OSCAR NOMS WILL BE?....

TOM FORD FANS

On a lighter note - Lord we need one - 2016 was a great year for cinema, popular, commercial, foreign and domestic, art-house and comic-book. As I was reminded recently, the last time a film took all top 5 Oscars (Best film, director, producer, actor and actress) was 1991 for horror classic Silence of the Lambs (one would have thought Titanic, but Winslett did not win that year). 26 years later, this could happen again with La La Land - or not, so stiff is the competition. If they use all ten places, here are the ten films Eyewear thinks the Academy will nominate for Best Picture, based on other prizes, and critical reception.

1. La La Land - the sentimental favourite, and one to beat, for its self-reflexive rescue of the musical;
2. Moonlight - a powerful contender, examining a young boy's life as a black gay person in Miami;
3. Manchester by the Sea - probably shoe in for Affleck as best actor;
4. Jackie - again, Portman would win for best actor here;
5. Fences - another brilliant African-American film, with extraordinary central performances from Davis and Washington;
6. Hacksaw Ridge - Mel Gibson's redemption is probably complete with this anti-war film;
7. Arrival - many critics felt this was the film of the year;
8. Deadpool - an outsider maybe, but it was a master-class in comedy-action beloved by many.
9. Loving - a film about interracial marriage and prejudice in America;
10. Hell or High Water - at one time, seen as a front-runner, a powerful Texas-set crime drama critique of red-neck American values.

There are other films that could just slip in here, such as Tom Ford's bleak existential actioner, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Nocturnal Animals, or Lion, based on a moving true-life story; or Scorsese's Silence, or the comedy Florence Foster Jenkins (especially as it is a Streep Vehicle) - or 20th century Women, or Hidden Figures. Surprise inclusions could include: Love & Friendship, a popular stylish romantic satire; admired horror film The Witch; Linklater comedy Everybody Wants Some!! which has some critical love. A further nice twist might be including one or more art-house faves: Irish comedy Sing Street, Cannes-winning I, Daniel Blake, or American Honey, The Lobster, or Paterson, by Jaramusch. Captain America: Civil War would make sense, in terms of its critical reception, except comic book movies don't usually get nominated.

IQ AND THE POETS - ARE YOU SMART?

When you open your mouth to speak, are you smart? A funny question from a great song, but also, a good one, when it comes to poets, and poetry. We tend to have a very ambiguous view of intelligence in poetry, one that I'd say is dysfunctional. Basically, it goes like this: once you are safely dead, it no longer matters how smart you were. For instance, Auden was smarter than Yeats , but most would still say Yeats is the finer poet; Eliot is clearly highly intelligent, but how much of Larkin 's work required a high IQ? Meanwhile, poets while alive tend to be celebrated if they are deemed intelligent: Anne Carson, Geoffrey Hill , and Jorie Graham , are all, clearly, very intelligent people, aside from their work as poets. But who reads Marianne Moore now, or Robert Lowell , smart poets? Or, Pound ? How smart could Pound be with his madcap views? Less intelligent poets are often more popular. John Betjeman was not a very smart poet, per se....

"I have crossed oceans of time to find you..."

In terms of great films about, and of, love, we have Vertigo, In The Mood for Love , and Casablanca , Doctor Zhivago , An Officer and a Gentleman , at the apex; as well as odder, more troubling versions, such as Sophie's Choice and Silence of the Lambs . I think my favourite remains Bram Stoker's Dracula , with the great immortal line "I have crossed oceans of time to find you...".

THE SWIFT REPORT 2023

I am writing this post without much enthusiasm, but with a sense of duty. This blog will be 20 years old soon, and though I rarely post here anymore, I owe it some attention. Of course in 2023, "Swift" now means one thing only, Taylor Swift, the billionaire musician. Gone are the days when I was asked if I was related to Jonathan Swift. The pre-eminent cultural Swift is now alive and TIME PERSON OF THE YEAR. There is no point in belabouring the obvious with delay: 2023 was a low-point in the low annals of human history - war, invasion, murder, in too many nations. Hate, division, the collapse of what truth is, exacerbated by advances in AI that may or may not prove apocalyptic, while global warming still seems to threaten the near-future safety of humanity. It's been deeply depressing. The world lost some wonderful poets, actors, musicians, and writers this year, as it often does. Two people I knew and admired greatly, Ian Ferrier and Kevin Higgins, poets and organise...

E Y E W E A R, THE BLOG - FREEDOM MEANS BEING UNAFRAID TO WRITE WHAT YOU THINK

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