Happy Birthday to my grandfather!

He's 77, and the reason I do what I do here. For those of you who are curious, he spent the day watching Eyes Wide Shut on Blu-Ray and The Young Victoria on DVD.
-Happy birthday Pop!

My grandfather returns with his top 10 of 2009!

Yes, he was popular last year with his thoughts on the Oscar race, and he's returning now to put out his top 10 of the year. In case anyone forgot, he's now 76 and used to work in the movie industry, so he sort of works as a stand-in for the average Academy member. Here's how 2009 looked for him:

1. Avatar

2. The Hurt Locker

3. Up in the Air

4. Inglourious Basterds

5. Up

6. Pirate Radio

7. (500) Days of Summer

8. The Hangover

9. The Blind Side

10. Whip It

-Thoughts?

The Return of My Grandfather!

Yes indeed ladies and gents, my grandfather has once again seen fit to contribute to the site and blog here by giving his Oscar-Voter-age'd predictions for the big categories of this weekend's Academy Awards. Much like us, he doesn't see too much in the way of surprises heading our direction, but he doesn't follow the grain in every sense, so perhaps he'll be on to something, upset-wise.

-In terms of the screenplay categories, he sees Slumdog Millionaire and Milk winning Adapted and Original, respectively. Both are deserving in his eyes, but he could see Benjamin Button or In Bruges sneaking in, as those would be the ones he'd vote for, though his predicted winners are his second choice. Of note are his distaste for The Reader's script, which perhaps might be an indicator that it won't be a flick that goes and upsets on Oscar night, and his indifference towards WALL-E, which might doom its chances of a win for its (in my eyes) underrated script.

-Best Director he sees being a walk in the park for Danny Boyle, and he doesn't see anyone else as being more deserving, though his second choice would be Gus Van Sant for Milk. He's a big fan of Milk, so if his contemporaries feel the same way, there's likely to be a win for the film somewhere...the question is where?

-On the acting fronts, he sees the actor races as being pretty sewn up. Heath Ledger is a foregone conclusion for supporting, though he suspects if they opt not to honor him, Phillip Seymour Hoffman might slip in for what really is a lead performance in Doubt. He felt The Wrestler was the best film of the year, so he obviously is picking Mickey Rourke as his pick to win lead actor, but he also thinks that the comeback story will be way too much for voters to ignore. The actress races are slightly more interesting to look at. He, like everyone else has no clue who will win supporting actress, but thinks Penelope Cruz will end up with the statue, which he is in fulll favor of, though sees the next most likely winner being Viola Davis. Lead actress he goes in a whole other direction with. He thinks Kate Winslet will win for The Reader, but would have cast his vote for Angelina Jolie. If she upsets on Oscar night, he won't let me hear the end of it.

-Best Picture he actually doesn't think is as sewn up as everyone else. He thinks Slumdog will end up taking home the big prize, but that Milk has a real shot to swoop in and win, and is in fact the film he'd vote for. It'll be interesting to see what happens here, especially if he's right.

-What do you think of his picks? He acknowledges that the predicted winners are fairly similar, but since he has the mindset of a voter, I tend to take big note of the ones he'd actually vote for. (Good to note that he's beat me in our own personal Oscar predictions about 55% of the time, so he's not just randomly guessing)