Watch It! And The Oscar goes to ... mostly the wrong one!

Look for the shared link at the bottom ... do not miss it I say!
My very first Oscar experience happened in 1991. At the tender age of 12 I was glued to the television - at that time my best friend. Yes, go ahead and talk about overwheight little kids and their lack of real friends. Anyway, that year the truly marvelous Kathy Bates won her first, and to this day only Lead Actress Academy Award, for the movie adaptation of Stephen Kings Misery.

The Best Actress trophy was well deserved that year for my all time favorite actress, no doubt about that. Whoopi Goldberg also won that night (Best Supporting Actress for the sappy Ghost) and that drag of a movie Dances with Wolves was named Best Picture - why, I will never understand. Stranger things have happened since then, but it did help that Madonna all of a sudden popped up on stage and gave a memorable performance of Sooner or Later from the campy Dick Tracy  - rightfully that years Best Original Song winner. The point is: the Oscars can be a bewildering and crushing experience at the same time.
Watch here: http://www.mommasboy.de/search/label/See%20It

                              Usually the Golden Globes are even worse than the Oscars ... but in 

                            1980 they seemed to be much wiser when awarding Bette Midler for 
her astonishing work in 'The Rose'.

 Ever since that fateful night I have been a sucker for the yearly broadcast of the Academy Awards - staying up late, or rather all night, I am equally fascinated as well as constantly surprised how they seem to award the wrong people. Consolation statuettes are handed out  like cough drops (The Departed won in 2007 and Mr. Scorsese collected the Oscar. Really, that was his best effort ever?), lifetime achievement nods turn into overdue wins and sentimental votes or utter mistakes are being made (the horrible Reese Witherspoon won for that crapfest Walk the Line over Felicity Huffman in Transamerica? Hilary Swank won twice over, well, anyone? Crash superior to Brokeback Mountain? Braveheart, the Best Picture in 19996, what the fuck were they drinking/snorting/smoking when placing their votes?) 

And don't get me started on Sandra Bullock. Though she's a lovely actress it just seemed like a big slap in the face of her fellow nominees in 2010 when she won for her serious turn as the 'Erin Brokovich-Norma Rae-tough lady with a heart of gold performance' in The Blind Side. Meryl, Helen, Carey and, of course, the delightful performance that Gabourey bestowed upon us all were far superior. But it was Sandies time and the All-American Girl was bound to pick up the little gold man as a career thank-you and the others received a heartfelt fuck-you from the AMPAS! 

Look, I am digging the Best Actress category the most, because the Academy seems to mess this one up regularly. For every right there are 5 wrongs (Gwyneth? Dear Lord!)

Being sexy and bangable every so often has to be the indicator for the old pervs in the Academy to say, 'That chick is really an amazing actress. Let's throw her an Oscar and watch how she bends over to pick it up ....'.
Beauty over talent, youth over experience or sentiments over, well, whatever is the status quo. Or, as Kate Winslet learned the hard way, when she finally reached the podium in 2009 after 5 unsuccessful nominations; deliver a gut-wrenching Nazi movie and you'll get an award in a split second, even if it's a bore like The Reader. It's anyones guess why two years ago the Best Actress Oscar went to the dreary Natalie Portman and her The Black Swan Flashdance-homage, pushing overdue Hollywood royalty Annette-I-deserve-a-career-Oscar-Bening to the curb, when it rightfully should've been handed to Nicole Kidman and her turn in The Rabbit Hole. And nobody can deny that last years win for Meryl Streep as The Iron Lady just happened because, after 134 nominations, they simply had to give her a third one before she would throw a grenade onto the stage. Poor Viola Davis, who got robbed in the process, joined an elite list of 'we flipped a coin and you happened to be out of luck' (the absence of African American Actress winners is another travesty and Ms. Berry as the sole representative, well, see above e.g. bangable).

But sometimes they get it absolutely right - Ms. Bates, Ms. Foster, Ms. Kidman, Ms. Smith or Ms. Sarandon are living proof of that. 

                They did 'like' her in 1980 and, sadly, overlooked Ms. Midler. 

       What a shame ... and then they had the audacity to 'like' her 

              again in 1985, ignoring Jessica Lange or Vanessa Redgrave.

              Two time Oscar winner Sally Field. where is she now? 
                   Oh, yes, nominated for a third time, in this  years Lincoln.

Part of the fun of watching the Oscars is the chance to cheer or curse the Academy for their decisions and the ongoing believe that there is always next years show to look forward to. Maybe they will get it right next year and throw it to the deserving one, right?! 
Mark my words when young and hot It-Girl Jennifer Lawrence will, undeservedly, collect the statue this year for her 'I can cry, I can dance, I can look sexy, I can outshout Mr. DeNiro and I can be the idiot girl who falls for the creepy guy and follow him like a stray dog' performance in Silver Linings Playbook, while the far superior but unfortunately to-be-snubbed Jessica Chastain has to look and act delighted from the sideline. Waterboarding will be the Zero Dark Thirty stars idea when congratulating Ms. Lawrence.
It pays to be flavor of the month e.g. on the Weinstein payroll - and sometimes the Best is not the best but rather the most popular of the year. 
In anticipation of this years Academy Awards we should have a look at what real, honest and exciting acting can be.

Without using dramatic words or someone to act against/with/opposite. Just expressions, gestures, looks and talent to dazzle the viewer.

Or, like Mr. Franco wants us to believe, just go and smooch with yourself - that might sway audiences. Frankly, the equivalent to ass kissing to get recognized never looked so hot. Oh well, I'll just get myself a mirror and start licking my reflection right away.

And while I get inspired by fine actors and actresses I will start to trash my breakfast table as well. If Mr. Bardem can do it - so can I. And you!

Just remember: Who needs 90 minutes of a whirlwind Tour de Force in any movie if 1:11 minutes can be enough to show great talent. 
I'm in awe ... though Ms. Portman, please, that just looks stupid. Then again, she is pretty and that sometimes is all you need in life to be loved, adored and to emerge victorious.
Watch: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/12/12/magazine/14actors.html