OSCARS 2010

Hollywood Dinner Has Oscars on Menu
By MICHAEL CIEPLY

LOS ANGELES — Lauren Bacall admitted she had a thing for Gregory Peck, but his wife got in the way. Kirk Douglas said he tried to seduce Ms. Bacall, but she wasn’t interested. Warren Beatty confessed that all his best stories seemed to wind up serving himself.

Something remarkable happened on Saturday night at the new awards ceremony sponsored by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences: Hollywood let its guard down.

The academy’s inaugural Governors Awards, designed to move the presentation of career Oscars off the lengthy annual broadcast, turned out to be almost exactly what its promoters had promised — a clubby night out for movie business insiders who found themselves swapping yarns and observations that might be considered a little too real for network television.

The semi-private banquet for roughly 500 academy members and others was held in a ballroom near the Kodak Theater, where the regular Oscars will be presented on March 7. The gold statuettes and many of the players — Ron Howard, Jack Nicholson, Steven Spielberg, Annette Bening — were the same.

But the similarities ended there.

With the news and television cameras shut out and only a handful of reporters scattered at the tables, insiders got into the spirit of an evening that was set up by its producer Bruce Cohen — himself an Oscar winner as a producer of “American Beauty” — to mimic the more intimate Academy Awards ceremonies of Irving G. Thalberg’s day.

“It’s better,” said Mr. Beatty, who showed up to present the producer and executive John Calley with a Thalberg award for his work over the years on movies like “Catch-22,” “The Exorcist,” “Jerry Maguire” and “The Da Vinci Code.” “Nobody’s worried whether 36.9 million people are watching us, or 29.2 million.”

One of the night’s more startling bits of honesty came from Mr. Calley, who did not attend because of health problems, and delivered some recorded remarks on a giant video screen.

“You’re very unhappy for a long period of time,” Mr. Calley said, in speaking of the executive’s life. “And you don’t experience joy. At the end you experience relief, if you’re lucky.”

Candor of that sort was a rule, not the exception.

After raising a toast to Gordon Willis, the cinematographer behind movies like “The Godfather” and “Manhattan,” Caleb Deschanel, a protégé, cut close to the bone by telling how Mr. Willis’s salty ways had almost certainly kept him from winning an Oscar over the years.

Mr. Willis, he noted, had referred to professional peers as “flamethrowers,” presumably for using what he believed was too much light. Many directors, he quoted Mr. Willis as saying, were just “dump trucks,” who piled up film for an editor to sort out. As for Hollywood’s film labs, he said, Mr. Willis dismissed them as “laundromats.”

Accepting his Oscar, Mr. Willis, who is 78, has weak eyesight and is working less, had some consolation for the many actresses who objected to his preference for shadows, which often obscured their lovely faces.

“It’s O.K.,” he said. “It’s over now. You’re safe.”

Roger Corman, who received an honorary Oscar for directing, producing and distributing both B-movies and foreign art films by the score, came in for some ribbing about his professional parsimony.

“You can’t help but get weary” when working for Mr. Corman, Mr. Howard said in celebrating the executive who gave him a first directing job, on “Grand Theft Auto,” in 1977.

Mr. Howard recalled Mr. Corman’s telling him, “If you continue to do a good job for me on this picture, I can promise you, you’ll never have to work for me again.”

Inevitably an army of publicists worked the crowd, which brought together potential Oscar voters precisely as they are forming opinions about this year’s crop of contenders.

As the evening warmed up, John Hillcoat, who directed “The Road” for the Weinstein Company, for instance, was introduced by a busy publicist to Jeff Bridges. He, in turn, was there to honor Mr. Willis, but is now in the hunt, since Fox Searchlight suddenly decided to release his “Crazy Heart” next month, in time to qualify for awards.

Alec Baldwin, newly designated as an Oscar co-host next March, along with Steve Martin, did not take the stage but was on hand. Before the show Mr. Baldwin was chatting things up at a table with Anjelica Huston, who later told the crowd that Ms. Bacall — another of Saturday’s honorary Oscar winners — then married to Humphrey Bogart, had been a witness in the wilds of Africa in 1951 when her father, John Huston, then directing “The African Queen,” received a telegram announcing her birth.

Like most things Oscar related, the ceremony was long — 3 hours 18 minutes, not counting the cocktail hour that preceded the event. The dinner began at 7:30 p.m., but the real starting gun went off six minutes later, when a door attendant radioed an alert: “Tom Hanks has arrived.”

Mr. Hanks, who only a couple of months ago warded off a bid to make him president of the academy — he told the board he was flattered but too busy — appeared to be as relaxed as everyone else.

“How are you guys?” he said to seven tuxedo-clad past Thalberg award winners — Walter Mirisch, George Lucas, Saul Zaentz, Norman Jewison, Dino De Laurentiis and both Mr. Beatty and Mr. Spielberg — who lined up behind him.

“Good to see you,” breezed Mr. Hanks.

It was that kind of night.

Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company

http://www.thefilmexperience.net/Awards/2009/tally.html

Gad, he's so wrong about Alfred Molina: he's annoying because the part is annoying and he's annoying in it.

exes Cameron vs Bigelow?

http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/2009/12/avatar_in_the_r.php

yeah, xpost, Molina was totally the worst part of AN EDUCATION! I forget who said it, but it really felt like he was acting in a bad sitcom

God, Molina's is the one seemingly uncontested it's-gonna-happen nomination I can not figure out. That perfect storm of not a good performance from a not particularly overdue actor in a not overwhelmingly beloved movie that somehow is adding up to an Oscar lock?

I think it comes down to the fact that it was a hammy comic performance in a "prestige" picture.

Sarsgaard deserves a nod imo

Sarsgaard
Firth
Foster
Bridges
Clooney

???

I don't need to see Invictus to know that I don't want Freeman nominated.
I still haven't seen THE HURT LOCKER

Sarsgaard is considered supporting? :/

xpost but Molina wasn't even effectively hammy or comic, though I guess I can see how avg academy voter could think so

I should really stop being surprised by coattails nods, though, in the aftermath of Catherine Keener's Capote nod.

Keener's nod is way more deserving than Molina's. More useless: Frances McDormand for North Country, William Hurt in Children of a Lesser God, Kristen Scott-Thomas for The English Patient, Sophie Okenedo in Hotel Rwanda, etc.

We could almost POLL these nods.

I will stay outside this debate as i can't imagine ever seeing An Education.

all oscar "nods" are shit imo

harder and harder to care every effing year

Nah, they get it right once in a while, and if a nod allows a Judy Davis a chance to get better roles and more dough, that's fine.

like the Judy Garland TV bio?

ya weird example... when was the last time you saw her in anything??

it did however allow cuba gooding jr to make snow dogs

See these are the sort of things that actually make Oscars fun.

visual FX list (perrraise God, no Lovely Bones):

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/2009/12/11/oscar_watch_fifteen_films_up_for_vfx_oscar1/

btw right now I'd put money, if I did that sort of thing, on a Pic/Director split between Up in the Air and Bigelow.

that sounds about right.

eligibles list:

http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/rules/reminderlist2009.pdf

Being that Julia is eligible, I fully expect the Academy to do the right thing.

Actually, I don't. Because apparently they're supposed to nominate Helen Mirren's supporting performance in a glorified TV movie no one will ever see or love. *sigh*

Headless Woman is eligible, 35 Shots not.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_submissions_to_the_82nd_Academy_Awards_for_Best_Foreign_Language_Film

I'm saying I Killed My Mother slips into the lineup.

ok, now I'm just as bored as Eric.

http://oscar-watch.ew.com/2009/12/31/dave-karger-oscar-predictions/

Do I sense a "populist" win for Sandy Bullock?

Hey, even Sharen Stone got a nod once.

i'd give her a nod

this is the gay thread, son. Keep out.

sharon got a nom, not a win.

that's what "nod" means in Varietyspeak

ah, gotcha. watching her milk her brush with second-class prestige pics at the Kennedy Center Honors last week was pretty hilarious.

but yes, I can see Streep fatigue and non-actressness of Sidibe putting Bullock on the stage.

I cant wait to see all the shitty movies tossed in to the now expanded best picture category.

I also expect to see Avatar nominated for this very reason.

My prediction is they reserve one of these slots every year for Pixar movies to be nominated and lose. Not to say they are shitty, just that they wont win.

abbie cornish for best actress imo

Bullock could definitely get a nom, but i think the golden globe (she's up for dramatic AND comedy!) would be an easier grab

btw didn't everyone think while watching the "celeb fantasy" scenes in Precious, "Well this girl is going to be doing way more convincing versions of this in 2 months."

as for "shitty" films to fill out the ten, no way A Serious Man makes it w/out the extra slots. (Up too, tho that's a kind of a pity)

funny thing about "streep fatigue" is that she hasn't actually won in twenty five years. julie & julia seems like a good opportunity to reward her for showing up all these times.

Yup.

I'd rather she wins for being cartoonishly funny than being a serious cartoon.

possible, but I dunno.

