Outpick Fred at the Oscars 2014 Contest

Are your Oscar picks the best?

Here we are, it’s finally Oscar time again and that means time for the second annual Outpick Fred at the Oscars Contest. It’s your chance to see if you can beat my Oscar picks and possibly win yourself an awesome DVD and movie review of your choice. Before you get started picking here are the rules to this year’s contest:

Rules and Prize:

• Contest Opens Sunday February 23rd and closes at 11:59 Saturday March 1st

• Contest entries are all recorded on the document linked at the bottom of this page. It’s really easy to fill out! Only one entrance per person, if I find duplicates (and I’m pretty good at spotting these things) you will automatically be disqualified and your post will be deleted. I have made everything on the document required responses so it goes without saying that you must fill out a complete form to be considered a proper entry.

• Contest is open to residence of Canada and the United States only (at least for the dvd prize). In order to keep shipping cost down this is necessary; I’m pretty sure no one who lives beyond these places reads this blog anyhow but still Canada and the United States only! The form does require your Full name, email address, physical address (including Province/State and Country) and postal code, this is entirely for shipping and winner contact purposes only just so I have an idea of where to send your prize if you are the winner.

• To win the contest you must beat my picks as well as everyone else’s picks. The contest is called “Outpick Fred” at the Oscars for a reason! If no one is able to outpick me I win, it doesn’t go to the next best person. There has to be some level of competition and suspense to this competition, if not where’s the fun in that? That being said I’m not the greatest picker in the whole wide world (I did “win” last year but on a ratio that’s pretty beatable) so there is a great chance that you can pull this one off despite having to beat me.

• In terms of categories and points, we’re picking every category but short films. I don’t generally watch short films nor does it interest me to pick them (it’s my break during the live blog too) nor is it too often that people pick these categories anyhow. The picks are divided into four separate categories totaling to 40 points: Minor Categories (sound design, visual effects etc) worth one point each and totaling to 10 points, Medium categories (both screenplays, animated and foreign language films, and documentary feature) worth two points each for a total of 10 points, Major Categories (all the acting awards as well as directing) work 3 points each for a total of 15 points, and Best Picture worth 5 points. They’re about equal points wise so it’s important to have good picks in every category because even a single minor category can make a big difference.

• In the case of a tie there are three possible tiebreakers. The first tiebreaker is the Best Live action Short Film category, if two people are tied the person who correctly picks Best Live action Short wins. If both guess or do not guess the pick correctly we move to the second tiebreaker: point distribution. The person who has the most points in the more substantial categories (hierarchy of categories from lowest to highest: minor, medium major, best picture) wins. If we are still tied then the person who registered first wins (although I’m pretty sure it won’t come to this). If someone ties me there is no tiebreaker I win. This makes it so people can’t duplicate my picks exactly and expect to win.

• The winner will receive their choice of a DVD copy (we’ll see about Blu ray if it’s something the potential winner wants) of one of the four best picture nominations that are released before the night of the Oscars and a review of any film of your choice. These films are Nebraska, Dallas Buyers Club, Gravity, and Captain Phillips. The reason it’s only the films that are released before Oscar night is so that I can ship the prize off guaranteed a day or two after the Oscars. Release dates can change and things could get complicated if I included films that were released after the ceremonies conclude. The film that you choose for me must be rentable on Canadian ITunes other than that it can be anything, whether it’s used to torture me or a is a really cool film that you may have seen but I haven’t had a chance to see/review (I prefer the cool movie option).

Enter Here:

Outpick Fred the the Oscars 2014 Contest Form!

Here is a summary of my Oscar Picks:

Best Picture (5 Points)

Best Picture: 12 Years a Slave

Major Categories (3 Points each)

Best Actor in a Leading Role: Mathew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)

Best Actress in a Leading Role: Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)

Best Actor in as Supporting Role: Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)

Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave)

Best Director: Alfonso Cauron (Gravity)

Medium Categories (2 Points each)

Best Animated Feature: Frozen

Best Documentary Feature: The Act of Killing

Best Foreign Language Feature: The Great Beauty (Italy)

Best Adapted Screenplay: 12 Years a Slave

Best Original Screenplay: Her

Minor Categories (1 Point each)

Best Cinematography: Gravity

Best Costume Design: 12 Years a Slave

Best Film Editing: Gravity

Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Dallas Buyers Club

Best Original Score: Gravity

Best Original Song: Let it Go (Frozen)

Best Production Design: The Great Gatsby

Best Sound Editing: Gravity

Best Sound Mixing: Gravity

Best Visual Effects: Gravity

  

Good Luck Everyone! Let the best set of predictions win!

