The Social Network – Way Too Indie http://waytooindie.com Independent film and music reviews Fri, 02 Dec 2016 17:34:42 +0000 en-US hourly 1 Way Too Indiecast is the official podcast of WayTooIndie.com. Our film critics grip and gush about the latest indie movies and sometimes even mainstream ones. Find all of our reviews, podcasts, news, at www.waytooindie.com The Social Network – Way Too Indie yes The Social Network – Way Too Indie dustin@waytooindie.com dustin@waytooindie.com (The Social Network – Way Too Indie) The Official Podcast of Way Too Indie The Social Network – Way Too Indie http://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/waytooindie/podcast-album-art.jpg http://waytooindie.com Best 50 Movies Of The Decade So Far (#10 – #1) http://waytooindie.com/features/best-50-movies-of-the-decade-so-far-5/ http://waytooindie.com/features/best-50-movies-of-the-decade-so-far-5/#respond Fri, 06 Mar 2015 14:30:36 +0000 http://waytooindie.com/?p=31525 Our Best 50 Movies Of The Decade So Far list comes to an end with our Top 10 picks; Boyhood, Her, Nightcrawler, The Tree of Life, and more!]]>

All week long we’ve slowly been revealing our choices for Best 50 Movies Of The Decade So Far, and today we’ve reached the top of the list. While every film we’ve chosen thus far represents the incredible cinematic achievements made during the first half of this decade, the following ten films are the best of the best. Here’s to an amazing first five years of the decade, and hoping the next five lead to even bigger and better things.

Next week we will release our Best 50 Songs of the Decade So Far and later this month we will feature Best Albums and Best Television Shows!

Best 50 Movies Of The Decade So Far
(#10 – #1)

The Act of Killing movie

The Act of Killing

(Dir. Joshua Oppenheimer, 2012)

The perspective Joshua Oppenheimer presents to his audience in his landmark documentary The Act of Killing is simply extraordinary. The most fitting comparison might be when horror movies in the 1980’s started using forced perspective shots from the killer. But The Act of Killing is about real life—and the genocide that spread through Indonesia in the mid 1960’s is far from the events of Camp Crystal Lake. The Act of Killing primarily does two things. First, it describes the Indonesian murders the gangsters committed in almost meticulous detail. Oppenheimer gives Anwar Congo and the other executioners the stage (quite literally) to create a historical record of what they did and how they did it. In doing so, the film becomes a deep and surprising character study of these men, who may easily be described as real life monsters. The boldest result of the documentary’s format, however, is how it forces these men to reflect on themselves—what was probably described to them as a showcase of their personalities, perhaps even as a way to show the world who they really are, instead forces the subjects to return to their crimes and reconsider them. This “act” is probably something Congo has done a million times in braggadocious retellings to friends and enemies, but there is something in the reenactment that incites a break in his character. The Act of Killing is quite disturbing, but also incredibly cathartic. [Aaron]

Blue is the Warmest Color

Blue is the Warmest Color

(Dir. Abdellatif Kechiche, 2013)

This film sent ripples around the festival circuit pretty quickly, and if you’ve seen it, it isn’t hard to see why. It has been described in a variety of ways, from “coming out narrative” to “bildungsroman,” and undoubtedly has provoked plenty of discussion around its sex scenes alone. But Blue is the Warmest Color does not fit into any one of the many labels it recalls, because it is not one movie. It is as easily placed into a genre as one can place the life of a woman into a genre. Because that is exactly what this film is: a life, a narrative that has more emotional reality than plot, and more symbolic function than events. To describe it in a summary of plot events does it little justice, because said events bear the relative significance of a wall to a house: indispensable, undoubtedly, but not anywhere near the defining feature. For one film to tackle love, art, literature, culture, class, education and above all, consumption, is ambitious enough, but to do so while seamlessly jumping a few years in time, and then leave us wanting more at the end of nearly three hours? That is truly remarkable. [Pavi]

The Turin Horse

The Turin Horse

(Dir. Béla Tarr & Ágnes Hranitzky, 2011)

Béla Tarr’s self-declared final film The Turin Horse is, if nothing else, a perfect ending to an amazing career. Tarr has defined himself for his use of long, elaborate takes, shooting long films in as few shots as possible. The most extreme example of this would be his 430-minute epic Satantango, which only contains about 150 shots. The Turin Horse runs at a considerably smaller length of 150 minutes, and only in 30 shots, but it can be a grueling experience. Taking place over six days, the film follows a farmer and his daughter as they live out an existence that almost amounts to nothing. Tarr spends over an hour of his film watching them go through the exact same daily motions, before slowly removing one aspect after another from their lives. First their horse won’t move, then the well dries, and by the sixth day things take an apocalyptic turn. The Turin Horse doesn’t exactly sound like a fun time, but its power is immense. Tarr has a style that’s all his own, and his work behind the camera (along with regular cinematographer Fred Keleman) is nothing short of extraordinary. There are plenty of grim films, but few can pull off the all-encompassing and evocative world Tarr creates here. The Turin Horse isn’t a pleasant experience, but it’s one that’s well worth taking. [CJ]

The Social Network movie

The Social Network

(Dir. David Fincher, 2010)

