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Here is a list of all the winners of this years 83rd Annual Academy Awards:


Best Picture: The King's Speech
Actor in a Leading Role: Colin Firth - "The King's Speech"
Actress in a Leading Role: Natalie Portman - "Black Swan"
Actor in a Supporting Role: Christian Bale - "The Fighter"
Actress in a Supporting Role: Melissa Leo - "The Fighter"
Directing: Tom Hooper - "The King's Speech"
Adapted Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin - "The Social Network"
Original Screenplay: David Seidler - "The King's Speech"
Best Foreign Language Film: "In a Better World" (Denmark)
Best Animated Feature Film: "Toy Story 3"
Best Documentary Feature: "Inside Job"
Best Documentary Short Subject: "Strangers No More"
Best Short Film (Animated): "The Lost Thing"
Best Short Film (Live Action): "God of Love"
Art Direction: Robert Stromberg and Karen O'Hara - "Alice in Wonderland"
Cinematography: Wally Pfister - "Inception"
Costume Design: Colleen Atwood - "Alice in Wonderland"
Makeup: Rick Baker and Dave Elsey - "The Wolfman"
Film Editing: Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter - "The Social Network"
Music (Original Score): Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - "The Social Network"
Music (Original Song): "We Belong Together" - Music and Lyric by Randy Newman - "Toy Story 3"
Sound Editing: Richard King - "Inception"
Sound Mixing: Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick - "Inception"
Visual Effects: Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb - "Inception"

I was extremely happy for Inception and The Social Network. Inception taking home four and The Social Network taking home three! I was really excited to see Alice in Wonderland win two as well as The King's Speech winning three. I was, for the most part, happy with the winners, except for the winner of Best Picture. I really thought Inception or The Social Network should have taken that home. And what's with Christopher Nolan not getting nominated for Directing?? Anyway.. overall, well done Academy!

Best Picture

Below is a list of the films nominated for best picture. There are three of these movies that I have already given grades for and those can be seen in previous posts:

1. The Social Network

2. 127 Hours*

3. The King's Speech

4. Toy Story 3

5. Winter's Bone*

6. Inception

7. The Kid's Are All Right*

8. True Grit

9. Black Swan

10. The Fighter

The Social Network:

Not many words can express how I feel towards this film. Great cast, great screenplay. To be straightforward, just great everything. Jesse Eisenberg did an incredible job with portraying his character's situation within the movie, along with Andrew Garfield and Justin Timberlake. But also be forewarned, the dialogue is incredibly fast so make sure you have the mind to keep up with it! Just absolutely a wonderful film and it's in my top five favorite films of all time.

Projectionist Grade: A+

The King's Speech:

This film makes Colin Firth really stand strong within his acting skills. The best part about this film was definitely Colin Firth in all of his acting glory. Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter also did really well with their character interpretations. Comparing with Social Network's screenplay, The King's Speech was not as successful but was just as successful with choosing the cast. I would definitely recommend this film to all Colin Firth fans.

Projectionist Grade: A-

Toy Story 3:

When finding out that Toy Story 3 was not only nominated for Best Animated Picture but overall Best Picture as well, I was so excited and super happy! Being a kid that grew up in the world of Toy Story, it really affected the way I reacted to the outcome of this animated movie. Heart-wrenching and hilarious, I would recommend this to anyone who still has a heart for imagination.

Projectionist Grade: A

Inception:

Christopher Nolan and Leonardo Dicaprio blow me away! I honestly do not think the Oscars paid there dues to the cast and crew of this film. This movie keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole time and keeps you guessing with what will happen next. The ending is so fantastic! One of the best I've ever seen!

Projectionist Grade: A

True Grit:

This one is definitely my kind of film! Jeff Bridges is a definite masterpiece along side Hailee Steinfeld and Matt Damon. Another film with an absolute great cast. I'm definitely rooting for Steinfeld to win Best Supporting Actress. Love love love this new rendition of John Wayne's True Grit. Good stuff!

Projectionist Grade: A

Black Swan:

Above all, this movie is just straight up beautiful. I personally did not necessarily enjoy the lesbian scene and if that was somehow omitted, I think I would have enjoyed this film even more. That part was just a bit too awkward and uncomfortable for me to handle. Besides thinking of that scene, the film was very well written and put together as well as the ending was terrific. Natalie Portman was stunning and this is a movie everyone has to at least see once.

Projectionist Grade: B

The Fighter:

All I can say is, Christian Bale.. WOW. He was really the biggest part of this film for me. I even called his nomination before the nominations were even announced! Mark Wahlberg and Amy Adams were really wonderful to compliment Bale's performance but I don't know if both of them lived up to how incredible Christian Bale's performance was. Amy Adams was still incredibly wonderful but I just can't get over how wonderful Bale was. Either way, this film was really well done.

