The Oscars

"I'd like to thank the Academy"... cry, sniff, wipe tear, sigh, breathe, smile, ogle the Oscar, remain speechless, waste time, ramble, state how unprepared and shocked you are, finally remember the notes tucked away in your hand, yell at the music to stop, speed through acknowledgements, then finally be escorted away so we can wash rinse and repeat for the next award to be announced.

Yep, that's pretty much the formula for every acceptance speech at the Academy Awards, but I love it! I love the glamor of the whole night, the hints of that old Hollywood movie magic that today's stars attempt to portray for a brief evening. No, today's movies are nothing like those of the past, and many opt to wait for the cheaper Netflix rental to arrive months after the movie's original release, but you can't deny the excitement and release from the world you experience when the lights dim in the movie theater and you throw a piece of popcorn in your mouth as you anticipate being entertained for a few hours.

And if the hype of Billy Cristal returning as Host for the Oscars isn't enough to get you excited for Sunday night's show, "Let's Goto the Movies," together and talk about all of the music in this year's films:

Music (Original Song)

"Man or Muppet" from THE MUPPETS - Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie

“Real in Rio” from RIO - Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown; Lyric by Siedah Garrett

* This is a very talked about category this year as only two songs were nominated at the Academy Awards, when there were five nominated at the Golden Globes, and they are completely different from these two. Apparently there are certain rules and regulations for the Academy Awards that disqualified the songs distinguished at the Golden Globes from being in contention at the Oscars. Sorry, Madonna and Elton John, guess we won't get to see that little feud come to a boiling point after all.

Nevertheless, let's talk about "Man or Muppet" and "Real in Rio." "Man or Muppet" is the big character-development ballad from The Muppets. It fits in with the movie's plot and themes of finding yourself, whomever your self may be, but the appearance of Jason Segel's alter-muppet-ego and Jim Parsons as the human reflection of Jason Segel's muppet brother Walter really add that extra umph to the scene.

"Real in Rio" starts the movie Rio, and really introduces the audience to the life and atmosphere of Carnival in Brazil. The song, at the part where baby Blu falls from his tree, is abruptly cut off as the plot begins to take shape, and the vibrant nature of the song is quickly juxtaposed with the harsh reality and issue of wild bird-napping for profit that the movie tackles. I was a little shaken by the sudden shift, so I can only imagine how the kids felt seeing this cartoon. Fortunately, there is a happy ending, and the song bookends the movie and completes itself to finish off the story. In the second half of it we get the awesome vocal stylings of Jesse Eisenberg, who voices the main character, Blu, which we honestly could have gone without. Come on, 20th Century Fox, Disney always had singing voice dubs for the speaking actors.

Between these two, I think "Man or Muppet" is going to win, but I think "Real in Rio" should win, in comparing the way each song fits with its movie.

Music (Original Score)

The Adventures of Tintin  - John Williams

The Artist  - Ludovic Bource

Hugo - Howard Shore

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy  - Alberto Iglesias

War Horse - John Williams

* Since this category deals with the music of an entire movie, there are obviously no links to it singularly. However, if you have not seen the movies, when you watch the Oscars you will get a taste of the score as they read each nominee. This is a no-brainer. Whether you've seen any of these films or not, it is easy to pick that The Artist is going to win. Not only was the score of the movie worthy of the win, but the score of the movie was the movie. As a silent film, the audience is forced to rely on the music to convey the emotions of the scenes and the characters, and the score of The Artist kept the audience understanding the film as it went on. Just from the score we were able to empathize with the characters' joy, sorrow, hope, despair, playfulness, sarcasm, love, longing, worry, excitement, and a whole roller coaster of other feelings as well. Ludovic Bource derserves credit for his work on this score, and he will get it.

That about wraps up the music of the Oscars, so just for fun here are my picks for the rest of the big categories on Sunday night. (Bold is who I think will win, italics is who I'm rooting for) What are your predictions?

