The First Annual Elwyns Awards!

        Welcome to the first annual Elwyns! Today, we celebrate the greatest accomplishments committed to film in the year 2010. In case it isn't obvious by now, the Elwyns are Hype Starts Here's equivalent to the Oscars, but unlike them, I give all of the awards to the right movies. Also, despite being extremely similar, the Elwyns do not have the exact same categories as the Academy Awards. Some of Oscar's favorite sections (Foreign Film, All the Shorts) are missing here, but in their place are a few different categories dreamed up especially for this site's very own awards show. The winner of each category will receive a Collin, the highest honor that this website can offer, and a form of recognition that will be remembered for a lifetime. Let's get to it!

***Note: A special thanks to my sister, Brittany Elwyn, for creating all of the graphics featured in today's post***

Best Picture:

And the nominees are:

Blue Valentine

Buried

The Fighter

The Ghost Writer

How to Train Your Dragon

Inception

Let Me In

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

The Social Network

True Grit

        I would give a more lengthy description as to why each of these deserves to be nominated, but as my very last article did that in length, I think you get the picture.


And the Collin goes to...

The Social Network

        By using the keyboard in place of a gun or a newspaper, The Social Network perfectly fits into the genre with the most storied linage in the history of American Movies: The Rise-to-Power. It’s the perfect movie for this exact moment, and nothing even comes close.

Runner Up: Inception

Best Director:

And the nominees are...

Joel Coen and Ethan Coen---True Grit

David Fincher---The Social Network

Christopher Nolan---Inception

David O. Russell---The Fighter

Edgar Wright---Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

        Any number of great directors could have made this list, but these are the five that did. Nolan not only managed to sort out the ridiculously complicated story that he himself wrote, but also crafted some mesmerizing effects and action sequences. Wright gets the nod for creating one of the fastest movies ever that never becomes jarring for all of its running around, not to mention all the visual intrigue. Russell, Fincher, and the Coens all make the list for lending a tangible ambiance to their films, but mostly because all three (four?) managed to draw outstanding performances from their respective casts.

And the Collin goes to...

Edgar Wright---Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

        No 2010 movie owes as much to its director as Scott Pilgrim, as Wright creates one of the fastest-paced movies ever, provoking great performances as he builds the film’s unique visual and comedic world.

Runner Up: Christopher Nolan---Inception

Best Actor:

And the nominees are...

Jesse Eisenberg---The Social Network

Colin Firth---The King’s Speech

Ryan Gosling---Blue Valentine

Ryan Reynolds---Buried

Kodi Smit-McPhee---Let Me In

        Like Max Records in Where the Wild Things Are, Smit-McPhee’s Let Me In performance perfectly embodies the extreme emotional highs and lows of an imaginative youth who has yet to find his way. Reynolds has a whole movie to himself, and never once is less than captivating, revealing more facets to both his character and acting career than one initially thought possible. Gosling disappears, like he always does, into the role of Dean, making all of his character's charms and demons his own. Eisenberg was handed the juiciest character of the year and absolutely destroyed it, his control over Aaron Sorkin’s dialogue never in question. Firth, the likely Oscar-winner, has pathos and tender tragedy to spare, not to mention a stutter that proves believable, but doesn’t ever slow down, or overwhelm the movie.

And the Collin goes to...

Jesse Eisenberg---The Social Network

        The actor behind the most endlessly interesting character of the year, in the year’s best movie. Need I say more?

Runner-Up: Ryan Reynolds---Buried

Best Actress:

And the nominees are...

Jennifer Lawrence---Winter’s Bone

Carey Mulligan---Never Let Me Go

Natalie Portman---Black Swan

Hailee Steinfeld---True Grit

Michelle Williams---Blue Valentine

        I don’t much care what Oscar says; Hailee Steinfeld is clearly the main character in True Grit, and her complete and utter command of the movie’s archaic dialogue is worth a nod in the Best Actress category. Mulligan shines once again, her work in Never Let Me Go always understated, and never less than tragic. Portman gives the most full-bodied performance of the year, her character transforming right before our eyes (in more ways than one). Lawrence gets down and dirty, playing the toughest seventeen-year-old girl you’ll ever meet, and doing so with complete believability. Williams’ magnetic chemistry with Ryan Gosling is what makes their movie work, and she’s equally convincing in her care-free younger days as she is in her jaded later sequences.

