Cinema and Popcorn

Big surprises last night! I knew that there were strong possibilities of not seeing The Social Network winning the Best Picture Oscar instead of The King's Speech , but I never thought that the David Fincher won't take home the Best Director prize! I confess that I was a little bit shocked, most because of the fact that Fincher has an amazing body of work and he's has some legendary movies under his belt like Se7en , Fight Club , The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Social Network (in which he showed great Oscar-quality direction work). That just seemed wrong to me! Black Swan gave a lot to Natalie Portman - lots of critical praise, a fiancé, a baby and an Oscar. And everybody knows she deserved the prize for such a magnifique performance. Christian Bale won the Oscar! I knew the Academy would reward all his work (I think he has no professional acting formation). Hailee Steinfeld didn't win the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for True Grit (the Coen brother

The Oscars are tonight and we'll know who will be the war winner's. Let's just compare the predictions with the SHOULD's: BEST PICTURE Will win: The Social Network Should win: The Social Network BEST DIRECTOR Will win: David Fincher ( The Social Network ) Should win: David Fincher ( The Social Network ) BEST LEADING ACTOR Will win: Colin Firth ( The King's Speech ) Should win: James Franco ( 127 Hours ) BEST LEADING ACTRESS Will win: Natalie Portman ( Black Swan ) Should win: Natalie Portman ( Black Swan ) BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR Will win: Christian Bale ( The Fighter ) Should win: Christian Bale ( The Fighter ) BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Will win: Hailee Steinfeld ( True Grit ) Should win: Jacki Weaver ( Animal Kingdom ) BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY Will win: David Seidler ( The King's Speech ) Should win: Christopher Nolan ( Inception ) BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY Will win: Aaron Sorkin ( The Social Network ) Should win: Aaron Sorkin ( The Social Network ) B

The Independent Spirit Awards 2011 winners were annouced some couple of hours ago and there are some surprises: it was predicted that Winter's Bone would take home the big award (Best Feature), due to the fact of being a REALLY INDIE PRODUCTION, but it seems that Black Swan seduced the voters, taking home the Best Feature, Best Director ( Darren Aronofsky ), Best Female Lead ( Natalie Portman ) and Best Cinematography trophies. This big win leads us to another point: will be Portman win the Oscar after winning the INDIE OSCAR? The question may not be silly if we look at the past winners and realize that most of them didn't win the Oscar that year ( Ellen Burstyn for Requim for a Dream (2000); Sissy Spacek for In the Bedroom (2001); Julianne Moore for Far From Heaven (2002); Catalina Sandino Moreno for Maria Full of Grace (2004); Felicity Huffman for Transamerica (2005); Shareeka Epps for Half Nelson (2006); Ellen Page for Juno (2007); Melissa Leo for Frozen River

This year's Saturn Awards nominees list is out and there's a list full of works that deserve to be recognize (I'm not talking about Hereafter , The Expendables or The Wolfman ...), but I would love to see Marion Cotillard between the nominees of the Best Supporting Actress category for her great performance in Inception (maybe instead of Vanessa Redgrave from Letter to Juliet ). Here's the complete list of the nominees with my winner predictions with *: Best Science Fiction Film Hereafter Inception * Iron Man 2 Never Let Me Go Splice Tron: Legacy Best Fantasy Film Alice in Wonderland The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader Clash of the Titans Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 * Scott Pilgrim vs. The World Twilight: Eclipse Best Horror/Thriller Film The American Black Swan * Kick-Ass Let Me In Shutter Island The Wolfman Best Action/Adventure Film The Expendables The Green Hornet Red Robin Hood Salt True Grit * Unstoppable Best Actor Jeff

