Champagne Wars

By Jamie44, a Trail Mix Contributor

Usually the Oscar broadcast is a favorite of the year as there have always been one or two favorites contesting for the top honors.  Last year with it’s surprise ending was a special treat of confusion and disaster.  This year feels as if the most boring to ever hit the Academy Award Theater for the simple reason that I don’t actually have a dog in any of the fights.  All the nominees if you want to check them off. 

Right now Three Billboards, Shape of Water, and Call Me By Your Name seem to be the major contenders.

Of all the movies this year, I’ve had three favorites Logan, Mudbound, and Greatest Showman.  Both Logan and Mudbound deserved but did not receive Best Picture nominations.  Greatest Showman has flaws but excellent acting and great singing & dancing.   Mudbound did get a Best Supporting Actress nomination but this will probably go to Alison Janney (well deserved).

Mudbound also received noms for Cinematography but is up against the incredible Roger Deakins for Blade Runner 2019 and Dunkirk.  Then there is  Adapted Screenplay up against Call Me By Your Name which will probably win.  Logan did get a nom but not actually a contender.

Best Song is completely up for grabs.  Greatest Showman with the global anthem of This is Me (Not my favorite from the movie which is the non nominated From Now On), Mudbound with Might River (written by Mary J. Blige) and Remember Me from Coco which will probably take Animated Film for the celebration of Dia de Muertos.

So what have you seen that might have you cheering late Sunday night.

More Posts by Jamie44

Share

80 thoughts on “Champagne Wars”

  1. and the Oscar goes to most telling joke at the gridiron dinner:

    “So many people have been leaving the White House, it’s invigorating since you want turnover. I like chaos. It really is good. Who’s going to be the next to leave? Steve Miller, or Melania?”

  3. Last night the Independent Spirit Awards through another monkey wrench with a win for Get Out for best picture.  It is one of the few I haven’t seen because I don’t do horror movies.  Would anyone else like to give it a review, since so many are raving about it?

     

  4. I Saw All the Money in the World and Logan. Both were good. Plummer was his usual excellent self. Best movie and best supporting actor should go to it/him. Of course only Plummer was nominated, so ….

  5. Saw 3 Billboards didn’t like the ending

    Saw “The Game”. Got a free deck of cards.   It was ok

  6. This was the rehearsal for “From Now On”.  I know everyone is loving on the message of “This Is Me”, but this is the song I felt actually deserved the nomination not to mention they were trying to get the film funded and Jackman wasn’t supposed to sing because of just having cancer surgery on his nose …. that idea didn’t last long and he had to go in for restitching the next day.

     

  7. To give you an idea of what goes in to some of the Oscar numbers for the show.  This is the rehearsal for the 85th Oscars with the Les Mis cast in casual dress and no make up and then what was seen on TV.  They all made unbelievable talent look easy.

     

     

  8. [       ] was to the Academy Awards as Oprah was to the Golden Globes. Any bets?

    Not a fan of anything Pixar. Is it my imagination or does every old person (male & female) end up looking like Ed Asner?

    ????? A little fun:

    Lionel Barrymore -> Mr Magoo -> Jeff Sessions.

    Sophia Loren -> Ginger -> Melania

    Ben Cross -> Deer in the headlights -> Jared Kushner

    Gary Sandy-> Kid who played Damien in The Omen -> #45

    Damien Lewis -> a blank wall -> Eric Trump

    Jean Luc Ponty -> a loose screw -> Trump Jr

    Both actresses who played Becky on Roseanne -> one of Dracula’s brides -> Ivanka

     

     

     

     

     

     

  9. Frances McDormand (probably Best Actress) had a great time swearing while wearing slippers during the Spirit Awards last night.  I don’t think she can get away with that for the Oscars (well maybe the slippers) but it would be a bleeping good time if she did.

    Oh the other one to look for in slippers or barefoot:  Allison Janney (Probable Best Supporting Actress).

    Here is a printable ballot if anyone wants to mark along tonight Vanity Fair Oscars

     

  11. Jace, where are you? What would you like for us to play for you? How about Claire de Lune in recognition of the beautiful full Moon that we had this past week? Here goes

  12. oh no, jace mia?   I assumed jace was being his gentlemanly self bowing to Jamie and the Oscar preview.

    sending bright lights, prayers and vibes his way

  15. jace, one you may have missed in your talks on saint paul

    btw, sunday is just not the same without the serendipity

  16. Jace – grateful for Jamie’s post, but missing you!

    Jamie – I don’t think “Get Out” is going to win best picture – I think 3 Billboards is and should – but Get Out really stood out as a horror movie because it had so much to say about race relations. And I really like Allison Williams. Speaking of theme songs, did anyone see Brooke Shields on Watch What Happens Live recently? She said she was supposed to sing “Endless Love” in that movie until Diana Ross entered the equation. She agreed it all worked out for the best for everyone!