And the Collin goes to...

Natalie Portman---Black Swan

        Her performance it too dynamic to be beaten, even changing body-language as the movie unfolds. Bonus points for the athleticism involved.

Runner Up: Jennifer Lawrence---Winter’s Bone

Best Supporting Actor:

And the nominees are...

Christian Bale---The Fighter

Jeff Bridges---True Grit

Matt Damon---True Grit

Miles Teller---Rabbit Hole

Justin Timberlake---The Social Network

        Despite being the two biggest names in the movie, the True Grit boys both perform in support of Steinfeld’s lead, but both are as dazzling as ever. Bridges rambles with a throat filled with gravel, Damon fills his boastful character with enduring insecurities, and they both have a world of fun with the Coens' dialogue. Miles Teller has been overlooked by just about everyone, but I thought that his natural realism as a teen with a giant regret was the very best part of Rabbit Hole. As great as Andrew Garfield was, the actor that I would nominate from The Social Network’s supporting cast would be Justin Timberlake, who has an impossibly firm grip on the things that make the movie’s version of Sean Parker both endlessly charismatic, and sickeningly slimy. Bale, in another of his string of transformative performances, turns his crack-head character into something at once tragic, comedic, and believable. (***Note: The Elwyn Academy would like to offer its sincerest apologies for snubbing both Jeremy Renner (The Town), and Geoffrey Rush (The King's Speech), both of whom are completely deserving of nominations, but just missed my list***)

And the Collin goes to...

Christian Bale---The Fighter

        The most complete transformation undergone by any thespian this year, and the best performance in a movie with no shortage of stellar work.

Runner Up: Jeff Bridges---True Grit

Best Supporting Actress:

And the nominees are...

Amy Adams---The Fighter

Marion Cotillard---Inception

Elle Fanning---Somewhere

Greta Gerwig---Greenberg

Barbara Hershey---Black Swan

        Gerwig is so natural and effortless in her role as another of L.A.’s lost souls that I really can’t believe she didn’t get any more awards season attention. Adams, on the other hand, plays completely against form, trading in her adorable innocence for a foul mouth, and grungy sexiness. Cotillard is really given two characters to play, functioning as both Inception’s tragic love-interest and fearsome monster, fully-believable at both. Fanning, like Gerwig, gives a performance that almost convinces you it’s not acting, quietly observing her father’s myriad of poor choices. As the angel on Natalie Portman’s shoulder in Black Swan, Hershey’s protective mother is both oppressive and creepy, adding to the movie’s ever-present dread.

And the Collin goes to:

Marion Cotillard---Inception

        Maintaining contradicting aspects within one character is impressive enough, but the way that Cotillard can be both completely beautiful and completely terrifying at the same moment is worth celebrating.

Runner Up: Greta Gerwig---Greenberg

Best Original Screenplay:

And the nominees are...

Derek Cianfrance, Cami Delavigne, and Joey Curtis---Blue Valentine

Chris Sparling---Buried

Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, and Eric Johnson---The Fighter

Chris Morris, Jesse Armstrong, Sam Bain, and Simon Blackwell---Four Lions

Christopher Nolan---Inception

        Inception’s screenplay sets up a puzzle that viewers will be trying to solve for years to come, its narrative arch perfectly paced and composed. Four Lions would be the funniest movie of the year were it not for Scott Pilgrim, but it’s also packed with enough gut-wrenching ethical indecision to provoke thesis papers from here to the end of time. Sparling’s Buried script keeps things interesting within Ryan Reynolds’ coffin, vague enough to make the movie linger in your mind long after watching it. The Blue Valentine script is a sneaky one, slipping in subtle symbolism and themes into a hyper-believable story. Without The Fighter’s gleefully foul-mouthed writing, the movie wouldn’t feature all of the stunning performances that it does.

And the Collin goes to...

Chris Morris, Jesse Armstrong, Sam Bain, and Simon Blackwell---Four Lions

        As if comedy wasn’t hard enough, the four men behind the Four Lions script don’t shy away from the ugly side of their subject, coming up with something both brave, and original.

