Oscar Kicked My Ass!

Well, it's a good thing I didn't have any MONEY riding on the Oscars because my predictions SUCKED! Of the ten categories for which I made predictions in my last post, only four (40%) proved to be accurate:

Best Costume Design:
Ruth E. Carter for Black Panther

Best Original Song:
Lady Gaga et al for "Shallow" from A Star is Born.

Best Adapted Screenplay:
Charlie Wachtel, Spike Lee et al for BlacKkKlansman

Best Supporting Actress:
Regina King for If Beale Street Could Talk

My other six predictions (60%) were horribly wrong!

Best Original Screenplay:
I predicted Adam McKay for Vice, but the winner was Nick Vallelonga et al for Green Book.

Best Actress:
Not Glenn Close for The Wife, but Olivia Colman for The Favourite.

Best Actor:
Sorry, Willem Dafoe for At Eternity's Gate, it was Rami Malek for Bohemian Rhapsody.

Best Supporting Actor:
Get lost, Sam Elliott for A Star is Born, the Academy picked Mahershala Ali for Green Book.

Best Picture:
Green Book again! Too bad, so sad, Bohemian Rhapsody.

Best Director:
I was shocked, SHOCKED, that it was not Spike Lee for BlacKkKlansman. Alfonso Cuarón of Roma took the coveted prize.

Oh well, c'est la vie. Some of the world's greatest NEVER win an Oscar.

My Fearless Oscar Predictions!

I only ever watch one awards show per year -- the Academy Awards! It's a leftover tradition from my childhood, back in the days when it was literally the only awards show on TV. Plus I love movies and these golden statuettes are still the most prestigious awards for them.

My general prediction is that this is the year when the Academy is going to recognize actors and directors who, for whatever reasons, have been grossly overlooked in years past. Wrongs will be righted and some old grievances laid to rest. In that spirit and as promised, here are my fearless Oscar predictions for ten big and/or key categories!

Best Costume Design:
Ruth E. Carter for Black Panther

Best Original Song:
"Shallow" from A Star is Born. This is the only Oscar Lady Gaga will get.

Best Original Screenplay:
Adam McKay for Vice. Whether you agree with the film's political analysis or not (and I do), it was very, very cleverly written.

Best Adapted Screenplay:
Charlie Wachtel et al for BlacKkKlansman

Best Actress:
Glenn Close for The Wife. This will be her Oscar to make up for all those years of being overlooked. A "career-recognition" Oscar, if you will.

Best Actor:
Willem Dafoe for At Eternity's Gate. Ditto re the career-recognition.

Best Supporting Actress:
Regina King for If Beale Street Could Talk

Best Supporting Actor:
Sam Elliott for A Star is Born. Another career-recognition Oscar.

Best Picture:
Bohemian Rhapsody. Sorry, Cal, I know you're pulling for Black Panther.

Best Director:
Spike Lee for BlacKkKlansman. Again, a career-recognition Oscar for all those years of being unjustly snubbed and overlooked.

So we'll see tonight if I'm right!

Yay, It's Oscar Night!

Don't you just LOVE the Oscars? I do. I've watched them every year since I was a kid. Here are my fearless predictions for the top categories to be awarded this evening:

Best Supporting Actor: Barkhad Abdi, "Captain Phillips." Just because he ad-libbed the best, most chilling line in the entire movie: "I am the captain now."

Best Supporting Actress: Lupito Nyong'o, "12 Years a Slave." She is amazing in that most distressing of all movies.

Best Actor: This is a toughie but I'm going with Matthew McConaughey, "Dallas Buyers Club." Hollywood loves anyone who gets skinny for a role.

Best Actress: Everyone says this is Amy Adams' year to finally win an Oscar. She's not a particular fave of mine and I thought her part in "American Hustle" largely involved just showing a lot of cleavage but okay, I'll go along with majority opinion here.

Best Picture: "12 Years a Slave," if there's any justice in this world.

Best Director: Steve McQueen, "12 Years a Slave." That agonizingly long-held shot of the tippytoes hanging/strangulation scene was brilliant direction of unspeakable horror. Appalling and haunting, all at the same time.

So we'll see tonight how right or wrong I turn out to be! But there's no contest about the next award. The Oscar for Sexiest Butch in a Tux goes to . . . .