A priest/movie critic provides his picks for the Oscars, with links to his reviews.
Guest blog post by Father Dennis Kriz, O.S.M.
I’ve been asked by a number of people to give my Oscar picks. Here I confess my still “amateur” striving for “semi-pro” status.
However, for the “big” categories these are my picks of those who I think will win, those who IMHO should win, and those who least should have been nominated/considered:
BEST ACTOR – Colin Firth (The King’s Speech). Who I’d like to win is Jeff Bridges (True Grit). Who should have at least been nominated is George Clooney (The American).
BEST ACTRESS – Natalie Portman (Black Swan). Who should have at least been nominated Hillary Swank (Conviction).
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR – Christian Bale (The Fighter). Who I’d kinda like to win is unnominated Matt Damon (True Grit).
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS – Melissa Leo (The Fighter). But this was a surprisingly tough category this year. Helena Bonham Carter (The King’s Speech) was excellent as was teenager Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit), though the latter could be a flash in the pan. Who both surprised and I wish was at least nominated was Leighton Meester (Country Strong).
BEST DIRECTOR – Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan) or the Coen Brothers (True Grit). Who deserved to at least be nominated was Sofia Copolla (Somewhere).
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY – David Seidler (The King’s Speech), though both Christopher Nolan (Inception) and Scott Silver, et al (The Fighter) were excellent as well.
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY – Coen Brothers (True Grit). However, this was a great year for writing. The other four nominees – 127 Hours, The Social Network, Toy Story 3 and Winter’s Bone all deserved their nominations. Others that deserved consideration were Conviction and The American.
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY – Inception or Black Swean though Somewhere ought to have been at least nominated.
BEST FEATURE LENGTH DOCUMENTARY – Inside Job
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM – Toy Story 3, though I preferred How to Tame Your Dragon. The movie I thought deserved at least a nomination in this category was Dispicable Me.
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM – I only saw this one of the nominees, but it was excellent: Bieutiful.
BEST PICTURE – The King’s Speech, though I much preferred True Grit.
Guest blogger Father Dennis Kriz, O.S.M. serves at Annunciata Parish in Chicago and blogs at Father Dennis at the Movies.
Guest blog posts express the views of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of U.S. Catholic, its editors, or the Claretians.
