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Happy Monday (Or Is It Happy Tuesday?)
Ladies and gentlemen, the 2017 Academy Awards ended (fittingly?) in ‘la la land.’
So, the movie that should have won and that people wanted to win (La La Land) lost to a movie that most people had, quite frankly, not even seen or barely knew about (Moonlight).
Sounds like most Academy Awards, doesn’t it?
My yearly analysis for Oscar winners and losers is that the Academy is right when they’re right and wrong when they’re wrong. Sure, that seems like common sense, but there’s more to it that presumed simplicity.
For example, the Academy was right to award Titanic the golden statue for best picture many moons ago and it was right to award Sandra Bullock the golden statue for best actress for her leading role in The Blind Side in 2010. Conversely, the Academy was wrong to award Slumdog Millionaire the best picture in 2009 and not even nominate The Dark Knight. Heath Ledger deservedly won a posthumous Oscar for his role as the Joker in The Dark Knight for one of the greatest acting performances in cinematic history, but the film as a whole is a revelation and a masterpiece and it was wrongly shafted and stripped of its Oscar moment for the film’s team and Batman fans everywhere.
Last night, the Academy was clearly wrong in fumbling the announcement for Best Picture. However, the Academy was right to clarify this mistake in real-time. As a result, the 89th Oscars will be defined by that painfully embarrassing moment and help Steve Harvey recover a little bit more quickly.
Random Advice: Maybe don’t hire Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway as editors of the obituary section of a newspaper.
Have a Better Week Than Last Week.
It’s Oscar Season…La La La
Will La La Land be Titanic at the Academy Awards way back in 1998?
Or Titanic the ship in reality…
The musical sensation La La Land has tied James Camerson’s cinematic epic Titanic (and All About Eve) with 14 Oscar nominations. Released at the end of 2016, the film starring the much-awaited Crazy, Stupid, Love reunion between Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone is the it movie in Hollywood right now. Critics love the movie and, most importantly, fans love this movie. La La Land looks amazing.
Will the romantic musical dominate the 89th Academy Awards?
We’ll find out Sunday, February 26, 2017.
Until then, let’s watch star Oscar nominee Ryan Gosling (Actor in a Leading Role) discuss his experience making La La Land as Sebastian during a recent interview.
Hollywood is defined as a city of stars.
But the question is which stars will forever shine a little brighter than the rest on the night of February 26th?
Happy Monday!
Last night was the 2016 Mad Max Awards Oscars.
Let’s get to the main event of the night:
Leonardo DiCaprio won his Academy Award for Best Actor for The Revenant. As a favorite among moviegoers from his earliest acting in This Boy’s Life and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (both 1993), the clock has been running to when he would hold that legacy-defining golden statue. Twenty-three years after the aforementioned films and Leo struck gold.
The following scene best sums up Leo’s moment.
You could say he’s officially the king of the world (real and imaginary).
Have a Great Week!
Watching the Oscars in Black & White
The golden statue’s rust can be seen from across the pond.
The Academy Awards, set for its Sunday broadcast on February 28th, has been dealing with a bit of controversy because of an absence of nominations for black actors and actresses. Attempting to take the bird’s eye view of this issue, there seem to be two schools of thought on the matter.
Will Smith, who could have been nominated for his portrayal of the doctor that blew the roof off the head injury problem in the NFL in the film Concussion, has stated he and his wife will boycott the Academy Awards.
“We’ve discussed it and we’re a part of this community, but at this current time, we’re uncomfortable to stand there and say that this is OK.”
–Will Smith, Us Weekly
Michael Caine, the beloved 82 year-old British actor who was denied an Oscar nomination for his starring role in Youth, had a few things to say on the controversy. He spoke about the importance of nominating an actor based on performance and not skin color and that Idris Elba not receiving a nod from the Academy for Beasts of No Nation was surprising. He added a couple more thoughts.
“Well, look at me. I won the [European Film Award for] best actor [for Youth], and I got nominated for nothing else.”
–Michael Caine, The Hollywood Reporter
Plus this.
“Be patient. Of course, it will come. Of course, it will come. It took me years to get an Oscar.”
–Michael Caine, The Hollywood Reporter
And, perhaps, there’s a third point of view.
Ironically, the biggest star at the upcoming 88th Academy Awards will probably be Chris Rock.
Jimmy's Daily Planet 