Podcast Pt 1: Joe, Nick and Nathaniel's Oscar Predictions
Tuesday, February 17, 2015 at 3:00PM 
Nick, Nathaniel and Joe get together -- no Katey this week, sorry kids -- to make our final predictions and let our conversations wander (as we do). Joe reveals a very messy ballot, Nick brings up The Judge goddamn it (!), and Nathaniel watches Matthew McConaughey commercials.
Pt 1 Oscar Prediction Finale
41 minutes
00:01 Scores. Do they realizes that Alexandre Desplat hasn't won?
05:14 Song. A disagreement about "Lost Stars" and which version will Adam Levine perform?
11:53 Sound Mixing & Sound Editing. Drums (Whiplash / Birdman) vs. Bullets (American Sniper / Unbroken) and some "what is this doing here?" theories
18:00 Documentary. Is Citizen Four locked up or could we see a surprise?
20:00 Animated Feature. More disagreements!
23:35 Visual Effects. How to we even predict this category? Film love? Technological Breakthroughs? The one that stands out?
28:00 Makeup & Old Age makeup done right for a change
30:33 Foreign Film: Ida trumps
36:00 Film Editing: we discuss Structure / Rhthyms / Agendas
Supplemental Material for this Podcast:
Tomm Moore interview on Song of the Sea
An interview with Hans Zimmer
Oscar Charts & Final Predictions
Nathaniel's Tilda-Specific Makeup & Hair Ballot
Please to enjoy and continue the golden conversation in the comments. You can listen at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes starting tomorrow.
Reader Comments (10)
A lot of interesting things to chew on here. First off, I've always pronounced Desplat's name with the accent on the second syllable and without pronouncing either the "S" or the "T", so it would sound like de-PLAH (I got that from the semester of French I took). Also, if I remember correctly, you shouldn't pronounce the "re" at the end of his first name (French is confusing that way, in that there is so much written you're not supposed to pronounce).
Oh, one thing though, since I am Méxican and have been going mad at the way people pronounce Iñárritu's last name, the written accent on the "a" is there for a reason (that's the syllable you stress), and the first "n" that has the line above it, that's supposed to soung like an "ny", so it would be like I-NYA-rri-tu.
Anyway, out of the Foreign nominees, Timbuktu is the only one I haven't seen (it's being released here in Mexico this weekend, so I'm about to see it). Of the other four, Relatos Salvajes (Wild Tales) is my favorite, mostly because I love that Almodóvar-like melodrama that seeps into absurdity (I think the Academy will respond to that, Almodóvar has won in the past after all). Tangerines is a very sweet film (have either of you seen it?).
I didn't find The Tale of Princess Kaguya boring (too long, yes, but not really that boring). In fact, I really appreciated the humor in parts of it and of course, it's a gorgeous film. Haven't seen Song of the Sea yet, though of the nominees, my favorite is definitely The Boxtrolls.
By the way, I also do what you guys do, organize the Song nominees into a playlist (which I listen to on bus rides and out on walks), and yes, this is a really strong line-up. Lost Stars is also my favorite, but Glory would make a great winner and I'm Not Gonna Miss You always wells me up. Can't wait to hear what you guys have to say tomorrow.
Yeah, it should be like AH-LEX-OND DAY-PLAH, I think. I've never taken French but have over the years (and through many French films) learned some of its linguistic patterns. But don't quote me. ;)
I'm down with what the normative pronunciation of it should be, but then when I hear him introduced by people who've worked with him and know him, they switch it up, usually by pronouncing the S but not the T. So I don't know. But I'll français it up if that's what we're doing.
@Richter: I promise I would never mess that up. Also, shouldn't his family name be rendered González Iñárritu instead of just Iñárritu? I know he's been shortening to "G.," but I thought in cases like his the family name was actually both of his second names.
The craft categories need to start having the nominee names on the ballot, not just the film titles shown. I would bet most average voters have no earthly idea how many times Roger Deakins and Kevin O'Connell have been snubbed for Oscar wins. They probably do assume that they've either won before or don't think about it whatsoever. Sad really.
That was quick! Hope you show us your sausages in part two!
Many uncertainties this year in the craft categories, which is great considering that three of the four acting races seem decided since October.
I think Boyhood will win Best Editing because voters will picture Sandar Adair locked up in an editing room for twelve years and feel compassion.
Nick Davis -- I love your site's redesign. Everyone should go and take a look!
Yours,
A Wild Tales evangelist
Nick: yes, it would be both of his last names, but still most people use his mother's last name (Iñárritu) when they refer to him, probably because it's a more unusual surname than González (there are so many people named Alejandro González in México, this makes sense). Thank you for your kind response, I was just mentioning that because I've been hearing so many people mess it up throughout the season, calling him "I-na-RRI-tu" or something like that, so I figured I would mention it...
Re: Original Score, I have often heard that this category does NOT list the name of the composer, only that of the film. I haven't seen an actual ballot from this year to confirm, but if that's the case, then a voter wouldn't know which scores belong to Desplat unless they look up this info specifically (unlikely) or have picked the info up from marketing/events for the various films.
Re: Documentary Feature, I too feel like CitizenFour isn't as strong as everyone thinks it is. There are some who won't like its politics and there are some who simply just won't like it. However, I think I'm still going to predict it for the win because the anti-CitizenFour crowd will be split among three (if not all four) competitors that also have buzz-- you've got Netflix promoting Virunga left and right (I've received two or three emails about it), one of the Kennedys promoting 'Vietnam', and I personally have always felt that Finding Vivian Maier was the kind of trifle that voters love.
But if it were a two-horse race, my bet would be on the other horse.
@Richter: No, I'm glad you did! I think it's important to be right about people's names, and when he abbreviated, I was worried I'd been goofing it up all these years. Your answer is very clarifying. Thanks!
Nathaniel, I had the same reading as you for the ending of Begin Again - I think she stayed as long as it was the stripped-down acoustic version, but as soon as it got the big stadium feeling going, then she was out of there, and felt betrayed, done, etc.
Well, if we're going to be picky about pronunciation, putting all the emphasis on the middle syllable of "Kaguya" is really not right. But it's silly to be picky about pronunciation! Not everyone knows the ins and outs of every language! Though I appreciate being talked through Iñárritu, I'll say it right from now on :-)