Blogman: 87th Annual Academy Awards Predictions (Part 3 of 3)

Time to cover the final 8 categories in this year's Oscars predictions.  With the ceremony less than 72 hours away, I spent a lot of time thinking over some of these final categories, most notably Best Picture and Best Director, but I've come to my decisions on them all at this point.  Keep in mind with each category I'm providing who I think will win, but also providing who I personally would vote for, even if I pretty realistically know that person or film has no shot.  Let's wrap things up!

Blogman: 87th Annual Academy Awards Predictions (Part 2 of 3)

We covered 8 categories yesterday, we'll cover 8 more today and again tomorrow.  One pick I made yesterday I'm now regretting a bit, as the more I thought about Best Production Design, I probably should have voted for Into the Woods.  With that said, I'm standing by the original post.  Once I make a pick, I stick with it.  So that's that.  Let's not waste any more time, here come some more picks!

Blogman: 87th Annual Academy Awards Predictions (Part 1 of 3)

So here we are, four days before the 87th Annual Academy Awards.  I've checked out as many films, documentaries, performances, shorts, featurettes and images as I can, and it's now time for me to try and equal or better last year's pretty awesome result of 21 out of 24 correct.  In fairness, it seemed like quite a number of Oscars prognosticators scored well, so maybe last year's show was more predictable than we realized at the time.  Best Picture was certainly no given though, and here for the second straight year, that is again the case, and even moreso.  It is very likely a two-horse race for Best Picture and Best Director, and no one really has a clue which option has the better odds.  We'll get to those later.

There are 24 competitive Oscars to be handed out on Sunday.  Today and for the next two days, I'll present 8 of those categories, listing the nominees along with who I think will win.  Separately within each category, I'll state who I would vote for personally as well.

Let's roll.

Oscar Nominations: What We Learned

There's always some surprise and maybe even some anger when the Oscar nominations come out.

"______ got robbed!"

"How could ______ get nominated and ______ not?"

"Meryl Streep again?!?!"

This year, there's a lot of disbelief that borderlines on aggravation, and I think the argument is ridiculous.  For only the second time in 20 years, there is an almost-complete absence of non-Caucasian nominees in the major categories.  The actors, actresses, screenwriters and even the cinematographers are all white, and most of them are also male.  Everyone is flexing their Twitter muscles today calling the Academy old and out-of-touch.  But let me repeat a sentence fragment from earlier:  FOR ONLY THE SECOND TIME IN 20 YEARS.  That means 2 out of 20.  Is this a pattern?  Is this an epidemic?  No, for Christ's sake, it's just the way it fell this year.  Diversity is not an Academy requirement.  No one cares if you're white, black, blue, green or orange.  No one cares what genitalia you're sporting.  Apparently everyone's already forgotten last year's ceremony.

Yeah, all this vitriol that's popped up in response to the nominations has me a bit pissed off, and I'm sure there's going to be people bitching and moaning all the way up to February 22 when the Oscars are handed out, but fuck 'em.  Get over it, people.  The ball bounces where it's gonna bounce.  When this happens 18 years out of 20 instead of 2 years out of 20, THEN you'll have a valid argument.

Enough about that.  What ELSE did we learn this morning?

BEST PICTURE SHOWCASE: "The Life of Emile Zola" (1937)

One of the things I've enjoyed most in doing this blog series is learning about and watching the Best Picture winners in history that I know very little, if anything, about.  Today, we have one of those films.  1937's The Life of Emile Zola is a biographical motion picture, or biopic, about the French author and activist Zola, practitioner of the literary school of naturalism and an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism.  He also did not shy away from controversial topics, calling out the government and society when he felt it was necessary.  He was usually right, because Zola was a major figure in the political liberalization of France from the Nazis.  His biggest success, if you will, probably was being greatly responsible for the exoneration of a falsely accused and convicted army officer named Alfred Dreyfus.  The film's title would seem to indicate it's about Zola's entire life, but that's not quite the case.  It does not cover any of Zola's childhood, but instead starts up in 1862 when Zola was in his early 20's.  Let's take a look at the first film to score 10 Oscar nominations.

BEST PICTURE SHOWCASE: "Braveheart" (1995)

It's been said that history will teach us nothing, or that those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it.  In the case of 1995 Best Picture winner Braveheart, it can also be said that history doesn't have to get in the way of Hollywood storytelling.  There has perhaps never been a more historically-inaccurate Best Picture than this one, and I'm not saying that just to nitpick.  Randall Wallace wrote the screenplay with heavy influence from Blind Harry's 15th century epic poem The Acts and Deeds of Sir William Wallace, Knight of Elderslie, which has long been considered in and of itself quite historically inaccurate.  However, in writing about William Wallace, Randall Wallace (no relation, by the way) based very little of the screenplay on either actual history or Blind Harry's poem.  Hell, even the title of Braveheart refers in the film to William Wallace when in reality, it was a nickname for Robert the Bruce.  The movie depicts an affair between Wallace and France's Princess Isabelle, which surely did not happen since in the depicted time period of actuality, Isabelle was about 3 years old.  Scotsmen also did not wear kilts, much less plaid with belts, in this era.  Historian Sharon Krossa pretty much summed it up in a 2001 essay by saying, "The events aren't accurate, the dates aren't accurate, the characters aren't accurate, the names aren't accurate, the clothes aren't accurate—in short, just about nothing is accurate."

Evidently, history isn't important here.  Just entertainment.  So in that regard, I suppose Braveheart is a success.  Let's take a look.

BEST PICTURE SHOWCASE: "Patton" (1970)

General George S. Patton was a decorated war hero who came from a military family.  He was a major player in both World Wars I and II, helping especially in the latter lead the Allied Forces to victory with his strategies and brilliance.  He pulled very few punches and often spoke his mind without fear or saying the "right" thing.  He was also confrontational and controversial, getting into trouble with his superiors because of his actions, including statements to the media that would at times criticize U.S. war strategy.  It seems fitting that the 1970 film biography of the man was portrayed by a unique actor the likes of George C. Scott, who also had a reputation at times for being a bit against-the-grain, prone to moodiness on movie sets and having a complete disdain for the competitiveness of Hollywood when it came to such things as the Oscars.  A perfect storm of circumstances, no?  Patton winds up highly successful and racks up a slew of Oscar nominations, including for that of Scott's performance, which he requested to not be nominated for but was anyway.  Scott wins the Best Lead Actor award and doesn't attend the ceremony.  The award was never claimed by him either.  He requested that the Academy donate the award to the George Patton museum in Kentucky, but he only made the request verbally.  Since it was not in writing, it was never donated.  To the best of my knowledge the award is currently on display at the Virginia Military Institute Museum, a military school that the real Patton attended.  With all that said, Patton clocks in at nearly three hours but never drags.  The film and Scott's performance are engaging, and the battle scenes are incredibly well done.  I had planned on writing this blog during a recent trip to Seattle, as I had a laptop and my notes all ready.  Unfortunately, my notes wound up misplaced, so I'll do the best I can on a synopsis from memory.  Let's take a look at what was President Nixon's all-time favorite film, 1970 Best Picture Patton.