Let’s talk about unlikely masterpieces. “The Facebook Movie” interwove three timelines, two litigations, a hard-to-like protagonist, and the deterioration of his relationships, both personal & professional, into a story that more closely resembles Citizen Kane than other social media-based projects like Catfish or Unfriended. This coming from a filmmaker whose most iconic film works depict a serial killer who bases his murders on biblical sins and on an underground group of brawling men. Like most of David Fincher’s films, part of what makes The Social Network so distinctive is that it features his collaborators operating at peak ability. The movie features Jesse Eisenberg’s only truly transcendent performance, one that turns his neurosis into focused passive aggression. Both Andrew Garfield and Justin Timberlake are stellar here as well. Aaron Sorkin’s script tosses around computer programming jargon with the elegance of a ‘30s screwball comedy. The Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross score, their first contribution to Fincher’s films in what has since become a partnership, is likely the best of their collaborations to date with “In Motion” still a standout among the many great tracks they’ve produced. The Social Network captures the qualities of ambition and selfishness innate in the origins of wildly successful people, with an engrossing, modern aesthetic. [Zach]

12 Years a Slave

12 Years a Slave

(Dir. Steve McQueen, 2013)

Steve McQueen’s unflinching depiction of slavery in the mid-19th century is the type of harrowing portrayal of true-life tragedy that rarely emerges from American cinema (perhaps explaining why this picture came from a British director). A thoughtful, focused look at an ugly but historic American institution is stripped of the hero’s journey narrative forced on a majority of studio-made films. There are few moments of triumph in 12 Years a Slave, barely any speechifying, and thankfully a notable lack of angelic, white savior figures to save Solomon Northrup. Instead McQueen implements his signature long takes to become a fly on the wall to the truly awful treatment that slaves received. Scenes involving the brutality of slave owners unfold in real-time, and without allowing the audience the benefit of a cutaway to more pleasant scenes. None of the movie should feel like a revelation to anyone with knowledge of America’s tainted past; however, the no frills honesty with which McQueen approaches his subject seems the only proper approach to this sad era of history. Complimented by stellar performances from Chiwetel Ejiofor, Lupita Nyong’o, Sarah Paulson and a terrifying Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave is the type of film tragedy deserves, an unwavering representation of both the power of the human spirit and the evils of which humans are capable. [Zach]

Under the Skin

Under the Skin

(Dir. Jonathan Glazer, 2013)

These days, science fiction seems to be all about the big budget FX. Recent sci-fi offerings ranging from the cerebral Interstellar to the MCU’s Guardians of the Galaxy all rely on huge FX set-pieces to sell their sizzle to the audience. It wasn’t always this way. In fact, one of the greatest, yet simplest, sci-fi entries of all time wasn’t even a movie—it was a radio show. Performed by Orson Welles and the Mercury Theater on the Air players in 1938, The War of the Worlds, adapted from the H.G. Wells novel of the same title, proves in retrospect that all the digital cinematic wizardry in the world can’t trump the powerful simplicity of a solid story and terrific performances. The same can be said about Jonathan Glazer’s 2013 film Under the Skin. Sure, it has some dazzling FX, but it’s the simplicity of story—a mysterious woman of otherworldly origins assumes the characteristics of another girl and methodically hunts men in Scotland—and a career-defining performance from Johansson (which is saying something), that makes the film not only mesmerizing, but an entry worthy of mentioning in the same breath as The War of the Worlds. It might be disguised as an art house film, but have no illusions, Under the Skin is a seminal entry in the sci-fi genre, setting a new standard of excellence and positioning itself to be the topic of discussion for decades to come. [Michael]

Nightcrawler movie

Nightcrawler

(Dir. Dan Gilroy, 2014)

There are antiheroes, there are villains, there are sociopaths, and then there is Lou Bloom. Jake Gyllenhaal as the emaciated and determinedly self-assured young Bloom is more intricate than the average villainous protagonist. I’m not sure he can even be described as a sociopath because his motivations in becoming a scumbag video journalist, capturing the gruesome aftermath of horrendous Los Angeles crimes and accidents late at night, is decidedly an emotional investment. An investment in his own shockingly self-absorbed and narcissistic ambitions. A sociopath has no sense of their wrong-doing, Bloom knows and has already decided his own need to excel takes precedence. As the film debut of Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler is especially impressive. Each action-filled scene made darkly beautiful by Robert Elswit’s camerawork—and the pace steadily increasing as Bloom’s thirst for notoriety increase—the film portrays the seedy side of Los Angeles and insightfully proves the darkest capabilities of humanity don’t always lie with the guy holding the gun. With exceptional work from Renee Russo—who proves she can shine when given the chance—as well as Bill Paxton and Riz Ahmed as Bloom’s unfortunate protege, the film is unsettling and yet guiltily fun. After all any sociopath or villain is only as compelling as how well they provoke us to consider how far our own ambitions could take us. Gyllenhaal’s Bloom sets a new bar for controlled crazy. But its exactly that control that makes this film so amazing and unsettling. [Ananda]

Her movie

Her

(Dir. Spike Jonze, 2013)