The Oscars 2014: Fred’s Picks Part 2 From Medium Categories to Best Picture!

The Oscars are coming!

It’s Oscar season again everyone! Of course as with last year, my contest Outpick Fred at the Oscars is going to start up soon (ie Sunday February 23^rd 2014) and thus now is the time to present the thinking behind by Oscar picks. I’m going to start these picks from what I call the “minor categories”  before writing about the” medium and major categories” along the way giving my picks of who I think will win, as well as putting my two cents in on who should win. Without further due here are my picks for the 86^th Annual Academy Awards, going from the medium categories all the way up to best picture!

The Medium Categories:

Best Animated Feature:

Usually I go with the always vote Pixar rule, but for the first time in a while that doesn’t actually apply… In theory this would make the category harder to pick… But then Frozen became the huge success it was and now it’s an easy pick again. This one is a deserved lock for Frozen

Should Win: Frozen

Will Win (Fred’s Prediction): Frozen

Best Documentary Feature:

It’s time to play Fred doesn’t watch too many documentaries but has to pick one game. I actually have an opinion this year though as I got the chance to watch The Act of Killing recently and believe it should win this category. And you know what I’m going to foolishly go with my heart here as I think that The Act of Killing has enough buzz around it to actually pull this off. It may be foolish but hey I don’t have a calculated pick for this one so here goes nothing.

Should Win: The Act of Killing

Will Win (Fred’s Prediction): The Act of Killing

Best Foreign Language Film:
Another category I don’t have as much investment in sadly. I’m going to watch Broken Circle Breakdown in a few days (it’s now on ITunes) and I hope to have the time to see the Great Beauty before it exits the current theatre it’s showing in. So we go with hype and right now The Great Beuty is the big favorite and some even say a lock. So they Great Beauty is going to be my pick.

Should Win: ??

Will Win (Fred’s Prediction): The Great Beauty

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Cue Before Midnight should really win but it won’t rant. First off this is the only category (predictably) in which Before Midnight is nominated and sadly it has to go up against 12 Years a Slave. No “Before” movie has ever won an Oscar and sadly this doesn’t seem to be changing come next week. It is the best script in either category though and I will stand by that through and through. 12 Years a Slave is the predictable winner and the only one I can really see winning this category. But darned if I won’t be cheering for Before Midnight on Oscar night!

Should Win: Before Midnight

Will Win (Fred’s Prediction): 12 Years a Slave

Best Original Screenplay:

This is a tough category oh boy. Personally my favorite overall script in this category is Blue Jasmine’s. It’s Woody Alan’s best in a while and I think it was perhaps the chief reason I liked the film as much as I did. I think Her will be the ultimate winner though, a well deserved one too as it seems to be the film riding the biggest high in this category.

Should Win: Blue Jasmine

Will Win (Fred’s Prediction): Her

Major Categories:

Best Actor in a Supporting Role:

For the most part the acting categories this year aren’t so bad. For me the best performance in this category is probably either Fassbender, for his unpredictability or Jared Leto just for having the gull to play this character and give this specific performance. Leto is the clear favorite going in and I think the lock to ultimately win the category. I can’t really see an upset here. Ps the fact that James Gandolfini isn’t nominated is mind boggling…

Should Win: Michael Fassbender

Will Win (Fred’s Prediction): Jared Leto

Best Actress in a Supporting Role:

It looked like Lawrence was the favorite for a while but since the SAG awards it’s been a different story, and a good one at that. It seems now that Lupita Nyong’o is the clear favorite going into Oscar night which is great because she’s easily the best pick out of the nominated class. No other nominee has quite the same power and emotional beauty portrayed in Nyong’o’s performance and I’m glad to say I get to have a safe heart pick by picking her to win come Oscar night.

Should Win: Lupita Nyong’o

Will Win (Fred’s Prediction): Lupita Nyong’o

Best Actress in a Leading Role:

This one might be the biggest big award lock of the night. I can’t see anyone (even with the power of Amy Adam’s side boob) overtaking Cate Blanchett here and deservedly so, this is the best female lead performance of the year (except maybe Greta Gerwig in Frances Ha, or Julie Delpy in Before Midnight). This category puzzles me though as there is no nomination for the awesome Emma Thompson performance in Saving Mr. Banks, and Meryl Streep just seems to get nominated because she’s well, Meryl Streep. Either way this is Cate Blanchett’s award to win and it would be a huge upset if she doesn’t.

