I'm not watching the NFL playoffs this year.
For me football season ended in Week 16, when I competed in four fantasy football championships; after that I kept watching football up until New England rolled over against the Ravens (I live in DC but I'm a Bostonian by birth). Instead of trying to extend my fantasy football season with playoff leagues, I move on to a different season: awards season.
The film awards season traditionally starts with the Golden Globes in January and lasts until late February/early March with the Academy Awards. In between, various guilds and critic societies hold awards ceremonies of their own, each recognizing the best in film for the past year. It's a perfect fit in between fantasy football and fantasy baseball. Last year when I finished fantasy football I decided to take my fantasy sports skills to a different game: Oscar Prognostication. My co-workers and I participate in an annual Oscar pool and I decided to watch as many Oscar films as I could to best prepare me to win it all.
Preparing to pick the Oscars is much like running a fantasy football team: reading trade publications and blogs looking for insider information, analyzing at past history and future trends, and if you are a hardcore player: watching the "players" in action in order to scout out the talent. In the end you pick who you think is the best and hope that it all pans out. I'm amazed they haven't created a fantasy Oscar game yet, maybe I should do that before Yahoo! beats me to it.
Once again I start another journey to dominate in the Oscar pool. I'm reading all the blogs and watching all the films so I can be best prepared to win my league er pool. Now it's mid-January and all of the critics societies across the nation have picked their choices for best films and actors. I watch these races as a sort of Oscar-film combine, watching to see who are the early leaders. The Golden Globes were presented this past weekend, the first of many awards to come. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences won't present the Oscar nominees until February 2, so The Golden Globes sets the tone of what to expect this season:
- The March Of The Blue People Continues: Avatar has been considered the best picture favorite even before it was released. Best director and best picture (Drama) wins for James Cameron's epic keeps the momentum going full steam ahead. Will it last all the way to Oscar Sunday?
- Up Should Get Best Picture Nomination: This year the slate for best picture expands from 5 to 10, which means more outstanding features like Pixar's Up should get into the slate. Animated features rarely get nominated for best picture and quite a few were disappointed that Wall-E didn't get a nod last year.
- Don't Forget About The Basterds: Inglourious Basterds was released back in August, while most award contenders are released late in the year in order to stay fresh in the Academy's minds. Robert Downey Jr.'s win for best lead actor (comedy or musical) is a prime example of this (the film was released this past Christmas). I almost forgot about Christoph Waltz's dazzling performance til I heard his name for best supporting actor.
- Jeff Bridges Takes Early Lead For Best Actor: The slate for best actor is packed with amazing performances. The critics societies have recognized the likes of George Clooney (Up In The Air), Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker), and Colin Firth (A Single Man). However Jeff Bridges' performance in Crazy Heart won over the HFPA and earned him a Golden Globe for best lead actor (drama.) In a tight race with many deserving candidates Bridges certainly gets a boost with this win.
So, it should be another exciting awards season this year and like a good NFL playoff game, I won't be missing a single moment — or in this case a single film.
