Oscars 2012 Category Breakdown: Best Actor & Best Actress
I’m in the middle of breaking down and analyzing all of the Oscar categories for this year.
Today, we go over Best Actor and Best Actress.
There’s never really anything to say about these categories — we know what they are and we know how they work. This year seems pretty cut and dry. That is to say — they’re not tight races. One of them was locked up before nominations were announced and another one is basically going to come down between two people (or so the narrative is trying to say).
There’s really not much to say in the way of preface for these two, since these aren’t ones you can’t really take as a whole and have to look at individually to analyze.
So we’ll start with Best Actor and move onto Best Actress: (more…)
The Oscar Quest: The Weakest Best Actress Nominees
Again I’ll stress that I’m talking about all-time.
I’ll also stress that half this list could easily have been swapped out for other nominees that aren’t on here. Mostly I’m just talking about really weak nominees that you just look at now and go, “Really?” Most people haven’t even heard of half of these movies. Or you just look at the films and the performances and go, “Wow, that hasn’t held up at all,” or, “That was really a popularity nomination.” Or some of them — some of them nobody can figure out. There’s one on this list that you look at and go, “Where the fuck did that come from?”
So that’s mostly what this is. People always talk about what the weakest winners were, but no one ever really talks about the weak nominees. Because there’s some weak ass shit populating a lot of these Oscar categories. We tend to forget about them, because in a given Oscar year there are at least 30 (this year there are 34) new nominees in the six major categories, but there’s a lot of shit out there that nobody mentions.
So, today, I’m gonna talk about what I think (some of) the weakest Best Actress nominees are. (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Six Months Later. Thoughts, Changes, etc.
(Note: This article isn’t finished yet. I got way behind on shit, and decided to post it as-is. Half an article is better than no article, and it’s not like anyone will know after a few days anyway. If you haven’t read it yet, you should probably wait until tomorrow, since I’ll have it done by then.)
Well, those “My Nominations” articles became a mess. I pretty much gave up on those after the first category. Which is my fault. I rushed them out because I figured, “How hard could they be?” and didn’t really set up what my criteria were going to be and very quickly strayed from what my original intention was. And by the end I basically said fuck it and just went through the motions. I was pretty much doing stuff that’ll start going up tomorrow anyway, so I actually put zero effort into them and had no idea what was actually being written. I was really only concerned with making sure stuff went up to fill the gap between the Disney stuff and this next set of articles. At some point I’ll go back and do those for real.
Mostly what this article is going to be is an update on the Oscar Quest now that I haven’t really thought about it for six months. The final article went up on July 4th, and I was done writing them back in April. So I haven’t really thought about anything on this blog other than Disney stuff since July. The idea was to go back and just look at all the categories and go, “Okay, so how do I feel about all of the categories now that I’ve had time to think about them, separate from the blog and all that?” So that’s what I’m going to do.
I’ve already updated the Oscar Quest: Viewer’s Guide and the Oscar Quest: Rankings articles to reflect the changes that are being made. I’m also not really tracking the changes I’m making. I’m just sort of making them and writing what my current opinion is on the categories. It’s all up on the blog, so my changes can be seen if you go chronologically. I will say, flat out, these will be my completely unvarnished opinions on everything, unrelated to all the other stuff. Since I’m sure at some point during all those articles I was either more diplomatic than my opinion is or harsher than my opinion is, depending on the situation. (That’s really the problem with writing shit online. People just sort of read it and assume that’s your set opinion. Meanwhile I’m just writing shit and not even thinking about it. I don’t even know half the shit I say.) So let’s update the Oscar Quest. (more…)
The Oscar Quest: My Oscar Nominations — Best Actress (1927/1928-1949)
This is part of a series of articles where I’m putting forth my opinions about what I’d nominate in all of the Oscar Quest categories (Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress). Normally I take the categories as they are, but I thought it would be fun to figure out what I’d vote for if I had a ballot each year. Keep in mind, this is only for NOMINATIONS and nothing else.
