Awards Watch: Yearly Round Up 2010

With the award season all said and done for the year 2010, Movie Dearest has tallied up the total trophies handed out by the top 27 organizations, critics groups and industry guilds to get a clearer picture of what is indeed the Best Picture (et al) of the year; only categories with at least two wins are included.

Picture of the Year: The Social Network, 9 wins.
Actor of the Year: Colin Firth in The King's Speech, 9 wins.
Actress of the Year: Natalie Portman in Black Swan, 7 wins.
Supporting Actor of the Year: Christian Bale in The Fighter, 7 wins.
Supporting Actress of the Year: Melissa Leo in The Fighter, 7 wins.
Director of the Year: David Fincher for The Social Network, 9 wins.
Adapted Screenplay of the Year: The Social Network, 11 wins.
Original Screenplay of the Year: The King's Speech, 4 wins.
Cinematography of the Year: Inception, 4 wins.
Art Direction of the Year: Inception, 5 wins.
Costume Design of the Year: Alice in Wonderland, 5 wins.
Original Score of the Year: The Social Network, 4 wins.
Original Song of the Year: "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me" from Burlesque, 2 wins.
Film Editing of the Year: The Social Network, 3 wins.
Sound Mixing & Editing of the Year: Inception, 6 wins.
Visual Effects of the Year: Inception, 7 wins.
Make-Up Design of the Year: Alice in Wonderland, 2 wins.
Animated Feature of the Year: Toy Story 3, 9 wins.
Foreign Film of the Year: Carlos and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, 3 wins each.
Documentary Feature of the Year: Inside Job and Waiting for 'Superman', 3 wins each.

The top winner was The Social Network, with wins in 5 categories, while that film's scribe Aaron Sorkin won the most awards in any category, with 11 total.

See the comments section below for the list of the 27 groups tracked.

MD Poll: All Hail the King

With just over a day until the "real thing", it's time to take a look at the final results of our latest MD Poll and see what movies and performers would win the top Academy Awards If You Picked the Oscars:

At close to 30% of the vote, The King's Speech was victorious as your Best Picture pick. However, second place went to Black Swan over the heavily favored The Social Network, which placed third. Inception and Toy Story 3 round out the top five.

Just as expected for tomorrow night, Colin Firth easily topped the Best Actor race, with Oscar co-host James Franco coming in a distant second for his performance in 127 Hours.

The Black Swan herself, Natalie Portman, triumphed as Best Actress, with her closest competition, The Kids Are All Right's Annette Bening placing second.

As for the supporting categories, one film delivered two knockout performances that you chose as the champions. With over half of the votes, The Fighter's Christian Bale was named your Best Supporting Actor. But it wasn't without a fight, as The King's Speech's Geoffrey Rush earned over half of the remaining votes.

The closest race, here and in reality, was for Best Supporting Actress. With just 0.5% of a difference, The Fighter's Melissa Leo squeaked past The King's Speech's Helena Bonham Carter for the win. Also making an impressive showing was True Grit's Hailee Steinfeld.

See the complete results in the comments section below, and be sure to tune in to the actual Oscars tomorrow night on ABC to see how well we matched the actual winners!

Men on Film: If We Picked the Oscars 2010

Borrowing a page from Siskel and Ebert back in the good ol' days, Movie Dearest's very own Men on Film — Chris Carpenter, Neil Cohen and yours truly — are presenting our own version of "If We Picked the Oscars"! These aren't predictions (you can see those here), but what movies, actors, directors, et al that we would vote for if we were members of the Academy.

So without further ado, the envelope please...

The nominees for Best Picture are: Black Swan, The Fighter, Inception, The Kids Are All Right, The King's Speech, 127 Hours, The Social Network, Toy Story 3, True Grit and Winter's Bone.
And our winners would be:
CC: The Social Network is the near-perfect standout for me out of an unusually strong list of contenders.
NC: The film that transported me to a fully realized and stylized world wasn't Inception. It was the Coen Brothers' vivid True Grit.
KH: Call me and my pick old fashioned, but I was swept up by the emotion and quiet power of The King's Speech.

The nominees for Best Actor are: Javier Bardem in Biutiful, Jeff Bridges in True Grit, Jesse Eisenberg in The Social Network, Colin Firth in The King's Speech and James Franco in 127 Hours.
And our winners would be:
CC: If these same performances were nominated any other year, I might well vote for Franco's intense, revelatory work in 127 Hours. However, since Firth was robbed for A Single Man, this is his year.
NC: I loved Bridges' rough and ready version of Rooster Cogburn, but Firth deserves to be rewarded for his second great performance in two years.
KH: Once again, Firth delivered a heartbreaking performance filled with strength and subtlety.

The nominees for Best Actress are: Annette Bening in The Kids Are All Right, Nicole Kidman in Rabbit Hole, Jennifer Lawrence in Winter's Bone, Natalie Portman in Black Swan and Michelle Williams in Blue Valentine.
And our winners would be:
CC: This is another incredibly strong list of performances and I'm feeling conflicted between Bening and Portman, but I would likely "vote with my heart" and go with Portman.
NC: I love Portman's cuckoo swan princess, but my vote goes with the tightly wound but oh so subtle work of Bening.
KH: I still can't get Portman's crazy ballerina out of my head.

The nominees for Best Supporting Actor are: Christian Bale in The Fighter, John Hawkes in Winter's Bone, Jeremy Renner in The Town, Mark Ruffalo in The Kids Are All Right and Geoffrey Rush in The King's Speech.
And our winners would be:
CC: Bale's is the showiest role and performance here, but I prefer the other more low-key nominees. I vote for the long admired but never-before-nominated Ruffalo, who was excellent as the unwilling pariah of a sperm donor/father.
NC: In another year, I'd have rushed to Rush's defense or gone to town with Renner, but how can you bail on Bale's brilliant transformation?
KH: Bale took enormous risks with a characterization that could have easily been too over-the-top.

