Oscars Recap and “Outpick Fred” Totals

Well it’s over! I’m terribly exhausted so these final thoughts on the Oscars will be in Bullet format:

• No one who entered the contest out picked me this year sadly (I wanted someone to get there I really did). Out of 40 the winning total was mine with 29 points. After that Josh got 27, Brian got 26, Ethan and Ted got 24, and Sofya got 18. Again thanks to all that entered and let’s hope that next year’s contest gets some winners!

• Now on to the Oscars themselves! So the show in general. Meh… It was average there was some good and some bad but overall nothing too good and nothing too bad either.

• Let’s start with the good with the best awards acceptance speech done by none other than the amazing Daniel Day-Lewis who shone like no one else with his amazing speech that was funny and emotional!

• Runner Up was Tarrentino who was cut off for some strange reason before not being cut off!

• Shirley Bassy!!!! Who I was too hard on in the live blog and who saved the Bond segment!

• Adele who got under micked (more on that in a second)

• Jennifer Lawrence face plant!

• Jaws as the playoff music

• Barbra Strisand

• On to the bad now

• Seth MacFarlaine wasn’t that bad but after the decent opening he kind of began falling on his face a little with some unfunny jokes and strange bits

• Someone needs to tell them that the idea of playing video packages of the best picture nominees sucks and that they should never take tips from the Globes (except for potentially hiring Amy and Tina). Stupid and a waste of time that could have been spent not going overtime

• Some really boring presenters

• The academy believes that people still care about Chicago to the point of it being annoying!

•  And the worst offender of the night the sound mixing! Adele’s otherwise really good performance was destroyed because of this as was the Les Miz casts sort of ok one…

So that’s it the Oscars are done! Congrats to the winners and we will see what happens in this year’s movie season!

Oscars "Big Points" Live Blog

Hey It's Oscar time and I'm here to give my opinions on the show. Now unfortunately I'm not going to have the time or patience to sit through the entire show and live blog it but I'll hit on things I notice, like or dislike! I'm ready to be surprised by our host Seth Macfarlain and by the awards so bring on the Oscars!!!!

5:27- It's almost time!!

5:45- Solid intro funny, much better then most. Best joke was the Affleck one "So top secret that not even the accademy knows he exists!" Fantastic mix of old and new and hey William Shatner! Again really solid intro he's off to a really good start!

5:49- Best Supporting Actor right off the bat!

5:51 Cristoph Waltz wins!!! Wow didn't see that coming but love it!!! He's the best in the category and really deserves it! Awesome speech and uses Quintin Dialogue!! Fred pick 0/1

5:56- Melissa Maccarthy and Paul Rudd NOT FUNNY!!!

5:58- It's the tie breaker but I got the animated short!

6:00- Brave wins!!! The Pixar theory always works!! Even though it's not that good it's still the academy pick! Fred Pick 1/2 Roger Ebert thought he had them all and he's been wrong for all his picks so far....

6:03- Why are they taking cues from the Globes stop with the filler!! Time to take a nap...

6:07- Life of Pi wins cinematography no surprise there... I stand by Skyfall as having better Cinematography though! Fred Pick 2/3 Ps Robert Downy Jr. joke was ok and worked well enough!

6:10- Life of Pi wins visual effects no surprise there.... Avengers should have won though Fred Picks 3/4 Ps second Avengers joke kinda bad....

6:11- Wait play off is Jaws theme!!! WIN!!!

6:16- So wax is funny now???

6:18- Anna Karenina wins costume design, good pick no surprise there! Fred Picks 4/5

6:20- Hairstyle and Makeup goes to Les Miz disappointing on that one... I guess I should have saw it coming Fred Picks 4/6

6:22- James Bond tribute with Halle Barry???????? Strange...

6:24- the whole tribute thing makes me wonder why Skyfall wasn't nominated

6:25- Hey Shirley Bassy! She almost forgets the lines a few times..... Strange performance but OK I guess....

6:29- In brief retrospect I was too hard on Bassy!! She finished strong and got a great ovation. Really good moment and much better than the stupid video package! She still almost forgot the Lyrics...