Projectionist Grade: A-

I'm watching the red carpet right now! And I am so excited to see how well The Social Network and Inception will do! I hope they both sweep everything! And I'm The Social Network team for winning best picture! Enjoy your night! I'll be enjoying in mine in front my tv with my sister Sheridan and my friends Tanner, Elizabeth, and Lacy.

Peace out!

The Unknown Tourist

Today was a very long and hardworking Saturday at my theater so I thought I would treat myself to a free movie after my double shift with my two lovely sisters :) and they wanted to see The Tourist.

This film reminds me of the typical hollywood movie that every middle-aged woman would love to see. There's romance, action, and mystery. And that is probably the main reason why I was not interested in seeing this movie first off since the typical hollywood film does not attract my attention. But my sisters wanted to watch and I was never good at denying a film I had never seen. Either way, I was pleasantly surprised with this movie. It was better then I thought it was going to be but it was also still not good enough. The ending was good, but definitely could have been better. The mysterious twist ending of this film was probably the main part that I did enjoy, but the cast selection kind of turned me away. I never really took much of a liking too Angelina Jolie and I'm a bit indifferent about Depp but I definitely enjoy him in Pirates and Blow. Either way, its not a bad film.

Projectionist Grade: B-

This past Thursday evening, I finished up meeting with a friend and decided to spontaneously go see a late movie with my mother. Fortunately, I had two passes and we decided on seeing Unknown.

When it comes to mystery, this movie kept me guessing. Yes, my alleged guess was right, but his confusion definitely keeps you guessing throughout the entire film. This film also seemed to be really well put together and I was honestly on the edge of my seat rooting for Liam Neeson's character the whole way. I would definitely recommend this film!

Projectionist Grade: A-

So tomorrow is the Academy Awards and I'm so excited for it that I invited four friends to come over and enjoy this night of tv fun with me! I will definitely be blogging about the Best Picture nominations before the Awards show begins! Be on the lookout ;)

Photographical Projects

So I kind of noticed that I haven't really made any posts about my photography at all or what that is exactly about. Recently, I've mostly just been doing projects for school and I also did a shoot with my good friends in the Avoid the Sky this past weekend. Unfortunately, my camera malfunctioned and all of those photos got deleted but I will be planning a shoot with them in the near future so they can receive what they paid for.

Anyway, here are some photos I took for school work.

 

 

Those are just three of my favorites out of the two projects that I took photographs for. The first photo shown is a photograph I took during one of the snow days here in Texas and that creek was just absolutely beautiful. It fell into the category of great depth of field in my depth of field project.

The second photo is of a pair of my favorite shoes but I am actually not wearing them, my little sister, Sheridan, is so that I could take the shot. I found it interesting with the sources of light shining through the fence in the background and of course the colors of the shoes bring out a nice change of pace into the photograph. This fell into my typology project in which I chose to shoot all different kinds of shoes.

The third photo is a photograph of my movie poster collection and this fell into the category of short depth of field with the background in focus. I find the composition interesting with the different angles and sizes of the posters as well the line elements. All three of these photos were also preferred by my classmates and I enjoy them very much. :)

If you're interested in any of my other photography, I have a flickr.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shawnaleaphotography

Thanks for reading!

-Shawna Lea M.

Afterlife!

After watching The Kids Are All Right, my sister came downstairs into the living room and was taking a gander at my Resident Evil netflix DVD that was sitting on the piano. I said to her, "You wanna watch zombies?" and she replies, "Yes."

Unfortunately I don't have any way of seeing a 3D film that is not in a theater because I believe this film could have been excellent that way with what type of shots they got within the film. However, I did not get a chance to see this film when it was in theaters so that's a bit of a bummer. Either way, this film had a lot of cool action shots but its not my favorite of the Resident Evils and of course the ending was made to where they could make another film which I hope is also in 3D! Maybe by then they will have mastered the art of 3D filmmaking because it's not all there just yet. This film definitely had its dull moments but it also definitely had its awakening moments when you're not expecting something to happen. Either way, I enjoyed it.

Projectionist Grade: C+

The Kids Are All Right?

The Oscars are coming up and I seriously cannot wait for what's in store! Tonight I finished up all the movies nominated for Best Picture with the movie The Kids Are All Right.

I honestly would have never expected myself to watch this film, considering that I do not necessarily condone same sex marriage, but it was nominated for Best Picture so I definitely had to give it a chance. I personally really enjoyed Annette Bening in this film. She did a really great job with portraying a controlling mother over the family and how her actions took a toll on her family in the end. I agree with the Academy by selecting her as a candidate for an Actress in a Leading Role. Overall this movie had its funny parts but I would not necessarily put it into the comedy category. It was really more like a drama with a comedic relief. Even though  I do not support same sex marriage, I really did connect with the characters while watching this film.

Projectionist Grade: B-

Later on this week I plan to give further critiques on all of the films nominated for Best Picture. Get ready! ;)

Magician or Magic?