The nominees for Best Supporting Actress are: Amy Adams in The Fighter, Helena Bonham Carter in The King's Speech, Melissa Leo in The Fighter, Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit and Jacki Weaver in Animal Kingdom.
And our winners would be:
CC: Similar to my feelings about Bale in the same film, I thought Leo's role/performance a bit too flashy. I would vote for the amazing Steinfeld and think most Academy voters are doing the same.
NC: Leo was spot-on as the trashy mom, but Steinfeld made an incredible first impression full of her own "true grit".
KH: Her co-star is getting all the press, but I was taken by Adams' ballsy "bar girl".

The nominees for Best Director are: Darren Aronofsky for Black Swan, Joel Coen & Ethan Coen for True Grit, David Fincher for The Social Network, Tom Hooper for The King's Speech and David O. Russell for The Fighter.
And our winners would be:
CC: Fincher's direction is masterful here, and he deserves an Oscar not only for it but his impressive body of work to date (Seven, Fight Club, Zodiac, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, et al).
NC: Fincher is hard to argue with, but the Coen Brothers reined in their excesses (mostly) with True Grit. Their virtuoso work wiped the other directors from my mind.
KH: Hooper may be the least-known of the bunch, but that doesn't mean he doesn't deserve it.

The nominees for Best Adapted Screenplay are: 127 Hours, The Social Network, Toy Story 3, True Grit and Winter's Bone.
And our winners would be:
CC: The Social Network, hands down. No one would have thought the story of Facebook's founding could be so dramatic.
NC: That dialogue! So pure and so contraction-free! True Grit was the true favorite of mine and the script was the major reason.
KH: Toy Story 3 brought the beloved animated trilogy to a bittersweet close.

The nominees for Best Original Screenplay are: Another Year, The Fighter, Inception, The Kids Are All Right and The King's Speech.
And our winners would be:
CC: While it does reference many prior movies, intentionally and lovingly, Inception is still the most original and extraordinarily complex script out of this bunch.
NC: Taking her personal experience and turning it into a witty, controversial comedy, Lisa Cholodenko's script for The Kids Are All Right was all great.
KH: Have to give it to The King's Speech writer.

The nominees for Best Cinematography are: Black Swan, Inception, The King's Speech, The Social Network and True Grit.
And our winners would be:
CC: I love that four out of five of these films tended toward darkness and their DP's did equally great work, which makes it hard for me to single one of them out. I would vote here for the more traditional — and brighter — visual pageantry of The King's Speech.
NC: The burnished beauty of True Grit ruled over all the kings, swan queens, social media and dream weavers.
KH: The look of Black Swan had such a brittle realness to it that made the shocking weirdness all the more thrilling.

The nominees for Best Art Direction are: Alice in Wonderland, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, Inception, The King's Speech and True Grit.
And our winners would be:
CC: Alice in Wonderland was a visual delight from beginning to end and the standout for me.
NC: Sure, it was a mess of a movie, but the Art Direction of Alice in Wonderland was divine.
KH: Unfazed by the glitz of the fantasy entrees, my vote would be for the period royal opulence of The King's Speech.

The nominees for Best Costume Design are: Alice in Wonderland, I Am Love, The King's Speech, The Tempest and True Grit.
And our winners would be:
CC: I Am Love boasts ravishing contemporary attire and star Tilda Swinton knows how to work it, but I vote for the various, more classic styles on display in The King's Speech.
NC: True, the Oscar-worthy Swinton looked glorious; but Alice in Wonderland trumped the others visually (if never emotionally).
KH: Again, royalty reigns for me with The King's Speech.

The nominees for Best Original Score are: How to Train Your Dragon, Inception, The King's Speech, 127 Hours and The Social Network.
And our winners would be:
CC: The composers of all these did very interesting work and I loved Hans Zimmer's frequent nods to the Bond movies' musical guru, the late John Barry, in Inception. However, The King's Speech score is the most emotionally affecting of them, which always gets me in the final analysis.
NC: Alexandre Desplat is my single favorite composer, and since he wasn't recognized for The Ghost Writer, he deserves an Oscar for his royal triumph in The King's Speech.
KH: How to Train Your Dragon's Celtic-flavored music scored with me.

The nominees for Best Original Song are: “Coming Home” from Country Strong, “I See the Light” from Tangled, “If I Rise” from 127 Hours and “We Belong Together” from Toy Story 3.
And our winners would be:
CC: “I See the Light” is a new classic among Disney films and other movie musicals. I predict it will also serve as a lovely wedding ballad for years to come.
NC: “I See the Light” is light and lovely.
KH: It's a toon tune sweep again: “I See the Light” was the highlight of Tangled.

The nominees for Best Film Editing are: Black Swan, The Fighter, The King's Speech, 127 Hours and The Social Network.
And our winners would be:
CC: This category is where Black Swan really scored for me. With its quick cuts between dance & drama and sanity & insanity, the editing was (as the film's lead character would surely agree) perfect.
NC: You almost want to black out from the wildly effective editing of Black Swan.
KH: It was the editing of 127 Hours that made it so "edge-of-your-seat" satisfying.

The nominees for Best Visual Effects are: Alice in Wonderland, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, Hereafter, Inception and Iron Man 2.
And our winners would be:
CC: Inception may not have been the flashiest of the nominees, but its effects felt the most organic and realistic to me.
NC: Hereafter's tsunami recreated an event we all saw on CNN, but this is about the only place for me where Inception planted the idea of perfection in my mind.
KH: Inception brought it in the effects sequences, both big and small.

The nominees for Best Sound Mixing are: Inception, The King's Speech, Salt, The Social Network and True Grit.
And our winners would be:
CC: Inception featured the most "bang" in this category, especially when compared with the just plain noisy Salt.
NC: Again, Inception was a dream in this category.
KH: Remember the infamous ending of Inception...?