6:32- Shorts so I'm not paying too much attention (nice break) Ps Jamie Fox not funny and kida awkward.... I'm going to watch all of them on dvd though they all look really solid!!!

6:37- I'm back ok... Liam Neeson.... Wait more stupid video packages....

6:43- Macfarlain is average and getting less funny... Jessica Chastain joke was too tasteless and not funny enough...

6:44- Searching for Sugar man wins! It's high on the list of movies I have to watch add one more into the correct picks category! Fred picks 5/7

6:45- By the way film students as trophy givers is a classy touch!

6:50- Hey look it's the biggest lock of the night award Foreign Film!! Winner is.... Amour duh! Haneke deserves this all the way what a fantastic film! It's good to see Haneke win I love practically all of his films!

6:52- Hey Orchestra gets notice! Yay!

6:53- John Travolta is up so is it a clip package... Yep

6:54- Oh wait live singing.... Wait who still cares about Chicago all these years later... It's good but not great...

6:57- So if no one cares about Chicago why does anyone care about Dreamgirls??... At least the singing is really, really solid!!

7:00- Well we can move that singing up to great territory great job Jenifer Hudson how is the Les Miz cast going to top that???

7:01- Wait with the new original song LAME!!!!! Ok here comes One Day More....

7:02- You can tell who has Broadway training in the cast... God Sasha Barren Coen and Hellen B. Carter are awful and so is the sound mixing..... Scratch that the sound mixing is really really awful.... Why are they getting a standing ovation?????!!!!!

7:10- Macfarlain isn't doing so hot at this point... Even his self deprecating effort wasn't great...

7:12- Back to the awards finally! Sound Mixing goes to Les Miz no surprise there! After the One Day More performance here at the Oscars you can kida see why they won!  Fred Picks 6/8

7:15- Ted jokes aren't all that great... Sound editing time winner is wait tie what? First winner Zero Dark Thirty!! My pick! Fred Picks 7/9. For the contest I will award points for both right answers and won't take anything away but that's really weird! Second pick Skyfall I guess that works! I guess you can only have a tie in a "nobody cares" category like sound editing...

7:19- Hey Seth if you do a bit from Sound of Music DON"T LAUGH IN THE MIDDLE OF IT! OH Christopher Plumber!

7:20- Supporting Actress time! I love Christopher Plumber so much!! This one's practically a lock winner is..... Anne Hathaway for practically having a cameo in Les Mis! Easy pick! Fred Picks 8/10 At least we got to hear another fantastic speech from Anne Hathaway! She's always so good with those speeches...And she didn't get played off! Good job Oscars!

7:29- Accademy president! (IE break time)

7:30- Yay Film Students!!! Go Film Students!!

7:32- Editing I have no idea about this one I went with Argo Winner is.... Argo! Got that one! Actually diserves it to a certain extent! Zero Dark Thirty was well edited as well... Fred Picks 9/11

7:34-  Adele is comming up with the best Bond Songs in years! Locking it even more as the winner! She sounds really good but they need to turn her mic up really badly she's getting outpowered... Oh There we go! Still her miking sucks.... Not her fault either she's close to it... Another sound mixing fail!!! Adele really sounded great though! Yet no standing ovation... Sound mixing fail!!

7:43- Seth has lost all hope for redeaming himself for me... He was good at the start but has fallen off ever since....

7:44- Look more stupid video packages (break time)....

7:47- At least this vid package reminds me of how bloody fantastic Amour is!

7:48- Production design time! Another one I'm schechy on winner... Lincoln hunh didn't pick it but it's a great choice! Fred Picks 9/12

7:51- Govonors awards (break time)

7:57- Clooney time! In Memoriam... Great intro George!

8:01- Barbra Strisand singing and doing a dang fantastic job of it!!!! Great job!

8:04- Great performance!! Really emotional!!

8:05- So let's play how late is the Oscars going to go.... It looks already like this one is going to be a while....

8:08- Why do the Oscars think that people still care about Chicago???!!! Strange!

8:09- Music awards time! Best score time.... Winner is.... Life of Pi another correct pick for Fred! Fred Picks 10/13! Ps the Chicago cast is really annoying!

