Make 2007 Oscar Predictions Here You Know You Wanna

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So then, what middle of the road tripe will take the brass ring this year?

My BP nom list:

Babel
United 93
The Departed
Dreamgirls
Flags of Our Fathers

Could also be World Trade Center, Letters from Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine, Bobby, and I have a weird feeling Children of Men could end up in the running if it has box office legs, though jaymc and morbs have expressed scepticism.

PS I have seen none of these films, but doing so is never a requirement to play this game.

― Edward III (edward iii), Friday, 5 January 2007 17:02 (nineteen years ago)

Re Flags of Our Fathers: Letters from Iwo Jima has been getting more critical attention lately, but in a weird way, this could work to the advantage of Flags, since the Academy may be reticent to nominate a foreign-language film but will still want to honor Eastwood for the whole project. Before Letters was rushed into theaters, Flags was considered a disappointment.

Bobby won't get anywhere near the Best Pic nominees. You'd think that the Golden Globe and SAG Ensemble nods would be indicators, but it's also the kind of star-studded movie that the Globes go crazy for (look, it's Lindsay Lohan! and there's Sharon Stone! etc.), and SAG Ensemble nominations are often given to movies that simply have a large ensemble. But overall reception wasn't particularly great, and an Oscar film it ain't.

World Trade Center doesn't seem likely. I'm not sure it ever really caught on, and it's hard to imagine Academy voters going with two 9/11 films. (That said, I'm beginning to have doubts about United 93. Seems a little too criticky.)

You're also forgetting a major contender: The Queen

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 5 January 2007 17:13 (nineteen years ago)

Re: The Queen, yeah, duh.

Bobby gets the aging lefty nostalgics, with a musty stench of import hanging over it. Keep in mind these are people who writ Crash into the history books.

― Edward III (edward iii), Friday, 5 January 2007 17:16 (nineteen years ago)

Babel
The Departed
Dreamgirls
The Queen
United 93

(if one of the Clints squeezes in, it will be the Japanese one)

DiCaprio (Departed)
Gosling (the only iffy one)
O'Toole
Will Smith
Whitaker

Cruz
Dench
Mirren
Streep
Winslet

Condon
Eastwood
Frears
Innaritu
Scorsese

(subject to change once DGA noms come out)

and the rest, as Bill Murray usta say, who cares.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 5 January 2007 17:17 (nineteen years ago)

The Best Actress list seems pretty much wrapped up. No one is predicting anything other than Cruz, Dench, Mirren, Streep, and Winslet (also the SAG nominees).

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 5 January 2007 17:19 (nineteen years ago)

that looks pretty good, morb.

will Gore take best doc? i really hope jesus camp gets a nom.

― mahalo 4 ur kokua (grady), Friday, 5 January 2007 17:20 (nineteen years ago)

Mirren gets it?

Gore seems an early lock for best doc, but that category has been known to zag when a zig is expected.

― Edward III (edward iii), Friday, 5 January 2007 17:23 (nineteen years ago)

For Picture, I'm going to guess Babel, The Departed, Dreamgirls, The Queen, and Little Miss Sunshine. Let's assume that vote-splitting hurts Eastwood and that they compensate with a director nod.

(All the nominated pictures' directors are chosen, with the exception of Eastwood replacing Dayton/Faris -- which looks like the list that Morbius is predicting as well.)

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 5 January 2007 17:24 (nineteen years ago)

Mirren and Whitaker are definite frontrunners -- no one seems close. Although O'Toole is in the position where his nomination is not quite certain, but if he gets it, there'll be a major push for him. Can't see anyone else winning.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 5 January 2007 17:26 (nineteen years ago)

The only way Mirren loses if the Anglophile/Merylphile vote splits and the Babe Factor boosts Penelope -- it might happen.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 5 January 2007 17:26 (nineteen years ago)

I agree with Morbs' actor, actress, and director lists, but I'm not sure about United 93 as a nominee.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Friday, 5 January 2007 17:28 (nineteen years ago)

yes, I'm least confident in U93, but they need one "patriotic" nom in there and the Iwo Jimas may cancel out.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 5 January 2007 17:30 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, I'd be surprised if United 93 got nominated. I didn't see WTC, but United 93 didn't really feel like an oscar pic, even though it fared better.

Is Babel worth seeing at all?

― mahalo 4 ur kokua (grady), Friday, 5 January 2007 17:31 (nineteen years ago)

Supporting Actor:

Eddie Murphy
Jack Nicholson
Michael Sheen
Alan Arkin
Jackie Earle Haley

Supporting Actress:

Jennifer Hudson
Cate Blanchett
Adriana Barazza
Rinko Kikuchi
Abigail Breslin

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 5 January 2007 17:31 (nineteen years ago)

So who takes Gosling's spot if he's not in? Sacha Barat Cohen? I can see him as a potential wild card.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Friday, 5 January 2007 17:32 (nineteen years ago)

Has there been much love for Michael Sheen ?

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Friday, 5 January 2007 17:33 (nineteen years ago)

This contest seems extra humdrum and routine this year. Especially the "how strange, it seems as though there were only five lead actress performances this year at all" thing (Blanchett probably could've campained for lead and gotten it this year, at the expense of Winslet or maybe Cruz).

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 5 January 2007 17:35 (nineteen years ago)

Sheen = LA Critics

Yeah, I don't see them nominating Cohen and Ken Watanabe may be the only other lead on the radar. This is a good scoreboard site:

http://www.oscarwatch.com

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 5 January 2007 17:36 (nineteen years ago)

Does Cruz play a prostitute? If so, it's hers.

― Edward III (edward iii), Friday, 5 January 2007 17:37 (nineteen years ago)

My secret hope is that Wahlberg replaces Nicholson.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Friday, 5 January 2007 17:37 (nineteen years ago)

(xpost) Re Sheen: I think he's won a couple of critics' awards (don't remember which). If The Queen wasn't already going to be nominated for Picture and Actress, I'm not sure I'd predict him for an Oscar nomination, but as it stands, I think he has a good shot. If not, then Djimon Hounsou could sneak in.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 5 January 2007 17:38 (nineteen years ago)

I would sport an erection if Lady Vengeance gets foreign pic nom.

― Edward III (edward iii), Friday, 5 January 2007 17:41 (nineteen years ago)

Sorry, tmi.

― Edward III (edward iii), Friday, 5 January 2007 17:41 (nineteen years ago)

I'm hoping Blood Diamond slides out of voter consciousness.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Friday, 5 January 2007 17:42 (nineteen years ago)

I'm also skeptical of Babel making the final cut, whose prospects have shriveled; I'm more confident that Little Ms Sunshine gets the high-grossing comedy Four Weddings & A Funeral slot.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Friday, 5 January 2007 17:45 (nineteen years ago)

That OscarWatch site reinforces my Children of Men speculation. Little Children and Notes From a Scandal could toss up other categories, if not best pic.

― Edward III (edward iii), Friday, 5 January 2007 17:45 (nineteen years ago)

I'm more confident that Little Ms Sunshine gets the high-grossing comedy Four Weddings & A Funeral slot.

Yeah, I was thinking of it as the Full Monty slot.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 5 January 2007 17:47 (nineteen years ago)

did LMS really do all that well?

what about Babel's role as the "globo-Crash"? i forget who I stole that from.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 5 January 2007 17:52 (nineteen years ago)

I'd be shocked if Babel didn't get in.

What are the chances of Pan's Labyrinth breaking out of the foreign pic ghetto?

― Edward III (edward iii), Friday, 5 January 2007 17:54 (nineteen years ago)

did LMS really do all that well?

About $60 million, but lots of great word-of-mouth, surprise hit, etc.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 5 January 2007 17:56 (nineteen years ago)

Why must there even be a Full Monty slot? (I saw that one with our common friend, jaymc, and she loved it and I didn't -- but she was trying to get me to admit that one of the strippers had a nice body, which was funny in retrospect.)

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 5 January 2007 17:56 (nineteen years ago)

The only foreign-lang film (Iwo aside)within hailing distance of Best Picture is Volver, and it won't. Pan's is in some ways more savage and "bleak" than The Departed, forget it!

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 5 January 2007 17:58 (nineteen years ago)

I saw that one with our common friend, jaymc, and she loved it and I didn't -- but she was trying to get me to admit that one of the strippers had a nice body, which was funny in retrospect.)

Heh.

At first I thought you meant you saw Little Miss Sunshine, and I was reading "strippers" as "beauty-pageant contestants." Eek.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 5 January 2007 18:00 (nineteen years ago)

lol... yes, the sexual confusion gets even cloudier.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 5 January 2007 18:01 (nineteen years ago)

Wait, so were either of you out at that point?

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 5 January 2007 18:08 (nineteen years ago)

Here's a swipe at foreign lang:

The Death of Mr Lazarescu
L'Enfant
Pan's Labyrinth
Volver
Zwartboek

― Edward III (edward iii), Friday, 5 January 2007 18:18 (nineteen years ago)

Volver, definitely; I would be shocked if Lazarescu and L'Enfant made it.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Friday, 5 January 2007 18:23 (nineteen years ago)

i've gotta believe wahlberg gets a nomination.

― ‘•’u (gear), Friday, 5 January 2007 18:26 (nineteen years ago)

http://image.com.com/mp3/images/cover/200/drc400/c493/c49389y782p.jpg

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Friday, 5 January 2007 18:27 (nineteen years ago)

i don't think LMS will get nommed for best picture. at least i fucking hope not

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 5 January 2007 18:28 (nineteen years ago)

Pan's Labyrinth seems like a shoo-in foreign lang nom.

Apoctalypto is ineligible for FL nom, correct?

(on technical grounds, not because the Jews are responsible for all wars)

― Edward III (edward iii), Friday, 5 January 2007 18:28 (nineteen years ago)

Tsotsi?

― jed_ (jed), Friday, 5 January 2007 18:31 (nineteen years ago)

ok that won last year :/

― jed_ (jed), Friday, 5 January 2007 18:31 (nineteen years ago)

i've gotta believe wahlberg gets a nomination.

Much harder if Nicholson does for same film.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 5 January 2007 18:35 (nineteen years ago)

i think both could swing a nomination, which means maybe neither would win. i'd rather see wahlberg nab one, myself.

― ‘•’u (gear), Friday, 5 January 2007 18:40 (nineteen years ago)

We're at the point where I hate to see good stuff nominated, as it will only lose.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 5 January 2007 18:44 (nineteen years ago)

strangely i think i only like to watch the oscars when i don't give a shit.

― ‘•’u (gear), Friday, 5 January 2007 18:45 (nineteen years ago)

haha!

walhberg deserves it way more.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 5 January 2007 18:46 (nineteen years ago)

Whatever you think of it, Jack gave a performance; I thought Mark had a great (first) scene and the rest was just variations on same.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 5 January 2007 18:49 (nineteen years ago)

¯\(°_o)/¯

― ‘•’u (gear), Friday, 5 January 2007 18:50 (nineteen years ago)

I thought Mark had a great (first) scene and the rest was just variations on same.

Like a great punk album! Wahlberg wins!

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Friday, 5 January 2007 18:57 (nineteen years ago)

Best Animated will be Happy Feet + 2 or 3 others that don't stand a chance in hell (probably Cars, Over The Hedge). What a shitty year for animated films (Happy Feet excluded).

― stoked for the madness (nickalicious), Friday, 5 January 2007 18:58 (nineteen years ago)

Wait, so were either of you out at that point?

Nope, that's what was so fun about it.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 5 January 2007 19:08 (nineteen years ago)

(Of course, it was probably a matter of months for both of us at that point. Freshman year does that to people.)

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 5 January 2007 19:09 (nineteen years ago)

Really? I think there was a plentiful amount of nom-capable animated flicks this year. Happy Feet is the likely winnder, but Flushed Away, Monster House, and Ice Age 2, besides the ones you mentioned, are all contenders I imagine.

x-post

― Edward III (edward iii), Friday, 5 January 2007 19:10 (nineteen years ago)

Saw Cars twice and Happy Feet once, animated movies are the only thing I get to see in the cinema anymore...

― Edward III (edward iii), Friday, 5 January 2007 19:11 (nineteen years ago)

Bambi II sweeps.

― Fleischhutliebe! like a warm, furry meatloaf (Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows), Friday, 5 January 2007 19:11 (nineteen years ago)

roffles

(non-eligble anyway)

― Edward III (edward iii), Friday, 5 January 2007 19:13 (nineteen years ago)

Freshman year does that to people.

Not if you're hanging out with the other celibates at the campus humor magazine.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 5 January 2007 19:33 (nineteen years ago)

i cant wait until whoopi introduces the people dressed up as penguins to perform the original song from happy feet

― i've dreamt of rubies! (Mandee), Friday, 5 January 2007 20:07 (nineteen years ago)

you mean Ellen? she already does that critter-laden credit card ad.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 5 January 2007 20:08 (nineteen years ago)

It will probably be Savion Glover, right?

I hope Prince takes it all.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 5 January 2007 20:20 (nineteen years ago)

So, if Winslet is nominated is she now the youngest honored actress in Academy history?

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Friday, 5 January 2007 21:46 (nineteen years ago)

why, wd it be her 3rd nomination? fourth?

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 5 January 2007 21:51 (nineteen years ago)

Her fifth!

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Friday, 5 January 2007 21:55 (nineteen years ago)

I'm not sure how to measure what you're asking, Alfred. If nominated, she'll have scored her 5th nomination by the age of 31. Compare with Streep, whose 5th nomination came when she was 34.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 5 January 2007 21:55 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah – I was going to stay "the most honored nominee under 40." I didn't know that about RoboStreep; I always assumed she was a cyborg.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Friday, 5 January 2007 21:56 (nineteen years ago)

i'm trying to think of a single "great" film meryl streep has been in and none are coming to mind.

― ‘•’u (gear), Friday, 5 January 2007 22:01 (nineteen years ago)

I can't remember, has Kate actually won yet?

― The Android Cat (Dan Perry), Friday, 5 January 2007 22:02 (nineteen years ago)

Actually, Streep in Prada is her most deserved nomination since 1995.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Friday, 5 January 2007 22:02 (nineteen years ago)

Oh man, I hadn't even considered a Savion Glover performance! I am watching these.