Runner Up: Christopher Nolan---Inception

Best Adapted Screenplay:
And the nominees are...

Robert Harris and Roman Polanski---The Ghost Writer

Matt Reeves---Let Me In

Michael Bacall and Edgar Wright---Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

Aaron Sorkin---The Social Network

Joel and Ethan Coen---True Grit

        Borrowing liberally from Charles Portis’ source novel, the dialogue in the Coens’ script for True Grit is as foreign to the modern world as the prose of Shakespeare, and filled with just as much surprise and fun. The Ghost Writer moves from scene to scene with such expertly observed grace that its screenplay must be observed. Scott Pilgrim is hilarious from start to finish, which is about as rare an achievement as they come in the movies. Sorkin’s Social Network screenplay is not only stuffed with brilliant dialogue, but also chronicles a time in history as if watching the world from above. Reeves manages to retain all of Let the Right One In’s emotional content, all while adding a few flourishes of his own.

And the Collin goes to...

Aaron Sorkin---The Social Network

        Mark my words: Years into the future, Sorkin’s script will be looked back on as one of the best ever. This one’s not even close

Runner Up: Joel and Ethan Coen---True Grit

Best Actor in a Small Role (Three scenes or fewer):

And the nominees are...

Chris Cooper---The Town

Ed Corbin---True Grit

Peeter Jakobi---Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale

Dakin Matthews---True Grit

Douglas Urbanski---The Social Network

        I’ve always thought that smaller roles have gotten the shaft at the Oscars (especially with most of the supporting role nominees essentially being leads), so I decided to add this category. Peeter Jakobi is kind of cheating, as he’s seen far more than three times, but I feel justified by the fact that he never utters a word, his silent menace completely horrifying. Cooper is always amazing, and his one scene in The Town seems to have the weight of years of fatherly isolation and disappointment on its shoulders. Like just about every other movie in their catalogue, the Coens fill True Grit with brilliant minor characters, including Corbin’s mysterious mountain-man, and Matthews' cheap trader. Urbanski is the star player in one of The Social Network’s funniest scenes, telling off the Winklevoss’ as if he knows every secret that the world has to offer.

And the Collin goes to...

Peeter Jakobi---Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale

        Without a doubt the scariest performance I saw this year, all without a single line of dialogue.

Runner Up: Chris Cooper---The Town

Best Actress in a Small Role:
And the nominees are...

1. Robin Bartlett---Shutter Island

   Dale Dickey---Winter's Bone

   Rooney Mara---The Social Network

   Elizabeth Marvel---True Grit

   Imelda Staunton---Another Year

   
   

1.         Mara’s back and forth with Eisenberg at the start of The Social Network sets the pace and tone of the year’s best movie, both hilarious, and rapid-fire. Marvel’s final scene in True Grit completes the character arch of Mattie Ross, and that goes without mentioning her perfectly old-timey narration that opens the movie. Bartlett and Dickey both go down some pretty scary avenues to deliver captivating performances, the former as Shutter Island’s most demented inmate, and the latter as the most frightening foe that Ree Dolly has to face on her way to the truth. Staunton creates a fully-formed character in her few minutes of screen time, her searing frustration and dissatisfaction with life setting up all of the big ideas that Another Year will soon discuss.

And the Collin goes to...

Rooney Mara---The Social Network

        Sorkin’s script uses Mara’s character as a framing devise for the whole movie, and you have to imagine that The Social Network wouldn’t work anywhere near as well were it not for her vivid performance.

Runner Up: Dale Dickey---Winter’s Bone

Best Ensemble:

And the nominees are...

The Fighter

The King's Speech

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

The Social Network

True Grit

        The Screen Actors Guild Awards’ equivalent of Best Picture, I’ve always wondered why the Oscars didn’t ever add this category, so I’m going to beat them to it. True Grit is a throw-back in every sense of the word, and if it weren’t for the commitment of its performers, its trip back in time wouldn’t be possible. The Fighter features the showiest performances of the year, and all of them are endlessly fun to watch. Speaking of fun, the Scott Pilgrim cast brings the rapid-fire world of the movie to life, as well as boasting undeniable comic chops. Were it not for The King’s Speech’s brilliant actors, it would be just another stuffy British Royalty movie; As is, it’s the Best Picture frontrunner. The Social Network’s thespians all get a boost from Aaron Sorkin’s genius script, and they don’t even begin to disappoint.

