OK, I sadly did not get to writing around my predictions last night before the actual ceremony, but I was frantically trying to research and write (and it did require research to back up those opinions) my edgy article below that I was trying to submit to oscarwatch to no avail. I have seen the light of blog publicity and it's name is Oscarwatch, so it's very advantageous to my to appear on that site.
I did actually make a carefully well-thought out set of predictions that I sent to Oscarwatch Central for their critical compilation, but I didn't actually write those predictions down. Oscarwatch Central Predictions are currently trying to retrieve the file that I sent them because #1 I can't remember myself, exactly what I predicted and #2 They were some kick-ass predictions and who knows, I might have won. I predicted William Moynahan*, Departed for editing, and I predicted Alan Arkin for Supporting Actor. The reason that I am writing this oscar blog now (and I do consider this a blog because I'm filtering and recopying my notes from last night) was that I spent last night at a local movie theater (Arlington Cinema and Drafthouse) which had a fun program put up by two film critics. It was a good time and I won a ton of free DVDs for knowing a couple trivia questions**
Even though I picked him myself, I thought Arkin had no chance in Hell of winning and I was thrilled that he did so. Out of boredom at the lock status and the repitition of awards for the same director and actors, it was just an effort to mix it up a little. I personally just wanted to vote for anyone other than Eddie Murphy and felt that Arkin had the best chance. Personally, I thought that Djimon Hotsou and Mark Wahlberg* were the strongest (even though Wahlberg had little screentime) and I confess to not having seen Dreamgirls so I couldn't even tell you if Alan Arkin was REALLY better than Eddie Murphy. The truth was that Alan Arkin was very good but in all honesty, he didn't stick out in Little Miss Sunshine, but that's really a tribute to the strength of the SAG-winning ensemble, and I'm not sure if being the best member in your cast is neccessarily a requirement to being the only actor from your movie to win the oscar.
What really was motivating me was I was just hoping it would be anyone but Eddie Murphy because he really is not fit to be an oscar-winner. The prestigeous label of Oscar-winner gets tarnished if that oscar winner goes on to make bad movies. Everytime, you see "Oscar-winner F. Murray Abraham" on the back of a film like "Muppets in Space" at the video store or Oscar-winner Louise Fletcher in "High School High" or Oscar-winner Cuba Gooding Jr. in "Rat Race" and "Snow Dogs," it brings the reputation of the academy down that much more. I'm not saying it's not tarnished already, but Eddie Murphy didn't even have the decency to wait before he actually won his oscar to tarnish it by becoming the next Cuba Gooding Jr., wich Norbit. And you know what? Maybe it wasn't a coincidence that Cuba Gooding Jr. was actually in the movie itself. Maybe Murphy was making a bold statement defending the right of oscar winners like Cuba to go on making bad movies. Well, no thanks said the academy, and I fully second that notion. It works just like that in anything else. The NBA probably regretted voting Ron Artest as an all-Star after he went into the stands and started beating up players. Baseball wouldn't let Pete Rose into the hall of fame because he has a disease. And Eddie Murphy has a disease too: he can't stop making bad movies, and he needs to go into a therapy group with Adam Sandler, Pauly Shore and Martin Lawrence. A vote for Alan Arkin was a vote for consistency, who has consistently made good movies. It was a resounding statement that just because you did some great things in your day like singlehandedly resurrect Saturday Night Live, does not mean we will crown you with a title bestowing you as a "great actor" when your latest movie work ranges from mediocre to abysmal.
Now, I have a couple grad school classes to attend, but rest assured, i will continue oscar blogging while people are still google searching for oscar blogs so I can rack up some hits.
*This is the most nitpicky thing you'll ever hear in your life, but why does Scrosesee call him Bill, I'm pretty sure most everyone else calls him William or Will. I know Bill is short for William Moynahan, but if Will Moynahan wanted to go by Bill, he might have submitted his name as such. I am curious to know how many people other than Scorsesee call him Bill. Scorsesee also refers to Robert De Niro as Bobby and I don't think anyone else does that either. Who does Scorsesee think he is?
** Question I didn't know the answer was the last child actor or actress to win. Thanks to the lucky coincidence of having read eddieonfilm.blogspot.com's oscar predictions, I won a DVD of the Prestige, screening passes to 300 and a CD for the soundtrack of Flushed Away for knowing "What was the Artistic Oscar given alongside Wings?" I vaguely remembered the answer was a film called Sunrise.
I also won a DVD of the Guardian for knowing that Bob Fossee beat Ford Copolla for best director the first time he was up for a Godfather film, and not wanting to hog all the gifts I helped someone else in the audience name on of the three actors who Martin Scorsesee has lost to (my initial answer was Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford and Roman Polanski who had a history as a child actor, but they didn't take that as an answer. They were looking for Kevin Costner)
Some other notes on the best supporting actor race:
-I'm not sure whether Mark Wahlberg had a good or bad night. For one thing, he lost and Ellen bothered him right after losing en route to handing Martin Scorsesee her script. I think Ellen was just being friendly but maybe she could've picked a better time. Also Scorsesee was like "I want to thank Jack who's such an honor to work with and gives so much" and "Leo, let's work another 12 or 15 years" and then he was like "and Mark" and that was it. Mark Wahlberg stole the show from Jack Nicholson, Leo, Matt Damon and everyone else, in every scene he was in. Without Wahlberg, the movie's tension wouldn't have been leveled with comic relief, and he handled the dialogue so well. Wahlberg's clip was also pretty short which pissed me off as well. On the bright side, when Jack Black and Will Ferrell beat up the oscar nominees after the movie, they said they'd spare him, so that's good news
-Djimon Hotsou and Eddie Murphy both looked really anxious waiting for the name to be announced. Hotsou looked like he was about to get a flu shot and was waiting for the needle to go in his arm.
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