I can't believe the Oscar's are mere days away. It certainly has crept up on me this year, and I'm so sad that I haven't been able to blog as much as I'd like to (given all my lawyerly type activity, I haven't been able to squeeze it all in!) But in the last few days leading up to my favourite day of the year, I'm going to try and power out a few of my thoughts for the few who are interested (my Mom?)
It has always been a goal of mine to win an Oscar Pool, like a real, legit, prize wielding pool. Every year, my favourite blogger, Lainey from LaineyGossip, gives an awesome swag prize to the person who gets the most categories correct, earliest in the process. This year the prize is an Alexander McQueen purse, $500 at Homesense, and beauty grab bag (you can still enter--go here to do so).
Last year was probably my best opportunity to win all the things. I was so close-only one category wrong!-but alas, someone got perfect, and my dreams were dashed! I will admit though, that last year wasn't too hard to predict who would be going home with gold statutes. Almost all the categories were pre-determined seemingly months ahead of the ceremony-remember how long the god-damned McConnaissance went on for? (Shudder).
Anyhow, this year is harder to predict, which means I really had to kick my Hollywood politics knowledge into high gear. It's harder because 2, maybe 3, of the 6 major awards (the 4 acting awards, Best picture and director) are still a 2 man/2 movie race. Best Picture is still a battle between Boyhood and Birdman, and as such, Director is still a battle between those films' respective directors.
The Acting Race is still between Michael Keaton and Eddy Redmayne (yell at me if you want, as some people think Redmayne is now a lock, but you forget how old and fickle the Academy voter is!). Because best picture and director are not absolute locks, some other awards are harder to predict as well--Editing, sound etc. This however, if you're an Oscar nerd like me, makes for a more interesting Oscar night. Check out my picks below, along with explanations (and feel free to use them for your own Oscar Pool picks, although if you win something, I think you should share!)
You'll see that I ultimately chose Keaton over Redmayne (and I may be proven wrong) but hear me out: the Academy are mostly old white American men (file this to Keaton's advantage who is also an old white American man), and Oscar LOVES a good comeback story and films about actors. As my brother points out to me however (and I'm sure if he's right, he'll tell me again), a performance like Redmayne's, a bio-pic of a famous historical figure where he had to transform himself physically for the role is textbook Oscar-bait. I still think he's too young for the Academy to give it to him though...He'd be the youngest Best Actor ever I believe...
For directing, I'm going with Iñárittu over Linklater, partly because of the trend over the past few years of giving Best Director to feats of technical difficulty (i.e. Ang Lee for Life of Pi, Alfonso Cuaron for Gravity) and then Best Picture to the more traditional "narrative" film (Argo, 12 Years A Slave). It could go to Linklater, as I think being able to successful cut a film made over 12 years with a shit ton of footage is incredible, but I really just loved the way Birdman looked. Filming and editing the movie so it looks like 1 long shot is so fucking cool (I still can't believe it didn't get nominated for Editing?!?!-which is another clue as to whether it will get Best Picture, as Picture and Editing normally go hand in hand)
For best Picture, I've stuck with Boyhood. I really did love it, and its proven to be one of what I think were the best movies of the year (along with Selma and Birdman, and then some lesser known, not Award-bait films, but let's leave that for another post).
I actually really like the trend of splitting Best Director and Picture, as it can reward more than 1 movie for achieving different kinds of things. I mean, out of the 3 films I listed above (each which are Best Picture Nominees), I liked them for different reasons. Boyhood for being able to successfully execute an incredibly ambitious project, Birdman for creating a feeling and weird little world that looks and sounds so different, and Selma, for showing the important role art and filmmaking has to play in documenting history, drawing parallels between our past and present, and trying to raise consciousness about crucial issues. Ugh, I could go on and on about Selma, and how insane it is that it's been shit on so unfairly, when really it is an excellent film in terms of telling a compelling and important part of history, and in the level of acting and directing it possesses. But perhaps I've already expressed enough rage today...
Although if you want to experience some rage, may I suggest you hop over to the Hollywood Reporter's annual Anonymous Oscar pics from Academy members (usually a feature I absolutely LOVE and eat up with a spoon b/c of the insightful inside scoop it offers). This year, the first "Brutally Honest Oscar Ballot" they posted is so offside and non-sensical and inconsistent with itself that well, just read it...here.
Jezebel wrote a great critique of it here (entitled "Why the Academy Voting Process is Such a Mess") that covers many of the things I found so frustrating about it. Let me just add one dumb comment, why the fuck does a Publicist get to vote? There is no Best Publicist Award at the Oscars...
Anyway, I really think this year, like the last 2, will show us the Picture/Director split again, though I could have gotten it wrong-maybe Best Picture will go to Birdman and Director to Linklater.
What are your picks? Anything you're excited/enraged by?
No comments:
Post a Comment