― stoked for the madness (nickalicious), Friday, 5 January 2007 22:03 (nineteen years ago)

No, and there's a scene in Extras where she bitches about it.

xpost

― chap (chap), Friday, 5 January 2007 22:03 (nineteen years ago)

Would've like to have seen her win it for Eternal Sunshine, if only for her excellent American accent.

― Edward III (edward iii), Friday, 5 January 2007 22:07 (nineteen years ago)

Just did a little research: Streep had 8 nominations before she was 40. Bette Davis had 7. Jack Nicholson and Elizabeth Taylor each had 5.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 5 January 2007 22:15 (nineteen years ago)

a single "great" film meryl streep has been in

Manhattan

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 5 January 2007 22:16 (nineteen years ago)

Was Lady Vengeance even South Korea's submission for foreign lang?

I'm going to go out on a limb and say Pan's Labyrinth for the token foreign film in the Best Original Screenplay list

I think it is extremely likely two guys from The Departed will be pitted against each other in the Supporting Actor Category.

― Jessie the Monster (scarymonsterrr), Friday, 5 January 2007 22:17 (nineteen years ago)

Winslet will still be the youngest 5-time nominee, narrowly beating out Bette Davis, whose 5th nomination (1940, The Letter) came when she was 32.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 5 January 2007 22:19 (nineteen years ago)

i'm trying to think of a single "great" film meryl streep has been in and none are coming to mind.

Hmm. Death Becomes Her? She-Devil?

― Je4nn3 Fuhfuh (Je4nne Fury), Friday, 5 January 2007 22:19 (nineteen years ago)

Pacino also had 5 nominations before he was 40.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 5 January 2007 22:22 (nineteen years ago)

"Silkwood" is okay - Morbs OTM abt "Manhattan" otherwise

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 5 January 2007 22:24 (nineteen years ago)

Adaptation is good, maybe not 'great' though.

― chap (chap), Friday, 5 January 2007 22:26 (nineteen years ago)

The Deer Hunter and A Cry in the Dark are two other good-not-great Streep films.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Friday, 5 January 2007 22:27 (nineteen years ago)

OK jaymc is scaring me now...

Silkwood is very good, but "great" -- I think even Manhattan needs the quotes.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 5 January 2007 22:28 (nineteen years ago)

At the rate she's going then Winslet won't get her A Scent of a Woman-Color of Money-Venus recognition until her 32nd nomination.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Friday, 5 January 2007 22:33 (nineteen years ago)

OK jaymc is scaring me now...

It's called oscars.com.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 5 January 2007 22:33 (nineteen years ago)

well, you weren't scaring me THAT much.

Foreign submissions:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submissions_for_the_79th_Academy_Award_for_Best_Foreign_Film

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 5 January 2007 22:34 (nineteen years ago)

OR IS IT CALLED OSCARS.XLS

xpost

thanks morbs

― Jessie the Monster (scarymonsterrr), Friday, 5 January 2007 22:35 (nineteen years ago)

geez, Ivan Passer co-directed the (actual) Kazakh entry!

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 5 January 2007 22:35 (nineteen years ago)

National Society of Film Critics:

Best Picture: Pan's Labyrinth
Director: Paul Greengrass
Actor: Forest Whitaker
Actress: Helen Mirren
Supp Actor: Mark Wahlberg
Supp Actress: Meryl Streep (for both A Prairie Home Companion and Prada)

Whitaker beat Peter O'Toole by a single vote; The Death of Mr. Lazarescu lost by a single vote.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 8 January 2007 14:08 (nineteen years ago)

100% chance of movies I don't/wouldn't like winning best picture in 90% of the categories, just like always.

― Seven Years as a Bird in the Wood (The GZeus), Monday, 8 January 2007 14:29 (nineteen years ago)

I know, I was pulling for Snakes On a Plane, too.

― Edward III (edward iii), Monday, 8 January 2007 14:39 (nineteen years ago)

neverforget.jpg

― Edward III (edward iii), Monday, 8 January 2007 14:40 (nineteen years ago)

In other news, Jessie's suspicions are correct - Korea didn't submit Lady Vengeance for Oscar consideration (just like last year when they passed over Oldboy for Taegukgi).

So I'll recalibrate my foreign lang noms to the wiki entry on what's been submitted, pick any 5 of these:

Water
Curse of the Golden Flower
The Lives of Others
Dreams
Pan's Labyrinth
Volver
Black Book

― Edward III (edward iii), Monday, 8 January 2007 14:57 (nineteen years ago)

It's pretty much a two-horse race between Volver and Pan's Labyrinth, and I suspect Volver will win, because for the Academy it's dearest Pedro vs. he what made Blade 2

― Jessie the Monster (scarymonsterrr), Monday, 8 January 2007 15:10 (nineteen years ago)

I really would like to see Marky Mark win, partially because he has turned in a few good performances that went totally unrecognized (*ahem* Three Kings) and partially because he looked so damn excited to be in a Scorsese flick. I would rather Jack not win because I have a penchant for punishing established talented actors for phoning in performances/destroying their own credibility. Jack may have been good in The Departed, but I dunno if that means we should just forget Anger Management, Something's Gotta Give..etc. On the other hand, he's nowhere near Bob DeNiro levels of self-mockery--that man shouldn't be allowed within 40 feet of an Oscar.

Any bets on whether this will be "the year" for Scorsese to win Best Director? I expect he and Lynch will get a nod.

― Jessie the Monster (scarymonsterrr), Monday, 8 January 2007 15:17 (nineteen years ago)

My patented formula for BP noms is all whacked due to Miramax's demise. :(

― Jessie the Monster (scarymonsterrr), Monday, 8 January 2007 15:19 (nineteen years ago)

Jack may have been good in The Departed, but I dunno if that means we should just forget Anger Management, Something's Gotta Give..etc.

We won't, but the Academy will.

You can bet Lynch won't get a nod. The Academy likes him, but they don't like Oscar-courting strategies involving cows.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 8 January 2007 15:19 (nineteen years ago)

He-what-made-Blade-2 still has some residual cachet from The Devil's Backbone, and Pan's Labyrinth is being considered more seriously than his usual com-con aspirations. But it's probably too freaky to win.

If IMDB's to be believed, Almodovar's Oscar track record is one nom and one win?

― Edward III (edward iii), Monday, 8 January 2007 15:22 (nineteen years ago)

Yup. He was nominated for Best Director for Talk to Her and won for its screenplay, although Women on the Verge... and All About My Mother were nominated for Best Foreign Film.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 8 January 2007 15:25 (nineteen years ago)

The Academy's shown a greater prediliction for splitting best pic/dir awards in recent years. Could bode well for a Scorsese director win and best pic going to something a little less grimy.

My favorite De Niro appearance of the past few years was his SNL host, where he made no bones of staring straight at the teleprompter and reading his lines with minimum exertion. Fuck you, I'm De Niro!

― Edward III (edward iii), Monday, 8 January 2007 15:28 (nineteen years ago)

Marky Mark ain't winning even if nominated, he has no "arc" (God, I hate the word and concept).

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 8 January 2007 15:30 (nineteen years ago)

they should put matt damon in the best oscar category but he should secretly be nominated for best SUPPORTING. and they should do the opposite to leo. but not tell them. and then halfway through the awards ceremony they figure it out and try to stop each other before the awards get handed out!!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 8 January 2007 15:31 (nineteen years ago)

I thought All About My Mother won? weeeird

ehhh...del Toro's pretty firmly entrenched as a genre filmmaker (kiss of death), even if Pan's Labyrinth is being taken seriously, it will only be recognized in the form of noms and a win for visual effects/costumes/set design.

Best Picture = popular favorite (Dreamgirls)
Best Director = great movie w/ great direction (WILL IT BE THE YEAR OF MARTY???)
Best Original/Adapted Screenplay = great movie w/ great script (dunno about original, but adapted will almost certainly be Little Children)

― Jessie the Monster (scarymonsterrr), Monday, 8 January 2007 15:32 (nineteen years ago)

in what universe do those equations exist?

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 8 January 2007 15:34 (nineteen years ago)

I've debated whether to start a Notes on a Scandal thread; anyone seen it? It's a tony Fatal Attraction, with Blanchett and Bill Nighy giving the better performances. The Dame does her usual contemptuous glower.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 8 January 2007 15:35 (nineteen years ago)

xpost

(it is true that megagrossers win more often than they used to -- Titanic, Lord of The Kachings 3 -- but not usually; Dead Man's Chest is not in the running)

Isn't the dame sposed to be a Killing of Sister George-type retro-lez?

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 8 January 2007 15:36 (nineteen years ago)

All About My Mother did win the foreign lang Oscar - and the Golden Globe too.

― Edward III (edward iii), Monday, 8 January 2007 15:37 (nineteen years ago)

Isn't the dame sposed to be a Killing of Sister George-type retro-lez?

She even eschews makeup.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 8 January 2007 15:37 (nineteen years ago)

omg heart Bill Nighy.

something has to explain Gladiator/Chicago/etc. I meant "popular favorite" as in made money AND got favorable reviews.

― Jessie the Monster (scarymonsterrr), Monday, 8 January 2007 15:38 (nineteen years ago)

jesus you guys should come over here and watch some sitcoms, you'd shit.

― the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Monday, 8 January 2007 15:40 (nineteen years ago)

Saturday, January 13, 2007: Nominations polls close 5 p.m. PST.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007: Nominations announced 5:30 a.m. PST, Samuel Goldwyn Theater

Wednesday, January 31, 2007: Final ballots mailed.

Tuesday, February 20, 2007: Final polls close 5 p.m. PST.

Sunday, February 25, 2007: 79th Annual Academy Awards Presentation

― Edward III (edward iii), Monday, 8 January 2007 15:46 (nineteen years ago)

Best Picture noms have swung towards smaller films in the past two years.... last year was practically a battle of dwarves.

2004 (77th)
The Aviator
Finding Neverland
* Million Dollar Baby
Ray
Sideways

2005 (78th)
BEST PICTURE
Brokeback Mountain
Capote
* Crash
Good Night, and Good Luck
Munich

― Edward III (edward iii), Monday, 8 January 2007 15:55 (nineteen years ago)

With the exception of Munich, last year's group were all modest to big box office hits.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 8 January 2007 15:56 (nineteen years ago)

But this was amidst two years of fairly low box office numbers. Blockbusters are pretty much over, especially blockbusters that are critical darlings. So yeah, they weren't setting records, but they did well comparatively.

Crash won because it had the OPRAH VOTE.

xpost

― Jessie the Monster (scarymonsterrr), Monday, 8 January 2007 15:58 (nineteen years ago)

Hits? I mean, I'm talking compared to juggernauts like Gladiator, Titantic, LOTRs, etc.

― Edward III (edward iii), Monday, 8 January 2007 15:59 (nineteen years ago)

If you're going by the OPRAH VOTE, it's going to be a dead heat between "Dreamgirls" and "The Pursuit of Happyness".

― The Android Cat (Dan Perry), Monday, 8 January 2007 16:00 (nineteen years ago)

Dude, she almost had me convinced Crash was a good movie.

― Jessie the Monster (scarymonsterrr), Monday, 8 January 2007 16:01 (nineteen years ago)

I still think last year's attempt to make a Social Statement via Crash's significance [sic] may result in another Serious winner from springtime, ie United 93. By comparison, Dreamgirls and The Departed are timeless genre entertainments (and the first might win in a Chicago-style grab for Entertainment values).

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 8 January 2007 16:03 (nineteen years ago)

That's true, although I don't think the OPRAH VOTE is solely concerned with Social Statements (although I think it's a non-trivial component of why she got so fervently behind "TPoH").

― The Android Cat (Dan Perry), Monday, 8 January 2007 16:37 (nineteen years ago)

the OPRAH VOTE is concerned with movies middle-class housewives would like. woman can make a big fucking deal out of a movoe, though. Crash was barely a blip on the radar before Oprah decided it was her favorite movie evar.

― Jessie the Monster (scarymonsterrr), Monday, 8 January 2007 16:45 (nineteen years ago)

so if Dreamgirls and Smith win, we can change the name to the Oprahs.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 8 January 2007 16:52 (nineteen years ago)

Oooh, can we do that anyway???

― The Android Cat (Dan Perry), Monday, 8 January 2007 18:12 (nineteen years ago)

I understand the foreign language film to watch out for is The Lives of Others.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Monday, 8 January 2007 18:20 (nineteen years ago)

Finland was supposed to submit Aki Kaurismäki's latest flick for the Oscars, but he refused to do it, so we didn't submit anything.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Monday, 8 January 2007 18:29 (nineteen years ago)

Supposedly it was submitted and accepted, but the Kaurismäki refused to let it be screened. So technically you did submit something.

― Edward III (edward iii), Monday, 8 January 2007 18:34 (nineteen years ago)

Wacky Fins!

― Edward III (edward iii), Monday, 8 January 2007 18:34 (nineteen years ago)

I think the guy's a bit full of himself, not that I'm a fan of Oscars or anything. He still seems to think of himself as this contrarian, misunderstood genius, even though he's the most respected living filmmaker we have by a long shot, both inside and outside Finland.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Monday, 8 January 2007 18:37 (nineteen years ago)

That's odd. He let them nominate Man Without a Past.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Monday, 8 January 2007 18:52 (nineteen years ago)

so are Murphy and Dreamgirls frontrunners now?

I'm trying to think of the last comedic actor who won an Oscar for a 'straight' role -- Red Buttons?

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 18:12 (nineteen years ago)

(of course Tom Hanks would've stuck to comedy in a better world, but there ya go)

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 18:13 (nineteen years ago)

I don't think the Globes affect Dreamgirls at all because of the drama/comedy split. No other film was in the running in that category.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 18:18 (nineteen years ago)

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 18:38 (nineteen years ago)

I've not seen Dreamgirls, but I'm already bored of it. I hope it doesn't win.

If Pan's Labrynth is set in Spain, and Guillermo Del Toro is Mexican, does that make it ineligable for Best Foreign Language Film?