8:12- Wow did they ever do a disservice to the other original songs as they don't get to perform live!!!! Save for Ted of course! Yay Norah Jones!! Biggest Lock of the night is Best Original Song... Winner is  Skyfall of course! Easiest pick of the night! Fred Picks 11/14 Adele is crying! Hey other guy gets to speek!! I don't think he can believe that he gets to speek!

8:18- So we have both writing awards, directing, both acting awards, and best picture left! Folks we have a while to go...

8:23- Adapted screenplay time Dustin Hoffman is decently funny.... Winner is.... Argo! Wow didn't see that one comming at all! I think it has a good shot at best picture now!! Fred Picks 11/15

8:25- Original screenplay biggest tossup of the night! Winner is.... Django Unchained!! Yes! Sorry I got that one and I love Tarrentino!! Fred Picks 12/16 Tarrentino is getting played off unfortunaltly as he's thanking the other writers! Shame!!!

8:32- Directing this early!! Wow I guess they're covering for not nomintaing Bigelow and Affleck! Winner Ang Lee! Who saw that comming??? Cirtanly not me! Wow! Wow! Wow! I really bit that one! Good for him! Fred Picks 12/17

8:39- Still realing a bit from Directing! Best Picture is up in the air now!

8:41- Jean Dujardin is charming as usual! Best Actress time... Another toss up!! Go Chastain for amazing performence! Go Lawrence for my pick!!  Winner is Jennifer Lawrence!! She fell on the steps!!! Get's standing ovation for falling! Fred picks 13/18! Robert De Niro is falling asleep! Good speach she's breathless and dosn't make fun of Maryl!

8:45- Hey look it's Maryl!! Actor time! Another lock!

8:47- Hey look Joaquin Phoenix!! Remember him he is so great in that film and so much better than Hugh or Bradley! Cut's to him and he looks sad that he has no chance! Sad! Winner is... Daniel Day-Lewis! No suprise there! First actor to win 3 in the category! Standinng ovation! Deserves every second of it!! He's one of the greatest of all time! He's so brilliant and even his Margaret Thatcher joke works! Great speech he should just go on forever! Fantastic! Fred Picks 14/19

8:52- Right to best picture! Hey it's Jack! And Michelle Obama??!! Go America I guess..... I like Jack though! I take back my earlier statement this is the biggest tossup of the night by far now!

8:54- Here we go back to Jack! Best Picture here we go! Winner is.... Argo!!! Wow I got it! They really screwed up with not nominating Affleck for Director! Fred Final Picks 15/20! Not bad!! I guess it was clear when it won Screenplay! Good for them no qualms with who won! Really emphisize director! Affleck has to do his speech he should of had for director! He thanked Canada! Covered his screenwriter on that one! Going to tally up those points now and write some final thoughts!

“Outpick Fred” At The Oscars 2013

Oscar season is finally here! With the season comes the first and hopefully annual “Outpick Fred” At The Oscars contest. The contest is simple you have to make more correct Oscar picks than me and everyone else who is participating. The prize if someone can Outpick everyone is a copy of the Blu Ray combo pack of my pick for best picture Argo (which includes the DVD as well for those who don’t have Blu Ray) and I’ll review a film of the winners choosing (that’s decently available to rent). 

Here are the official rules of the contest:

• Contest open from Sunday February 17^th 2013, to 11:59pm PST Saturday February 23^th 2013

• To enter click the link to the document below in which you can make your picks, Only one ballot per person (I’m moderating and watching if anyone enters more than once they are automatically disqualified) must include full name (first and last), and Country, province/state, and city, and email (so I can contact you if you win).

• Mailing address and Postal code are optional but if you win I will need it to send you your prize (so if you want to make life easier you can enter it in the doc).

• The winner must beat my picks to win the contest. If no one beats my picks, no one wins (or I win depends on how you look at it).

• Winner must beat me and everyone else to win the prize.

• The points structure is simple: a correct Best Picture guess gets 5 points, correct picks in the major categories (All the acting awards and directing) gets 3 points each for a total of 15 possible points, correct picks in the medium categories (Animation, Documentary, Foreign, and the writing categories) gets 2 points each for a total of 10 points, and correct picks in the minor categories (all the technical categories) gets 1 point each for a total of 10 possible points. Total possible amount of points: 40 points. If there is a tie with my point total the person with the most correct picks wins, same applies with everyone else. If there is still a tie there is the tie breaker section of one short film category this year it’s Animated short (it’s optional and doesn’t count for points but if you don’t pick it you can’t have the tie breaker). If there is a complete tie the person who entered the contest first wins the tiebreaker.