My only problem with this is that I knew if I did it, too many people, were they doing the same thing, would put on movies that just didn’t belong on an Oscar ballot. (I would too, in some cases. We just like what we like.) My problem was that people would take this exercise as an opportunity to really just go off the rails with stuff (which, if you read through all these articles, you’ll see me call people out for it, since I know exactly which films and which performances people would put on). So my way around this was by creating what I call a “Compromise List” — after I tell you what was actually nominated and what I’d put on my ballot, I’m making a list whereby I try to make everyone happy and keep it mostly close to what would be there, Academy-wise. You’ll see. My lists usually end up being better and not crazy.
The things to take into account with the performance categories — I can only nominate what I’ve seen. So me not seeing something will be a big reason why some stuff doesn’t appear. And, as always, I tell people not to bother me with one random person in one random category, since I have everything to think about. If you want to say something, wait until you’ve seen all the films/tried this yourself before you do it. And I don’t care about foreign performances, for the most part. There’s a long and complicated answer there, but — I don’t. And the big rule for anyone doing this — if someone won a category, YOU CAN’T LEAVE THEM OFF THE COMPROMISE LIST. Can’t do it.
Otherwise — here’s the next set of categories. (more…)
The Oscar Quest: My Oscar Nominations — Best Actress (1950-1969)
This is part of a series of articles where I’m putting forth my opinions about what I’d nominate in all of the Oscar Quest categories (Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress). Normally I take the categories as they are, but I thought it would be fun to figure out what I’d vote for if I had a ballot each year. Keep in mind, this is only for NOMINATIONS and nothing else.
My only problem with this is that I knew if I did it, too many people, were they doing the same thing, would put on movies that just didn’t belong on an Oscar ballot. (I would too, in some cases. We just like what we like.) My problem was that people would take this exercise as an opportunity to really just go off the rails with stuff (which, if you read through all these articles, you’ll see me call people out for it, since I know exactly which films and which performances people would put on). So my way around this was by creating what I call a “Compromise List” — after I tell you what was actually nominated and what I’d put on my ballot, I’m making a list whereby I try to make everyone happy and keep it mostly close to what would be there, Academy-wise. You’ll see. My lists usually end up being better and not crazy.
The things to take into account with the performance categories — I can only nominate what I’ve seen. So me not seeing something will be a big reason why some stuff doesn’t appear. And, as always, I tell people not to bother me with one random person in one random category, since I have everything to think about. If you want to say something, wait until you’ve seen all the films/tried this yourself before you do it. And I don’t care about foreign performances, for the most part. There’s a long and complicated answer there, but — I don’t. And the big rule for anyone doing this — if someone won a category, YOU CAN’T LEAVE THEM OFF THE COMPROMISE LIST. Can’t do it.
Otherwise — here’s the next set of categories. (more…)
The Oscar Quest: My Oscar Nominations — Best Actress (1970-1989)
This is part of a series of articles where I’m putting forth my opinions about what I’d nominate in all of the Oscar Quest categories (Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress). Normally I take the categories as they are, but I thought it would be fun to figure out what I’d vote for if I had a ballot each year. Keep in mind, this is only for NOMINATIONS and nothing else.
My only problem with this is that I knew if I did it, too many people, were they doing the same thing, would put on movies that just didn’t belong on an Oscar ballot. (I would too, in some cases. We just like what we like.) My problem was that people would take this exercise as an opportunity to really just go off the rails with stuff (which, if you read through all these articles, you’ll see me call people out for it, since I know exactly which films and which performances people would put on). So my way around this was by creating what I call a “Compromise List” — after I tell you what was actually nominated and what I’d put on my ballot, I’m making a list whereby I try to make everyone happy and keep it mostly close to what would be there, Academy-wise. You’ll see. My lists usually end up being better and not crazy.
The things to take into account with the performance categories — I can only nominate what I’ve seen. So me not seeing something will be a big reason why some stuff doesn’t appear. And, as always, I tell people not to bother me with one random person in one random category, since I have everything to think about. If you want to say something, wait until you’ve seen all the films/tried this yourself before you do it. And I don’t care about foreign performances, for the most part. There’s a long and complicated answer there, but — I don’t. And the big rule for anyone doing this — if someone won a category, YOU CAN’T LEAVE THEM OFF THE COMPROMISE LIST. Can’t do it.