― The Ultimate Conclusion (lokar), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 19:43 (nineteen years ago)

No, it's eligible. Previously, as long as the language was the same language as the country submitting it, then it was all good. But this year, they even got rid of that requirement. (Canada's entry this year is in Hindi.) Pan's Labyrinth was submitted by Mexico. Spain's entry is Volver.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 19:47 (nineteen years ago)

This is just a random observation, but the Oscar deadline was last Saturday, so the Globes results won't affect the nominations.

Some interesting outcomes at the Globes: Eastwood beating Almodovar for Iwo Jima, Cars besting Happy Feet, not sure what that bodes in Oscarland.

― Edward III (edward iii), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 20:10 (nineteen years ago)

No, it won't affect the nominations. Awards, maybe. Did Crash win the Globe last year?

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 20:20 (nineteen years ago)

Brokeback!

(how soon they forget)

― Edward III (edward iii), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 20:21 (nineteen years ago)

Babel's Globes win may have soured its BP chances at the Oscars.

― Edward III (edward iii), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 20:24 (nineteen years ago)

forgetting these awards as soon as they happen is always a goal.

Eric & Ed forecast at Slant:

http://www.slantmagazine.com/blog/default.asp?Display=85

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 20:56 (nineteen years ago)

Little Man for Best Picture

― latebloomer aka freedom williams sr (latebloomer), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 20:57 (nineteen years ago)

Eric and Ed are still betting on Brad Pitt. Work hard, play hard!

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 21:39 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.cinemanow.com/images/boxart/175/little_man_tate_175.jpg

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 21:41 (nineteen years ago)

Supporting Actor really does seem to be the category that's most up for grabs. I wouldn't be surprised if any of these 8 make the cut:

Alan Arkin
Michael Sheen
Brad Pitt
Djimon Hounsou
Eddie Murphy
Jackie Earle Haley
Jack Nicholson
Mark Wahlberg

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 21:43 (nineteen years ago)

I'd love to see Marky Mark and Pitt up for the grabbing.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 21:49 (nineteen years ago)

Are we still talking about Oscar noms here?

― Edward III (edward iii), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 21:54 (nineteen years ago)

Sorry, couldn't resist.

― Edward III (edward iii), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 22:07 (nineteen years ago)

so will there be ONE holyshitsurprise in the major categories tomw? S.B.C.?

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 22 January 2007 17:34 (nineteen years ago)

There usually is, but what's the point in guessing it if it's supposed to be a surprise?

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Monday, 22 January 2007 17:49 (nineteen years ago)

Last year, the surprise was arguably Munich in BP, but not all surprises are good.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Monday, 22 January 2007 17:51 (nineteen years ago)

Lay your claim to Nostradamus-like powers of prognostication in matters of pop cultur!

I'm expecting a curveball in the BP noms. Oscar noms are not based on straight majority vote, and there's a bit of play in the field once you look past the fer-sures.

― Edward III (edward iii), Monday, 22 January 2007 17:52 (nineteen years ago)

Del Toro or Cuaron in the BD category.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 22 January 2007 17:52 (nineteen years ago)

Maybe the LMS duo in BD? I'd certainly be surprised if that happened. And not happy.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Monday, 22 January 2007 17:53 (nineteen years ago)

No one gives a shit about predicting the Best Pic nods this year.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 22 January 2007 17:55 (nineteen years ago)

I'm kind of curious about how the ILE trifecta will fare (Pan's Labyrinth / Children of Men / Inland Empire) in general.

― Edward III (edward iii), Monday, 22 January 2007 17:56 (nineteen years ago)

respectively, something like 2, 3 and 0 noms.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 22 January 2007 17:58 (nineteen years ago)

IE nominated for Best PR Campaign (which it will lose to Dreamgirls).

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 22 January 2007 17:59 (nineteen years ago)

I think PL will probably get the most (art direction, cinematography, foreign language, long shot for director), COM will get a couple (cinematography for sure, possibly screenplay).

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Monday, 22 January 2007 18:02 (nineteen years ago)

If IE gets nominated for anything, I will post a photo of myself here with clothespins on my nipples.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 22 January 2007 18:03 (nineteen years ago)

I'm feeling a lot better about the BP predictions I made upthread. Did y'all see that LMS won the Producers' Guild Award?

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 22 January 2007 18:04 (nineteen years ago)

so does Forest Whitaker have a serious chance here? that would rule.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Monday, 22 January 2007 18:04 (nineteen years ago)

Like Hilary, he's a lock, gabbs.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 22 January 2007 18:07 (nineteen years ago)

Last King of Scotland suddenly showed up at my reasonably priced neighborhood theatre. I may have to see it sometime this week.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 22 January 2007 18:08 (nineteen years ago)

I don't quite see how the directors will back one Eastwood over the other in Best Director, when they didn't in the DGA.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 22 January 2007 18:20 (nineteen years ago)

Pan's Labyrinth and Children of Men might do better if the Oscars were back on the longer nomination schedule. They've just started to get traction with US audiences. There's probably something to that "shortened season hurts smaller films" meme.

If IE gets nominated for anything, I will post a photo of myself here with clothespins on my nipples.

While watching the SOTU please!

― Edward III (edward iii), Monday, 22 January 2007 18:20 (nineteen years ago)

Please send one nipple via UPS ground, Morbs.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 22 January 2007 18:21 (nineteen years ago)

No, please send one print of IE to Mpls. via UPS ground.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Monday, 22 January 2007 18:23 (nineteen years ago)

There's a woman who kinda looks like Laura Dern who lives in the apartment building across from mine. She drives a Town Car and keeps a toucan on the balcony.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 22 January 2007 18:26 (nineteen years ago)

Did y'all see that LMS won the Producers' Guild Award?

I bumped the detrius thread with that one. I would bump it again for the Razzie nominations, but the days of good bad movies (Mommie Dearest, Showgirls) getting nominated for those things is long gone.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Monday, 22 January 2007 18:27 (nineteen years ago)

so does Forest Whitaker have a serious chance here? that would rule.

When he stepped up to the podium at the Globes to receive his award, I turned to my wife and said, "How can you not love Forest Whitaker?" It'll be great if he gets it, although as one of the usual suspects pointed out above, his lock might be challenged if O'Toole gets a nom.

Unsung Whitaker perfs: The Color of Money, Diary of a Hit Man

― Edward III (edward iii), Monday, 22 January 2007 18:33 (nineteen years ago)

To clarify: my wife loves Whitaker, too, my statement was a general one regarding his total non-dudness.

― Edward III (edward iii), Monday, 22 January 2007 18:36 (nineteen years ago)

HIs acceptance speech was a total dud, though. I turned to my friend and said, "He's still talking like Amin."

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 22 January 2007 18:38 (nineteen years ago)

Award winners should be required to deliver acceptance speeches in the manner of the role they're winning for.

― Edward III (edward iii), Monday, 22 January 2007 18:40 (nineteen years ago)

I did find his genial bewilderment kind of refreshing, though.

― Edward III (edward iii), Monday, 22 January 2007 18:44 (nineteen years ago)

Who'll be the next black Best Actor not playing a homicidal maniac? That should be Will Smith's next move.

(still haven't seen Training Day here and I'm fine with that)

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 22 January 2007 18:45 (nineteen years ago)

whitaker was great in species

― i've dreamt of rubies! (Mandee), Monday, 22 January 2007 18:47 (nineteen years ago)

Who'll be the next black Best Actor not playing a homicidal maniac?

Morgan Freeman.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 22 January 2007 18:48 (nineteen years ago)

(and I'm pretty sure we'll someday see a white man win for playing Morgan Freeman)

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 22 January 2007 18:48 (nineteen years ago)

I'm torn by the fact that O'Toole so deserves it for time already served. His last 3 Oscar debacles include My Favorite Year (who's going to pick a drunk actor over Mahatma Gandhi?), The Stunt Man (up against De Niro in Raging Bull, hey better luck next time), and The Ruling Class (and they gave it to a guy who refused to accept!).

― Edward III (edward iii), Monday, 22 January 2007 18:52 (nineteen years ago)

whitaker was great in species

To date I have not had the stomach to test the veracity of this claim.

― Edward III (edward iii), Monday, 22 January 2007 18:55 (nineteen years ago)

that movie's not half-bad. marg helgenberger and michael madsen chasing around an alien. ben kingsley! + some other jerks.

― ‘•’u (gear), Monday, 22 January 2007 18:59 (nineteen years ago)

I did find his genial bewilderment kind of refreshing, though.

I know winning about 700 critics' awards doesn't necessarily make someone a frontrunner for the Globe/Oscar, but I think it at least partially precludes some bewilderment.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Monday, 22 January 2007 18:59 (nineteen years ago)

that movie's not half-bad. marg helgenberger and michael madsen chasing around an alien. ben kingsley! + some other jerks.
-- ‘•’u (speed.to.roa...), January 22nd, 2007.

you forgot: loads of boobies

― i've dreamt of rubies! (Mandee), Monday, 22 January 2007 19:00 (nineteen years ago)

I know winning about 700 critics' awards doesn't necessarily make someone a frontrunner for the Globe/Oscar, but I think it at least partially precludes some bewilderment.

Which is exactly why he deserves all those acting awards! He faked it!

― Edward III (edward iii), Monday, 22 January 2007 19:04 (nineteen years ago)

If I knew he didn't fake ripping ass in Scotland, I'd be all for him winning too.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Monday, 22 January 2007 19:06 (nineteen years ago)

I'm torn by the fact that O'Toole so deserves it for time already served.

so you're also saying I should be happy that Scorsese is gonna win for maybe his 18th-best film?

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 22 January 2007 19:07 (nineteen years ago)

If Oscars were handed out based on merit it might be sad.

― Edward III (edward iii), Monday, 22 January 2007 19:10 (nineteen years ago)

i would fucking LOVE to see eddie murphy get an oscar. if only as a kind of retro award for trading places, beverly hills cop and the first nutty professor.

who's seen him in this dreamgirls thing? what's he like in it?

― pisces (piscesx), Monday, 22 January 2007 19:11 (nineteen years ago)

the first nutty professor.

you mean the SECOND, laaaady

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 22 January 2007 19:13 (nineteen years ago)

At the risk of exposing blatant contrarianism, plz rank Scorsese's films to show me how The Departed isn't at least in the top half.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Monday, 22 January 2007 19:22 (nineteen years ago)

I'm with Eric. A great film it isn't, but I'd rank it in my top five or six.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 22 January 2007 19:26 (nineteen years ago)

Species does have quite a cast: Ben Kingsley, Michael Madsen, Alfred Molina, Forest Whitaker, Marg Helgenberger, Natasha Henstridge, and Michelle Williams, in a film by the man who brought us Cocktail.

Here is more helpful info from IMDB:

Tagline: Men cannot resist her. Mankind may not survive her.

Plot Outline: A message from outer space contains instructions on how to modify human DNA.

User Comments: Jugs!

― Edward III (edward iii), Monday, 22 January 2007 19:31 (nineteen years ago)

xpost

I don't have time for a ranking, but I think it's better than his last three, Cape Fear, Boxcar Bertha, maybe After Hours, and that's about it.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 22 January 2007 19:34 (nineteen years ago)

OK Casino too

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 22 January 2007 19:36 (nineteen years ago)

I prefer it to Raging Bull, Kundun, and Bringing Back The Dead.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 22 January 2007 19:39 (nineteen years ago)

I'm going to assume "The Departed.... even better than Boxcar Bertha!!!" will not appear on the DVD packaging.

― Edward III (edward iii), Monday, 22 January 2007 19:44 (nineteen years ago)

here's my ranking

mean streets
taxi driver
goodfellas
the departed
age of innocence
casino
last temptation
raging bull
bringing out the dead
after hours
aviator
kundun
gangs of ny
ny, ny
color of money

either i haven't seen the rest or it's been so long i can't remember them. i think the only one of those i hated was color of money, the only thing i liked were some okay pool shots.

― ‘•’u (gear), Monday, 22 January 2007 19:46 (nineteen years ago)

I like your list; I'd toss Casino from the top ten and move Last Temptation... and The Color of Money higher.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 22 January 2007 19:48 (nineteen years ago)

I envy your yet having to discover The King of Comedy (my #1).

and Italianamerican.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 22 January 2007 19:49 (nineteen years ago)

oh shit i forgot king of comedy, that would be between age of innocence and casino.

― ‘•’u (gear), Monday, 22 January 2007 19:51 (nineteen years ago)

(Note to self: do not hijack thread to dismiss King of Comedy yet again)

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 22 January 2007 19:56 (nineteen years ago)

well, let me show you a picture of my Pride and Joy...

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 22 January 2007 19:59 (nineteen years ago)

(also maybe the most culturally prescient film of the last 40 years)

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 22 January 2007 20:00 (nineteen years ago)

I love Scorsese and I love lists, but the idea of ranking his films strikes me as difficult, perhaps even futile. To his credit, trying to sandwich King of Comedy, Taxi Driver, and The Last Temptation of Christ into a representative scale of their respective merits appears imposssible. Does it also seem like a person who sees enough of his films inevitably encounters an oddball one that touches them and ends up near the top of their list? The Age of Innocence, Who's That Knocking At My Door?, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, etc.

― Edward III (edward iii), Monday, 22 January 2007 20:06 (nineteen years ago)

That's how I feel about The Age of Innocence, which is quite flawed and doesn't approach Terence Davies' The House of Mirth.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 22 January 2007 20:09 (nineteen years ago)

OMG, no

didn't we have a more general Oscar thread for this year?

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 22 January 2007 20:16 (nineteen years ago)

I'm extremely fond of Who's That Knocking At My Door? Despite its technical primitiveness, there are so many of what were to become his trademarks on display, already fully formed in 1967. Also, one of his most experimental, expressionistic films.

xpost-to-Morbius - This was it until we started talking about Scorsese. Fucking film geeks.

― Edward III (edward iii), Monday, 22 January 2007 20:19 (nineteen years ago)

has as small an indie film as Half Nelson ever yielded a Best Actor nomination for an under-30 actor like Gosling? Usually it's a comeback geezer like Peter Fonda in Ulee's Gold.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 22 January 2007 20:27 (nineteen years ago)

I just realised the only movie I saw at the theatre last year was Superman Returns.

