Blogging The Oscar
Oscar blogs are famous for pronouncing "Movie of the Year" in January, or picking front runners on the basis of a trailer -- "a silly exercise in Ouija board-style predictions and lame-brained analysis" -- the Los Angeles Times's Patrick Goldstein has called the genre.
If I were handing out the statue for best Academy Awards blog -- and what would that trophy look like, the short bald guy typing in his PJs? -- it would have to go to Oscar Watch.com. Sasha Stone started the year-round site in 1999 after quitting her newspaper job to stay home with her newborn daughter. The site has a sense of humor and an eye for hubris.
Maybe because it's been around since the last century, Oscar Watch is confident enough not be constantly sucking up to someone or writing copy that smells studio-sponsored. One of the site's best features: reproducing those For Your Consideration ads taken out in the trades this time of year. The What's In That Swag Bag post is chock-full of goodies.
It's got lots of graphs and charts, but nothing like Simjen's Oscar Experiment, which touts its "mathematical and scientific formula!" for predicting winners. Its nine-year average for the six biggest categories: 87.77% correct. What fun.
The Film Experience keeps a daily log of the Oscar races. MovieCityNews generates a daily magazine worth of dish and buzz, with moments of shameless product placement. A tart one-stop is the Oscar's category at Defamer, the Gawker Media blog that is to Hollywood what Wonkette is to Washington.
MSM-wise, The New York Times has The Carpetbagger, the Los Angeles Times has The Envelope, which broke the news that John Stewart would be this year's host. Time Magazine dreamed up 10 awards they should give out, such as the "So Those Acting Lessons Finally Paid Off" honor for break-out roles - think: Pierce Brosnan's turn as a bleary-eyed hit man in The Matador. For "Cast Most Likely To Get Rowdy At The Awards Show," Time favors March of the Penguins: "They came all the way from Antarctica for this and they want their stinkin' gift bags!"
USA Today has the O Factor blog, where the staff collects such nuggets as the creepage of Brokeback backlash, and bets that Crash will be the beneficiary of the gay-shepherd flick's too-early favorite status. (Which contradicts, of course, FilmJerk's statistical certainty that Brokeback Mountain's will win best picture.) The O Factor gets points for going to the Polo Lounge to sample the five cocktails created for the best-picture nominees. One keeper: The "In Cold Bloody Martini," from Capote (your basic chi-chi bloody Mary with Absolut Citron and Absolut Pepper).
For every site with brand-name backers, there are scores written by lone hobbyists with passion for movies, those wo clip and paste and slave over small reviews that ring true - (see the Gorilla Blog post on why Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Match Point, The Constant Gardener and Junebug were the best films, in that order. The author identifies himself as a pencil pusher from Rockville, Md.)
One more reason to like The Oscar Watch: it chose for its motto the immortal works of screenwriter William Goldman, who once said of Hollywood, "Nobody knows anything."
After viewing the Academy Awards last night, March 5, 2006, it is clear that the organizers of this event are determined to nullify any and all components of improvisation from their presenters and guests. After waiting all evening for Jack Nicholson to speak - all he was allowed to do was introduce the nominees. Here is one of the greatest ad-lib specialists known to man - a true Hollywood legend - who everybody loves - and everybody expects to see at these galas - now - after an evening completely devoid of improvisation - we are left cuckolded by the demons who control this event. It is frightful, really, and enough to turn to most ardent lover of cinema and celebrity, away for good. Jon Stewart, to his credit, had a few good moments and that montage of famous Western scenes was brilliant and hilarious - capping off with 2 greats, Gregory Peck and Charlton Heston, but the whole affair was boring, to be truthful. There is a jadedness to it all. Clooney's complete lack of excitement over winning the best supporting actor award - didn't sit too well either. The 3 songs nominated for best song were all terrible and the worst of them (well the Dolly Parton one was pretty bad too) won. Ang Lee's ungracious acceptance of the fact his movie didn't win best picture (he told a reporter at one of those parties afterwards that he was schocked it didn't win for best picture) was typical of the spoiled brats who are being celebrated. You just won best director, buddy. You should be overjoyed by that alone. And if this guy's movies have such great cinematography (which I am sure they do) why are we always seeing images of 2 men in jeans which are meak in comparision to say, James Dean in jeans. How is one to deduce there is great photography in Lee's film when we are given no great sweeping lanscapes to chew on? These oscar promoters ought to loosen up and let the creme of Hollywood entertain us with their wit and charm - let them talk to us - that's what we are waiting for - and will continue, I assume - to wait for - that and any emotional breakdown from oscar winners in the future. Last night we saw neither - part oscar promoters to blame and part blame on the effete candidates for oscars who seem ill equipped to appreciate a trophy which most of them do not deserve. Where was Christopher Plumber? He could act 90% of these no-names off the screen and he did have a good role this year and was not nominated. How about we switch the theme from what and who are you wearing to what can you say that might be interesting and funny. I love gorgeous women in form fitting gowns as much as the next guy but I think we need more from these people.