The nominees for Best Sound Editing are: Inception, Toy Story 3, Tron: Legacy, True Grit and Unstoppable.
And our winners would be:
CC: Inception, ditto my remark above but here applied to Unstoppable.
NC: Uh-oh, how did I end up giving Inception a third award? Because these accolades have nothing to do with its derivative script.
KH: ... we're still waiting for the sound of that top falling.

The nominees for Best Makeup are: Barney's Version, The Way Back and The Wolfman.
And our winners would be:
CC: Lycanthrope master Rick Baker scores again with the granddaddy of all cinematic werewolves, The Wolfman.
NC: True, Benecio del Toro is already half werewolf, but how can you compare the fabulous work Baker did with these other films?
KH: I just can't give it to Baker for another werewolf movie, so I'll go for the sunburns and Colin Farrell tattoos of the sight-unseen The Way Back.

The nominees for Best Animated Feature are: How to Train Your Dragon, The Illusionist and Toy Story 3:
And our winners would be:
CC: Though I consider Toy Story 2 the best of the trilogy, Toy Story 3 triumphs here over its very worthy rivals.
NC: Nothing toyed with audiences emotions like Toy Story 3, about which grown men admitted bawling.
KH: Toy Story 3 was an instant classic, animated or otherwise.

The nominees for Best Foreign Language Film are: Biutiful from Mexico, Dogtooth from Greece, In a Better World from Denmark, Incendies from Canada and Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi) from Algeria.
And our winners would be:
CC: Since Biutiful is the only nominee here I've seen to date, it gets my vote. It is morose in spots and gets long but it has effective moments and Bardem is great as usual.
NC: I found Biutiful anything but, so I always hope to live In A Better World.
KH: Dogtooth was a trip, but I found Biutiful emotionally and spiritually rich.

The nominees for Best Documentary Feature are: Exit Through the Gift Shop, Gasland, Inside Job, Restrepo and Waste Land.
And our winners would be:
CC: In the absence of the wonderful Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work in this category, Exit Through the Gift Shop emerges on top.
NC: Our Wall Street leaders bled us dry and all we got was this lousy T-shirt... and the chilling documentary Inside Job.
KH: Rarely does the doc branch offer up a not-so-serious nominee, and Exit Through the Gift Shop was a hoot-and-a-half.

The nominees for Best Documentary Short are: Killing in the Name, Poster Girl, Strangers No More, Sun Come Up and The Warriors of Qiugang:
And our winners would be:
CC, NC, KH: Sadly, time is truly too short to see everything and we haven't had the privilege of viewing any of these yet.

The nominees for Best Animated Short are: Day & Night, The Gruffalo, Let's Pollute, The Lost Thing and Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary).
And our winners would be:
CC: Some great work here but the odd, moving The Lost Thing is easily my favorite.
NC: Day & Night didn't say anything profound, but as they say, getting there is more than half the fun.
KH: With its mixture of old school traditional animation and 3-D CGI, Pixar's Day & Night showcased the bets of both worlds.

The nominees for Best Live Action Short are: The Confession, The Crush, God of Love, Na Wewe and Wish 143.
And our winners would be:
CC: Wish 143 is an irreverent but touching delight.
KH: It's a great year for this category, with five worthy contenders. In the end, Wish 143 proves to be as irresistible and persistent as its protagonist.

And now for our own special category of dishonorable mention, the Worst Nomination of the Year:
CC: While this is a rare year in which I feel all the nominees in every category are well-deserved, I wish the directors' branch would have passed over the Coen Brothers (who won the Best Director Oscar just 3 years ago) in favor of either Christopher Nolan for Inception or Debra Granik for Winter's Bone. True Grit, while good, isn't as strikingly directed as these two haunting visions.
NC: My pick is for the noisy incoherence of Inception as Best Picture over the superior-in-every-way Shutter Island. Leo and his wife's mental struggles were better and the whole reality vs. fantasy was so much more involving on Scorcese's creepy psycho island.
KH: I could go for such easy targets as the redundant Harry Potter Art Direction (come on, half of the movie took place in a tent!) or Randy Newman's Randy Newman-esque Toy Story theme song. Instead, I'll aim for the big guns and go with the overrated Jesse Eisenberg of The Social Network, considering his questionable Best Actor nomination Oscar-blocked such worthier candidates as Get Low's Robert Duvall and Blue Valentine's Ryan Gosling.

And finally, see the comments section below for how we would rank the 10 Best Picture nominees, just like how Academy members are required to do now when they vote.

And while you're there, tell us who and what you would vote for too!

Illustrations by Adam Simpson for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA).

Movie Dearest's Fearless Oscar Predictions 2010

Mentally unstable. Out of their element. Full of themselves. In over their heads. Lacking the proper faculties to fulfill their duties. No, these aren't the subjects of this year's Academy Award nominees, these are the wannabe Oscar pundits who foolishly try to win their office pools or party contests without consulting the 2010 Edition of Movie Dearest's Fearless Oscar Predictions!

Best Picture: Bucking the recent trend of gritty contemporary fare, The King's Speech should reign over all other contenders come Sunday night.
Best Actor: The surest of bets in the acting races is Colin Firth in The King's Speech.
Best Actress: The Academy loves A) young actresses who B) take a challenging role and C) aren't afraid to get a little ugly doing it. This year, that's Natalie Portman in Black Swan.
Best Supporting Actor: Showy roles shine here of late, and there was no one showier this year than Christian Bale in The Fighter.
Best Supporting Actress: Probably the toughest call of all the major races. Looking back at recent winners in this category, the victors have been women who have "paid their dues". The Fighter's Melissa Leo fills that bill best of all.
Best Director: Expect a split between Best Picture and this award, with The Social Network's David Fincher taking this prize.
Original Screenplay and Adapted Screenplay: The writing awards are easily split between the two Best Picture heavyweights, The King's Speech and The Social Network, respectively.
Cinematography: Roger Deakins is long overdue, and his True Grit has what it takes to get the gold for him.
Art Direction: It's usually not so much "Best" as "Most" Art Direction, so that would be Alice in Wonderland.
Costume Design: Royal films have been on a roll in this race, and that would mean another for The King's Speech.
Original Score: The prolific Alexandre Desplat will finally score (ahem) for The King's Speech.
Original Song: From this lackluster batch, Randy Newman will get a "collective" award for all his work on the Toy Story films.
Film Editing: With presumed front-runner Inception out of the running, the prize should go to the slick Social Network.
Sound Mixing, Sound Editing and Visual Effects: No worries though, as Inception should sweep the rest of the tech categories.
Makeup: It's doubtful that members have even seen all three of these lone nominees... but they'll vote anyway, and for the obvious one at that: The Wolfman.
Animated Feature: Toy Story 3 all the way.

