Posts Tagged ‘Precious’

It's neck and neck between Sandra Bullock and Helen Mirren for the Best Leading Actress Oscar, but Bullock slightly leads thanks to awards by Critic's Choice, Golden Globes, and SAG

It’s almost time! Going through the final few categories will hopefully help you get in the mood for tomorrow night’s festivities, which are sure to be as exciting as ever. Enjoy our newest analysis!

Also See: Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Leading Actor, Best Original Screenplay

Best Actress in a Leading Role

This year’s Best Leading Actress pool is filled to the brim with deserving talent and performances, arguably more so than usual. What isn’t unusual is that it’s a tight race for who is actually going to win the gold statuette. The competition is stiff, but it would appear that the two leaders are Sandra Bullock and Helen Mirren, followed closely by Meryl Streep. Bringing up the rear is, of course, the younger two of the nominees, Carey Mulligan and Gabourey Sidibe, respectfully. Helen Mirren’s performance is said to be the most powerful, however Bullock has earned the majority of the Leading Actress awards leading up to the Academy Awards. Read the rest of this entry »

According to Diane Garrett, "Up in the Air" is just one of this year's films that acknowledge the frequency of infidelity

Diane Garrett of Variety.com wrote in an article the other day how it seems the topic of infidelity is hot this year in Hollywood. The reason for this suspicion – 4 out of 10 nominated films for the Best Picture Oscar deal directly with the subject.

Up in the Air, Precious, An Education, and A Serious Man are those 4, and aside from these there’s still those films that weren’t nominated, such as It’s Complicated and Nine.

Garrett notes that, socially, infidelity is a topic that the country can’t seem to avoid, with news breaks about Tiger Woods, John Edwards, Mark Sanford, David Letterman, and John and Kate Gosselin flashing day and night. For something that’s supposedly so immoral, it sure seems to happen quite a lot. Could this be why it’s such a popular topic in recent films?

On the contrary, Garrett makes a different conclusion, chalking the timeliness of the subject up to its versatility in the field of writing.

“It’s interesting, it’s common, and it’s juicy,” says Wesleyan U. film scholar Jeanine Basinger. “You can tell it as comedy, drama, whatever.” – Variety

Infidelity is an issue that audiences seem to have a strange interest in. Strange, that is, because the negative effects of it are well known (scarred children, emotional pitfalls, birthed insecurities, etc.) but because it’s so common it’s traversed from being a serious taboo to fodder for entertainment. And beyond the incorporation of the topic in this year’s four nominees, Garrett insinuates they treat it as a common indiscretion like the most of us. This contrasts, she says, with films like Unfaithful which explicitly claim that such an act should not be tolerated.

To add to Garrett’s article, at least this year’s films aren’t in any way condoning the act of cheating.

This is only Mo'Nique's first nomination, but her wins with the Golden Globes, National Society of Film Critics, and SAG gives her the most momentum

Here at Movie-Thoughts we’re taking it upon ourselves to analyze the nominees for this year’s Academy Awards, figuring out who has the best chance to win their category. We’ll be examining major categories like Best Picture and Best Director, but leading up to these we’ll also examine categories like Best Screenplay and Best Actor. Our Marisa Carpico starts us off with the following evaluation.

Best Supporting Actress

Considering she’s won a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Critic’s Choice Award, Mo’Nique is the most likely candidate to win.  If by some shocking turn of events Mo’Nique loses, there’s no telling who could win.  Vera Farmiga’s beguiling performance in Up in the Air might perhaps be the next most likely.  Penélope Cruz is an Oscar favorite, but her role in Nine is far too similar to her Vicky Christina Barcelona character, for which she won the award last year.  Maggie Gyllenhaal gave an interesting performance in Crazy Heart, but it’s the weakest of the group.  The dark horse in this category is Anna Kendrick.  Despite a show-stealing performance in Up in the Air, Kendrick’s youth acts against her as she has plenty of time for another nomination. That being said she does have a chance, thanks to all the buzz she’s been getting from critics. Read the rest of this entry »