Sunday, February 26, 2012

My Thoughts On Oscar Day


Truth is, I watch a lot of movies. I love the movies. I love the good ones and the not so good ones. I just want a good story with a little razzle dazzle or a nuanced performance from an old pro or a fresh face. Just entertain me.

As usual the movies I liked the most last year won't make it to the Oscars. I did like 'The Help' alot because I read the book and it was something my mother and I could enjoy together. I do understand why many people hated that movie.

I still refuse to ever see 'War Horse'. It's just another E.T to me which is another movie that never got my three dollars.

I really hope there will not be weepy tribute to Whitney Houston because she was in, what, three movies? However, because the soundtrack from 'The Bodyguard' was in the top five for all time sales, they will not ignore her death. Many a high celebrity will be squirming in their seats for that portion of the show. Watch some REAL acting when the camera pans to the audience.

The Artist will take the night with best picture and best actor while Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer will take the main female acting prizes for their roles in The Help. Both were good performances and both award winners are certain.

This is because Hollywood loves movies about itself and it loves to solve the problems of racism in America in a two hour uplifting motion picture. Nominating two actors from a movie like that is having your chocolate pie and eating it too.

Best actor will be from The Artist. Jean Dujardin is foreign and talented and reinforces the image Hollywood likes to remember about itself. He's classically handsome which is why Brad Pitt got nominated in a movie that wasn't really his best work.

Just having Pitt and a George Clooney at the Academy Awards classes up the whole affair. The show benefits from their enormous star power without actually having to reward them for showing up.

George Clooney was good everything he did this year weather he directed the picture or not. I like to think he doesn't really care about the accolades at this point in his career. He can write his own ticket and that is the real power in the Hollywood.

Michael Shannon got robbed, Ryan Gosling got robbed, Michelle Williams will be robbed. I will shut up about that subject now and move on

I come for the movies but I stay for the FASHION. Finally the grand finale of the award gown season. It's been exhausting to follow this year. Prepare for my top favorites list tomorrow. I never do make fun of the really horrible looks because no one ever goes to that show meaning to look like a dork. Well, maybe Bjork but I only make that joke because it rhymes.

Like every year the best supporting actor will go to the best supporting actor last year who is elderly and may not get another chance - Christopher Plummer. Haven't seen the movie but have seen enough of his good (Sound of Music) and bad (Star Crash) to know that he can be terrific. His character is also a man who comes out of the closet in the twilight of his life. The Hollywood loves to support the gay agenda which would be decades behind if not for the positive portrayals of the gay lifestyle. It's one of the things that the movies gets right more often than they get wrong.

Meryl Streep will not win because its more fun to keep nominating her for everything she does than to actually give her the award. She is too young and vital to be giving the 'Christopher Plummer' treatment yet.

Sasha Baron Cohen should never have released his clip from his upcoming movie 'The Dictator'. He likes to use real life entertainment events to give his characters a real world grounding but I think he reached too far this time. Arab dictator without an funny accent? Preposterous!

After Borat, he can't expect to pull the same gags with the same unexpected results. Sure he gets to wear his little costume and get five minutes of good footage from the Oscars but the whole thing just reeks of low rent Hollywood slime and exploitation.

And last week, a supposed controversy began brewing when the academy was reported to have banned comic actor Sacha Baron Cohen's "The Dictator" character from Oscar's red carpet. By the end of the week, however, Oscar producers had reversed their ban and the episode looked more like a publicity stunt to create drama than a real controversy.

6 comments:

M. D. Jackson said...

I don't bother with the oscars and here's why: Ask most people what film won best picture last year. Most of them won't be able to tell you. Best actor or actress? Same thing. How about two years ago? Three?

The truth is that most of the "Best Pictures" according to the Academy are very forgettable. Now think about your favourite old movies, the ones that you love and remember well. I'll bet you any money that most of those were not oscar winners or even nominees.

In fact, other than RETURN OF THE KING I can't remember any best pictures from the last ten years, nor, I suspect, have I seen any of them.

So for me Oscar is a lot of hoopla about movies that I didn't see and won't remember next year.

Debra She Who Seeks said...

I think you're wrong about "War Horse," Cal. It's a very worthy and disturbing film. Yes, it has a dose of Spielberg's typical sentimentality but try to look past that.

Cal's Canadian Cave of Coolness said...

It's horses in danger that I can't take. My father would tell us stories about the artillery horses in WWI. He had a print of a Canadian soldier saying goodbye to his dead horse with the caption "Goodbye Old Man". After he died I made sure that print went to my sister in Australia. I didn't mind giving that memento up to her.

Erik Johnson Illustrator said...

Last year's Best Picture was "The King's Speech" and it was great! Actually most of my favorite old movies were either Best Picture winners or nominees.Their choices in recent years haven't always been the one that I enjoyed most that year, but they usually do have some stamp of quality.

I'm right there with you Kal, The Artist is likely to get best picture (I'll honestly be surprised if it doesn't) The Help will probably get an acting award of some kind.

Personally I like to predict the more visual awards.
I predict Rango for Best Animated Feature and Rise of the Planet of the Apes for Best FX.

Debra She Who Seeks said...

Oh, okay. You'd better not see "War Horse" then, you're right.

GC said...

Impressive with your predictions.

I did enjoy watching Sasha Baron Cohen pour pancake mix on Ryan Seacrest.