Oscars Predictions

First, the picks in the big 8 categories. The first line is who I would pick, the second is who I think will win, and following that are who several Oscars and movie experts think will win (not all of these experts have Screenplay picks on record:

Now my randomish picks for the other 16 categories:


Animated Feature Film- Rango
Art Direction- Hugo
Documentary Feature- Undefeated
Documentary Short Subject- Saving Face
Cinematography- War Horse
Costume Design- The Artist
Film Editing- Hugo
Foreign Language Film- A Separation
Makeup- The Iron Lady
Original Score- The Artist
Original Song- "Man or Muppet," The Muppets
Animated Short Film- Wild Life
Live Action Short Film- Raju
Sound Editing- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Sound Mixing- Hugo
Visual Effects- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Oscars Update 4

Here is the final version of the Best Picture scorecard. The preview post with picks and such is coming in a couple hours. First some thoughts on "War Horse" and "Hugo":


-"War Horse" was mediocre. Maybe I would have been more impressed if I hadn't seen it on Broadway, but this seemed basically the same level of quality at a much, much lower level of difficulty. I could see maybe a cinematography award, but not much more than that.
-"Hugo" was entertaining, but not much plot. I certainly enjoyed it, but I question if the exact same movie of the exact same quality would be up for awards if it was directed by Joe Smith instead of Martin Scorsese.


The scorecard:

Oscars Update 3

Here is my third Oscar movie update. The final one will be posted Sunday morning, followed by my picks. The remaining movies I have left are "War Horse" and "Hugo."


Some thoughts on the movies I watched last week:
- "The Help" is very well acted, but it drags. I'm also an Emma Stone fan, so I may have been a bit biased, but any movie that gets 3 female acting nominations and none are for Stone has to be pretty well acted.
-"The Tree of Life" is garbage. Just a waste of my afternoon. At different points in the movie I wasn't sure if Sean Penn was playing Brad Pitt's father, brother, or son. Also there were dinosaurs. Like Terra Nova, but less interesting.
-"Midnight in Paris" was fun. It's not a great movie, but it is an enjoyable one. In my mind, it was "Bill & Ted's Neurotic Adventure" for adults.


The scorecard:

In Defense of Glee's Winter Finale

WARNING: This might spoil anything and everything that has ever happened in Glee, as well as some things from Gilmore Girls, Grey's Anatomy, The West Wing, and Brothers & Sisters. Consider yourself warned. Because you were probably planning on catching up on Brothers & Sisters this weekend.

Glee isn't good.

This isn't news. Most of the third season has sucked. Most of the second season sucked. If we're being honest with ourselves, a good deal of the first season sucked. Basically ever since we found out that Tina was faking her stutter, Glee stopped being the show that the early airing pilot showed the potential of, and started being a show for overdrama, caricatures, iTunes sales, Nazi hunters, ginger supremacists, single-person marriages, attempted baby theft, crazy titled pamphlets, an overnight Broadway show about April Rhodes, silly celebrity cameos for competition judging, crack house field trips, magic legs, Gwyneth Paltrow singing Cee Lo Green, and spiked slushies. Also that Rocky Horror Picture Show episode happened. And Tina stopped getting any lines. For all we know, she's stuttering again.

And Glee had more of that random shit last night. Blaine rapping,  Sue's random pregnancy, the vampire judge, the out-of-nowhere reemergence of The Troubletones, and Jeff Goldblum and Brian Stokes Mitchell brainstorming absurd ways out of Rachel and Finn's wedding. That stuff was awful. That's not what I'm defending.

So Glee is not usually very good. One area where that is not true is sexuality. Whether with the initial Kurt coming out story (remember when Mercedes had a crush on him?), Kurt and his father, the Karofsky bullying arc, or the Santana/Brittany stuff, sexuality storylines have been one of Glee's strong points. Even the fact that Rachel has 2 dads is treated with stereotypes, but also as no big deal.

