2011 Oscar Nods!

OK, yes the Academy Awards have gotten all politic and pretentiously stuffy the past few (read several) years. As a film fan, there have been more disappointments that agreements with the Academy's choices because of their apparent elitist attitude about some "lesser" genres of film that they seem to like to skim over in their "judging".

That said, it's still fun to see who receives nominations, make your predictions, watch all the glitzy red carpet-walking and then root for your faves... it's the Stanley Cup for films! 

Following is this year's list of categories and nominations.

I haven't seen many, but I've marked my favorite(s) in bold (And I reserve the right to change these at any point before the awards should I see more of the nominated films, because there are several I still want to :P )

Best Picture

Black Swan

The Fighter

Inception

The Kids Are All Right

The King's Speech
127 Hours

The Social Network

Toy Story 3

True Grit

Winter's Bone

Best Director

Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan

David O. Russell, The Fighter

Tom Hooper, The King's Speech

David Fincher, The Social Network

Joel Coen/Ethan Coen, True Grit

Best Actor

Javier Barden, Biutiful

Jeff Bridges, True Grit

Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network

Colin Firth, The King's Speech

James Franco, 127 Hours

Best Actress

Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right

Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole

Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone

Natalie Portman, Black Swan

Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

Best Suppoting Actor

Christian Bale, The Fighter

John Hawkes, Winter's Bone

Jeremy Renner, The Town

Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right

Geoffrey Rush, The King's Speech

Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams, The Fighter

Helena Bonham Carter, The King's Speech

Melissa Leo, The Fighter

Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit

Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom

Best Screenplay - Adapted

Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy, 127 Hours

Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network

Michael Arndt, Toy Story 3

Joel Cown & Ethan Cown, True Grit

Debra Granik & Anne Roselini, Winter's Bone

Best Screenplay - Original

Mike Leigh, Another Year

Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson, The Fighter

Christopher Nolan, Inception

Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg, The Kids Are All Right

David Seidler, The King's Speech

Best Animated Feature

How To Train Your Dragon

The Illusionist
Toy Story 3

Best Documentary

Exit Through the Gift Shop

GasLand

Inside Job

Restrepo

Waste Land

Best Foreign Language Film

Biutiful (Mexico)

Dogtooth (Greece)

In A Better World (Denmark)

Incendies (Canada)

Outside the Law (Algeria)

Best Art Direction

Alice in Wonderland

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1

Inception

The King's Speech

True Grit

Best Cinematography

Black Swan

Inception

The King's Speech

The Social Network

True Grit

Best Costume Design

Alice in Wonderland

I Am Love

The King's Speech

The Tempest

True Grit

Best Editing

127 Hours

Black Swan

The Fighter

The King's Speech

The Social Network

Best Makeup

Barney's Version

The Way Back

The Wolfman

Best Score

127 Hours

How to Train Your Dragon

Inception

The King's Speech

The Social Network

Best Song
"Coming Home" - Country Strong
"I See the Light" - Tangled
"If I Rise" - 127 Hours
"We Belong Together" - Toy Story 3

Best Sound Editing
Inception
Toy Story 3
TRON: Legacy
True Grit
Unstoppable


Best Sound Mixing
Inception
The King's Speech
Salt
The Social Network
True Grit

Best Visual Effects
Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1
Hereafter
Inception
Iron Man 2

Best Documentary Short
Killing in the Name
Poster Girl
Strangers No More
Sun Come Up
The Warriors of Qiugang

Best Animated Short

Day & Night
The Gruffalo
Let's Pollute
The Lost Thing
Madagascar, Carnet de Voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)

Best Live-Action Short
The Confession
The Crush
God of Love
Na Wewe
Wish 143

Who do YOU think will take home a golden dude on a pedestal February 27th?

list retrieved from http://gawker.com/5742708/here-are-the-2011-oscar-nominations

Coming Attractions: January Edition

Starting the year off alright, albeit a little late. Here are the month's upcoming movies that pique my interest (if even vaguely). The titles link to trailers for your viewing pleasure. As always, comment all you like... especially if you want to go see one with me. :)

The Dilemma (1/14)

The Plot:  A comedy about a dude dealing with whether or not to tell his best mate that his wife is having an affair.

