The (Oscars) obsession has been lifted...for now....

Last night I was headed out and needed a sweater. As the locals say, it’s getting chilly here in Southern California. A chilly 54 degrees. (It will be up to 71 at some point today. A wintery 71.)

I looked into my closet and grabbed my Adidas sweatshirt. I was instantly taken back to two Oscar seasons ago. Why Adidas, you say?

Remember when I was completely obsessed with “Call Me By Your Name?” For those of you new to my writings…you’ll just have to trust me. Although awardswiz.com is still up, for now, at least - if you want to go digging.

Well, Armie was wearing Adidas everywhere on the circuit, and when I obsess about a movie, the obsession tends to bleed into all areas of my life. I even went on a date with a millennial, trying to get my less creepy Oliver on. Disaster!!

Anyway…it wasn’t just the film, although the film certainly played a part…it was that film, that year’s race, being invited to Galeca, joining Film Independent for the first time…the whole thing.

Years of love/obsession for the institution, the years of Oscarwatching, the predicting…the multitude of films - all came to a peak in early 2018.

There have been other years like that one. If you simply take a look at the wall of my apartment you will see the proof. “Call Me By Your Name,” “Black Swan,” “La La Land.” If you take a look in my dressing room, you’ll see one of the original obsessions - “Funny Girl,” awaiting for its place on the wall of former obsessions.

So, what happened?

A variety of things, I think. Twitter, for one. The influx of Oscar writers/bloggers for another. And no movie to grab my senses.

This year already, I loved “Marriage Story,” probably more than anything I saw last year…although I did love “Suspiria.” But it’s really hard to tell how much I loved ”Suspiria,” considering I was so disappointed with the race last season in general, and my seemingly unbreakable inability to predict Best Picture.

I joked last year, that not having a dog in the fight might actually assist me in my predictions.

It did not.

This year I have moved thousands of miles away…and am just now getting into the movie groove. I’m almost finished with my film festival queue (For those who don’t know, I’m the LGBTQ programmer for Oxford Film Festival) and I’ve booked myself into screenings for most of the major contenders. I’ve already seen “Marriage Story” and “The Irishman,” seeing “Frozen II” and “The Traitor” today, “Bombshell",” “Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” “Joker,” “Ford v Ferrari,” 1917,” “Hustlers,” “Parasite,” “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” “Richard Jewell” all in the coming weeks. The screeners are coming as well, although still to my Mississippi address. Go figure. Don’t tell the studios…Mom and Dad are kindly guarding them before sending them to me.

So, yes…it seems my Oscar obsession has been lifted. For now…but with any obsession, it can return at any time, I suppose.

My original Oscars mentor Sasha Stone has offered to have me write at Awards Daily…and I will post things here…occasionally, I guess. But we’ll have to let the films themselves tell my story. That’s always been my entry into the Oscars. The movies. And for now, the story is in development.