MY BALONEY HAS A FIRST NAME…IT’S O.S.C.A.R.

Since the presentation of the Academy Awards is actually a television show, I felt I could weigh in with my ill-informed opinion and predictions on this T.V. blog.

The show itself is notoriously lame (check out the Rob Lowe/Cinderella 1989 opening number at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJyzrA1aR3U) if you can stand it. Yet, people still tune in to watch the Motion Picture industry congratulate itself in record numbers every year.

I personally just lifted a ten-year boycott of the awards show. This futile protest heard by none began in 1999 when Shakespeare In Love beat Saving Private Ryan for Best Picture. SIL was a fine little movie, but the impact of SPR is still felt today. It has influenced cinematography and directing style with its inventive battle scenes. It also helped generate enough interest to help raise funds to complete a WWII memorial in Washington D.C. Steven Spielberg won Best Director that same year. What movie did he direct if not the Best Picture? Ridiculous.

Knowing that quality is not necessarily the bottom line, here are my predictions for the major categories for the 82 Annual Academy Awards show on March 7, 2010.

Best Picture: The Hurt Locker
(Avatar’s originality and influence will only grow, but it will go home without the top award this year)

Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow
(I applaud what will be a historic moment when a woman wins in this category, but James Cameron will be eliminated because of his hubris and not for a lesser accomplishment.)

Best Actor: Jeff Bridges (Let’s here it for The Dude)

Best Actress: Sandra Bullock (This is her Erin Brockovich)

Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz
(Unless they decide to use this opportunity to honor a lifetime of work for Christopher Plummer)

Best Supporting Actress: Mo’Nique
(Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick will split the Up in the Air vote)

That’s it. I am not doing Art Direction or Costume Design. That is just the crap we have to sit through to get to the categories anyone cares about.
For all the red carpet fashion comments, let me just say… “Back to you, Holly.”