With The Lovely Bones and maybe Nine looking DOA, maybe Invictus will be the worst Best Picture nominee (if it isn't the ILX Fanboy Movie).

Dave Karger didn't even mention Tilda. I am the opposite of surprised.

And, yes, Invictus looks like the requisite haaarrrible nominee of the year. If it were just five slots, I guess the worst nominee would be ... Avatar?

of the unseen contenders I'm guessing I'd hate IB more than Avatar.

ah, gotcha. watching her milk her brush with second-class prestige pics at the Kennedy Center Honors last week was pretty hilarious.

― da croupier, Monday, January 4, 2010 1:22 PM (39 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i seriously thought "milk her brush" was some sort of phrase i'd never heard before for a sec

haha

Really, Morbs? Whatever would give you that hunch?

hard to say since neither filmmaker has made anything good since 1997.

Anyway, I think everyone's in agreement that the 5 lineup would've been

Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious
Precious
Up in the Air

Maaaaybe swapping in Up for Precious, given the bloggers would be way more obnoxious on the Pixar beat than they are now that there's 10 slots.

no way blue man troupe loses eh?

Isn't a bettable "shocker" Haneke getting into Best Director field?

Maybe. The movie won't make more than a couple of million by the time nominations are announced, which means the closest recent analogue -- director nominated for a low-grossing foreign film -- would be Julian Schnabel for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. But I have to think that that was in part helped by the fact that it was a co-production between France and the U.S.

so Bridges and Bullock looking like near-locks to join Waltz and Mo'nique; Avatar takes BP and Bigelow director? Another snoozy show in the offing.

Don't make bets on Avatar's victory yet.

not for TWO BILLION dollars.

lolololol Inglorious for best picture?

the non Hurt Locker/Precious/Up In The Air spots are gonna be some ish that's off our radar like The Young Victoria

http://www.impawards.com/intl/uk/2009/posters/young_victoria_ver2.jpg

no, I expect them all to be quite unsurprising save for MAYBE the 9th or 10th spots. (ie, whether Coens get screwed)

oh, i forgot they're doing 10 this year. barf

wish I could forget

PGA going to Hurt Locker says this BP is still a free-for-all.

Yes, I don't see Avatar taking the top two, if only cuz the "bypassing women directors" charge will be louder than ever.

Mostly the fact that Avatar is stupid sci-fi. Even reasonably good sci-fi just plain doesn't win BP.

And even if it did, odds favor Avatar having to face District 9 as a nominee.

Still holding out hope for Streep in March.

Now that the alternative has emerged, ditto.

And then I hope she gives a career-best performance next year and wins her fourth one just one year after this one.

Isn't Avatar "soft" sci-fi the way Titanic was fantasy > history (ie, teen crush = eternal love)?

If D9 is nominated for BP (Star Trek still seems more likely), I don't see it being any factor in the final balloting.

If only All About Steve had been released after The Blind Side, instead of before, to sabotage her chances the way Norbit did for Eddie Murphy three years ago.

If only Miss Congeniality IV had been produced.

Isn't Avatar "soft" sci-fi the way Titanic was fantasy > history (ie, teen crush = eternal love)?

Maybe, but that math doesn't exactly check out.

I'm thinking Return of the King, as well as Titanic, is precedent for Avatar win.

ROTK a better movie, thank goodness.

I saw ROTK in a giant Lincoln Center hall w/ fanboys applauding every scene, followed by cast Q&A. I was homicidal.

LOOOOOOOOOOOL. I did not want to see it but was press-ganged into a screening after Chinese food, friends thought it was v. funny to make me sit there watching that shite for three hours, nearly snuck off home after excusing self to visit ladies' room.

I think I probably started moaning in agony by the third of the endless endings.

After seeing the first one, I saw no need to sit through the other two installments.

jaymc took the words write out of my keyboard. Currently living an extremely rich and varied life w/o those other two pests.

I thought the reason why the BP noms have swelled to ten is so that poor, embattled films like Avatar could take the statue. So I guess I'm just assuming it will win. Although what will this Oscar experiment mean if Avatar fails to win?

Ask Obama about health care.

After seeing the first one, I saw no need to sit through the other two installments.

This. I got about 10 minutes into the second one and stopped.

maybe i'm not looking hard enough, but people seem to have stopped mentioning up in the air for BP

It was never in the running for a trophy; it's one of those Prestige Pictures created for the purpose of winning nominations and increasing an actor's asking price.

? what????? i assume it will get a nomination for BP

yes, and it will win adap screenplay I suspect

bcz it's so "relevant"

I saw ROTK in a giant Lincoln Center hall w/ fanboys applauding every scene, followed by cast Q&A. I was homicidal.

― Rage, Resentment, Spleen (Dr Morbius), Monday, January 25, 2010 10:48 AM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

lol WHY did you of all people put yourself through this

it's obviously an indefensible movie, but "never in the running"? i was under the impression it was up in the air vs. avatar vs. hurt locker until quite recently

I think I probably started moaning in agony by the third of the endless endings.

Okay, I really really liked all three movies but even this was true for me.

morbs was on a season of Fear Factor, fyi

No, caek's right. I know I was far from the only one calling the race for Up in the Air before Avatar started raking in the cash and Hurt Locker ran the table with the crix awards.

even people who like up in the air don't like it

yeah it was horrible

I still say it's got a better shot at winning it than Avatar, but maybe it's time for another Gladiator-style BP win.

Actually re ROTK we had dinner after, so my friends were actually withholdng food from me to view these important prem-ejac endings.

I think the Coens will get some noms, Oscar likes Coens.

Avatar can't seriosuly be considered for BP though? Thought the extended list of nominees would be for popular but shit flicks to get a fobbed place with the academy picks?

of course it can everyone loved ita nd it made twenty billion dollars

popular-but-shit films win every few years in the weinstein era

also $20bn

how much of that €20bn was people walking out saying "that was infantile rubbish"?

Not an indicator.

I went to ROTK megascreening w/ 2 friends who are huge LOTR nerds, that's the kind of selfless fool I am IRL. Also I liked first two movies alright, principally for VIGGO.

hee hee i can just imagine u blowing your top

I just can't seem to picture it.

i had no idea there'd be a jumping-on-a-bed-with-Gandalf sequence

if you want to picture something better, I once took a first date to see Chinatown and he FELL ASLEEP

ya i remember watching that with my hand over my face xp

forget it morbs (etc)

Awards Daily prognosticates:

http://www.awardsdaily.com/?p=18602

After seeing A Serious Man again, I think it may be out of the BP 10. Too good.

I have to admit, I've been sort of caught off-guard re District 9 and Star Trek, but I guess that's what gets nominated when you expand the field. And they probably benefit from being two of only four movies in 2009 that have both a Metacritic rating above 80 and a box-office gross above $100 million. (The other two are Avatar and Up.)

acting winners imo:

bridges
bullock
waltz
mo'nique

I went to ROTK megascreening w/ 2 friends who are huge LOTR nerds, that's the kind of selfless fool I am IRL. Also I liked first two movies alright, principally for VIGGO.

― Rage, Resentment, Spleen (Dr Morbius)

dang this blows my mind

I am not a snarling contrarian animal, I am a human being!

I will leave forecasting to dese guys (nice Actress pic tho):

http://www.slantmagazine.com/house/

Nathaniel R in process of updating his predix:

http://www.thefilmexperience.net/Awards/2009/tally.html

Did you slip him that mention of A Serious Man?

? No, he's still trying to figure BP out:

http://filmexperience.blogspot.com/2010/02/oscar-predictions.html

Funny, I thought this prognosticator preferred Mr. Fox to Up!

Should Be Nominated: Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker), Pete Docter (Up), James Gray (Two Lovers), Götz Spielmann (Revanche), and Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds)

http://www.slantmagazine.com/house/2010/01/oscar-2010-nomination-predictions-director/

I always let Ed pick the "should be" nominees.

And maybe I'll eat these words tomorrow morning, but I'm having a very hard time seeing A Serious Man getting a BP nod and District 9 not.

Jews outnumber aliens as members of the Academy though.

My limited understanding of the nominating ballots suggests each voter's "#1" is all that essentially counts. It's possible that a hard core of Coen fans could put them in.

Ed wrote that Two Lovers was ineligible (HDNet telecast), but I see it on the AMPAS reminder list. (Not that it will matter.)

wow, Christopher Plummer's never been nominated, not even for his Mike Wallace act.

or for Von Trapp.

he mighta pulled a George C Scott on that one.

I really think Peter Capaldi being snubbed is the ultmate proof of what faggot boycottable bullshit the Oscars are.

http://www.jennymiller.com/images/quiet-faggot.jpg

I still say it's got a better shot at winning it than Avatar, but maybe it's time for another Gladiator-style BP win.

― queen frostine (Eric H.), Monday, January 25, 2010 4:06 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark

it is never time for that.

2 or 3 nominations for The Hangover would be a laff, but I'm thinking one.

