Sunday, February 26, 2012

Oscar Competition 2012

Oh Oscar Sunday...  As I sit here watching the E! Countdown to the Countdown of the Oscars I'm going to go through and give my picks for the 2012 Oscars.  I'd first like to say that my picks are going to be boring and predictable, because this awards season has been boring and predictable.  Is anyone else bored with awards shows?  I wouldn't be able to get through them without the ability to fast forward.

In fact, the last time I was genuinely excited by a victory was when Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova won for best song in 2008.  I'll admit I was a huge fan of the movie and the band, and had already seen them perform live at the time of the awards show.  But that win genuinely helped them and their careers, and let more people in on the awesome band that is The Swell Season.  I've attached the video of that win at the end of this post.

I will say that I prefer Billy Crystal over Eddie Murphy as host, but I don't think Billy will be a very exciting host.  We all know the schtick by now.  But why were these the two "best options" for hosts of the 2012 Oscars?  It is 1997 or 2012?  Why have the Oscars reverted back after more modern picks of Jon Stewart and the awful decision of James Franco and Anne Hathaway?  I am hopeful that Sacha Baron Cohen might spice it up a little, hopefully The Dictator will make the Oscars regret the controversy from this week.


While I'm on this Oscars rant - where are the exciting acceptance speeches?  Cuba Gooding Jr, Matt and Ben, Roberto Benigni all had amazing off the cuff speeches and were genuinely thrilled to have won.  Is that gone now that awards season is so predictable?

And now on to my apathetic, uneducated picks.

Best Picture: The Artist - It seems like a pretty solid front runner at this point.

Leading Actor: Jean DuJardin - I hope it's Clooney but have a feeling momentum has swung entirely to The Artist.
Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer - Easy.
Leading Actress: Viola Davis - One step closer to the EGOT
Supporting Actress:
Octavia Spencer - Another given, but she absolutely deserves it.
Animated Feature:
Rango - Ehh, it's the only one I've seen, and my niece liked it...
Art Direction:
The Artist - Trend continues...
Cinematography:
The Artist - Shocking guess, eh?
Costume Design:
The Artist- I'm boring myself...
Directing: Michel Hazanavicius - The only excitement will be waiting to see if the presenter will get the pronunciation correct
Documentary Feature: Undefeated - The only nominee I've seen
Documentary Short:
Incident in New Baghdad
Film Editing:
The Artist
Foreign Language Film:
A Separation
Original Score:
War Horse - I actually think it's going to be The Artist, but John Williams is a Boston star, so I'm going for the hometown favorite
Original Song:
Man or Muppet from The Muppets - It would be so fantastic if Bret McKenzie gets an Oscar, why can't they bring back Flight of the Conchords?
Animated Short Film:
Dimanche
Sound Editing:
Drive -We're really in the suspenseful categories that everyone cares about now!
Sound Mixing: War Horse
Visual Effects:
Hugo
Adapted Screenplay:
The Descendants - unfortunately one of it's few wins of the night I suspect
Original Screenplay:
The Artist - it might anger some folks but I think it's going to be the winner.  I'd love it if Bridesmaids shocked everyone but it's never going to happen.
 
Click here to watch Falling Slowly win Best Original Song
 

2 comments:

Mer said...

Wow - I like this little bit of competition. You and Heather have a lot of different picks. No offense but I hope you're wrong about all of your The Artist picks, but you're probably not.

Meg said...

Trust me Mer, I hope I'm wrong on all of The Artist picks too!