So, the Oscars. What is there to say that hasn't been said? Didn't live up to the hype. Kirk Douglas should've hosted. I felt like the whole time James Franco was the rebellious yet still super cool guy who hated the musical theatre geek, Anne Hathaway. But I'm not going to lie, I still will bang James Franco. I also feel like Anne Hathaway did her best given what she had to work with. People seem to forget while they do host it's a written show, it's not like they're improv'ing. I feel like the writing was terrible. I really wanted James Franco to sing.
As for the awards, there were no real surprises for me except Best Director. Yes, director. But let me start from the beginning to explain my surprise. I am Team Social Network and while I was hoping for it to win I can see why it didn't. The King's Speech is a great film, the best? I personally argue against it. But you have to keep in mind it is the Academy that's voting. Similar to why Brokeback Mountain lost to Crash a few years back, I feel like the Academy is a little older and not used to change or the youth or Generation Y centered films. Thus, they go for The King's Speech instead of The Social Network even though both share similar themes of friendship and power. The Social Network is even a bit darker with themes of betrayal and society. But whatever, you know, you also have to look at it positively, The King's Speech is a great film and thank goodness another dull boring movie didn't win. This year we were blessed with fantastic films to watch.
You can tell with The King's Speech people just automatically picked it in every category, whether it was worthy of winning or not. Again, I have some disagreements about it winning best picture, but I can say whole-heartedly was not worthy of winning two awards: Best Director and Best Original Screenplay.
Best Original Screenplay, one can argue that The King's Speech is not entirely a work of fiction. It's based on history. There was one film so insane that came from one man's idea and created into a script that deserved to win and that was Inception. I am not even a fan of the film, I feel like Inception was totally overrated and didn't live up to the hype. But we all need to admit that Christopher Nolan is talented. From his work in The Dark Knight to Memento to Inception. He doesn't only direct these films but he WRITES them, too. Inception is a crazy, mind-bending thriller Nothing out there is like it and it was indeed robbed of Best Original Screenplay.
Now, Best Director. People automatically assume Best Picture = Best Director. They couldn't be more far from the truth. I feel like in every category to some extent the person is not only being judged on this film they're nominated for but also for their body of work and no other director has a more fascinating body of work than David Fincher. Every time David Fincher creates a movie it's a masterpiece. The way he intertwines the plot with the music with the performances create such amazing tones and you are left on the edge of your seat. With Fight Club, Panic Room, Zodiac, Benjamin Button, he is a genius. He made what might have been such a dull movie about nerds creating a website and sueing each other for it (in lament's terms) and created such a thrilling, even epic story. It boggles my mind that he did not win. The King's Speech, much like Black Swan, was a performance driven movie. Without those performances by Portman and Firth they would've been terrible. The Social Network the performances were pretty good but the story and the way we see the story and how it is created in this film is what makes it a great film and all of that was created by the director, David Fincher, and Aaron Sorkin the writer to an extent as well, but David Fincher was in charge of how Sorkin's writing was delivered and shown. I was completely shocked that he didn't receive the credit he deserved.
Thankfully though the future does look very good for David Fincher, what with filming the movie adaptation of the best-selling novel The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, I am sure he will eventually get what he deserves.
By the way, anybody know of what Tom Hooper's doing in the future? Maybe another mini-series for HBO, being that aside from The King's Speech that's what he was most known for.
