For handicappers of this year’s Oscars, seeing films isn’t required
The 2006 Oscar race’s starting gun has been fired.
Presumed contenders, such as Stephen Frears’ newly opened “The Queen,” are being unveiled weekly, and Fox Searchlight just mailed the season’s first DVD screeners, for “Little Miss Sunshine,” to Academy members.
That a flat-out R-rated comedy such as “Little Miss Sunshine” might have best-picture aspirations is a sign of how wide-open the race is perceived to be — though “wide open” is one of the great Oscar race cliches.
Many of this year’s would-be contenders have yet to be seen, so the race should be wide open now. Still, plenty of Oscar handicappers have been mapping out the frontrunners and tracking the campaigns for weeks, and few obvious heavyweights appear to be on the horizon.
Clint Eastwood’s Iwo Jima drama “Flags of Our Fathers,” which opens Friday, was widely considered the film to beat — until some critics on the coasts finally saw it and weren’t necessarily blown away.
Martin Scorsese’s “The Departed” wasn’t thought to be a contender because it’s a cop genre movie — but now that it’s opened to rave reviews and killer box office, it’s suddenly in the mix.
Meanwhile, Bill Condon’s musical “Dreamgirls” is being touted in some corners as the favorite.
No one has seen it.
One-name celebrities riding in T-bird
Take the world’s biggest rock star, the country’s reigning talk-show queen, a red Ford Thunderbird two-seater and a massive publicity stunt (to benefit the “Product Red” program to aid sick Africans) on a freakishly wintry day on the Magnificent Mile.
How does it work?
Well, Oprah drives, and Bono gets out of the car first each time to open the door for her.
And when Oprah finds herself waiting to make that tricky left turn from northbound Michigan Avenue onto Chicago Avenue, Bono leaps out of the car in the middle of the intersection, dramatically fends off the oncoming traffic, waves her through and then hops back into the car so it can travel a few more feet to the Armani store, where organized applauders await them.
No, Mick Jagger wasn’t in the trunk.
Mellencamp took the cash and ran
Last week’s column asked whether John Mellencamp is a sellout for letting his new song “Our Country” become the theme for a Chevrolet pickup truck.
The verdict? Guilty.
A sampling of the responses:
“I remember a Mellencamp concert at Allstate (then Rosemont) arena in 1993. . . . He was very adamant that he would never `sell out’ and allow his songs to be used in commercials.”
— Rick Robison, Mundelein
“It’s just another disappointment for me as pop stars become spokespeople, using cold cash or `exposure’ as their lame excuse for selling out.”
— Brett Ballantini, Buffalo Grove
“What’s the difference between making you pay to buy the CD and making Chevy pay to use the song?”
— Tim Howe, Chicago
The Pop (Machine) Quiz
1. Virgin America unveiled a new plane Wednesday. What’s it called?
a. The Big Ol’ Jet Airliner
b. Da Plane
c. The Jefferson Airplane
d. Wings of a Dove
2. Barbra Streisand used a naughty word in shutting up a heckler at a Madison Square Garden concert. What had the heckler shouted out?
a. “What is this, a fundraiser?”
b. “Please, Lord, not `You Don’t Bring Me Flowers’!”
c. “George Bush rules!”
d. “Free Birrrrrrrrd”!
3. What just fetched $20.3 million in an auction?
a. The contents of Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch
b. Marlon Brando’s two Oscars
c. Ellen Barkin’s jewelry
d. Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston’s former dream home
ANSWERS 1. c; 2. a. The heckling came during a sketch in which Streisand interacted with a fake President Bush; 3. c.
———-
Read Pop Machine, Mark Caro’s blog about popular culture, at bancodeprofissionais.com/popmachine
