WOW: Watching the Oscars in Vancouver!

All alone at the Oscar Movie Marathon!

Last Monday and Tuesday (Feb 18 & 19), Bill and I enjoyed a two-day movie marathon watching all the 9 Best Picture Oscar nominees. We got the idea from a friend of ours, Sheila Ball who went two days before us. Surprisingly, the first day there were only six of us even if it was a holiday (Presidents’ Day); on the second day, it was just the two of us! We thought there would be more retired people who would love this opportunity to view all at a hefty discount ($6 per picture instead of $10!).

US/Canada Peace Arch: Children of a Common Mother

We had a fun time, devouring all the popcorn our little(?) tummies could take!  The refillable large popcorn and large drink was also at a discounted price of $6.50. We had three popcorn refills each day and by the time the last picture was shown, we did not want to see any more! The first day we shared a single pizza and Dr. Pepper for dinner and an 8-piece boneless chicken wing and root beer on the second.  Both screenings started at 12 noon so we had lunch before going.

We also had a great time, discussing the pros and cons of each picture. By and large we agreed with each other’s rankings, with some minor disagreement; we agreed on the best picture and the bottom three. To arrive at our ratings, I made a matrix of the following criteria for Best Picture: screenplay, acting, directing, cinematography, and meaning. Bill and I cast our votes and I added our scores for each movie and divided by two. Our joint votes yielded Lincoln as the Best Picture with the following other awards we, surprisingly, agreed on. Here they are with the Oscar nods on the next column:

                                                                           BillnCaroln                             Oscar 

Best Picture                                                   Lincoln                                        Argo

Best Actor                                                     Daniel Day-Lewis                       Daniel Day-Lewis

Best Actress                                                  Emmanuelle Riva                         Jennifer Lawrence      

Best Director                                                 Steven Spielberg                         Ang Lee

Best Actor in a Supporting Role                     Christoph Waltz                          Christoph Waltz

Best Actress in a Supporting Role                  Sally Field                                   Anne Hathaway

Best Screenplay                                             Argo                                           Argo

Best Cinematography                                     Life of Pi                                     Life of PI

50% is certainly not a very good score. I guess we belong to the secondary audience, the sexygenarians who are partial to history coming alive as in Lincoln and old folk tales like Amour. We were definitely not among the young hopefuls who loved the bipolars’ love story, Silver Lining Playbook, although  Jennifer Lawrence was our second choice for best actress.

There is a definite effort to make the Oscars appeal to the young with Seth MacFarlane as host, and movies such as Life of Pi and Django Unchained. But the Red Carpet moments were, as usual, fun to watch with people voting Jennifer Lawrence as both best and worst dressed. I loved Reese Witherspoon’s electric blue and Jessica Chastain’s nude-like ensemble. A high moment was the teary-eyed Best Picture acceptance speech of Ben Affleck who got snubbed for the Best Director Award. Jennifer Lawrence tripped on her gown as she walked up to the stage to accept Best Actress Award. But the audience stood in ovation and she quipped, ‘You are just standing because I fell…’. The dichotomy was best highlighted by songs from classic divas Shirley Bassey and Barbara Streisand and young stars Jennikfer Hudson, Norah Jones, and Adele!

view from out room at Pan Pacific Vancouver Hotel

We actually watched the Oscars in the Pan Pacific Vancouver Hotel where we met Claudine, my second daughter who arrived from Calgary to attend a 2-day conference. We drove from my eldest daughter Trisha’s home in Kent, Washington for 2 ½ hours plus a 30 minute wait at the border. For the first time I noticed that the Arch bears the phrase, ‘Children of a Common Mother’. It gave me chills. Trisha and Claudine, where they are, and my youngest April, in England…that is where I should be!

Actually, we will be in Calgary in July to be with Claudine as she delivers my fifth grandchild. And then we hope to go to England to see April and her beau Clint! After that, we will hopefully be in Phoenix in Stage 4!