Matt vs. the Academy

For my readers who will be in Sydney this weekend, come see me tread the boards in Love-All: A Roseville Story at the Chatswood Lounge. From playwright Alexandra Long, whose screenplay Thank God He Met Lizzie (released in the US as The Wedding Party) was one of Cate Blanchett's first films, the satirical play explores the sordid antics of four men at a fancy suburban tennis club. If you've ever had a hankering to see me play a middle-aged lothario, now's your chance! Time now to take a look at the next contender in the 2010 Best Picture race... The King's Speech Director : Tom Hooper Screenplay : David Seidler Starring : Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter, Guy Pearce, Timothy Spall, Derek Jacobi, Jennifer Ehle, Michael Gambon Academy Awards : 12 nominations 4 wins, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor (Firth) As a representative of the British Royal Family, Prince Albert, Duke of York (Firth), known to those close to him as Bert...

Being an actor is not exactly the most stable of careers. Unless you're an A-lister, work is often unpredictable and inconsistent, so one must celebrate the rare wins when they come. I'm happy to say I'll be in at least two feature films this year - one major Hollywood production that was filmed in Melbourne a couple of months ago (which I'd gladly gloat about if it weren't for the pesky NDA), and one Aussie indie film which I'm about to start shooting here in Sydney. Coincidentally, they're both set in the 1980s, though that is perhaps their only commonality - one is a sports drama, the other a crime dramedy. Likely, they'll both be released next year, so I'll keep you posted with screenings when the time comes. Meanwhile, here are my thoughts on another 2010 Best Picture nominee... Inception Director : Christopher Nolan Screenplay : Christopher Nolan Starring : Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Elliot Pag...

It seems I've been slacking off again and left this blog to gather more dust. But I'm back! Granted, it was over a week ago that I actually watched the below film, which just goes to show how difficult it's been to find time for this silly (but incredibly important) project. And, of course, since this is the first post since the Oscars, I have to at least briefly comment on my winner predictions. I managed to correctly predict 16 of the 23 categories. Not a great score, but considering three of my errors were the short film categories, which often feel like a crap shoot, I'll take it. Let's rejoin our look at the 2010 Best Picture nominees with... The Social Network Director : David Fincher Screenplay : Aaron Sorkin (based on the book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich) Starring : Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Armie Hammer, Max Minghella, Brenda Song, Rashida Jones, Rooney Mara Academy Awards : 8 nominations 3 wins, including B...

My predictions for the Oscar nominations this year turned out to be roughly average to slightly above. I aced Supporting Actor, Adapted Screenplay and Production Design, but missed either one or two nominees in each of the other categories. Picking the winners seems decidedly more difficult, however. And with only a few days left before the Oscars ceremony, it's now time to make my predictions about who's going to take home the gold. I've tried to cram in viewings of as many nominated movies as I can, but I'm still quite behind. Though, to be honest, actually seeing a film is not all that important when it comes to figuring out whether it's going to win. I mean, it helps, of course, but there are other factors that are much more illuminating. Mind you, in this year's case, those other factors are not really giving as clear a picture as I would like. Most of the top categories barely have a frontrunner. Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Director are two-horse rac...

After a short postponement due to the LA fires, the Oscar nominations are scheduled to be announced in a couple of days, which means it's time for me to embarrass myself with my predictions. As always, it's an interesting exercise. There are the usual frontrunners in each category that seem like locks, but working out which other films are going to fill in the gaps is not always easy. The past few years have seen a curious pattern whereby a small handful of films appear in a large portion of the categories, meaning there are fewer films getting nominated but each is getting more nominations. This year seems poised to continue that trend. Indeed, I've pegged Conclave, The Brutalist and Wicked for eight to ten nominations each, all of which feels reasonable. Less reasonable are the 14 nods I've assigned to Emilia Pérez, which includes two for Supporting Actress and two for Song. That would put it in a very elite group of only three other films - All About Eve, Titanic and...

Awards season is well and truly under way now with most of the critics groups releasing their top picks, including nominations from the Golden Globes and the Critics Choice Awards. There are a few films that seem to be appearing again and again on these lists - Wicked, Anora, The Brutalist, Conclave, Nickel Boys, Dune: Part Two - suggesting these are the frontrunners for Oscar's top prize. Personally, I tend to be wary of the "critics mirage" since the critics' preferences don't always align with those who work in the industry. It's not uncommon for a film or actor to sweep the critics' awards yet find themselves left off the shortlist on Oscar nomination day. That said, I expect those films above will remain in the conversation (particularly since there are 10 Best Picture nominee slots to fill) but it would be wise to wait for the nomination announcements from the guilds and other industry organisations, including BAFTA, to see exactly which ones have th...

Oscar season is heating up as more and more genuine contenders are released. I'm once again finding myself behind the eight ball with a lot of catching up to do in terms of viewing said contenders, so I won't offer any thoughts about frontrunners just yet, except to say at the top of my watchlist right now are current box office hits Wicked and Gladiator II, as well as the smaller talks-of-the-town Anora and Conclave. Varying degrees of buzz around each of those films. Next up on our tour of the Best Picture nominees of 2010 is... Black Swan Director : Darren Aronofsky Screenplay : Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz, John McLaughlin Starring : Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassell, Barbara Hershey, Winona Ryder, Benjamin Millepied, Ksenia Solo, Sebastian Stan Academy Awards : 5 nominations 1 win, for Best Actress (Portman) As a member of the New York City Ballet, Nina (Portman) has high expectations of herself, almost as high as her overbearing mother (Hershey) who trea...