The remaining five categories are voted on only by members who have seen every nominee in each race, so they can be tricky... in other words, these are the Really Fearless Oscar Predictions:
Foreign Language Film: Mexico's Biutiful may be more well known, but Denmark's In a Better World has the buzz.
Documentary Feature: Despite the possibility of an appearance by its covert director, Exit Through the Gift Shop will likely be passed over for the more traditional (and more serious) Inside Job.
Documentary Short Subject: In a field of dourness, look for the uplifting inspirational story... especially if it's about kids. This year, that's Strangers No More.
Animated Short Subject: Pixar got the Academy to screen Day & Night in 3-D, which should help it stand out (get it?) from the crowd.
Live Action Short Subject: Dark subjects with a twist of humor have proved victorious here recently, leading me to predict a win for No Wewe.

Make your own predictions in the comments section below. Oscar winners will be announced this Sunday when ABC presents the 83rd Annual Academy Awards live from Los Angeles.

Trivial Pursuits: Oscars 2010

Illustration by Pablo Lobato for The New Yorker
It's Oscar trivia time, 2010 edition!:

- Women at the Top: For the first time in Academy Award history, a lesbian-themed film — The Kids Are All Right — is nominated for Best Picture. It is also the first time that two Best Picture nominees — Kids and Winter's Bone — were directed by women (Lisa Cholodenko and Debra Granik, respectively).

- On the Other Hand: Three of the Best Picture nominees — 127 Hours, True Grit and Winter's Bone — feature characters with severed arms or hands.

- Top Toon: Toy Story 3 is not only the third animated film to be nominated for Best Picture (following previous nominees Beauty and the Beast and Up), it is also only the third "Part 3" to be nominated (following previous nominees The Godfather Part III and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King).  Plus, it is the only sequel to be nominated for Best Picture when the original film was not.

Illustration by Philip Burke for The New Yorker
- Head Games: Three Best Actress nominees — Annette Bening in The Kids Are All Right, Natalie Portman in Black Swan and Michelle Williams in Blue Valentine — were on the receiving end in steamy oral sex scenes in their movies. Their partners in said scenes — Julianne Moore, Mila Kunis and Ryan Gosling, respectively — weren't so lucky though; all strong contenders in each of their races, none of them were nominated.

- Join the Club: Speaking of Annette Bening, she now joins the ranks of acting nominees recognized for playing GLBT characters, a group that also includes her fellow 2010 nominees Javier Bardem, Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman.

- Double Down: With both The Social Network and True Grit nominated, producer Scott Rudin has twice the chance to take home another Best Picture Oscar; he previously won for No Country for Old Men.

Illustration by Luis Grañena for The New Yorker
- Best Actor Take 2: Jeff Bridges (True Grit) and Colin Firth (The King's Speech) are both nominated for Best Actor again after facing off last year in this category, where Bridges won for Crazy Heart over Firth for A Single Man. This year, Firth is the front-runner. Meanwhile, their competition from last year, Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker) is the only other repeat nominee, this time in the Supporting Actor category for The Town.

- Lucky Rooster: Speaking of Jeff Bridges, he is nominated for playing Rooster Cogburn in True Grit, the same role that won John Wayne the Oscar in the original Grit forty-one years ago.

- Two Times a Lady: For the sixth time in the past ten years, two performances from the same film were nominated for Best Supporting Actress: Amy Adams and Melissa Leo for The Fighter.

Illustration by Robert Risko for The New Yorker
- Music Man: If composer Alan Menken wins for his Tangled song "I See the Light", it will be his 9th Oscar, securing his status as the most Oscared person still living.

- Isn't That Special: For the first time since 1979, there are more than three nominees for Best Visual Effects.

MD Poll: If You Picked the Oscars 2010

It's that time of year again! Time for you to pick what movies and performances you would vote for if you were a member of the Academy and could vote for the best of film 2010 in the actual Oscars.

Last year, you correctly matched the real thing in three out of the five major categories: Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress.  But remember, this isn't about predictions, you are voting for who you want to win!

There are five separate polls, located in the right-hand sidebar, so be sure to vote in each one. The polls will run from now until Oscar Eve, February 26, when the winners of the MD Poll: If You Picked the Oscars 2010 will be revealed!

UPDATE: This poll is now closed; click here for the results, and click here to vote in the latest MD Poll.

Reverend’s Reactions: The 2010 Oscar Nominations

The sun is just starting to show itself here in Hollywood, but celebrations are already underway in the wake of the Academy Awards nominations announcement at 5:38 AM PST today. The film industry's equivalent of Christmas morning has inevitably left some kiddies disappointed while many others are gleeful today.

In general, I'm pleased with this year's contenders. I was very happy about the unexpectedly strong showing made by Winter's Bone in addition to The Social Network, The King's Speech (the leader with 12 nominations) and Inception, all of which were among my top 10 of 2010. I was also pleasantly surprised by Nicole Kidman's well-deserved Best Actress nomination for the affecting Rabbit Hole as well as the inclusion of Javier Bardem, who has been largely shut out of other awards this year, in the Best Actor category for his raw, haunting performance in Biutiful, which was also nominated as Best Foreign Language Film.