Otherwise — here’s the next set of categories. (more…)
The Oscar Quest: My Oscar Nominations — Best Actress (1990-2011)
This is part of a series of articles where I’m putting forth my opinions about what I’d nominate in all of the Oscar Quest categories (Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress). Normally I take the categories as they are, but I thought it would be fun to figure out what I’d vote for if I had a ballot each year. Keep in mind, this is only for NOMINATIONS and nothing else.
My only problem with this is that I knew if I did it, too many people, were they doing the same thing, would put on movies that just didn’t belong on an Oscar ballot. (I would too, in some cases. We just like what we like.) My problem was that people would take this exercise as an opportunity to really just go off the rails with stuff (which, if you read through all these articles, you’ll see me call people out for it, since I know exactly which films and which performances people would put on). So my way around this was by creating what I call a “Compromise List” — after I tell you what was actually nominated and what I’d put on my ballot, I’m making a list whereby I try to make everyone happy and keep it mostly close to what would be there, Academy-wise. You’ll see. My lists usually end up being better and not crazy.
The things to take into account with the performance categories — I can only nominate what I’ve seen. So me not seeing something will be a big reason why some stuff doesn’t appear. And, as always, I tell people not to bother me with one random person in one random category, since I have everything to think about. If you want to say something, wait until you’ve seen all the films/tried this yourself before you do it. And I don’t care about foreign performances, for the most part. There’s a long and complicated answer there, but — I don’t. And the big rule for anyone doing this — if someone won a category, YOU CAN’T LEAVE THEM OFF THE COMPROMISE LIST. Can’t do it.
Otherwise — here’s the next set of categories. (more…)
The Abridged Oscar Quest: Best Actress
I got the idea for this shortly after all the articles went up. (You can find the articles here.) I was thinking — “What would it be like if circumstances didn’t matter? If I just voted based solely on the category and what was nominated?” Naturally that led to, “Well that can become a nice series of articles.” So that’s what they’re becoming.
I’m calling it my Abridged Oscar Quest. I’m going to go through every year of every category, and simply pick winners based solely on the category. I will not take into account what won before, what is the “classy choice,” what never had a shot. Just — here are the nominees, here’s what I would vote for if I had a ballot. I’m taking into account nothing but the films.
I’m going to star (*) the film I’d vote for.
Today is Best Actress: (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actress – 1928-1929
(Note: THIS CATEGORY IS NOT FINISHED. I still need to watch one of the nominees. I still have not been able to find The Barker in any cheap/acceptable format. If anyone has it or knows where it can be procured, let me know, so this category can be finished.)
1928-1929 is a unique year in Oscar history. It’s the only year without any official Oscar nominees. Which means (I guess), everyone was sent a ballot, and just voted. And whoever won, won. Interesting way to do it. Then again, it is the second one. I guess they were seeing what worked.
The Broadway Melody wins Best Picture, mostly because it was the only film among the “nominees” (which is basically the set of films that got the most votes, I guess) that used sound the best. Frank Lloyd won Best Director for The Divine Lady, which I don’t much understand. Why they’d give a non-sound film Best Director is beyond me. And Best Actor was Warner Baxter for In Old Arizona (talked about here). The transition to sound made it tough to gauge performances, so we pretty much just ignore this decision. (Though, Baxter did do some good work in the 30s, so it actually kind of worked out.)
This category — pretty much a blank except — Mary Pickford was the biggest star in Hollywood from like, 1915 through this point. Her and Douglas Fairbanks were basically considered ambassadors from Hollywood to the world. So it makes perfect sense that they’d go and give her an Oscar. Again — you have to treat these categories differently from how things normally work nowadays, because here, it’s all about legitimizing the awards. They’re just getting started, and they want to award what they think is best. And who better to award than your biggest star?
