Post-Oscars Musings

So I did pretty well in terms of predicting the Academy's votes on my last blog entry; out of the 16 categories I predicted, I got 13 right.  Missed on Best Director (though I had indicated it would be a tight race, and my prediction was for Cameron to narrowly edge Bigelow, so I wasn't far off), Sound Editing (made the rookie mistake of forgetting many people can't differentiate Sound Editing and Sound Mixing and hence vote for the same movie in both, especially if it's an action-filled Best Picture winner), and Adapted Screenplay (big surprise to me here, apparently I overestimated the support for Up in the Air and underestimated the love for Precious, which made off with this big prize).  Overall an interesting night with a lot of suspense, and while my own vote would have gone another way (see earlier post on Avatar here) I loved The Hurt Locker and am happy to see it get the win since this will encourage more people to see a quality film that has not gotten the box office attention it deserves.  And of course congrats to Kathryn Bigelow who now has an Oscar to go with a long and impressive career - can't wait to see what she does next.

With those award-based thoughts now offered, I wanted to note a few things about the show itself, both good and bad....

KUDOS to...
1.  Kathryn Bigelow for her speech.  She made history as the first woman to win Best Director, and I really liked how she obliquely noted this but didn't make a huge deal out of it herself (though Streisand and the going-to-commercial teasers took care of this).  She won because she deserved to, not because of her gender, and while this was an important symbolic moment Bigelow herself choose to accept the award as a director rather than trying to be a representative for all women - and the fact is there's still a long way to go before the male-dominated directorial ranks give equal room for talented women.  Bigelow provides female directors a role model by her actions, not by making herself a poster child (and let's face it, this win will open up some more opportunities for her but will likely have little direct impact on the hiring or non-hiring of other individuals).

2.  Best Costume Design winner Sandy Powell.  The start of her speech, about "Oh, I already have two of these," came off arrogant and off-putting (though I think it was intended humorously), but I loved how she ended it with a dedication to the many in her field who don't get their just recognition simply because they don't work on period films or musicals.  Well-said.  I've heard the same from make-up artists:  the awards in that category tend to go to sci-fi or fantasy films requiring elaborate "effects" make-up jobs, but in a lot of ways it's harder to do natural, unnoticeable make-up work since we immediately notice things that look fake here but don't have the same pre-conceived notions about how a Romulan or hobbit is supposed to look.

3.  Hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin.  I didn't particularly like the dual-host thing, and didn't think a lot of their prepared material was great, but they brought their game faces and I thought did what they could with what they had.  Loved the couple of brief video segments of them in Snuggies watching the show and the Paranormal Activity parody.

4.  The Oscar telecast producers for (a) their tribute to horror films, an important genre that doesn't get much awards recognition, and (b) bringing back last year's stellar idea of having another actor talk about each of the Best Actor / Best Actress nominees.  Time-wise I'm sure this would be a disaster, but I wouldn't mind seeing this for more awards.  And I liked that this year it wasn't necessarily past winners, but instead people who actually worked with that year's nominee.  But I'm a little confused as to why it was someone from the nominated movie in most - but not all - cases.

5.  The continuation of last year's telecast's attempt to explain some of the categories and what they do.  Nice idea on the sound nominees to showcase a bit of last year's Best Sound Editing winner, The Dark Knight, to highlight what exactly the post-production sound crew does.  Also really liked the way they introduced the short films, showing a couple of previous winners in this category who have gone on to become successful feature directors and having them explain why the short categories are important.  I know some of the home audience finds these boring, and I liked that the Academy is trying to explain why they should stay.

6.  Best Animated Short winner Nicolas Schmerkin (for Logorama).  His acceptance speech was short, heartfelt, and left with a great joke:  "It took us six years to make this sixteen-minute film.  I hope to be back at these awards with a feature in thirty-six years."

7.  Best Makeup winners Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow for Star Trek.  Don't remember who said it, but one of them thanked director J.J. Abrams for "never settling for less than perfection - and that's why we're here."  Great message to all the aspiring artists of any sort out there:  don't settle for making it "close enough," do everything you can to make your work exactly what you want it to be - insist on perfection.

8.  The Academy for picking Avatar for Best Art Direction.  I had heard rumors that some old-school film people did not want to vote for this since so much of its design was computer-generated rather than actually physically made, and glad to see these did not pan out (or at least were not consequential enough to affect the vote).  Whether it's done in "the real world" or on a computer, it takes artists to design how a filmic world is going to look, and Avatar had one of the most imaginative, fully realized worlds ever put onscreen.  The right film won here.

but I did NOT like:
1.  The Oscar telecast producers for ditching the Best Original Song performances, putting together a weird dance medley of the Best Original Score nominees, and most of all having James Taylor playing during the annual "In Memoriam" segment.  Nothing against James Taylor, but is it too much to ask to put on some pre-recorded music and have everyone focus on the people who died in the last year for 3 minutes rather than needing to give them a live concert so they can focus on the musician playing instead?

2.  The Oscar telecast director for quickly cutting away from the Best Documentary Feature winners for The Cove when one of them tried to hold up a sign with information about their cause.  They made a film covering something they care deeply about, and you're going to give them an award for that but not let them try to spread the word about that cause?  Ridiculous.  As a side note, for the first time in a long time I hadn't seen any of the year's Best Doc Feature nominees prior to the awards, but am going to make it a mission to see them now, especially The Cove and Food, Inc. for their importance and The Most Dangerous Man in America because it sounds fascinating and I don't know much of the history about this topic.