The (spoiler) Karofsky suicide story last night was pretty spot on. I'm not defending that either. It doesn't need defending. There is no need to. Even the reviews harshest on last night's episode were pleased with the first 15 minutes or so of last night's episode.

No, what I want to defend is the twist. The last few minutes. The (SERIOUSLY, THIS IS THE SPOILER) truck that literally drove right into Quinn Fabray as she texted Rachel.

Quinn was an important character to some of the early arcs of Glee. She was Rachel's rival, Finn's girlfriend, Puck's baby mama, and the reason Santana and Brittany are in the Glee club. She was essential to season one.

Quinn was not essential to season two. She got engaged to Sam at one point. She ran for prom queen against Lauren Zizes and we learned she had some weird backstory where she was fat which never came up again. She sang that awful version of "Afternoon Delight" with John Stamos and Emma. Don't these people watch Arrested Development?

This season, Quinn has been a disaster. Her major story arc involved her plans to mess with Shelby's apartment, call child protective services, and attempt to steal her baby. Seriously. That's a thing that happened. Over several episodes.

Then Quinn decided to apply to Yale.

Then Quinn got into Yale. Early decision.

From the pilot of Gilmore Girls, Rory Gilmore expresses her desire to attend Harvard. It's what sets the series in motion. It's the first sentence of the second paragraph of her Wikipedia bio. When Rory got into Harvard and Yale and decided to go to Yale, it was based on long-built characterization.

When Quinn applied to and was admitted to Yale, it was just a thing that happened.

Quinn serves no purpose anymore in Glee. And Diana Agron is a good enough actress where she deserves to get out of this show if she's just going to hang around as a 5th or 6th female character and get a storyline once a season, when Sugar or Becky aren't available.

They could send her to Yale. She could pop up for cameos once in a while, but no longer be part of the show. It wouldn't affect anyone else at all.

Or they could kill her.

In the season five finale of Grey's Anatomy, they killed off George O'Malley. He wasn't sick, in fact another character with supposedly incurable cancer looked like she would bite the dust in that episode, but she survived. In the first half of the season five finale, George was fine. At the halfway mark he made a major career decision (joining the Army). Then he got hit by a bus. And that was T.R. Knight's last appearance on the show.

George had served his role. He was essential in the storylines of Meredith, Izzy, Callie, Bailey, and Lexie. They could have sent him off to the military and let Knight return if he ever wanted to. But it would not move the story forward for the other characters at all.

Grey's best echoes the opportunity Glee now has. They had set up the potential other death, but did the surprising thing instead. And now it sets things up.

There is not a single character who would not be affected by Quinn's death. Rachel's guilt. Finn and Sam thinking about what could have been. Brittany and Santana losing their best friend. Puck, losing his ex, telling Shelby and eventually Beth. Sue, reacting to the death of one of her prize Cheerios just a year after losing her sister.

The West Wing killed off Mrs. Landingham out of nowhere (she had just bought her first car and got into a car accident) and it changed President Bartlet and Charlie for the rest of the series. While Brothers & Sisters took a huge downstep (and then was canceled) after killing off Rob Lowe's Senator McCallister, its because they did it the wrong way. Instead of letting the audience feel the fallout and see the characters respond to losing someone in their family, they skipped to a calender year after the crash.

So the fact that Quinn's accident is out of nowhere is not a problem. Introducing a sudden, shocking scenario may actually let Glee finally have some interesting storylines again. They just have to follow through, and kill Quinn Fabray.

Some Thoughts on Gary Carter

Hall of Fame Catcher Gary Carter passed away today. He was 57.

I never saw Gary Carter play. He left the Mets when I was one year old, he retired when I was four.

I never got to see Gary Carter play, but I'll never not see the highlights. The Mets have never won a World Series in my life, but even once they win another, the highlights from '86 will always be around.