And the Collin goes to:

True Grit

        Unique forms of dialect are usually a stumbling block in the believability of many performances (I’m looking at you, cast of Juno), but the cast of True Grit is always up to the challenge, each actor crafting a memorable and unique character.

Runner Up: The Fighter

Best Cinematography:

And the nominees are...

Jeff Cronenweth---The Social Network
Roger Deakins---True Grit
Pawel Edelman---The Ghost Writer
Adam Kimmel---Never Let Me Go
Wally Pfister---Inception

And the Collin goes to:

Pawel Edelman---The Ghost Writer

        All five nominees can be said to have shot beautiful movies, but no one advances the themes and ambiance of their movie with a camera so much as Edelman, who's angles provide the film with an endless sense of being watched.

Runner Up: Adam Kimmel---Never Let Me Go

        The most handsome movie of the year, all thanks to Kimmel

Best Editing:

And the nominees are...

Rodrigo Cortés---Buried
Hervé de Luze---The Ghost Writer
Lee Smith---Inception
Jonathan Amos and Paul Machliss---Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall---The Social Network

And the Collin goes to:

Lee Smith---Inception

        As if making sense of Nolan’s convoluted story weren’t enough, Smith also had to splice together the movie’s ambitious action sequences. The most noticeably brilliant work from anyone not in a major category.

Runner Up: Jonathan Amos and Paul Machliss---Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

        The energy and mania of Scott Pilgrim sorely owe the work of Amos and Machliss.

Best Art Direction:

And the nominees are...

Guy Barnes---Let Me In
Marc Caro, Joseph Gagné, Jerome Samson, and Asuka Sugiyama---Enter the Void
Luke Freeborn, Brad Ricker, and Dean Wolcott---Inception
Paul Cripps and Denis Schnegg---Never Let Me Go
Stefan Dechant and Christina Ann Wilson---True Grit

And the Collin goes to...

Luke Freeborn, Brad Ricker, and Dean Wolcott---Inception

        Inception’s tricky tale needs plenty of visual cues to make sense and succeed, and these three men are always up to the challenge, turning the movie into something beautiful as a sort of second focus.

Runner Up: Marc Caro, Joseph Gagné, Jerome Samson, and Asuka Sugiyama---Enter the Void

        Above all else, Enter the Void is a visually dazzling experience, and who better to thank than its many Art Directors?

Best Costume Design:

And the nominees are...

Jenny Beavan---The King’s Speech
Sandy Powell---Shutter Island
Julie Weiss---Get Low
Amy Westcott---Black Swan
Mary Zophers---True Grit

And the Collin goes to...

Mary Zophers---True Grit

        Besides appearing completely authentic, True Grit’s costumes also serve as incredible iconography for the characters who wear them.

Runner Up: Amy Westcott---Black Swan

        Like True Grit, Black Swan uses its costumes as a means of story-advancing symbolism, beautiful and meaningful at every turn.

Best Makeup:

And the nominees are...

127 Hours
Black Swan
Let Me In
Valhalla Rising
The Way Back

And the Collin goes to...

127 Hours

        Even without considering the harrowing scene near the movie’s end, the physical deterioration of Franco’s Aron Ralston is believably rendered by the movie’s make-up department.

Runner Up: The Way Back

        Just as impressive as 127, and for the same reasons, but without that infamous scene.

Best Original Score:

And the nominees are...

Carter Burwell---True Grit
Michael Giacchino---Let Me In
A.R. Rahman---127 Hours
Hans Zimmer---Inception
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross---The Social Network

And the Collin goes to...

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross---The Social Network

          The score that most advances the themes and ideas of it’s movie just happens to also be among the year’s best sounding.

Runner Up: Carter Burwell---True Grit

        Nostalgic, transportive, and beautiful, True Grit’s yesteryear feeling owes an awful lot to Carter Burwell

Best Use of a Previously Recorded and Released Song:

And the nominees are...