The Players:  Vince Vaughn, Kevin James, Winona Ryder, Jennifer Connelly, Channing Tatum, Queen Latifah. Directed by Ron Howard

The Prospective:  I'm vaguely intrigued to see Howard do a comedy and to see Ryder back in the saddle after her time off.  However I've only liked a couple of Vaughn's films and none of James's.  Also, I have a dilemma in believing that those two guys could get chicks like that. It does feature some hockey though, so that's a plus.

The Green Hornet (1/14)

The Plot: Originally a 1930s radio serial, and later a 1960s tele show, The Green Hornet franchise gets a revamp for the new century. The son of murdered newspaper publisher, takes over his dad's business by day but takes to the streets with his martial arts expert sidekick/ "man" fight crime while wearing masks at night.

The Players: Seth Rogen, Jay Chou, Christoph Waltz, Cameron Diaz, Tom Wilkinson. Directed by Michel Gondry

The Prospective: Not a huge fan of Rogen, but it looks like he's at least put himself to a hero-ish task by dropping some of his usual pudge. Chou has already had success over seas and is easy on the eyes.  Ever since I saw Waltz in Inglourious Basterds, I've had a bit of a soft spot for him. However Diaz = major con. I'm not nearly as excited for this as I am for the Green Lantern movie due out later this year, but it might be worth seeing in a matinee show.

No Strings Attached (1/21)

The Plot: A comedy centered on a guy and a girl who are trying to keep their casual relationship strictly friends-with-benefits... yeah, cuz that's easy.

The Players: Natalie Portman, Ashton Kutcher, Cary Elwes, Kevin Kline, Mindy Kaling (The Office). Directed by Ivan Reitman

The Prospective: Hollywood finally embraces the friends-with-benefits scenario.  I'm interested to see a film focused on this realtively new social relationship, even if it is a rom-com.  I could take or leave Kutcher (actually I could just leave him) but I'm interested to see Natalie Portman do something so different from the majority of her previous roles and the award buzzing drama Black Swan (which I'm still eager to see).

The Way Back (1/21)

The Plot:  Prisoners of a Soviet Union labor camp, lead by a young military officer, make a desperate flee from their Serbian gulag in Soviet-occupied Poland during WWII. The escape takes them over treacherous terrain on a daring mission to the hopeful safety of India.

The Players:  Jim Sturgess, Colin Farrell, Ed Harris, Mark Strong, Saoirse Ronan (The Lovely Bones). Directed by Peter Weir.

The Prospective:  Holy fuckonastick, it's a new Peter Weir movie!!! *happy dance* An amazing director who hasn't done anything since 2003's Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (one of my favorite movies. period.). Aside from a nicely talented cast, this film is partially based on the book The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom, as well as first-person accounts and anecdotes as told to, and researched by Weir and writer/executive producer Keith Clarke. I WANT TO SEE THIS FILM!

The Mechanic (1/28)

The Plot: An elite assassin takes on an apprentice who has a connection to one of his earlier targets.

The Players: Jason Statham, Ben Foster (3:10 To Yuma), Donald Sutherland, Tony Goldwyn (From the Earth to the Moon). Directed by Simon West.

The Prospective: Statham may play relatively the same character in most of his flicks, but he nails it (and he's a ruggedly handsome chap) so I can deal.  Foster is a seriously underrated talent and I'm excited to see him popping up in more films. What can I say? Sometimes all a girl wants is a nice, showy action flick.

Other comments:

Season of the Witch (1/7) - Well this looks like January's film fit for a Netflix night of booze and MST3K style mockery if I ever saw one.

Welcome from the Film Fatale

OK yeah, "Film Fatale" is kinda cheesy, but everyone likes cheese (well except the lactose intolerant, but I digress). Besides, I am a dangerously seductive lady with a passion for movies! Also, that was the alternate name for this blog and I wanted to work it in some how, ha ha!

Welcome to my film blog. As it says in the description, here is my place to post about everything from upcoming films I'm excited about, rumors that pique my interest, reviews of things of recently watched - not just new releases either, I am a happy Netflix member - and anything else that fits my film fancy.

Part of this is for me (I have to get it out of my system somehow) but part of it is to also communicate with people who enjoy the cinema as much as I do.  A place to share opinions, ideas, recommendations and such with others.  I hope you, dear reader, will find this a place of fun and interest. Read on, make comments (please try to be affable and considerate of others... although appropriate and creative cursing is totally cool by me) and share the movie love!

Thanks for stopping by,
~K