― franny (frannyglass), Monday, 22 January 2007 20:50 (nineteen years ago)

I don't think I realized Gosling was that young (i.e., younger than me). Javier Bardem was 31 when nominated for Before Night Falls, if that counts.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 22 January 2007 20:59 (nineteen years ago)

well, BNF had Julian Schnabel and Depp, not a very low profile.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 22 January 2007 21:03 (nineteen years ago)

what was whitaker's globes speech all about?

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Monday, 22 January 2007 21:10 (nineteen years ago)

Best Actor nominees from films that made under $10 million (1990-2005):

Robert Downey Jr., Chaplin (1992, 9.5m)
Peter Fonda, Ulee's Gold (1997, 9.1m)
Ed Harris, Pollock (2000, 8.6m)
Geoffrey Rush, Quills (2000, 7.1m)
Edward Norton, American History X (1998, 6.7m)
Ian McKellen, Gods and Monsters (1998, 6.4m)
Nick Nolte, Affliction (1998, 6.3m)
Richard Farnsworth, The Straight Story (1999, 6.2m)
Sean Penn, Sweet and Lowdown (1999, 4.2m)
Javier Bardem, Before Night Falls (2000, 4.2m)
Richard Harris, The Field (1990, 1.4m)

Robert Downey Jr. and Edward Norton were both under 30 at the time of their nomination.

Chaplin made under $10 million because it was a high-profile bomb. American History X (whose cult status came from video, apparently) is a good analogue to Gosling in Half Nelson, though -- and for more reasons than one. In both, you've got a young gifted actor playing a troubled character who's trying to reform, partially through mentoring someone close to him.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 22 January 2007 21:39 (nineteen years ago)

(For the record, Half Nelson has made $2.7 million so far, according to IMDB.)

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 22 January 2007 21:40 (nineteen years ago)

Ed Norton had an Oscar nom under his belt already (for Primal Fear, his first screen appearance, in a non-ballyhooed movie no less), and his performance in American History X was hyped/anticipated before the movie even came out.

A Gosling nom would be a bit more out of left field.

― Edward III (edward iii), Monday, 22 January 2007 21:48 (nineteen years ago)

I was thinking Keisha Castle-Hughes in Whale Rider, but apparently that did a lot better at the box office than I thought it did...

― Edward III (edward iii), Monday, 22 January 2007 21:50 (nineteen years ago)

I agree that there was more hype around American History X (although I forgot about Norton's previous nomination). I was just struck by the similarities between the two films/actors. I only looked at Best Actor nominations.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 22 January 2007 21:52 (nineteen years ago)

a friend of mine worked for tony kaye around that time. apparently he's crazy, which is obvious. he never directed anything after american history x, did he?

― ‘•’u (gear), Monday, 22 January 2007 21:53 (nineteen years ago)

(xpost) (I think the assumption is that it happens more often with women, because there usually aren't as many éminence grises to choose from, much less ones in box-office smashes.)

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 22 January 2007 21:56 (nineteen years ago)

I mean, Hilary Swank in Boys Don't Cry (1999, $11.5m, 25 years old) and Catalina Sandino Moreno in Maria Full of Grace (2004, $6.5m, 23 years old) seem to fit the bill pretty well.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 22 January 2007 22:01 (nineteen years ago)

Moreno esp, yeah.

Tony Kaye has got a much talked-about, lengthy documentary about abortion politics coming up.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 22 January 2007 22:03 (nineteen years ago)

i have a note from tony kaye on my bulletin board here at work. his sentence just kind of snakes all over the page, ultimately finishing, with the direction of some hastily drawn, scratched out and redrawn arrows, at the very top. considering the entire gist of the note is "hey mark here's my latest video, tony kaye", it is really... something.

― m@p (plosive), Monday, 22 January 2007 22:12 (nineteen years ago)

Heath Ledger was under 30 last year, no?

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 22 January 2007 22:19 (nineteen years ago)

Yep, but Brokeback made mad cash.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 22 January 2007 22:21 (nineteen years ago)

Javier Bardem was 31 when nominated for Before Night Falls

No wai! That means he's in my league, age-wise.

I can think of only two Scorsese films I've seen that I prefer to The Departed: Taxi Driver and Last Temptation. I do, however, have to watch his Jerry Lewis one still.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 05:57 (nineteen years ago)

Best Picture: Babel, Letters from Iwo Jima, The Departed, The Queen... and one other from Children of Men, Pan's Labyrinth, Dreamgirls or (my pick) Little Miss Sunshine (even tho' the movie is shit).

― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 06:15 (nineteen years ago)

Dreamgirls for the win ... oops.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 13:44 (nineteen years ago)

Realistically, I know its status as the odd-one-out BP without a director nod is working against it, but I can't help but feel Little Miss Sunshine emerged as the frontrunner for the top award this morning. That or Babel. They can't possibly award Eastwood again can they?

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 13:56 (nineteen years ago)

Yay, Black Dahlia is up for cinematography!

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:05 (nineteen years ago)

Man, the Oscars site is ass.

― Edward III (edward iii), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:06 (nineteen years ago)

Best Picture nominations:

Babel
The Departed
Letters From Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen

Will post more once the Academy figures out how to push changes to a website.

― Edward III (edward iii), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:09 (nineteen years ago)

Performance by an actor in a leading role
Leonardo DiCaprio - BLOOD DIAMOND
Ryan Gosling - HALF NELSON
Peter O'Toole - VENUS
Will Smith - THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS
Forest Whitaker - THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Alan Arkin - LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
Jackie Earle Haley - LITTLE CHILDREN
Djimon Hounsou - BLOOD DIAMOND
Eddie Murphy - DREAMGIRLS
Mark Wahlberg - THE DEPARTED

Performance by an actress in a leading role
Penélope Cruz - VOLVER
Judi Dench - NOTES ON A SCANDAL
Helen Mirren - THE QUEEN
Meryl Streep - THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
Kate Winslet - LITTLE CHILDREN

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Adriana Barraza - BABEL
Cate Blanchett - NOTES ON A SCANDAL
Abigail Breslin - LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
Jennifer Hudson - DREAMGIRLS
Rinko Kikuchi - BABEL

Best animated feature film of the year
CARS
HAPPY FEET
MONSTER HOUSE

Achievement in art direction
DREAMGIRLS
THE GOOD SHEPHERD
PAN'S LABYRINTH
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST
THE PRESTIGE

Achievement in cinematography
THE BLACK DAHLIA
CHILDREN OF MEN
THE ILLUSIONIST
PAN'S LABYRINTH
THE PRESTIGE

Achievement in costume design
CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
DREAMGIRLS
MARIE ANTOINETTE
THE QUEEN

Achievement in directing
BABEL
THE DEPARTED
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
THE QUEEN
UNITED 93

Best documentary feature
DELIVER US FROM EVIL
AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH
IRAQ IN FRAGMENTS
JESUS CAMP
MY COUNTRY, MY COUNTRY

Best documentary short subject
THE BLOOD OF YINGZHOU DISTRICT
RECYCLED LIFE
REHEARSING A DREAM
TWO HANDS

Achievement in film editing
BABEL
BLOOD DIAMOND
CHILDREN OF MEN
THE DEPARTED
UNITED 93

Best foreign language film of the year
AFTER THE WEDDING
DAYS OF GLORY (INDIGÈNES)
THE LIVES OF OTHERS
PAN'S LABYRINTH
WATER

Achievement in makeup
APOCALYPTO
CLICK
PAN'S LABYRINTH

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
BABEL
THE GOOD GERMAN
NOTES ON A SCANDAL
PAN'S LABYRINTH
THE QUEEN

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
"I Need to Wake Up" - AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH
"Listen" - DREAMGIRLS
"Love You I Do" - DREAMGIRLS
"Our Town" - CARS
"Patience" - DREAMGIRLS

Best motion picture of the year
BABEL
THE DEPARTED
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
THE QUEEN

Adapted screenplay
BORAT CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA FOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN
CHILDREN OF MEN
THE DEPARTED
LITTLE CHILDREN
NOTES ON A SCANDAL

Original screenplay
BABEL
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
PAN'S LABYRINTH
THE QUEEN

― Edward III (edward iii), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:13 (nineteen years ago)

The only nomination for Borat goes to something that only tenuously existed.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:14 (nineteen years ago)

whoa, OSCAR BE PISSIN' OFF THE GAYS (and Dan Perry) AGAIN!

The Last Waltz and Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore also pwn The Departed.

Good for Vilmos Zsigmond (most BdP films improve with the sound off anyway).

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:17 (nineteen years ago)

WILL SMITH FTW

― Edward III (edward iii), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:20 (nineteen years ago)

how can you be surprised?

so 6 for Pan's -- is that 4 for COM?

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:21 (nineteen years ago)

Nope, only half as many for that one.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:24 (nineteen years ago)

is that THE most songs ever nom'd fpr 1 movie? i mean it MUST be!

unless like saturday night fever had a bunch or same.

― pisces (piscesx), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:24 (nineteen years ago)

Uh, Volver isn't nom'd for foreign-language film?

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:25 (nineteen years ago)

Everyone who should've counted were on CoM's side ... except the directors. I guess they really have to keep the playing field clear for Scorsese to win and wouldn't want a legitimate directorial tour de force to muck up his chances.

(x-post) Beauty and the Beast

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:25 (nineteen years ago)

My theory on Volver is that I wasn't alone in finding it mid-rate Almodovar. Plus, they also didn't nominate Bad Education, so it's not like they'll blindly give him a nomination whenever he shows up.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:26 (nineteen years ago)

"Adam Sandler, in the Oscar nominated Click." is now a sentence that is true. God damn you, world.

― blotter Budweiser Hackeysadk (nickalicious), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:27 (nineteen years ago)

What is "FTW" by the way? I always read it as "FUCK THE WHAT?" which isn't inappropriate here exactly.

― blotter Budweiser Hackeysadk (nickalicious), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:29 (nineteen years ago)

I wonder what Gear will have to say about Black Dahlia also being nominated for as many as Click.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:31 (nineteen years ago)

The Departed IS a directorial tour de force, but that's all it is (well, including Schoonmaker's editing and the supporting cast's arias).

Man, the Academy has just assured us of millions of unwitting "girl-and-her-adventures" attendees at Pan's cowering in their seats, so that's the bright side.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:32 (nineteen years ago)

Surprises...

Best actor
Ryan Gosling - HALF NELSON
Will Smith - THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS

Best supporting actor
Mark Wahlberg - THE DEPARTED (happy, Alfred?)

No Brad Pitt!

Best supporting actress
Adriana Barraza - BABEL (don't think anybody saw this one coming)

Best foreign language film
No Volver!

Achievement in makeup
CLICK (WTF)

Pan's Labyrinth made out surprisingly well, with 6 noms.

― Edward III (edward iii), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:34 (nineteen years ago)

What is "FTW" by the way?

for the win...

― Edward III (edward iii), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:35 (nineteen years ago)

I sort of like that Departed's only Oscar representation for acting boils down to a single, walk-by bird flip.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:36 (nineteen years ago)

were any of those Dreamgirls songs Beyonce "originals"?

― Ms Misery (MissMiseryTX), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:36 (nineteen years ago)

re Borat, if O Brother Where Art Thou was adapted from Homer in their eyes...

Smug Al Gore fans are relieved that the Ralph Nader documentary was left off the ballot.

Edward III, if those were acting surprises you aren't nearly the Oscar queen jaymc is.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:37 (nineteen years ago)

Best supporting actress
Adriana Barraza - BABEL (don't think anybody saw this one coming)

All the Oscar forecasters I saw had it, along with the other Supp Actress.

Eric, COM got Lubezki, editing, script.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:40 (nineteen years ago)

Eric, COM got Lubezki, editing, script.

That's what I meant. So the cinematography, editing and writers' branches all agreed it was one of the year's best films. Why have the directors been so blind in the last few years? It wasn't so long ago they nominated both David Lynch and Robert Altman in the same year.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:43 (nineteen years ago)

If An Inconvenient Truth wins, will Gore be on hand to accept? And will he proclaim "I have ridden the mighty Moonworm"?

― blotter Budweiser Hackeysadk (nickalicious), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:44 (nineteen years ago)

List of nominees by film...

http://www.oscars.com/nominees/?pn=films

Edward III, if those were acting surprises you aren't nearly the Oscar queen jaymc is.

*sob*

Actually, the supporting actor surprise is Wahlberg's there and Nicholson isn't? Gosling was kind of a dark horse, and Will Smith was more like wishful thinking.

― Edward III (edward iii), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:45 (nineteen years ago)

(xpost) Is that another one of those Futurama references?

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:45 (nineteen years ago)

Wait a sec, Letters from Iwo Jima for ORIGINAL screenplay? There's a book (of letters, duh) credited in the titles!!

I'm happy that My Country, My Country made the doc feature list -- it's not as pretty as Iraq in Fragments, but has more to say.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:45 (nineteen years ago)

Yes, Eric.

― blotter Budweiser Hackeysadk (nickalicious), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:46 (nineteen years ago)

The only acting "surprise" I can see is that DiCaprio was chosen for the bad accent performance. Or, rather, the worse accent performance.

No, actually that's not a surprise at all.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:46 (nineteen years ago)

it's not as pretty as Iraq in Fragments, but has more to say

Ooh. Going against the grain, and just when that film is set to open in Mpls in a few weeks. Nicely played.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:47 (nineteen years ago)

haha actually I wouldn't be surprised if he, while accepting the Oscar, decided, hey guess what America, I'm running for President! I'm your Oscar-winning Presidential Candidate!

― blotter Budweiser Hackeysadk (nickalicious), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:47 (nineteen years ago)

Eric, you're not surprised by the lack of Jack?

― Edward III (edward iii), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:48 (nineteen years ago)

So this year, they went with Children of Men, The Black Dahlia and The Prestige. Last year they had The New World. I'm going to say the cinematographers' branch is the new directors' branch, in terms of actually recognizing quality work correctly.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:51 (nineteen years ago)

haha actually I wouldn't be surprised if he, while accepting the Oscar, decided, hey guess what America, I'm running for President! I'm your Oscar-winning Presidential Candidate!

