Like many of you, we’re joining some friends for an Academy Award party this evening. So instead of my weekly movie review, I thought I’d pay a little tribute to Oscar on his 81st birthday.

Part of our yearly tradition is a trivia battle to see who’s the most knowledgeable about past and recent Academy Award factoids. But the high point of the evening is always the Oscar pool and the competition to see who can pick the most winners. The stakes are high. Money and prestige are on the line! Actually, not much of either, really.

I invite you all to participate in this year’s trivia challenge. The answers to all of these questions will be posted at the bottom of today’s blog. Feel free to use these at your Oscar gatherings as well.

1. Who was the only Oscar to ever win an Oscar?
2. What’s the name of the person who’s been nominated for 20 Oscars, but has yet to win even one?
3. Name the youngest actor to win the Best Actor Oscar.
4. Who was the youngest actress to be nominated for Best Actress?
5. Name the individual who has won the most Academy Awards.
6. Do you know what the Oscar statue represents? Describe its significance.
7. Name the only director to be nominated for Best Director for every film he’s made.
8. Three westerns have been nominated for Best Picture. Name them.
9. Who hosted the Academy Awards the most amount of times?
10. Name the three Oscar winners that refused to accept their awards.

I Think the Winners Will Be…

Do you have any favorites in tonight’s ceremony? I think all movie lovers do and I’m one of them. But how good are you at predicting which nominees will actually win? I’m kind of “hit and miss” myself. It’s not always easy to get into the Academy’s head. Nonetheless, here’s my best shot. These are the nominees that I think will take home a statue tonight.

Update: I ended up going 4 for 5 on the major awards. I got a total of 17 (out of 24) correct for the evening. That was good enough to tie for a win, at our Oscar party.

1. Oscar Hammerstein II. He won for his song, “The Last Time I Saw Paris”, from the film Lady Be Good (1941).
2. Kevin O’Connell (a sound technician who has worked on such films as Spiderman and Pearl Harbror)
3. Adrien Brody, who was 29 years old when nominated for the film The Pianist in 2002.
4. Keisha Castle-Hughes for her lead role in Whale Rider. She was only 13 years old.
5. Walt Disney. Walt won 26 Oscars and was nominated for a total of 59 in his lifetime.
6. The Oscar statue is meant to portray a knight posing with a crusader’s sword. He’s standing on a film reel with five spokes. The spokes represent the different branches of the Academy: actors, directors, producers, technicians and writers.
7. Director Stephen Daldry is nominated for The Reader this year. His previous two films, Billy Elliot and The Hours, also brought best director nominations.
8. Cimmaron (1930), Dances With Wolves (1990) and Unforgiven (1992).
9. Bob Hope hosted the award ceremony 19 times.
10. Marlon Brando refused to attend the Academy Awards when he was nominated for The Godfather. George C. Scott was absent the year he was acknowledged for his work in Patton. The most obscure absentee was Dudley Nichols. He wrote a film called The Informer, but declined his award because of a then strike between the Writers Guild and the movie studios in 1935.

Best Film – Slumdog Millionaire

This is an exotic film that’s both bleak and uplifting. I think it fits the current mood of our country very well. I’d be surprised if doesn’t win.

Best Actor – Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

I actually haven’t seen this film yet. But Mickey’s been uniformly praised for this portrayal. More importantly, Hollywood loves a good comeback story.

Best Actress – Kate Winslet, The Reader

A strong performance. A dark subject matter. Plenty of controversy. There’s stiff competition, but I think things are looking good for Kate.

Best Director – Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire

Some critics have noted certain flaws in this film. But the direction is hard to criticize. It’s very well made, perfectly paced and richly woven with all the color and textures of the land it represents.

Best Screenplay (Original Screenplay) – Dustin Lance Black, Milk

I don’t think Milk is going to win much tonight. But the subject matter and the people involved are favorites of the Academy. So I think they’ll offer this award to the writer and first-time nominee, Dustin Lance Black.

I’d love to know which nominees you think will be victorious tonight. What do you think of my selections? I’ll report back with the results tomorrow. In the meantime, here are the answers to the trivia questions:

I hope you all have a great time tonight. Let’s hope the award show is one of the better ones – entertaining, spectacular and ends on time. Long live the cinema!

Be well!

JP