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The Buro 24/7 Oscar's cheat sheet

Click through for the Buro 24/7 Oscar's cheat sheet

The host: Imagine trying to make a room of the most self-absorbed, Botoxed-to-immobility, coked-up people on the planet laugh. Now, add the fact that you're not allowed to swear and go anywhere near the topics of sex and ethnicity. This year, late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel is sipping from this most poisonous of chalices. Best of luck to him. The sentence to drop: "I just don't feel Kimmel taps into the zeitgeist like Ellen did."

Best Picture: No one can be 100 per cent certain but we reckon La-La Land is a shoe-in. It has that crucial mix of novelty and familiarity that has served others so well - think the silent ‘The Artist’ in 2011. What's more, it's a love letter to the most ego-centric and vapid place on the planet. There's also stellar casting and the kind of ending that makes everyone in Tinseltown feel very sophisticated and knowing. French, basically. The sentence to drop: "La-La Land was nominated for a record 14 Oscars."

Best Director: The all singing, all-dancing Gosso and Stoney - which are their Australian nicknames BTW - will almost certainly deliver La-La Land writer/director Damien Chazelle a little gold statuette. Hollywood adores a wunderkind - think back to Matt and Ben - and there are few more wondrous than Chazelle right now. The sentence to drop: "This was such a great extension of the theme between music and self-expression that Chazelle explored in his last film, ‘Whiplash’."

Best actor In recent years, the Oscars has been criticised for lacking in ethnic diversity. Which is pretty fair - in the figurative and literal sense. That's going to change this year. Denzel Washington's performance in ‘Fences’ is nothing short of scorching in its brittle brutality. In a career filled with the likes of ‘Training Day’ and ‘Hurricane’, this turn opposite the equally brilliant Viola Davis is a gem. Maybe Casey Affleck as a dark horse in ‘Manchester By Sea’, just maybe. Sentence to drop: "This is the first film Washington has directed since 2007's The Great Debaters and is based on a Broadway play."

Best actor in a supporting role: Too close to call. Mahershala Ali (‘Moonlight’), Lucas Hedges (‘Manchester By Sea’) and Dev Patel (‘Lion’) all play young men battling to establish their identities in what can seem a cruel and indifferent world. Ali will most likely get it but if there was an award for best accent Patel's Tasmanian would ace it. Sentence to drop: "Do you know there is 47 years between the ages of youngest nominee Hedges and oldest Jeff Bridges?"

Best actress: While both Meryl and Natalie Portman scored nominations for playing real people - Jackie Kennedy and Florence Foster Jenkins respectively - we can't help feel that sheer hype and momentum is going to carry Emma Stone over the line here. Yes, Ryan was adorable but her slightly lisping, unstintingly relatable and poignant performance was the beating heart of ‘La La Land’. Sentence to drop: "Can you believe Emma Watson turned down the role to do ‘Beauty & The Beast’. Which Ryan Gosling turned down to do ‘La La Land’."

Best supporting actress: Yes, our Nicole gets a look in for her grace, strength and hideous perm in ‘Lion’, but this is a two horse race between Viola Davis (‘Fences’) and Octavia Spencer (‘Hidden Figures’). Michelle Williams was magnificent in ‘Manchester By Sea’ as was Naomie Harris in ‘Moonlight’, but they just both had the misfortune to be in a category featuring two of the strongest performances in decades. And which happen to tap into the current questions about whether America is or was ever the land of opportunity for all. Sentence to drop: "Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer both starred in ‘The Help’ in 2011. So did Emma Stone."

The Australian contingent: All in all, a fairly strong showing. Mel Gibson's ‘Hacksaw Ridge’ saw nominations for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor (Andrew Garfield) and a host of technical categories. Nicole K was also nominated along with ‘Tanna’, which is up for best foreign film. It's set on a small island in Vanuatu and enacted by the local Yakel tribe. Sentence to drop: "This is the first of 10 foreign language films submitted by Australians to actually get a nomination."

The songs: 2017 brings it better than many a preceding year. Justin Timberlake will bust out "Can't Fight The Feeling", Hamilton's Lin-Manuel Miranda with join Moana's Auli'i Cravalho for "How Far I'll Go", and Sting also fronts for the "The Empty Chair" from Jim: The James Foley Story. But the goose bumps musical moment will probably belong to John Legend when he does both "Audition" and "City of Stars" from La La Land. Sentence to drop: "Legend won in 2015 for his work with Common on Glory. I wonder if Chrissy will use the Oscars as bookends?"

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Brought to you by your resident academy expert David Smiedt

Before you know it, February 26 will roll around and everyone will be talking about the Oscars. From the red carpet hits and misses - tuxedos and ball gowns in the heat of an LA afternoon, what could possibly go wrong - to the invariable mangling of "foreign" names and (this year) a deluge of Trump jokes, it's that irresistible mix of celebration and car crash. It's also the classic water cooler topic, so here's what you need to know.

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Yeong Sassall

Published

26/02/2017 7:00:58 AM

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