Thursday, March 1, 2012

LET'S DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN




Now that the 2011 Oscar season is over I am going to take a few weeks to redesign MattAwards. I tried a few different things this year, but none of them really worked. There are a million Oscar blogs so I am going to work on making MattAwards a more go to place for Oscar predictions, must see movies and reviews. Please let me know if you have any suggestions or feedback for me. I really appreciate Joe Burns and Tom for taking time to add comments.

We have a lot to look forward this coming year and I already see a few contenders. Some of the most anticipated movies of the year are could also be Best Picture candidates:

The Dark Knight Rises (July 20)
Promethius (June 8)
The Hobbit (December 14)
Django Unchained (December 25)
Lincoln (TBD)
The Great Gatsby (December 25)

I have already seen a few people predicting Lincoln as the Best Picture winner next year.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

ACADEMY AWARD RATINGS UP

The ratings for The 84th Academy awards were up 4% from last year. 39.3 million people watched the Oscars ceremony, up from the 37.6 million in 2011.  ABC said it was the second largest TV audience for the Academy Awards since 2007. Not bad considering most Americans have not seen or are interested in seeing The Artist.

Monday, February 27, 2012

BEST PICTURE PROFANITY REEL

Look at all of the cursing and insults in the Best Picture nominees. NSFW.


OSCAR TELECAST REVIEW




Last nights Oscar telecast was certainly geared toward an older audience. It had all of the ingredients; Billy Crystal, old people movie nominees, old actor nominees and and old fashioned musical opening number. If the AMPAS is trying to get a younger audience this year did not work out. Except for a 20 second shot of Justin Bieber. Which my 18 year old son said ruined the whole show. But the theme of the night was to honor old Hollywood most likely due to the above average amount of nominated films that honor original film making. I am 43 years old, so I do fall into the older demographic. The Academy voters themselves are at the average age of 62. That is probably the reason that I enjoyed the show for the most part. I have read other reviews written by younger writers who tore it apart. It was as safe as it could possibly be. Which I think is better than trying bits that usually fall flat. Last year was a great example of how trying new things doesn't always work. If they want a younger audience they need to start by voting in a more diverse group of voters. Not only that but, some of them have been Oscar voters most of their lives and this point are just voting for their friends.

Billy Crystal was comfortable he moved the show along nicely avoiding any awkwardness. His usual opening montage of the movies was just alright. They avoided Extremely Loud and Incredibly close like the plague. You can't mock a movie about 9/11. Even in Crystal's singing montage he only mentioned Tom Hanks and not the movie. The singing number fell flat. I didn't recognize most of the songs and couldn't understand some of the lyrics. The sound for the entire show was bad. Many people on twitter were asking if it was just them. There was a weird noise heard in the background. The cirque du soleil performance was good, but probably better in person. One of the first winners was Octavia Spencer who was truly moved and could have had a great speech, but they cut her off. They never seem to cut off the boring acceptance speeches.

All in all it moved quickly and while Crystal did a fine job after Chris Rock presenting for animated feature, I realized what a great host he would be and would appeal to a younger audience.

MY GRADE: B-

MY RESULTS

Last year I picked 17 correct out of the 24 nominees for 71% correct.

This year I predicted 18 out of the 24 nominees for 75%.  I thought I would do better with such a predictable year, but there are always a few upsets.


Best Picture
The Artist

Best Actor
Jean Dujardin, The Artist

Best Actress
Viola Davis, The Help (actual: Meryl Streep)

Best Supporting Actor
Christopher Plummer, Beginners

Best Supporting Actress
Octavia Spencer, The Help

Best Director
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist


Best Original Screenplay
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris


Best Adapted Screenplay
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxton, Jim Rash, The Descendants


Best Animated Feature
Rango


Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
A Separation (Iran)


Original Score
The Artist, Ludovic Bource


Best Original Song
Man or Muppet, The Muppets; Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie


Best Achievement in Art Direction
Hugo

Best Achievement in Cinematography
The Tree of Life (actual: Hugo)

Best Achievement in Costume Design
The Artist


Best Documentary Feature
Undefeated

Best Documentary Short Subject
The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom (actual: Saving Face)

Best Achievement in Film Editing
The Artist (actual: Hugo)

Best Achievement in Makeup
The Iron Lady


Best Animated Short Film
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

Best Live Action Short Film
Raju (actual: The Shore)

Best Achievement in Sound Editing
Hugo


Best Achievement in Sound Mixing
Hugo


Best Achievement in Visual Effects
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (actual: Hugo)