Oscar Rehash, and How I Did on My Predictions

Let's talk about the ceremony, which I didn't find nearly as terrible as most people seemed to. It had its ups and downs, but doesn't it every year? You may remember I made a couple of predictions about how things would go down - let's see how I did.

1. THAT co-hosting was so full of awkward moments that I can't actually count all of them. (Anne Hathaway dances "The Dance of the Brown Duck" (in tap shoes!) while James Franco wears a HORRIFYING body stocking! Franco appears in a...hot pink evening gown and Marilyn Monroe wig! That is a thing that happened.) Add in Anne's hillarible angry song directed at Hugh Jackman and I'm calling this 85% win...but for the lack of real dancing, and no Neil Patrick Harris (WHO SHOULD TOTALLY HOST NEXT YEAR, ACADEMY. TAKE NOTES.)

2. Hathaway wore Valentino on the carpet (maybe because 8 trillion other women were in Marchesa), but went for a total of 7 dress changes. Most of them were actually MUCH better than the Valentino, including a gorgeous gold shag column from Oscar de la Renta. So this one gets a 50% win.

3. NO 127 Hours jokes, AT ALL. I didn't think this was fair, although it may have been because Ben Stiller didn't even come to the show. With all the potshots our hosts took at every other film, though, it did seem like Franco's own film was left out of the fun because of his hosting duties. To which I say: dude was STONED, people. He probably would have laughed, too. 0% win.

4. Hailee Steinfeld did look adorable in her custom fitted Marchesa. I could wax rhapsodic about how much I love this girl, but I'll just say for now that it's ok she didn't win Best Supporting Actress as I look forward to her long and varied movie career (get this girl under contract for The Hunger Games, and do it NOW). I was VERY DISAPPOINT she and The Dude didn't have a red carpet moment (that I saw on E!, anyway). But that's ok, I think they've had those before other shows and they're probably sick of each other by now. Not that Steinfeld would show it, though, because she's SO poised and collected during interviews. 33% win.

5. COLIN FIIIIIIRTH. Helena Bonham Carter's dress looked more like it walked off the set of Sweeney Todd than Alice, and the camera didn't pan to Rush but that was because Firth was too busy being adorable and amazing. There was no bromance shout-out, but I'm tempted to call this a win because of when Firth said he needed to go backstage and dance. 100% win for movies and the world, 33% win for me.

6. I think Andrew Garfield was there? Jesse Eisenberg definitely was, because I asked my family if he had an entire security detail when he arrived on the red carpet. TRENT REZNOR FOR THE WINNNN, I don't CARE how y'all feel about Hans Zimmer (who I love, but seriously, the score for The Social Network was haunting and beautiful and a seamless part of the spectacle onscreen. Reznor deserves this.). I wish we'd gotten that red carpet pose, but oh well. The carpet on the whole was pretty boring. 50% win, because Mara wasn't there and I'm free to speculate that it's because of her Dragon Tattoo getup.

7. 100% win, although this is also 100% lose because my heart really is broken. I just want to watch How To Train Your Dragon over and over and over again.

8. I was honestly shocked that The Wolfman won Best Makeup - usually, when a movie like this gets nominated for something it actually deserves, it loses to the more obvious Oscar bait (I was also surprised by Alice in Wonderland's Art Direction win). It was thrilling to me to see the Academy award truly brilliant work (in the Makeup respect; Wolfman was a good movie, but I would hesitate to call it brilliant). Sadly, Benicio del Toro was not there, lupine-looking or not. 0% win, but a pleasant outcome so I'll take it.

9. Where on Earth was the cast of Inception? Nolan was there, the camera panned to him a couple of times, but I was CHEATED out of Marion Cotillard's dress and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in a suit. Which is a TRAGEDY. Inception did win some big awards, though: Best Cinematography, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing and Best Visual Effects. 0% win for me, but much more win for Inception (and genre film).

10. It's hard to categorize my percentage of win in this case because NO ONE CAME TO THE SHOW. Seriously, I felt like E! was showing me the same 12 people on the red carpet because they had no one else to interview. Four of my predictions for worst dressed didn't even show up, and the fifth (Hilary Swank) looked really, really good in her Marchesa feathered ballgown. Of my five best dressed predictions, only two showed; although Helen Mirren DID look fantastic, and I liked Melissa Leo's dress (although I might be the only one).

