My pick will be under “Cool Black’s Oscar Pick:” These are NOT who I think will win; it’s who I think SHOULD win based on my opinion and those who know me, know I am quite discerning.
As a screenwriter two of my favorite categories are the two screenwriting ones. For the record:
The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best script not based upon previously published material and the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay is awarded each year to the writer of a screenplay adapted from another source (usually a novel, play, or short story but also sometimes another film). All sequels are automatically considered adaptations by this standard (since the sequel must be based on the original story).
Best Writing – Original Screenplay
Another Year – Mike Leigh
The Fighter – Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, and Eric Johnson
Inception – Christopher Nolan
The Kids Are All Right – Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg
The King's Speech – David Seidler
Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: Christopher Nolan for Inception. Of the original screenplays Inception was just a trip…a mind trip and while it was full of hard to grasp concepts it had an underlying storyline that was pretty easy to follow.
Best Writing – Adapted Screenplay
127 Hours – Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy from Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston
The Social Network – Aaron Sorkin from The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich
Toy Story 3 – Michael Arndt, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, and Lee Unkrich; characters based on Toy Story and Toy Story 2
True Grit – Ethan Coen and Joel Coen from True Grit by Charles Portis
Winter's Bone – Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini from Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell
Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely Aaron Sorkin for The Social Network. Sorkin wrote one of the smartest screenplays in modern history. Not only is it smart, it made “geek speak” not so boring by combining it with whip fire dialogue, wit and sarcasm.
Best Cinematography
Black Swan – Matthew Libatique
Inception – Wally Pfister
The King's Speech – Danny Cohen
The Social Network – Jeff Cronenweth
True Grit – Roger Deakins
Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: (Cinematography is the making of lighting and camera choices when recording photographic images for the cinema. It is closely related to the art of still photography.)
Hard, hard category. Having seen all of these pictures I’m going to say that ALL are worthy nominations, but I have to go with a TIE for Wally Pfister for Inception and Danny Cohen for The King's Speech.
Best Film Editing
127 Hours – Jon Harris
Black Swan – Andrew Weisblum
The Fighter – Pamela Martin
The King's Speech – Tariq Anwar
The Social Network – Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter
Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: I’m going with Andrew Weisblum for Black Swan.
Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale – The Fighter as Dicky Eklund
John Hawkes – Winter's Bone as Teardrop
Jeremy Renner – The Town as James "Gem" Coughlin
Mark Ruffalo – The Kids Are All Right as Paul
Geoffrey Rush – The King's Speech as Lionel Logue
Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: Geoffrey Rush for The King's Speech as Lionel Logue. Again PITCH PERFECT acting!
Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams – The Fighter as Charlene Fleming
Helena Bonham Carter – The King's Speech as Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon / Queen Elizabeth
Melissa Leo – The Fighter as Alice Ward
Hailee Steinfeld – True Grit as Mattie Ross
Jacki Weaver – Animal Kingdom as Janine "Smurf" Cody
Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: I refuse to pick Hailee Steinfeld in this category because I stated above she deserved to be in the “Best Actress” category so I’m going with Helena Bonham Carter for The King's Speech as Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon / Queen Elizabeth.
Best Actor
Javier Bardem – Biutiful as Uxbal
Jeff Bridges – True Grit as Rooster Cogburn
Jesse Eisenberg – The Social Network as Mark Zuckerberg
Colin Firth – The King's Speech as Prince Albert / King George VI
James Franco – 127 Hours as Aron Ralston
Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: I heard this category referred to as Colin Firth and everyone who will lose against him. I totally agree. PITCH PERFECT acting!
Best Actress
Annette Bening – The Kids Are All Right as Nic
Nicole Kidman – Rabbit Hole as Becca Corbett
Jennifer Lawrence – Winter's Bone as Ree Dolly
Natalie Portman – Black Swan as Nina Sayers
Michelle Williams – Blue Valentine as Cindy
Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: First, I totally have to say that Hailee Steinfeld (the little girl from True Grit) deserves to be in this category! She was absolutely fantastic in that film and had such a large role (like every scene). She was nominated for “Best Supporting Actress” for that role, but…I just don’t have the words.
Anyway, my picks are again a TIE Jennifer Lawrence for Winter's Bone as Ree Dolly and Natalie Portman for Black Swan as Nina Sayers.
Natalie Portman did give the performance of her career, but so did Jennifer Lawrence. While Natalie’s was frenetic, Jennifer’s was just the embodiment of distress.
Best Director
Darren Aronofsky – Black Swan
Ethan Coen and Joel Coen – True Grit
David Fincher – The Social Network
Tom Hooper – The King's Speech
David O. Russell – The Fighter
Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: Not really a hard choice, I think all four I did see did great jobs, but my pick is David Fincher for The Social Network.
Best Picture
127 Hours – Danny Boyle and Christian Colson
Black Swan – Scott Franklin, Mike Medavoy, and Brian Oliver
The Fighter – David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman, and Mark Wahlberg
Inception – Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas
The Kids Are All Right – Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, and Celine Rattray
The King's Speech – Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, and Gareth Unwin
The Social Network – Dana Brunetti, Ceán Chaffin, Michael De Luca, and Scott Rudin
Toy Story 3 – Darla K. Anderson
True Grit – Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, and Scott Rudin
Winter's Bone – Alix Madigan and Anne Rosellini
Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: Like I stated at the beginning, I have seen eight of these ten pictures and each one worthy of the nomination. While I personally thought Inception and The Social Network were the best films I saw last year I have to pick The Social Network as Best Picture.
So that’s it, my picks this year with only two travesties Hailee Steinfeld not nominated for “Best Actress” and Christopher Nolan not nominated as “Best Director” for Inception.
List of ALL the Cool Black’s Oscar Picks
Best Writing – Original Screenplay - Christopher Nolan for Inception
Best Writing – Adapted Screenplay - Aaron Sorkin for The Social Network
Best Cinematography - TIE for Wally Pfister for Inception and Danny Cohen for The King's Speech
Best Film Editing - Andrew Weisblum for Black Swan
Best Supporting Actor - Geoffrey Rush for The King's Speech as Lionel Logue
Best Supporting Actress - Helena Bonham Carter for The King's Speech as Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon / Queen Elizabeth
Best Actor - Colin Firth – The King's Speech as Prince Albert / King George VI
Best Actress - TIE Jennifer Lawrence for Winter's Bone as Ree Dolly and Natalie Portman for Black Swan as Nina Sayers
Best Picture - The Social Network
*UPDATE APRIL 2011*
Now that I have seen ALL TEN of the Best Picture nominees I do have TWO changes and they are both from The Fighter.
Best Supporting Actor - Christian Bale – The Fighter as Dicky Eklund
Best Supporting Actress - Amy Adams – The Fighter as Charlene Fleming
My other choices above haven’t changed and I have written about each ten and my cumulative thoughts here
Best Supporting Actor - Christian Bale – The Fighter as Dicky Eklund
Best Supporting Actress - Amy Adams – The Fighter as Charlene Fleming
My other choices above haven’t changed and I have written about each ten and my cumulative thoughts here
Related posts-
Lack of Diversity at the Oscars 2011
African Americans at the Academy Awards
Cool Black's Oscar Recap Past & Present
Cool Black's Entertainment Review 2010-Best Movie
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