Here come the Oscars!

Alright, it’s taking a little longer to get the podcast up and running so I thought I would supplement by blogging about the nominees for this years Academy Awards. I have a love hate relationship with the Academy. I have always regarded the broadcast of the ceremony as my personal Super Bowl. That being said, I am almost always upset by the choices. I almost always disagree with the nominations. And rarely have I seen the majority films in any of the categories. And I could care less about what who is wearing who or the whole red carpet coverage circus. I get all the coverage I need on “The Soup”. I am never as hard on the hosts as the critics because it’s not worth the time to analyze jokes and musical numbers on a show about other shows. I think the hosts typically do serviceable jobs with what they have to work with. I look forward to this years broadcast and like both Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin who are slated to host.

This year I actually saw five of the 10 nominees. I will probably see two more on DVD and more when they show up on cable.

My choice for best picture, The Hurt Locker.

I loved this because it resonated as a poignant drama, tense thriller and, incredibly cool film. It is an extremely well crafted film in all aspects and deserves nominations in every category that applies.

That makes best director a cinch, Kathryn Bigelow.

She has given me so much joy over the years. She is the genius behind the ridiculously silly, and amazingly entertaining Point Break. She also gave us vampire cult classic, Near Dark. Despite a few stumbles along the way (Blue Steel, K-9: The Widowmaker),
She’s tops in my book.

Best Actor? I say give it to Jeff Bridges. I haven’t seen Crazy Heart, but let’s not wait to give it to him. He’s a god-damned American treasure is what he is. And I don’t want some teenaged actor of the moment giving him a posthumous lifetime achievement award in the future. He’s “The Dude” for chrissakes!

I don’t have an opinion on Best Actress, or supporting for that matter, but if I had to, I’d guess crowd pleaser Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia). Her impression of food icon Julia Child was spot on. As for supporting, I think Mo’Nique (Precious: Based on the Novel push by Sapphire) is as good a choice as any. Her acceptance speech should be fun. Bet they give her the music.

Best supporting actor is easy for me. I only saw one of the films in this category. And having seen only one I can’t imagine there is one better. Chistoph Waltz, Inglorious Basterds. I don’t think this movie deserves a best picture nod, but Waltz achieves super villain status as Col. Hans Landa. He is so good at bad he shot right to the top of my best bad guy hall-o-fame. Right there with Hans Gruber from Die Hard and Little Bill Daggett from Unforgiven.

The Oscars airs Sunday March 7th, on ABC.