Overall I did not do well. But! I had fun watching the show, and now all I want to do is watch movies forever (can The King's Speech come out on DVD now, please?). And really, that's what the Oscars is all about, isn't it?

X-Men: First Class, Arthur, Prom

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS
Good use of music, nice foreshadowing with the chair. Using footage from the first movies is a good call. Also re-using the mansion, it looks like. Really nice, subtle scenes with the different powers; the woman with insect wings, Mystique, a SUPER young looking Hank McCoy. I missed this the first time around, but I think we get to see Hank's transformation from Big Dude to Big Blue Hairy Guy, which is an interesting side story for them to pursue. James McAvoy has the grace and gentleman-quality to pull of Charles. I did feel like I was supposed to recognize some of the faces, but when they didn't show my powers I couldn't take a guess.

The visuals are great - shiny as befits a science fiction film, but with the retro feel they need since, you know, it takes place in the 60's. There's some great military bits, which feel a little weird, since the first X-Men film treats the political side of the mutant issue as rather new (as I recall). They are flubbing the timeline a little, since Emma Frost gets a moment where she goes all glittery and she doesn't actually get that power until much later in the X-Men timeline, but that's already been cross-wired so many times you won't hear me complain.

Also missed the first time around - NIGHTCRAWLER'S DAD, HOLY SHIT. Are they doing THAT? We see Mystique, and Azazel BAMF-ing around...that would be a little weird, if this movie is supposed to inhabit the same world as the first three films (which has been my assumption, based on my thoughts below).

What I really like about this trailer is that they seem to be constructing it as an honest-to-God prequel, rather than this "reboot" shit people keep tossing around. Charles' mansion looks almost identical to the set in the Trilogy, likewise the chair design and Magneto's helmet (unpainted, which I love) use the same designs. What this also does is gives the story a chance to explore the dynamic between Charles and Eric as the notion was introduced in X3 - that once upon a time, these two great and powerful men were friends, the remnants of which remain in the earlier films.

That relationship between the Professor and Magneto has always deeply intrigued me, and it's part of what makes them both fascinating characters - they're not just good guy/bad guy, they're idealists in their own way and both of their philosophies retain parts of what was originally a communal idea. I'm excited for this film.

ARTHUR
I hate Russell Brand, but I love Helen Mirren. Arthur dresses like a douche. Helen Mirren is a badass. Horrendously predictable, I think. The only wild card is Jennifer Garner as the arranged marriage proposition that Brand desperately hates - I can't tell if he's supposed to meet someone else, or if romance is just not A Thing in this movie. My money is on the latter, since Brand is such a show-horse it's hard for him to share the spotlight. This kind of man-baby comedy drives me CRAZY, I think I will probably miss this one.

It does have one great line: "What was that?" "French kiss." "Really? Because the French always surrender. That was decidedly German."

I don't have a whole lot more to say...it has the potential to surprise, I guess, but honestly? Helen Mirren is the only touch of class in a film that will probably end up being awkward and vulgar.

PROM
The number of cliches in this actually, physically hurt me. You know I would NEVER speak ill of Disney, but...the Rebel and the Class President Who Defy Convention and Fall In Love, the Nerd Who Can't Talk to Girls, The Prom King and Queen (who probably have Secret Problems)...the list goes on. Rebel has to help put prom together or he won't graduate, which infuriates Class President until she realizes he's got a heart of gold. But she wants to go with Oblivious Hottie! Who asked Cheerleader! And then there will be a dress montage. Maybe more than one.

Seriously, it looks like High School Musical crossbred with Lizzie McGuire, which then stole all the boring parts from that Brittany Snow movie about the stalker teacher. I'll probably see it (I do, after all, consider the two Princess Diaries movies to be AWESOME, although the second one might now count because it has Chris Pine in it and I'll literally see anything he's in), but seriously? Can we get some new cliches up in here? Some new high school archetypes? Or, even better, make them people rather than cut-outs?