Abbey's take on the Oscar Noms

Thanks to one of my favorite people, Ben Lyons, I was made aware that the Oscar Nominations were being announced on Sunday. The Fighter, King's Speech, and True Grit seemed to dominate the noms. Unfortunately, I STILL need to see True Grit(10 noms) and King's Speech (12 noms), which I seem to only hear good things about. A film that also got a lot of buzz was Black Swan, which I saw in it's opening week. Natalie Portman absolutely blew me away. I was able to see a new side to both Mila Kunis and Portman.  The film was about a young girl who took obsession to a whole new level. She was a gifted dancer who dedicated her life to the art, and the movie follows her in her journey to get the main role in the performance "Black Swan". She suffered physically, mentally and sexually to get this role, and you can see how it slowly destroys her. Besides the physical commitment that this movie required (Portman had to lose 20 lbs) which I didn't even think she had 20 lbs to lose; she had to study the life of a dancer. She was PAINFULLY thin, but it all contributed to this broken and delusional character she so beautifully represented. Between the dancing and the weight loss for this movie, one can sense the amount of commitment she put forth for this film. That said, I was overjoyed when she was nominated for best actress.

Another movie that blew me away was The Fighter. Christian Bale (Dickey) stood out to me the most in this film, simply because he pulled off being a 'crack head' to the T. I don't know what it is about the emaciated look being so popular (ha), but he also had to lose a substantial amount of weight to pull off this look. His skin was pale and clammy and his eyes were dark and sunken in. Even the way he spoke was different; his words being fast and unclear. You could even see in his eyes that he was not in the right state of mind, even before the scene where he is smoking and you realize he is an addict. Once again, I was glad when he got a nomination for best supporting actor. Amy Adams also stood out to me in this film. It seemed she really went out of her element to achieve this image she portrayed. She was a bartender that wore short shorts with her stomach hanging out, not classy in the least. However, you find out through the movie that she is troubled and very rough in character. She has a quick mouth and is not indimidated by anyone, especially Mark Wahlberg's (Mickey's) family who is constantly trying to bring her down.