Cheating On Your Oscar Vote

You know what the biggest thing to remember when your filling out your Oscar pool ballot? Not who won the SAG Award or the PGA Award. Not the latest buzz emanating from the gossip columnists or these insipid TV shows.

No, the most important thing to remember is who is doing the voting.

Don’t think for one minute that the Academy voters reflect the general US population. In fact, they don’t even represent the movie going public. The nearly 5800 member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Science are professionals in the business. To get into the Academy they need to be nominated and then go through a relatively rigorous vetting process. Oh yeah, once they are in, they are in for life.

The result is an electorate that is ensconced within the industry and older, much older.

The demographic looks like this.

94% of the Academy is white. 77% of them are male. And the average age is 62. With numbers like these they are hardly adventurous or tuned in what is happening within minority groups or trends within the culture. This helps explain why Social Network lost out to the rather prosaic, but well acted The King’s Speech last year.

So when you vote for this year’s winner, remember, vote like a 62 year, white male. Your chances of winning the pool have just improved.

Boston Sci-Fi & Callie Crossley

Visited WGBH’s incomparable, Callie Crossley today to discuss preview the 10-day Boston Sci-Fi Film Festival, an intergalactic, extra-terrestrial occasion where robots, vampires, aliens, and human imposters drop through the space-time continuum, blow up cars, dance and sing on the big screen.

Here’s link to that conversation.

http://www.wgbh.org/media/player.swf

Be sure to check out the Fest. It has films from Bangladesh, Estonia and some weird place called Maine. Find out more by visiting Boston Sci-Fi.com

Hugo versus The Artist

When it comes to Oscar time, the voters are often swayed by the cultural winds blowing across the country. When you look across the winners of past years, you wonder, “What the heck were they thinking?”. Then you look at those that either lost or weren’t even nominated, and you wonder, “How could they miss such a classic?”
This year, Martin Scorcese’s HUGO will get slighted as THE ARTIST steals its thunder.
Here is a clip The Hollywood Reporter talked to Scorcese about his film.

So when the dust truly settles on this year’s Oscars, will THE ARTIST remain a triumph of nostalgia or be remembered like Roberto Begnini’s films – a well intentioned embarrassment? Or will HUGO find a more lasting fame as more than nostalgia, but a classic for the time?

I like THE ARTIST and enjoyed watching it. The homage to the silents was appreciated, but in terms of being a better film, HUGO wins. HUGO explores our past by showing how we forget it, then find it again. It is a more hopeful, more human film.

The Muppets BItch Slap Fox News

You know our culture is in deep trouble when The Muppets bitch slap Fox News.

As is it’s wont, Fox News is always looking for ways to stir up controversy. Apparently it justifies their existence and brings the less than discriminating audience to their TV screens. Recently one of their minions, Eric Bolling, slammed the hand held nerfballs for making an oil executive the ‘meanie’ in their film. The ripple was felt. So much so, that Kermit and Miss Piggy responded at the London opening of the film. Here is a clip of that video.

It all started this past December when Bolling, in a Fox Business Network report, questioned whether the Jim Henson creations were brainwashing children with their liberal agenda. Oil executives are bad. Why can’t they be portrayed more gently?

Kermit & Miss Piggy, simply and eloquently, took them to task. It’s great when real puppets slap back at the puppets driving the Fox story line.

Chronicle Viral Stunt

OK, I want one, or maybe even two.

The movie “Chronicle” is coming out and as a publicity/viral stunt, a company called Thinkmodo developed these small machine powered kites shaped like humans. The idea was to create viral sensation. They did.

The film tells the story about some high school students who discover they have superpowers, including the ability to fly. Like most teenagers, they don’t know much so they get into trouble with their new found strengths. We’ll see how the film does, but if, in the parlance of Hollywood spin meisters, over performs, we can expect more ‘stunts’ like this.

Anyway to promote the film Thinkmodo made these man/kites and film them. They are made of a high tech material made up of carbon/dacron fiber. They are six feet in length, but weigh a measly 4 pounds. It took several flights of the men/kites to get the footage they wanted, but with over 1.5 million YouTube hits, someone will be getting a bonus.

SAG Awards & The Oscars

On Sunday night the Screen Actors Awards were given out. The winners tell us much about the upcoming Oscars. Here’s my take.most of the Academy acting members are also SAG members, we are left with a basic fact. The SAG awards have

SAG is comprised of 120,000 actors. The Academy, you know those folks who vote for the Oscar, nearly 1200 of its 5700 member made up of actors. Now factor in that become on of the more reliable bell weather for predicting Oscar acting winners, especially since they happen before Hollywood’s biggest night. This is true despite the fact that SAG has only been giving out awards since 1995.

The winner’s at the SAG awards were Jean Dujardin for Best Actor (The Artist), Viola Davis for Best Actress (The Help), Octavia Spencer for Best Supporting Actress (The Help)and Christopher Plummer as Best Supporting Actor (Beginners). Make no mistake about. These are the Oscar front runners as of right now. Don’t get swayed by any political spin you may hear or even feel. If you’re looking to win your office Oscar pool, write these names on the ballot.

The winds change and shift in Hollywood all the time, but if the voting were taking place today, that would be your best bet for your office pool. Oh yeah, final ballots for the Oscars will be mailed out tomorrow. As the bad comic once said, “Timing is everything.”

Stay tuned, I’ll be yakking up the Oscars and how to win your Oscar pool until red carpet time.

‘The Artist’ Blooper Reel

Found this ‘blooper ‘ reel from Micheal Hazanavicius’ THE ARTIST. Yes, Virginia, it’s in French, but guess, what? The film is silent.

BTW, the buzz out of Hollywood is that THE ARTIST will win Best Picture, but there is also a growing movement that says the aged voters of the Academy are leery of voting for a ‘one trick pony.’ Stay tuned here as we’ll let you know about how the winds are blowing out of La-La-Land.

BTW, the buzz out of Hollywood is that THE ARTIST will win Best Picture, but there is also a growing movement that says the aged voters of the Academy are leery of voting for a ‘one trick pony.’ Stay tuned here as we’ll let you know about how the winds are blowing out of La-La-Land.