I really think Peter Capaldi being snubbed is the ultmate proof of what faggot boycottable bullshit the Oscars are.

― Rage, Resentment, Spleen (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, February 2, 2010 5:30 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark

MORBS OTM

tbh though, even if he had money behind him, i can't see it. what clip could they show?

FilmExperience going with Blind Side breaking into BP field, and Gyllenhall benefiting from Bridges' coattails.

For the record, I'm not actually of the opinion that Kruger and Laurent will both be nominated. It was a gesture of hedging bets that at least one would show up, tho.

wth at this lameness so far

Only real surprise is Maggie Gyllenhaal so far.

She was my dark horse.

hurt locker best screenplay? really?

yay in the loop, but how tf is it adapted?!?!?!

It's adapted from The Thick of It.

A Serious Man.

yay a serious man

xpost

hmmmm

where are you following?

tv

I streamed it live.

mark kermode on katy vs jimbo etc.

bigelow shd get most attractive 59-year old tbqh

yep, got my man kermode now

Oh, well, thank god Julianne Moore was omitted.

is jeff bridges as much of a lock as kermode is suggesting?

FilmExperience going with Blind Side breaking into BP field, and Gyllenhall benefiting from Bridges' coattails.

Kudos to Nathaniel. I feel like these were the two nominations I hadn't really seen anyone predicting. (The Blind Side takes the slot that was supposed to go to Invictus.)

is jeff bridges as much of a lock as kermode is suggesting?

Yes.

Also: the Academy really, really likes Penelope Cruz.

Yeah, probably, caek. Clooney had the early edge (back in early December), but Bridges has now won the Golden Globe and SAG Award and there's both an awful lot of goodwill toward him and a sense that he's overdue. Plus, I think Clooney was always kind of a placeholder; I don't think anyone was really blown away by his performance.

up can presumably be nominated for best animated picture too, right?

It was.

Also: the Academy really, really likes Penelope Cruz.

yeah. haven't seen that film, but nobody other than the academy thinks she deserves it.

xp, ta.

Ugh, really really should've seen Blind Side coming. Most of the movies this experiment let into the fray are arguably hits of various measure. Mission accomplished.

Those movies being, in all likelihood -- The Blind Side, District 9, An Education, A Serious Man and Up.

OK, 3 out of the 5.

A crippling lack of surprise, tho, outside the BP category.

I didn't participate in any pools, but I suspected Gyllenhaal would get in, riding Bridges' wave (the Academy has a history with this sort of thing).

Blind Side came THAT close to being one of those vintage best-picture-nominees-nominated-for-nothing-else. No director nod, no screenplay nod, no inspirational song nod. Just Sandra Bullock.

has anyone here seen it? trailer doesn't make it look like future ilx canon.

Clooney will get nominated for BA or BSA or both every year from now on, won't he?

Haha, apparently Serious Man is in the same boat. Only a screenplay nod to go with its BP bid.

'in the loop' is the only interesting nom.

Sort of interesting that (500) Days of Summer couldn't even get a screenplay nod.

Actor in a Leading Role

* Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart”
* George Clooney in “Up in the Air”
* Colin Firth in “A Single Man”
* Morgan Freeman in “Invictus”
* Jeremy Renner in “The Hurt Locker”

Actor in a Supporting Role

* Matt Damon in “Invictus”
* Woody Harrelson in “The Messenger”
* Christopher Plummer in “The Last Station”
* Stanley Tucci in “The Lovely Bones”
* Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds”

Actress in a Leading Role

* Sandra Bullock in “The Blind Side”
* Helen Mirren in “The Last Station”
* Carey Mulligan in “An Education”
* Gabourey Sidibe in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
* Meryl Streep in “Julie & Julia”

Actress in a Supporting Role

* Penélope Cruz in “Nine”
* Vera Farmiga in “Up in the Air”
* Maggie Gyllenhaal in “Crazy Heart”
* Anna Kendrick in “Up in the Air”
* Mo’Nique in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”

Animated Feature Film

* “Coraline” Henry Selick
* “Fantastic Mr. Fox” Wes Anderson
* “The Princess and the Frog” John Musker and Ron Clements
* “The Secret of Kells” Tomm Moore
* “Up” Pete Docter

Art Direction

* “Avatar” Art Direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Kim Sinclair
* “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” Art Direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro; Set Decoration: Caroline Smith
* “Nine” Art Direction: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Gordon Sim
* “Sherlock Holmes” Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
* “The Young Victoria” Art Direction: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Maggie Gray

Cinematography

* “Avatar” Mauro Fiore
* “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” Bruno Delbonnel
* “The Hurt Locker” Barry Ackroyd
* “Inglourious Basterds” Robert Richardson
* “The White Ribbon” Christian Berger

Costume Design

* “Bright Star” Janet Patterson
* “Coco before Chanel” Catherine Leterrier
* “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” Monique Prudhomme
* “Nine” Colleen Atwood
* “The Young Victoria” Sandy Powell

Directing

* “Avatar” James Cameron
* “The Hurt Locker” Kathryn Bigelow
* “Inglourious Basterds” Quentin Tarantino
* “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels
* “Up in the Air” Jason Reitman

Documentary (Feature)

* “Burma VJ” Anders Østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller
* “The Cove” Nominees to be determined
* “Food, Inc.” Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein
* “The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers” Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith
* “Which Way Home” Rebecca Cammisa

Documentary (Short Subject)

* “China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province” Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill
* “The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner” Daniel Junge and Henry Ansbacher
* “The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant” Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert
* “Music by Prudence” Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett
* “Rabbit à la Berlin” Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra

Film Editing

* “Avatar” Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron
* “District 9” Julian Clarke
* “The Hurt Locker” Bob Murawski and Chris Innis
* “Inglourious Basterds” Sally Menke
* “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Joe Klotz

Foreign Language Film

* “Ajami” Israel
* “El Secreto de Sus Ojos” Argentina
* “The Milk of Sorrow” Peru
* “Un Prophète” France
* “The White Ribbon” Germany

Makeup

* “Il Divo” Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano
* “Star Trek” Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow
* “The Young Victoria” Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore

Music (Original Score)

* “Avatar” James Horner
* “Fantastic Mr. Fox” Alexandre Desplat
* “The Hurt Locker” Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
* “Sherlock Holmes” Hans Zimmer
* “Up” Michael Giacchino

Music (Original Song)

* “Almost There” from “The Princess and the Frog” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
* “Down in New Orleans” from “The Princess and the Frog” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
* “Loin de Paname” from “Paris 36” Music by Reinhardt Wagner Lyric by Frank Thomas
* “Take It All” from “Nine” Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
* “The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)” from “Crazy Heart” Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

Best Picture

* “Avatar” James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
* “The Blind Side” Nominees to be determined
* “District 9” Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, Producers
* “An Education” Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers
* “The Hurt Locker” Nominees to be determined
* “Inglourious Basterds” Lawrence Bender, Producer
* “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, Producers
* “A Serious Man” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Producers
* “Up” Jonas Rivera, Producer
* “Up in the Air” Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, Producers

Short Film (Animated)

* “French Roast” Fabrice O. Joubert
* “Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty” Nicky Phelan and Darragh O’Connell
* “The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)” Javier Recio Gracia
* “Logorama” Nicolas Schmerkin
* “A Matter of Loaf and Death” Nick Park

Short Film (Live Action)

* “The Door” Juanita Wilson and James Flynn
* “Instead of Abracadabra” Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellström
* “Kavi” Gregg Helvey
* “Miracle Fish” Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey
* “The New Tenants” Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson

Sound Editing

* “Avatar” Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
* “The Hurt Locker” Paul N.J. Ottosson
* “Inglourious Basterds” Wylie Stateman
* “Star Trek” Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin
* “Up” Michael Silvers and Tom Myers

Sound Mixing

* “Avatar” Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson
* “The Hurt Locker” Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett
* “Inglourious Basterds” Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano
* “Star Trek” Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin
* “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson

Visual Effects

* “Avatar” Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones
* “District 9” Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken
* “Star Trek” Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

* “District 9” Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
* “An Education” Screenplay by Nick Hornby
* “In the Loop” Screenplay by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
* “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher
* “Up in the Air” Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner

Writing (Original Screenplay)

* “The Hurt Locker” Written by Mark Boal
* “Inglourious Basterds” Written by Quentin Tarantino
* “The Messenger” Written by Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman
* “A Serious Man” Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
* “Up” Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy

Still anxiously awaiting Morbs' reaction to Serious Man sitting side by side with Blind Side.

Cinematography, makeup, costume design, and original song all have a foreign-language nominee -- four different ones even.

i think i'll only tune in to the show to see if kathryn bigelow wins (my guess: probably)

Well, I like 6 of the best pic noms, An Education was kind of middling but coulda been a lot worse, and 3 I thought were complete shit.

Which is a lot better than last year when I hated all of them but Milk.

There are two movies in the BP lineup I'm very much enthusiastic about (Hurt Locker screening still pending), one of which would've been in the 5-film lineup.

anyone actually seen The Last Station? Trailer looks dreadful: the sort of thing Miramax promoted in the mid nineties.