There is no player in baseball, not now, not that I can remember, who ever looked like he was enjoying playing as much as Gary Carter looked like he was enjoying playing.

I'm young. I'm only 23. No player I've ever really rooted for, none of my favorite players, have ever passed away. Sure, there are players who were Mets when I rooted for the Mets- Jose Lima, Geremi Gonzalez- by no real player who I rooted for. So I can only imagine what fans of the '86 team are feeling like. But even as someone who never saw him play, I feel great sadness. Gary Carter was a great Met, a great baseball player, and by all regards a fantastic person. He will be missed.

Oscars Update 2

I've now seen 4 of the nominated movies, with 3 more coming this upcoming holiday weekend, and the final 2 on Oscar weekend. One thought on the film I watched this weekend: 


-While I thought Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close was overly emotional- its not a 9/11 story, and if his father had died in a tragic car accident the story would be the same, but using 9/11 adds pre-cooked emotion to the story- I thought some of the acting- particularly the non-Oscar winners (yet) fantastic. Viola Davis, who I hadn't realized was in the film, was terrific, and Max von Sydow did better silent acting than anyone in The Artist.


Now, the chart:

My Oscars Scorecard

Over the next few weeks, I will be watching each of the nine Oscar nominated best pictures.* For each I will fill out the following rubric.


*except for Moneyball, which I saw in theaters when it came out.

Acting- Self explanatory. How good the acting is.

Production- All production aspects (special effects, music, etc.)

Script- How good the script is.

Oscarness- How well it fits into the type of movies the Oscars normally award.

Each will be graded out of 10. The 4 will be added up and have an overall score out of 40. 

So far:

I'll make a new post after I've seen a couple more movies.

Completely Baseless Oscar Nomination Predictions

There's no reason to believe I would have any insight into the Oscar nominees. I haven't even seen most of these movies. But what the heck, right? There will be 5 nominees in each of the 4 acting categories, and between 5 and 10 in the Best Picture category. So here we go:


Supporting Actress


My Picks:
Octavia Spencer, "The Help"
Jessica Chastain, "The Help"
Berenice Bejo, "The Artist"
Shailene Woodle, "The Descendants"
Melissa McCarthy, "Bridesmaids"


Who I Probably Missed:
Janet McTeer, "Albert Nobbs"


Who I Wish Had a Shot:
Rose Byrne, "Bridesmaids"



Supporting Actor
My Picks:
Christopher Plummer, "Beginners"
Albert Brooks, "Drive"
Jonah Hill, "Moneyball"
Kenneth Branagh, "My Week with Marilyn"
Armie Hammer, "J. Edgar"


Who I Probably Missed:
Nick Nolte, "Warrior"


Who I Wish Had a Shot:
Alan Rickman, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2"


Best Actress


My Picks:
Meryl Streep, "The Iron Lady"
Viola Davis, "The Help"
Michelle Williams, "My Week with Marilyn"
Tilda Swinton, "We Need to Talk About Kevin"
Rooney Mara, "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"


Who I Probably Missed:
Glenn Close, "Albert Nobbs"


Who I Wish Had a Shot:

Elizabeth Olsen, "Martha Marcy May Marlene"



Best Actor


My Picks:
George Clooney, "The Descendants"
Brad Pitt, "Moneyball"
Juan Dujuardin, "The Artist"
Michael Fassbender, "Shame"
Leonardo DiCaprio, "J. Edgar"


Who I Probably Missed:
Demian Bechir, "A Better Life"


Who I Wish Had a Shot:
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, "50/50"



Best Picture
(My guess is 7 films will be nominated, but I've put the next three I'd guess in parenthesis after those 7)



My Picks:
"The Artist"
"The Descendants"
"The Help"
"Hugo"
"Midnight in Paris"
"Moneyball"
"Bridesmaids"
("My Week with Marilyn")
("Tree of Life")
("War Horse")


Who I Probably Missed:
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"


Who I Wish Had a Shot:
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2"

Renaldo Balkman is a Muppet

Some Random Thoughts on The Muppets

Disclaimer- I wrote this a while ago (last edited in December) but never completed it. Figured I'd post now after I rewatched the movie on DVD.