BEST ACTRESS – 1928-1929
And the nominees were…
Ruth Chatterton, Madame X
Betty Compson, The Barker
Jeanne Eagels, The Letter
Corinne Griffith, The Divine Lady
Bessie Love, The Broadway Melody
Mary Pickford, Coquette (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actress – 1929-1930
I call 1929-1930 the year with the first real (or is it great? Either way, really…) Best Picture winner. There aren’t any real definitive Best Picture winners for the first decade, really. I mean, Wings, but there you have the confusion of two winners. But here — All Quiet on the Western Front. A definitive winner. And something you can point to as an “Oscar” film, too. We wouldn’t get another one of these until The Great Ziegfeld, and then Gone With the Wind. (Though, It Happened One Night is also a real Best Picture winner.) The rest just feel like decisions. You know?
Lewis Milestone also won Best Director for All Quiet on the Western Front (talked about here), which is a top ten decision for all time. And George Arliss won Best Actor for Disraeli, which is actually a strong decision, historically, based on all it represents.
And then this category — I don’t really know what to do with it. I really don’t like any of the nominees. So it’s pretty much a crap shoot. (Note the pun.)
BEST ACTRESS – 1929-1930
And the nominees were…
Nancy Carroll. The Devil’s Holiday
Ruth Chatterton, Sarah and Son
Greta Garbo, Anna Christie & Romance
Norma Shearer, The Divorcée & Their Own Desire
Gloria Swanson, The Trespasser (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actress – 1951
Love me some 1951. Some of the decisions are a bit — not great — but honestly, the way I’d have voted it, I’d have given everything to one film. And I mean everything.
An American in Paris wins Best Picture. Not the worst choice, but not a particularly great one, either. I, personally, would have gone with A Streetcar Named Desire, which won this category, Best Supporting Actor for Karl Malden (talked about here) and Best Supporting Actress for Kim Hunter (talked about here). Best Actor was Humphrey Bogart for The African Queen (talked about here), beating Brando for Streetcar, and somehow being okay in the process. And Best Director was George Stevens for A Place in the Sun (talked about here), a decision I really just don’t like at all. Not even a little bit.
And this category — Vivien Leigh is like Daniel Day-Lewis. When she’s on — there’s no other choice. Wow.
BEST ACTRESS – 1951
And the nominees were…
Katharine Hepburn, The African Queen
Vivien Leigh, A Streetcar Named Desire
Eleanor Parker, Detective Story
Shelley Winters, A Place in the Sun
Jane Wyman, The Blue Veil (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actress – 1930-1931
1930-1931 is one of the early years. Different set of rules.
Cimarron wins Best Picture. The first Western to win, and, honestly, a decent choice. I’d have probably went another way, but it’s a matter of personal preference. Cimarron is an epic western, takes place over a number of years, is based on a best-selling book — it’s a good choice. Best Actor was Lionel Barrymore for A Free Soul (talked about here). He was a respected actor, and was a good choice for a year that was about legitimizing the awards. I wouldn’t have voted for it, but it makes sense. And Norman Taurog wins Best Director for Skippy (talked about here), which is a terrific, terrific decision, and one of my favorites of all time.
Okay, now we’re at this one. Tough call. Like I said — different set of rules. The rules dictate that the most respected/popular actors of the day win, in order to legitimize the award. You have Janet Gaynor, Mary Pickford, Norma Shearer winning — and here, Marie Dressler, the most popular star in Hollywood (at age 60, to boot), is nominated. Of course she’s going to win. But does that mean it was the right decision? I don’t know.
BEST ACTRESS – 1930-1931
And the nominees were…
Marlene Dietrich, Morocco
Marie Dressler, Min and Bill
Irene Dunne, Cimarron
Ann Harding, Holiday
Norma Shearer, A Free Soul (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actress – 1971
Love 1971. Here’s a real 70s year. Best Picture was The French Connection, and William Friedkin won Best Director for it (talked about here), and Gene Hackman won Best Actor for it (talked about here). All perfect decisions.
Then Ben Johnson and Cloris Leachman won Best Supporting Actor (talked about here) and Best Supporting Actress (talked about here), respectively, for The Last Picture Show.
Whether I like the decisions or not (and I largely like them), this is a very 70s year. And that’s awesome.
And this category is no different. Great 70s decision, and a great award for a great actress.