Avril 14th by Aphex Twin---Four Lions
Baby, You’re a Rich Man by The Beatles---The Social Network
Festival by Sigur Rós---127 Hours
How You Like Me Now? by The Heavy---The Fighter
Shift by Grizzly Bear---Blue Valentine

        Is it just me, or are the Oscar nominees for Best Original Song almost always pretty awful? The use of a pop song in the movie can be a game-changer, and as those crafted specifically for use in a film are often of a lower quality, I decided to focus on tunes that were already in existence before the release of their respective films. The use of Shift during Blue Valentine’s wedding scene is enough to send chills down the spine, beautifully saying what the audience already knows. Avril 14th is the perfect song to play over the beginning of Four Lions’ closing credit sequence, beautifully tragic without ever slipping into depressing territory. Baby, You’re a Rich Man is the ideal number to wrap up a movie about the assumption of power and the loss of innocence. How You Like Me Now? is used three times in The Fighter, almost always a no-no in my book, but its raspy enthusiasm is a big part of what makes the movie’s triumphant moments so elating. As the song playing when Aron Ralston makes his escape, Festival lends 127 Hours a soaring elation that makes its final moments some of the year’s best.

And the Collin goes to:

Shift by Grizzly Bear---Blue Valentine

        After a whole movie of their music, this Grizzly Bear effort goes for the kill during the most emotional moment of one of the year’s most emotional films.

Runner Up: Festival by Sigur Rós---127 Hours

        Simply put, the music that charges the year's most cathardic cinematic moment.

Best Special Effects:

And the nominees are:

Enter the Void
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Inception
Iron Man 2
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

And the Collin goes to...

Inception

        Christopher Nolan proves once again that he’s the best in the business at utilizing special effects in service of a story without even skimping on the ‘wow’ factor. The hallway scene and the city folding in half would be enough to walk away with this one even if it weren’t for the innumerable other scenes that could readily be described as breath-taking.

Runner Up: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

        Another example of how effects can be used to advance a plot as opposed to distract from it.

Best Sound Editing:

And the Nominees are...

Buried
How to Train Your Dragon
Iron Man 2
Let Me In
True Grit

And the Collin goes to:

How to Train Your Dragon

        As Sound Editing represents the creation of sound, the variety of ways that Dragon’s technicians devise to express the wordless beast at the story’s center stand as a titanic achievement in dialogue-free story-telling.

Runner Up: True Grit

        As always, the Coens’ focus on sound gives their movie a real and tangible feel.

Best Sound Mixing:

And the nominees are...

The American
Black Swan
Never Let Me Go
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
True Grit

And the Collin goes to...

Never Let Me Go

        The sound in Never Let Me Go, never raising its voice above a whisper, allows the viewer to hear and feel all of the small details that bring the movie’s tragedy to life.

Runner Up: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

        The video-game inspired sounds that are nearly always present in Scott Pilgrim go quite a ways in advancing both the humor and the narrative of the movie.

Nominations per movie:

True Grit---16

The Social Network---12

Inception---9

The Fighter---7

Let Me In---7

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World---7

Black Swan---5

Blue Valentine---5

Buried---5

The Ghost Writer---4

Never Let Me Go---4
127 Hours---3
The King’s Speech---3
Enter the Void---2

Four Lions---2

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1---2

How to Train Your Dragon---2

Iron Man 2---2
Shutter Island---2

Somewhere---2

The American---1
Another Year---1

Get Low---1

Greenberg---1

Rabbit Hole---1

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale---1

The Town---1
Valhalla Rising---1
The Way Back---1

Wins per movie:

The Social Network---5

Inception---4

True Grit---2

127 Hours---1

Black Swan---1

Blue Valentine---1

Four Lions---1

The Ghost Writer---1

How to Train Your Dragon---1

Never Let Me Go---1

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale---1
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World---1

Hype Starts Here's Top 40 Movies of 2010:

40-26, and The Five Most Disappointing

25-11

10-1

The First Annual Elwyns

Final Oscar Predictions

Oscar Recap