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Arts
Thursday, February 28, 2019 — 5
An old Daily Arts Writer used
to call the Academy Awards “our
Superbowl” in the sense that
this was to be the Sunday night
in February where we get wine-
drunk and yell at our illegal
streams HDMI-ed to the T.V. I’m
not perfectly down with this idea:
A) because I don’t know if we
should be making identity-politic
statements that suggest you can
only like one and not the other,
and B) because I don’t know of
anyone who watches movies that
would want any ownership over
the slate of nominations (and
winners!) we got this year. But a
football fan could say the same
thing about their Superbowl this
year, so maybe the analogy holds.
That being said, we went on and
made this year’s Oscars as close
to the Superbowl as we could.
The film beat played a game of
“Fantasy Oscars,” the whole setup
the brain-child of our great writer
Anish. Split into four teams of two,
each pair of Daily film Writers
drafted a team of four general
nominees and one best picture
nominee. If the same movie
showed up in multiple different
categories — an example being
Spike Lee’s (“Do the Right Thing”)
“BlacKkKlansman,”
nominated
for adapted screenplay, director,
best
picture
and
supporting
actor — then each individual
nomination was available to be
drafted and scored separately. For
their final Best Picture pick, the
teams were allowed to choose the
same nominee and drafted blind
to avoid one team’s pick swaying
another’s. Teams were told to
pick based on what they thought
should win, not on their own
hopes and dreams.
We randomized the order, then
snake-drafted from left to right to
left in the order below. Each of our
teams wrote little blurbs before
and after the ceremony about their
confidence/fears going into the
night, as well as their reactions to
how their teams fared.
— Stephen Satarino, Daily Film
Editor
BEFORE:
We
believed
“Roma”
was
owed many things. Art doesn’t
always get the recognition it
deserves, though, especially not
in ethnocentric contexts, so we
thought our safest bet would be
“Roma” for Best Foreign Language
Film. That was our first draft; our
fifth was “Roma” for Best Picture.
The latter was a wish. My
Nana sends me a screenshot
of Rami Malek (“Mr. Robot”)
holding an award every time she
sees that he’s won something
else for “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
Given the number of these texts
I’ve received, Malek’s Golden
Globe win, this Oscar season’s
generosity toward popular films,
and the way Malek says “darling”
with a British accent, he was our
man for Best Actor.
Spike Lee has never been
recognized as Best Director. We
repeat: Spike Lee has never been
recognized as Best Director. See
our third draft pick.
Fourth, we drafted Regina
King
(“Watchmen”)
for
her
performance in “If Beale Street
Could Talk.” The best part of one
of movie outings earlier this year
was when I first saw the “Beale
Street” trailer. The best part of the
trailer, aside from its hint at the
majestic score, is King’s majestic
animation of his majesty James
Baldwin’s words. She was the
highlight of the film.
— Julianna Morano, Daily Arts
Writer
As we approach the end of
this awards season, my cynicism
about the Oscars has only grown.
The Academy has proven, time
and time again, that it is the out-
of-touch, mercurial trainwreck
we believe it to be. To exacerbate
what will be the shakiest Oscars
telecast of the last few years, the
nominees themselves are … less
than stellar. For these reasons,
picking our draft team was a
coldly unemotional process. There
was little conflict between
my own wishes and my
expectations for what films
would win in each category:
I rarely felt moved enough
by even one nominee to
hope for its success.
With
that
dose
of
pessimism out of the way,
I do feel confident about
my picks. First, we chose
“Spider-Man:
Into
the
Spiderverse,” a film that
emerged seemingly out of
thin air at the end of last year
to
overtake
“Incredibles
2” as the front runner for
animated awards.
Next we chose Glenn
Close (“Crooked House”),
the star of a film I’ll
probably never see called
“The Wife.” As much as
I hate to admit it, she’s
confidently
diminished
Olivia Coleman’s (“Them
that Follow”) and Lady
Gaga’s (“American Horror
Story: Hotel”) chances at
the Best Actress award.
Sorry Ally!
Our
third
choice
is
Mahershala
Ali
(“True
Detectuve”)
as
Best
Supporting Actor in the
year’s most controversial
movie, “Green Book.” As
much as Sam Elliot (“The
Ranch”) tearing up while
backing out of the driveway broke
my heart in “A Star is Born,” Ali is a
strong favorite due to his typically
measured
performance
and
considerable detachment from the
criticisms of “Green Book.”
Fourth,
we
chose
“The
Favourite”
for
Best
Original
Screenplay
for
little
reason
other than that it was a category
frontrunner according to experts.
(It’s also one of the two Best
Picture nominees I loved.)
And finally, for our fifth pick, we
overlapped with the other teams
on the likely Best Picture Winner:
Alfonso
Cuarón’s
(“Gravity”)
“Roma.” “Bohemian Rhapsody”
and “Green Book” lurk in the
background as the dark horses
that could shatter this outcome,
but I guess we film writers are an
optimistic bunch. It’s time to stop
predicting and start praying.
— Anish Tamhaney, Daily Arts
Writer
Assembling
our
team
the
week before Oscar Sunday, Team
MichalskerHelm felt reasonably
confident, but our confidence has
waned as the night approaches.