The Kids Are All Right, 2010's big GLBT-themed release, garnered a number of nominations and cemented its status in my mind as last year's most overrated movie. Annette Bening and Mark Ruffalo were deservedly honored, but the nods it received for Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture are excessive. More strained domestic drama than ballyhooed comedy, The Kids Are All Right fell way short for me despite its excellent cast.

Also highly overrated in my opinion is True Grit. While technically proficient, very well-acted (the amazing, 14-year old Hailee Steinfeld received a deserved nomination for Best Supporting Actress), and a definite improvement on the original movie version, it's also a fairly routine achievement for Joel and Ethan Coen. The brothers' latest nomination for Best Director is unjust, especially when one realizes Christopher Nolan was left out of the category for his extraordinarily creative work on Inception!

But my disappointment with the high praise heaped upon these two films is tempered by some nominations in "lesser" categories: the song "I See The Light" from Tangled as Best Song (although "You Haven't See the Last of Me" from Burlesque was somewhat surprisingly omitted, so we won't have the prospective thrill of seeing and hearing Cher sing it live during the awards ceremony); composer John Powell's Best Music Score nomination for How to Train Your Dragon; the Best Costume Design nod for the sumptuous I Am Love, our Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association pick as Best Film of the Year; and the inclusion of the hand-drawn, Jacques Tati homage The Illusionist among the Best Animated Feature contenders (alongside Dragon and Toy Story 3).

We'll have to tune in to the 83rd Academy Awards presentation on February 27 to see how everything plays out, but I'm expecting Bening and Colin Firth (Best Actor nominee for The King's Speech) at least to have continued reason to celebrate after that night.

See the comments section below for a quick look at all of this year's Oscar nominations.

By Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.

Awards Watch: Nominations for the 2010 Dorian Awards

The Gay & Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association (of which yours truly and my fellow Movie Dearest Men on Film Chris Carpenter and Neil Cohen are members) has announced its nominations for the group's second annual Dorian Awards, celebrating the best in film and television for 2010.

In 17 categories, including new ones this year for documentaries and "unsung" movies, GALECA has nominated a wide variety of films and TV programs, both with and without GLBT themes. Titles with multiple nominations include such big screen hits as Black Swan, The Kids Are All Right and The Social Network, while The Big Bang Theory, Glee and Modern Family represent the small screen.

See the comments section below for the complete list of nominations. Winners will be announced January 18 in Los Angeles.

Toon Talk: Top 10 of 2010

From classic animation to enlightening documentaries, Disney entertainment was full of unexpected surprises in 2010. Whether it was the eagerly anticipated returns of beloved characters or the shocking revelations of legendary icons, this year had a fair share of excitement and drama mixed in with the magic and fantasy...

Celebrating its 10th edition, click here for the Toon Talk Top 10 of 2010 at LaughingPlace.com.

Monthly Wallpaper - January 2011: 2010 - The Year in Film

As 2010 comes to a close, it is time to look back on the year in film, and what better way then with the Movie Dearest calendar wallpaper for next month!

A dozen of 2010's most popular movies make up the collage, so you can spend all of January gazing at the likes of Aron, Bertie, Cobb, Ken, Lisbeth, Nic & Jules, Nina, Philip & Steven, Ree, Rooster and the rest. What a way to start off a new year!

Just click on the picture above to enlarge it to its 1024 x 768 size, then right click your mouse and select "Set as Background", and you're all set. If you want, you can also save it to your computer and set it up from there, or modify the size in your own photo-editing program if needed.

Reel Thoughts: The 2011 Neelys!

2010 has yielded a bumper crop of amazing performances, such as Natalie Portman’s crazed dancer in Black Swan, Christian Bale’s quivering crackhead in The Fighter, Julianne Moore and Annette Bening’s utterly normal but lovably crazy moms in The Kids Are All Right and breakout turns by youthful Chloe Grace Moretz in Kick-Ass and Let Me In and Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit. The films themselves, by and large, may not have cracked the top ten in other years. For that reason, any "Best of" lists you’re likely to read are completely valid but totally subjective. Except for the Neelys, which truly do recognize the best and worst Hollywood had to offer, named for the unfortunately boozy, pill-popping starlet played by Patty Duke in Valley of the Dolls.

10. I Love You Phillip Morris: This wildly offensive and hilarious love story between a sociopath and his Southern prison squeeze gave Jim Carrey and Ewan MacGregor free reign to have a ball. It would have ranked higher, but the flippant tone robbed the men’s relationship of real chemistry, and MacGregor’s phony accent grates.

9. The Town: Testosterone alert! Maybe Good Will Hunting wasn’t a fluke. Director Ben Affleck crafted a smart, exciting heist movie where his beloved Charlestown, Boston is a starring character itself. Affleck, Jon Hamm and especially Jeremy Renner give powerful, rough-edged and ridiculously sexy performances. Plus, those wrinkly nun masks are super creepy!

8. Winter’s Bone: Jennifer Lawrence bursts onto the scene in a tough, unsentimental performance as a girl who goes on a grueling quest to find her no-good father and save her family before they lose their home. Director Debra Granik creates a world of lawlessness, poverty and violence so real, you need a shower after watching it.

7. Please Give: Nicole Holofcener’s latest tale of upper class social guilt is smart, funny and features a priceless performance by Catherine Keener. She plays a mid-century modern furniture dealer who gets her best stuff by raiding estate sales of unsuspecting next-of-kin. Look for The Dick Van Dyke Show’s Millie Helper, Ann Guilbert, as Keener’s ancient and cranky neighbor.

6. The King’s Speech: A veddy British drama about King George VI (Colin Firth), Queen Elizabeth’s father, and his debilitating struggle with stuttering. Geoffrey Rush plays the speech therapist that saved the King, and Helena Bonham Carter gives a richly funny performance as the Queen Mum. Firth will surely earn the Oscar he was denied last year.