BEST ACTRESS – 1971
And the nominees were…
Julie Christie, McCabe & Mrs. Miller
Jane Fonda, Klute
Glenda Jackson, Sunday Bloody Sunday
Vanessa Redgrave, Mary, Queen of Scots
Janet Suzman, Nicholas and Alexandra (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actress – 1972
1972 is so easy to recap. Two films won most of the awards.
The Godfather wins Best Picture and Best Actor for Marlon Brando (talked about here). Cabaret wins Best Director for Bob Fosse (talked about here) and Best Supporting Actor for Joel Grey (talked about here). I’m of the opinion that The Godfather should have just won everything.
The only non-Godfather/Cabaret winner was Best Supporting Actress, which went to Eileen Heckart for Butterflies are Free (talked about here). That was one of the weakest Best Supporting Actress categories of all time.
And then this category. This is one of the weakest categories I’ve ever seen. Just glancing at it, you can pick out an easy winner. I mean — it’s not even close. Like, at all. Not even a little bit.
BEST ACTRESS – 1972
And the nominees were…
Liza Minnelli, Cabaret
Diana Ross, Lady Sings the Blues
Maggie Smith, Travels with My Aunt
Cicely Tyson, Sounder
Liv Ullmann, The Emigrants (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actress – 1935
1935 is a weak year for me. I don’t like it very much. Mutiny on the Bounty is a great film and a classic film, but it’s not my favorite film from 1935 (that would be The Informer. And Top Hat, but that wasn’t winning). It’s the only Best Picture winner to not win any other award (and be nominated for them. Not like Grand Hotel, which was only nominated for Best Picture).
Victor McLaglen wins Best Actor for The Informer, which was a terrific decision. He was fantastic. And John Ford also wins Best Director for the film (talked about here). Hmm…maybe that’s a sign that the film was actually better than the film that won, don’t you think?
And this category — what the hell? Bette Davis wins by default. Don’t think she didn’t. There was such an outcry that she wasn’t nominated for Of Human Bondage the year before this (which she should not have won for at all) that, after a write-in campaign that almost got her the win, they pretty much were willing to give her this one for just about anything she put up on screen. And I didn’t think she was that good.
BEST ACTRESS – 1935
And the nominees were…
Elisabeth Bergner, Escape Me Never
Claudette Colbert, Private Worlds
Bette Davis, Dangerous
Katharine Hepburn, Alice Adams
Miriam Hopkins, Becky Sharp
Merle Oberon, The Dark Angel (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actress – 1945
1945 is a solid, if not very memorable Academy year. The Lost Weekend is a strong film and a good Best Picture choice (based on the nominees), but in the whole of the Best Picture history, it’s not one of the more memorable winners. The other categories are strong too, but again, not particularly memorable unless you know them well.
Billy Wilder won Best Director for the film, which was a great decision, since it was the Best Picture winner, and because he probably should have won for Double Indemnity the year before this. Ray Milland also won Best Actor for the film (talked about here), which was a terrific decision all around. Best Supporting Actor this year was James Dunn for A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (talked about here), which was just phenomenal, and Best Supporting Actress was Anne Revere for National Velvet (talked about here), which was also terrific.
And then this category — I was torn for the longest time on who to vote for. I’m still not entirely certain of who I’ll vote for. Either way though, Joan Crawford having an Oscar is a good thing, so however I vote, this worked out.
BEST ACTRESS – 1945
And the nominees were…
Ingrid Bergman, The Bells of St. Mary’s
Joan Crawford, Mildred Pierce
Greer Garson, The Valley of Decision
Jennifer Jones, Love Letters
Gene Tierney, Leave Her to Heaven (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actress – 1962
Love me some 1962. You get Lawrence of Arabia and you get To Kill a Mockingbird. And the great thing about it is — you know Lawrence was winning no matter what, so there’s really no argument to be had. We can just be happy for all the great movies.
Lawrence of Arabia wins Best Picture and Best Director for David Lean (talked about here). Gregory Peck wins Best Actor for To Kill a Mockingbird (talked about here). Perfect decisions, naturally. Best Supporting Actor was Ed Begley for Sweet Bird of Youth (talked about here), which is the lone poor decision for the year, but since it came in so minor a category it isn’t so bad. And Best Supporting Actress was Patty Duke for The Miracle Worker, which, she played Helen Keller. Obviously it was a good decision.