Should Win: Cate Blanchett

Will Win (Fred’s Prediction): Cate Blanchett

Best Actor in a Leading Role:

Poor Chiwetel Ejiofor and Leonardo DiCaprio whom between them have the best male performance of the year and somehow neither are going to win. Instead it’s going to go to the token Hollywood loves massive weight loss performance and McConaughey looks to take it come Oscar night. I’m not saying this is terrible, like it would be if Christian Bale took it but I’m sad that the best performance won’t be awarded the prize. Also I’m sad that Oscar Isaac and Tom Hanks aren’t nominated but that’s a topic that at this point sadly doesn’t apply.

Should Win: Chiwetel Ejiofor or Leonardo DiCaprio

Will Win (Fred’s Prediction): Matthew McConaughey

Best Director:

It’s been a more common since the extra best picture era for the best director, best picture split to occur. I predict it will happen this year as well as I don’t think that the academy can overlook Cauron’s magnificent direction in Gravity. I don’t think anything really matches up to it this year and I will be glad when I hopefully see him win for the amazing work

Should Win: Alfonso Cauron

Will Win (Fred’s Prediction): Alfonso Cauron

And now for the big one...

Best Picture:

I think that this is pretty much a lock. I can’t really see any other film winning at this year’s Oscars other than 12 Years a Slave. Mostly I see this as almost an importance or morality thing for Oscar voters. That and I don’t think any other film really has the hype in this race to push past that potential “moral obligation.” I think this is a lock. Ps it puzzles me that in this year of so many good movies that they couldn’t just pick a tenth nominee for best picture… Maybe Before Midnight??

Should Win: Cue “Why isn’t Before Midnight nominated?” cry

Will Win: 12 Years a Slave

The Oscar’s 2014: Fred’s Picks Part 1 the Minor Categories

 It's Oscar time!!

It’s Oscar season again everyone! Of course as with last year, my contest Outpick Fred at the Oscars is going to start up soon (ie Sunday February 23^rd 2014) and thus now is the time to present the thinking behind by Oscar picks. I’m going to start these picks from what I call the “minor categories”  before writing about the” medium and major categories” along the way giving my picks of who I think will win, as well as putting my two cents in on who should win. Without further due here are my picks for the 86^th Annual Academy Awards minor category edition!

Best Cinematography:
This one’s pretty easy for me in the sense that if Gravity doesn’t win it’s a pretty large tragedy. Ok that may be an overstatement, but seriously for that opening tracking shot alone could easily take the prize for me. The only other film that comes close for me is Roger Deakins’ work in Prisoners and while it’s a beautifully shot film for me it’s a distant second. As for the prediction of who will win, I’m going to put my eggs in the Gravity basket technical achievement wise and so my pick for who will win is also Gravity.

Should Win: Gravity

Will Win (Fred’s Prediction): Gravity

Best Costume Design:

I don’t think I ever get this right because of accurate prediction…. So it’s guessing time folks! I think this ultimately comes down to 12 Years a Slave or American Hustle, and ultimately I think it ends up going to 12 Years a Slave. The only thing I worry about is getting blindsided by The Great Gatsby which can come in and win this, but my policy says stay close to the best picture and that’s what I’m going to do…

Should Win: No really strong opinions but… American Hustle *Shrug*

Will Win (Fred’s Prediction): 12 Years a Slave

Best Film Editing:

Ok I have a little bit of a better educated opinion on this one… But not really a more knowledgeable pick mind you. So with the pick I’m going to use my give technical awards to Gravity theory and run. Editing wise I think again that nothing matches Gravity due to just the sheer amount of effort it takes to create this world and all the technical prowess that goes into it. Sure it’s not like they are the visual effects guys, but they matter almost as much in this case. It’s not particularly flashy editing which may be my downfall on this pick, but again I’m in on the Gravity tech awards boat and it seems so far that I’m not leaving it.

Should Win: Gravity

Will Win (Fred’s Prediction): Gravity

Best Makeup and Hairstyling:

I think that Dallas Buyers Club is a lock here. Even just for the Jared Leto makeup this film deserves it. Sure Bad Grandpa has a single trick up its sleeve but it’s not overall as great as Buyers Club. Also I don’t think that the Hobbit has momentum at this point and considering the first Hobbit film failed to win last year sets the tone for this one. Also Dallas Buyers Club is a best picture nominee giving it a bit of a better chance of winning this one.