5. Toy Story 3: The third time is a charm indeed, as reality intrudes on the sunny lives of Woody, Buzz Lightyear and the gang. Andy is off to college, and he intended to store his toys in the attic, but a mix-up sends them to a hellish prison disguised as a daycare center. The filmmakers explore every human emotion possible in the form of lovable playthings, and Barbie’s Ken nearly pirouettes out of the closet; being Disney, it’s only implied, but come on... he wears an ascot!

4. The Social Network: David Fincher creates an endlessly fascinating film that Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg probably doesn’t “Like”. Jesse Eisenberg plays Zuckerberg as an anti-social narcissist who created Facebook after being dumped by his girlfriend.

3. Black Swan: The wildest mind trip of the year, Darren Aronofsky’s ballet thriller is part Roman Polanski meltdown, part Showgirls-style sex and seduction. Natalie Portman plays the role of her life as a mentally fragile ballerina who cracks under the pressure of playing the two-sided Swan Queen in Swan Lake. Mila Kunis sizzles as Portman’s rival who may or may not want to be her lover.

2. The Kids Are All Right: A backlash has developed against Lisa Cholodenko’s unconventional family dramedy, but I still find it fresh, funny and full of wise and witty performances. Julianne Moore glows as earthy Jules, and Annette Bening sparkles as her brittle doctor wife who has to face the ugly truth of infidelity. Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland) and Josh Hutcherson shine as the titular kids who find more than they bargained for when they locate their sperm donor dad (sexy Mark Ruffalo). Is it a slap in audiences’ faces that Moore fools around with Ruffalo? Not if she was just responding to his attention and passion to reawaken her own dormant sexuality. She’s still gay and the two women still love each other, but Cholodenko doesn’t really care if people are offended. It’s the film she wanted to make, based on elements she and co-writer Stuart Blumberg actually lived through.

And the 2011 Neely goes to…

1. True Grit: Did the old John Wayne/Kim Darby western really need a remake? With the Coen Brothers at the helm, the answer is a resounding yes. Jeff Bridges is a marvel as drunken, trigger-happy Rooster Cogburn and Hailee Steinfeld is amazingly self-assured as Mattie Ross, a stubborn fourteen year old in the wildest of Wild Wests. Matt Damon is a hilarious foil to Bridges, and the Coens create a vivid old-time world through spot-on dialogue, gorgeous production values and inventive performances.

Of course, I always hear that my Worst Ten List is the readers’ favorite part, so here are the misfires, monstrosities and hot messes of the year:

10. The Tourist: A film that makes Johnny Depp boring and Angelina Jolie frivolous is quite a sad accomplishment. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck lavishes attention on Jolie’s gorgeous clothes, but lets Depp flail listlessly as the most improbable math teacher in the history of film.

9. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time: Why do white people playing Persians all speak with British accents? Jake Gyllenhaal sports a Billy Ray Cyrus wig, but his manly physique is the only saving grace in this noisy, pompous, overblown melodrama. I sure hope the video game this is based on is more entertaining.

8. Clash of the Titans: Hunky but vacant Sam Worthington makes Harry Hamlin look like Olivier, and Liam Neeson seems visibly pained to shout “Release the Kraken!” in this misguided fantasy film only made worse by the addition of cheesy 3-D. Poor Gemma Atherton makes her second appearance on the list after her embarrassing Prince of Persia performance, proving that a Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts education doesn’t give you taste in projects.

7. Dinner for Schmucks: As funny as a plate of dog poop, this unnecessary remake of a French film squandered the talents of Paul Rudd and Steve Carell in the least funny comedy of the year. Carell’s stuffed mice dioramas had more life and energy.

6. The Last Airbender: The Lousy Airblunder is a better name for M. Night Shamalyan’s latest pretentious mess. Dev Patel squanders his Slumdog Millionaire good will glowering through his role of a disgraced prince, while a trio of forgettable child actors pretends to control the four elements. Nothing will control your boredom.

5. The Bounty Hunter: Gerard Butler is the anti-Hugh Jackman, choosing role after role in cinematic stink bombs, and this sour romantic comedy is no exception. Jennifer Aniston tries to charm, but the story is so full of nasty violence and misogynist characters, you won’t get the bad taste out of your mouth for weeks.

4. Splice: A nasty hybrid escaped earlier this year that was cobbled together from the damaged DNA of a dozen better movies. No, I am not talking about “nerd-spelled-backwards” Dren, the monster at the center of the hoot-worthy Splice. The film itself was a sickly retread of many superior films that took the intriguing idea of genetic experimentation and turned it into a cringe-inducing freak show. Sarah Polley and Adrian Brody definitely need new agents.

3. Furry Vengeance: A bloated Brendan Fraser squares off with a bunch of pissed-off woodland creatures in a horrifying comedy that could have been crafted by Sarah Palin and the NRA. The animals are repulsive, the humans are more repulsive and the whole film feels like it was made for pocket change. The whole thing reminds me of a 1973 issue of "House of Mystery" where the forest creatures drowned a little boy to teach man a lesson about respecting the environment. Watching Furry Vengeance made me wish I were that toddler.

2. Eat Pray Love: 2010 was a year filled with natural disasters, but Glee creator Ryan Murphy’s excruciating version of Elizabeth Gilbert’s memoir was a pompous, self-congratulatory, insufferably cutesy disaster to rival them all. Not even Julia Roberts, Richard Jenkins and Javier Bardem could elevate this chick flick fiasco.

1. Standing Ovation: Billed as “Junior High School Musical”, this misshapen maelstrom of horrible acting, miserable musical numbers and idiotic writing could single-handedly end funding for the arts in our schools. With dialogue like “I’m Alanna Wannabe, and I’m gonna be!” and a band of mean girls named “The Wiggies”, it’s like From Justin to Kelly, without the charm. So painful, it’s considered a human rights violation in thirty-seven countries.