Bringing us to this category, which only had two choices, and I feel they made the right one.
BEST ACTRESS – 1962
And the nominees were…
Anne Bancroft, The Miracle Worker
Bette Davis, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
Katharine Hepburn, Long Day’s Journey Into Night
Geraldine Page, Sweet Bird of Youth
Lee Remick, Days of Wine and Roses (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actress – 1964
1964 is a quintessential Oscar year. My Fair Lady is so obviously a Best Picture choice that it’s almost not even worth questioning the fact that it beat Dr. Strangelove. Sure, (all of those things), but when you look at what the Academy likes, it makes perfect sense.
George Cukor (finally) won his well-deserved and earned-twice-over Best Director statue for the film (talked about here), and Rex Harrison also won Best Actor for it (talked about here). Then Best Supporting Actor this year was Peter Ustinov for Topkapi (talked about here) and Best Supporting Actress was Lila Kedrova for Zorba the Greek (talked about here). Both categories were shitty and both decisions really don’t matter too much. I’m cool with the Supporting Actor decision but dislike the Supporting Actress one. 1964 is actually a pretty weak year masked by some iconic, “Oscar” decisions.
Like this category. Weak as hell. Weak, weak, weak, weak, weak. Yet — Mary Poppins wins. Who’s gonna argue with Mary Poppins winning? The decision masks how weak the whole thing is.
BEST ACTRESS – 1964
And the nominees were…
Julie Andrews, Mary Poppins
Anne Bancroft, The Pumpkin Eater
Sophia Loren, Marriage, Italian Style
Debbie Reynolds, The Unsinkable Molly Brown
Kim Stanley, Séance on a Wet Afternoon (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actress – 1980
1980 is the beginning of what I consider the single worst decade in the history of the Academy Awards (not to mention the beginning of what would lead to our current state of events in the industry). The 80s, to me, are a decade that not only has the weakest Oscar years, but also the single worst decisions. Of 10 Best Picture choices, I think only two of the 80s decisions are strong, with two okay ones (from weak categories), two obvious ones, and the rest, terrible.
As for 1980, Ordinary People wins Best Picture, Best Director for Robert Redford (talked about here) and Best Supporting Actor for Timothy Hutton (talked about here). The Hutton decision is a good one (even though he’s really the lead of the film), but the other two — they beat Raging Bull. I think we all agree they were terrible. Then, Best Actor was Robert De Niro for Raging Bull, which is clearly one of the best decisions of all time in the category, and Best Supporting Actress was Mary Steenburgen for Melvin and Howard (talked about here), which — meh.
So that’s 1980. Fortunately, this category makes up for the rest of the stuff. I know some people would have went another way, but historically, I think this was a terrific decision.
BEST ACTRESS – 1980
And the nominees were…
Ellen Burstyn, Resurrection
Goldie Hawn, Private Benjamin
Mary Tyler Moore, Ordinary People
Gena Rowlands, Gloria
Sissy Spacek, Coal Miner’s Daughter (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actress – 1942
1942. It’s pretty cut and dry and understandable all the way through. I like that.
Mrs. Miniver wins Best Picture, Best Director for William Wyler (talked about here), this category, and Best Supporting Actress for Teresa Wright (talked about here). Picture had to happen, because it’s a war film made during the peak war years, promoting family and strength and togetherness, and — it just had to win. It wasn’t going to not win. Director was going the way of Picture, so that’s that Teresa Wright — she was also nominated for Best Actress this year, and was up-and-coming. There was no way she wasn’t winning something. And this category I’ll tell you about in just a second.
The other categories this year were Best Actor, which went to James Cagney for Yankee Doodle Dandy (talked about here), which was a terrific decision (especially since Gary Cooper won the year before this), and Best Supporting Actor, which went to Van Heflin for Johnny Eager, which was a bad decision in a terrible category. So whatever.
And this category — had to happen. She was really overdue by this point, and the only reason she didn’t have won already was because she lost to a makeup Oscar. So now she gets her makeup Oscar, and everything works out just fine.