3.  The different amounts of time given to different people for their acceptance speeches.  They do this every year, I complain about it every year, so why should this year be any different?  But I hate it when certain stars (often the Best Actor / Best Actress winners) are given as long as they want to ramble on (I'm looking at you, Jeff Bridges) while other winners are shuffled off stage as quickly as possible - this is especially bothersome for categories like Best Visual Effects where there are multiple winners yet they get less time TOTAL to talk than the single winner of the acting awards.  I know people want to see stars, but I don't think they're suddenly going to turn off their TVs if every Oscar winner were allotted the same amount of time - the current system is just pandering and the Academy should feel ashamed of it.

4.  Best Documentary Short Subject winners Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett (for Music by Prudence).  As detailed in the above note, I personally believe that everyone who wins should get a chance to speak, and that more time should be allotted for categories where more than one person is taking home an Oscar.  That said, we all know how the system's actually going to work, and so generally people who could win together seem to have some sort of plan as to who will talk when.  This acceptance speech, with the two of them fighting for the microphone and trying to talk over each other, was just embarrassing - not just for them, but for everyone watching.  Though if it's embarrassing enough that it makes the producers come up with a better policy for how long winners have to speak, maybe it was worth it...

And one split decision:
I'm still not sure how I feel about the doubling of the Best Picture field to 10 films.  On the one hand, it added some more drama and gave recognition to some quality films that otherwise would not have received nominations (District 9, for instance, or Up, which otherwise would have been relegated solely to the Best Animated Feature category despite being every bit as good as the live-action films).  And I'm sure the Academy is pleased with itself for the variety of types of films nominated.  But on the other hand, it does take away some of the prestige of being a Best Picture Nominee, and quite honestly I feel like not all the contenders were at the same level (my own picks out of the ten, were there only to be five nominees, would be Avatar, The Hurt Locker, Precious, Up, and Up in the Air).  So I'm withholding decisive judgment on this question for now - maybe it works, maybe it doesn't.

A good show all around, a lot of suspense in many categories (other than the acting categories, visual effects, and animated feature I thought these were all competitive races), and no major complaints from me about who won any of the awards.

Now it's off to try Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 in this week of catching up on video games.  Thoughts on that project coming soon...

Last minute Oscar thoughts

Meant to get this up earlier, but spent the weekend catching up on Oscar nominees (District 9 and Inglourious Basterds both a lot of fun, but not of the caliber of some of the other Best Picture nominees IMHO) and playing video games for a piece I'm doing on video game surround (thoughts on games coming in a later post).

Anyway, here 10 minutes before the Academy Awards are my picks:  both who I would vote for were I a member of the Academy and who I think will win.  Given the tight time frame, will keep explanations brief.

Picture:  Saw 8 of the 10 nominees (sorry The Blind Side and An Education, but I'll get to you soon!).  I think The Hurt Locker will win, since it's hard not to be impressed with all elements of the film and it's something everyone can get behind, while Avatar is an amazing piece of work but could (justly) be criticized for its story/script and be seen more as a technical achievement than a "best film overall."  But given its success at the box office and providing a jump-start for 3-D (with higher ticket prices, and something you can't get at home) I wouldn't be surprised if Avatar edges out The Hurt Locker on the strength of what it's doing for the industry as a whole.  For reasons detailed in an earlier post, I personally would vote for Avatar.  Any of the other eight contenders winning here would be a huge upset.

Director:  Tight race between Bigelow and Cameron.  Both deserve the recognition, and I'd be happy either way.  But I think Cameron's going to edge out Bigelow here (though this race usually goes with Best Picture and I'm picking The Hurt Locker there) for the sheer enormity of his achievement and vision.  He'd get my vote.  One side note:  having just finished Inglourious Basterds, I think that's Tarantino's best directing work since Pulp Fiction. 

Actor:  Have only seen Clooney and Renner in this year's race (of the two would vote for Clooney), the odds-on favorite is Jeff Bridges.  Based on the strength of the rest of his work I'm willing to trust the crowd and pick him myself as well.

Actress:  Wow, somehow only saw Sidibe here.  Favorites are Sandra Bullock and Meryl Streep in a close race.  I'm guessing Bullock will pull out the win here; personally in a heavily biased opinion (having not seen the other nominees) I'll give Gabourey Sidibe my vote.

Supporting Actor:  Another category where I've only seen one (jeez, I know I spent most of 2009 holed up in an office writing my book, but I have a LOT of catching up to do).  But it was Christoph Waltz, who is the fave to win, and is also my pick having just watched his performance a couple hours ago and been blown away by it.

Supporting Actress:  Finally, one where I've seen at least a few of the nominees.  Mo'Nique is the smart pick to win, and I can't vote against her - this is a once in a lifetime performance.

 Okay, just heard the opening number start, so no more explanations at all, just picks....

Original Screenplay:  me: Inglourious Basterds; Academy: The Hurt Locker
Adapted Screenplay:  me: District 9; Academy: Up in the Air
Animated Feature:  Up (both)
Editing:  The Hurt Locker (both)
Art Direction: Avatar (both)
Cinematography:  Avatar (both)
Score:  Up (both)
Visual Effects:  if it's anything BUT Avatar, the race was rigged
Sound Editing:  Avatar (both)
Sound Mixing:  Transformers 2 (me); The Hurt Locker (Academy)

Okay, the show's now underway.  I realize I haven't hit all the awards, but in the last six categories I've seen either zero or one of the nominees and don't know much about the others so I'd just be taking a stab in the dark.  Enjoy the show!