Should Win: Dallas Buyers Club

Will Win (Fred’s Prediction):  Dallas Buyers Club

Best Original Score:

This one is usually easier for me because I’m either sure about this one or I go with the one that won to Golden Globe if I’m not sure. Problem is I have no idea and the one that won the Globe didn’t even get nominated for the Oscar, so this one is a crap shoot for me. First off the fact that Hans Zimmer isn’t nominated for his work in 12 Years a Slave at all is utterly ridiculous. Not flashy enough I guess. The sentimentalist in me says they give a career achievement award to John Williams, but he’s won a lot already. I end up falling back on Gravity again because I think it has the potential to steel all of the tech awards.

Should Win: Her

Will Win (Fred’s Prediction): Gravity

Best Original Song:

God I hope U2 doesn’t win this award. It’s not that I don’t like them or anything but literally every choice in this category is better. I’m putting my money on Frozen which should eak out the victory as I think that it’s riding too much momentum to lose this one, even if it has major competition because U2’s song is about the late great Nelson Mandela.

Should Win: “Let it go” (Frozen)

Will Win (Fred’s Prediction): “Let it go” (Frozen)

Best Production Design:

This one’s another slightly tricky one. I that Gatsby might be able to steal this one. I’m going to take a plunge and pick Gatsby because I feel like it, and I think I have to at least have to go with Gatsby for one of either production or costume design.

Should Win: *Shrug*

Will Win (Fred’s Prediction): The Great Gatsby

Sound Editing:

Gravity wins move on!

Should Win: Gravity

Will Win (Fred’s Prediction): Gravity

Sound Mixing:

Again Gravity wins move on!

Should Win: Gravity

Will Win (Fred’s Prediction): Gravity

Visual Effects:

If Gravity doesn’t win this category something is absolutely wrong! Is there anything even close to this movie in this category?

Should Win: Gravity

Will Win (Fred’s Prediction): Gravity

House of Cards Season 2 review: Bold and beautiful at first glance, but ultimately frustratingly empty

Kevin Spacy and Robin Wright on House of Cards

Full spoilers for all of the second season of House of Cards ahead

Thoughts on the second season of House of Cards right after I get back to whipping those votes…

Netflix’s poster boy show, the bold political drama House of Cards returned on Valentine’s Day for mass consumption. As per the Netflix norm all of the episodes were released at once just asking for one grand binge viewing system that has somewhat changed the style of television viewing (of course this existed before the Netflix phenomenon but I guess it made it “cool”). As I did with last season I watched House of Cards in fairly short order (this time in closer succession then last year finishing these in off and on viewing for three days) and again I found myself mixed. Overall I enjoy the show and thought it was painless to watch these in such close succession to one another, but the more reflection given to what was just watched the emptier and emptier it seems. House of Cards is ultimately too shallow character wise for the sense of self importance it places upon itself. That along with some strangely stupid and convoluted plot choices makes the second season of House of Cards a beautiful but painfully empty thirteen episodes of television.

The first and most confusing aspect of the second season of the show is how messy the show gets to get to Frank becoming president. This could have been a simple process, one that could have easily been done by just continuing most of the plotlines from last season. Instead in the first episode of the season they kill off Kate Mara’s Zoe Barns. Sure it’s a bold move one that certainly caught me off guard but, as with the rest of the show it seemed like an empty surprise. It only took the show six episodes of B plot to seemingly course correct and forget about Barns in the most unsatisfying way possible. The Zoe Barns vs. Frank Underwood arc could have been a great season long arc if handled correctly giving off constant tensions the entire way through while the rest of the cool political drama could have been put into the b plot.

What we got though was very messy. I swear there were about five different A plot arcs across this season each one layering on top of the next one in more confusing ways. The show tried the Zoe’s pathetic journalist arc and soon scrapped that, they tried the Frank vs. Raymond Tusk arc but soon relegated it to the background, they tried the Clair sexual assault arc that was ultimately quickly turned from an interesting and humanizing B plot to a forgotten side arc that existed only to benefit Frank, and they tried the Jacky trying not to be Frank arc that just kind of fizzled out. There was never a clear arc to get from point A to point B and it seemed as if the show was constantly changing identities, trying to cram what seemed like a few seasons of potentially great storylines into one convoluted mess.

