The Oscars

I've been catching up with the Oscars on the official site (I love you Michelle Williams but really, could you be any more bored during your red carpet interview?). It seems like it was a decent show, I loved the intro (a bit cheesy but you have to cut them some slack, it's the Oscars!). There were some loverly frocks too, more of which later.

So I didn't do too badly with my predictions - I should have had more faith in The King's Speech to fly the British flag though! By my reckoning I got 15 right. Not too shabby.

Oscar predictions

The Academy Awards are finally here! I'll probably spend the next 48 hours alternating between frustration at not being able to watch it (curse you Murdoch, curse you!) and desperate scrabbling on the web and TV for info on the winners and losers (of the awards and in the dress stakes).

This year there should be few surprises for the major awards, so I'm not going out on a limb here, but for form's sake these are my predictions (use the Datablog's handy guide to make yours).

Best actor: Colin Firth (but I'd rather James Franco)
Best actress: Natalie Portman (not seen it but surely deserves it for what she put herself through)

Supporting actor: Christian Bale (can he share it with John Hawkes please?)
Supporting actress: Melissa Leo (brilliant)

Best director: The Social Network (why oh why wasn't 127 Hours nominated?)
Best picture: The Social Network
Animated film: Toy Story 3
Foreign Film: In a Better World

Adapted screenplay: The Social Network
Original screenplay: The King's Speech

Original score: The Social Network (go Trent Reznor!)
Original Song: If I Rise (Randy Newman has too many Oscars already)

Documentary: Inside Job (but I think Banksy would make for better TV)
Documentary short: Strangers No More

Short animation: The Gruffalo
Short live action: God of Love

Art direction: Inception
Cinematography: Inception
Editing: The King's Speech

Costume: The King's Speech
Makeup: The Wolfman (because B-movies deserve credit too)

Sound editing: True Grit
Sound mixing: True Grit
Visual effects: Inception

Year of pleasures #2: Oscars season

I love the Oscars. I used to stay up all night to watch, when it was on the BBC, with a big bowl of popcorn and a few drinks to get me through until 6am. Now it's on Sky (grr) I have to rely on the web, 24 hour news channels and BBC Breakfast the morning after. I get a lot more sleep but it's nowhere near as exciting as watching it live, unedited and unpolished. Even though the Baftas has ramped up the glamour in recent years, no other award ceremony can quite hold a candle to the Oscars.

Nominations were released today, and while there's always a chance that the Academy could vote against the grain, so far Colin Firth (The King's Speech - the Academy likes an impediment) and Natalie Portman (Black Swan - physically demanding role) look like shoo-ins for the best acting prizes.

I may be on maternity leave but in my absence one of my colleagues is keeping an eye on the nominees and winners of all the major trophies this awards season. Before you make your Oscars predictions check out the form of all the nominees on the Datablog.

Oscars tribute to John Hughes

This photo is so exciting - some of John Hughes' finest lined up to honour the great man. Anthony Michael Hall is barely recognisable but Molly Ringwald still looks amazing, she rocks.

Check out the John Hughes tribute from last night's Oscars over on Popsugar.

Oscars best dressed

Well, the Oscars were predictable this year! And good job too, I certainly didn't want to see Avatar win against The Hurt Locker, or Christoph Waltz and Jeff Bridges lose out. Sandra Bullock was an obvious choice too - the storyline of The Blind Side is perfect Oscars fodder - and she was gracious enough to accept her Golden Razzie on Saturday night for All About Steve.



But enough about the awards, we all know it's really about the fashion. There was lots of sparkle and no real clangers this year. Sandra Bullock played it safe but classy in Marchesa, while Carey Mulligan looked cute in a sparkly number (not sure about the hemline and hate the shoes, though).





Kristin Stewart scrubbed up nicely in a stunning dress and up do (she gets slated a lot for looking surly but, frankly, standing having your photo taken by burly paps is hardly a laugh a minute is it?). As a friend said, "made of win".



Charlize Theron attended in a pretty dress but what is going on with the top?



Mariah Carey seems to have forgotten half her dress (I'm not a prude but seriously, buy the right size!).



And Zoe Saldana's dress looked a bit like a novelty loo roll holder, totally mismatched with the top half. One of my least favourite dresses of the evening, but not the worst. No, that honour goes to Jennifer Lopez, who looked like she was dressed in bubblewrap. Not a good look.

Don't mess with the Oscars

So the Oscars have finally rolled around. I used to relish it as a highlight of the year until BBC lost the rights to Sky. Highlights just don't cut it - too many musical interludes, a sanitised version with all the controversial - and funny - speeches edited out. You can't beat sitting up all night, popcorn and beer on hand, waiting to see if your predictions come true and if the Academy throws any curveballs.

Anyway, even without that excitement, I'm eager to see who they pick this year (you can see my predictions on the Datablog nominees/winners tracker, if you scroll through the comments at the bottom).

There's an argument (espoused by David Thomson on the Guardian blog this week) that the Oscars are losing favour with the American public - viewing figures seem to get lower every year - but I think that's missing the point. Yes, the nominated films sometimes have little or no audience at the American box office. But the awards should be about quality, not popularity. Some of the biggest films in the US are really poor - Big Momma's House anyone?

Even if the Academy voted along populist lines, they're unlikely to get viewing figures anything like decades ago, when the public revered their film stars, before their every flaw was instantly revealed on gossip websites.

Cut the budget, by all means - scrap the gimmicks, the hugely expensive presenter goody bags, the self-congratularoy love-ins, the horribly unfunny scripted comedy sketches, all those musical interludes - but don't pander to a public - and a network - that doesn't care about quality filmmaking.

Oscars night is about the industry, voted for by the industry, and the people who genuinely care about good filmmaking will keep watching. Everyone else can watch the MTV Movie Awards.

Oscars countdown

I've been busy with a few Datablog posts lately - one on teen drug misuse, one on deadly earthquakes - but my favourite one of the moment is tracking all the major winners over the film awards season.

Until the BBC lost the rights to the Oscars, it was one of the highlights of my television year, staying up late (usually til 6 or 7 in the morning) with popcorn and beer to watch it live. I miss the build-up but now that I'm writing about it I feel excited again.

Every year I plan to watch the films that have generated the most Oscar buzz, but never get round to it. This year I'm determined to catch at least some of them at the cinema - films like Up In the Air, The Hurt Locker, Crazy Heart, all of which have done well in the nominations so far. I don't think I'll be checking out Avatar though (despite the Golden Globe nods) - I'm sure it looks amazing but the story just doesn't seem that original.

The Academy Award nominations are out later this week but I'm prepared to look stupid by casting my predictions early - Jeff Bridges for best actor, Sandra Bullock best actress (white female teacher coaches black student - it's a shoe-in unless Oscar fave Meryl Streep wins the votes), Kathryn Bigelow for director, The Hurt Locker best film, Mo'Nique and Christoph Waltz for supporting roles (they've won everything so far so not much of a gamble!). Let's hope they get nominated now!