Quite a turn from Spike Jonze’s last feature film in 2011, Where the Wild Things Are, which he also produced and directed, 2013’s Her was a necessary science-fictional exploration into a concern that has been discussed to no end since the introduction of the handheld mobile device. What would it lead to? Where could it take us? Jonze had already touched on those questions with his 2010 short I’m Here, but was able to delve a lot deeper with a feature film and a larger budget; and with the invention of Siri in 2011, the discussion became even more pronounced and more imaginative. Artificial Intelligence isn’t a new concept by any means in the world of science fiction, however this one tends to hit close to home. When one can barely go out in a crowd without most of the faces in it being buried in their phones, it doesn’t seem quite as far fetched as it used to be portrayed. We are already exceedingly further dependent on our devices than anyone is truly comfortable with. Spike Jonze capitalizes on that concern without actually getting preachy or sinister, while at the same time opening a window into the possibilities and allowing us to draw our own conclusions and moral stances on the subject. The response to the movie was hugely positive and it was considered a strong contender for the Best Picture category at the Oscars. It didn’t win but it did win an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for Best Original Screenplay. With an original score composed by Arcade Fire, it was also considered for an Oscar for Best Original Score and Best Original Song. Joaquin Pheonix is left alone to create most of the dramatic tension, emotional conflict, and plot-furthering entirely on his own physically-speaking, an incredible accomplishment. Although he was overlooked for an Oscar nomination, he was nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance. This futuristic love story holds just enough logic to be thought provoking, and its charming portrayal of a future society that seems only a few steps removed from our own makes for a mesmerizing watch. [Scarlet]

Boyhood movie

Boyhood

(Dir. Richard Linklater, 2014)

We’re constantly fighting time: we rush to work in a sweat, take medicine to extend our lives, agonize as we procrastinate instead of doing our taxes. Our war against time—the most unyielding, unstoppable thing in the universe—is a losing one, but with the advent of movies we discovered a way to cheat time, in a sense. With movies we can capture moments and relive them again and again, trick ourselves into thinking we’re someplace else, and even spend time with those who’ve long since left our world. It’s a wondrous thing. Richard Linklater’s Boyhood captures time in a most fascinating way, stuffing a sprawling 12-year story about a boy and his family into a 165-minute bottle of modest, elegant filmmaking. All movies help us cope with time in their own way, but what’s special about Boyhood is that it beautifully reminds us how lucky we are that we need not face life alone. The people who stand by us through all the ups and downs, through the little triumphs and the massive failures, through the mundane, ephemeral moments that fill up most of our days—they’re our greatest gift. Boyhood isn’t about extraordinary people. It’s about ordinary people who’ve shared lots of time together, and in doing so have found love in one another. It’s a film about family in the deepest sense of the word, and there have been few films over the past half-decade more worthy of your precious time. [Bernard]

The Tree of Life

The Tree of Life

(Dir. Terrence Malick, 2011)

It’s 2011, and the venerable Terrence Malick is set to make his Cannes debut with a new film. Six years passed since The New World, his last film, which was met with hushed response (though, many would later cozy up to it). So, nobody could really tell how The Tree of Life  would play out. Aside from Malick, the flames of intrigue were stoked by the casting of Brad Pitt and Sean Penn, and rumblings of it being Malick’s most personal film to date. Fast track to 2015, and The Tree Of Life is a Palme D’Or winner, an important player in the year that turned out to be The Year Of Jessica Chastain (forget Pitt and Penn, though the former is outstanding here as well), and a gargantuan critical darling. Case in point: Sight & Sound released their updated Greatest Films Poll (updated once every 12 years) in 2012, and The Tree Of Life was just shy of cracking the Top 100.

All of this makes complete sense to most of us here at Way Too Indie (it’s No. 1 on my personal list, too). Terrence Malick has found a way to tap into the wonders of the human experience unlike any other director in the decade so far. Malick’s vision, and his creative impulse to search for God in the details of this semi-autobiographical story of a remembered childhood, is perfectly partnered with Emmanuel Lubezki’s luminous cinematography. The result is a limitless exploration into the essence of what makes us who we are, what we take from our mothers (materialized in Chastain’s eternal mother) and fathers (materialized in Pitt’s mortal father), and where God fits into it all. Like Linklater’s quest for life’s defining moments in Boyhood, Malick’s quest is similar, but with him the end result is a much more solemn and incorporeal one. More than any other film of the century so far, The Tree Of Life expands the boundaries of the art to its furthest corners. [Nik]

See the rest of our Best Movies Of The Decade lists!

View Other Lists of this Feature:
Best 50 Movies Of The Decade So Far (#50 – #41)
Best 50 Movies Of The Decade So Far (#40 – #31)
Best 50 Movies Of The Decade So Far (#30 – #21)
Best 50 Movies Of The Decade So Far (#20 – #11)

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Oscar Winners Revisited: Who Should’ve Won in 2011 http://waytooindie.com/features/oscar-winners-revisited-2011/ http://waytooindie.com/features/oscar-winners-revisited-2011/#comments Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://waytooindie.com/?p=30838 In honor of Oscar season being fully upon us, we’ve created a new column that combines three of our favorite things: arguing about the Oscars, nostalgia, and passing judgment on others. Oscar Winners Revisited hopes to re-evaluate past Academy Awards results and see how well the winners and nominees held up versus the choices Way […]]]>

In honor of Oscar season being fully upon us, we’ve created a new column that combines three of our favorite things: arguing about the Oscars, nostalgia, and passing judgment on others. Oscar Winners Revisited hopes to re-evaluate past Academy Awards results and see how well the winners and nominees held up versus the choices Way Too Indie Staff members would make today. We’ll be sticking to the big six categories: Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, and Supporting Actress. Make sure to check back on Way Too Indie tomorrow for another year’s batch of Academy Award winners, revisited.