I've seen “The Milk of Sorrow,” it's utterly wack.

yay In the Loop & ASM's meaningless nominations. Too bad, Orson Welles guy.

My reaction to Serious Man sitting side by side with Blind Side? Less extreme than Munich sitting side by side with Crash.
plus Blind Side is gonna get the Moneyball movie made. (tho that could be a disaster)

so i guess this is the first year in forever i won't be watching the oscars

Why?

you wanna miss the first female director winner ever, SEXIST?

yeah, it was so much better when crash/million dollar baby/lord of the rings/chicago won, they've really dropped the ball.

hahahah morbs.

honestly, there is nothing here for me to even be curious about. like, i used to be a little interested in who SHOULD win but there is something painfully middling about all these noms, like it's the friggin grammys or something.

The Milk of Sorrow, the title, is LOL.

when shit like crash and lotr won at least i was upset that something else lost

wait'll you see its tit utilization! xp

like it's the friggin grammys or something

well, w/ slightly better music.

"The Secret of Kells"?

http://www.zoilus.com/documents/RKellyManq.jpg

another year, another double nom for randy newman!

i figured "the secret of kells" would be google trending because everyone wanted to know what the fuck it was, but google trends is like 90% groundhog related

Interesting trivia: This is the first year without an Australian acting nominee since 1997.

you don't know what the word "interesting" means, huh?

If you don't find that interesting, I feel sorry for you.

i think that's p interesting. abbie cornish should have been nominated.

http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Everyone%20Else/images/paul-hogan-as_michael-j-crocodile-dundee.jpg

OI I KNEW I SHOULDA BEEN IN PRECIOUS

im sure streep is fine in J&J but nominating her is a bit of a lame punchline at this point.

http://subdivided_we_stand.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/03/21/yahoo2.jpg

SHAFTED AGAIN

http://subdivided_we_stand.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/03/21/yahoo2.jpg

yeah, nominate a good impression and leave a great one (C McKay) by the wayside
xxp

Hurt Locker screening still pending

I must warn you, there are no vampires in it.

surprised at the last station noms. havent seen it yet but i've heard nothing good about it. i guess it's a venerable actor dude doing a famous old dude, with a supporting nod thrown in there so it doesnt seem too obv. also see: invictus

i googled "new moon was ROBBED" and well, whaddayaknow.

Sort of interesting that (500) Days of Summer couldn't even get a screenplay nod.

presumably cursed by Rex Reed banner quote: "It looks you straight in the eye and tells the truth."

i googled "new moon was ROBBED" and well, whaddayaknow.

― the highest per-vote vag so far (history mayne), Tuesday, February 2, 2010 10:10 AM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

it didnt even get a nod for best vampire?!

name more colorless nominated performances than Matt Damon's.

Interesting trivia: This is the first year without an Australian acting nominee since 1997.

― Hoisin Murphy (jaymc), Tuesday, February 2, 2010 9:50 AM (23 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

you don't know what the word "interesting" means, huh?

― goldblapp (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, February 2, 2010 9:51 AM (22 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i thought this was interesting

name more colorless nominated performances than Matt Damon's.

― Rage, Resentment, Spleen (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, February 2, 2010 3:14 PM (40 seconds ago) Bookmark

ironic because it's a film about colour amirite.

there's no slippin one past vous

(here's where Eric can dis Sidney Poitier)

The Last Station's two nods are incontestable proof that the detrius beast called precursor juggernaut are now absolutely out of control. No way that many people have actually sat down and watched that thing.

As I've seen pointed out elsewhere, the above-the-line categories are so completely lockstep that it took expansion of the top category to get something, anything somewhat surprising into the field. Otherwise, 19 of the 20 SAG nods were replicated here. All 5 DGA nominees.

Boring. Lame. Predictable.

m sure streep is fine in J&J but nominating her is a bit of a lame punchline at this point.

She's the best of the batch (haven't seen Precious though).

Mark Boal, BEAT QT

Don't you want the Coen bros. to accomplish that?

Oh, and, IB, beat everything in every category!

^

big lol @ If you don't find that interesting, I feel sorry for you.

Posts very much in character.

Don't you want the Coen bros. to accomplish that?

Want, yes, but Ernest Borgnine ain't voting for ASM.

yay no IB cheesecake nominations!

“Burma VJ” Anders Østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller
“The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers” Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith

^both good ones

yay no IB cheesecake nominations!

what was your least favourite... *falls asleep*

Hate Love to get all s1ocki on you here, Morbs, but only one of the two Basterds chicks could even remotely be considered cheesecake. And not really.

xpost haha!

guys, IB is waiting for me at the library.

Eric, come to NY and watch w/ us again!

Not in the cards, unfor.

Can't see IB actually winning anything except for Waltz (maybe screenplay also). I at least like 7 of the 10 BP nominees, so that's good enough for me. Too bad about the Capaldi snub, though.

Anyone else rooting for Mulligan?

i'd root for her

not really but that was just lying there

if i ever make a movie its going an 18th century period piece about life in the royal court and randy newman is going to write the music. if nothing else its a lock to get nominations for costume and song

Luckily the most likely best song winner is also the best.

can someone paste the per-film nom numbers? I'm hung over.

Best Actress this year is a wasteland.

Obviously it would've killed them to nominate the chick who won two of the three major film critics awards.

who was that? not Swinton?

Avatar and Hurt Locker got 9 nods each, IB got 8, Up in the Air 6, Up 5. I think those are the leaders.

Star Trek?

biggest downer for me might be Horner getting a nod for his snoozeworthy Avatar score. At least they didn't give one to Leona Lewis, yuck.

Trek's got 4.

pretty glad that Kurtzman/Orci didn't get an Adapted Screenplay nod much as I do like Trek.

I am sad they didn't get nominated for Transformers 2.

Anyone else rooting for Mulligan?

Yes. She has no chance to win, though, so practically speaking, I'm rooting for Streep to stop Bullock.

God, I totally glossed over Horner's Avatar crap getting in. Was too happy seeing Mr. Fox and Sherlock Holmes in there.

So not drinking the kool-aid w.r.t Carey Mulligan.

looks too much like my sister

did ya'll like Up In The Air?

no

I did. I don't think anyone else here did, though. xp

I'm fine with it. Even more so now that it seems to have been mostly written out of contention in nearly all its categories.

really didn't like Up in the Air, and actually thought it would be a natural frontrunner. happy to be proven wrong.

looks too much like my sister

history mayne can i get your sister email why because she look intersting

xp It was the frontrunner two months ago. Lot of hot air, though.

Apparently, less people are ready to feel good about America's economic situation now then they seemed to be two months ago.

I enjoyed Avatar more than Up in the Air, but if this planet is seriously considering the former as a best picture frontrunner than we should all move to pandora imo

I think Hurt Locker tying it for overall nominations just about seals the deal.

(For Locker, I mean, not Avatar.)

Yeah I'm hoping for a Hurt Locker sweep.

An Education really, really offended me.

what did it do?

sucked

i suppose it's been hyped for so long that we're used to it as a lock, but in a way 'the hurt locker' gaining this kind of critical mass all the way to the oscars is a big deal. i don't think it sold many tickets, and i don't think it would even after a win.

Another sigh of relief: Alfred Molina, overlooked.

bright star was robbed.

I didn't think Molina's perf was all that, but I loved An Education.

I saw Bigelow and Boal do Q&A at Lincoln Center after the film about 10 months ago, when they were just grateful that the film was being distributed.

Too bad Anthony Mackie isn't the 10th nom.

An Education has the best chance of being the nominee I'll never see.

(bcz they didnt send it to me)

It's 100 percent tepid.

That is one confused movie.

I can't intellectualize it -- but I was v. much swept up by it. Last act falls flat a bit, though.

the ending is atrocious.

i agree the movie was pretty mediocre but i think mulligan was pretty great and is deserving of the nomination

Wondering how much of a financial boost Titanic got after its Oscar wins...

it probably kept the juggernaut rolling.

can't believe that shitty avatar has done the business it has.

the weekend before it won: 17 million
the weekend after: 15 million

what was the issue with hurt locker getting distributed? wasn't it finished a couple of years ago or something?

was it just iraq = no box office in 2008?

2007 was the Year of the Shitty Iraq Movie.

good times

ah, lions for lambs

oh right, summit bought it right after toronto/venice 2008, but then sat on it for suspiciously long

The Titanic win was a love letter: "we are coming all over the place looking at these grosses."

THL had a scared market after those war film bombs, yes:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hurt_Locker#Release

it was picked up for not very much money fair quickly. i guess summit just took their time figuring out how to release it.

xpost

yeah, i think this was one of those things that jeffrey wells went mental about, like wifi.

It was released in Italy in Oct 08!

bright star was robbed.

― jed_, Tuesday, February 2, 2010 11:44 AM (39 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

qft

I love that movie, but I think it is probably seen as too girly/inconsequential by the voters.

