The Week That Was 030225: The 97th Oscars!

The Oscars

Hey, the Oscars were Sunday! 

This was a weird year for movies (in Oscars-terms) as the industry as a whole is still recovering from the twin blows of the pandemic and the strikes, while continuing to wage an unending battle against the encroachment of streamers (more on that below). The show itself, however, was mostly typical and mostly entertaining.

The Week That Was 0217/25

X-Book Power Rankings, Hadestown, and Review Round-Up

The Week That Was 022523

 Power Rankings, Ads, Shameless Plugs

The Week That Was 1312023

Upcoming X-aminations, Oscars, shameless plugs. 

And the Oscar Goes To...?

I've been watching the annual Oscars telecast every year since 1992 (at least, that's the first one I have vivid memories, in part because I was heavily rooting for A Few Good Men, the one film of the five best picture nominees that I'd seen, to win (which it didn't, giving me my first taste of Oscar disappointment); it's entirely possible I'd seen some of the earlier ceremonies as well), and starting in 2001, I made a concerted effort to see each of the five nominated best pictures every year. When the Academy expanded the field from five nominees to, first, ten, in 2009, and then to a variable number between five and ten, in 2011, that practice became more difficult to reach, and though I came close in most years, there was always at least one I missed, usually by choice. But I knew the frontrunners, and if I didn't see ALL the best picture nominees, I usually at least saw all of the Best Director nominees and/or the presumed frontrunner, and so one way or another, I ended up having seen whatever was crowned Best Picture on Oscar night. 

All of which is a lengthy preamble to say that Moonlight is now the first best picture winner I hadn't seen when it won since Shakespeare in Love in 1998 (I wasn't making a point of seeing everything back then, but it didn't matter, because it seemed so obvious that Saving Private Ryan would win). This is mostly down to having only seen an embarrassingly-low two of the nine best picture nominees at this point, a fact brought on by the dual circumstances of: 

Last Week in Pop Culture #21

Around the Web
Couple reviews from me up at Sound on Sight: Guardians of the Galaxy #12, and the Transformers portion of IDW's X-Files crossover.

The Oscars

Putting aside my bitterness over losing my Oscar pool by one point, this wasn't a terrible show, though it wasn't a terribly good one either. Ellen turned in a perfectly cromulent monologue, then became far too obsessed with going out into the crowd (which, I know, is her schtick). Some of that material worked, some of it didn't. The pizza thing mostly did, largely because, as fabricated as it may have been, the reactions to it felt genuine. There's something undeniably entertaining about seeing people like Meryl Streep and Brad Pitt fishing around for change or Harrison Ford's excitement at the prospect of pizza, just like regular people!

And The Oscar Goes To...

No "Last Week in Pop Culture" this week. Instead, here are my picks for the "big six" Oscar categories. The winners will be announced Sunday at the 86th Annual Academy Awards ceremony.

Best Supporting Actress

Sally Hawkins (Blue Jasmine)
Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle)
Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave)
Julia Roberts (August: Osage County)
June Squibb (Nebraska)

In the first really tight race of the night, it's a dead heat between pop culture darling Jennifer Lawrence and newcomer Lupita Nyong'o. The pair have shared the pre-Oscar hardware (including a Globe and BAFTA win for Lawrence). History tends to favor Nyong'o: she's in the more traditionally-Academy-friendly film, while back-to-back Oscar wins are rare indeed for actors (Lawrence, who won Best Actress last year for Silver Linings Playbook, would in fact be the first actor to run the lead/supporting table in consecutive years).

That said, recent Oscar history suggests we shouldn't put too much stock in Oscar history, and while 12 Years a Slave is in the thick of the Best Picture race, it doesn't seem to have the same widespread support as, say, Gravity or American Hustle. I...I just don't know, guys. I'm going to go with Nyong'o for now (if you believe 12 Years a Slave has a shot at Best Picture, and I do, then it's going to need to pickup some additional wins), but I'll be going back and forth right up to the ceremony, and it may come down to a coin flip.

A Few Thoughts on the Oscars

Seth MacFarlane was about what I expected: not raunchy enough for the Family Guy crowd, too raunchy for Hollywood. For the most part, I thought he handled himself well. The monologue was pretty clever, though it could have used some editing (the sequences showing what MacFarlane did in Shatner's future would have worked better if they were shorter and not just, you know, the entire sequences) and I appreciated that MacFarlane didn't disappear later in the evening, popping up occasionally to move the show along and drop a joke or two. It bugs me when the host just pops up to bookend the show.

