Category Archive

So it occurred to me yesterday in the mild delirium that comes with packing and moving for many days straight that There Will Be Blood is destined to sweep the Oscars simply so that the headlines can read, “There Will Be Oscars”.

Maybe not, though.

(It turns out my pun is not very original at all, and this video is the funniest of the results I found for it:

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/d8f1db3c4e

David Spade as DDL in Blood in an Oscars preview.)

So yes, moving. This is how I have spent my week off of work (along with neglected dentist and doc appointments). We decided that we were determined to have all of the loose stuff out by Sunday, at which point a crew of friends will come and help us move all the furniture in one 17″ moving truck. And we are actually looking pretty durn good for the goal. Pretty much everything is packed and the number of remaining boxes is nothing that a few trips can’t handle. Thank goodness for the beat up little Ford Ranger. The most unpleasantness of the week came about yesterday afternoon when the landlord showed up with some potential new tenants (with no notice) and then railed me for the house being unpresentable. A) You didn’t warn us. B) We are moving. How nice to you expect it to look? And it’s not like there were piles of refuse everywhere. I have been cleaning as I have gone (take everything off a shelf, clean said shelf, take everything out of said cabinet, clean said cabinet) so everything was really pretty clean… with the exception of one roommate’s room. She recently got a second “job” (volunteer work, but it’s a 20 hour per week commitment) that she has been training for and wasn’t ready at all for him to come. Anyway, it was just frustrating.

So, yes, the Oscars. I am one of those who watches it every year, despite what I recognize as a highly politicized popularity contest. I love movies, and I love taking that night to celebrate both current cinema and the history of cinema. I’m the person who all the extra stuff is in there for. I love the look backs and the tributes, and I am ready to cry when they show the faces of everyone that we’ve lost over the last year. And, to be perfectly honest, I do think a lot of the “old guard” mentality is being chipped away. Of the best picture nominees, only Atonement and, to a lesser extent, There Will be Blood strike me as your more typical Oscar films, and even Atonement did a lot of bold things in the way it was composed. Now, to be honest, I don’t know much about Michael Clayton, it’s the only one of the five I haven’t seen (and if we weren’t moving, you’d have bet I’d have rented it this week since it came out on DVD Tuesday), so it could be moreso as well. But both Juno and No Country for Old Men have facets that make them unlikely best picture nominees. The heartfelt indie comedy has begun to get more esteem in recent years, but I still think that of the examples of this (Sideways, Little Miss Sunshine, Lost in Translation), Juno is considerably less high brow. This isn’t to say there isn’t depth to Juno, the characters are so well drawn and go through such wonderful journeys over the course of the film, but it’s not thrust in your face the way the others do. Not to mention that I think it’s the most genuinely funny nominee that I can remember since As Good as it Gets; the others I’ve listed were good for some chuckles, but I spent Juno cramping up with sidesplitting laughter.

So, predictions. Last year I think I got around 3/4 of my predictions right, but this year I feel a lot less certain about things. I think Daniel Day Lewis is a clear winner for best actor, but the academy has snubbed him before (it would be ridiculous to snub him for There Will be Blood, though, as he carried the whole movie and was incredible). I think best picture will go to No Country for Old Men, if the voters are honest, or Atonement if they go for their melodramatic war flick and also follow the Golden Globes (though, of the nominees, only Atonement got less than a 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, so it strikes me as odd if it would win). I could also see them going for There Will Be Blood, but not Juno or Michael Clayton. I think screenplay should go to Juno and No Country for Old Men. Javier Bardem should be a shoe in for best supporting actor, and all the buzz seems to suggest Julie Christine for best actress and Cate Blanchet for best supporting actress. Second to DDL’s performance, the directing shone strongly in There Will Be Blood, so I think Paul Thomas Andersen could take it; possibly the Coen brothers could take it though if this becomes No Country’s night. Despite my general criticism of the movie, I think Atonement could get (and would deserve as some of its visuals were astounding) best cinematography, though I wouldn’t be surprised if No Country grabbed it either, and also best score. I would give Art Direction to Sweeny Todd as the visual mood of that movie was enough to make up for the subpar singing. The animated film has me in a quandary. Everyone is saying Ratatouille but Persepolis is much more of an academy film. The Rat was a very good family film, but Persepolis was a work of art. Still, Finding Nemo managed to defeat the Triplets of Belville in 2004 so I am going to have to say the academy is going to favor the idea that animation must be for children and say the Rat will grab it. The editing in No Country was brilliant, so I hope it grabs it. Makeup… Pirates. Costumes… possibly Sweeny Todd or Elizabeth. Visual effects… I want to say Golden Compass but Transformers is probably more likely. I’m pretty angry at the Academy for passing over King of Kong, and have no strong opinion on the others, though it’ll probably be Sicko. The rest of the categories I have no strong opinion on.

So, I may not even get to watch the Oscars this year due to the move, but the U-Haul has to be back by 5, so I should get to see at least some of them. I doubt I’ll be able to make the Oscars party I was going to go to, though. At least our new DVR is set up, so if nothing else, I can record them (but much like a football fan would say that recording the Superbowl is really not a good substitute for seeing them in the moment, so would I say about the Oscars.)