That would allow an entire season of South park to write itself.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:51 (nineteen years ago)

I'm a little surprised at the lack of Jack in supporting actor, but (as Morbs pointed out elsewhere) it is a sort of actorly performance that doesn't sit entirely well against the pugnacious, Mamet-like "naturalism" of the rest of the cast.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:53 (nineteen years ago)

On a selfish note, writing this year's Oscar predix paragraphs at Slant is going to be a slog this year.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:59 (nineteen years ago)

hahahahahaha THREE SONGS FROM DREAMGIRLS! Awesome.

― The Android Cat (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 15:00 (nineteen years ago)

Irony = I'm actually rooting for "Patience" to win, in this line-up.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 15:03 (nineteen years ago)

Oh Eric, "I pity you," as Armond wd say.

My Country, My Country has been on PBS already.

You can tell Dreamgirls is a Broadway klassik cuz they had to write 3 new songs for it.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 15:03 (nineteen years ago)

Naw, "Love You I Do" all the way.

― The Android Cat (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 15:04 (nineteen years ago)

That said, poor Prince. :(

Also, I just realized that the both smug and toothless satire of Thank You For Smoking was snubbed for screenplay. Good snub, that one.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 15:04 (nineteen years ago)

Which one was "Love You I Do"? I have no recollection of that one.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 15:05 (nineteen years ago)

I hope they let Al Gore sing “I Need to Wake Up.”

Still wanna hear the Academy doubletalk on Iwo Jima's "originality."

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 15:09 (nineteen years ago)

Dan has seen the Best Picture lineup, yeah?

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 15:13 (nineteen years ago)

Actually I haven't! I've intended to see all of them but haven't gotten to them yet; 2006 was actually really bad for me in terms of getting out to see movies (I blame WoW and opera, lol).

― The Android Cat (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 15:14 (nineteen years ago)

Out of Best Pics I've only seen Little Miss Sunshine. I blame Netflix and general laziness.

(But I do have a bootlegging brother who's provided me with copies of things like Balboa, Pursuit of Happyness and other crap at home waiting to be viewed.)

― Ms Misery (MissMiseryTX), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 15:16 (nineteen years ago)

(Morbs, can I get all stupid and annoying for a second and say it's much more fun discussing these movies than it is yelling at each other about our posting quirks? Okay, enough of that.)

I really really really really want to see "Little Miss Sunshine", "Babel" and "The Departed". The other two... not so much, largely because I'm not drawn to the subject matter. (Also they aren't straight fiction and that's what I prefer in pretty much every aspect of my entertainment. When I want facts fitlered through various biases, I go to various news sources, not the movies.)

― The Android Cat (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 15:18 (nineteen years ago)

Actually Dan, I was just asking if you'd seen what wasn't nominated for BP, and when you are attending yr local Dreamgirls Snub direct action.

Oh, I'm not paying to see any of those other 3 BP nominees now, esp as how overrated (if good) I found Iwo and Departed.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 15:22 (nineteen years ago)

So this year, they went with Children of Men, The Black Dahlia and The Prestige. Last year they had The New World. I'm going to say the cinematographers' branch is the new directors' branch, in terms of actually recognizing quality work correctly.
-- Eric H. (ephende...), January 23rd, 2007.

I know there are de Palma fetishists - I've come to accept this phenomenon exists - but I really think 'The Black Dahlia' is one of the worst photographed movies of Vilmos Zsigmond's career (excepting maybe 'Melinda and Melinda' and 'Jersey Girl'). The whole movie was a massacre, but the photography in particular sucked every ounce of mystery, atmosphere, intrigue, and emotion out of that story.

― Tiki Theater Xymposium (Bent Over at the Arclight), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 15:26 (nineteen years ago)

This is the part of the thread where I go YAY PETER O'TOOLE (The Ruling Class is my favourite film ever).

Oscar logic dictates that an actor never ever wins for their best performance, much much more so than any director. Whittaker would have a LOCK on Actor apart from a) O'Toole and b) someone else is going to win an Oscar for playing a C20 ruler this year; they don't usually hand out both awards to actors playing IRLs.

― suzy (suzy), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 15:30 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, if Whitaker loses I won't grouse too much if it means O'Toole wins it. On the other hand, if Will Smith gets it....

― Edward III (edward iii), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 15:35 (nineteen years ago)

Who the hell is Ryan Gosling?

― g00blar (gooblar), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 15:37 (nineteen years ago)

He was in "The Notebook".

― The Android Cat (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 15:38 (nineteen years ago)

Edward III, if those were acting surprises you aren't nearly the Oscar queen jaymc is.

LOL. I was just about to say, all of the acting categories except for supporting actor have been pretty much locked for the last several weeks. Barraza was nominated for a Golden Globe, even.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 15:38 (nineteen years ago)

So Djimon Hounsou is up for his second Sainted Black Man perf

And, yes, Mark Wahlberg can flip the bird at Jack Nicholson (who'll still get the best seat in the house).

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 15:39 (nineteen years ago)

I let my second composition class early so I can read the nominations.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 15:40 (nineteen years ago)

suzy, has Queen Elizabeth eaten anybody?

O'Toole winning for this would be almost as bad as Pacino winning for Shouting Blind Man.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 15:42 (nineteen years ago)

Ryan Gosling was also in 'The Believer' and is a pretty great actor. I think I remember reading that he got his start in the same Mickey Mouse Club class as B. Spears, J. Timberlake, C. Aguilera, etc.

― Tiki Theater Xymposium (Bent Over at the Arclight), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 15:44 (nineteen years ago)

He's much better in Venus than Al was in Blind Men Can Dance.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 15:46 (nineteen years ago)

mostly cuz he sez "cunt"

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 15:52 (nineteen years ago)

Who the hell is Ryan Gosling?

Also in 'Stay'.

― M. White (Miguelito), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 15:59 (nineteen years ago)

He was also in the Sandra Bullock vehicle Suspense Film By Numbers, wherein he played the best pan-sexual panderer since the glory days of John Malkovich.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 16:02 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, it's alright, have seen none of those movies. I could, of course, look stuff up on the internets, but don't really care. Just hadn't heard of him.

― g00blar (gooblar), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 16:02 (nineteen years ago)

another ace Gosling role is The Slaughter Rule

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 16:03 (nineteen years ago)

suzy, has Queen Elizabeth eaten anybody?

Well, it all depends on who you ask...
/twelvefootlizard

Morbius, I said I was unbelievably biased towards O'Toole because he is my favourite actor EVER and I would probably be happy with him even if he were in some experimental piece of crap where he read the phone book and cussed every now and again. Actually, that would make me VERY HAPPY. I haven't seen Venus yet because it opens here Friday. All I know is he cops a few feels off a teenager, swears a lot, might even say CUNT because the script is by Kureishi, and keels over. Can't be bad.

― suzy (suzy), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 16:05 (nineteen years ago)

NO SPOILERS, suzy!!!

haha, from a gaygay board:

I loved Selma Hayek's "Yes" when Penelope Cruz' nomination was announced - although it will also fan the sapphic rumors surrounding the two.

This gets even me hot.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 16:07 (nineteen years ago)

they don't usually hand out both awards to actors playing IRLs.

Except it happened last year, when Philip Seymour Hoffman won for playing Truman Capote and Reese Witherspoon won for playing June Carter Cash. (Also 2002: Nicole Kidman/Virginia Woolf and Adrien Brody/W³adys³aw Szpilman.)

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 16:08 (nineteen years ago)

jaymc, how fast can you pull those facts out of yr beard, sweetie? :o

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 16:09 (nineteen years ago)

I'm dying to see jaymc's dossiers.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 16:10 (nineteen years ago)

Three or four years ago I was in L.A. right at Oscar time. My brother and his gf had come into town and we were staying at the same hotel. Going down to brunch, I stepped into the elevator with Mr. O'Toole which completely silenced me. By chance, on the next floor down, my brother got in and started ribbing me about something I was wearing.

When we got off at the lobby level, I said, "Don't you ever say criticize me in front of Peter O'Toole again!"

"Wait, that was Peter O'Toole?"

"Didn't you smell the liquor, dude?"

― M. White (Miguelito), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 16:13 (nineteen years ago)

Pshaw, the formatting on Szpilman's first name should tell you that I'm copying-and-pasting. I just have an insatiable appetite for the truth.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 16:13 (nineteen years ago)

FUCK LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE

― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 16:19 (nineteen years ago)

Goes without saying, old chum.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 16:23 (nineteen years ago)

when was the last time 2 britishes won?

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 16:26 (nineteen years ago)

So does a split vote and Anglophilia spell BP for The Queen? Could.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 16:30 (nineteen years ago)

Sad but not surpirsed to not see A Scanner Darkly on the animated list. It's just for kids films, innit.

No Casino Royale at all!

― DavidM* (unreal), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 16:31 (nineteen years ago)

When everyone said Richard Burton wd FINALLY win for Equus in '77, he was beaten by Richard Dreyfuss. O'Toole isn't winning.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 16:33 (nineteen years ago)

when was the last time 2 britishes won?

1964: Rex Harrison for My Fair Lady and Julie Andrews for Mary Poppins.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 16:35 (nineteen years ago)

When everyone said Richard Burton wd FINALLY win for Equus in '77, he was beaten by Richard Dreyfuss. O'Toole isn't winning.

Also I think I mentioned this upthread, but Bacall/Binoche in '96.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 16:36 (nineteen years ago)

scanner darkly honked

― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 16:37 (nineteen years ago)

OTM about A Scanner Darkly. Does the Academy have some ancient writ defining rotoscoping as something outside of animation (possibly as part of some elaborate, secret row with Ralph Bakshi)?

― blotter Budweiser Hackeysadk (nickalicious), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 16:38 (nineteen years ago)

haha that was an xpost, I didn't think it "honked"

― blotter Budweiser Hackeysadk (nickalicious), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 16:38 (nineteen years ago)

xpost

I wondered too, but read recently that no, ASD is officially kosher as animation.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 16:42 (nineteen years ago)

There was an article in the NYT a few weeks ago about the long-standing arguments over what constitutes animation (for Oscar consideration) -- but I can't seem to find it online.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 16:45 (nineteen years ago)

There was actual footage of actual people in Happy Feet. Ssssh, don't tell anyone.

― blotter Budweiser Hackeysadk (nickalicious), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 16:46 (nineteen years ago)

Richard Burton (my mother's Mastermind subject) was the victim of a splitter that year, I believe, but HEY there's another reason why Dreyfuss is like my most hated actor ever.

Two Brits? Pfft. Peter O'Toole has never, ever given the definitive answer to whether he was born in Ireland or Leeds - and his mum was Scottish. I suspect Leeds and *not* Irish west cost masel but he did go through a phase of saying his first name was originally Seamus and that he was Irish-born. However none of the Irish stuff is borne out by the book he wrote. Guardian are calling him Irish today and therefore not including him in their (erk) Brit Parade.

I met O'Toole when I was in college because he was coming out of rehearsals as we were coming out of picking up our tix to the play he was in. A few years ago Nick and I were in some random part of Holborn and Nick spotted him crossing the street, but he was so frailish that we argued as to whether or not it was actually Karl Lagerfeld. However KL doesn't wear a) green socks or b) claddagh ring so we were able to make a positive ID.

― suzy (suzy), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 16:47 (nineteen years ago)

Actually, here's that NYT article:

LIKE pornography, animation has always been easy to recognize and hard to define. But the definitional problems have grown more perplexing lately. Even professionals in the field are finding it difficult to decide: is a computer-generated penguin whose dance moves come from digital mimicry of a human truly animated?
“Maybe ‘animation’ is becoming a redundant term,” Nick Park, whose four Oscars include one last year for co-directing “Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit,” said in a telephone interview from his studio in Bristol, England. “They used to define it as anything that wasn’t live action, but now the two are kind of merging. It can be difficult to tell what’s animation, but the only time that really becomes a problem is when you have to figure out which category to enter for awards.”
This last is no small issue: many of the films eligible for the best animated feature Oscar represent either a combination of media or a technique that pushes the traditional boundaries of animation. The rules of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which awards the Oscars, say that an animated feature film should be created with a frame-by-frame technique, have a running time of at least 70 minutes, display a “significant number” of major animated characters and employ animation in not less than 75 percent of its running time. But where the medium begins and ends in an era of nonstop technical change remains a topic of often heated debate.
Some prominent artists are cautious about trying to draw lines around their world, even if that leaves room for argument over motion capture technology (which synced the live dancer and the penguin in “Happy Feet”) or the processed live action behind the images in “A Scanner Darkly.” (Both films qualify for award consideration under current rules.)
“I think we have to expand the boundaries of definition, but I’m not sure what it should be at this point,” said John Canemaker, the Oscar-winning animated filmmaker and New York University professor. “I think we have to decide what is and isn’t animation on a case-by-case basis, rather than being doctrinaire about it.”
In the past animation was usually distinguished from live action by two factors: each frame of film was exposed individually, rather than as part of a longer take; and the illusion of movement was created, rather than recorded. But many recent films exceed those parameters.
Motion capture, or mo-cap, for instance, blurs the line by using computers to record the movements of an actor, which can then be reproduced by characters on the screen. (Motion capture was also used to create the kids in “Monster House” and the starkly lighted humans in the French feature “Renaissance.”)
Some animators object to mo-cap, arguing that it leaves no place for their creative input. Others counter that the captured data almost invariably has to be massaged, which means animators adjust the movements, sometimes minimally, sometimes more so. A third camp compares the process to the rotoscope, an early-20th-century device that enables animators to trace live-action footage frame by frame. Walt Disney’s artists used the rotoscope for some scenes of the heroine in “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” (1937). Ralph Bakshi used it extensively in “American Pop” (1981).
“How do we deal with the modern-day equivalent of the rotoscope?” Mr. Canemaker asked. “For that matter, how do we deal with the old version of the rotoscope? ‘Snow White’ is considered animation because of the way they altered the image; the input of the artist was so distinct. There has to be a strong input from the hand of the artist — or, today, the mouse of the artist.”
In a telephone interview from the Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, Calif., John Lasseter, the Oscar-winning director of “Cars” and the “Toy Story” films, argued that some element of deliberate distortion will always be of the essence in animation.
“Since animation began, there’s always been a desire to replace the animator and devise a technical way of getting movement,” Mr. Lasseter said. But, he added: “The results always look odd, because in animation you’re creating a caricatured world. Although today’s computer-animated films may be getting closer to reality, they’re still caricatured. To make those worlds believable, the motions need to be caricatured to the same degree as the visuals. When you put realistic motion from live action into a caricatured world, it doesn’t fit.”
Although processed live action hasn’t appeared in mainstream animated films, Richard Linklater used it for “Waking Life” and “A Scanner Darkly.” Under this technique, the film is shot in live action, and the imagery is altered with computer paint programs.
Mr. Lasseter is among those who feel that works of this kind should be considered animation. “It still technically qualifies, as you are manipulating the frames that the audience sees on the screen,” he said. “It’s not a technique you can apply to the live-footage action automatically. It actually has to be manipulated by an artist frame by frame.”
Mr. Canemaker said, “I was intrigued by the look of ‘Waking Life,’ but I felt the film would have fared better if a director of animation had been involved. I didn’t think the sections were as different from one another as they were touted to be. I’m not that fond of literalism in any form of animation: I think the interpretation of the artist is the important thing, and how the hand and mind are seen in the product.”
“Renaissance” and “Scanner Darkly” are art house films aimed at viewers interested in experimental techniques. But an increasing number of big-budget, mainstream movies feature computer-animated characters, from Stuart Little and Garfield to Gollum and King Kong. This fusion of techniques further blurs the distinction between live action and animation.
Should “Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties,” which places a computer-animated cat in a live-action world, be considered an animated film? Should “Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith,” since it is populated with animated robots, vehicles and creatures? Mr. Lasseter said the distinction lies in the filmmaker’s intent. “For me the fundamental question is: Do you want the audience to know this world does not exist, or do you want to make it look like the real world and just expand what you can do in live action?” he said.
“Since I started working with computer animation in 1981, the goal in the computer graphics research world has been to create tools that can reproduce reality,” Mr. Lasseter continued. “I use many of these tools, but I use them to create something the audience knows doesn’t exist, then mess with their minds by making it look real and believable. I think visualizing a believable world that is very fanciful may be harder than taking a photograph and trying to reproduce it.”
Mr. Park summed up what may represent the consensus among animation artists when he said, “I’m anti making things more realistic. Everything in me goes against it.”
His view: “If you aim for realism, and you don’t quite achieve it, it can become very ugly. If you separate your work from reality, the artistry and stylization become the focus. For me that’s the joy of filmmaking. I don’t want to create reality. I’m not interested in reality.”