In terms of his actual jokes, some hit, some missed, but that's true of all hosts on all shows. In particular, I liked, "Argo tells the previously classified story about an American hostage rescue in post-revolutionary Iran. The story was so top secret that the film’s director is unknown to the Academy", and "tonight’s ceremony is being watched by close to a billion people worldwide–which is why Jodie Foster will be up here in a bit to ask for her privacy." And, of course, the bit about saying how the next presenter needs no introduction, then walking away.

And the Oscar Goes To...

Mr. Shabadoo's reign of terror as Oscar Pool champion continued unabated last year. Here's my picks in the the big six categories that will hopefully lhelp aunch me back into Oscar victory!

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams (The Master)
Sally Field (Lincoln)
Anne Hathaway (Les Misérables)
Helen Hunt (The Sessions)
Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook)

This is one of the two big locks of the night, as Anne Hathaway has gobbled up every possible pre-Oscar award for her turn as Fantine in Les Mis. If anyone can upset, it'll be Sally Field, nominated for her turn in Lincoln, the film which garnered the most nominations this year (and thus likely has widespread Academy support). Field is also two-for-two in terms of Oscar nominations, meaning she's never lost whenever she's been nominated. But it ain't gonna happen; Hathaway may as well clear one more space on her trophy shelf. So here's a little trivia to fill space: all five nominees this year are previous nominees, the first time that has ever happened in this category. Also, all five women are nominated for playing mothers to onscreen children, the first time that's ever happened in the category.

A Few Thoughts on the Oscars

In general, I found the ceremony (and Billy Crystal's much-ballyhooed return to the hosting gig) generally affable. It's wasn't bad, nor was it terribly good. It was safe, and after last year's debacle, that's probably exactly what the Academy and ABC wanted. So even if the show wasn't as entertaining, in its own way, as watching last year's train wreck or when the host, the show, and the nominees combine to make for a genuinely good show, it wasn't as awful as some on the internet would suggest. And for good or bad, it delivered exactly what it promised. Which is an achievement all its own.

I did like the overall premise of the show's design, hearkening back to classic movie theaters, and thought the various stage designs rolled out throughout the evening (as well as the title cards that appeared on screen when nominees were read) did a nice job of "celebrating the movies" without being too garish or attention getting. It tied in nicely with the fact that many of this year's best picture nominees were also about the history of or a celebration of movies.

And the Oscar Goes To...

My consecutive streak of winning the Oscar pool was heartlessly ended last year by Mr. Shabadoo, so this is a big rebound year for me. Here's how I'll be filling out my ballot in the hopes of reclaiming the title.

Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Kenneth Branagh ("My Week with Marilyn")
Jonah Hill ("Moneyball")
Nick Nolte ("Warrior")
Christopher Plummer ("Beginners")
Max von Sydow ("Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close")

We'll start with probably the biggest lock of the night, as Christopher Plummer has won nearly all the critics and industry awards in the run-up to Oscar night, and is a beloved industry veteran who's never won (and only been nominated once before, in 2009). Interesting bit of trivia: should he win, at 82 he'll be the oldest acting Oscar winner of all time. Any chance of an upset will come from the similarly beloved, old and under-nominated Max Von Sydow, who has the distinct advantage of being nominated for his performance in a film that is also a Best Picture nominee. But the consensus is that Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close has a small but devoted group of fans within the Academy that got it nominated, and that when the dust settles, the Academy will fall in step and give the award to Plummer.

A Few Thoughts on the Oscar Nominations

The nominees for the 84th Annual Academy awards were announced this morning. Check out the full list here, and some quick reactions from me below.

The Magic Number is Nine
The big question going into the morning was how many best picture nominees there would be. The new rules put into effect last year allow for a variable number of nominees, depending on how many receive at least 5% of first place votes. Most pundits had been predicting anywhere from five to seven, but we ended up with a surprising nine.

Also, Eleven
Which is the total number of Oscars Hugo is nominated for, including Best Picture and Best Director, making it the film with the most nominations, despite failing to receive any acting nominations. It is followed closely by The Artist, with ten, which puts Hugo back into the Best Picture discussion alongside the current front runners, The Artist and The Descendants. 

