The 86th Academy Awards: My Oscar Predictions
They’re happening tonight. Some of us will be watching (me). Some of us will have expectations and hopes and dreams (me). Some of us will probably be very disappointed (me). Post-Awards Tally (I’m live updating this post): 11/24 So, without further adieu, here are my predictions for tonight’s awards: BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY “American Hustle,” written by Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell (the winner) “Blue Jasmine,” written by Woody Allen “Dallas Buyers Club,” written by Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack WON “Her,” written by Spike Jonze (the one I want to win) “Nebraska,” written by Bob Nelson Personally, I think Her is the best original screenplay of the lot (caveat: I haven’t seen all of these). It’s not every day that we get a truly exceptional treatment of a cliche science fiction, particularly when that treatment is smart, compelling, and “real.” But I also realize that American Hustle and Dallas Buyers Club are favorites here. I suspect the folks who pick the winners will take a safer route and go with American Hustle rather than the sometimes deliberately awkward Her. BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY “Before Midnight,” written by Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke “Captain Phillips,” screenplay by Billy Ray (the winner) “Philomena,” screenplay by Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope WON “12 Years a Slave,” screenplay by John Ridley (the one I’d like to win) “The Wolf of Wall Street,” screenplay by Terence Winter The above is a completely soft prediction. I have no idea how to read the Oscars in this category, so what I think will win and what I’d like to win will probably look like alien monkeys to those who have some idea what to expect. Regardless, of the films on this list, the ones I enjoyed the most were the two I picked, though the better of the two is probably 12 Years a Slave only because I think the Captain Phillips adaptation basically discards the source material in favor of a story that makes sense (you can read my review of the novel here). But I think it’s possible The Wolf of Wall Street or Philomena could take it in the end. I just have no idea what to think… BEST VISUAL EFFECTS WON “Gravity,” Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk and Neil Corbould (the winner; the one I want to win) “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and Eric Reynolds “Iron Man 3,” Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Erik Nash and Dan Sudick “The Lone Ranger,” Tim Alexander, Gary Brozenich, Edson Williams and John Frazier “Star Trek Into Darkness,” Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Ben Grossmann and Burt Dalton Honestly, Gravity is the only film on this list that deserves to win. Iron Man 3 had solid visuals, but Gravity is by far the superior film in terms of its treatment of its subject matter. As for the others: I refused to see The Lone Ranger (cause redface); I thought The Hobbit was a CG masturbation festival a la George Lucas in the prequel trilogy (the best scenes involve the dragon, which is bloody gorgeous, but so much of this particular franchise is just…too much); and I thought Star Trek Into Darkness was decent enough, but still a tad short of the mark. I’ll be shocked if I’m wrong on this category. Curious parties might want to check out these Shoot the WISB segments on Gravity and Star Trek Into Darkness. My review of Iron Man 3 can be found here. BEST SOUND MIXING “Captain Phillips,” Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor, Mike Prestwood Smith and Chris Munro WON “Gravity,” Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead and Chris Munro (the winner; the one I want to win) “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” Christopher Boyes, Michael Hedges, Michael Semanick and Tony Johnson “Inside Llewyn Davis,” Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland “Lone Survivor,” Andy Koyama, Beau Borders and David Brownlow Caveat: I have not seen Inside Llewyn Davis or Lone Survivor, but of the three I have seen, the one that once again takes all the top marks is Gravity. Not much else to say here (well, except that Smaug was pretty much the best part of The Hobbit; he should have his own movie — a sitcom with Bilbo Baggins as the sidekick called Welcome Back Smaug). BEST SOUND EDITING “All Is Lost,” Steve Boeddeker and Richard Hymns “Captain Phillips,” Oliver Tarney WON “Gravity,” Glenn Freemantle (the winner; the one I want to win) “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” Brent Burge “Lone Survivor,” Wylie Stateman Gravity again. Maybe The Hobbit. But it will be Gravity, I suspect. BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT FILM “Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn’t Me)” “Avant Que De Tout Perdre (Just before Losing Everything)” WON “Helium” “Pitaako Mun Kaikki Hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?)” “The Voorman Problem” I have no idea. I have seen none of these, so I’m going to pick one at random based on whether I think the title sounds interesting. BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM “Feral” “Get a Horse!” WON “Mr. Hublot” (the winner) “Possessions” “Room on the Broom” I have seen none of these either, so I’m just going to have to throw a random choice in…again. BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN “American Hustle,” Production Design: Judy Becker; Set Decoration: Heather Loeffler (the winner) “Gravity,” Production Design: Andy Nicholson; Set Decoration: Rosie Goodwin and Joanne Woollard (the one I want to win) WON “The Great Gatsby,” Production Design: Catherine Martin; Set Decoration: Beverley Dunn “Her,” Production Design: K.K. Barrett; Set Decoration: Gene Serdena “12 Years a Slave,” Production Design: Adam Stockhausen; Set Decoration: Alice Baker It’ll probably go to American Hustle, though I suppose The Great Gatsby deserves a little love, too. The rest are good in terms of the set design, but I suspect their minimalism or association with genre or some other stupid reason will get them knocked off. BEST ORIGINAL SONG “Happy” from “Despicable Me 2” WON “Let It Go” from “Frozen” (the winner) “The Moon Song” from “Her” (the one I want
Top 10 Blog Posts for February 2014
And here they are: 10. Why I Haven’t Babbled About the Hugo Awards…Yet 9. Book Review: Tarnished by Rhiannon Held 8. Top 10 Science Fiction and Fantasy Anime Movies 7. Censorship is what people say when they don’t want to address the actual issue…for reasons 6. How to Destroy the SFWA…err, no, I’m not going to talk about that after all 5. Moderating the Community and the Cost of Respect 4. Top 10 Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies Since 2010 (Thus Far) 3. Top 10 Overused Fantasy Cliches 2. On the SFWA Bulletin Petition Thing Nonsense 1. Movie Review: Riddick (2013) (or, I’m Going to Mega Rant Now) I am genuinely surprised that my review of Riddick remains one of my most popular posts this year. Interesting… For anyone curious, I’m currently using Google Analytics for the numbers. I don’t think they’re entirely accurate, but the stats in Blogger are currently flooded with hits from the spam accounts that targeted me last month. Some posts were artificially amplified by that; GA mostly removes spam hits, but it also removes repeat visits and anything else it assumes isn’t an “original visit,” which seems fairly wide in scope. So it’s a little difficult for me to figure out what is super popular right now… Oh well!