Who Should’ve Won An Oscar in 2011

Best Supporting Actress

Who Won – Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Who Should’ve Won – Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit

Melissa Leo Hailee Steinfeld

It’s hard to complain about Leo’s win for The Fighter, though her self-funded pleading for the award looks more desperate now than even then. Truthfully, her performance might be the year’s second Best Supporting Actress role, but her performance wasn’t the best in the category. As the lead of her film, True Grit’s Hailee Steinfeld carries a movie that also features major actors like Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, and Josh Brolin. The 13-year old’s steely reserve, and scrappy determination in the face of an overwhelming Wild West is captivating filtered through the Coen’s vision for True Grit, and aided by a script packed with Southern idioms Steinfeld is a delight in the role. This is the type of performance Hilary Swank would have won an Oscar for if Steinfeld were 10 years older, but her relative youth makes the part easier to ignore. 4 years later, it’s impossible to overlook Steinfeld’s captivating performance. [Zach]

Best Supporting Actor

Who Won – Christian Bale, The Fighter
Who Should’ve Won – John Hawkes, Winter’s Bone

Christian Bale John Hawkes

The Academy loves when big name actors lose massive amounts of weight for their role, as if that’s the only way to show true dedication, and that’s exactly what Christian Bale did (for the second time in his career). Truth be told, Bale did a great job in David O. Russell’s The Fighter, it’s hard to imagine the film without him. But the best performance in this category goes to a different nominee who played a meth-addict; John Hawkes for Winter’s Bone. Here Hawkes makes the most of his limited screen time and perfectly counterbalancing the then little-known Jennifer Lawrence as her drugged up uncle. Hawkes embodies the part of the conflicted antihero with his natural scrappy grit, making him the perfect fit for the role. After picking up the win during the Independent Spirit Awards for this role, there were high hopes Hawkes would also win his first Oscar too. But to this day we’re still waiting for that to happen. [Dustin]

Best Actress

Who Won – Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Who Should’ve Won – Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

Natalie Portman Michelle Williams

I can’t think of a more heartbreaking performance from 2010 than Michelle Williams in Blue Valentine, it’s one of the best lead actress performances of the decade so far and right up there with Anne Dorval (Mommy), Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine), Marion Cotillard (Two Days, One Night) and so many others. Natalie Portman who won this year for Black Swan was incredible in that film, arguably the best she’s ever been, and that certainly made the loss for Williams easier to understand. But still as great as Portman is and she is great, Williams is just on another level with a performance full of tragic and beautiful moments (sometimes seconds apart) as a woman caught in the dissolution of her marriage. [Ryan]

Best Actor

Who Won – Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
Who Should’ve Won – James Franco, 127 Hours

Colin Firth James Franco

Are you serious? James Franco plays a man who literally gets trapped between a rock and a hard place for 127 hours in agonizing pain and resorts to an unthinkable escape, and yet the Award goes to the portrayal of a British King with a speech impediment? Franco spent the entire film by himself, in a single setting, and wasn’t even able to move, yet his relentless determination proves the power of the human condition, inspiring everyone who watched it. In doing so, Franco demonstrated his ability to perform in a more serious role and earned an Independent Spirit Award in the process. The King’s Speech is one of those films that people forget about several years later, and while Colin Firth’s performance was sufficient, Franco’s is one that sticks with you over the years. [Dustin]

Best Director

Who Won – Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech
Who Should’ve Won – David Fincher, The Social Network

Tom Hooper David Fincher

The Social Network isn’t David Fincher’s best work, not by a long stretch, he’s at his best on films like Se7en and Zodiac. But still it’s impossible to call any of the other nominees this year more deserving than the calculated, precise and damn near perfect work on display from Fincher here; it’s almost insulting to award it to anyone else in fact. Still, Tom Hooper and The King’s Speech rode a wave of late-season awards success and pulled the rug right out from under Fincher. It’s not that Hooper’s a totally undeserving winner, although between The Damned United and The King’s Speech I began to sour on his style, it’s that he’s undeserving in 2011. Aaron Sorkin wrote a great script, Jesse Eisenberg gave a career-best performance, but it’s Fincher who is the true MVP of The Social Network bringing his procedural leanings, unique style and oddly strong sense of humor to this story about the beginnings of Facebook or what could just as accurately be called a story of friends, betrayals, and human nature. Fincher’s presence at the helm can’t be undersold and is the biggest reason why this film is or will be considered a masterpiece by many. [Ryan]

Best Picture

Who WonThe King’s Speech
Who Should’ve WonThe Social Network

The King’s Speech The Social Network

The Academy Awards have a penchant for looking back at history with the films they awards their top honors. The King’s Speech fits that mold, an ostensibly feel-good project that depicts a bygone era through the experience of a King and his speech therapist. It’s a pleasant film that for one Weinstein-fueled reason or another turned into the foregone conclusion of 2011’s Best Picture race. In awarding The King’s Speech, the Academy snubbed several films that will be remembered as various auteurs’ defining works, notably David Fincher’s The Social Network. “The Facebook Movie,” as many people dubbed the movie, retains the cold precision of Fincher’s other works but fills its story with damaged egos and big money squabbling. The script from Aaron Sorkin (which won Best Adapted Screenplay this year) features dialog delivered at the pace of a screwball comedy, while somehow communicating the intricacies of computer programming and web strategy. The Social Network is a distinctly modern movie, and it captures the rebirth of America’s tech boom without the benefit of hindsight. But far beyond that it’s a compelling story about human behavior, and the value of relationship vs. power. [Zach]