It deals with emotions instead of big blue dorks.

I would've liked to see Paul Schneider get a nod, but I can take or leave the rest.

Yeah, I loved Bright Star and was disappointed when its "buzz" disappeared.

It's weird to me that Paul Schneider's in it -- not that I doubt it's a fine performance, but the only things I've ever seen him in are David Gordon Green films and Parks and Recreation. Can't imagine him in period dress.

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/rocks/tracy%20jefferson.jpg

yeah i can't believe an actor dressed up in costume--what are the chances

I love that movie, but I think it is probably seen as too girly/inconsequential by the voters.

― ô_o (Nicole), Tuesday, February 2, 2010 5:25 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

yeah. the thing is, it is a lot less soppy, really, than avatar. i think the success of foreign (bright star is mostly british iirc) or indie films partly come down to whether there is money to pay for lobbying. carey mulligan is blowing up in hollywood with two major films this year.

xpost

i thought paul schnedier sucked in 'all the real girls' but feel he's redeemed himself with 'bright star'. he's ok in P&R.

he was good in spite of his wayward accent.

im almost always ok with ropey accents, because im usually unaware that they're ropey. guess this comes from having heard more people "doing accents" than the real thing.

What the -- Anvil! The Story of Anvil not even NOMINATED for best doc? This is savagery more disgusting than any yet mentioned on this thread.

yeah i can't believe an actor dressed up in costume--what are the chances

Well, of course I believe it, it's just ...

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_tsyrramuSwI/Sefpa2wV1GI/AAAAAAAAAgg/0pWq4FgS644/s320/washy.jpg

What the -- Anvil! The Story of Anvil not even NOMINATED for best doc? This is savagery more disgusting than any yet mentioned on this thread.

Didn't even make the shortlist of 15.

Two movies heavily featuring guns and creatures got nominated for best picture this year! Also Avatar and District 9.

"yeah i can't believe an actor dressed up in costume--what are the chances"

Yes, you are all so kind when Keanu goes to the 18th or 19th century.

http://www.weeklyreader.com/readandwriting/content/binary/grandpa.jpg

is Mr Que a lobbyist? It wd explain a lot.

i bet he likes obama

http://www.spartyandfriends.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/crazy_old_man.gif

how long before the 'left' and 'right' start arguing about Hurt Locker's politics or lack thereof, btw?

300 years

-9 months

I actually think the expansion to ten movies was a good thing this year.

iirc hurt locker is pro health care reform

so is Up

A Serious Man is pro-F Troop

Wonder how the nominee expansion affects voters -- wd A Serious Man fan stick to his guns, or vote for THL or Avatar to be relevant?

is meryl streep ever not nominated?

Results 1 - 10 of about 140,000 for the hurt locker pro war.

ffs the opening quote basically blares out ANTI WAR

I couldn't find anything about the order in which the awards will be presented. Is it Best Supporting Actor or Actress that comes early in the broadcast?

Actress, I believe.

Limbaugh fans miss that, getting large tubs of popcorn

xxp

Kev, they alternate btwn those two afaik.

Results 1 - 10 of about 129,000 for the hurt locker anti war.

1 - 10 of about 14,500 for grandpa watches hurt locker.

1 - 10 of about 264,000 for grandpa yells on internet hurt locker

xxxpost I just want Mo'Nique to win early so I can chill for the rest of the show.

Results 1 - 10 of about 1,320 for "the hurt locker" "pro-war OR prowar". (0.45 seconds)
Results 1 - 10 of about 11,900 for "the hurt locker" "anti-war OR antiwar". (0.25 seconds)

(Heath Ledger was mid-show last year, so this time it should be Waltz first, sorry Kev)

xxxpost I just want Mo'Nique to win early so I can chill for the rest of the show.

― Kevin John Bozelka, Tuesday, February 2, 2010 6:22 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

?

...unless they've done more renovation than jettisoning honorary awards! It'll all be spontaneous.

Results 1 - 10 of about 1,470,000 for hurt locker health care. (0.45 seconds)

Results 1 - 10 of about 256,000 for hurt locker don't ask don't tell. (0.33 seconds)

Results 1 - 10 of about 14,200 for hurt locker spending freeze. (0.33 seconds)

I actually think the expansion to ten movies was a good thing this year.

So now five new average to terrible films can enjoy the usual average to terrible.

What the -- Anvil! The Story of Anvil not even NOMINATED for best doc? This is savagery more disgusting than any yet mentioned on this thread.

So wrong. But maybe the subject is not serious enough for voters?

So now five new average to terrible films can enjoy the usual average to terrible.

I don't think A Serious Man is average to terrible!

Ratios, man.

The Hurt Locker and A Serious Man = two of the best finalists in years.

xpost to history mayne

The ONLY award I care about is Supporting Actress and Mo'Nique winning it. So I don't want the slight possibility that she won't win it to loom over the show and make me nervous. Hence, please Academy Awards, give it to her early in the show so I can chill!!

P.S. Question for you on British cinema thread.

I didn't think Mo'Nique was as good as Gabourey Sidibe was.

on why bright star *dons shades* failed to shine

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/2010/02/02/with_oscar_momentum_is_crucial/#more

weird picture choice from young victoria

is there a scene where she talks to a webcam in a jungle??

oh man the webcam bits are the worst, but they break up all the pterodactyl shit.

Nice, short piece on the box office of the Best Pic noms:

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=2666&p=l.htm

Writing the b.o. is "averaging $151 million per nominee" is kinda silly. One of these things is not like the other...

so did you guys know that Best Picture balloting is ENTIRELY different this year? It's instant runoff voting!!!

http://www.fairvote.org/oscar-blog-focuses-on-new-instant-runoff-voting-system

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/05/movies/awardsseason/05carpet.html

Whatever Ernest Borgnine ranks 7th could decide the whole thing!

avg gross of the 9 besides Avatar is about $100mil, though, which is still about twice the average for the last few years

one kinda reassuring thing i just learned from the box office mojo charts is that Crash is the lowest grossing BP winner of the past 20 years

preferential voting explained with an animation: http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2009-10-30-10oscars30_CV_N.htm

one kinda reassuring thing i just learned from the box office mojo charts is that Crash is the lowest grossing BP winner of the past 20 years

Actually that just makes me mad. Crash was their "arty low-budget" pick?

http://nymag.com/movies/features/63661/

Really long article in NY Mag about Oscar campaigns and precursor season. At one point he kind of floats the optimistic theory that maybe the backlash towards Blind Side getting a Best Pic nom might complicate Bullock's Best Actress run.

optimistic quixotic

Good article, and slightly reassuring to read about The Blind Side fatigue.

Mark Harris really is one of the best writers on the business of Hollywood, isn't he?

I like his observation that Clooney has replaced Tom Hanks as Hollywood's goodwill ambassador.

i've seen 3 of the foreign language films nominated this years: ajami, white ribbon and a prophet.
all are great, one is a masterpiece, to become a cult movie: Audiard's A Prophet.

BUT i predict none of the 3 will win: thyre too violent for hollywood,not self-righteous and arent "pretty"

I think A Prophet is basically a lock for the award.

lol 'white ribbon' is both pretty AND self-righteous.

well, I think The Milk of Sorrow is too damn weird to win! What's the fifth?

but yeah, as unpredictable as the category has been, White Ribbon looks likely.

i hope youre right about Prophet, it deserve a wider distribution.
xxpost

I would guess that White Ribbon is the favorite, which is precisely which makes me think it might not win. (Cf. Amelie losing to No Man's Land, Pan's Labyrinth losing to The Lives of Others, etc.)

El Secreto de Sus Ojos, Juan Jose Campanella is the fifth, and it might win cause it's a director who worked in Hollywood before,and knows the academy characters

Has there been a thread yet on the fetid putrescence known as The Blind Side yet?

after suffering through Up in the Air and Precious these past few weeks, that is the best pic nom I have yet to see. Whenever it comes out over here, I'll have to check it out, because 1.) I've seen 9/10 so might as well get through them all and 2.) I'm a glutton for punishment.

nah i was gonna save everyone the trouble and do some text replacing code so that we can just slip the title into posts about Crash, or any future Sandra Bullock movies w/ sketchy racial content (xpost)

Mr. Ellsberg walked out of “The Princess and the Frog” and hated “Inglourious Basterds.” Mr. Ellsberg said that he had “mixed feelings” about “Avatar,” which he found “astounding technically” and he liked that it was “anti-imperial,” seen from the viewpoint of those being invaded. But he considered the film “unrealistically romantic about prospects and human costs.” He feared the occupied Na’vi would have been “exterminated” or would have won “after 30 years of bloodshed,” with an enormous loss of life, like the Vietnamese or the Afghans.

http://carpetbagger.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/08/from-the-pentagon-papers-to-the-oscars/?hp

Um, it's the sentences immediately before you should be quoting.

