What a Feeling: Best Original Song, 1983

I'm so glad we finally made it to Best Original Song, because the 80s was the decade for this category. The confusing rule changes, terrible winners, and "huh?" nominations of recent years have called into question the legitimacy, the necessity of Original Song. But without it, we wouldn't have the power ballads and pop hits that have defined the last 30 years of karaoke.

Here's just a sampling of nominees, not even winners: "9 to 5", "On the Road Again", "Endless Love", "Eye of the Tiger", "The Power of Love", "Footloose", "Let's Hear It For the Boy", "Somewhere Out There", "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now", "Kiss the Girl". Songs that, when played amongst friends, cause the whole party to stop for a group sing-along. And I haven't even touched the actual champions like "Say You, Say Me", "Up Where We Belong", "Take My Breath Away", "I Just Called to Say I Love You", and so on, and so forth.

1983 gave us three bona fide classics, songs that have stood the test of time, tunes that everyone - old, young, straights, gays, men, women - knows most of the words to. Two of them come from Flashdance, the third highest-grossing film of the year, whose soundtrack took the top spot of the Billboard Top 200 two weeks in a row. The other one comes from Yentl, Barbra Streisand's surprisingly great directorial debut.

Oh, and the other nominees were another tune from Yentl and one from Tender Mercies. Shall we have a listen?

Everything's As If We Never Said Goodbye: Best Supporting Actress, 1983

Hello, old friends.

3 years later, but you get the idea

Like its 1993 equivalent, this is at least my second time viewing all these performances. That's thanks to Stinkylulu, who hosted a Supporting Actress Smackdown back in 2009 that I participated in. As will happen when almost ten years (!) have passed, I've warmed to some performances, cooled on others, and maintained my affection for another.

It's a great lineup, though. Cher called Silkwood her acting debut -- she appeared in two movies previously, but those who had seen them could not argue with her statement. Glenn Close was back after her Oscar-nominated film debut in The World According to Garp the year before. Amy Irving became one of the few to be nominated for both a Razzie and an Oscar for the same performance. And Alfre Woodard, who would later appear in Supporting Actress Oscar-winning 12 Years a Slave, garnered her first and so far only (!!!) nomination.

As for Linda Hunt...talk about unexpected wins! Certainly, the draw of a diminutive actress playing a half-Chinese man - not a cross-dresser, not a trans character, but a man - is one ripe for an Oscar Season Narrative. Oh, and fine, she had already won the National Board of Review and Los Angeles Film Critics Association awards for this role. But holy Lord, can you imagine this happening now?

Hell, would I vote for it now? Hit the jump and find out!

Swedes, Texans, and Jedi: Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, 1983

I love this category - it's always a great mixture of Best Picture nominees, Best Picture also-rans, period pieces, and sci-fi.

Fanny and Alexander and Yentl fill the period piece slots, and given the number of nominations they accumulated, plus the buzz at the time, I think it's safe to say each came this close to a Best Picture nomination. Return of the Jedi is the obvious sci-fi/fantasy set -- spaceships, mythical setting specific to a weird creature, the usual-usual. The Right Stuff combines the fascination with space tech -- something that would also benefit Gravity, The Martian, and Inception -- with the period trappings of the 60s.

And then there's Terms of Endearment, the extremely rare contemporary entry that I can't imagine being anything other than a coattails nod, especially since it means ignoring the specificity of The Dresser or the wonder of Krull.

Fanny and Alexander won -- let's see if it should have. After the jump.

1983 SMACKDOWN!

I have taken part, for a second time, in StinkyLulu's Supporting Actress Smackdown. The year is 1983, and Heavens to Betsy there's much to love here. The chick from SilverScreener fave Carrie, Cruella De Ville, the woman who made me believe in life after love, a tiny woman, and Alfre Woodard. Kick-ass.

I'll tell you what, I am a big fan of the performances by Cher (Silkwood) and Linda Hunt (The Year of Living Dangerously). I am not a big fan of Amy Irving in Yentl.

Head on over to StinkyLulu and check out what went down.

I have to say, if there's one thing I've learned from this experience, it's this: 1983 kind of blows. True, Linda Hunt got the Oscar she so richly deserved, and Silkwood's cool, but overall? Cross Creek is dull, Yentl is a joke, and though I freeking love The Big Chill, why was Glenn Close that film's sole nominee? Especially when Meg Tilly, Mary Kay Place, Tom Berenger, and (emphasis on him) William Hurt gave such amazing performances? What a bizarre year.