BEST ACTRESS – 1942
And the nominees are…
Bette Davis, Now, Voyager
Greer Garson, Mrs. Miniver
Katharine Hepburn, Woman of the Year
Rosalind Russell, My Sister Eileen
Teresa Wright, Pride of the Yankees (more…)
Guessing the 2011 Oscar Clips
This is always a fun thing to do. Guessing what clips they’re gonna show for each of the acting nominees. Seems pretty obvious. I’m very familiar with most of the performances, so I should be able to guess specifically for all but like, two of them:
Best Actor
Demián Bichir — almost definitely that speech he has at the end to his kid. Or one of the scenes with the kid in the truck, telling him how he works hard so he can have (insert title here).
George Clooney — him talking to his wife at the end and crying, right? Or do they want to mix it up and not have all tears?
Jean Dujardin — you’d think the clip of him on the stage, goofing around, but I’m really hoping one of their clips is the dance-off behind the screen. Or maybe it’ll be him quitting the studio. But honestly probably his first scene. (more…)
Oscars By Statistics
Here’s something I thought would be interesting to do…
I don’t really know how much I’m into the whole statistical thing. Generally I like having all information at my disposal and then doing what feels right. Statistics to me feel more like rationalization than playing the odds. You know?
That said, I got this idea from playing the ponies. Every year, before the Kentucky Derby and the other Triple Crown Races, my hometown newspaper (that’s the New York Daily News. My family is middle class. We’re not sophisticated enough to get (or care about half the stuff written in) the Times and we’re not low enough to bother with the Post) prints a big section where they go over all the horses in the race and writes a little something and all that. It’s mostly useless. My father always says, “Let me lose my own money.” It’s all luck, anyway. Unless you know what you’re doing.
But, there is one thing at the bottom I always found interesting, which is — they show you all the post positions that the horses start from (usually 20), and then they tell you, based on the number of Derbies there have been, which post positions have won the race the most. Not the most helpful of information, since, a lot of it has to do with context. Yet, if you wanted to, you could probably make a case, saying, “Well, this position has won the most times, so why not?” It’s as good a system as any. It really comes down to how much you want to believe in it. (more…)
Oscars 2011 Breakdown: Best Actor & Best Actress
There’s really not much history with these categories — it’s Best Actor and Best Actress. It’s supposed to be the best lead performances of the year, but there’s also politics and all that to take into account. They vote for the person over the performance, sometimes someone is overdue, sometimes it’s just “their time” — there’s a whole bunch of stuff.
All things considered, I only really disagree with a handful of the winners. Most of the time, the person who won did deserve a statue. I can quibble about the year and the performance, and this and that, but for the most part, most of them are okay, in the objective sense. So that’s nice. Still — the acting categories, above almost everything else, are prone to “right now” thinking. That is, they’ll give someone a statue because they feel as though it’s their time, and it’s almost inevitable that person ends up giving a better performance not long after that, creating a whole monkey wrench scenario. Almost never fails.
But, it’s Best Actor and Best Actress. We know the drill. This is by far the most situational of the categories. You can’t just look at the nominee and go, “This one.” You have to take into account all these logistics. Especially Best Actress. That one is just — it’s funny when you look at it on paper.
Anyway, let’s just get into them. We’ll start with Best Actor. (more…)
If I Got To Change the Oscars…
I love what-if scenarios. This is one of those experiments where I asked myself: if given the chance to change the outcome of a certain number of categories in the history of the Academy Awards, which ones would I change?
It sounds easy. I thought it would be, too. It’s very easy to come up with a list of poor choices when you think about what the “worst” Oscars are. But when you get into it, and actually start looking, you’d be surprised at which ones you’d actually allow to be kept and where you really want to make the changes. I was a bit surprised at how it turned out. Here’s how the whole thing works:
If I got to change any ten results in the history of the Academy Awards, in the categories of Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Director, which ones would I choose?
That’s it. Not why, no justification required, just — change from one result, to another result. Simple as that. Which would I change? Here are my answers, as well as some observations about them afterwards. Also, just in case, I feel I should point out that these answers are in no particular order at all. There’s nothing to read into there. It’s just, how it turned out. So here are the ones I decided to change: (more…)