And the coveted Elizabeth Berkley Award for unfortunate acting goes for the first time to an unknown, who will, we can pray, remain that way. From the truly wretched Standing Ovation, the hilarious low point was, hands-down, little Alanna Palombo. With a foghorn voice and an Elmer Fudd accent, this pint-sized moppet overacts so horrifically, you will swear she’s in 3-D. Those arguing whether Black Swan or Burlesque is the new Showgirls should aim a little lower. Shrill Palombo and her talent-deprived tweens make Standing Ovation the cult classic of the year.

By Neil Cohen, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Phoenix's Echo Magazine.

Reverend's Year in Review: 2010

Many critics, myself included, tend to moan and groan at the end of each year about the poor quality of films released theatrically during the previous twelve months. In my estimation, though, 2010 was a year of unusually high quality among both GLBT-oriented movies (notably The Kids Are All Right and I Love You Phillip Morris) and mainstream. In reviewing my film log and the academic scale I use, I rated more releases an "A" or "A-" in 2010 than I have in many years.

Here then are, in my opinion, the best of the best of 2010:

1. The Social Network (Sony): Engrossing account of the ethical and relational struggles behind the founding of Facebook, which has become the most popular social networking website of our time with over half a billion users, including more than a few GLBT folks. Such success is ironic given that the film reveals the founders' inability to sustain significant relationships, at least at the time. Masterfully directed by David Fincher, brilliantly written by Aaron Sorkin, and impressively acted by Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Timberlake and hot newcomer Andrew Garfield (soon to be seen as Spider-Man in the movie re-boot), among others. A rare, essentially perfect film.

2. Winter's Bone (Roadside Attractions): A bleak but ultimately rewarding drama set in the Ozarks. A 17-year old girl must locate her deadbeat father or else she, her younger siblings and disabled mother will lose their home. Jennifer Lawrence makes a stunning debut in the lead role, and director Debra Granik does a great job finding the humanity in whom viewers might deem some pretty brutal, low-life characters. A great saga of female empowerment, both on and behind the screen.

3. Inception (Warner Bros): One of those unique summer event movies that actually lives up to the hype and makes film lovers say "Wow!" Virtuoso Christopher Nolan followed up his mega-successful Batman sequel The Dark Knight with a bracingly original action-adventure about a team of dream thieves led by Leonardo DiCaprio that engages one's intellect as well as the eye. Does it all make sense? It's hard to say, but I expect repeat viewings will prove rewarding. Gay viewers were especially taken by British actor Tom Hardy, who charms in the film and has publicly admitted having sexual experiences with men in the past. He can steal my dreams any time!

4. Mother (Magnolia Pictures): We all have our mother issues but, as this Hitchcockian suspense-comedy proves, even the most dysfunctional moms can come in handy in a pinch. When a simple-minded man is accused of murder, his overly-possessive mother (she insists her grown son sleep with her, albeit chastely) sets out to find the true killer. The latest from the enormously talented South Korean writer-director Bong Joon-ho, who last made the tongue-in-cheek monster movie The Host. Kim Hye-ja is great in the title role, and is being honored as Best Actress of 2010 by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association for her work in this.

5. Shutter Island (Paramount): The second-best mind f**k of a movie released in 2010 after Inception, and featuring another great turn by Leonardo DiCaprio. An excellent, appropriately creepy adaptation of Dennis Lehane's novel about mysterious goings-on at an isolated mental asylum during the 1950's and the psychologically fragile G-Man sent to investigate. Hottie Mark Ruffalo, who also turned in a memorable performance this year in The Kids Are All Right, plays DiCaprio's devoted partner. Directed by Oscar-winner Martin Scorsese with more twists and turns than the wildest roller coaster.

6. Eyes Wide Open (New American Vision): A remarkable Israeli film about the unexpected, intense love affair that develops between two Orthodox Jewish men. Dubbed "Brokeback Talmud" by one wag, it gains extra credit for being respectful in its unavoidably controversial treatment of the Orthodox characters and community. That the film's excellent lead actors don't boast movie-star good looks adds to its credibility. It received a brief theatrical release in Los Angeles and New York but deserves to be seen widely and is now available on home video.

7. The King's Speech (Weinstein Co.): I predict Colin Firth will win this year's Best Actor Academy Award (after losing last year despite his superior performance in the gay-themed A Single Man) for his remarkable, touching work here as Britain's King George VI, who reigned during World War II and won his people's admiration despite a debilitating stammer. The movie is really an insightful exploration of leadership and what effective leadership requires, both in terms of skills and costs. Geoffrey Rush provides great support as a speech therapist whose unusual methods become the source of George's salvation, and Helena Bonham Carter is wonderful as she who would become the Queen Mother.

8. Micmacs (Sony Classics): A delightfully inventive anti-war satire by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, stylish director of such previously acclaimed films as Amélie and A Very Long Engagement. Visually marvelous and funny, it was truly one of the summer's and year's most truly entertaining movies despite being foreign and subtitled, which likely turned many viewers who would otherwise dig it away. Track it down once it's on DVD and watch it; you'll be glad you did.

9. Rabbit Hole (Lionsgate): Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by David Lindsay-Abaire, who also wrote the screenplay, the story follows a married couple (Nicole Kidman and the always welcome Aaron Eckhart) who are grieving the sudden death of their 4-year old son eight months prior. The film is moving and achingly authentic while also unexpectedly funny, and is helmed with great sensitivity by actor-writer-director John Cameron Mitchell of Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Shortbus infamy. Kidman is a likely Oscar candidate for her powerful performance, and Eckhart could also find himself nominated.

