Oscars

The following four categories can be considered “technical” awards only in the purist sense of the word. True, each field in this quartet involves a highly specific area of filmmaking and thus requires the wielding of precise, technological skill. But to label these disciplines “technical” is to diminish their significance, as it is in these areas where movies can truly distinguish themselves as extraordinary. Moreover, a film’s success (or failure) in any of these categories can dramatically affect even casual viewers’ opinions, be it consciously or otherwise.

Put more bluntly, these categories matter. Just keep that in mind the next time you hear some Oscar nut raving about Roger Deakins’ unlucky streak and think I’m he’s out of his mind.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

NOMINEES
Black Swan – Matthew Libatique
Inception – Wally Pfister
The King’s Speech – Danny Cohen
The Social Network – Jeff Cronenweth
True Grit – Roger Deakins Read More

I’m lumping the following categories for one reason: I don’t particularly care about them. I don’t mean to suggest that they’re unimportant. I would never impugn the invaluable contributions of, say, a film’s costume designer, and besides, as a rabid Oscar fan, I think every category is important. But I lack the motivation to delve into these categories with the Manifesto’s typical zeal, and rather than spreading the analysis over a series of separate posts, I figured I’d just blow through them all at once. As Ron Livingston said in Office Space, “It’s not that I’m lazy – it’s that I just don’t care”. Indeed.

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

NOMINEES
Alice in Wonderland
I Am Love
The King’s Speech
The Tempest
True Grit Read More

For our first batch of categories for this year’s Oscars, we’re taking a look at the music and sound branches. So I suppose you could call this the Aural Edition. Whatever works.

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

NOMINEES
Country Strong – “Coming Home” (Tom Douglas, Hillary Lindsey, Troy Verges)
127 Hours – “If I Rise” (A.R. Rahman, Rollo Armstrong, Dido)
Tangled – “I See the Light” (Alan Menken, Glenn Slater)
Toy Story 3 – “We Belong Together” (Randy Newman) Read More

When predicting this year’s Oscar nominations, I suggested that it was highly unlikely that I would do as well as I did last year, when I correctly pegged 40 of the 45 main nominations. And – in what amounts to a twist here at the Manifesto – I was right. I did not do as well as I did last year.

I did better.

Forgive me, but I need to gloat for a bit. I mean, come on, how else am I supposed to celebrate a performance that will (a) earn me no money, (b) generate no job opportunities, and (c) fail to even incrementally increase my odds of getting laid? You don’t have to tell me that my primary passion in life – obsessively following the Oscars – is ultimately meaningless. I know. But if I had a reason for doing this, it wouldn’t be a passion. (There’s an infinitesimal percentage of the population to whom that last sentence makes sense. We’re all unemployed and single.)

Anyway, the hell with the meaning of this exercise. I rocked. I correctly forecast 41 of 45 nominations this year. That comes out to 91%, which is higher than Steve Nash’s career free-throw percentage. I will forever be thoroughly, disproportionately proud of myself as a result. Read More

When Michael Jordan (temporarily) retired from basketball in 1993, after leading the Chicago Bulls to three straight NBA championships, he did it for one reason: He was on top. He had nowhere else to go. He decided to challenge himself through minor league baseball, a disastrous experiment that nevertheless proved what a ruthless competitor he really was.

I bring this up not because I’m nostalgic for Jordan’s greatness on the hardwood but because I’m wondering if I should just quit prognosticating the Oscars right now. When I predicted the Academy’s nominations last year, I hit on 89% of my picks, resulting in a crowing post where I compared myself to Eliza Dushku’s character in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and lost half of my readers in the process. Where can I possibly go from here? Maybe I should just switch gears and start pegging the Grammys.

But fuck it. I don’t just want one great year – I want a dynasty. I want to be the John Wooden of Oscar predictions. (And maybe 40 years from now when a woman goes on an even better streak, Geno Auriemma can accuse the media of misogyny.) And I want to prove to my readers that last year was not a Brady Anderson-level flash in the pan but the beginning of a sustained level of greatness. Besides, I can’t walk away from the Oscars – they’re kind of my thing. Read More