Top 10 Blog Posts for January 2014
And here they are: The Vigilante in American Mythology (Brief Thoughts) #monthofjoy Movie Review: Riddick (2013) (or, I’m Going to Mega Rant Now) Guest Post: The Polarization of Genre Fiction by David Chandler Movie Review Rant : Catching Fire (2013) Silly Reader Questions: Super Powers, Magic, Bathrooms, and Poetry Top 10 Most Ridiculous Moments in Science Fiction and Fantasy Film in the 90s Self-Published Books vs. Literary Awards: In Response to Linda Nagata Star Trek: a Worf TV Show? (Some Thoughts) Gender Essentialism, Genre, and Me The Diversity Pledge: Crunching My Numbers for 2013 Interesting…
Top 10 Blog Posts for December 2013
Happy New Year! Here’s the list: 10. Why I Stopped Paying Attention to Feedburner Subscriber Numbers 9. The Diversity Pledge: Crunching My Numbers for 2013 8. Draft Post Bingo: What should I finish? You Decide! 7. Draft Post Bingo Winners: What I’ll Be Finishing Next 6. Crowdfunding Links of the Week: Kaleidoscope (a Diverse YA Antho) & War Stories (a MilSF Antho) 5. Star Trek: a Worf TV Show? (Some Thoughts) 4. Diversity is Not a Selfie (or, Amazing Stories + Felicity Savage = Here We Go Again) 3. Top 10 Science Fiction and Fantasy Anime Movies 2. Movie Review: Riddick (2013)(or, I’m Going to Mega Rant Now) 1. The Vigilante in American Mythology (Brief Thoughts) #monthofjoy Wee!
Top 10 Science Fiction and Fantasy Anime Movies
I’ve been sitting on this list for months because I didn’t think I’d seen enough anime movies to warrant the creation of a list. Turns out I was wrong. When I did a bit of searching, I discovered I’d seen quite a lot of anime films, many of them viewed at 1 AM on some random satellite station my grandma had a decade ago. I still don’t know which station played anime at 1 AM, nor do I remember all of the films I saw (Black Magic M-66, which does not appear on the list below because it’s not that great, is one for which I am particularly nostalgic). So here I am with a list of 10. Don’t hesitate to tell me what you think in the comments (or share your own lists). Here goes (in no particular order): Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland (Yutaka Fujioka) Flying beds, nightmare kings, magic scepters, flying squirrels, and dreams! The Place Promised in Our Lonely Days (Makoto Shinkai) Alternate realities, Cold War analogues, rebellion, and homemade jets! And I’m presenting a paper on it at the 2014 International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts in Orlando! *dances* Howl’s Moving Castle (Hayao Miyazaki) Talking flames, animalistic transformations, mystical castles, and Miyazaki’s classic genius. Princess Mononoke (Hayao Miyazaki) Mythology, modernity vs. the old world, giant spirit animals, and muskets! The Cat Returns (Hayao Miyazaki) Talking cats in tophats, kitty kingdoms, and magic transformations! Oh, and the English-dubbed edition, which is surprisingly good, features Cary Elwes, Anne Hathaway, Kristen Bell, Rene Auberjonois (from DS9!), Peter Boyle, Elliot Gould, and many more. That’s one hell of a cast, no? Akira (Katsuhiro Otomo) Do I really need to explain this one? It’s a beautiful, mess-with-your-head kind of film. And it’s a classic. At this point, you should have seen it already… Ghost in the Shell (Mamoru Oshii) What happens if a human mind merges with an artificial one? And are cyborgs still human? A cyberpunk classic. Ghost in the Shell 2 (Mamoru Oshii) Can you really trust cyborgs when their ability to exert free will is always in question? Nothing like a little cyberpunk to tackle the tough questions! Macross Plus (Shoji Kawamori & Shinichiro Watanabe) Jet battles, artificial intelligence, mass hypnosis, and Robotech! Yeah! Patlabor (Mamoru Oshii) Mecha in everyday society + hackers + mecha police = greatness. —————————————————– P.S.: I really wanted to include the OVAs for Samurai X in this list, but they are technically episodic in format, rather than proper films like the ones listed above. That means I’m going to have to write a whole new list about my favorite SF/F anime series!
Top 10 Posts for October 2013
Here you go: 10. Crowfunding Links of the Week: Kaleidoscope (a Diverse YA Antho) & War Stories (a MilSF Antho) 9. Draft Post Bingo: What should I finish? You Decide! 8. Top 10 Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies Since 2010 (Thus Far) 7. Ideological Rigidity (With a Side of Genre)(Adventures in Teaching) 6. Top 10 Cats in Science Fiction and Fantasy 5. Top 10 Blog Posts for September 2013 (ha!) 4. Pixar Feature Films (from the worst to the best) — A List That Will Get Me Killed 3. Top 10 Overused Fantasy Cliches 2. Movie Review: Riddick (2013) (or, I’m Going to Mega Rant Now) 1. Link of the Week: Judith Butler Explained with Cats!