In order to get my predictions in ahead of the Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday night, I'm adding another non-review post since I haven't watched another film yet. And considering I am now a new father, I suppose that was to be expected. Yep, on February 14th at 9:32 a.m., Charlie Albert Foster was born. Kat and I are over-the-moon and very much in love with the little man.
And if that wasn't enough, Valentine's Day also saw the release of the second season of House of Cards, in which I appear in a small role. If you have Netflix (or whatever you need to view it outside of the US), you can find me in episode 5 (titled "Chapter 18") at around the 41:30 mark, and again a little later on.
Now, to the task at hand. Another interesting year for Oscar, particularly for the Best Picture and Best Director categories. 12 Years a Slave is the current favourite for top honours, but Gravity's Alfonso Cuaron is leading the pack for Best Director. While it's not too uncommon for Picture and Director to be awarded to different films, it's a strong enough tradition that it compels me to consider that director Steve McQueen may find himself at the podium instead. Alternatively, Cuaron will indeed win the trophy for his direction and then also see Gravity take away the main prize. The latter scenario is bolstered by the fact that the sci-fi epic will almost certainly be crowned with the most awards on Oscar night, since it is the clear frontrunner in many of the technical categories. Nonetheless, I've remained sensible with my predictions and stuck with the favourites. We'll see how it pans out. For those of you remotely interested, here's what I've chosen.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
First and foremost, hearty congratulations to you and Kat on the birth of Charlie. Having raised two boys, I can tell you that it will be a constant joy (except maybe for a few teenage years, but we've all been through that).
ReplyDeleteI've differed from your predictions on five categories, for no adequate reason, so here are my alternates
Best Adapted Screenplay - American Hustle (my heart wants Her, but this could be Hustle's only shot)
Best Film Editing - Captain Phillips - a slight spreading of the wealth.
Best Foreign Language Film - The Great Beauty
Best Documentary - 20 Feet from Stardom (Like you in House of Cards - and moving closer by the day. Looking forward to seeing that)
Best Live Action Short - Helium
As usual, I see your predictions and suddenly doubt everything I've chosen. Your reasoning on Adapted Screenplay is very sensible, considering the conservative nature of the Academy. Likewise, I still feel odd to have picked Gravity for so many awards and not Best Picture, so giving Film Editing to something else also makes a lot of sense. 20 Feet from Stardom seems very popular for Best Documentary, but with all the other heavy fare in that category, I couldn't bring myself to pick it. Of course, I haven't seen any of the films, so that doesn't help, but we shall see...
ReplyDeleteHappy Oscar Day!
Well it looks like we pretty much split the difference on our differences and had respectable results. When the only "out of left field" (an American baseball slang) award came from Animated Short, you know that the pundits have really figured out The Academy's thinking. I didn't think another Godfather vs. Cabaret scenario would ever occur again, but this year came close. I think from a historical perspective, The Academy got it right both times.
ReplyDeleteNow it's back to The Barretts of Wimpole Street and waiting to see how Clint Eastwood made out with Jersey Boys in June.