I finally went and saw Avatar yesterday. It felt like a chore, to just gear myself up and find a friend to go with me, buy the ticket, and put on the glasses. I had incredibly low expectations, as I had heard an abundance of Pocahontas and Ferngully comparisons (and I admit, I had my fair share of resentment for the movie that finally beat Titanic’s record—Billy Zane does not approve.) But I must say I was pleasantly surprised, and ended up liking the movie far more than I’d anticipated. That’s not to say I’m rooting for it to win the Oscar or anything, but I found it to be a decent movie experience overall.
Speaking of, the Academy Awards are next week,
and while I’m excited for the show, there isn’t really any particular movie that I’m rooting for, except maybe Up, which is one of my very favorite movies of the past year. Maybe most favorite. Sigh...I ended up seeing seven out of the 10 Best Picture Nominees, which isn’t a bad track record, and I think I’ve seen all of the ones that have a serious chance. However, I never got around to catching An Education, A Serious Man, or (gasp!) District 9. Oh well, maybe I’ll get to those eventually. Maybe?
Aside from the change from five to 10 Best Picture Nominees, this year also sees a change in how a winner will be chosen in that category. The Academy is returning to an old system of “preferential voting,” which means voters will be ranking their choices from 1 to 10, with the goal of one movie coming out on top with a majority of number one votes. If no movie gets 50% of the #1 votes after the first round, the film with the least first choices gets knocked out of the running, and so on until a majority can be found. That means the movie with the true number one choices (say, The Hurt Locker) could actually lose to a movie with fewer first choices and more second choices (say, Inglourious Basterds). Confusing enough for you?
That was probably way more information than you ever wanted to know, but it might be important when it comes to you making your Oscar picks. Because… you’re making your Oscar picks now, right? RIGHT? That’s what I thought.
I’ll be back with my picks a little closer to the show, because I know you’re all dying (read: not dying) to hear what I think.
Why else would you be reading this blog? Right? RIGHT?