He said he loved “Nine,” adding that he enjoys going to romantic comedies with his wife, Patricia, and liked “It’s Complicated” and “(500) Days of Summer,” which he saw twice. He thinks Jeff Bridges has a good shot at the Oscar for “Crazy Heart” and with “apologies” to Meryl Streep thinks Helen Mirren deserves the Oscar for “The Last Station.”

Looney tunes.

Dude, the guy is 78 and helped bring down Nixon. I bet you wouldn't like Bishop Tutu's faves either.

(I quoted the political angles)

Dude, the guy is 78 and helped bring down Nixon. I bet you wouldn't like Bishop Tutu's faves either.

Or, y'know, yours.

Sorry, when in ILX ...

...treat people like human beings. What's with you lately?

Don't know what you mean by that. I've been this way on ILX for years.

Eric is just engaging in our standard Sunshine Boys in the Band patter (I think). Tho his material is off lately.

Ellsberg's principle objection to the limitations of Avatar's 'anti-imperialist politics' is just laserlike on where the movie falls apart (in meeting the required feelgood demands of unadventurous mass entertainment).

Tho his material is off lately.

It could have something to do with the fact that the material is from The Sunshine Boys.

Ask me knock knock knock!

OK, somehow it eluded me that Il Divo was nominated for makeup. How and why?

http://www.slantmagazine.com/house/2010/02/oscar-2010-winner-predictions-makeup/

now i may not understand the best makeup category and what they consider meritorious, but is district 9 not being there just award season politics?

Eric seems to think so, but Il Divo of all things ... maybe the actor doesn't look like that Italian PM, but he didn't seem to be wearing much. Perhaps there were envelopes of cash and risotto involved.

Yeah, the only reason I selected Il Divo for the should win is the perversity of the nod and because I wanted to see the Apocalypto team win.

Has anyone seen The Last Station? Only English language film in town this weekend (my German not up to subtitles, as I discovered during the Serious Man prologue). Sounds just awful but maybe I will go.

i mean i like tolstoy or whatever.

Tolstoy's got nuthin to do with it.

in what sense? should i just see it?

Logorama, nominated for best animated short, is pretty impressive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw5bS0LLH4Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HloQZgIIFY

This Blind Side nomination just reeks of cloying, desperate internet-era "lets nominate some red-state Oprah horseshit to make sure that demographic tunes in to our shitshow." I'm shocked fucking Twilight isnt nominated

it is pretty insulting

I have been floating around the idea of seeing Blind Side just so I'll have seen all ten nominated films but I can't seem to drag myself to it.

i don't know how ya'll dragged yourselves to see Precious

based on the novel push my sapphire

had to get a friend to drag me to Precious. it was her second time seeing it as well. Blind Side not out UKside yet, but I'll see it just to complete the 10.

i've only done 6/10 because Precious and Blind Side look completely irredeemable.

i still haven't seen "Up In The Air" or 'An Education' because I've literally never heard someone say something positive about either one.

i still haven't seen avatar because its costs like $85 to see it in super imax scopastrope or whatever.

No way the new W&G is losing best animated short. Logorama could've maybe managed an upset if it weren't so, um, R-rated, et al.

i don't know how ya'll dragged yourselves to see Precious

I watched a screener of it. It was better than I thought it would be.

logorama looks like it was animated by a 12 year old on a mac

The writing is Logorama is a much bigger problem, I think.

in Logorama, I mean

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/shorts/watch-four-of-the-five-oscar-nominated-shorts-online.html

Links to all of the Animated Short nominees streaming on the web.

Seriously, Wallace and Gromit win this one. The other three that aren't Logorama aren't even really worth discussing.

Britishers: The Most Dangerous Man in America is on BBC4 tonight. Also, Burma VJ is still available to watch on 4oD.

I didn't register til now that the show is being held 2 weeks later this year than last. One more reason to hate the Olympics.

It almost boggles the mind that they used to be held in late March. And it wasn't even that long ago.

The nominations were usually announced around this time too.

sometimes even early April.

Sometimes it snows in April.

Sometimes the sun goes round the moon.

Ann Reinking, come back, all is forgiven etc.:

Oscarcast executive producers Adam Shankman and Bill Mechanic have dropped a bombshell, telling artists nominated for Best Original Song that they won’t be invited to perform the usual big production number. The decision has hit a sour note for the nominated performers. Instead of the Academy Awards' long-held tradition of staged musical performances of the five nominated songs, the music from those songs will be interspersed with footage from each movie to provide more context. I’m told that some of the nominees and filmmakers are outraged, feeling that the Oscar producers are tossing aside tradition and costing musical artists their well-deserved moment of global TV glory. What the Academy Awards telecast producers will certainly do is shave time that can be spent doting on twice as many Best Picture nominees as in years past. And this year in particular, that is a big priority. Never mind that the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences already decided this year to limit the number of Original Song nominees to speed up the Oscar broadcast.

Mechanic's and Shankman's more recent decision appears equally pragmatic. Explanations include that the songs never delivered ratings, and that is what this Oscarcast is all about. That not having the big production numbers will move the show along. That it will save money for distributors, who eat most of the costs (up to 7 figures) of schlepping singers in. That unless a song by Bruce Springsteen, Celine Dion, Sting or U2 were nominated, most of the worldwide audience is hearing the tune for the first time when it is sung. I mean, can anybody besides Tom Bernard or Michael Barker from Sony Pictures Classics hum a few bars of "Loin de Paname" from Paris 36? Other of this year's 5 nominated Best Original Songs are: "Almost There" and "Down In New Orleans", two tunes penned by Randy Newman for The Princess And The Frog; "Take it All", the Maury Yestin number sung by Marion Cotillard in Nine; and "The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)", the Ryan Bingham/T Bone Burnett song performed by Bingham.

I'm also hearing about other Oscars spoilers which Shankman and Mechanic are contemplating -- and changing their minds about just as quickly. (Even though the entire staff involved in the Oscarcast were made to sign a confidentiality agreement!):

-- They have placed an emphasis on drawing young stars like Taylor Lautner and Channing Tatum, hoping that translates to a younger viewing audience. But at the same time they're torn about how to keep storied stars in the mix. I'm told they decided at first to abandon last year’s innovation of having 5 former winners of all ages introduce the Best Actor and Best Actress categories. But that now they are leaning toward keeping what I thought was a very classy innovation by Bill Condon and Laurence Mark.

-- Insiders are also buzzing about what Shankman, an accomplished choreographer, has in mind for dance numbers. One thing I’ve heard: don’t be surprised if some of his dancers are culled from past contestants on So You Think You Can Dance?, the Fox show where Shankman serves as a judge and choreographer. (Hmm, how is ABC going to feel about that?)

musical numbers always honked anyway

Unless sung by Snow White or Kermit.

or Elliott Smith.

oh boy, return of the Grand Council of Krypton

A friend of mine convinced an Academy member (who had planned to abstain) to watch Hurt Locker, and now it has one definite BP vote.

Is this the right place to throw this out to y'all? http://newyork.timeout.com/articles/film/83016/the-50-most-deserving-oscar-winners-of-all-time

some major apples and oranges being ranked on that list

I can actually see a case for the Academy being more open to IB than Hurt Locker for, in a worst-case scenario, both screenplay and best picture, since the Warmaker-in-Chief is now their man. Please don't pay too much heed to Iraq, it's practically behind us...

What a minefield for the Academy.

n a worst-case scenario, both screenplay and best picture, since the Warmaker-in-Chief is now their man. Please don't pay too much heed to Iraq, it's practically behind us...

I can hear Steve Martin saying this verbatim, yes.

OTOH, "It's a jokey Nazi exploitation movie. It's fluff. You don't vote for something just because you 'like' it."

http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/2010/02/one_guy_says_2.php

just tryin' to help you Oscarbloggers out

Help from Jeffrey Wells? I'd rather die.

He is a putz.

A.O. Scott's piece on Meryl Streep attempts to put her eighties work in context (it's true that, unlike its music, film in the eighties has not experienced a critical revival):

Sandwiched between the endlessly mythologized Golden Age of ’70s New Hollywood and the now almost equally sentimentalized decade of the American Indies, the ’80s are comparatively bereft of nostalgic movie-fan affection or revisionist critical love. And yet the respectable films of that era may represent the last gasp of a noble middlebrow ideal. They were ambitious, unapologetically commercial projects intended for the entertainment and edification of grown-up audiences, neither self-consciously provocative nor timidly inoffensive. Some of us grew up on movies like “Sophie’s Choice” and “Out of Africa,” and our fondness outlasts the sense that we eventually outgrew them. Nowadays “Kramer vs. Kramer” and “A Cry in the Dark” would be scruffy little Sundance movies. “Out of Africa” would be in French. “Silkwood” would be “The Blind Side.”

Ms. Streep — grave, scrupulously attentive to the nuances of performance, imbuing every gesture with the values of craftsmanship and respect for quality — was not only the star of so many of these ’80s Oscar movies, but also the most recognizable embodiment of their aesthetic. Which is not to say that she was in any way a fixed or predictable presence. On the contrary, her hallmark in those years — the trait that elicited, from one film to the next, almost ritualistic expressions of awe — was her chameleonism. She mastered the accents of an astonishing array of regions and countries: western Pennsylvania in “The Deer Hunter,” Oklahoma in “Silkwood,” Poland in “Sophie’s Choice,” Australia in “A Cry in the Dark,” Kenya by way of Denmark in “Out of Africa.”

