Kinematoscope

An unfocused, lazy wrap-up of the show to follow- for in depth coverage, see the entirety of the rest of the internet/entertainment media.

How did I do?

For the third straight year, I got 16 out of 24 categories correct. So.... at least I'm consistent? I missed two out of the three shorts (which is a win, for me), documentary (picked with my heart on the Banksy thing, not my brain), Art Direction and Costumes (Alice in Wonderland? Seriously?), Score, Song, and Cinematography.

I did beat Dave, though! After beating me 18-16 for the last two years, he finished either at 13 (on the posted predictions from Sunday) or 15 due to some off-the-cuff changes to his paper ballot. Either way, boo yah. This puts us even at 2-2 in four years of blog-prognosticating, including my not-super-impressive 13-11 victory during the No Country For Old Men year.

I get to hold on to the bragging rights for a year, or I would if we were the type of dudes that brag about stuff.

How was the telecast?

I don't care. I really don't. I watch to see the Oscars. The actual statues, handed to people, people that made films. I might have off-hand, armchair opinions about stuff, but I will watch the Oscars no matter what. Next Year they could have Justin Bieber host and use a T-Pain app to auto-tune everyone's acceptance speech.

So from my perspective, they were a success. 24 Oscars were presented. Nobody accidentally choked on one of them. I can intellectually appreciate all of the things people are saying about how Franco and Hathaway did, but I just don't care. Since The Oscars are my superbowl, in my mind they are a thing that happens, that I enjoy even when aesthetically they may be pereceived as unpleasant- I don't complain about when the Superbowl is a blowout, similarly.


How do I feel about the awards themselves?

I'm okay with them. Like anyone pulling for The Social Network and Inception, I had steeled myself emotionally for The King's Speech to win nearly everything, but it lost every single tech award it was up for.

Yes, it lost costumes and art direction to Alice in Wonderland, which seems like it was co-directed by Tim Burton and Spencer's gifts, but score went very deservedly to The Social Network, and Cinematography to Inception.

I'm sure David Fincher will have another day in the sun, possibly with his Dragon Tattoo movie. Nolan I'm less sure will ever jibe with the Academy, but a longstanding, Scorsese-like streak of snubbing is just as fun, really.

The King's Speech is better than Slumdog Millionaire and Crash, anyway, so it isn't a burning injustice.

Now it's time for the post-Oscar doldrums. Sigh.