We went 7-of-12 in picks in the Oscar pool last night, which is pretty much a drubbing. Already we're working on an explanation for where our picks went astray in order to hone our predictive methods for next year.
Call these the inconvenient truths from this year's telecast. To wit:
--Eddie Murphy seemed like a lock for best-supporting actor, but then perhaps we underestimated the "Norbit" backlash. One fatsuit too many.
--These were the "green" Academy Awards. Of course, Academy voters weren't going to back "Cars" for best animated feature. Cars contribute to global warming; penguins are the victims of global warming. "Happy Feet" should have had us from hello.
--Songs about global warming are better than really good songs. THE PLANET IS MELTING, PEOPLE.
--Never underestimate the appeal of savage fairy tales about the danger of fascism. Maybe I should have seen "Pan's Labyrinth" before betting against it.
--Whatever you thought of "Marie Antoinette" -- and I was confused by the sudden appearance of Adam Ant -- it had a really good shoe montage. A really good shoe montage trumps the conventional wisdom that the best costume award never goes to the movie featuring the best costumes.
3 comments:
"...the conventional wisdom that the best costume award never goes to the movie featuring the best costumes."
You mock, but I stand by my analysis. Consider these Costume winners of the past decade:
1996: The English Patient (bandages) bests Hamlet.
1999: Topsy-Turvy bests Sleepy Hollow (you design a hat that stays on a head used as projectile weapon)
2000: Gladiator (muddy chain-mail) bests Quills (Kate Winslet, bodice)
2004: The Aviator (flying goggles) bests Finding Neverland (Kate Winslet, bodice again, I think)
Regarding the more puzzling question of best song and the Academy's stupefying decision to reward Melissa Etheridge, I believe now I understand what happened.
Very simply, I believe, the three "Dreamgirls" songs split the vote.
In hindsight, it seems obvious. In a run-off election, the Dreamgirl partisans could have come together, but they never go that option.
Divide and conquer was the strategy of those machiavellian "Inconvenient Truth" producers.
Gore should have had these guys on board with him in Florida in 2000.
Don't know why, but I turned on the Oscars around the time of the Dreamgirls medley. I couldn't figure out why the lovely women on stage were yelling so much. Was it a yelling match? Their facial expressions indicated that the yelling was an emotional response to something. Maybe they were upset that Eddie Murphy didn't win an Oscar. I guess we'll never know.
I think any chance that Al Gore will run in '08 and actually win the election went out the window when Melissa Etheridge, in her acceptance speech, thanked her wife and Al Gore in the same breath.
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