My Oscar Results March 8, 2010

18/24. A good ceremony. I blind guessed on the shorts and got one right. Go me.

Every year I think that Best Foreign Language film will go to the critics’ pick, but it never does. Ever. When will I learn?

I knew Sandra would win, but I feel more honorable cheering for Meryl.

‘Precious’ winning screenplay is a joke. It is quite possibly the worst script out of any of the nominees.

Pretty much all the other winners were expected or deserved. As I’ve said so many times, glad QT’s horrible grammar didn’t win.

I didn’t watch the ceremony live though, but I heard it was awful and boring. I am not surprised.

82nd Academy Awards (Oscar Predictions) February 23, 2010

I’ve put this off for a while for a few reasons, the first of which is: This will be a damn weird year. There are ten Best Picture nominees, but also there is a weighted ballot system (rank your films from 1 to 10, as opposed to check your favorite and that’s it). Plus, I’m in Korea so it is unlikely I will be able to watch the Oscars live, so I may as well have some fun with my predictions this year.

It’s also a weird year because the movie winning most of the awards if ‘The Hurt Locker’, which made practically zero money, and the movie winning almost no big awards, ‘Avatar’, made the most money ever. Here’s a rundown of what I think will win and what I would vote for.

Best Picture
Prediction: The Hurt Locker
My pick: Avatar

There are plenty of good movies, but everything nominated has flaws. I’ve listed them elsewhere so I won’t retype them here. ‘Avatar’ deserves to win because it was the most seen movie of the year, by far, and it will be remembered (by some, spitefully) many years from now. I do have a feeling, though, that ‘Inglourious Basterds’ may be closer to the top prize than most think….

Best Director
Prediction: Kathryn Bigelow (for ‘The Hurt Locker’)
My pick: Kathryn Bigelow

She deserves it, she was the best director of the year, give her the Oscar.

Review: The Blind Side February 6, 2010

I put off watching ‘The Blind Side‘ because, quite frankly, it seemed like a bunch of the same-old, same-old. Well, it is, but at least it is watchable.

It is not watchable because of Sandra Bullock’s leading role, but in spite of it. She does a good job with the part, but what’s with all these awards? Oh, I forgot, Hollywood is almost completely politics. Bullock has been around the (acting) block and made some decent movies. It’s time to award her career with an Oscar. Sorry, but I’ll be damned if I support that. The award should go to the best performance, and both Carey Mulligan and Meryl Streep were in better and more challenging roles. Too bad Bullock was the only one in a crowd-pleaser.

But enough of Bullock. ‘The Blind Side’ is a moderately true story about a big, unfortunate black child who receives a home, an education, and some love from a wealthy Memphis family. Not surprisingly, the family that helps him is white. I suppose by now you will be aware of the movie and know that that child is Michael Oher, who now plays for the Baltimore Ravens. It ruins a bit of the magic when you know how things will end up (this is why I’m rarely a supporter of biopics).

Oscar Nominations 2010 February 2, 2010

The nominations have been announced and they are pretty much what was expected. Some of the big categories and brief comments below.

Best Picture
“Avatar”
“The Blind Side”
“District 9”
“An Education”
“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
“A Serious Man”
“Up”
“Up in the Air”

If there was any sense, ‘An Education’ would win. But we are certainly looking between ‘Avatar’ and ‘The Hurt Locker’, both of which are good films. If it was the traditional 5 I would cut out ‘Precious’, ‘Up’, ‘Up in the Air’, ‘The Blind Side’, and ‘Inglourious Basterds’, but that’s just me.

And it is a shame ‘Up’ finally pushes Pixar into a best picture when ‘WALL-E’ was at least twice as good and snubbed last year. Such a shame.

Best Direction
“Avatar,” James Cameron
“The Hurt Locker,” Kathryn Bigelow
“Inglourious Basterds,” Quentin Tarantino
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire,” Lee Daniels
“Up in the Air,” Jason Reitman

Give it to J.C., in my opinion, but Bigelow has this all but locked up.