Heidi the Crosseyed Opposum

A couple of us here at The Movie Brothers were beaten in our Oscar picks by a cross-eyed marsupial. (I’m won’t name names, Victor and Kyle)

Reuters is reporting a quirky story from Germany, where an opossum named Heidi guessed all but one of the Oscars, incorrectly picking “127 Hours” to win best picture, which instead went to “The King’s Speech.”

The 2-1/2-year-old opossum correctly predicted Natalie Portman (“Black Swan“) to win best actress and Colin Firth (“The King’s Speech.) as best actor during a series of appearances on the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” show on U.S. broadcaster ABC last week.

Heidi, who lives at the Leipzig Zoo in eastern Germany, attempted to duplicate the success of Germany’s oracle Octopus Paul, who correctly tipped each of Germany’s matches in last year’s soccer World Cup, as well as the final between Spain and Netherlands, according to the report.

Better luck next year Kyle and Victor! 😉

Our Oscar Picks

And the Oscar pick winner is….

We posted our Oscar picks last week to see who would get the most correct out of the major categories, and we have a three way tie between Brian, Lauren, and Matt.

The Oscar pick winners are:
Matt
Best Picture: The King’s Speech
Best Director: Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech
Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, The Fighter
Best Actress: Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Best Animated Feature Film: Toy Story 3

Lauren
Best Picture: The King’s Speech
Best Director: Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech
Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, The Fighter
Best Actress: Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Best Animated Feature Film: Toy Story 3

Brian
Best Picture: The King’s Speech
Best Director: Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech
Best Actor: Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, The Fighter
Animated feature: Toy Story 3

And the Oscar loser is….

We had a two-way tie. With three correct, Victor and Kyle are our Oscar Losers. Better luck next year, guys!

Oscar night is here

Oscar night is here! This is the pinnacle of film awards, and we are aways excited to see who wins.

We’ve made our picks (click here) and can’t wait to see how they unfold. For a complete list of the nominees, click here.

And the winners are…

Achievement in Art Direction: Alice in Wonderand
Achievement in Cinematography: Inception
Best Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 3
Best Animated Short: The Lost Thing
Best Original Screenplay: The King’s Speech
Best Adapted Screenplay: The Social Network
Best Foriegn Film: In a Better World
Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, The Fighter
Best Original Score: The Social Network
Best Sound Mixing:  Inception
Best Sound Editing: Inception
Best makeup: The Wolfman
Best Costume Design: Alice in Wonderand
Life Action Short Film: God of Love
Feature-length Documentary: Inside Job
Short Subject Documentary: Strangers No More
Achievment in Visual Effects: Inception
Best Original Song: We Belong Together, from the film Tangled
Best Director: Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech
Best Actress: Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Best Actor: Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
Best Picture: The King’s Speech 

Our Oscar Picks

Who will be the Oscar winners…
and the Oscar losers?

Oscar night is upon us, at long last! Here are the picks from our regular contributors. Our writers are all making their selections, and we’ll see who the most prolific prognosticator is… and who isn’t. Click here to see the full nominee list. We’re only picking the main categories. I mean, who really gives a crap about art direction awards? Well, we do, but we won’t bore you with that. The Oscars are Sunday at 8 p.m. east coast time on ABC. The majority are picking “The King’s Speech” for best picture, but after that, it’s a jumble.

Matt

Best Picture: The King’s Speech
Best Director: Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech
Best Actor: Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, The Fighter
Best Actress: Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Best Supporting Actress: Helena Bonham Carter, The King’s Speech
Best Animated Feature Film: Toy Story 3

Brian

Best Picture: The King’s Speech
Best Director: Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech
Best Actor: Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, The Fighter
Best Actress: Annette Benning, The Kids Are All Right
Supporting Actress: Hailee Stenfield, True Grit
Animated feature: Toy Story 3

Kyle

Best Picture: Black Swan
Best Director: Darren Aronofsky, The Black Swan
Best Actor: James Franco, 127 Hours
Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, The Fighter
Best Actress: Natalie Portman, The Black Swan
Best Supporting Actress: Helena Bonham Carter, The King’s Speech
Best Animated Feature Film: Toy Story 3

Lauren

Best Picture: The King’s Speech
Best Director: David Fincher, The Social Network
Best Actor: Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, The Fighter
Best Actress: Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Best Supporting Actress: Amy Adams, The Fighter
Animated Feature Film: Toy Story 3

Victor

Best Picture: The King’s Speech
Best Director: Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
Best Actor: Jeff Bridges, True Grit
Best Supporting Actor: Geoffery Rush, The King’s Speech
Best Actress: Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Best Supporting Actress: Amy Adams, The Fighter
Animated Feature Film: Toy Story 3

Academy Award Nominations Announced

Matt

The weird little naked, bald man is back. Oscar is his name, and we’re happy to bring you the nominations from the major categories.

I think this year was highly predictable, not surprising in any way, shape, or form — with one big exception. Why on earth was Christopher Nolan snubbed for “Inception” in the best director category? Look, I get it if “Inception” wasn’t your thing, but that is one of the most visually striking films that is also extremely difficult to tell visually. Personally, I think it was a phenomenal film, and I happily gave it a glowing review. Ethan and Joel Coen were nominated for “True Grit,” which was a good movie. But what was harder to make and more engaging? “Inception.” Ben Affleck’s “The Town” – which garnered Jefferey Renner a supporting actor nomination – was a better film that “True Grit.”

