Monday, March 3, 2014

Academy Awards Pick Outcome: 15-9

Welp, the 2014 Academy awards came and went.

All in all, it's cool to see Gravity get the recognition it deserves. I'm a big fan of Alfonso Cuaron and look forward to his future work.

Also, it's cool to see an important historical film such as 12 Years a Slave win best picture. I'll eventually watch it. But, every single time I've had the chance to see it in the theater, I switched my decision at the last minute because, well, quite frankly, I just didn't want to be sad. It almost reminds me of going to see Schindler's List in the theaters. You know what's going to happen. You know it's going to be a great movie. But, you're not sure you want to get all emotional and bummed out on a Saturday night, or even Thursday afternoon for that matter (guys at SNP will understand this one). But hey, kill me. I want to see something uplifting, action packed or positive when I hit the theaters solo on my free time and my time. Something like Gravity, Her, or even The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (which wasn't that bad). But I digress...

As far as the show went, besides Matthew McConaughey's speech and Spike Jonze winning for Best Original Screenply (I picked both of those by the way), it was a pretty lackluster occasion. Ellen Degeneres tried to be funny, but meh.

I'm not sure what is wrong, but I have a theory.

When I was young - and the internet didn't exist - the Oscars were this magical moment when you could see all of your favorite actors in one place. You could see that they weren't these automated robots but real people (some people may disagree). In this information age, I came to realize that these actors have been attending awards shows since early January - almost every single weekend. That has to be draining, right? Plus, you sort of get an idea of which movie is going to win, which actors are going to win, etc. There's no real excitement. At least that's my opinion.

So all in all, I didn't do too bad in my Academy Award Picks. Better than last year, and the year before, that's for sure.

So my losses included:

  • Best Picture (I picked Gravity. I haven't seen 12 Years a Slave yet)
  • Supporting Actress (I picked Sally Hawkins as an upset)
  • Documentary Feature (I was sure The Act of Killing was going to win, but it didn't)
  • Foreign Language Film (I picked The Hunt. I think a lot of people were surprised it didn't win)
  • MakeUp and Hairstyling (should have guessed that Dallas Buyers Club was going to win over Bad Grandpa)
  • Film Editing (I thought Academy would have liked the editing of Captain Phillips. Gravity deserved it)
  • Animated Short Film (an educated guess)
  • Documentary Short (an educated guess)
  • Live Action Short Film (an educated guess)
Talk to you soon.