This ultimately wouldn’t have been as frustrating though if I didn’t have the problems I already had and continue to have with this show. The primary problem is that the show seems very empty character and meaning wise. As much as I love evil Kevin Spacey being evil, the way the character is written is so very one note and ultimately it makes the show around it feel tired and empty. Every time it seemed that the show was trying to humanize Frank (or for that matter most of the rest of the characters on this show) the show pulls the rug right from it, as if to say “psych, got ya.” It’s not like I want Frank to be good and noble or anything but it would nice to have another character trait or back story element other than Frank is evil and will do anything possible to gain his goal.

This isn’t just a problem with Frank but with most characters on this show. It seems that every time that the show tried to do something for its characters it would always end up undermining the progress in favor of returning to the one note tick of the character. This is especially true for the newest addition to the series Jacky who starts to get this more humanizing with the relationship with Remy she soon goes back to a one dimensional tick of being Frank’s protégé. Same thing with Claire who gets some great moments with the sexual assault bill, but ultimately reverts back to being the ice queen almost instantly and without too much warning. Sure one could argue that it’s a theme of people can’t generally change, but if that’s the case it’s not well. There needs to be an emotional core somewhere, something that people can grasp on to otherwise what is left feels vapid and empty. With House of Cards I never felt anything throughout the 13 hours that was all that substantive (even if the show feels that I should take it seriously) and by the end of my marathon I felt empty inside. There never seems to be anything all that made me emotionally invested in these characters beyond the fun I have watching these great actors have fun.

It’s so hard to ignore the emptiness also as the show takes itself so very seriously. Most of the time the show feels like it should be a fun piece of pulp fiction, but instead it treats itself so self importantly and so seriously that it’s hard to have fun with Kevin Spacey’s fun political maneuvers. The show never seems to earn its seriousness, mostly because of its emptiness, and thus the show can drag whenever it tries an obvious elaborate metaphor or analogy or tries to be politically important with a big overarching message. This show is fun, but it should be more fun than it is and it shouldn’t try to take itself so seriously, because when it does it feels even emptier in relation of what it is trying to do.

That all being said, watching House of Cards is an enjoyable and painless process that I managed to get through quite quickly. Despite the emptiness the show still looks beautiful and has political moments that are a whole lot of fun. Despite the convoluted nature of the plot this year, the show overall does a better job of making it seems as though Frank is making the plan up on the fly and that he’s not completely all powerful (of course not quite enough to make him feel vulnerable or desperate which the show never quite achieves). The show, despite how seriously it takes itself, is fun and has its moments, and overall I think that season 2 is on par with the first, it does some things better, like making more of its supporting characters near the middle of the season, and other things worse, like not having an emotional center like the one established by Corey Stoll’s character last season. I will be back when season 3 rolls around next year, and I hope the potential downfall of Frank Underwood (which I assume will happen as it seems he has reached the ceiling of power, unless they imagine him as something like president of the world) provides more depth to a fundamentally empty show.

Some other musings:

• One of the worst things the show ends up doing is the journalism arc. Watching these back to back, the “deep internet” thing is kind of awful and involved a whole lot of silliness with a character I had no inkling to care about. I was frustrated but at the same time kind of glad they got rid of Zoe’s bland boyfriend and ultimately I wish that Zoe herself had an arc, as I liked Kate Mara’s work on this show, instead of being killed off in the first episode for shock value.

• I think this show doesn’t work as well with the Netflix streaming model as it wants to think it is. Watching these in a marathon made the flaws of the show stand out to me more as I didn’t have as much breathing room and thus saw more of the ongoing flaws than I would perhaps watching them on a weekly basis. Maybe had the show had forced me to play this out over a longer period of time I wouldn’t have felt as empty near the finish of the season.

• I still like what the actors are able to do on this show despite the thin nature of the characters. I think Kevin Spacey’s performance is very good all around, as are Robin Wright’s and Molly Parker’s and the rest of the supporting class. Spacey’s especially is toned down from last season and despite the thin writing the performance feels more nuanced and slightly less over the top (maybe a lot of it has to do with the diminished southern accent). The cast ultimately clicks and work well together and make most of the fun of this show.

• So why is there a threesome between Frank, Claire and their strange bodyguard? Was this a dream sequence or another elaborate metaphor? I yelled what and laughed quite hard throughout that scene, surprised by the fact that the show would even go to such silly lengths while trying so hard to make me think that this was utterly serious business.

That’s it for me on House of Cards for this year. It may seem like I’m a little down on the show but ultimately I did enjoy most of it, I’m just disappointed that the flaws of this show (which is totally my kind of show subject wise) prevent me from full on loving it.

That’s just me though. What did everyone else think?