• Must live in the Canada or US to participate

• The winner of the contest will receive a copy of the Argo Blu Ray Combo pack (includes the Blu Ray, the DVD and the digital copy) and a Fred review of your choice (as long as I can rent it).

Enter here:

"Outpick Fred" At the Oscars Form

 

A review of my picks:

Best Picture (5 points)

Best Picture: Argo

Major Categories (3 points each)

Actor in a Lead Role: Daniel Day-Lewis “Lincoln”

Actress in a Lead Role: Jennifer Lawrence “Silver Linings Playbook”

Actor in a Supporting Role: Tommy Lee Jones “Lincoln”

Actress in a Supporting Role: Anne Hathaway “Les Miserables”

Directing: Stephen Spielberg “Lincoln

Medium Categories (2 points each)

Animate Feature: Brave

Documentary Feature: Searching for the Sugar Man

Foreign Film: Amour

Adapted Screenplay: Lincoln

Original Screenplay: Django Unchained

Minor Categories (1 point each)

Cinematography: Life of Pi

Costume Design: Anna Karenina

Film Editing: Argo

Makeup and Hairstyling: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Original Score: Life of Pi

Original Song: “Skyfall” from Skyfall

Production Design: Les Miserables

Sound Editing: Zero Dark Thirty

Sound Mixing: Les Miserables

Visual Effects: Life of Pi

Tie Breaker:

Animated Short Film: Paperman 

So that’s it ladies and gentlemen! Good Luck and let’s see if anyone can “Outpick Fred”!

Oscar Picks 2013: The Major Awards

 The Oscars are coming!! It’s time to pick who will win the awards. Of course the “Outpick Fred” contest will commence on Sunday February 17^th and the rules of that contest along with my full list of my picks will be presented on that day. For now I’m going to go through my picks in detail in two parts The Small Awards and The Big Awards. The only picks I’m not going to make are short film picks because I would look like a fool trying to pick those. For now here are the picks for the 6 major awards. (Legend: Pick: my pick for what will win, Should win: what I think is the best in each category)

Actress in a Supporting Role:

Pick: Anne Hathaway “Les Miserables”

This one is one if the easiest picks. While Anne Hathaway may not be the best performance in the category it’s the one that’s been winning and will continue to win come Oscar night.

Should Win: Helen Hunt “The Sessions”

Actor in a Supporting Role:

Pick: Tommy Lee Jones “Lincoln”

Supporting actor is a really good category this year. It’s a battle of old veterans and character actors and it’s really tight. I’m going with the “Academy pick” in the grumpy old Tommy Lee Jones but if Robert De Niro or Chrisoph Waltz I wouldn’t be surprised or sad.

Should Win: Christoph Waltz “Django Unchained”

Actress in a Leading Role:

Pick: Jenifer Lawrence “Silver Linings Playbook”

This one is another difficult one. As we speak I’m debating whether to pick Jessica Chastain, who was the favorite until about two weeks ago, and Jenifer Lawrence who is leading the current hypeathon. Ultimately my pick will go to Lawrence as Zero Dark Thirty has gone dark in the hype department and Silver Linings playbook continues to climb the hype train. It’s sad because Jessica Chastain’s performance is the best one.

Should Win: Jessica Chastain “Zero Dark Thirty”

Actor in a Leading Role:

Pick: Daniel Day-Lewis “Lincoln”

Another easy pick. Daniel Day-Lewis should and easily will win the best actor award. On a side note though poor Joaquin Phoenix has fallen off the map completely and The Master is getting no love at all.

Should Win: Daniel Day Lewis “Lincoln”

Director:

Pick: Stephen Spielberg “Lincoln”

Usually the director pick is easy because it’s always the Directors Guild Award winner. Unfortunately Argo director Ben Affleck was not nominated for reasons that still puzzle me. So let’s go with the veteran Spielberg who hasn’t won the award in many years and seems to have a little hype train behind him.