10. Easy A (Sony/Screen Gems): I had several contenders for the final slot in my top ten (see honorable mentions below), but I chose this for its extremely intelligent, unusually literate screenplay by Bert V. Royal... and in a comedy primarily intended for teens! Emma Stone is smashing as a high school student who embraces "The Scarlet Letter" as much more than just assigned reading. Dan Byrd of TV's Cougar Town plays a gay fellow student who develops a Mark Twain-related "fetish" by film's end. The supporting cast also includes gay faves Stanley Tucci, Patricia Clarkson and Lisa Kudrow.

In what was another very good year for the fairly recently re-discovered genre of documentaries, I would like to confer "Honorable Mention" status on a handful of great docs that dealt with GLBT-related subjects: The Other City, about AIDS in Washington DC, which has the highest rate of infection among US cities; Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work; and Stonewall Uprising. Other Honorable Mentions go to I Love You Phillip Morris which, though excellent, deserves it for no other reason than finally getting released in the US after a torturous two-year delay; The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, with its bisexual avenging angel Lisbeth Salander personified by the awesome Noomi Rapace; and, in a great year for animated films, Disney's wonderful Tangled and Toy Story 3.

Of course, in every bed of roses one finds a few thorns. The five worst movies I endured in 2010 were The Expendables, the dreadful, hyper-violent reunion of 1980's action stars; After.Life, a bizarre horror flick that wastes the usually dependable Christina Ricci and Liam Neeson; The Magician, which follows the exploits of an Australian hit man through his possibly gay videographer/admirer; Please Give, a widely acclaimed dramedy that I found insufferably pretentious despite its great cast; and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, which is so incredibly dull and formulaic for a summer action-adventure that not even yummy, shirtless Jake Gyllenhaal could give it life.

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Orange County and Long Beach Blade.

Monthly Wallpaper - December 2010: Toys

Twas the month of Christmas, and what do we have here? Why the last Movie Calendar Wallpaper of the year!

All bedecked with movie star dolls, games and Toys, just right for all film loving girls and boys!

There's Woody and Buzz and sweet Pinocchio; watch out for Chucky, he's naughty, you know!

We deliver it here to share with all of you, exclaiming "Happy December to all, from the Movie Dearest crew!"

All you have to do is click on the picture above to enlarge it, then simply right click your mouse and select "Set as Background". (You can also save it to your computer and set it up from there if you prefer.) The size is 1024 x 768, but you can modify it if needed in your own photo-editing program.

Toon Talk: Toy Stories & Tall Tales

Soon after premiering this past summer to rave reviews and blockbuster box office, it was clear that Toy Story 3 was something special. Rare indeed is a motion picture trilogy that proved to be so emotionally rich and with such consistent quality throughout each of its chapters. It was also quickly apparent that Toy Story 3 was a grade-A tear-jerker, much more so for adults than its supposed “target audience” of children. In fact, one could easily say that the 3 in the title is the minimum amount of times one will cry while watching it.

And now you can let the tears flow unashamedly in the comfort of your own home with the release this week of Toy Story 3 on Disney DVD and Blu-ray. And, as with most Pixar releases, they were sure to fill this toy box to the brim all sorts of entertaining and informative extras ...

Also available this week on Disney DVD and Blu-ray is Cars Toon: Mater’s Tall Tales, a collection of hilarious animated shorts starring everyone’s favorite rusty ol’ tow truck. The set includes nine cartoons (including two new ones) that find Mater spinning a yarn about his past (not entirely factual) exploits to his befuddled BFF Lightning McQueen ...

Click here to continue reading my Toon Talk reviews of the new Toy Story 3 and Cars Toon: Mater's Tall Tales DVDs at LaughingPlace.com.

MD Poll: Bloody Good Costumes

When it comes to Halloween costumes for 2010, MD Poll-takers prefer theirs' with a little teeth... and a lot of blood... True Blood, that is. Of course, well all know that the vampires, werewolves, et al from that hit show spend most of their time in their birthday suits... which should make for some fun trick or treating this year.

Johnny Depp's take on the Mad Hatter came in a close second, while Glee's Sue Sylvester rounded on the top three Halloween costume ideas. See the comments section below for the complete stats.

MD Poll: Trick or Treat, 2010 Style

Halloween is just around the corner, which brings up the annual question, "What am I going to wear?" Well, we here at Movie Dearest have you covered with ten of the hottest pop culture inspired costume ideas for 2010 ... and not one of them is Lady Gaga.

Take your pick for your favorite 2010 Halloween costume idea in the MD Poll located in the right hand sidebar, and tune back Saturday October 30 (Halloween Eve) for the final results.

UPDATE: This poll is now closed; click here for the results, and click here to vote in the latest MD Poll.

MD Poll: The Man of Your Dreams

With close to half of the total votes, Inception's dreamy Tom Hardy was easily your "Boy of Summer", Class of 2010.

Wolfboy Taylor Lautner was a distant second, followed by Tom's fellow dream teamer Leonardo DiCaprio. See the comments section below for the complete results.

MD Poll: The Boys of Summer 2010

The end of the summer movie season is almost upon us, so it is time for our annual look back at the film actors that made it so memorable ... and judge them on their looks alone and anoint one the hottest cinematic hunk of the past four months or so!

This year's batch is filled with some familiar faces (Leo, Jake, the Twilight guys) alongside some "fresh meat" (Inception hottie Tom Hardy, Sex and the City 2's sizzling Max Ryan), plus a surprise stud who is technically nearing 50 years old.

Take your pick and place your vote in the MD Poll located in the right hand sidebar. The ultimate summer movie hunk, class of 2010, will be crowned September 25.

UPDATE: This poll is now closed; click here for the results, and click here to vote in the latest MD Poll.

MD Poll: Hey, Howdy, Hey!

Movie Dearest readers showed their support for their local sheriff, voting Woody their favorite Toy Story character in the latest MD Poll.

Woody's pals Rex and Jessie placed high as well, netting 2nd and 3rd place, respectively. See the comments section below for the complete results.