Something About Maaary

Readers of the blog may know of my love for There's Something About Mary.  Recently, I discovered an extended version of the scene where Ted and Puffy clash.



It's fascinating to see the new material, though I can see why they cut it down.

Moonlight Feels Right

I didn't think I'd write about the Oscars, but that was really something.  Not the winners, which were predictable, nor the lecturing in the speeches, which was even more so. I'm talking, of course, about the most glorious screw-up in Oscar history.

On the slight chance you haven't heard, the presenters for Best Picture were Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, this year being the 50th anniversary of Bonnie And Clyde.  But Warren opened the envelope and paused, and eventually let Faye (who was a bit annoyed) announce the winner--La La Land.

The producers came up and made their acceptance speeches.  But there was activity behind them--something was going on.  By the time the third guy started speaking, it was clear something was wrong.  He started strong but soon heard the news, and said, almost as an afterthought, that actually his film lost. (If they'd only made two speeches, they might still have the Oscars.)

Turned out Beatty had the wrong envelope--not sure whose fault that was--and so was confused by the card inside, which read Emma Stone and La La Land.  But she'd already won Best Actress, and didn't produce the movie.  That's why Warren was acting so oddly--it wasn't a bit.

The real winner was Moonlight.  That film had been surging in the past few weeks, while La La Land was seeing a bit of a backlash, but it still wouldn't have been a surprise if La La Land took it.

I felt pretty bad for the "winners" who had the Oscar snatched away from them.  It's bad enough to lose, but to know what it feels like to win and then lose is so much worse. (I also feel bad for all those people who had La La Land in the pool.)

Up to that point, the Academy had been spreading the wealth pretty widely, so it seemed that La La Land, Moonlight and Manchester By The Sea all had a reasonable chance of taking the big award.

I was rooting for La La Land, and when it won was thinking something like "finally the Academy got it right, and wasn't fooled by a film that didn't deserve it, like Moonlight." I should have known better.

Virtue so common

No benefit of 'Doubt' as CBS pulls Katherine Heigl's new series

So, what's the logic here? "She's blonde! Green light!"

Are blondes so rare in Hollywood? Or virtue so common that there really is such a thing as the casting couch?

Even flatworms learn faster.

The Big Day

Today is the day.  Some close races.  Here, in bold, are the choices I'd make if I had a vote. (And looking over the options, so often, especially in the acting categories, I wish I had a write-in.)  I've removed the categories where I haven't seen enough of the nominees:

BEST PICTURE

Arrival

Fences

Hacksaw Ridge

Hell or High Water

Hidden Figures

La La Land

Lion

Moonlight

Manchester by the Sea

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea)

Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge)

Ryan Gosling (La La Land)

Viggo Mortensen (Captain Fantastic)

Denzel Washington (Fences)

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Jeff Bridges (Hell or High Water)

Mahershala Ali (Moonlight)

Dev Patel (Lion)

Lucas Hedges (Manchester by the Sea)

Michael Shannon (Nocturnal Animals)

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Isabelle Huppert (Elle)

Ruth Negga (Loving)

Emma Stone (La La Land)

Natalie Portman (Jackie)

Meryl Streep (Florence Foster Jenkins)

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Viola Davis (Fences)

Naomie Harris (Moonlight)

Nicole Kidman (Lion)

Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures)

Michelle Williams (Manchester by the Sea)

BEST DIRECTOR

Damien Chazelle (La La Land)

Mel Gibson (Hacksaw Ridge)

Barry Jenkins (Moonlight)

Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea)

Denis Villeneuve (Arrival)

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)

Blind Vaysha

Borrowed Time

Pear Cider and Cigarettes

Pearl

Piper

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)

Arrival

Fences

Hidden Figures

Lion

Moonlight

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY) [This was the toughest category]

Hell or High Water

La La Land 

The Lobster

Manchester by the Sea

20th Century Women

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)

Jackie

La La Land

Lion

Moonlight

Passengers

ORIGINAL SONG

"Audition (The Fools Who Dream)" from La La Land

"Can't Stop The Feeling" from Trolls

"City of Stars" from La La Land

"The Empty Chair" from Jim: The James Foley Story

"How Far I'll Go" from Moana

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Arrival

La La Land

Lion

Moonlight

Silence

FILM EDITING

Arrival

Hacksaw Ridge

Hell or High Water

La La Land

Moonlight

COSTUME DESIGN

Allied

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Florence Foster Jenkins

Jackie

La La Land

PRODUCTION DESIGN

Arrival

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Hail, Caesar!

La La Land

Passengers

SOUND EDITING

Arrival

Deepwater Horizon

Hacksaw Ridge

La La Land

Sully

SOUND MIXING

Arrival

Hacksaw Ridge

La La Land

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Thirteen Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi

VISUAL EFFECTS

Deepwater Horizon

Doctor Strange

The Jungle Book

Kubo and the Two Strings

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story