And her temperament and physical appearance seemed as mutable as her voice. Ms. Streep, in her early, major phase was variously enigmatic, severe, wounded, butch, sylphlike and aristocratic, changing souls as easily as she changed hair colors and styles. And there were a remarkable range of those as well: dark pageboy, brown mullet, reddish bob — all heroic suppressions, in the cause of art, of her natural blondness.

But to say that she disappeared into these roles is not quite accurate. Rather, she used the particularities of these disparate characters to reveal some essential facet of herself, an ineffable but unmistakable Streepness. In one of the few skeptical assessments of this elusive quality, Pauline Kael, reviewing “Sophie’s Choice,” suggested that Ms. Streep was too controlling, too calculated, to create characters of full and spontaneous humanity. “It could be that in her zeal to be an honest actress,” Ms. Kael speculated, “she allows nothing to escape her conception of a performance.”

That's a really good essay. I love the note he ends it on--she has, quite consciously I think, become more populist, maybe just in her choices but also in her approach. I'm glad he nailed that down.

film in the eighties has not experienced a critical revival

I may be playing devil's advocate in making the point that it's probably because mainstream movies in the '80s mostly really truly sucked.

And the French Out of Africa (whatever it may be) certainly has to be preferable.

out of africa is terrible

I must still just be young/punk enough to think that middlebrow (no matter how well done) is nothing to actually aspire to.

yeah, the 80s oscar winners mostly seem to hit that bland middle ground that makes them watchable but hard to like

i mean, even more than the best picture avg.

mainstream movies in the '80s beat the shit out of mainstream movies in the '00s.

and of course, the best "mainstream" movies in the '80s should never be confused with Best Picture winners of the '80s. (ie, Gandhi beating ET, Chariots of Fire beating Reds, the Oscar invisibility of Local Hero and Housekeeping, etc)

(Out of Africa over Prizzi's Honor, Platoon over The Fly -- you get my drift)

My own thoughts on mainstream eighties film.

mainstream movies in the '80s beat the shit out of mainstream movies in the '00s.

Ehhh that's nostalgia talking.

No, it's the full impact of the shit I've had to write about talking.

Risky Business is a reasonably respectable movie. Tom Cruise found the ceiling of his talent.

You would have been happy writing about Crocodile Dundee?

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/21/33814183_bc322c7343.jpg

As I theorized, what distinguished eighties crap from ours is movie exec presumption of diversity: you wanted to make a film that your little brother and Granny could both watch.

And yet the respectable films of that era may represent the last gasp of a noble middlebrow ideal. They were ambitious, unapologetically commercial projects intended for the entertainment and edification of grown-up audiences, neither self-consciously provocative nor timidly inoffensive.

why last gasp? we've had films like 'the english patient' and 'erin brockovich' since then that fit the bill. im trying to think of others but it's not that big of a deal.

The style and tone, such as there are, of Brokeback Mountain = totally eighties.

I think 'the english patient' counts as timidly inoffensive (rant against A-bomber Truman missing from the book).

bfd

yeah brokeback too fits the bill. curious case of benjamin button might have done, but it didn't do monster business.

I think 'the english patient' counts as timidly inoffensive

Out of Arabia?

i might be the single person up in here who actually likes 'the english patient'

i kinda agree with morbs on mainstream '80s vs mainstream '00s to a certain extent. i mean, i miss the action and sci-fi and horror cinema of the '80s, at least in terms of what is being produced in hollywood today vs then.

i think the best picture winners of the '90s were a little bit better than the best picture winners of the '80s, and i think recent trends in best pic winners have been nicely disreputable and different (that depends on how much mileage you get out of 'the departed' and 'no country for old men' and, hopefully 'the hurt locker'.) of course we could get right back into 'crash' territory any year now.

yeah the elephant in the 80s-vs-00s mainstream room is the mainstream genre stuff which seems pretty inarguably worse in the 00s, even if a few classics have been made

it's kind of amazing how fairly sophisticated and smart action films were 20-25 years ago w/r/t dialogue and character, and now the sophistication comes from the technical flash on display in the filmmaking more than anything. michael bay and the dudes who made crank and all these luc besson acolytes are not an improvement over top-level mctiernan or renny harlin or early james cameron.

at least we still have ridley scott

80s action movies seemed more character driven (Rambo, mclane, terminator) and 00s seem more situational maybe?

xp

i might be the single person up in here who actually likes 'the english patient'

naw dog i like it

yeah the elephant in the 80s-vs-00s mainstream room is the mainstream genre stuff which seems pretty inarguably worse in the 00s, even if a few classics have been made

― max, Sunday, February 21, 2010 8:05 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

it's kind of amazing how fairly sophisticated and smart action films were 20-25 years ago w/r/t dialogue and character, and now the sophistication comes from the technical flash on display in the filmmaking more than anything. michael bay and the dudes who made crank and all these luc besson acolytes are not an improvement over top-level mctiernan or renny harlin or early james cameron.

― ('_') (omar little), Sunday, February 21, 2010 8:09 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark

i'd buy that for a dollar!

i think the bourne films are the best it gets these days (not damning with faint praise imo, they're great.) i feel like a lot of the violent action films are just incredibly retarded these days. saw 'crank' again a couple weeks back and i wasn't down with it as much the second time around, i found it kinda depressing and empty.

the crank films really should be measured against shit like Dolemite not Bourne

not just in their relatively smaller aspirations commercially compared to the bay gang, but their obv desire to be offensive exploitation films

i guess what i'ms saying is it seems that hard R action films these days are either "serious" ('body of lies' kinda shit) or trash that isn't aspiring any higher, there's not that middle ground of taking trash seriously (at least as much.) maybe i just want more verhoeven (not the 'hollow man' version!)

All I'm saying is if the '00s represent an era that doesn't/can't foster the proliferation of best picture slates like 1984's, it's for the better.

A.O. Scott, though, is right to suggest that the middlebrow initiative seems to have moved on and now harvests its crop from foreign films (The Lives of Others, Nowhere in Africa, Good Bye, Lenin!, Jeunet, Barratier, et al).

looking over boxoffice mojo's biggest r rated films of the 80s i think you're being a little revisionist, omar. i mean i love commando as much as the next guy...

it's kind of amazing how fairly sophisticated and smart action films were 20-25 years ago w/r/t dialogue and character, and now the sophistication comes from the technical flash on display in the filmmaking more than anything. michael bay and the dudes who made crank and all these luc besson acolytes are not an improvement over top-level mctiernan or renny harlin or early james cameron.

― ('_') (omar little), Sunday, February 21, 2010 3:09 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

"action movies" are kind of different these days tho. they seem to have split into the "grown-up" comic book dark knight/watchmen stream and the big ridic transformers stream

i guess bourne fits into the grown-up stream

Platoon was sort of an action movie.

Chuck Norris, people.

i feel that, croup, i'm just talking overall. regardless of box office those kinda films seem to be missing. maybe there are some that fit the bill that i'm not thinking about?

ya "die hard" and "aliens" were definitely the exceptions.

ok i know the point's made, but looking at shit like Beverly Hills Cop II I'm actually feeling pretty ok with our current crop.

i just call it "two"

TS: I Am Legend vs. The Golden Child

maybe its just cause theres distance but i can think of a dozen+ mainstream action/sci-fi classics from the 80s and only half as many from the 00s

i'm also thinking stuff like 'hunt for red october' (which is PG!)

i mean sure theres crap at both ends it just feels like there were more, better genre flicks in the 80s than now

maybe its just cause theres distance but i can think of a dozen+ mainstream action/sci-fi classics from the 80s and only half as many from the 00s

― max, Sunday, February 21, 2010 3:33 PM (18 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

ya well the 00s are only half over so

i find i remember popcorn trash i saw when i was young more fondly than popcorn trash i see now on the whole

whut

rip van s1inkle

ya there's definitely a nostalgic glow around the kind of movies i actually enjoyed when i was 13, as opposed to contemporary movies aimed at 13-yr-olds

then again the 80s was a pretty tremendous time to be a kid. bunch of star wars movies, indiana joneses, alienses, jim henson stuff...

the transformers-scale tentpole movie feels like a 90s/00s thing, and maybe also the indie crossover: perhaps both start in 1989 with 'sex, lies' and 'batman'?

i think the latter development has had some p dece effects. but the latter... it does feel like a race to the bottom, and those movies do seem dumber now, on the whole. 'cloverfield' is an exception lol.

look at it this way, kids today have better video games

i think the differences are small but i think there is a difference. animated films and comic book movies are so much better now than a couple decades ago, for example and imo, but i think action films have fallen off.

