Five Tips for Winning your Oscar Pool

Saw this article today from Drew Magary at Popcornbiz and thought I’d share his tips with AATM readers, particularly Dan, Harry and Aaron, who will all be getting cinematically teabagged by yours truly when I rule the weekend with my awesome Oscar picks. I need some revenge and redemption after getting worked by Dan, Aaron and Harry (in that order) in picking Oscar nominees.

1. Pay Attention To Everyone Else’s Predictions And Slavishly Follow Them

Listen to who people in the industry are predicting. Don’t go with any wild, outside the box predictions just because YOU have a hunch. Oh, you think Jeremy Renner could sneak in a shocking Best Actor win? You are wrong. That isn’t happening. Ever. Get your picks from people who know what they’re talking about. Entertainment Weekly. Roger Ebert. The Gurus of Gold. Trust me. This will help. Don’t go it alone, and don’t think you can intuit some magic insight about how Oscar voters vote that no one else can divine. That is stupid. Let everyone else in the office weed themselves out of the pool by making these wild stabs.

The only surprises that happen at the Oscars are the ones that, really, NO ONE sees. There may be a shocking win on Sunday night. I promise you it won’t be one you picked.

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Crazy Heart Behind the Scenes Featurette

We sung the praises of Crazy Heart on tonight’s KVNU Movie Show, but if you’re still unsure on whether or not to give the film a shot, check out this behind-the-scenes featurette from Fox Searchlight. Happy Friday!

Movie Review: Crazy Heart

The first thing you should know about Crazy Heart – a simple yet searing portrait of a tired and broken country music artist named Bad Blake – is it will bring to Jeff Bridges (Iron Man) his first-ever Academy Award win out of five nominations over the last 40 years.  You should also know if you live in Cache Valley and plan to see this movie, you’ll have to head south to Ogden, where it’s showing at the Megaplex 13 at The Junction.  With all the crap jam packed into the multiplexes lately, Crazy Heart is a burst of fresh, inspiring cinema, driven by the haunting old school twang of the film’s soundtrack and the emotionally resonant acting from Bridges.

Crazy Heart is directed by Scott Cooper and adapted from the 1987 novel of the same name, written by Thomas Cobb. The main character, Bad Blake (Jeff Bridges) is a mélange of country and Western music bad boys, namely Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson and Merle Haggard. Blake’s past is best summed up in a line from one of his songs, “I used to be somebody, but now I am somebody else.” The person he is now is an alcoholic drifter, wandering from one small-town, low-paying gig to another, all the while splitting time between cheap motels and his dilapidated old car. It’s never fully explained, but part of Blake’s wandering seems to revolve around a former protégé, Tommy Sweet (Colin Farrell), and the assumption he’s left Blake alone in the wake and dust of his newfound success.

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Avatar Set to Sink Titanic’s Longstanding Box Office Reign

So three weeks ago on the KVNU Movie Show I stupidly claimed Avatar would be hard pressed to beat Titanic’s longstanding box office record of $600,788,188 and wouldn’t even come close to the iceberg-doomed ship’s grip on the all-time worldwide box office of $1,842,879,955. Sure it was making some noise in December, but recent box office trends suggested it would drop by 50% or more in consecutive release weeks. I was confident in my opinion.

Color me corrected. As, Tyler notes below. Avatar wants me to suck it.

Avatar will break both records and break them quite handily, most likely in the next two weeks, if not sooner. Considering James Cameron’s space odyssey will get nominated for – and possibly win – the best picture Oscar, would it be insane to suggest Avatar could come close to the $700 million mark domestically? More importantly, what is the driving thrust behind all the interest? Is this the work of more expensive tickets (3D and IMAX), or is this simply a magical movie?

Listen, I gave Avatar a B plus. I loved it. But did I think it would be the eventual all-time box office champ? Not in a million years.

Please, discuss – I’d like to know everyone’s thoughts on the matter.