptions. I am not sure whether it was just a slip of my attention span or an overall lack of quality for hour long drama but most of them I found lackluster.

My Top 5 Sitcoms of 2010
1. Bored To Death (This is one of those shows that I hope has a long life, which is probably a pipe dream considering the talent behind the show. It is just the funniest thing ever to be brought to the boob tube.)
2. Modern Family (When I fist started watching this show, I thought it was going to be horrible and over cliched with gay man jokes and it is but it isn’t horrible. They embrace the cliches and add a lot of heart to it without losing the funny. Ed O’Neil is awesome in whatever he does.)
3. The IT Crowd (This show was one that I discovered through Netflix and it is just wonderful. It never gets bogged down it relationships that don’t make any sense. Much better than the last two seasons of The Big Bang Theory.)
4.How I Met Your Mother (Yeah, it is starting to stagnate, but no other show can be as much fun or as quotable as this show. Very hit and miss, but when it hits it is hilarious. Jason Segel is also just wonderful.)
5. 30 Rock (Thanks to my roommate watching this one over and over again, I finally started to enjoy it. It might have been the GQ article earlier in the Fall but I get Tracey Morgan’s humor now. I still don’t really like Liz Lemon though.)



Top 5 Dramas of 2010 1. Doctor Who (With a new Doctor played by Matt Smith with such wimsy and the best writing in television made for an almost perfect season of Who. The episode Vincent and the Doctor was one of the best moments all year.)
2. Fringe (The third season of Fringe has been some of the best sci-fi monster of the week television ever and the over all arc is just perfectly played out and evolves enough where I have never been bored with it.)
3. Chuck (This is the funnest show on Television and with the cameos this season and the Die Hard references for their Black Friday episode it shows no sign of getting old.)
4. Lost (The season finale came and went and I find myself not really caring much about this show now. Still think it was worthwhile but nowhere at all consistent looking at it from start to finish. Look to Fringe on how it is done right.)
5. The Walking Dead (I didn’t much like the premiere but by the third episode I was hooked and really digging the character differences from the comic book to show.)



Top 5 Animated Shows
1. Archer (H Jon Benjamin has that voice that you have probably heard in any given animated sitcom over the last decade. My favorite being Home Movies. The spy genre is a limitless bag of parodies apparently because with this and The Venture Brothers I am in animated sitcom heaven.)
2. The Venture Brothers (Would probably be number 1 but it doesn’t have H Jon Benjamin.)
3. Futurama (It is back and in non movie format. Just as funny and socially relevant. The show most closest to my heart.)
4. Full Metal Alchamist: Brotherhood (This one apparently followed the manga more closely and ended just barely after the manga ended. Wasn’t as consistent as the original anime.)
5. Dragonball Z: Kai (It is Dragonball Z but leaner and just as fun. Some of the best times I had this summer were watching it.)

Dallas just sucks when it comes to the playoffs

RT @radiomaru: facebook is like that bruce springsteen song “glory days” playing over and over and over and over

what is up with using Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory music in commercials. Lost and AT&T so far.

One of the best films of last year, Moon, is now available to watch instantly on Netflix.