A Caveman’s Oscar picks… – the day after…

Well, all in all, not a bad night for a Caveman picking Oscar winners. We went 4 for 6. Thats right… the Caveman batted above .500 right from his little Dutch forest. To be honest, the picks I made with the stubbornness of my heart- not so supported by the Academy… the picks that made sense in my mind- yep, the Academy agreed with me.

Lets take a look at how it went: my picks in BLACK and the day after review in BLUE.

Let’s be honest… since I am living in the middle of a forest on a monk’s trail, in what you could call a kind of cave… you may think that I could not possibly be the best predictor of movie awards… that is where you might be right… but what the heck, since the invention of blogs, everyone’s an expert

We are going to start with the highest prize first. Its the highest prize because it seems to reward the biggest number of people. Its a reward to wholeness and thus everyone involved in the film gets a pat on the back. We like that… wholeness first…

Best Picture:

This year the Academy expanded the nominees from five to ten… but interestingly enough it doesn’t make it any harder to chose from… that is not to say that its easy…

Most people seem to be going for one of two pictures here, ‘Hurt Locker’ or ‘Avatar’, and while I enjoyed both of those movies, neither one would be my pick. When I think of the best picture I think of something that has several qualities. The first is how well it is made, the second is the originality of the storyline and the third is whether or not I would watch it or recommend it. All of these put together should reach a level of picture that would make it a classic that would be remembered beyond having just won this award. We want a movie that has a lasting impact artistically and in our collective mindset.

Don’t get me wrong ‘Avatar’ as an experience, is awesome. While the main story is not all that unique, it does present a vision of natural cultures and conservation that is quite impressive and could do us a lot of good to take in these days. I am sure this movie will be watched and talked about for decades to come. But its just not the best overall movie.

‘Hurt Locker’ on the other hand is raw and original. It is unpredictable and intense without trying to be. It has a very unique way of capturing silence in the middle of danger and no doubt is a worthy selection for best picture. But it lacks a wholeness element that is hard to explain. I just would have a hard time recommending it to anyone who is not a film student… its hard to find that element that makes it an important film for normal people to watch. Besides, of course, showing how crazy it is that we have soldiers there going through that in the first place.

So my pick is going to be something a little different and unexpected for a peaceful kind of guy. I am going to chose mine based on the originality of the story, the way that it transports you genuinely into a different time, the fact that it rewrites history in a way many of us wish it could have been played out. Yes it is a little violent, yes it is about revenge. But if there was ever a revenge movie worth watching, this is it.

My Pick:

‘Inglourious Basterds’

This pick, not so correct… Though start to my pick review. Though, maybe I should have guessed that the Academy would have a hard time giving the award to a movie that basically rewrites history, is a little too generous with the gore and is focused on revenge. Man… I should have written this last night… But hey… I speak well about ‘Hurt Locker’ and picked its Director Kathryn Bigelow for best Director so… lets see how we fared next… had to be better right?

Best Actress:

I go with this one first before the Best Actor category not because I am being a gentleman, but rather because if there was only a Best Actor category that was not gender based this would also be my pick.

Without taking away anything from the current nominees or previous winners, I believe that of the fifteen nominations that this actress has received, she should have won at least ten. I have not always been a big Meryl Streep fan. In fact when I was young and I judged actresses based mostly on looks (lets pretend I dont still do that), I did not care much to have to watch a movie with Meryl in it.

Yet in the last few years as I have been able to look closely at her work, I find that there is not a single actress out there right now that would hold a candle to her. Strangely enough, as my appreciation of her acting talent increased, so did my appreciation of her beauty. She may not be a perfect 10 in all the usual aspects, but she finds a way to make every role attractive somehow… a way to make a woman who seems average look wonderful. She makes average, wonderful, as it should be somehow… There is a magic to her that cannot possibly be described and which can be used for characters as broad-ranging as Miranda Priestly on ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ and Julia Child in ‘Julie and Julia’.

The only reason why she may not win is because we have gotten so used to her greatness that we are not wowed enough by comparison. But I believe most members of the Academy, if they held a hand to their heart, would have trouble denying that she is as good an actress as has ever graced the screen.

My Pick:

Meryl Streep

Nope… did not fare any better here. It was not to be… after jokes about how she had the record for nominations (15) and for losses (12) and then someone saying that she was so good that she should not be allowed to get nominated every year… yeah well she lost. Maybe she wishes she were not allowed to be nominated every year… she’s been told she’s just not good enough 13 times. Yet everyone keeps saying she’s the best… I hope she has a good therapist.

Sandra Bullok on the other hand made history with her win. She swept the awards since she won the Academy Award for Best Actress and the Razzie for Worst Actress just the night before. She is the first person in history to accomplish that feat in a singe weekend. Congrats Sandra…

Best Actor:

There are times when we are surprised by a winner in this category, not because they are undeserving, but because they end up winning for a performance that is not necessarily their best. If we went by the above comments, the winner in this category would be Morgan Freeman. He is by far the best actor among these year’s nominees. But I have to say that I was surprised by his nomination based on his role as Nelson Mandela in ‘Invictus’.

Its not because he didn’t do a good job in the role, but rather because with all the promise that it held, the role was not really that significant. The movie itself failed to enlighten us on this brilliant man’s life. It shone a small light upon it and only on rare occasions did it graze the potential of the subject matter.

Because of this I am torn in this category. To be fair, Jeremy Renner in ‘Hurt Locker’ gave an excellent performance as a stoic and often reckless bomb expert. The only thing is that its hard to determine how much is great acting and how much is just Jeremy being himself.

The sentimental pick will be Jeff Bridges who has distinguished himself in many different roles, always delving deep into the emotional landscape of the modern man, yet never quite being rewarded for it by the Academy. If there was someone that could win just on the virtue of a deserving career, its him.

