Sunday Best : Reaction to Golden Globes 2016 and Oscar Game

Last Sunday's Golden Globes were… long.  Here are some of my thoughts:

THE GOOD:
-I think I enjoyed Ricky Gervais' monologue a little too much.  Perhaps it was a bit too mean.  But there is also something funny about the Hollywood elite getting roasted as they laugh along.  I remember at the 2000 Oscars when Steve Martin made a joke about Russell Crowe and the camera caught Crowe's scowl.  None of that at the Globes.  I was worried that when he started talking about Spotlight that he was going to take a cheap shot at the Catholic Church, but it veered into a Polanski joke.
-Inside Out won best Animated Film, as it should
-Sylvester Stallone was recognized for his body of work by getting the award for Creed.  I haven't seen the film, but I felt happy for him.
-Ennio Morriconne's score, the best thing about The Hateful Eight, won.
-Rachel Bloom's win for Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.  The best part about some of these awards is to bring a spotlight to something good that may be overlooked.  The show is not great, but Bloom is fantastic and I'm glad she got recognition.
-Poe Dameron won an award.

THE BAD
-with the exception of Gervais, none of the other presenters made me laugh
-Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens wasn't nominated.
-The anti-Catholic depiction of St. Thomas More, Wolf Hall, won.
-How is The Martian a comedy?
-Tarantion's smug and factually inaccurate speech on behalf of Morriconne.


Overall, it was a show with few surprises, but few people to root for.

As I wrote last year, the Golden Globes are less and less of a predictor of Oscars than they used to be.

YEAR	GOLDEN GLOBE BEST DRAMA	GOLDEN GLOBE BEST COMEDY	OSCAR BEST PICTURE
2001	A Beautiful Mind	Moulin Rouge!	A Beautiful Mind
2002	The Hours	Chicago	Chicago
2003	The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King	Lost in Translation	The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2004	The Aviator	Sideways	Million Dollar Baby
2005	Brokeback Mountain	Walk the Line	Crash
2006	Babel	Dreamgirls	The Departed
2007	Atonement	Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street	No Country for Old Men
2008	Slumdog Millionaire	Vicky Cristina Barcelona	Slumdog Millionaire
2009	Avatar	The Hangover	The Hurt Locker
2010	The Social Network	The Kids Are All Right	The King's Speech
2011	The Descendants	The Artist	The Artist
2012	Argo	Les Miserables	Argo
2013	12 Years a Slave	American Hustle	12 Years a Slave
2014	Boyhood	The Grand Budapest Hotel	Birdman

Now, let's move on to the Oscars:

As I wrote earlier this week, here are my initial thoughts on the nominations.

-Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens should have been nominated.
-Of the Best Picture nominees that I have seen, only Mad Max and The Martian should be there.
-Adam McKay, my choice for worst director of the year, got an Oscar nomination.
-Johnny Depp got snubbed for Black Mass
-Alicia Vikander should have been nominated for Ex Machina
-Here are the top 10 money-makers of 2015:  Star Wars, Jurassic World, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Inside Out, Furious 7, Minions, The Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 2, The Martian, Cinderella, Spectre.  Only 2 of them are nominated for Best Picture.  This means that this will be a low-rated Oscars because there are very few films to root for.

This is important, otherwise, the show would be even more boring.

I would like to invite any of you readers to participate in my annual Oscar Game.

For those who have played before, I have made important changes.
-I have re-adjusted the point values
-I have divided the awards into different categories
     -MAJOR AWARDS (the awards that the casual viewer cares about)
     -TECHNICAL AWARDS (awards for technical achievements)
     -MINOR AWARDS  (the awards that most people don't care and haven't seen the movies)

Just click this link.

The game goes like this:

OBJECT: Get the most points!

HOW TO PLAY:  Fill out a score sheet for each category with your choice (who you want to win) and your prediction (who you think WILL win).


CATEGORIES

1.  MAJOR AWARDS
-Best Picture
-Best Director
-Best Actor
-Best Actress
-Best Supporting Actor
-Best Supporting Actress
-Best Original Screenplay
-Best Adapted Screenplay
-Best Original Score
-Best Original Song
-Best Animate Feature


On the night of the Oscars, give yourself 1 point for each correct guess in MY PREDICTIONS.  If you get a prediction wrong, subtract 1 point.  Give yourself 1 point for each correct guess in MY CHOICE.  There is no penalty for incorrect guesses for MY CHOICE.

For example:

Category
BEST DIRECTOR
-MY CHOICE = • "Mad Max: Fury Road," George Miller
-MY PREDICTION = • "The Revenant," Alejandro G. Iñárritu

BEST ACTOR
-MY CHOICE = Matt Damon in "The Martian"
-MY PREDICTION = Leonardo DiCaprio in "The Revenant"

BEST ACTRESS
-MY CHOICE = • Jennifer Lawrence in "Joy"
-MY PREDICTION = • Jennifer Lawrence in "Joy"


If Alejandro G. Iñárritu wins Best Director, gain 1 point for a correct guess in MY PREDICTIONS, but no points for an incorrect MY CHOICE  (total points = 1)

If Matt Damon wins Best Actor, gain 1 point, for a correct MY CHOICE, but subtract 1 point for an incorrect MY PREDICTION (total points = 0)

If Jennifer Lawrence wins Best Actress, gain 1 points for correct MY CHOICE and 1 correct MY PREDICTION.  (total points =2)

You may NOT make a guess for a MY CHOICE in a category if you have not seen any of the films in the category.  You may, however, make a blind guess for the MY PREDICTION section even if you have not seen any of the nominees.


