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!
I can wait for the Youtube edit of Ricky Gervais.
ReplyDeleteThe Oscars's original intent is long forgotten.
It, like the other award shows, is a chance for well to do people to be kind to themselves.
They are at the self service station of PDA.
Cornfed - "Interesting how the need for substance in an unexamined life often times leads to gullibility."
Their work has meaning because they have something shiny.
Sean Penn is now an international crime fighter.
The Method gave Brando license to be a Grande Dame in Hollywood.
"Sylvester Stallone was recognized for his body of work by getting the award for Creed."
His heavily 'roided body body of work. He's been on the juice so long his testicles have shrunk to the size of raisins. A few more treatments and they will collapse into a singularity, triggering California's slide into the Pacific.