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 16:54 (nineteen years ago)

I saw PO'T as Henry Higgins in Pygmalion on Broadway. Played him as a loopy drunk.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 16:55 (nineteen years ago)

an animated feature film should be created with a frame-by-frame technique, have a running time of at least 70 minutes, display a “significant number” of major animated characters and employ animation in not less than 75 percent of its running time.

Which means that Who Framed Roger Rabbit probably would've been nominated (and won) if the category had existed in 1988.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 16:56 (nineteen years ago)

so does Arkin have an old man's shot vs Murphy?

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 16:58 (nineteen years ago)

the creepy dude from the bad news bears got a nom!

― i've dreamt of rubies! (Mandee), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 17:00 (nineteen years ago)

Morb, that's the play I saw, but I don't think he played it 'as a drunk' because he has a total boner for the late died-a-virgin teetotaler GBS. Friends who saw Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell had front row seats and said they longed for an umbrella because good as he was, he violated the 'say it, don't spray it' rule.

― suzy (suzy), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 17:13 (nineteen years ago)

I just figured out that the only other year in which there wasn't a single Cinematography nomination that was also listed among the Best Picture nominees was 1927/28, i.e. the very first Oscars ever.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 17:24 (nineteen years ago)

no dreamgirls for best pic? i seriously thought it was a lock for a nomination and then the win.

― ‘•’u (gear), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 18:24 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, that's def. the biggest shocker.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 18:25 (nineteen years ago)

totally weird

― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 18:34 (nineteen years ago)

i can't quite figure out why dicaprio was nominated for 'blood diamond' and not 'the departed', though everything i've heard suggests he's actually really good in the former.

― ‘•’u (gear), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 18:35 (nineteen years ago)

I suspect to show concern for Sierra Leone.

at least the 3 Dreamgirls songs will be good for bathroom breaks.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 18:36 (nineteen years ago)

i can't quite figure out why dicaprio was nominated for 'blood diamond' and not 'the departed', though everything i've heard suggests he's actually really good in the former.

Category confusion, I suspect. Apparently, the studio was originally pushing Nicholson for lead and DiCaprio, Damon, and Wahlberg for supporting -- but then (rightfully) changed their mind. I still don't know that DiCaprio is any more of a lead than Damon, though.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 18:40 (nineteen years ago)

I'm going to go out on a limb and say Pan's Labyrinth for the token foreign film in the Best Original Screenplay list

OH SNAP GO ME.

Also, on February 25th I will be sitting at home waving a little Marky Mark flag, just so everyone knows.

Also fuck the studio for pushing Nicholson over DiCaprio for lead at ANY point. I watched Chinatown last night and am currently lamenting the bygone days of subtle(r) Jack.

― Jessie the Monster (scarymonsterrr), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 18:41 (nineteen years ago)

it must be an ego massage thing, pushing nicholson for the lead nom.

― ‘•’u (gear), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 18:43 (nineteen years ago)

"Dreamgirls" would have contented me as Best Pic. None of the other choices are very good ones. "The Queen" is quality, but I don't think it has a real shot. If "Babel" wins, they have to rename The Academy Awards to the Deep Down We're All The Same Awards. If "The Departed" wins, good for Marty, but we'll all know it's a pity prize. If "Letters" wins, Clint has to build another shelf to put all his Oscars on. And if "Litte Miss Sunshine" wins, I will spend days depressed and drunk, having lost all hope in the intelligence of my fellow man.

― Charlie Brown (kenan), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 18:49 (nineteen years ago)

I did that last year.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 18:51 (nineteen years ago)

xpost

Don't Streep and Whitaker have less screentime than their lower-billed co-stars? this is old shit, going further back than Brando in The Godfather.

Someone correctly forecast that Jack's dildo scene cost him his nomination. Too rude. He's the best 'character' in the movie except maybe for Baldwin, who doesn't have to carry any of it.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 18:53 (nineteen years ago)

Also, the critics and audiences don't go for 'subtle Jack' anymore (see The Pledge).

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 18:54 (nineteen years ago)

even though i realize nicholson was playing the character are starting to lose his shit completely, i wish he'd played him throughout the film as he did in the early scenes. o well.

― ‘•’u (gear), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 18:55 (nineteen years ago)

I did that last year.

We should totally watch the Oscars together this year. None of the other Chicago people really care.

― Charlie Brown (kenan), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 18:59 (nineteen years ago)

The funny thing is, as someone who hated As Good As It Gets and About Schmidt, I'm used to rooting against Jack at the Oscars -- but this time, I kind of miss not having him around.

The dildo scene was his idea, right? He had to convince Marty to let him do it.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 18:59 (nineteen years ago)

Could happen, Kenan. The guy who usually hosts the Oscar party I go to isn't doing it this year, but I was hoping someone else would step up.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 19:00 (nineteen years ago)

I could google for this but I imagine I'll get answers here faster: in the Best Animated Film category, is there a cap at only 3 noms per year (instead of the 5 every other category gets)?

― blotter Budweiser Hackeysadk (nickalicious), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 19:01 (nineteen years ago)

Yes.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 19:14 (nineteen years ago)

Actually, let me qualify that:

According to AMPAS rules, 5 movies will be nominated if there are 16 or more that are eligible, and only 3 will be nominated if there are less than 16 eligible. There must be at least 8 movies eligible in order for the award to be given out.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 19:15 (nineteen years ago)

Man, the Academy has just assured us of millions of unwitting "girl-and-her-adventures" attendees at Pan's cowering in their seats, so that's the bright side.

Between this and the fanciful ad campaign it's getting, yeah. My wife wants to see this based on the adverts and granted, her favorite movie's Pulp Fiction, but I think this is appealing to the side of her that lurvs Harry Potter.

― Edward III (edward iii), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 19:32 (nineteen years ago)

When everyone said Richard Burton wd FINALLY win for Equus in '77, he was beaten by Richard Dreyfuss. O'Toole isn't winning.

According to Burton, when the presenter opened the envelope and read, "The winner is...RICHARD - " he started to rise, until he realized the winner was "Richard Dreyfuss."

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 20:05 (nineteen years ago)

Of the foreign nominees, DAYS OF GLORY (INDIGÈNES) played in NYC for about a week; Dargis looooved it, many others said hackneyed war stuff.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 20:52 (nineteen years ago)

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y176/edwardiii/burton.jpg

― Edward III (edward iii), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 20:53 (nineteen years ago)

Burton does rule in Equus, though.

― Edward III (edward iii), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 20:55 (nineteen years ago)

A little disappointed that Leslie Philips wasn't nommed for Venus, if only for the pleasure of seeing him do his 'Hellooo' on Oscar night.

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 21:56 (nineteen years ago)

Who?

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 21:58 (nineteen years ago)

Dude, I totally called this!

― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 05:58 (nineteen years ago)

i was shocked that MA didnt get more of the techincal oscars, including nods for art direction, cinematography, sound editing, regular editing, or even a music nod...

― pinkmoose (jacklove), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 08:04 (nineteen years ago)

People seem to really want to sweep Marie Antoinette under the rug and pretend it never happened.

So wait, which of these movies IS going to win Best Picture?

* "Babel" covers some of the same territory as "Crash," and though it isn't the monstrosity that movie was, it's not great...

* "The Departed" is a fun B-Movie, but pretty massively flawed...

* Nobody's seen "Letters from Iwo Jima"...

* "The Queen" is awfully 'foreign' for the we-like-to-make-a-statement Academy...

* "Little Miss Sunshine" isn't nearly as good as "National Lampoon's Vacaation," but it's a pretty massive crowd pleaser... the little movie that could and all that. I'm predicting the darkhorse/upset/come-from-behind/surprise win.

― Tiki Theater Xymposium (Bent Over at the Arclight), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 11:37 (nineteen years ago)

A little disappointed that Leslie Philips wasn't nommed for Venus, if only for the pleasure of seeing him do his 'Hellooo' on Oscar night.
-- Billy Dods (butterbubble...) (webmail), January 23rd, 2007 9:56 PM.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Who?
-- jaymc (jmcunnin...) (webmail), January 23rd, 2007 9:58pm

Much loved, rogueish, British character actor. Peter O'Toole's partner in crime in 'Venus', nominated for a bafta for supporting actor.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Phillips

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 12:13 (nineteen years ago)

i didnt expect it to get anything in the major categories, i wonder if it is too self aware, too slippery to be rewarded by even the minor ones?

― pinkmoose (jacklove), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 12:28 (nineteen years ago)

Or maybe it did disappointing box office ($16 million) and got extremely mixed reviews?

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:24 (nineteen years ago)

Postmodernism does not sit well with the Academy, even when it's as superficial and lame as Marie Antoinette's. Please, Sofia got overcompensated last time.

"Babel" covers some of the same territory as "Crash,"

Following so soon after it is what hurts it.

"The Departed" is a fun B-Movie, but pretty massively flawed...

(Flaws real or imagined always irrelevant.) It's too nihilistically bloody to win Best Picture.

Nobody's seen "Letters from Iwo Jima"

The Academy members got their screeners sooner than the ones for Dreamgirls. Also, it'd give the Academy a chance to be 'magnanimous' toward the Imperial Japanese Army, and boost a movie that has most of its box office ahead of it.

"The Queen" is awfully 'foreign' for the we-like-to-make-a-statement Academy

Moreso than The English Patient? The Royals sell more tabloids here than in the UK.

"Little Miss Sunshine" isn't nearly as good as "National Lampoon's Vacaation,"

This is the 'edgy' Sundance sitcom slot.

I think it's btwn Babel, The Queen and Iwo Jima.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:39 (nineteen years ago)

My money's on Babel.

― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 15:31 (nineteen years ago)

I think you guys are dismissing The Departed on the basis of violence a little quickly...remember Braveheart? The Gladiator?

― Jessie the Monster (scarymonsterrr), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 18:23 (nineteen years ago)

err...take the "the" off Gladiator....I'm a little high on painkillers/hormones.

― Jessie the Monster (scarymonsterrr), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 18:24 (nineteen years ago)

I think Morbs is dismissing LMS too quickly, too. If voters have reservations about everything else, LMS is the feel-good comedy everyone can agree upon.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 18:32 (nineteen years ago)

Does anyone feel good after a comedy?

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 18:33 (nineteen years ago)

I'm betting Scorsese gets Best Director and BP goes to something else. The Academy recoils more from grime then violence, per se.

― Edward III (edward iii), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 18:34 (nineteen years ago)

I've never seen Braveheart, but it has a comforting moral universe of heroes and villains, yes? and I think The Departed exceeds it in # of movie stars offed by 2 or 3, and not in the name of any Wallacelike crusade.

Stephanie Zacharek, pretty good dissection:

http://www.salon.com/ent/feature/2007/01/23/oscars/

I'd like to think that members of the Academy recognized that the picture is really a headache-inducing mess, cluttered with lousy songs, but I know that's wishful thinking. I believe that "Dreamgirls" simply doesn't suit the Academy's solemn, beard-stroking mood this year: Can't have any crazy plaids clashing with those modest stripes.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 18:38 (nineteen years ago)

I just got a spam:

Subject: 'Dreamgirls' gets mixed Oscar love | Special Report

― UART variations (ex machina), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 18:40 (nineteen years ago)

Subtitles will hurt Letters From Iwo Jima. It's a prejudice I don't understand at all, but it's a real one.

― Edward III (edward iii), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 18:44 (nineteen years ago)

Braveheart is also INCREDIBLY violent. Drawn and quartered, mang! But you are right on the black-and-white morality. Edward is also right that if Scorsese gets Best Director (which he probably will, but then we say that every time he gets nominated) it will be automatically disqualified from Best Picture. Problem is none of the other films (except LMS) made any real cultural impact. xxxxpost

LOL my favorite is when they show a clip from the token foreign screenplay nom and it's always one with NO DIALOGUE SO YOU DON'T KNOW IT NOT ENGLISH.

