2010 Golden Globe Predictions

My predictions for the Golden Globes, this coming Sunday:

Best Motion Picture, Drama

Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The King’s Speech
The Social Network

Prediction: The Social Network

Best Director - Motion Picture

Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan

David Fincher, The Social Network

Tom Hooper, The King's Speech

Christopher Nolan, Inception

David O. Russell, The Fighter

Prediction: Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan

Best Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical

Alice in Wonderland
Burlesque
The Kids Are All Right
Red
The Tourist

Prediction: The Kids Are All Right


Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Comedy

Johnny Depp, Alice in Wonderland
Johnny Depp, The Tourist
Paul Giamatti, Barney's Version
Jake Gyllenhaal, Love and Other Drugs
Kevin Spacey, Casino Jack

Prediction: Johnny Depp, Alice in Wonderland

Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama

Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Colin Firth, The King's Speech
James Franco, 127 Hours
Ryan Gosling, Blue Valentine
Mark Wahlberg, The Fighter


Prediction: Colin Firth, The King's Speech

Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama


Halle Berry, Frankie and Alice
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

Prediction: Natalie Portman, Black Swan

Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Comedy


Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Anne Hathaway, Love and Other Drugs
Angelina Jolie, The Tourist
Julianne Moore, The Kids Are All Right
Emma Stone, Easy A

Prediction: Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right


Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture

Christian Bale, The Fighter
Michael Douglas, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
Andrew Garfield, The Social Network
Jeremy Renner, The Town
Geoffrey Rush, The King's Speech

Prediction: Christian Bale, The Fighter

Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture

Amy Adams, The Fighter

Helena Bonham Carter, The King's Speech

Mila Kunis, Black Swan

Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom

Prediction: Amy Adams, The Fighter

Best Screenplay - Motion Picture

127 Hours
The Kids Are All Right
The King's Speech
The Social Network
Inception

Prediction: The Social Network


Best Original Song

“You Haven’t Seen The Last of Me,” Burlesque
“Bound To You,” Burlesque
“Coming Home," Country Strong
“I See The Light,” Tangled
“There’s a Place For Us,” Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Prediction: “You Haven’t Seen The Last of Me,” Burlesque


Best Original Score

Alexandre Desplat, The King's Speech
Danny Elfman, Alice in Wonderland
A.R. Rahmin, 127 Hours
Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, The Social Network
Hans Zimmer, Inception

Prediction: Hans Zimmer, Inception

Best Animated Feature Film

Despicable Me

How to Train Your Dragon

The Illusionist

Toy Story 3
Tangled

Prediction: Toy Story 3


Best Foreign Language Film

Biutiful (Spain/Mexico)
The Concert (France)
The Edge (Russia)
I Am Love (Italy)
In a Better World (Denmark)

Prediction: I Am Love (Italy)

Notes on "Black Swan"

Black Swan

Directed by Darren Aronofsky

Starring: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey, Winona Ryder

Grade: B+

In 1948 Moira Shearer's red shoes led her down a path to destruction, shaming the ambitions of its dancing devotee. Darren Aronofsky's "Black Swan" is a fairy-tale all about self-reflection, reverent of ballet's expressionistic qualities and ambiguities, and the dark promise of a dancer's modus operandi.

"Black Swan" is extraordinary in its frenetic, close-capture sense of spectacle, maintaining an ornateness through all of its gruesome attempts to rattle and drastic character escalation. Natalie Portman as Nina suffers for her art, visibly strained from the duality of the character, and evolves from meek to precocious to jealous to erratic, effectively shading Nina's arc with glimpses of unpredictable self-loathing and scrupulous behaviour.

Aronofsky is often as impulsive as his heroine, exercising some really blatant creative license, with an admittedly coursed fable, but his film gains such boundless energy as it moves and transforms in our minds, that I hardly cared. "Black Swan" is tremendous, and not to be missed.

Venice Film Festival 2010: Day 1

While many folks profess that the worst part about going overseas is the flying, I don't subscribe to that mode of thought. Sure, airports can be stressful, but once you're past all of the rigmarole and protocol a flight can actually feel like a euphoric wave. My flight from East Midlands to Marco Polo proved to be a handy transition, a chilled prep for the buzzed atmosphere of Venice and its lavish Lido.

On the flight there I met a well-to-do, elderly couple, oblivious to the fact that a Festival is even going on in the city for the next eleven days. It puts things into perspective somewhat - we aren't all slaves to cinema, and the isolationist feeling you get when attending the festival isn't solely psychological.

Days like this confirm to me that the film industry is one of the greatest in the world, and even as I lounge in my hotel room, wondering whether tonight's premiere of "Black Swan" will be special or backfire somewhat, I realise that it doesn't matter a great deal. For now I'm a romantic, and I highly doubt that bi-curious ballerinas and their flamboyant psychosis can truly spoil that.

Coming Up: Reaction to "Black Swan"

Venezia 67, Line-Up Announced

The line-up for this year's Venice Film Festival has been announced. View it here at the Festival's official website.

I'm obviously most excited for Sofia Coppola's "Somewhere", since I loved her first three films. Other interesting prospects come in the form of the already-announced "Black Swan", and Kelly Reichardt's follow-up to "Wendy and Lucy", Western "Meek's Cutoff". Work from Francois Ozon, Monte Hellman, Vincent Gallo, and Adellatif Kachiche also feature.