    SJWNY – looking at list of presenters tonite, I think Dave Chappelle might be one with something noteworthy to say…

  18. Hoping Jace is ok.

    I’m up in the wild and wooly north.  Haven’t seen any of the nominated movies… so probably no Oscar watching for me.   But for those of you who will watch,enjoy!

  19. Dave B

    You reminded me of one of the all time witty remarks I ever heard.  Back in the day when you had to line up for films in the era of the multiplex, I’m standing in line with a brilliant and funny man when a woman rushes up and asks, “Is this the line for Endless Love?”.  He turned and answered, “No ma’am, just the movies.”

     

  22. craig, perhaps the weather is bad there… seems we’ve been and are being slapped by mother nature on both coasts this weekend.

  23. excerpts from the guardian:
    On Sunday Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor who managed Trump’s transition and remains a loyal supporter, said the president’s reliance on family members compromised his ability to run the White House.
     
    But Christie, whose hopes of becoming attorney general were reportedly quashed as payback for his role in jailing Kushner’s father Charles, sidestepped the question of whether he thought the son should be removed.
     
    “The president’s going to have to make that judgment,” Christie told ABC’s This Week.
     
    He added: “This is most particularly sensitive because it’s a family member. In a normal situation, you might terminate a staff member for that reason. It becomes a lot more difficult if you’re going to be sitting at Thanksgiving dinner with that person.
     
    “And so for Jared and for Ivanka [Trump’s daughter] and for all the other members of the family who were involved in one way or the other, I think everybody’s got to focus on what’s best for the president.”
    [….]
    Christie pointedly praised Hicks, who became embroiled in controversy over the handling of domestic assault allegations against former White House staff secretary Rob Porter, to whom she was romantically linked. Hicks also appeared before the House intelligence committee this week, admitting in a nine-hour appearance to telling “white lies” for the president.
     
    “I think Hope Hicks saw that between the Rob Porter situation and some of the other things that were going on that she was becoming a distraction for the president and less of an asset in her mind,” Christie said.
     
    “And she did the noble thing, in my view, which was to say, ‘You know what? If I’m not 100% an asset for the president, I’m gonna back away.’ And I think she deserves credit and I don’t think she’s getting a lot of it in this kind of scandal-driven stuff that’s going on.”
    […]
    Despite Trump’s public falling out with Jeff Sessions, it is not thought likely the attorney general will go. Former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus – who resigned last July – told ABC the Trump-Sessions feud was “a problem” but said: “I don’t think it would be good for the president for Attorney General Sessions to leave.”
     
    Trump’s grievance with Sessions is based on the former Alabama senator’s decision to recuse himself from investigations into Russian election meddling.
     
    “[Trump] feels like that was the first sin, the original sin and he feels slighted by it,” said Priebus. “He doesn’t like it and he’s not going to let it go. And so I think when he feels frustrated by the Russia probe and all of those things he watches on television and reads about in the paper.”
     
    Christie said: “The president has the right to do what he wants to do. And if the president has absolutely no confidence in the attorney general, then the president has to act.”
     

  24. re Oscar night –   good thing they’re opting for the small orange pins.  can you imagine the clash of red carpet and orange dresses?  also not the best of color for most skins….  think twit as example.

  25. also orange can be annoying. remember this one before the world went crazy?

    Published on Jan 15, 2016

  26. I am rooting for Allison Janey, Best Supporting in I, Tonya. Didn’t see the movie, but I love that woman.

  27. Thoroughly enjoying the completely shallow and vacuous red carpet previews.  It is such a relief from the non stop horror movie that is Donald Trump.

     

  30. Craig

    Janney decidedly deserves it.   There really isn’t too much of an argument on that one.  Mary J. Blige and Laurie Metcalf were wonderful, but Janney turned the film into a definite two hander with Margot Robbie.  Robbie was great but up against McDormand or Hawkins likely to walk off with that one unless the vote splits significantly.

  31. Here is the battle a lot of the insiders are watching just because both contenders are so respected:

    ■ If Rachel Morrison wins an Oscar, she’s blocking Deakins on his 14th un-won nomination. ■ If Roger Deakins wins an Oscar, he’s blocking Morrison from becoming the first woman to win Best Cinematography in Academy history.