Best Picture 
The Artist - Thomas Langmann, Producer 
The Descendants - Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers 
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close - Scott Rudin, Producer 
The Help - Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers 
Hugo - Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers 
Midnight in Paris - Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers 
Moneyball - Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers 
The Tree of Life - Sarah Green, Bill Pohlad, Dede Gardner and Grant Hill, Producers 
War Horse - Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers


Actor In a Leading Role  
Demián Bichir - A Better Life 
George Clooney - The Descendants 
Jean Dujardin - The Artist
Gary Oldman - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy 
Brad Pitt - Moneyball


Actress In a Leading Role 
Glenn Close - Albert Nobbs 
Viola Davis - The Help 
Rooney Mara - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 
Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady 
Michelle Williams - My Week With Marilyn


Actor In a Supporting Role  
Kenneth Branagh - My Week With Marilyn 
Jonah Hill - Moneyball 
Nick Nolte - Warrior 
Christopher Plummer - Beginners 
Max von Sydow - Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close


Actress In a Supporting Role  
Bérénice Bejo - The Artist 
Jessica Chastain - The Help 
Melissa McCarthy - Bridesmaids 
Janet McTeer Albert Nobbs 
Octavia Spencer - The Help


Animated Feature Film  
A Cat in Paris - Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli 
Chico & Rita - Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal 
Kung Fu Panda 2 - Jennifer Yuh Nelson 
Puss in Boots - Chris Miller 
Rango - Gore Verbinski 


Cinematography
The Artist - Guillaume Schiffman 
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Jeff Cronenweth 
Hugo - Robert Richardson 
The Tree of Life - Emmanuel Lubezki 
War Horse - Janusz Kaminski


Art Direction  
The Artist - Laurence Bennett (Production Design); Robert Gould (Set Decoration) 
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 - Stuart Craig (Production Design); Stephenie McMillan (Set Decoration) 
Hugo - Dante Ferretti (Production Design); Francesca Lo Schiavo (Set Decoration) 
Midnight in Paris - Anne Seibel (Production Design); Hélène Dubreuil (Set Decoration) 
War Horse - Rick Carter (Production Design); Lee Sandales (Set Decoration)


Costume Design
Anonymous - Lisy Christl 
The Artist - Mark Bridges 
Hugo - Sandy Powell 
Jane Eyre - Michael O'Connor 
W.E. - Arianne Phillips


Directing 
The Artist - Michel Hazanavicius 
The Descendants - Alexander Payne 
Hugo - Martin Scorsese 
Midnight in Paris - Woody Allen 
The Tree of Life - Terrence Malick


Film Editing  
The Artist - Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius 
The Descendants - Kevin Tent 
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall 
Hugo - Thelma Schoonmaker 
Moneyball - Christopher Tellefsen


Foreign Language Film  
Belgium, "Bullhead"- Michael R. Roskam, director 
Canada, "Monsieur Lazhar" - Philippe Falardeau, director 
Iran, "A Separation"- Asghar Farhadi, director 
Israel, "Footnote" - Joseph Cedar, director 
Poland, "In Darkness" - Agnieszka Holland, director


Makeup  
Albert Nobbs - Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle 
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 - Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight and Lisa Tomblin 
The Iron Lady - Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland


Sound Editing  
Drive- Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis 
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Ren Klyce 
Hugo - Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty 
Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl 
War Horse - Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom


Sound Mixing  
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo- David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson 
Hugo - Tom Fleischman and John Midgley 
Moneyball - Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, David Giammarco and Ed Novick 
Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin 
War Horse - Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson


Visual Effects  
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 - Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson 
Hugo - Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossmann and Alex Henning
Real Steel - Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg 
Rise of the Planet of the Apes - Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett 
Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John Frazier.


Writing (Adapted Screenplay)  
The Descendants - Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash 
Hugo - Screenplay by John Logan 
The Ides of March - Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon 
Moneyball - Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin.  Story by Stan Chervin 
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Screenplay by Bridget O'Connor & Peter Straughan


Writing (Original Screenplay)  
The Artist - Written by Michel Hazanavicius 
Bridesmaids - Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
Margin Call - Written by J.C. Chandor 
Midnight in Paris - Written by Woody Allen 
A Separation - Written by Asghar Farhadi