And Two
There are only two, literally two, nominees for Best Original Song, a sad commentary on the state of songs written for movies, which makes this category an Oscar pool gimme. The two nominated songs are "Real in Rio" from Rio and "Man or a Muppet", which was my favorite of several great songs from The Muppets.

A Few Thoughts on the Golden Globes

In general, this was a pretty lackluster show. The awards themselves are either so predictable or ridiculous that it's hard to get too worked up about who does or doesn't win, and the Globes' role as an Oscar prognosticator has lessened in recent years as awards season gets ever lengthened. So the real appeal of this show is to see who says what once they've had a few drinks, and hope the host gets in a few good zingers.

After all the hubbub last year when Ricky Gervais dared to tweak the sensibilities of some of Hollywood's finest (but then, it turns out, he didn't really), it was kind of a big deal when he was asked back to host again this year, but he was pretty tame throughout. He certainly had some good lines, but there wasn't anything terribly "Gervais-ian" about his schtick this year. Whether asked to rein it in or choosing to do so himself, his biggest sin was being unmemorable.

Doubling Down On Oscar No Longer A Sure Thing

Surprisingly not content to rest on their laurels, the governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (aka the Oscars) recently changed the number of Best Picture nominees yet again, after expanding the field to ten films two years ago. According to the new rule change, the number of best picture nominees will vary each year, from no less than five to no more than ten, the total determined by the number of films which receive at least 5% of first place votes from academy members during the nomination process*.  According to a survey the Academy did with the accounting firm which tabulates the votes, from 2001 to 2008 (before the category was expanded to ten nominees) under this system there would have years with five, six, seven, eight and nine Best Picture nominees (and, notably, never ten).

A Few Thoughts on the Oscars

I'm one of those (apparently rare) people who enjoys the Oscars as much (or more) for the pomp and pageantry of the ceremony as the announcement of the winners. So while normal people grouse about montages and overlong shows, I tend to just enjoy it.

That said, this was a pretty terrible Oscar ceremony. Anne Hathaway was enthusiastic (and gorgeous) but didn't have the best material with which to work, and James Franco looked more or less stoned throughout (which is just how he is, but doesn't make for the most dynamic host). The whole "history of the Oscars" schtick (which felt random in the 83rd Oscar ceremony) amounted to very little, featuring brief snippets of classic films so far upstage they lost any sense of immediacy. Clearly, the producers realized they weren't working, and they got downplayed. But then, when bits came up which relied on the theme (such as Billy Crystal's routine), the whole thing felt even more out of place. I'd have just preferred some montages.

And The Oscar Goes To...

Can I make it four years in a row winning the Oscar pool? Only Price Waterhouse knows for sure, and they ain't telling (yet). In the meantime, here's my thoughts on the major Oscar categories this year.

At first glance, it almost seems pointless to write this post, as most of the major awards have appeared locked up, with little chance of a shake-up. But the last few weeks have been interesting, awards-wise, and there's some intrigue going on just beneath the surface.

Let's start with the two surest things, the male acting awards.

A Few Thoughts on the 83rd Oscar Nominations

Check out the full list of nominations here.

Thankfully, the Academy eschewed the Golden Globes and didn't nominate any songs from Burlesque, so we'll hopefully be spared listening to Cher's botox-y man voice at any point during the ceremony.

I'm bummed Carter Burwell's score for True Grit wasn't nominated. I thought it was a great throwback to the kind of music you'd hear in old school Westerns while still sounding like a contemporary film score. 

A Few Thoughts on the Golden Globes

I still miss the clips of nominated actors' performances after their names are read (and yes, I will continue to complain about this until they bring them back). 

Christian Bale looks like Jesus. Apparently, the part of his speech that was bleeped out was when he noticed Robert De Niro in the audience and referred to him as "the shit".

Coming Soon: An Academy Award Winning Film!

This video's been making the rounds lately, but given our love of movies and the Oscars here at GoL, I figured it was worth posting again.

(Be sure to click away the annoying ad that pops up at the bottom). 

A Few Thoughts on the Oscars

That opening bit, with all the nominated actors coming out on stage to wave at the crowd? Weird and random.

Neil Patrick Harris' opening number was a pleasant surprise. If there was internet scuttlebutt suggesting he'd be there, I missed it. NPH is always welcome.