Think the Academy Awards has lost its luster?I DO!
There’s very little buzz surrounding it these days. Seems like the only times we hear anything about the awards is when there’s a negative spin to them.
And there’s been plenty of negative spin of late on Hollywood’s beleaguered event.
No need to get into it all here, but I think you know what I’m talking about (i.e. Kevin Hart in—then out as host and attempts to slide-in some technical awards during commercial breaks, etc.)
I remember during my time at Commonwealth Theatres running a company-wide Oscar poll for employees with prizes for the winners.
Ditto to my years at KY-102 where everyone filled out a ballot—jocks, sales animals, management—everyone.
But that was then…..
Nowadays?
Well it just doesn’t seem to really matter anymore.
There used to be Oscar parties everywhere. Just like we have Super Bowl parties. But most of those have disappeared, too.
So what are my picks to win this year (yawn)?
Well, for the first time I don’t have any for Sunday night’s envelope-fest.
Instead, here are my favorite movies, actors and directors from among the nominations in the top eight categories.
Will any of them win an Oscar? Frankly I don’t care.
But they sure gave me a lot of pleasure at the movies during 2018:
* BEST PICTURE: “Green Book”
* BEST DIRECTOR: Spike Lee for “BlackkKlansman”
* BEST ACTOR: Rami Malek for “Bohemian Rhapsody”
* BEST ACTRESS: Glenn Close for “The Wife”
* BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Mahershala Ali for “Green Book”
* BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Emma Stone for “The Favourite”
* BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: “Green Book”
* BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: “BlackkKlansman”
Like I said, these are the movies I enjoyed the most.
No golden statuettes necessary.
Mahershala Ali, for “True Detective”. He kills it here and it is great to see a guy like Stephan Dorff get some run (He was great in “City Of Industry” one of my favorite films.).
The Oscars suck.
I liked “The Sisters Brothers”.
“The Death Of Stalin” cracked me up.
“Galveston” was good.
Meh…, not a great movie year imo.
Chuck, I’m a huge fan of the whole True Detective series. My ONLY criticism of Ali is his voice is in such a register that it’s hard to pick up at times. The slow burn in each season of this series is fabulous. Pretty whacked, too. Right up my alley.
The first True Detective season with Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConnaughy was nothing short of spectacular. Really twisted. I loved it.
It’s a great series and I agree that the timbre of his voice makes it hard to understand him.
Get ready for the finale this Sunday and I hear, that Harrelson and McConaughey will make an appearance on the show.
Very cool.
The first season was indeed the best one so far. The shootout in last year’s series was VERY cool! Right there with some of the greatest shootouts in Movie History. “The Culpeper Cattle Company”, “Heat”, “Open Range”, “Geronimo” – anyway, you get it, it was great.
The show has dropped a few crumbs along the way (pics, etc) indicating ties to the Harrelson/McConaughey timeline.
I typically not a fan of the back and forth between present day, past days, etc. At times, I think it’s a distraction. But, I’ve enjoyed the way this show has been done.
In regards to that format, if you haven’t watched a movie called Memento (starring Guy Pearce), you need to. It’s a timeline mind-fuck that takes about 1/2 the movie to figure out what in the HELL is going on.
I saw it.
🙂
Jack, I agree with all your picks except for Spike Lee. He’s not a genuine movie director because he doesn’t know how make a film that ISN’T based on race. A real director can make ANY type of movie and make it well, but Spike can’t. BlackkKlansman was nothing special — not nearly as good as Malcom X — and it simply doesn’t deserve all the press. Spike needs to step outside his obsession with race and produce something completely different to prove he has real movie chops. I doubt he’s capable of it. Just sayin…