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)

The Results Are In. And The Film of the Year Is...

Colin Firth gave a great performance in The King's Speech. Christopher Nolan broke new ground in his unorthodox thriller, Inception. Darren Aronofsky's direction of Black Swan was one of the best we've seen in the 2000s. But the film that will be remembered from 2010, the year's defining work, is The Social Network. Winning Golden Globes for Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Drama Motion Picture, The Social Network also managed to score quite well in the Critic's Choice Awards, winning Best Picture there as well. Although the Academy Awards will ultimately decide which film is the best film of the year, it's hard to think that The Social Network will fail to continue its winning streak.

The Five Things I'm most excited to see in the film world in 2011

With 2011 already upon us, many rumors and early information about projects for the year are circulating. Here's the five things I'll be most anxious to see.

1. The Wolverine
Following up on a stunning directorial feat in 2010's Black Swan, Darren Aronofsky is signed to direct this film about the X-Men's Wolverine visiting Japan.

2. The Tree of Life
Terrence Malick, director of Days of Heaven, and The Thin Red Line, has signed prolific actors Sean Penn and Brad Pitt to work on his latest film, a drama about relationships between members of a 1950s American family.

3. Criterion Collection Releases
The Criterion Collection is one of the finest DVD releasing companies with films like Seven Samurai, The Rules of the Game, and Breathless in their collection. 2011 looks to be a great year for them, with possible releases like Broadcast News, Kiss Me Deadly, Carlos, and Everything you wanted to know about sex but were afraid to ask.

4. The Hangover 2
This follow up to the funniest film of 2009 should prove to be equally hilarious.

5. Jack and Jill
Adam Sandler is sharing the screen with legend Al Pacino in this new comedy. The dynamic between the two should be interesting to say the least.

Ten Films that made me love Film

Maybe you are just beginning to have an interest in film as you stumble upon this blog. My interest in film was sparked chiefly by watching them. Here are ten films that made me love films.

1. Pulp Fiction (1994)
Pulp Fiction is a film that I think anyone can appreciate. The film is crammed with great dialogue and memorable characters. While there is enough action to satisfy any audience, this film also has a deeper layer, holding a powerful story of redemption. After seeing Pulp Fiction, my mind was made up. I loved the movies.

2. Platoon (1986)
Platoon delivers an intense emotional shock through its gritty portrayal of relationships between soldiers in the Vietnam War. This was the film that showed me how powerful a story can be when it is shown on the screen. This film sparked my desire to see more films, in hope that others would measure up to this mark.

3. The Godfather (1972)
The Godfather is amongst the greatest films of all time. It served to reinforce how powerful a medium film is. The tale of Michael Corleone's descent from war hero to mafia boss is staggeringly told in this classic portrait of the seedy under belly of America.

4. Ed Wood (1994)
This film recounts the exploits of the so called worst director of all time, Edward D. Wood Jr. Rather than spend time taking cheap shots at Ed Wood, director Tim Burton shows the eccentric Ed Wood as a man who truly loved all that cinema had to offer. Seeing a man who loved film so much that he did anything he could do to put on another production inspired me to refuse to abandon hope as I marched forward in pursuit of a filmmaking career.

5. Up in the Air (2009)
In 2009, America was weary of the recession and reaching out in hopes of making a connection. Up in the Air was such a tremendous film for me because it captured all of the fears, doubts, and hopes of that time.

6. The Deer Hunter (1978)
This film's stingingly tragic end struck me in a way only a great film can ever manage to accomplish. The cripplingly real story of friends torn apart by war seized me and once again reminded me of the strength of a film.

7. Memento (2000)
Memento is undoubtedly one of the most innovative films of all time. The method in which the story is told is stunningly unique and makes for one great film. Memento opened me up to the endless possibilities of storytelling through film.

8. Ran (1985)
A late life masterpiece from director Akira Kurosawa, Ran is lush with color and epic in scope. Kurosawa's camera angles and directorial style showed me the storytelling advantages that can only be taken advantage of by a filmmaker.

9. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
This film stunned me in its creation. I was baffled by how a director could make a space ship look so realistic when mankind had yet to set foot on the moon. 2001: A Space Odyssey opened me up to the fact that there are no limits in filmmaking.

10. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966)
The final showdown in this epic spaghetti western is among the best shot sequences in all of film. Only through a masterful use of the camera was such an epic cinematic feat possible.

The Top Ten Film Adaptations of Shakespeare Plays

Many of Shakespeare's plays have been adapted into films. Here's my picks for the ten best adaptations.

1. Ran (1985)- based on King Lear
2. Hamlet (1996)- based on Hamlet
3.Hamlet (1948)- based on Hamlet
4. Scotland P.A. (2001)- based on Macbeth
5. Throne of Blood (1957)- based on Macbeth
6. Much Ado About Nothing (1993)- based on Much Ado About Nothing
7. My Own Private Idaho (1992)- based on Henry IV
8. William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet (1996)- based on Romeo and Juliet
9. A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1999)- based on a Midsummer Night’s Dream
10. The Forbidden Planet (1956)- based on The Tempest