2.  TECHNICAL AWARDS
-Best Editing
-Best Cinematography
-Best Visual Effects
-Best Sound Editing
-Best Sound Mixing
-Best Makeup
-Best Costumes
-Best Production Design

For these, give yourself 1 point for each correct guess in MY PREDICTIONS.   Give yourself 1 points each correct guess in MY CHOICE.  There is no penalty for incorrect guesses for MY PREDICTIONS or MY CHOICE.



3.  MINOR AWARDS
-Best Documentary Feature
-Best Documentary Short
-Best Animated Short
-Best Live Action Short
-Best Foreign Language Film

For these, give yourself 1 point for each correct guess in MY PREDICTIONS.   Since so few people have seen these, there is no MY CHOICE section.  There is no penalty for incorrect guesses for MY PREDICTIONS.

PARTICIPATION:

Fill out the below score sheet and send it to me.  I will be the designated score-keeper.  You may change any choice up until the broadcast begins.

The winner will receive bragging rights and recognition on this blog.

You can change your answers up until the broadcast.  Here is my ballot:

Name	Catholic Skywalker
BEST PICTURE - MY CHOICE	Mad Max: Fury Road
BEST PICTURE - MY PREDICTION	Mad Max: Fury Road
BEST DIRECTOR - MY CHOICE	• "Mad Max: Fury Road," George Miller
BEST DIRECTOR - MY PREDICTION	• "The Revenant," Alejandro G. Iñárritu
BEST ACTOR - MY CHOICE	Matt Damon in "The Martian"
BEST ACTOR - MY PREDICTION	Leonardo DiCaprio in "The Revenant"
BEST ACTRESS - MY CHOICE	• Jennifer Lawrence in "Joy"
BEST ACTRESS - MY PREDICTION	• Brie Larson in "Room"
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR - MY CHOICE	• Christian Bale in "The Big Short"
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR - MY PREDICTION	• Sylvester Stallone in "Creed"
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS - MY CHOICE	• Jennifer Jason Leigh in "The Hateful Eight"
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS - MY PREDICTION	• Jennifer Jason Leigh in "The Hateful Eight"
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY - MY CHOICE	• "The Martian," screenplay by Drew Goddard
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY - MY PREDICTION	• "The Big Short," screenplay by Charles Randolph and Adam McKay
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY - MY CHOICE	• "Inside Out," screenplay by Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve and Josh Cooley; original story by Pete Docter and Ronnie del Carmen
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY - MY PREDICTION	• "Inside Out," screenplay by Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve and Josh Cooley; original story by Pete Docter and Ronnie del Carmen
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY - MY CHOICE	• "Mad Max: Fury Road," John Seale
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY - MY PREDICTION	• "The Revenant," Emmanuel Lubezki
BEST COSTUME DESIGN - MY CHOICE	• "Mad Max: Fury Road," Jenny Beavan
BEST COSTUME DESIGN - MY PREDICTION	• "Carol," Sandy Powell
BEST FILM EDITING - MY CHOICE	• "Mad Max: Fury Road," Margaret Sixel
BEST FILM EDITING - MY PREDICTION	• "Mad Max: Fury Road," Margaret Sixel
BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING - MY CHOICE	• "Mad Max: Fury Road," Lesley Vanderwalt, Elka Wardega and Damian Martin
BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING - MY PREDICTION	• "Mad Max: Fury Road," Lesley Vanderwalt, Elka Wardega and Damian Martin
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE - MY CHOICE	• "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," John Williams
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE - MY PREDICTION	• "The Hateful Eight," Ennio Morricone
BEST ORIGINAL SONG - MY CHOICE	• "Writing's on the Wall" from "Spectre"
BEST ORIGINAL SONG - MY PREDICTION	• "Writing's on the Wall" from "Spectre"
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN - MY CHOICE	• "Mad Max: Fury Road," production design: Colin Gibson; set decoration: Lisa Thompson
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN - MY PREDICTION	• "The Martian," production design: Arthur Max; set decoration: Celia Bobak
BEST SOUND EDITING - MY CHOICE	• "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," Matthew Wood and David Acord
BEST SOUND EDITING - MY PREDICTION	• "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," Matthew Wood and David Acord
BEST SOUND MIXING - MY CHOICE	• "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," Andy Nelson, Christopher Scarabosio and Stuart Wilson
BEST SOUND MIXING - MY PREDICTION	• "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," Andy Nelson, Christopher Scarabosio and Stuart Wilson
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS - MY CHOICE	• "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan and Chris Corbould
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS - MY PREDICTION	• "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan and Chris Corbould
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM - MY PREDICTION	• "Son of Saul," Hungary
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM - MY CHOICE	• "Inside Out," Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM - MY PREDICTION	• "Inside Out," Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE - MY PREDICTION	• "Amy," Asif Kapadia and James Gay-Rees
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT - MY PREDICTION	• "A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness," Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM- MY PREDICTION	• "World of Tomorrow," Don Hertzfeldt
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM- MY PREDICTION	• "Ave Maria," Basil Khalil and Eric Dupont

When guessing for MY PREDICTION, my rule of thumb is to choose the most pretentious title.

So I invite all of you to join in the fun!