  33. and Frances McDormand … unglamorous women getting recognition, I’m for it!

  34. Interesting that ABC is playing the soundtrack from Greatest Showman when coming out of commercial.  So Far

    This is Me (the nominee)

    From Now On (my favorite)

     

  35. You will need to enlarge this one to see it in all its glory.  90 years of Oscar.  Scary, I’ve been around for 74 of them.

     

     

  37. Our letter carrier when I was a little boy was named Oscar. He was very kind to me. Then, one day he was gone. Looking at Jamie’s 90-year list, the last of those movies we saw in a theater was Patton. We went to no more movies not much after that.

  38. Flatus

    Every year.  Oscars are my World Series … Unless the Dodgers are in the World Series.  Then the World Series is my Oscars.

  39. I was always happy that I was fortunate enough to see Sasheen Little Feather.

  40. That girl and Marlon may have shifted a few of my para-diggums….

    That Marlon was a mensch.

  41. ICYMI……..Book of the year:   SONGS MY MOTHER TAUGHT ME, by Marlon Brando.   A cherishable book.

  42. Technically, Marlon’s book fits into two categories……..Book of the Year and Celebrity Book of All Time.

  43. It’s an old story…….sensitive artistically inclined mom, family brutalized by overbearing, drunken, bitter and mean father……

    cf THE GREAT SANTINI and THE PRINCE OF TIDES, for instance

    A cracking good yarn, it’ll make you laugh, it’ll make you cry…..

  45. Sturgeone

    Prince of Tides is still one of my favorite books and films.  You liked seeing Little Feather.  I loved seeing David Niven coping with a streaker by remarking on his “short comings”

     

  47. Just checking into the Oscars. Any notable awards yet?

    Saw Pittsburgh Symphony do Beethoven’s 2 this afternoon. The pianist was Benjamin Grosvenor- my god, British wunderkind’s 25 and is in the Cliburn and Horowitz ether. 

     

  48. And to anyone who has any pre-conceived notions about Brando, pro or con….read that book

  51. Flatus, “Patton” is one of my favorites. Saw it at the theater with my father, who went in with me at the last minute because I needed an adult to accompany me.

    George C. Scott’s Patton was my father. Wow.

    Oscars can do what they want. I have no expectations other than Gary Oldman for Best Actor and Willem Defoe for Best Supporting.

    Plus, Jace for Best Trail Mix score.

     

  52. Sometimes I can solve eighty-leven problems while listening to a long Beethovan piece……..weird how that works

  53. Pogo

    So far going as expected.  Only major award so far is supporting Actor taken by Sam Rockwell for 3 billboards.

  55. Jamie, thx. That was Plummers category?

    sturg, could just be incipient senility or the fact that I lived too far away from an air raid siren but while I remember air raid drills- hallways and desks and all, I think they were triggered by the school bells and fire alarms- or maybe air raid sirens. Shit, I can’t remember.

    And yep, Ludwig Van B – talented kid when he wrote the 2nd. Fun fact- when he debuted it in 1795 he conducted and performed as the piano soloist. Not sure how he could play piano and conduct at the same time. For transitions between the solos and orchestral sections he’d need 4 arms. Maybe he was Hindu or something.

  57. They said Ray Charles conducted with his feet…

    Visiting cousins B’ham we were all screwing around in the backyard out by Shades Mt. And this most ungodly sound began……air raid siren test…….it was like Vulcan was screaming……….

  58. Pogo

    Yes, but Rockwell has been winning all the precursors up until now so this one was expected.

  59. Actress Supporting … Here we go with Craig’s choice and mine???? …. Allison Janney because the universe does sometimes do the right thing.

  60. How in the hell can they even be nominating Kobe, let alone giving him an Oscar?  Epic fail & I hope the me-too-ers make a stink about it.   Hollywood is full of hypocrites.  How about that.

  70. Keala deserved it for This is Me. Hugh Jackman deserved it for Les Mis. Sometimes Oscar just fucks up!!!! That happened tonight and in 2013.

  71. Hmmm, which film I haven’t seen will it be. Lessee, Jordan Peele got best writer so could it be…?  Lotta choices. Nope.

    Lady and the Fish. Interesting. My MIL thought it was strange. But then, the story line sounds strange. Guess I better see it and see if she’s right.

  72. I haven’t seen a movie in a theater in about a decade.  Most stuff is too violent or sad, anyway.  I’ll stick with old musicals and the like.

  75. Jamie, Dunkirk and Darkest Hour are the two that most appeal to me of the nominated films. May see them in the theater if they hang around long enough.

Comments are closed.