Should Win: Stephen Spielberg “Lincoln”

Best Picture:

Pick: Argo

The biggest category and the biggest risk. It hardly happens but I’m rooting for the best picture and best director awards to be from different films. Two weeks ago I would have thought one foolish to pick against Lincoln, but after a huge momentum streak Argo seems now like the better pick. It’s a risk but it’s one I’m going to take. Let’s hope now that Lincoln doesn’t sweep the awards…

Should Win: Zero Dark Thirty

Alright then the picks are in. The full contest rules and regulations will be up tomorrow Feb. 17^th for your picking pleasure. I’m confident in my picks and I don’t think there is much picking room around them but we’ll see it should be a close contest.

Oscars Picks 2013: The Small Awards

The Oscars are coming!! It’s time to pick who will win the awards. Of course the “Outpick Fred” contest will commence on Sunday February 17^th and the rules of that contest along with my full list of my picks will be presented on that day. For now I’m going to go through my picks in detail in two parts The Small Awards and The Big Awards. The only picks I’m not going to make are short film picks because I would look like a fool trying to pick those. For now here are my picks for the smaller awards. (legend: Pick: my pick for what will win, Should win: what I think is the best in each category)

Animated Picture

Pick: Brave

                The animated category is a bit of a tossup this year despite it being a weaker year for animation. Based on awards hype so far my pick goes to Brave. Also the award always seems to go to a Pixar film (save for Rango’s win last year). I wouldn’t be surprised if Wreck it Ralph won but ultimately I think I have the best chance with Brave.

Should Win: ParaNorman

Film Editing

Pick: Argo

                I can see Argo getting some love in this category. Really I don’t know if Lincoln ends up sweeping (which I’m counting on that it doesn’t) I can see this award going in that direction. I don’t see Argo winning too much (more on that next article…) but I think it should get something here.

Should Win: Zero Dark Thirty

Cinematography:

Pick: Life of Pi

                Total academy pick here. Despite saying this I don’t think Life of Pi will pick up much else come Oscar night.

Should Win: Skyfall

Original Score:

Pick: Life of Pi

                That being said I think Life of Pi will pick up score as well. Kind of that “going with the hype” pick.

Should Win: Lincoln

Original Song:

Pick: Adele “Skyfall’

                Easy pick. I don’t think this has a chance of losing.

Should Win: Skyfall

Foreign Film:

Pick: Amour

                Another easy pick. It’s the only foreign film to be nominated for best picture. Do the math…

Should win: Amour

 
 Original Screenplay:

Pick: Django Unchained

                This is another tossup but I think that Django Unchained is the favorite going in and that it will ultimately win the category.

Should win: Django Unchained

 Adapted Screenplay:

Pick: Lincoln

                I don’t think Lincoln will sweep but there are a few that it’s going to win. Screenplay is one of them.

Should Win: Lincoln

Visual Effects: Life of Pi

                Shouldn’t win but will. Another easy Academy pick.

Should Win: The Avengers

Production Design:

Pick: Les Miserables

                It will be a battle between this film and Anna Karenina. I think Les Mis takes this and Anna Karenina takes the next award.

Should Win: Les Miserables

Costume Design:

Pick: Anna Karenina

                The costumes in this film are fantastic and as much as the academy loves Les Mis I think Karenina can win this.

Should Win: Anna Karenina

Makeup:

Pick: The Hobbit

                This one seems like a no brainier in this category, I say go Hobbit 100%.

Should Win: The Hobbit

Documentary Feature:

Pick: Searching for the Sugar Man

                I don’t watch many docs but this is the only one that people seem to be talking about. So I guess that is the one we go with then… (Doc category is kind of week isn’t it)

Should Win:????

Sound Mixing:

Pick: Les Miserables

                Take Les Mis for this category. If it deserves any award it is this one.

Should Win: Les Miserables

Sound Editing:

Pick: Zero Dark Thirty

                Zero Dark Thirty has to win something and while it won’t win much this is one it will win.

Should Win: Zero Dark Thirty

Come back tomorrow for the big category picks including Best director, the acting awards, and best picture. Don’t forget contest starts February 17^th!