These thoughts are in bergeronian order. They mostly deal with or are inspired by The Muppets but also deal with some general Muppet stuff. There will be movie spoilers, so if you haven't seen it yet, feel free to not read:


1. Before I say anything else, let me say that The Muppets was generally fantastic. Anything negative I write about it here is complete nitpicking. It was just a terrific movie.

2. The cameos were slightly off. Not as a whole. But unlike the early Muppet movies The Muppets was trying to emulate- The Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper, and The Muppets Take Manhattan- a large percentage of the cameos in the new film were the actors making cameos by playing themselves making cameos. Neil Patrick Harris, John Krasinski, Whoopi Goldberg, Selena Gomez, Rico Rodriguez, and James Carville all simply appeared (mostly very, very briefly) as themselves at the Muppet Telethon. In contrast, the brief cameos where the celebrities were playing a character were much more entertaining. David Grohl as Animool of The Moopets was inspired, Emily Blunt essentially recreated her The Devil Wears Prada role, and celebrities randomly popping up in small roles- Donald Glover, Sarah Silverman, Ken Jeong, Kristen Schaal, Alan Arkin, Zach Galifinakas etc. was much more in touch with previous Muppet film cameos.


3. There are two cameos I intentionally did not include in that last point. One was Jack Black, who's extended role may not even qualify as a cameo. He was a pretty perfect celebrity to have as the "host" of the telethon. Second is Jim Parsons. The past couple years, Parsons as Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory has become insufferable- and won two Emmys. In interviews, it always appears Parson's personality is frighteningly similar to the character he plays. So my excitement over his appearance in this movie was tempered at best. And he may have been the single best part of the film. His unique mannerisms and physical comedy skills were perfect for the role he played. His interview with Jimmy Kimmel where he discussed the role is embedded right here.


4. Is Dr. Bunsen Honeydew nearsighted or farsighted? I mean, he has no eyes. Are the glasses real or just to make him look smart? Has he ever been seen without glasses?


5. Jason Segel and I grew up during different eras in Muppet history. His focus was primarily honoring the legacy of The Muppet Show and the original three movies, my main memories of the Muppets is from Muppet Treasure Island, Muppets from Space, and Muppets Tonight. So I was glad to see Segel include some of the post-Henson era Muppets. The most prominent in the Muppets universe has been Pepe the Prawn, and he got a brief scene. In most of the post-Henson movies and specials Pepe has been a fairly prominent character. If the first tier has been Kermit, Piggy, Fozzie, and Gonzo, the second tier has probably consisted of The Electric Mayhem (particularly Animal, Dr. Teeth, and Janice), Rizzo the Rat, Pepe, and occasionally Rowlf, and a third tier with Scooter (who was in the second tier before Richard Hunt passed away), Rowlf (same with before Henson passed), Bunsen and Beaker, the Swedish chef, and Statler and Waldorf. In this film, Rowlf and Scooter had probably their biggest roles since the original films and series, while Rizzo, a major character in   Manhattan was simply a background character. Anyway, Clifford, as host of Muppets Tonight was a fairly prominent post-Henson character who did not show up, but Bobo the Bear, the security guard from Tonight played a fairly substantial role as one of Chris Cooper's henchmen. It also pays respect to Muppets from Space, where Bobo played a similar role to Jeffrey Tambor's villain.

6. There were some Muppets who did not make the cut. Like any Christopher Nolan Batman movie, there was no Robin. Bean Bunny, a character who became randomly big in the 80's as a Muppet Baby and in the various Disney World shows, does not show up. And unlike the earlier movies, The Muppets featured no Sesame Street crossover, as they are now owned by different companies.