Having time to myself one evening after work, I decided to dive into my friend Elizabeth's collection of DVD's that I snagged from her a previous evening. That evening I ended up taking home 9 DVD's with me so that I may watch them whenever I decide to and then return it to her afterward. Among the 9 DVD's, I decided on one in particular that I actually was not positive that I may have seen before but popped in into my player anyway to either watch or re-watch. This film is called The Prestige.

After about 10 minutes into the movie, I realized that I had definitely seen this film before but I knew the ending had a bit of a twist, I just honestly couldn't remember what went on, so I decided to keep watching it. Overall, it was a really great film. Christopher Nolan always seems to do well in my eyes. The ending was also a bit shocking, but once it started to get closer to the end, I began to remember all of what happened. I strongly recommend watching this if you're a sucker for twist endings and magicians ;)

Projectionist Grade: B

Horcruxes, Exorcisms, Vagina Dentata, Severed Limbs, and Ree's Strength

So Wednesday evening of this week was a rather important and exciting evening for me. That day we had received Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 1 in digital as well as a print at my theater. If anyone knows me well, I am the biggest Harry Potter fan! Two of my managers had decided to preview the Harry Potter print that evening at midnight, so they of course invited me to join them!

J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has been dissected into two parts for filming. I am ecstatic that they had decided to do this for all the Harry Potter fans who wanted every important part of the last installment to be made known and followed by the famous novels. Each scene keeps you on edge as they search for the horcruxes that carry pieces of Voldemort's soul. Part one also gives you a glimpse of Voldemort's plan as he searches to find the Deathly Hallows. The cinematography and architectural skills of the set have never ceased to amaze me in any of the Harry Potter films. Having the Harry Potter novels enter into the film world would be an incredible task for anyone who was trying to convey the world accurately. I rather enjoyed the scenes when Harry, Ron, and Hermione are being chased by either some snatchers or from ministry workers. The mixture of spells and slow motion is rather stunning. Either way, I strongly recommend you read the novels and you should especially enjoy all of the movies before watching this film. It will help you keep in check with everything that is happening.

Projectionist Grade: A

The following day was Thursday, and there is always cheap $3.50 tickets for students at a nearby theater. So I was texting my friend Elizabeth and we decided on seeing a movie together that evening. My friend Daniel also joined me on the car ride there. The movie decision was rather spontaneous but I am glad I chose to watch The Rite starring Anthony Hopkins.

This film had a little bit too much back story for my liking. Although back story is a very important key in the beginning of a film, I would have much rather them get on with the exorcisms! And when I say back story, I mean that Anthony Hopkins didn't show up till 45 minutes into the movie. Anyway, the ending is always the more important part and I really enjoyed it.

Projectionist Grade: B

Following the movie, me and Daniel went to his place to watch another film and still wanting the taste for more horrifying scenes we decided on something extremely ridiculous - Teeth.

This movie was all sorts of ridiculous. Every man in her life pretty much wanted to have sex with her but of course she didn't want that! Sure enough, severed penis' right and left! Definitely too many for my liking lol. If anything, this movie was super entertaining! I was screaming laughing almost after every scene.

Projectionist Grade: C+

Since Daniel and I were way too comfortable to get off of his couch, we decided to turn on one of his favorite movies of all time - Black Hawk Down.

Even though I was probably much too tired to give a proper critique on this film, I will do so anyway. 95 percent of the movie was all battle scenes. I felt like I was inside a Call of Duty gamer's dream lol. So much chaos, as well as blood and severed limbs. It's an incredibly heavy duty film with high drama and that's honestly the only thing I do remember. Maybe I'll watch it through again since I've got it on my netflix queue.

Projectionist Grade: B

After a night full of film and lack of sleep, I took Daniel to the theater for his morning stock shift. Once I dropped him off, I headed back home to possibly catch up on some sleep. The more I thought about sleep, the more I thought of how bad of an idea that would be considering naps usually make me sick to my stomach and I knew I needed more then a nap. So instead I decided to pop in my netflix movie that was sitting on the piano - Winter's Bone.

Before putting this in my netflix queue, I knew absolutely nothing about it but that only it was getting a large amount of the Academy Award nominations, including Best Actress in a Leading Role and Best Picture. This of course makes me incredibly interested in it. I was honestly glad I didn't much look into the storyline of the film because of course I was going into watching the film with a clear and open mind. All in all, I would say this film is heavily ridden with drama and I really loved the screenplay of the film with Ree going back and forth to different nearby houses in town searching for her father. It successfully showed the struggles that Ree has been going through her entire life. Knowing about struggles firsthand in my personal life, it really helped me connect with Ree as a character. I will admit some parts were slow, but I mostly enjoyed it.

Projectionist Grade: B+

Don't judge me but I watched Deathly Hallows Pt. 1 again yesterday. Such a great film for Harry Potter lovers ;) my grade is the first one in this post.