Oscars

Seth MacFarlane was no one’s favorite Oscar host, but it’s telling of the breadth of Harvey Weinstein assault allegations that we’d revisit a joke from 2013. Now, MacFarlane steps up to reveal a troubling personal story behind his barb against Weinstein.

We’ve likely not finished the fallout of Sunday’s big Oscar snafu, though few would place any blame at the feet of host Jimmy Kimmel, who wandered out to bring some humor to the La La Land error. In all the chaos, however, Kimmel’s final bit with Matt Damon ended up lost to time, as the host now explains how the show was meant to end.

An “October surprise” refers to a major revelation deliberately timed to influence the outcome of a Presidential election. The Oscars, then, regularly offer a January surprise, in which a contender comes out of nowhere to elbow their way into the awards conversation. This year’s big shock is permanently smirking superhero send-up Deadpool, which has already upended plenty of predictions by racking up nominations among various industry guild groups. Superhero movies have never been able to crack the Best Picture race, but perhaps the self-reflexive meta streak in Deadpool could give it the edge it needs to sneak into the category. The nominations will be announced one week from today, and who’ll end up at the big dance is anyone’s guess.

With all due respect to the major acting and directing categories, I’ve come to really appreciate the Academy Awards’ technical categories in recent years. Whereas the performances and movies at the top of the program are often culled from a predictable pool of art films and auteur projects, the VFX Oscars tend to be a bit more egalitarian in nature, honoring whatever movies are the most impressive regardless of overall quality. This is often how populist film genres not typically noticed by the Academy  —  action, science-fiction, fantasy  —  slip into Oscar contention.

Since the introduction of the Best Animated Feature Oscar at the 74th Academy Awards in 2002, we’ve seen a steady exponential increase in animated movies over the years. Pixar, and, by extent, Disney, has usually dominated the competition, with eight wins out of ten nominations, followed by DreamWorks and Disney’s animation studio. This year, we have a record 27 movies eligible for the award, and while the Academy can pick only five to nominate, for now it’s anyone’s game.

This awards season is off to a tardy start across the board, with the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences taking a bit longer than usual to select the producers of their annual Oscars ceremony. After a few months of speculation, the Academy has finally set a creative team to produce the 89th awards telecast: Three-time Oscar-nominated producer Michael DeLuca and Emmy-nominated producer Jennifer Todd.

Just the other day I was talking to a group of friends about Jackie Chan and reminiscing on his career. He gave us Rumble in the Bronx! He gave us The Legend of the Drunken Master! He gave us silly banter while fighting guys in the Rush Hour movies, all while sporting a big, goofy smile...

IT FINALLY HAPPENED. Leonardo DiCaprio has won his very first Academy Award. Whether you were rooting for or against ‘The Revenant’, whether you think he deserved the award for his grunting and groaning as Hugh Glass or just wanted him to win a damn Oscar already, it doesn’t matter. He’s officially in the Oscar club now.

Leonardo DiCaprio has never won an Oscar. We’ve heard this narrative time and time again, especially as he inches closer and closer to finally winning an Academy Award for his work in The Revenant, but it’s time for us as a people to stand up and do something about it. OK, maybe just sit down and do something about it. And by “do something” we mean play a video game. Yes, in Leo’s Red Carpet Rampage, you can finally help the unlucky actor chase down that elusive Oscar. If only you can avoid getting bumped by Lady Gaga.

The Historic Pines Theater in Lufkin is having their annual Oscar night on February 28th.

Oscar nominees are getting a sweet gift bag. It's going to include $275 Goop approved toilet paper. It's from Joseph's Toiletries, and best I can tell, it is not lined with gold or anything. In total, the gift back is worth $200,000. Also in the bag: --$300 worth of personalized M&Ms --$250 vaporizer --$45,000 worth of Audi rentals from Silvercar (my car cost $13k when I bought it -- NEW) --$5

Last years Oscars host Neil Patrick Harris said almost immediately after the broadcast that he “doubted” he would ever do it again, explaining, “I don’t know that my family nor my soul could take it.” Which, of course, meant that the search for a replacement was on almost immediately. But, if you’re looking for just one person, you may be barking up the wrong tree. This year’s Oscars producers say “there will be multiple hosts for sure.”