― Jessie the Monster (scarymonsterrr), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 18:45 (nineteen years ago)

btw there are a couple scenes in English in Iwo (two officers bonding with Americans, so you know they're, like, good guys).

Don't you see, giving BP to a mistly subtitled film will be PROGRESS! i.e., a headline for the press.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 18:52 (nineteen years ago)

^mostly

Still waiting to hear if it's an Original Screenplay just cuz of the hokey shit Paul Haggis made up.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 18:53 (nineteen years ago)

i think this will be the year scorsese does get it...i never thought he had much of a shot for his last two noms, because gangs of ny felt like it was being given token attention, like godfather 3 or something, and the aviator was a hit and most people seemed to like it okay but they weren't gonna give him an oscar for that. of course people might see clint's name and then he'll have his third, just like that.

― roger goodell (gear), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 18:54 (nineteen years ago)

Partly, they don't want him to die without getting one, and he'll be rewarded for not confusing people with something fresh like Kundun but doing a mob rehash that put him back in the genre box the critics and marketers have wanted to shove him back into.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 19:03 (nineteen years ago)

it's not a mob movie

― roger goodell (gear), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 19:05 (nineteen years ago)

SCORSESE DOING WHAT HE DOES BEST

― Edward III (edward iii), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 19:05 (nineteen years ago)

i.e. gritty crime film

― Edward III (edward iii), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 19:06 (nineteen years ago)

yeah, it's not a mob movie, and The Queen is not a royalist asskiss. Close enough for jazz.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 19:07 (nineteen years ago)

Still waiting to hear if it's an Original Screenplay just cuz of the hokey shit Paul Haggis made up.

Yeah, what's up with that? The Wikipedia entry says it was based not just on one book but two!

It was based on the books Picture Letters from Commander in Chief by Gen Tadamichi Kuribayashi who is portrayed on screen by Ken Watanabe and Sadness in Dying Gracefully by Kumiko Kakehashi.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letters_from_Iwo_Jima

― Edward III (edward iii), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 19:08 (nineteen years ago)

i was listening to this show last night with two dudes speculating about the oscars. apparently traffic won best picture and peter o'toole is a shoo-in and penelope cruz was nominated for her role in the film 'vulgar'.

― roger goodell (gear), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 19:15 (nineteen years ago)

The Moviephone guy pronounces it, 'VULVER." As a result, this is how my friends and I refer to it.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 19:48 (nineteen years ago)

I think the vulva movie was Talk to Her.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 20:04 (nineteen years ago)

vulva vulver vulvest

― blotter Budweiser Hackeysadk (nickalicious), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 20:14 (nineteen years ago)

from Bodog.com, a film/TV betting site (honest):

Babel 14/5

The Departed 2/3

Letters from Iwo Jima 9/1

Little Miss Sunshine 14/5

The Queen 10/1

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 26 January 2007 16:04 (nineteen years ago)

The Departed 2/3

That seems extraordinarily foolish.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 26 January 2007 19:42 (nineteen years ago)

Yer tellin me.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 26 January 2007 20:23 (nineteen years ago)

One of the students at the newspaper I supervise (a slave to junkets and ad blather) said, not three minutes ago: "It's not often that a movie takes you on such an emotional journey as Babel does."

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Friday, 26 January 2007 20:30 (nineteen years ago)

I think this is the year they declare no winner for BP. "Go home, everybody."

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 26 January 2007 20:31 (nineteen years ago)

Babel's totally gonna win. What's it about again?

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 26 January 2007 20:32 (nineteen years ago)

Tittie bars and dildos.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 26 January 2007 20:43 (nineteen years ago)

Oh, if only that described Notes on a Scandal.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Friday, 26 January 2007 20:45 (nineteen years ago)

xpost

Is s/he minoring in Quote Whoredom?

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 26 January 2007 20:56 (nineteen years ago)

I was going to say "is it Peter Travers illegitimate son/daughter?"

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 26 January 2007 20:57 (nineteen years ago)

He's a PR major. He also said Jack Nicholson didn't deserve a nomination because "he was playing himself."

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Friday, 26 January 2007 20:58 (nineteen years ago)

If only Leo & Damon had been playing anyone.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 26 January 2007 21:23 (nineteen years ago)

so all 4 perpetual acting winners this year are absolute locks? Hudson most vulnerable as a biz newbie?

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 29 January 2007 16:04 (nineteen years ago)

I think Murphy is most vulnerable, actually.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 29 January 2007 16:08 (nineteen years ago)

Alan Arkin in Surprise Win for Venerable Old Coot shocka

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 29 January 2007 16:13 (nineteen years ago)

I was shocked to learn that Arkin hadn't been nominated in 38 years (since getting 2 in his first 3 years in movies, I think).

I would think of this as a make-up for The In-Laws.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 29 January 2007 16:14 (nineteen years ago)

Murphy is vulnerable, but the other three are pretty much done. Hope for surprises everywhere else.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Monday, 29 January 2007 17:05 (nineteen years ago)

Little Miss Sundance won the SAG.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 29 January 2007 17:11 (nineteen years ago)

At least until buzz starts to settle on a candidate in the next few weeks, any potential BP winner will be at least a nominal surprise, though I do expect it to eventually settle on Little Miss Sunshine v. The Departed.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Monday, 29 January 2007 17:13 (nineteen years ago)

I think the way that dopey 'SAG ensemble' award is now sposed to be a BP precursor is weird even by Golden Doorstop standards.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 29 January 2007 17:27 (nineteen years ago)

If the Academy suspects a surprise it should ask Jack to read the Best Picture winner again. His prononciations and his work on The Passenger's commentary track were my two favorite Jack moments of the last three years.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 29 January 2007 17:28 (nineteen years ago)

Cap-o-TAY

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Monday, 29 January 2007 17:53 (nineteen years ago)

Godfrey Cheshire (before huzzahing Notes on a Scandal):

I don't recall another year when I disliked all of the Best Picture nominees, and indeed regarded three of their number—Babel, Letters from Iwo Jima and Little Miss Sunshine—as among the year's most noxious emissions....

Perhaps the most dispiriting indicator in all of this is the way that these films give us characters that are two-dimensional signboards rather than persuasively imagined people. It's as if slogans, celebrity, living cartoons and genre caricatures have displaced the traditional human focus of movie art: the complexities of human character and psychology.

http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A43645

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 2 February 2007 15:58 (nineteen years ago)

the traditional human focus of movie art: the complexities of human character and psychology

Boy those Keystone Kops.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 2 February 2007 16:10 (nineteen years ago)

you bet! (more complex than The Departed)

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 2 February 2007 16:14 (nineteen years ago)

Can You Beat the Crowd?

http://srmedia.com/MovieCrowd/

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 8 February 2007 18:04 (nineteen years ago)

Celine Dion, the French Canadian chanteuse extraordinaire with seemingly insurmountable daddy issues, will be premiering a new song at the Oscars: "I Knew I Loved You," an Ennico Morricone composition with all new lyrics by Alan and Marilyn "Papa Can You Hear Me?" Bergman.

It's set to music from Once Upon a Time in America! SO WRONG.

― N.i.c.o.l.e (Ex Leon), Thursday, 8 February 2007 18:46 (nineteen years ago)

OK, what's the earliest Scorsese will speak? cuz I don't need that shit.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 8 February 2007 19:47 (nineteen years ago)

After the 10-minute ovation.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 8 February 2007 19:51 (nineteen years ago)

Sick of Dame Judi, "the imperious frump":

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/columns/article/10709/the-invincible-stubbornness-of-judi-dench/

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 8 February 2007 21:00 (nineteen years ago)

What a shock - actors giving the "same" performance!

Still, Dench hasn't yet matched Olivier in Carrie, or been as imperious as his Crassus in Spartacus.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 8 February 2007 21:16 (nineteen years ago)

She doesn't offer Cate Blanchett snails or oysters?

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 8 February 2007 21:18 (nineteen years ago)

(I was trying to remember for a second if Olivier was Sissy Spacek's prom chaperone)

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 8 February 2007 21:25 (nineteen years ago)

I think we now know who gets the final spot in the dead honor roll.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Thursday, 8 February 2007 21:49 (nineteen years ago)

Charlie Sheen's delivering a tribute.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 8 February 2007 21:54 (nineteen years ago)

Irony: Anna Nicole Smith's best filmic moment was revealing her penis to Leslie Nielsen at the Oscars in Naked Gun 33 1/3.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Thursday, 8 February 2007 21:56 (nineteen years ago)

I think we now know who gets the final spot in the dead honor roll.

Intrathread crosspost! Right after Huillet and Altman.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 9 February 2007 14:56 (nineteen years ago)

whoa, rollin the dice on Hounsou!

http://www.slantmagazine.com/blog/default.asp?category=2

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 9 February 2007 17:38 (nineteen years ago)

In case you missed how to win the Oscar pool (if you're in one):

http://bww.cinematical.com/2007/02/20/oscar-predictions-what-would-ernest-borgnine-do/

― Dr Morbius, Wednesday, 21 February 2007 20:35 (nineteen years ago)

NY Times' Carpetbagger sez The Departed. I'd see it and Babel (Entertainment Weekly's leader) in front. The only mild 'shock' wd be Letters from Iwo Jima.

When is Slant's pick going up? After all the contest forms have been filled out?

― Dr Morbius, Friday, 23 February 2007 14:45 (nineteen years ago)

I'm voting for Little Miss Sunshine and Scorsese as Best Director.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 23 February 2007 16:48 (nineteen years ago)

Bummed because me and the guy who runs the office Oscar pool have the EXACT SAME PICKS in the 15 categories we vote on. So there's no way I can win it outright.

― jaymc, Friday, 23 February 2007 17:11 (nineteen years ago)

BP's a tough one, still no consensus front runner. The Departed is too gritty + vicious + without a redeeming social message. Personally I lean towards Babel, with some reservations because a) of its surface similarities to Crash and b) it won Best Golden Globe. I don't think Letters from Iwo Jima has the steam to pick up the win, especially with 2 Eastwood wins in the past 3 years. Little Miss Sunshine would really need a freakazoid juggernaut like Weinstein behind it to pull off a Shakespeare in Love. Hard to tell what factors are going to split the vote. But I'll stick w/ Babel.

― Edward III, Friday, 23 February 2007 17:12 (nineteen years ago)

oh, change one!

― Dr Morbius, Friday, 23 February 2007 17:13 (nineteen years ago)

What's yer BP pick jaymc?

― Edward III, Friday, 23 February 2007 17:15 (nineteen years ago)

After screening Babel on Tuesday, I find it very difficult to believe that the Academy – despite all the honorable pictures it's congratulated in the last four yeaars – would reward this picture.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 23 February 2007 17:24 (nineteen years ago)

Can't change, it's set in stone now. I'm going with Babel for BP. Even though it seems like most of the pundits I read are tilting toward The Departed, I think Babel is precisely the kind of self-important movie that an Academy that voted for Crash would come back to vote for again. This is sort of cynical, but I also liked Babel more than I did Crash, even if neither are really BP material. This article also made the choice a little easier for me.

― jaymc, Friday, 23 February 2007 17:24 (nineteen years ago)

even tho Tom O'Neil is an assclown?

― Dr Morbius, Friday, 23 February 2007 17:25 (nineteen years ago)

I don't even know who he is.

― jaymc, Friday, 23 February 2007 17:28 (nineteen years ago)

In the soporific [Slate rundown]http://www.slate.com/id/2160374/entry/2160375/[/link] Dana Stevens (who loves Babel) enters full hackdom:

Best documentary: An Inconvenient Truth. This is a little unfortunate, given that it's the only doc in the category that doesn't need the word-of-mouth boost at the box office. But wouldn't it be a blast to see Al Gore step up and accept that award while the Hollywood establishment solemnly applauded the planet? Yay, globe! Sorry about that whole warming thing.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 23 February 2007 20:23 (nineteen years ago)

I'm making a point not to read that, because I know it'll make me cringe. I accidentally read the first post, in which Stevens says that Oscar predicting is dull. Good thing you're not writing a column about it then! Also, I think I'm spoiled by reading people like Sasha Stone and Kris Tapley and Nat Rogers, and so anyone who says "Could Kikuchi upset?" (not that anyone on Slate said that, I"m just saying) I just have no patience for.

― jaymc, Friday, 23 February 2007 20:31 (nineteen years ago)

Al Gore isn't a producer of that film, is he? He won't be making any speeches if not.

― Dr Morbius, Friday, 23 February 2007 21:46 (nineteen years ago)

are they going to arrest him if he does?

― gabbneb, Friday, 23 February 2007 21:49 (nineteen years ago)

Tom O'Neil is a professional "awards blogger."

― Dr Morbius, Friday, 23 February 2007 21:51 (nineteen years ago)

You know who I hate, who my FCF has a hard-on for? David Poland.

― jaymc, Friday, 23 February 2007 21:55 (nineteen years ago)

There's been some debate about who counts as a producer for An Inconvenient Truth, and apparently they've solved it by having Gore and the director go up if they win.

― jaymc, Friday, 23 February 2007 21:56 (nineteen years ago)

You know who I hate, who my FCF has a hard-on for? David Poland

Why am I not surprised.

― Eric H., Friday, 23 February 2007 22:35 (nineteen years ago)

Because they have the exact same writing style?

― jaymc, Friday, 23 February 2007 22:40 (nineteen years ago)

If not taste.

― Eric H., Friday, 23 February 2007 23:00 (nineteen years ago)

It's the shallow pedantry (always written in the second-person, with rhetorical questions) and unimaginative language that bugs me, though.

Here's FCF's top 10 of 2006:

10. Casino Royale
9. Little Miss Sunshine
8. Brick
7. Volver
6. Half Nelson
5. Pan's Labyrinth
4. Babel
3. Letters From Iwo Jima
2. Children of Men
1. The Departed

― jaymc, Friday, 23 February 2007 23:17 (nineteen years ago)

Did he do a bottom 10? What did he hate this year?

― Eric H., Friday, 23 February 2007 23:37 (nineteen years ago)

wot FCF?