In spite of seeing the Oscar buzz increasing around The King's Speech , I put my money in The Social Network as the biggest winner of the Oscar night, because I've faith that the Academy voters will use their brains and vote in a much more important and socially relevant movie instead of their hearts ( The King's Speech is a much more "warming" movie). The Facebook movie deserves the Oscar of Best Picture better than the movie about a king with a speech problem . So, here's my winners predictions list for the Oscar night: BEST PICTURE The Social Network BEST DIRECTOR David Fincher for The Social Network BEST LEADING ACTOR Colin Firth for The King's Speech BEST LEADING ACTRESS Natalie Portman for Black Swan BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR Christian Bale for The Fighter BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Hailee Steinfeld for True Grit BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY David Seidler for The King's Speech BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY Aaron Sorkin for The Social Network BEST CINEMATOGRAPH

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY There's an interesting fight: Inception Vs The King's Speech Vs The Kids Are All Right . While most people say that it's all between David Seidler and Christopher Nolan, I must say that Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg must be in contention to take the Oscar home. Let's see the things this way: we have The King's Speech , a movie with Best Picture potential; we have Inception , a dazzling movie and extremly smart sci-fi movie written by Christopher Nolan who was unfairly snubed in the Best Director category; we have The Kids Are All Right , a smart comedy-drama with really good lines, good story, good characters and important themes about family; Well, I must admit that the biggest contenders are Inception and The King's Speech and one of them will win the Best Original Screenplay Oscar, and, in spite of thinking that Inception SHOULD win, The King's Speech will take the prize home because of being the favorite in the Best

Well... it seems that The King's Speech won... AGAIN! I really hope that the Academy don't go blind for the King's Speech , specially when they have a movie like The Social Network , which has a message to the audiences and the society... Winning a BAFTA don't guarantee an Oscar, but it seems that it predicts it! About my feeling in the Best Leading Actress category... I was wrong, it seems that Natalie Portman takes another award home (she deserves it, but I start feeling pity for Annette Bening ! Poor lady...). Here's the BAFTA Awards 2011 winners list: Best Film The King's Speech Outstanding British Film The King's Speech Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer Four Lions - Director/Writer - Chris Morris Director The Social Network - David Fincher Original Screenplay The King's Speech - David Seidler Adapted Screenplay The Social Network - Aaron Sorkin Film Not in the English Language The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Animated

Just to say that if The King's Speech will win the BAFTA Award (which is really likely, specially when the BAFTA are the BRITISH equivalent to the Oscars), I must say that I don't agree with the choice. Everybody read my previous entries knows that I hope that The Social Network will win the Oscar of Best Picture, so I keep my fingers crossed to see the Facebook movie winning at BAFTA Awards, in spite of knowing that it isn't probable... Just to say that I've the strange feeling that the BAFTA Awards won't recognize Natalie Portman , so I can see Annette Bening or EVEN Hailee Steinfeld winning this one (sometimes the BAFTA's go different from the Academy Awards). So, here's the list with my winners predictions in each category: Best Film The King's Speech Outstanding British Film The King's Speech Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer Exit Through the Gift Shop - Director, Producer - Banksy, Jaimie D'cruz Director The S

Susanna White ( Nanny McPhee Returns ) is the director attached to direct the movie adaptation of Stephanie Meyer 's The Host , a sci-fi novel. The script was written by Andrew Niccol ( The Truman Show ) and there's no indications about the casting choices. Here's the synopsis: " A species of altruistic parasites has peacefully assumed control of the minds and bodies of most humans, but feisty Melanie Stryder won’t surrender her mind to the alien soul called Wanderer. Overwhelmed by Melanie’s memories of fellow resistor Jared, Wanderer yields to her body’s longing and sets off into the desert to find him. Likely the first love triangle involving just two bodies, it’s unabashedly romantic, and the characters (human and alien) genuinely endearing ." (adapted) Remember that The Host 's writer, Stephanie Meyer also wrote the Twilight saga and her books sold millions worldwide. The Host will have almost the same commercial sucess as the Twilight saga , but I ho

