Simultaneous Blogging Baby!

Check this out, folks, I'm actually writing two blog posts at once!  I'm actually blogging here, at The Life of Meaning, and over at Word Press, where I'm equally disinterested in life, the Universe, and most things.  You see, when one has nothing better to do all day than sit and stare at the wall, these crazy ideas tend to pop into one's head.

Any road, up, I am spending this Sunday morning copying films from my Sky Plus Planner onto DVD.  Let those corporate pigs try and stop me!  BBC 2 seem to have struck some deal to buy up loads of films from the RKO Radio archive.  Last week we had the 1935 Katharine Hepburn film Sylvia Scarlett, and on Saturday it was the turn of Fred Astaire in The Sky's the Limit (1943) and Cary Grant in Every Girl Should Be Married (1948).  They've all gone on DVD, thanks very much, Auntie.  Oh, and that's not to forget the season of Fred & Ginger movies the Beeb have been showing over the last 8 weeks - every last one from Flying Down to Rio  (1933) to The Story of Vernon & Irene Castle (1939).  Of course, any film buff worth their salt will know that does not represent the entire body of work those two made together, because there is one more film, The Barkleys of Broadway (1949) that the two made together over at MGM.  This film did not begin life as a Fred & Ginger vehicle; it was supposed to co-star Fred with Judy Garland, but the then Mrs. Minnelli was so addicted to prescription painkillers that she was not deemed fit enough by producer Arthur Freed to star in the film.  So, in came Ginger Rogers.  Incidentally, it wasn't the last time Judy Garland was kicked off a film - in 1950 she had filmed over half of Annie Get Your Gun before being fired.  Things had to be serious to get booted off a production - all studios panicked about costs, and to do that to a major star meant some serious shit was going down.  That same year her contract was torn up by the studio and she made just one more film in the next decade - A Star is Born in 1954 at Warner Bros.  But I digress.  The Barkleys of Broadway is not an RKO film but it does appear in my boxed set of Fred & Ginger movies - a great set that is too.

So, thank you, BBC2, for continuing to show these great films.

Speaking of digressing, that reminds me - a great-looking film is out in January - entitled The Artist, it is a brand new film from director Michel Hazanavicius about a silent movie actor's fears as the whole of Hollywood adapts to the coming of sound.  Movie buffs, especially those of the "Classic" film, will notice a certain similarity with the 1952 musical classic Singin' in the Rain, but here's where The Artist is different.  It is a 100%, bona fide silent film - possibly the first made during the sound era since Chaplin's Modern Times in 1936.  I say possibly because no-one can be 100% sure, and I'm sure that one of the many thousands of you will correct me if, as is quite likely, I am wrong.  And, if the buzz surrounding Oscar is to be believed, it could be the first film to win the coveted Best Picture Academy Award since Wings in 1928 to be completely devoid of dialogue and, indeed, sound effects - viz., to be silent.  I hope it wins

Well, blog-watchers, I'll stop for now because, as I mentioned, I'm actually writing two at once today.  I've no idea how to link to one blog whilst writing another.  All I can tell you is to go over to WordPress and look up stephenbutler.
x

It's Oscar Time!

Dear Blogwatchers:

So much for my promise to keep updating this blog on a more regular basis. Since I last wrote to you, so much has happened outside my window that I just had to sit there for hours on end and stare at it. Early in December, it snowed. Early in January, it went all foggy. How much more exciting could it possibly get than that?

Anyway, the announcement today of this year's Oscar nominations made me think of both of you, and I resolved to blog upon this subject for your edification.

First off, let me make it perfectly clear that the Oscars were never meant to get this big. The first ceremony, which took place in 1929 I believe, was a reasonably formal dinner in some hotel in Hollywood when, at some point during the evening, a few announcements were made giving the Tinseltown community's views on what the best films of the previous 'season' were. All the winners were known prior to the ceremony; there was no surprises, no gushing speeches, no red carpet and no E! Entertainment channels making 3-hour programmes on the nominees' dresses.

This year, there are 10, yes ten, nominees for Best Picture. The Academy's choices are now so stale and predictable that you can practically name them all the day after the previous year's awards.

For the record, here are my predictions for the year's winners in the major categories. Bear in mind that there cannot be a 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' style clean sweep of the major awards this year:

BEST PICTURE The King's Speech

BEST DIRECTOR Tom Hooper (The King's Speech)

BEST ACTOR Jeff Bridges (True Grit)

BEST ACTRESS Natalie Portman (Black Swan)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR Christian Bale (The Fighter)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Helena Bonham Carter (The King's Speech)

BEST SCREENPLAY (Orig.) David Seidler (The King's Speech)

BEST SCREENPLAY (Adap.) Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network)

BEST MUSICAL SCORE Alexander Desplat (The King's Speech)

BEST SONG Randy Newman ('We Belong Together' Toy Story 3)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY Matthew Libatique (Black Swan)

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS Alice in Wonderland

BEST ART DIRECTION Alice in Wonderland

BEST COSTUME DESIGN The King's Speech

BEST FILM EDITING Black Swan

BEST MAKEUP The Wolfman [only 3 nominees???]

BEST SOUND EDITING Tron: Legacy

BEST SOUND MIXING Inception

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE Toy Story 3

So there we have it. Even I can't take this as gospel though; if Jeff Bridges wins, he will become only the third actor in human history, after Spencer Tracy & Tom Hanks, to win Best Actor two years in a row, so that in itself makes it unlikely, no matter how good he is. And Bridges always delivers. Speaking of True Grit, one must also consider the merits of a remake gaining so many major nominations. It begs the question...why? Academy voters, I can assure you (because I know one or two of them) will be reluctant to go for Bridges since John Wayne won his only Best Actor award for the original film. Wayne's Oscar was seen very much as a sympathy one, after years of far superior performances failed to gain even a single nomination. The same accusation cannot be levelled at Bridges, since, as I have mentioned already, he already has one statue on his mantlepiece, for last year's Crazy Heart.

According to my predictions, The King's Speech will win 6 Oscars, Black Swan will win 3. Toy Story 3 and Alice in Wonderland will win 2 each, with one each for Tron: Legacy, True Grit, The Social Network, The Fighter and Inception.

Of course, I could be completely wrong, but I fear Danny Boyle will walk away empty-handed this year, as will the makers of Winter's Bone, and The Kids Are All Right. Despite the predictability of the nominations, some categories are still a complete mystery: why, for example, only three nominees each for Best Makeup and Best Animated Film. Certainly in the latter category, there has been such an enormous deluge of CGI 'animated' films in 3-D that I could come up with more than three nominations without even thinking. Where, for example, is Shrek: Forever After, a far superior film to Toy Story 3. Yes, you heard it here first. Well, probably not first, as I would expect many other sad and lonely bloggers to be writing exactly the same on their unread dissertations.

There are a couple of categories where I was a little unsure about my decision. Best Supporting Actress could go any one of the five ways; I picked Helena Bonham Carter because of the fact that 'life partner' Tim Burton is up for several awards for his Alice in Wonderland, and it could make for some great photo opportunities at the after-show party. Best Original Screenplay is quite a strong category this year, and again it could go any one of the five ways here.

It would be silly of me to speculate on the categories for Best Documentary, Best Short Documentary, Best Foreign Language Film etc., etc., because I haven't seen a single one of them.

Hey ho, we look forward to February 27. The Oscars this year are sponsored by Hyundai, by the way.