Our first three picks are solid, but
the odds in the Lead Actor race
have begun to favor Rami Malek
as he has picked up other industry
awards including the BAFTA
and SAG equivalents of the Best
Actor Oscar. The SAG is especially
telling, as it’s usually a reliable
indicator for the acting awards.
The Best Picture pick that
makes up the fifth round is mostly
meaningless as we’ve all picked
“Roma,” but the race is a bit more
complicated than that. “Green
Book” is a strong if controversial
contender, and there’s a chance
that the acting branch of the
Academy votes for “A Star Is
Born” en masse to make up for
the perceived snub for Bradley
Cooper’s
(“Avengers:
Infinity
War”) directing.
The same thing happened in
2013 when Ben Affleck (“Justice
League”) wasn’t nominated for
“Argo,” which would go on to
win Best Picture over the favored
“Lincoln.” The preferential ballot
– when voting for Best Picture, the
Academy doesn’t vote for a single
film, they rank the nominees
which
are
assigned
points
accordingly – also means that
more broadly appealing films like
“Black Panther” have a shot, as
well. Still, with Alfonso Cuarón’s
masterful work behind the camera
a lock for the Best Director trophy,
“Roma” remains the favorite – no
pun intended.
— Jeremiah VanderHelm, Daily
Arts Writer
The good, the bad and the ugly: Fantasy Oscars 2019
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
CHRISTINE JEGARL / DAILY
AFTER:
Oscar Sunday was a whirlwind
– no host, lots of sexual tension
and some not-so-surprising wins.
Though the ceremony opened
with the trifecta to end all trifectas
(Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph and
Tina Fey), the Oscars eventually
returned to its tried and true
formula, proving that, for how
progressive Hollywood likes to
think it is, the system still rewards
mediocre films for increasingly
unclear reasons.
But it’s all fine if the good
movies and people get awarded
somewhere, right? Spike Lee’s
talents were finally recognized
with “BlackKklansman” for Best
Adapted Screenplay (we were
hoping for Best Director), but
this and other wins were tainted
when
“Green
Book”
snagged
Best Picture. Naively, our team,
the whole section really, held out
for “Roma” in this category – we
put our faith in the Academy,
hoping they would overcome their
infatuation with “Green Book.”
Unsurprisingly, though, they were
hooked, and audiences will talk
about this moment for years to
come.
Overall, our draft team did
relatively well: “Roma” won Best
Foreign Language Film, Regina
King picked up Best Supporting
Actress and Best Actor went
to Rami Malek for “Bohemian
Rhapsody.” It was a predictable
ceremony that really just left me
wishing I could also give Samuel L.
Jackson (“Glass”) a koala bear hug.
— Emma Chang, Senior Arts Editor
While I’m not surprised at all
about it, I’m beyond happy that
Cuarón received recognition for
his direction. It’s the least the
Academy could do to make up
for their decision to give “Green
Book” the Best Picture award.
I’m excited to see what this win
means for the artistic futures of
both Cuarón and Netflix.
Deep
down,
I’m
pretty
surprised Colman won the Oscar,
even though she was my draft pick.
Glenn Close would probably have
been the safer pick, considering
she’s a seven-time Oscar nominee
and
this
is
Colman’s
first
nomination. While the cynical
part of myself speculates that the
Academy gave Colman the Oscar
to give “The Favourite” some sort
of recognition, I like to think they
did because Colman simply gave
the best performance of all the
actresses nominated.
The
Academy’s
choice
of
“Green Book” for Best Picture
makes it abundantly clear that the
Oscars have long stopped being
relevant in any way that matters.
For “Green Book” to even be
nominated, let alone win, shows
just how out of touch Academy
voters are. To choose “Green
Book” over “Roma,” a nearly
universally adored masterpiece, is
a conscious vote for tradition over
progress.
— Elise Godfryd, Daily Arts
Writer
You never dream of a three-way
tie when setting these things up,
but alas, we will have to wait until
next year to crown a champion
of the Film section. Congrats to
all three of the teams who scored
three points. Ian and Anish will
be both banished to the realm
of
reviewing
terrible
Netflix
originals like “The Kissing Booth”
or something.
I thought the ceremony ran
very well without a host, and I
hope, for the sake of all of our
future Sunday nights, we won’t
see a return to the old format any
time soon. Other than adapted
screenplay and best picture, I was
pretty okay with the awards given
out. It’s difficult to get excited for
2018’s award season since 2017
was such an unbelievable year
(2016 too). Anything receiving the
vaunted best picture award in a
year like this, while movies like
“Lady Bird,” “La La Land,” and
“Whiplash” go on best-picture-
less, was never going to feel quite
right. The best case would be, in a
year like 2018, having the option
to retroactively use our 2019 best
picture award up on something
that the Academy whiffed on in
years past. In a perfect world,
we went back on Sunday night to
1990, to “Do the Right Thing,” to
Spike Lee.
Oh well. On to the next year.
Here’s hoping for bigger and
better things with sounder, less
offensive choices at the Dolby
Theatre when we visit the Oscars
again.
— Stephen Satarino, Daily Film
Editor
CHRISTINE JEGARL / DAILY
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com