The first image of Meryl Streep as the legendary British Primer Minister Margaret Thatcher was release a couple of hours ago. The movie is called The Iron Lady and it is directed by Phyllida Lloyd ( Mamma Mia! ) and it also stars Jim Broadbent ( Iris ) and Roger Allam ( The Queen ). It may hopefully be the role that will give the third and really well-deserved Oscar to Meryl Streep! Cobie Smulders ( How I Met Your Mother TV series) was chosen for the role of the S.H.I.E.L.D. executive director Maria Hill in The Avengers , intended as a sidekick of sorts for Nick Fury and it seems that her contract with Marvel include nine movies about the Marvel Universe. This way, Smulders joins the impressive cast composed by Robert Downey Jr . (Tony Stark/Iron Man), Mark Ruffalo (Bruce Banner/Hulk), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Chris Evans (Steve Rogers/Captain America), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Scarlett Johansson (Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow), Jeremy Renner (Clint Barton/Hawkeye) and

ACTING CATEGORIES BEST LEADING ACTOR Colin Firth will win the Oscar for The King's Speech , BUT James Franco should take it home instead of him! I mean, Firth's performance is completly Oscar-worthy and he has a great career and he delivered completly amazing performances in the past, but Franco was better than him in 127 Hours : it's a one man show and he carries the movie with almost no help... only an amazing performance can make the audience awake and feeling alive. But... well... Firth will win and I'm happy for him, he's a good acting reference. BEST LEADING ACTRESS Well... We have a really serious battle here: Swan Girl Vs Lesbian Mum or, if you prefer this way, Natalie Portman Vs Annette Bening. While some experts say that Natalie Portman will win this one, I'm a little bit aprehensive about all this certainties. The Academy can be really surprising sometimes and they may honour Annette Bening for having such a great career and for being overdue for a wi

Here's the list of the nominees for the WGA Awards of 2011. It's a good way to predict the Oscars at some point, in the way that the winners can easily be the future Oscar winners in the screenplay categories, if we are talking about movies, while in the documentary category, the WGA Award winner can see its chances of a Oscar win improving really well! So, here's the list of nominees: ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY - Black Swan , Screenplay by Mark Heyman and Andres Heinz and John McLaughlin; Story by Andres Heinz; Fox Searchlight - The Fighter , Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson; Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson; Paramount Pictures - Inception , Written by Christopher Nolan; Warner Bros. - The Kids Are All Right , Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg; Focus Features - Please Give , Written by Nicole Holofcener; Sony Pictures Classics ADAPTED SCREENPLAY - 127 Hours , Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy; B

BEST PICTURE The most wanted prize will be given to The King's Speech or The Social Network , and there are no doubts about it! While " The Facebook movie " had an extremely brilliant beggining in the awards race, being named the best movie of the year by most of the critics' organizations and winning the Golden Globe of Best Motion Picture - Drama, The King's Speech toke the lead in the Oscar race in the last weeks by winning the Producers Guild Award of Best Theatrical Motion Picture, the Director Guild of America Award of Best Director for Tom Hooper and the SAG Award of Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble Cast in a Motion Picture, beating the David Fincher's drama in some of the most important "before Oscars" awards. Who do you think that will win the Oscar? A movie about the biggest social network of the world with an important message to our society or a British motion picture that tells us the story of a king with some speech problems du

Someone asked to David O. Russell if Amy Adams would play Elena in his adaptation of the video game Uncharted: Drake's Fortune and he answered " Oh I would love that too, I love Amy. I also love Scarlett Johansson; there’s a lot of great actors I think might suit. Hopefully, we’ll see how it works out with everybody who are being scoped to do that role ". Well... it seems that Scarlett Johansson is back on fire again to casting talks. Mark Wahlberg , Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci are some "rumoured" casting choices, with Wahlberg "almost confirmed" as he always does in O. Russell's movies and it seems such an interesting project, but will Miss Johansson be able to work on it specially when she will spend a lot of time shooting The Avengers ? According to Collider , " Baz Luhrmann may be reconsidering an adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Speaking to Vulture at the DGA Awards on Saturday, Luhrmann said he has to “make a de