“Black Swan” should win best picture, but “The King’s Speech” is the critics darling of the year and I expect it to win. Christopher Nolan should have at least been given a token best director nomination. The Nolan snug is rock solid evidence that “Inception” has no shot of winning best picture.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Our Oscar predictions will come later. For now, they nominees are…

Best Picture

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

Director

Black Swan – Darren Aronofsky
The Fighter – David O. Russel
The King’s Speech – Tom Hooper
The Social Network – David Fincher
True Grit – Joel and Ethan Coen

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 Supporting Actor

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

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 Supporting Actess

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

Animated Feature Film

How To Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
Toy Story 3

Black Swan

In director Darren Aronofsky’s psychological thriller, ambitious New York City ballet dancer Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) lands the lead role in “Swan Lake” but soon thinks her dreams of stardom are threatened by a rival ballerina (Mila Kunis). As opening night approaches and the pressure to be perfect builds, Nina’s obsession descends into paranoia and delusion. The film earned Golden Globe nods for Portman, Kunis, Aronofsky and Best Picture.

Matt
Rating: 10 out of 10

Since “Inception” hit theaters, I’ve been waiting for the movie that will beat it for best picture. We all know the Academy would never give a science fiction film best picture, and this is the one to do it. But I don’t hold a grudge. It’s a better film, and the best movie I’ve seen this year.

It’s the classic self verse self conflict story line, but what Aronofsky lays before us is a gripping story that keeps us just confused enough to be engaged in the story — even if we know the ending before we walk into the theater. This is simply a phenomenal piece of work, and Portman gives the best performance of her career and she simply must win best actress at the Oscars.

Portman gives great depth to her character, a young, naive woman who is obsessed with being the perfect dancer while blocking out all emotion and pleasure in her life — whether it’s the love of her mother, emitting passion in her dance, or being sexual. This film felt like I was watching a Stanley Kubrick masterpiece, and I loved every minute of it. Bravo!

Superman director named

Zack Snyder has been named the director of the upcoming Superman reboot of the franchise, according to a report by deadline.com and several other news agency.

Last week we posted that Darren Aronofsky was rumored to be the next director of “Superman: Man of Steel,” being produced and co-written by “Dark Knight” director Christopher Nolan. I would have been happy with Aronofsky, but Snyder is also an excellent choice. He’s best known for the movie “300” which I didn’t care for, but he also directed “The Watchmen.”The film is also being co-written by David S. Goyer, another heavy hitter. He co-wrote “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight.”

Director Zach Snyder

“The Watchmen” is based on the best-selling comic book series of the same name and was met with mixed reviews. The problem with the film, for those who aren’t fans of the comic, was they didn’t get it. I think he handled “The Watchmen” as perfectly as possible and it’s one of my favorite comic book films.

Snyder said he’s looking forward to taking on the king of comic book heroes.

“I’ve been a big fan of the character for a long time, he’s definitely the king of all superheroes, he’s the one,” Snyder told deadline.com. “It’s early yet, but I can tell you that what David and Chris have done with the story so far definitely has given me a great insight into a way to make him feel modern. I’ve always felt he was kind of awesome. I’ll finish ‘Sucker Punch’ and get right at it.”

As opposed to “The Watchmen,,” Snyder has a source material with Superman that will be very familiar and welcome by mass audiences. He also has the benefit of having Nolan producing and writing the script along with Goyer. Nolan he has a clear track record of being a superb director and is quickly rising as one of the best of the current generation of directors with films like “Inception” and “Memento.” With all this talent around Snyder, it’s hard to see how he could fail.

Much thanks to Shawn at TV-tastic for passing this along!

Darren Aronofsky rumored as director of next Superman

Matt

Darren Aronofsky has been tied to a remake of “Robocop,” the cult sci-fi movie of the 80s, but today news hit that the celebrated director is attached to a reboot of the Superman film franchise, according to the L.A. Times.

I’ve got a lot of faith in this film because Christopher Nolan, who directed Inception and Memento, is producing and will have his hand in writing the script. Before Superman, Nolan also resurrected the Batman franchise with “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight,” which was one of our favorite films of the decade.

There have been a few directors rumored to take the chair. Most recently Ben Affleck, who directed the recent hit “The Town,” was tabbed but Reuters is reporting he’s backed out of the project. I think Aronosfki would be a better choice than Affleck, who has only directed two films. Granted “The Town” and “Gone Baby Gone” were both excellent, but Affleck’s only comic book film was “Daredevil,” a complete and total failure.

Aronofski has some serious directing chops. Movies like “The Fountain” “Requiem For a Dream” and “The Wrestler,” which is one of my favorite films ever. He also won best director at Sundance Film Festival for “Pi” and the grand jury prize for best picture. His latest film, “Black Swan,” is already getting critical acclaim.

I’m pretty stoked about a reboot, not just because Nolan is attached, but because I was a little disappointed by the last one, 2006’s “Superman Returns,” directed by Bryan Singer. It’s not that it was bad, it was fun and enjoyable. But it was like a cover song. You can try and make it as close to the original as possible, but it’s never as good as the original. I think Nolan and Aronofsky could take Superman to new places.