My Pick:

Jeff Bridges

After starting out my pick review with two misses, you would think I had no hope… but I was just getting warmed up. Yes, people… Jeff Bridges won. Nothing exciting there… he had been nominated four other times. Was trying for Meryl’s record (13 losses) but was denied in that regard. Maybe next year… But seriously, Congrats Jeff…

Best Supporting Actor:

I have to hand it to Matt Damon this year that he felt so real as a South African in ‘Invictus’, that I had to keep reminding myself that he was actually Jason Bourne. But again, the film failed to reach its potential to such an extent that I cant honestly claim that he deserves the award. A better film that explored the content more profoundly and allowed Damon to go deeper into the character might have netted him the statue.

The one actor nominated tonight who will be forever remembered for his work this year is Christoph Waltz from ‘Inglorious Basterds’. He played the ruthless and poisonously charismatic Nazi “Jew Hunter” Hans Landa in this World War II thriller. Even Best Director nominee Quentin Tarantino admitted that if he had not found Waltz to play the complicated role he may have scrapped the whole film. I have not been so moved to despise and at the same time cherish a character in a film like this one in years.

My Pick:

Christoph Waltz

We’re on a roll here… Yes the Academy seemed to recognize the brilliance of his performance as well. Most of you have not seen the movie and though its hard to recommend because of the graphic and violent nature of its revenge… if you can stomach it, Christoph Waltz is awesome in this film.

Best Supporting Actress:

I am a big fan of Penelope Cruz. I think there was a moment in ‘Vanilla Sky’ where her innocence and natural beauty melted my heart and thus I am a willing subject to any film that she is in. She has a way of bringing grace to a role even if the setting is not, in itself, a graceful one. She is my dark horse favorite.

Maggie Gyllenhaal also has shown great promise in recent years with her ability to show us unexpected strength in the midst of tragic circumstances. Yet she has a manner of bringing a vulnerability to her roles that never shows her as weak, but rather makes her strength all the more believable. I loved her in ‘Stranger than Fiction’ and would be happy to see her win.

Yet the fact is that the Academy likes to show a social conscience on occasion. Because of this my feeling is that Mo’Nique from ‘Precious’ has gathered that sentiment and may be rewarded with the Oscar for that reason. That is not to say that she is not deserving of it, but rather that all performances being equal it may be that this often too real and tragic role gives the Academy a chance to show that they do have a heart for social injustice…

MyPick:

Mo’Nique

Thats right… 3 in a row… I did not see the movie… but the reasoning for the pick turned out to he sound. The academy had to give this movie an award and this was it. I’m sure she was great, as you could see from the clips they showed. But its hard to get excited about watching such a downer… sometimes I wish those movies that showed the tough realities in life were not so hard to watch… but then again, its the fact that reality can be so hard that they want to put attention on…

Best Director:

This is the last category that I am going to make a pick about, yet it is the toughest. I have three favorites here and all for strikingly different reasons.

James Cameron took his time to bring us another movie after the highly successful ‘Titanic’ and he did not disappoint. It is a movie that has changed the movie experience in a manner that we may not yet recognize. However, one day, I believe, they will talk about the movie business before ‘Avatar’ and after. And it is not just because he was able to create a magical world and give it to us in 3D so that it seemed absolutely real to us, but rather because that gave us an extremely legitimate reason to go back to the theater. ‘Avatar’ is one movie that you definitely have to watch on the big screen at least once. In this day of digital downloads and torrent sites this is a big deal for the movie industry, how can they get people into the theaters? and with one movie, James Cameron gave them the answer. It will take some time and expect some really bad attempts at 3D, but this technology which was thought to be dead has just been reborn and is the future of the cinema experience.

You can imagine that since I have picked ‘Inglorious Basterds’ for best picture and Waltz for best supporting actor, I am highly in awe of Quentin Tarantino’s work with this film. I have never been a big Tarantino fan mostly because I could not stomach his lust for gore. Yet I have seen enough traces of genius in his films to have a high degree of respect for his work. This film is so well crafted and so creative that it should be enough to finally get him an Oscar for Best Director (He was nominated once for Best Director and won for Best Screenplay, ‘Pulp Fiction’).

Yet looking at the material and judging what it is that the director made of it, I would have to say that I tend to go with Kathryn Bigelow. She did a magnificent job of transporting us into the hell-hole that we have sunk ourselves in in Iraq. It was so well orchestrated that at times during the film I felt as if I could almost taste the sand and smell the explosives. ‘Hurt Locker’ is not even one of my top ten favorite films I watched this year, yet it impressed me profoundly as a film. Again, its silence in the midst of chaos is quite powerful. She is only the fourth woman to be nominated as Best Director which is a crazy thought and her winning also has the added benefit of having her beat out former husband (Cameron).

MyPick:

Kathryn Bigelow

Four in a row. The Caveman made up for his bad start here… Talk about a deserving winner. When she accepted the award she showed her strength and power with grace and elegance. I had never seen her speak before and was very impressed. It made me feel as though she should win for best Picture and then wham… she did… If only I had known…

So there you have it… my picks for this year’s Academy Awards. An accidental monk’s view of the movie industry and its top exponents. I thank the internet for making it possible that I can sit in my little cave above the dutch forest and have enough information to even make a semi-intelligent guess at something as remote as this. But it was fun. If I get any of these right we can have a good laugh of it tomorrow… though we’ll probably have a better laugh if I dont get any right, which is quite likely.

No laughing today… did alright… not going to quit the cave and go and become a movie critic… but I may write about it in this, the best david nayan blog on the plantet… thanks for reading and enjoy…

Have a good Sunday and enjoy the show…