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2011 Oscar Winners http://waytooindie.com/news/awards/2011-oscar-winners/ http://waytooindie.com/news/awards/2011-oscar-winners/#respond Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://waytooindie.com/?p=1035 The King's Speech took top honors with Best Picture at the 83rd Academy Awards Sunday night along with Tom Hooper for Best Director and Colin Firth for Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay for that film. Natalie Portman got a well deserved Best Actress win for her role in Black Swan. Christian Bale received Best Supporting Actor and Melissa Leo won Best Supporting Actress both from the film The Fighter. Inception won most of the "tech" awards as it was predicted it would. Read on to see the full list of winners.]]>

The King’s Speech took top honors with Best Picture at the 83rd Academy Awards Sunday night, along with Tom Hooper for Best Director and Colin Firth for Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay for that film. Natalie Portman got a well deserved Best Actress win for her role in Black Swan. Christian Bale received Best Supporting Actor and Melissa Leo won Best Supporting Actress both from the film The Fighter. Inception won most of the “tech” awards as it was predicted to do.

See the full list of nominations

Winners:
Best Picture:

The King’s Speech

Best Actor:

Colin Firth, The King’s Speech

Best Actress:

Natalie Portman, Black Swan

Best Director:

Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech

Best Supporting Actor:

Christian Bale, The Fighter

Best Supporting Actress:

Melissa Leo, The Fighter

Best Original Screenplay:

David Seidler, The King’s Speech

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network

Best Foreign Film:

In A Better World

Best Animated Film:

Toy Story 3

Best Cinematography:

Inception

Best Art Direction:

Alice in Wonderland

Best Costume Design:

Alice in Wonderland

Best Original Song:

“We Belong Together”, Toy Story 3

Best Original Score:

The Social Network, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Best Documentary:

Inside Job

Best Film Editing:

The Social Network

Best Makeup:

The Wolfman

Best Sound Editing:

Inception

Best Sound Mixing:

Inception

Best Visual Effects:

Inception

Best Documentary (Short Subject):

Strangers No More

Best Visual Short Film (Animated):

The Lost Thing

Best Short Film (Live Action):

God of Love

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2011 Oscar Nominations http://waytooindie.com/news/awards/2011-oscar-nominations-list/ http://waytooindie.com/news/awards/2011-oscar-nominations-list/#respond Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://waytooindie.com/?p=960 The 2011 Oscar nominations were announced this morning with The King’s Speech leading the way for the 83rd Academy Awards. The film, which also led the Golden Globes nominations (but only took home 1 award), took 12 nominations which include; Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress. Surprisingly, The Social Network only took 8 which tied Christopher Nolan’s Inception and behind Joel and Ethan Coen’s True Grit which had 10 nominations. Click Read More to see all the nominations.]]>

The 2011 Oscar nominations were announced this morning with The King’s Speech leading the way for the 83rd Academy Awards. The film, which also led the Golden Globes nominations (but only took home 1 award), took 12 nominations which include; Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress. Surprisingly, The Social Network only took 8 which tied Christopher Nolan’s Inception and behind Joel and Ethan Coen’s True Grit which had 10 nominations.

Another surprise was Christopher Nolan’s absence from the Best Director’s category. But another person’s snub is another person’s gain as Darren Aronofsky earns his first ever Oscar nomination for Black Swan in the Best Director category. Some say he was snubbed two years ago in that category for The Wrestler.

Even though there were a few surprises, most of the nominations were fairly predictable, especially if you paid attention to the Golden Globe and Independent Spirit Award nominations. Most of the leading nominations were mostly expected.

See who I predict will win Oscars

It was a very solid year for cinema making the award shows very interesting to watch as there was a lot of strong competition all around. The 2011 Oscar winners will be announced on February 27th (a day after the Independent Spirit Awards).

Best Picture:

Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King’s Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone

Best Actor:

Javier Bardem, Biutiful
Jeff Bridges, True Grit
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
James Franco, 127 hours

Best Actress:

Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

Best Director:

Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
David O. Russell, The Fighter
Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech
David Fincher, The Social Network
The Coens, True Grit

Best Supporting Actor:

Christian Bale, The Fighter
John Hawkes, Winter’s Bone
Jeremy Renner, The Town
Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right
Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech

Best Supporting Actress:

Amy Adams, The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter, The King’s Speech
Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit
Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom

Best Original Screenplay:

Mike Leigh, Another Year
David Seidler, The King’s Speech
Christopher Nolan, Inception
Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg, The Kids Are All Right
Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson, The Fighter

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy, 127 hours
Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
Michael Arndt, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Lee Unkrich, Toy Story 3
The Coens, True Grit
Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini, Winter’s Bone

Best Foreign Film:

Biutiful
Dogtooth
In A Better World
Incendies
Outside The Law

Best Animated Film:

How to Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
Toy Story 3

Best Cinematography:

Black Swan
Inception
The King’s Speech
The Social Network
True Grit

Best Art Direction:

Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I
Inception
The King’s Speech
True Grit

Best Costume Design:

Alice in Wonderland
I Am Love
The King’s Speech
The Tempest
True Grit

Best Original Song:

“Coming Home”, Country Strong
“I See the Light”, Tangled
“If I Rise”, 127 Hours
“We Belong Together”, Toy Story 3

Best Original Score:

How to Train Your Dragon, John Powell
Inception, Hans Zimmer
The King’s Speech, Alexandre Desplat
127 Hours, A.R. Rahman
The Social Network, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Best Documentary:

Exit Through the Gift Shop
Gasland
Inside Job
Restrepo
Waste Land

Best Film Editing:

Black Swan
The Fighter
The King’s Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network

Best Makeup:

Barney’s Version
The Way Back
The Wolfman

Best Sound Editing:

Inception
Toy Story 3
TRON: Legacy
True Grit
Unstoppable

Best Sound Mixing:

Inception
The King’s Speech
Salt
The Social Network
True Grit

Best Visual Effects:

Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Hereafter
Inception
Iron Man 2

Best Documentary (Short Subject):

Killing in the Name
Poster Girl
Strangers No More
Sun Comes Up
The Warriors of Qiugang

Best Visual Short Film (Animated):

Day & Night
The Gruffalo
Let’s Pollute
The Lost Thing
Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)

Best Short Film (Live Action):

The Confession
The Crush
God of Love
Na Wewe
Wish 143

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2011 Golden Globe Award Winners http://waytooindie.com/news/awards/2011-golden-globe-award-winners/ http://waytooindie.com/news/awards/2011-golden-globe-award-winners/#respond Mon, 17 Jan 2011 07:42:17 +0000 http://waytooindie.com/?p=749 Ricky Gervais hosted the 68th Golden Globe Awards this year. Even though The King’s Speech had the most nominations with seven, it was rather unsurprising that The Social Network ended up with the most of the film awards that included; Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Director, Best Original Score. I was very happy to see Natalie Portman won Best Actress in Motion Picture Drama, it was very well deserved. Glee had the most awards for TV with three total wins. I was happy to see Jim Parsons win Best Actor in a TV comedy or musical. Not only do I enjoy The Big Bang Theory but it was nice to see someone in a comedy or musical get some respect other than Glee. Click Read More for the full list of winners.]]>

Ricky Gervais hosted the 68th Golden Globe Awards this year. Even though The King’s Speech had the most nominations with seven, it was rather unsurprising that The Social Network ended up with the most of the film awards that included; Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Director, Best Original Score. I was very happy to see Natalie Portman won Best Actress in Motion Picture Drama, it was very well deserved. Glee had the most awards for TV with three total wins. I was happy to see Jim Parsons win Best Actor in a TV comedy or musical. Not only do I enjoy The Big Bang Theory but it was nice to see someone in a comedy or musical get some respect other than Glee. Here is the full list of winners:

FILM

Best Motion Picture – Drama:
The Social Network

Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical:
The Kids Are All Right

Best Director:
David Fincher, The Social Network

Best Actress – Drama:
Natalie Portman, Black Swan

Best Actor – Drama:
Colin Firth, The King’s Speech

Best Actress – Comedy or Musical:
Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right

Best Actor – Comedy or Musical:
Paul Giamatti, Barney’s Version

Best Supporting Actress:
Melissa Leo, The Fighter

Best Supporting Actor:
Christian Bale, The Fighter

Best Foreign Language Film:
In A Better World

Best Screenplay – Motion Picture:
Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network

Best Original Score – Motion Picture:
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, The Social Network

Best Animated Feature Film:
Toy Story 3

Best Original Song – Motion Picture:
“You Haven’t Seen The Last Of Me”, Burlesque

Cecil B. DeMille Award:
Robert De Niro

TV

Best Drama Series:
Boardwalk Empire

Best Comedy Or Musical:
Glee

Best TV Movie/Miniseries:
Carlos

Best Actress – Drama:
Katey Sagal, Sons of Anarchy

Best Actor – Drama:
Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire

Best Actress – Comedy or Musical:
Laura Linney, The Big C

Best Actor – Comedy or Musical:
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory

Best Actress – TV Movie/Miniseries:
Claire Danes, Temple Grandin

Best Actor – TV Movie/Miniseries:
Al Pacino, You Don’t Know Jack

Best Supporting Actress – TV Series:
Jane Lynch, Glee

Best Supporting Actor – TV Series:
Chris Colfer, Glee

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Full List Of Films Released In 2010 http://waytooindie.com/news/full-list-films-2010/ http://waytooindie.com/news/full-list-films-2010/#comments Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://waytooindie.com/?p=713 There were a total of 615 films that have been released in 2010. Here is the total list alphabetically, in case you need to make a Top 10 of 2010 or if you were at all curious. ]]>

There were a total of 615 films that have been released in 2010. Here is the total list alphabetically, in case you need to make a Top 10 of 2010 or if you were at all curious (courtesy of indieWire).

[Rec] 2
127 Hours
16 to Life
180 South
2012: Time for Change
3 Billion and Counting
44 Inch Chest
45365
8: The Mormon Proposition

A Film Unfinished
A Film With Me in It
A Marine Story
A Mother’s Courage: Talking Back to Autism
A Nightmare on Elm Street
A Prophet
A Room and a Half
A Small Act
A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop
A Year Ago in January
After the Cup: Sons of Sakhnin United
After.Life
Agora
Ahead of Time
Ajami
Alamar
Alice in Wonderland
Alien Girl
All Good Things
Alpha and Omega 3D
Altiplano
American Radical: The Trials of Norman Finkelstein
And Everything Is Going Fine
Animal Kingdom
Another Year
Anton Chekhov’s The Duel
Applause
Around a Small Mountain
As Good as Dead
Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge?
Audrey the Trainwreck

Babies
Barefoot to Timbuktu
Barking Water
Barney’s Version
Bearcity
Beautiful Islands
Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo
Behind the Burly Q
Beijing Taxi
Beneath the Dark
Best Worst Movie
Between Two Worlds
Biker Fox
Bitch Slap
Bitter Feast
Biutiful
Black Swan
Blood Done Sign My Name
Blue Valentine
Bluebeard
Boogie Woogie
Boxing Gym
Bran Nue Dae
Break ke Baad
Breaking Upwards
Breath Made Visible
Broderskab
Brooklyn’s Finest
Brotherhood
Budrus
Buried
Burlesque
Burzynski

