Sunday, March 4, 2018

Congratulations, Roger!

14 nominations and 23 years later, you finally earned your gold! Who could ever forget the final traitorous moments of Jesse James’ life, the foreboding snowy mood of Brainerd, when Those We Don’t Speak if surrounded a small village, or when freedom was finally won from Shawshank? These are just a few of the iconic images to grace our screens and burn themselves into our memory, finally earning his due through the intoxicating world of Blade Runner. Congratulations, Deaks, and thanks for all the memories.

Now let’s give Thomas Newman and Greg Russell one.

Friday, March 2, 2018

My official predictions for the 90th annual Academy Awards.

"I'm so glad we've had this time together," but now the pay-off to a long Oscar season concludes this Sunday with the upcoming Academy Awards telecast, and man am I excited! I know I made it clear last year that the Academy Awards are nothing to get too enraged or invested over, but there's always something about that friendly sense of competition between viewers with difference in personal preferences, and the joy to correctly guess your most long shot predictions on your ballot.

But boy, does the telecast itself have a lot to live up to. Last year's ceremony was the best I'd seen in quite a long time, thanks to the charisma and bite of host Jimmy Kimmel, who'll be trying to recapture that lightning in a bottle. He certainly has the chance, what with the wealth of burn material handed to him on a silver platter (expect some scathing jabs at Trump and Weinstein). But how on earth they'll address and poke fun at last year's bewildering Best Picture slip-up? We'll have to wait and see.

But putting aside the telecast, here I am once more to list out my predictions in all 24 competitive categories. Last year saw me hit a personal low of 14. I thought that by playing it safe, I'd be able to get a decent score, so imagine my surprise at shocker wins like Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and of course Moonlight's big upset. This year, I've decided I want to be more risky with a lot of my picks, so we'll see if that bolsters my tally. Here are the selections!