The 83rd Annual Academy Awards

As you've probably heard by now, The King's Speech was a big winner. This British production took home awards for best original screenplay, best actor, best director, and best picture. Although The King's Speech was a good film, I chose The Social Network as best picture. Natalie Portman won a well deserved oscar for her performance in Black Swan. Inception managed to score honors in sound mixing, sound editing, special effects, and cinematography. The biggest upset of the night came for me when The King's Speech director Tom Hooper beat The Social Network's David Fincher for best director. The most well deserved award of the night in my opinion, was Aaron Sorkin's win for best adapted screenplay for his work on The Social Network. In his speech, Sorkin mentioned the honor in receiving an Academy Award just like Paddy Chayefsky did in 1976 for his film, Network. Melissa Leo won best supporting actress, however the real show was not her acceptance speech, but rather the humor of the award's presenter, 94 year old screen icon, Kirk Douglas. That wraps up another year in film history. Hopefully 2011 will bare films as good as some of the ones in 2010.

The Top Ten Films of 2010

With 2010 over, and the Academy Awards at the end of the month, I decided to post my top ten films of 2010.

1. Animal Kingdom
2. Black Swan
3. The Social Network
4. Winter's Bone
5. The Fighter
6. True Grit
7. Inception
8. The King's Speech
9. The Kids Are All Right
10. Toy Story 3

Don't Tread Past Me! Frequently Overlooked Classics

I recently saw the new film Animal Kingdom. Despite being a fantastic film, it received very little attention here in the United States. This film got me thinking about other films that have been passed by despite being excellent. Here's a list of films you probably didn't see, but are definitely worth checking out.

1. Animal Kingdom (2010) (Australia)
2. Onibaba (1964) (Japan)
3. Blood Simple (1984) (USA)
4. Choke (2008) (USA)
5. Death at a Funeral (2007) (Britain)
6. The Ice Stom (1997) (USA)
7. American Buffalo (1996) (USA)
8. Barry Lyndon (1975) (USA)
9. Following (1998) (Britain)
10. Miller's Crossing (1990) (USA)

Academy Awards 2011

The Academy Awards are on February 27th. They will be celebrating the best in filmmaking from the year 2010. The nominees were announced last Tuesday. Here are my picks for the winners.

Best Picture- The Social Network

Best Director- David Fincher (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 Foreign Language Film- Biutiful (Mexico)

Best Documentary Feature- Restrepo

Best Animated Feature- Toy Story 3

Best Film Editing- Andrew Weisblum (Black Swan)

Best Visual Effects- Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley, and Peter Bebb (Inception)

Best Original Song- "We Belong Together" (Toy Story 3)

Best Original Score- A.R. Rahman (127 Hours)

Best Cinematography- Matthew Libatique (Black Swan)

Best Sound Mixing- Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo, and Ed Novic (Inception)

Best Sound Editing- Richard King (Inception)

Best Costume Design- Jenny Beavan (The King's Speech)

Best Art Direction- Inception

Best Adapted Screenplay- Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network)

Best Original Screenplay- David Seidler (The King's Speech)

Best Makeup- The Wolfman

Ten Great Directors, and Five Great Films they've made

Here are my ten favorite directors, and my five favorite films each of them has made.

The Coen Brothers
1. The Big Lebowski (1998)
2. No Country For Old Men (2007)
3. Burn After Reading (2008)
4. Fargo (1996)
5. True Grit (2010)

Quentin Tarantino
1. Pulp Fiction (1994)
2. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
3. Kill Bill Pt 2 (2004)
4. Kill Bill Pt 1 (2003)
5. Inglourious Basterds (2009)

Akira Kurosawa
1. Seven Samurai (1954)
2. Rashomon (1950)
3. Ran (1985)
4. Kagemusha (1980)
5. Stray Dog (1949)

Francis Ford Coppola
1. The Godfather (1972)
2. Apocalypse Now (1979)
3. The Godfather Pt II (1974)
4. The Conversation (1974)
5. Dracula (1992)

David Lynch
1. Blue Velvet (1986)
2. Eraserhead (1976)
3. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992)
4. Mulhollad Drive (2001)
5. Dune (1984)

Paul Thomas Anderson
1. Boogie Nights (1997)
2. There Will Be Blood (2007)
3. Magnolia (1999)
4. Hard Eight (1996)
5. Punch Drunk Love (2002)

Stanley Kubrick
1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
2. Barry Lyndon (1975)
3. The Shining (1980)
4. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
5. Spartacus (1960)

Martin Scorsese
1. Goodfellas (1990)
2. The Departed (2006)
3. Taxi Driver (1976)
4. Raging Bull (1980)
5. Casino (1995)

Christopher Nolan
1. Memento (2000)
2. The Dark Knight (2007)
3. Inception (2009)
4. Insomnia (2002)
5. Batman Begins (2005)

Alfred Hitchcock
1. Vertigo (1958)
2. Psycho (1960)
3. Rear Window (1954)
4. North by Northwest (1959)
5. Notorious (1946)

25 Modern Classics

I decided, after choosing ten classics for a film aficionado, to select ten more modern classics. These films were released within the last 25 years, were, and continue to be popular and acclaimed, and thus far into their short history, have avoided fading into cultural insignificance.

1. Pulp Fiction (1994)
2. Goodfellas (1990)
3. Boogie Nights (1997)
4. Fargo (1996)
5. Blue Velvet (1986)
6. Memento (2000)
7. The Departed (2006)
8. The Big Lebowski (1998)
9. Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
10. Burn After Reading (2008)
11. The Social Network (2010)
12. Kill Bill Pts 1 & 2 (2003-2004)
13. No Country For Old Men (2007)
14. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
15. The Matrix (1999)
16. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
17. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
18. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
19. Back to the Future (1985)
20. Die Hard (1988)
21. Toy Story (1995)
22. The Dark Knight (2007)
23. Gladiator (2000)
24. There Will Be Blood (2007)
25. Office Space (1999)

How to become a film aficionado: Ten Essential Classics

Having trouble getting into film? Here are ten great classic films that will open you up to legendary directors and get you in the middle of hard core film discussions right away.

1.The Godfather (1972) (USA)
2. Citizen Kane (1941) (USA)
3. Rashomon (1950) (Japan)
4. Lawrence of Arabia (1962) (USA)
5. The Seventh Seal (1957) (Sweeden)
6. Breathless (1960) (France)
7. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (1966) (Italy)
8. Easy Rider (1969) (USA)
9. Pulp Fiction (1994) (USA)
10. Goodfellas (1990) (USA)