― Dr Morbius, Saturday, 24 February 2007 17:38 (nineteen years ago)

Bottom 10

10. Turistas
9. Running With Scissors
8. Nacho Libre
7. Flyboys
6. Firewall
5. Basic Instinct 2
4. Material Girls
3. Big Momma's House 2
2. One Last Thing
1. Failure to Launch

― jaymc, Saturday, 24 February 2007 17:56 (nineteen years ago)

(film-critic friend)

I'm actually more disappointed in his bottom 10 than his top 10. Where are the fun "damn the consensus" picks? (Which I used to call "the Owen Gleiberman picking on token French film" slot.) I know there's a lot of worthless shit out there that doesn't attempt anything interesting at all, but, c'mon. Slip L'enfant or Flags of Our Fathers or World Trade Center in there or something.

― Eric H., Saturday, 24 February 2007 19:39 (nineteen years ago)

Then again, the last time I was on something like a film beat, I too could've probably filled up a bottom 10 with that sort of stuff.

― Eric H., Saturday, 24 February 2007 19:41 (nineteen years ago)

anyone know the link to some online streams for tonights show?

― Lovelace, Sunday, 25 February 2007 22:56 (nineteen years ago)

i was here to ask the same thing. it's not on UK TV unless you have cable.

― jed_, Sunday, 25 February 2007 23:02 (nineteen years ago)

Just so I'm on record; I'm generally okay at predicting these things:

Forest Whitaker for lead actor
Either Eddie Murphy or Allen Arkin for supporting... I'm going with Arkin.
I think Streep wins best actress in an upset, but the money choice is Mirren. Still going with Streep.
Jennifer Hudson for supporting actress
Cars for best animated.
Pan's Labyrinth for Art direction
Pan's Labyrinth for Cinematography, though children of Men may pull it off.
Marie Antoinette for Costumes.
Scorcese for director
Inconvenient Truth for Documentary
United 93 for editing
One of the dreamgirls songs... let's say 'Listen'.
Babel for best picture.
Pirates of Caribbean for Sound edit, sound mix and special fx.
Original Screenplay to Little Miss Sunshine
Adapted to The Departed.

― forksclovetofu, Sunday, 25 February 2007 23:04 (nineteen years ago)

I think Streep wins best actress in an upset, but the money choice is Mirren. Still going with Streep.

If you have a mortgage, I hope you're not betting too much money.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Sunday, 25 February 2007 23:31 (nineteen years ago)

OH, and:
Pan's Labyrinth for Makeup

― forksclovetofu, Monday, 26 February 2007 01:13 (nineteen years ago)

11 outta 17 feels purty okay.

― forksclovetofu, Monday, 26 February 2007 05:31 (nineteen years ago)

I just woke up, made a prediction for all six of the main winners, then checked the internet to see who'd won and I found I'd got all six right. Now I'm cross I didn't put an accumulator bet on.

― Alba, Monday, 26 February 2007 09:24 (nineteen years ago)

Actually, I'm just realising the odds I could have got on that bet would probably be over 100/1. I am an idiot.

― Alba, Monday, 26 February 2007 11:05 (nineteen years ago)

Hollywood is more pro-Spice than I thought.

― Nicole, Monday, 26 February 2007 11:58 (nineteen years ago)

How ppl thought Arkin and The Lives of Others were upsets I can't figure -- entire in line with Oscar's historical preferences.

We must've been high to think Lubezki would take cinematography. Too good.

If only Little Matchgirl had taken Animated Short, the first 3 awards would've gone to little dead girl movies.

― Dr Morbius, Monday, 26 February 2007 14:31 (nineteen years ago)

This was my worst showing in quite a while. Only 13 of 24.

― jaymc, Monday, 26 February 2007 14:35 (nineteen years ago)

17 / 24 for me (and I got The Departed and Arkin -- from Best Song on down it was a mess)

― Dr Morbius, Monday, 26 February 2007 14:43 (nineteen years ago)

17/24 for me too. That's the personal total, not the Slant one.

Categories I got wrong:

S. Actor; Hounsou
Cinematography: Children of Men (did I mention ... outrage of the evening?)
Costumes: Prada
Doc Short: Recycled Life (just trusted Ed on these)
Editing: Babel
Score: The Queen
Sound Editing: Pirates

Everything else = right! That includes song, foreign film, picture (never really thought Babel would win, really), animated feature, sound mixing, et al.

― Eric H., Monday, 26 February 2007 18:13 (nineteen years ago)

I was upset by Arkin winning because I have been terrified of him since I was seven and saw Wait Until Dark on tv. I realize it was 40 years ago and he's a little old man now, but still.

― Nicole, Monday, 26 February 2007 18:16 (nineteen years ago)

I was upset by Arkin winning because I have been terrified of him since I was seven and saw Wait Until Dark on tv

I have the same memory of that prissy, slightly effeminate voice taunting Audrey Hepburn.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 26 February 2007 18:40 (nineteen years ago)

when he was going up to the stage I strained to hear Peter Falk yelling "SERPENTINE!"

― Dr Morbius, Monday, 26 February 2007 18:43 (nineteen years ago)

"Topsy-turvy. Me topsy, and them turvy."

In my world, he would've won Best Supporting Actor 1967 for that one.

― Eric H., Monday, 26 February 2007 19:02 (nineteen years ago)

People never win for the roles they should have won for, though.

― Nicole, Monday, 26 February 2007 19:04 (nineteen years ago)

except for Martin Landau in Ed Wood.

― Dr Morbius, Monday, 26 February 2007 19:12 (nineteen years ago)

is there a thread for DESERVED Oscar acting winners?

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 26 February 2007 19:35 (nineteen years ago)

Ed Wood should get some kind of honorary Oscar just for being awesome and delicious in every way.

Question: Will The Departed get better with a second viewing? I mean, do I not remember it very well because it's thin, or because it's plot-heavy and I'll pick up more the second time?

― kenan, Monday, 26 February 2007 21:31 (nineteen years ago)

It's a lot better because you're able to appreciate the gutter argot and purploid performances, and less conscious that the faintest suggestion of a Strong Moral Center actually puts the thing one notch above Goodfellas.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 26 February 2007 22:09 (nineteen years ago)

*er, that the film LACKS a Strong Moral Center.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 26 February 2007 22:14 (nineteen years ago)

I don't think I can be convinced that this is a notch above Goodfellas.

― kenan, Monday, 26 February 2007 22:27 (nineteen years ago)

Clint Eastwood's casual "I should wear my glasses" remark reminded me of the first paragraph of this really great piece by Bruce Jay Friedman (I think from the mid-70s), which I share for your amusement and stuff:

I'm crazy about Clint Eastwood, and if that automatically sounds chic, it's just going to have to sound that way. There's something intrinsically fair about him. He's no intellectual, but he's willing to learn. For example, I have a feeling that if you met him and Heidegger crept into the conversation, he wouldn't come up with one of those dumb Hollywood remarks along the lines of "Heidi-who?" He would, with quiet intelligence, say, "What's that name?" and scribble it down on a little piece of paper. Not a memo either, or one of those "From the Desk Of" things, just a little piece of scratch paper. Maybe he'd borrow it from somebody. And he wouldn't hand that scratch paper to any secretary, either. The next day, he'd go down to the library—a small library out there where's he got all those acres—and check out a volume of Heidegger and read it himself. And he would get something out of it, too, maybe not all of what Heidegger was driving at, but something. And I'm not talking about remarks to drop at some William Morris agency party. Something he could really use. Out there where he's got all those acres. And incidentally, with regard to those acres, he didn't just pick them up in that Ronald Reagan free enterprise frontier spirit either. I don't even think ecology is at the top of his list of concerns either. He just wanted a little room. And if someone trespassed on his property, he wouldn't just blow the guy's head off. Maybe he's got a gun or two, but he doesn't have a whole collection. He'd invite the trespasser in, offer him a bite to eat. It wouldn't necessarily be a simple sandwich either, a ham and cheese. He'd serve him a salad. Why? Because he has enough confidence to feed the fellow some artichoke hearts and not see it as some threat to his masculinity. Who knows, maybe he and the trespasser would get to talking about what Eastwood had just gotten out of Heidegger. The trespasser might just know a little about Heidegger. Those are the kind of fellows who do. Eastwood realizes that.

― nabisco, Monday, 26 February 2007 22:28 (nineteen years ago)

yeah i like exactly that about eastwood, but my cynical side (which i don't quite believe here, mind you) says he dropped that shtick up front so's it would seem more credible later that he was translating morricone's italian on the fly rather than reading translation on a prompter (which he appeared to be doing)

― gabbneb, Monday, 26 February 2007 22:37 (nineteen years ago)

It was still fun to imagine Eastwood translating the Italian, though.

― jaymc, Monday, 26 February 2007 22:39 (nineteen years ago)

That's the beauty of it: there's no reason he wouldn't be reading it, even if he did know Italian -- and yet when if you imagine him in that Friedman mythic way, you could totally picture him having picked up fluent Italian from the old lady he met stranded on a roadside and wound up hiring as a cook and talking to about her family and, you know, what he'd gotten out of Heidegger.

― nabisco, Monday, 26 February 2007 22:44 (nineteen years ago)

Incidentally, my Oscar shock of the night -- I hadn't really looked at the nominations for this, obviously -- was Children of Men not being nominated for sound editing. I kinda hope there's some more specific "sound design" category in the technical awards that it won on, but like ... it had the most notably ambitious sound work of any film I've seen possibly EVER, which you'd think would at least be in competition.

― nabisco, Monday, 26 February 2007 22:51 (nineteen years ago)

I don't think the Maggie Gyllenhaal (f/k/a Rachel McAdams/Jennifer Garner) Awards reward particular films -- they're just given out for recent developments, inventions, and the like that have furthered the craft.

― jaymc, Monday, 26 February 2007 22:54 (nineteen years ago)

Now we need Eastwood to direct and star in his own biopic.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 26 February 2007 22:55 (nineteen years ago)

I would give an Oscar just to that two-televisions sound-pan in the first few second of CoM. :(

― nabisco, Monday, 26 February 2007 23:00 (nineteen years ago)

Or the crackling/shattering windshield, or the Bexhill explosions, etc.

― nickalicious, Monday, 26 February 2007 23:01 (nineteen years ago)

I would also offer an Oscar to just the hunting + Radio Dept. bit from Marie Antoinette, and an alternate version of Blood Diamond where all of Djimon Honsou's lines are overdubbed with Mel Gibson shouting "GIVEMEBACKMYSON" from Ransom.

― nabisco, Monday, 26 February 2007 23:06 (nineteen years ago)

Oh, and also Brittany Murphy saying "I'll never teeeelllll" in that one Michael Douglas movie. His character is secretly a combination of the two most memorably awful line deliveries of the 90s!

― nabisco, Monday, 26 February 2007 23:07 (nineteen years ago)

You actually went to see Blood Diamond?

― jaymc, Monday, 26 February 2007 23:13 (nineteen years ago)

What, I have to actually see a movie to make lame jokes about it?

― nabisco, Monday, 26 February 2007 23:14 (nineteen years ago)

Your familiarity with his "character" seemed to indicate you'd seen it, unless you're just making stuff up based on the trailer.

― jaymc, Monday, 26 February 2007 23:19 (nineteen years ago)

Fine, ya big killjoy, change "character" to "premise / situation" -- he's trying to get his son back from somewhere, and he knows where some big diamond is but is withholding the info! Don't exactly need to make that up.

― nabisco, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 00:02 (nineteen years ago)

Okay! I have to admit, I've kind of tuned out whenever I've seen the trailer.

― jaymc, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 00:10 (nineteen years ago)

Jesus, do I feel sorry for anyone who prefers The Departed to Goodfellas.

Nice: Voiceover Lady at Monahan's win referrring to Infernal Affairs as "a Japanese film." All Asian cinema looks alike.

― Dr Morbius, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 15:14 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, I caught that one too, I wonder what Watanabe thought of it.

― forksclovetofu, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 15:31 (nineteen years ago)

Jesus, do I feel sorry for anyone who prefers The Departed to Goodfellas.

Insofar as The Departed dispenses with the hamhanded moral hesitations of Henry Hill, it's superior. A couple of the less enthusiastic reviews of Goodfellas are eerily similar to TD's.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 16:00 (nineteen years ago)

I was surprised that nobody corrected the "Japanese film" gaffe in the way that Ellen apologized for calling Penelope Cruz "Mexican."

― jaymc, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 16:11 (nineteen years ago)

The Japanese aren't threatening to take your low-paying job...anymore.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 16:13 (nineteen years ago)

Jesus, do I feel sorry for anyone who prefers The Departed to Goodfellas.

Weep for me.

― Eric H., Wednesday, 28 February 2007 05:12 (nineteen years ago)

nahh, I assume that like P. Kael yer mystified why Goodfellas didn't have a "hero."

― Dr Morbius, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 14:37 (nineteen years ago)

(or I'll just amend my remarks to exempt people whose fave Scorsese film is likely to be The King of Comedy when they see it)

― Dr Morbius, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 14:38 (nineteen years ago)

12/24. meh. bad year for me.

Watched half the oscars then went out to a show. Tivo miscalculation = missed Scorsese's acceptance speech. Glad he finally won, can't believe it was for The Departed.

I can't get The Departed > Goodfellas. Sure, Goodfellas doesn't hang together as a whole, but there are lotsa great sequences - the long tracking shot through the club, how am I funny, helicopter paranoia, the creepy bit with De Niro and Bracco. Is there any scene as memorable in The Departed? I just saw that a couple weeks ago and I can't even think of one.

Insofar as The Departed dispenses with the hamhanded moral hesitations of Henry Hill, it's superior.

Waht? Goodfellas is an amoral movie. The "hero" is a slime who rolls over on his "friends" out of self-preservation, not because of any conviction. At the end his biggest regret is that he can't get a good dish of pasta.

Voiceover Lady at Monahan's win referrring to Infernal Affairs as "a Japanese film."

Cue me yelling at the TV set.

― Edward III, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 15:54 (nineteen years ago)

Eric was just upset none of Goodfellas' needledrop score was disco

hello, Goodfellas has MAMA SCORSESE for starters

― Dr Morbius, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 15:59 (nineteen years ago)

Scorsese corrected the "japanese" film mistake!

― dan selzer, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 16:09 (nineteen years ago)

not intentionally perhaps, he just ment'd the correct country

― Dr Morbius, Wednesday, 28 February 2007 16:12 (nineteen years ago)

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