The Oscars 2011 - How did we do?

Last night, the Academy Awards took place. A few weeks ago we confidently and rather arrogantly made our predictions as to who would be the big winners. So, how did we do? Well, let's find out, shall we?

BEST PICTURE
The winner was: The King's Speech
Were we right?
We couldn't have been more wrong. We hedged our bets and mentioned three films when predicting this category. Toy Story 3, Inception and The Social Network. Pretty pathetic predicting really. We stand by the fact that Toy Story 3 was the best film though.

BEST ACTOR
The winner was: Colin Firth - The King's Speech
Were we right?
Emphatically, yes. We said, "Sometimes the Oscars throw up dead certs. Colin Firth will win Best Actor. No doubt." Well done us.

BEST DIRECTOR
The winner was: Tom Hooper - The King's Speech
Were we right?
Emphatically, no. We said: "We're going all out on Fincher. Mark our words."

BEST ACTRESS
The winner was: Natalie Portman - Black Swan
Were we right?
While we desperately wanted Jennifer Lawrence to win, we knew that it was never going to happen and so said that, "Natalie Portman will probably walk away with it." Right again.

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
The winner was: Christian Bale - The Fighter
Were we right?
We favoured Geoffrey Rush or the brilliant Mark Ruffalo so, no, we weren't.

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
The winner was: Melissa Leo - The Fighter
Were we right?
We were kinda bored of predicting by this stage, so we lazily suggested that Helena Bonham Carter might sneak it. We were not right.

So, what have we learnt here? Well, with only two out of six correct, we have learnt that we aren't very good at predicting stuff. We're also just starting to realise that, if you are going to get two-thirds of your predictions wrong, then it's not the wisest idea to write a post highlighting the fact. We shoulda kept schtum really, hey? As if anyone would've remembered what we'd said all those weeks ago.

In the other categories, we're pleased Toy Story 3 won the consolation prize of Best Animated Picture (although it would have been an absolute travesty had it not) and we're also happy that Aaron Sorkin was recognised for The Social Network and that the movie also deservedly picked up the Film Editing award. Inception was criminally overlooked, but at least it got a nod for Visual Effects. Where the heck was 127 Hours though?

Anyhoo, here are the results of all the other categories that we couldn't be arsed to speculate on in the build-up.

Foreign Language Film - In a Better World - Denmark
Adapted Screenplay - Aaron Sorkin - The Social Network
Original Screenplay David Seidler - The King's Speech
Animated Feature Film - Toy Story 3
Art Direction Alice in Wonderland
Cinematography Inception
Sound Mixing Inception
Sound Editing Inception
Original Score The Social Network, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.
Original Song We Belong Together from Toy Story 3, Randy Newman.
Costume Design Alice in Wonderland
Documentary Feature Inside Job
Documentary (short subject) Strangers No More
Film Editing The Social Network
Makeup The Wolfman
Animated Short Film The Lost Thing
Live Action Short Film God of Love
Visual Effects Inception

Words by Rob Townsend

The Social Network

It’s as simple as this: The Social Network is much, much better than a film about obnoxious, affluent young men either sitting in rooms bickering over litigation or sitting in rooms writing computer code has any right to be.

The story takes an unbiased look from three perspectives at Mark Zuckerberg’s creation of Facebook through the witty words of Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing) and the vision of director David Fincher. Apparently, Fincher liked the script so much that, when the studio told him it was too long, rather than cut any of it, he just told the actors to talk faster. This makes for some quickfire dialogue that you need to work hard to keep up with but also ensures that there is never a dull moment throughout. Jessie Eisenberg - who many thought to be little more than the poor man’s Michael Cera - is absolutely great in the lead role. Whether he is actually anything like Zuckerberg is a hard one to call as I have never seen a picture of the world’s youngest billionaire let alone heard him talk, but Eisenberg manages to portray a character that is both unpleasant, socially-inept yet strangely vulnerable despite his enormous wealth. You’re not exactly on his side, but it’s hard not to take pleasure at his acerbic verbal put downs of his antagonists.

Regardless of whether you love Facebook, hate it, or have no opinion on it at all, The Social Network is hugely entertaining and an interesting glance at how one of the most important social tools of the 21st Century so far was created. Surprisingly, considering what you would expect to be fairly uninspiring subject-matter, this is one of the best films of the year.