Ca$h
Cairo Time
Carbon Nation
Carlos
Carmo, Hit the Road
Case 39
Casino Jack
Casino Jack and the United States of Money
Catfish
Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore
Centurion
Chain Letter
Chance Pe Dance
Charlie St. Cloud
Cherry
Children of Invention
Chloe
Circle
City Island
Clash of the Titans
Clear Blue Tuesday
Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer
Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky
Come Undone
Con Artist
Convention
Conviction
Cool It
Cop Out
Countdown to Zero
Country Strong
Crazy on the Outside
Creation
Cropsey
Cyrus

Dabangg
Daddy Longlegs
Daddy’s Home
Dancing Across Borders
Daniel and Ana
Date Night
Daybreakers
DDR/DDR
De Mai Tinh
Deadfall Trail
Dear John
Death at a Funeral
Defendor
Delta
Despicable Me
Devil
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Dinner for Schmucks
Disco and Atomic War
District B13 – Ultimatum
Dogtooth
Don McKay
Double Take
Double Tide
Douchebag
Down Terrace
Dream Boy
Dreamkiller
Due Date
Dulha Mil Gaya

Easier with Practice
Easy A
Eat Pray Love
Eccentricities of a Blonde-haired Girl
Edge of Darkness
Eichmann
Enemies of the People
Enter the Void
Entre Nos
Etienne!
Everyone Else
Everything Strange and New
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Expecting Mary
Extraordinary Measures
Eyes Wide Open

Fair*Game
Falling Awake
Farewell
Faster
Finding Bliss
Fish Tank
Flipped
Flooding with Love for the Kid
Floored
For Colored Girls
For My Father
Formosa Betrayed
Four Lions
Frankie and Alice
Freakonomics
Fresh
From Paris With Love
Frozen
Furry Vengeance

Garbage Dreams
GasLand
Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould
George A. Romero’s Survival of the Dead
Get Him to the Greek
Get Low
GhettoPhysics: Will the Real Pimps and Ho’s Please Stand Up?
Ghost Bird
God of Vampires
Godspeed
Going Blind
Going the Distance
Gravity Was Everywhere Back Then
Great Directors
Green Zone
Greenberg
Grown Ups
Gulliver’s Travels
Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench
Guzaarish

Hadewijch
Handsome Harry
Happiness Runs
Happy Tears
Harimaya Bridge, The
Harlan: In the Shadow of Jew Suss
Harlem Aria
Harry Brown
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I
Hatchet II
Have You Heard from Johannesburg?
Heartbreaker
Heartless
Helen
Hell on Wheels
Hemingway’s Garden of Eden
Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Inferno
Here and There
Hereafter
Hideaway
Hiding Divya
Holy Rollers
Honeymoons
Hot Summer Days
Hot Tub Time Machine
House
How Do You Know
How to Train Your Dragon
Howl
Hubble 3D
Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist, Rebel

I Am Love
I Love You Phillip Morris
I Spit on Your Grave
I Want Your Money
I’m Still Here
Idiots and Angels
In My Sleep
In My Sleep
In Search of Memory
Inception
Inhale
Inside Job
Inspector Bellamy
Iron Man 2
Ishqiya
It Came from Kuchar
It’s a Bash!
It’s Kind of a Funny Story

Jack Goes Boating
Jackass 3D
Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child
Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
John Rabe
Jolene
Jonah Hex
Just Say Love
Just Wright
Karthik Calling Karthik
Kawasaki’s Rose
Kick-Ass
Killers
Kimjongilia
Kings of Pastry
Kings of the Evening
Kisses
Kites
Knight and Day

La Mission
Last Train Home
Lbs.
Leap Year
Leaves of Grass
Leaving
Lebanon
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole 3D
Legendary
Legion
Leonard Cohen Live at the Isle of Wight 1970
Let Me In
Letters to Father Jacob
Letters to God
Letters to Juliet
Life As We Know It
Life During Wartime
Like Dandelion Dust
Little Fockers
Living in Emergency
Logan
Looking for Eric
Lottery Ticket
Lourdes
Love & Other Drugs
Love Ranch
Lovely, Still
Lovers of Hate

MacGruber
Machete
Made in Dagenham
Mademoiselle Chambon
Make-Out with Violence
Making Plans for Lena
Manuela and Manuel
Mao’s Last Dancer
Marmaduke
Mars
Marwencol
Megamind
Mercy
Meskada
Mesrine: Killer Instinct
Mesrine: Public Enemy Number One
Micmacs
Mid-August Lunch
Middle Men
Midnight Reckoning
Milh Hadha al-Bahr
Milk and Money
Mine
Misconceptions
Modern Love Is Automatic
Modus Operandi
Monsters
Morning Glory
Mother
Mother and Child
Mugabe and the White African
Multiple Sarcasms
Mundane History
Murder in Fashion
Music Makes a City
My Dog Tulip
My Name is Khan
My Soul to Take
My Year Without Sex

N-Secure
Nanny McPhee Returns
Ne change rien
Nénette
Neshoba: The Price of Freedom
Never Let Me Go
Night Catches Us
Nine Nation Animation
No One Knows About Persian Cats
Nobody’s Perfect
North Face
Nothing Personal
Nowhere Boy
Nuremberg restoration
NY Export: Opus Jazz

