With the Oscars appearing on maybe half a dozen Sky HD TVs this weekend, two of our writers look at the prospects for this weekend’s 84th Academy Awards. Warning: contains a spoiler for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy:
The weeks between the Oscar nominations and the awards have always been the highlight of my cinema year. Each year (with a small-child-inflicted gap) I do my best to see as many of the main nominees as possible before the big day. In the past this would involve a final dogged trip to London on the last weekend to sweep up the last 2 (or one year, 3) films which hadn’t come to the sticks but which were always available at the Odeon Panton Street.
Some years this was great, others, well, watching House of Sand and Fog, Mystic River and 21 Grams in a single day doesn’t make for a cheery coach ride back to Oxford. The actual night is usually a complete letdown, hours of frocks, excruciating musical numbers, plodding delivery of bland jokes* and the wrong winner in most categories. And last year’s inexplicable juggernaut shut-out by The King’s Speech made the actual telecast pretty tedious. But I’ve never before had a year where I just can’t be bothered to see so very many of the nominated films. Looking through the lists again is a weary, weary prospect, but here’s my view on the big four:
MostlyFilm 