Ocean of Pearls
Oceans
October Country
Off and Running
Ondine
Only When I Dance
Open Five
Open Five
Operation: Endgame
Order of Chaos
Our Beloved Month of August
Our Family Wedding

Paranormal Activity 2
Patrik, Age 1.5
Peepli Live
Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Perrier’s Bounty
Phish 3D
Phyllis and Harold
Picasso & Braque Go to the Movies
Picture Me: A Model’s Diary
Piranha 3D
Please Give
Pop Star on Ice
Pornography: A Thriller
Preacher’s Kid
Predators
Primal
Prince of Broadway
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
Princess Kaiulani
Prodigal Sons
Punching the Clown

Queen of the Lot

Raavan
Rabbit à la Berlin
Rabbit Hole
Race to Nowhere
Rachel
Racing Dreams
Rajneeti
Ramona and Beezus
Rann
Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale
RED
Red Alert: The War Within
Red Birds
Red Hill
Red Riding: 1974
Red Riding: 1980
Red Riding: 1983
Red White & Blue
Remember Me
Repo Men
Resident Evil: Afterlife 3D
Restrepo
Robert Jay Lifton: Nazi Doctors
Robin Hood
Rosencrantz and Guildenstein are Undead
Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage

S&Man
Saint John of Las Vegas
Salt
Salt of This Sea
Saw VII 3D
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
Secret Sunshine
Secretariat
Sex and the City 2
Shanghai Red
She’s Out of My League
Shrek Forever After
Shutter Island
Shutterburg
Skyline
Smash His Camera
Solitary Man
Somewhere
Soul Kitchen
South of the Border
Speed-Dating
Splice
Spoken Word
Spring Fever
Standing Ovation
Step Up 3D
Still Bill
Stolen
Stone
Stonewall Uprising
Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields
Sweetgrass
Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo

Takers
Tales From the Script
Tamara Drewe
Tangled
Teen Patti
Terkel in Trouble
Terribly Happy
The A-Team
The Afterlight
The Agony and the Ecstasy of Phil Spector
The American
The Anchorage
The Army of Crime
The Art of the Steal
The Back-up Plan
The Big Uneasy
The Book of Eli
The Bounty Hunter
The Cartel
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The City of Your Final Destination
The Company Men
The Concert
The Crazies
The Cremaster Cycle
The Debt
The Disappearance of Alice Creed
The Dry Land
The Eclipse
The Expendables
The Exploding Girl
The Extra Man
The Father of My Children
The Fighter
The Freebie
The Ghost Writer
The Girl
The Girl on the Train
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest
The Girl with the Dragon Tatto
The Good Guy
The Good Heart
The Good, the Bad, the Weird
The Greatest
The Happy Poet
The Human Centipede
The Illusionist
The Joneses
The Juche Idea
The Karate Kid
The Kids Are All Right
The Kids Grow Up
The Killer Inside Me
The King’s Speech
The Korean
The Last Airbender
The Last Exorcism
The Last New Yorker
The Last Play at Shea
The Last Song
The Last Station
The Legend of Pale Male
The Living Wake
The Losers
The Lottery
The Magician
The Milk of Sorrow
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
The Nature of Existence
The New Year
The Next Three Days
The Nutcracker in 3D
The Oath
The Other City
The Other Guys
The Paranoids
The Parking Lot Movie
The People I’ve Slept With
The Perfect Game
The Portuguese Nun
The Red Baron
The Romantics
The Runaways
The Secret in Their Eyes
The Secret of Kells
The Sicilian Girl
The Social Network
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
The Spy Next Door
The Square
The Strange Case of Anjelica
The Sun Behind the Clouds
The Switch
The Taqwacores
The Tempest
The Temptation of St. Tony
The Thorn in the Heart
The Tillman Story
The Tooth Fairy
The Tourist
The Town
The Trial
The Trotsky
The Trouble with Terkel
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
The Two Escobars
The Vicious Kind
The Virginity Hit
The Warlords
The Warrior’s Way
The Weathered Underground
The Wildest Dream
The Winning Season
The Wolf Man
Tibet in Song
Ticked-Off Trannies with Knives
Tiny Furniture
To Die for Tano
To Save a Life
To the Sea
Today’s Special
Toe to Toe
Total Badass
Touching Home
Toy Story 3
Trash Humpers
Tron: Legacy
True Grit
Twelve
Two in the Wave

Udaan
Undertow
Unstoppable
Urville

Valentine’s Day
Valhalla Rising
Valley of the Hearts Delight
Vampires Suck
Veer
Videocracy
Vincere
Violet Tendencies
Vision
Visionaries

Wah do dem
Waiting for Armageddon
Waiting for Superman
Waking Sleeping Beauty
Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps
Waste Land
Watercolors
We Are Family
Welcome to the Rileys
What If…
When in Rome
When You’re Strange: A Film About The Doors
White Material
White on Rice
White Wedding
Whiz Kids
Who is Harry Nilsson (and Why is Everybody Talkin’ About Him)?
Who Killed Nancy?
Why Did I Get Married Too?
Wild Grass
Wild Target
Willets Point
William S. Burroughs: A Man Within
Winnebago Man
Winston Churchill: Walking with Destiny
Winter’s Bone
Women Without Men
Wonderful World
World on a Wire

Yellow Handkerchief, The
Yogi Bear
You Again
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger
You Won’t Miss Me
Youth in Revolt

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