i wonder if i had seen "LOTR" when i was the same age i was when i first saw "empire" and stuff if it'd have that glow

it has an oscar too

guarantee we'll hear nostalgic waxing about harry potter movies before too long

it has so many great british actors!

lol man whatever happened to roman numerals in action sequels

LOTR killed it

The '00s: The Decade Of The Colon

now it's all "pirates of the caribbean: journey through captain swiningan's butt"

haha ya xp

here's hoping for cop out 2

this might be a totally obvious example having to do with factors beyond just decline of genre, but compare raiders of the lost ark to crystal skull (the latter isn't even aspiring for anything smart or occasionally subtle)

ya but that is... george lucas.

yeah otm

i think ao scott is basically right that the 80s are overhated. even within this thread i can think of exceptions to things i've said. but guys like sayles, demme, they ruled.

ha, top gun has just started on tv.

directed by ao 'tony' scott himself

conflict of interest

this is a proustian madeline of awesomeness

- AO Scott, New York Times

jeez cougar, maybe grow a pair?

oh that maverick. maverick by name...

modern movies, iirc, don't use the same pop song that many times. we're on our third or fourth rendition of 'danger zone' now.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/feb/21/hurt-locker-avatar-baftas

damn girl

bafta nice day

baftat ass up

i bafta take a leak, brb

bafta: the future

i might be the single person up in here who actually likes 'the english patient'

In my college newspaper I said this was "he best adult hit about sex since The Unbearable Lightness of Being, etc.

this might be a totally obvious example having to do with factors beyond just decline of genre, but compare raiders of the lost ark to crystal skull (the latter isn't even aspiring for anything smart or occasionally subtle)

This is a little unfair. Some quality stuff happening in Crystal Skull, even if it is mostly a failure.

t least we still have ridley scott

who made his good film in the '80s.

the "grown-up" comic book dark knight/watchmen stream

Nice try, but still lol w/ quotats

not sure what I was supposed to be trying there...

i know there's a lot of shit films floating about but "an education" looks like the absolute worst thing ever.

ya but that is... george lucas.

You're overlooking that the first and third Star Wars prequels are better than several of this year's Oscar nominess. Really guys, wake up -- Star Wars was never that good in the first incarnation.

i can think of a dozen+ mainstream action/sci-fi classics from the 80s and only half as many from the 00s

oh max, u & your "klassix"!

Help from Jeffrey Wells? I'd rather die.

b-b-but he looooves Million Dollar Baby like you... used to?

You're overlooking that the first and third Star Wars prequels are better than several of this year's Oscar nominess

Horseshit.

'the blind side' and 'precious', maybe...

and IB.

I haven't seen The Blind Side, but I guarantee you it accomplishes its goals more successfully that those terrible, terrible films.

We really need to get Morbius a job.

I got one, sorry!

I thought you said you were unemployed the other day. Congrats!

You're overlooking that the first and third Star Wars prequels are better than several of this year's Oscar nominess.

what

"As bad as" yes.

I believe Armond is with me on this one :)

armond's whiplash 180 on 'the hurt locker' is probably almost at the point where in the next column he'll call kathryn bigelow the same name as he called that EW critic.

Hell, if White changed his mind about THL in the last six months, fine, but he resorts to attacking its fans or the Academy for loving it in the same terms he did last summer. Bad faith.

i think he's so misanthropic his judgment of films' merits is completely corrupted

You're overlooking that the first and third Star Wars prequels are better than several of this year's Oscar nominess.
― Fusty Moralizer (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, February 24, 2010 2:12 AM (5 hours ago)

Did you actually see these movies or are you basing things on a trailer again?

I saw them, fuckyouverymuchpal

it's good that the sophisticated adult cinema of george lucas has a defender here against you uncultured yahoos

y u butthurt?

man, i think national security just changed the challops level to red

i think in some way we are ALL butthurt today

http://www.swg1.net/encyclo/images/jar_jar_binks.jpg

y u butthurt?

how wude

jar jar = best basterd

inglourious jeddis

I wish there was some sith logo that Hayden Christensen could have been branded with.

He must have been branded. When was the last time you saw him in anything?

Interesting developments out of the Hurt Locker camp.

For those not wanting to click-through, one of the producers was caught sending out e-mails encouraging Academy voters to put Hurt Locker at #1 and Avatar at #10 on their lists.

Apologies if this has already been discussed.

Heard the Avatar people were doing the same thing.

If I were an academy member, I'd probably end up putting The Hurt Locker in at #3 and Avatar in at #6 or #7.

Hell, my whole ballot would probably be ranked:

Inglourious Basterds
A Serious Man
The Hurt Locker
Up
Up in the Air
Avatar
District 9
Precious
An Education
The Blind Side if I ever get around to watching it

one of the producers was caught sending out e-mails encouraging Academy voters to put Hurt Locker at #1 and Avatar at #10 on their lists.

um, that's not how the instant runoff voting works -- putting avatar at #10 instead of #2 would have no effect on the chance of the hurt locker winning

For those not wanting to click-through, one of the producers was caught sending out e-mails encouraging Academy voters to put Hurt Locker at #1 and Avatar at #10 on their lists.

i don't understand this whole brouhaha. "you mean the hurt locker guys want to win and are asking people to favour them???!!!"

i think the problem is that the email mentions avatar, rather than just saying how good HL is

so... why are reviving the thalberg just to give it to the producer of the dan brown movies?

aren't the new trade ads for Basterds dropping the swastika and pushing the Star of David? That project is a moral swamp from start to finish...

Haha, clearly Adam Shankman has a taste for white bread.

Telecast producers Bill Mechanic and Adam Shankman say Bradley Cooper, Tom Ford, Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Pine, Keanu Reeves, Sam Worthington, Ryan Reynolds and Gerard Butler will serve as presenters at the Academy Awards.

Oh, and this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psno9xTgmpc

a taste for white bread

There's at least one Jew and an Amerasian on that shelf.

I was gonna ask Eric if he's ever explained why The Greatest Movie-Movie of the Year thrills him so, but things have a way of floating up w/out any dredging:

Basterds is probably in the most precarious position, despite the roaring majesty of Mélanie Laurent playing a cinematic Carrie to the Nazi Party's prom night.

http://www.slantmagazine.com/house/2010/03/oscar-2010-winner-predictions-sound-mixing/

Ultimately, you have to dock Tarantino's film a few ballots to take into account the voting demographic that thinks David Bowie ended up on the soundtrack by mistake.

not so much a mistake as a crime, amirite

No.

so transgressive.

^^^so boring

http://riskybusiness.blogs.thr.com/2010/03/02/take-nicolas-chartier-out-of-the-hurt-locker/

Film Exp picks:

http://www.thefilmexperience.net/Awards/2009/tally.html

Armond: Point Break > The Hurt Locker

(I do at least halway agree on his Keanu point)

http://www.nypress.com/article-20967-wake-up-and-smell-the-oscars-they-stink_.html

Does anyone care anymore about The English Patient? Shakespeare in Love? American Beauty? Chicago? A Beautiful Mind? Million Dollar Baby? Slumdog Millionaire? None of these films are artistic landmarks.They didn’t mean much even while watching them. But the further you get away from the first impression or from the marketing, they mean nothing.They’re just… Oscar winners.

Before the moment of awakening, the fallacy existed that the Academy Awards ratified the progression of popular culture: Audiences once were truly moved by Gone With the Wind, On the Waterfront, Lawrence of Arabia, The Godfather. Genuine cultural impact means nothing to the pundits and gossip columnists running the Oscar crap game because they can’t control it.They are not in command of the ecstasy afforded by E.T., the insight granted by Saving Private Ryan or the gratitude audiences felt from Michael Jackson’s This Is It. If these media manipulators cannot control our affective responses, they disdain and seek to robotize them. All this might seem trivial, but don’t think it’s harmless. It really does come down to a form of political influence and cultural domination. Oscar media stinks because it doesn’t let us think for ourselves.

I know he's making an (obvious) point about the malevolence of marketing, but the audience with whom I saw Million Dollar Baby was "truly moved." He's such a lazy thinker.

yeah it's cute how he'll suddenly become a populist when it fits the agenda of that particular paragraph

Does anyone care anymore about The English Patient? Shakespeare in Love? American Beauty? Chicago? A Beautiful Mind? Million Dollar Baby? Slumdog Millionaire?

So does this mean Armond is down with Titanic, Gladiator, LOTR: Return Of The King, Crash, The Departed and No Country For Old Men or that they just get in the way of his aribtrary list of popular disinterest.

I think he likes only the Coens out of those.

armond liked no country? i'd think an Oscar movie that repeats archetypes the directors have mined for decades, now under the guise of a literary adaptation would be just the kind of thing for him to rail against in praise of Raising Arizona or The Ladykillers.

his patterns aren't that predictable. you zig, he raves about Norbit.

Dennis Lim in Slate:

A closer look at Reitman's work—and it should be noted that his films, with their slick surfaces, jaunty rhythms, and brisk patter, are designed precisely to discourage close looks—reveals a peculiar consistency, even though all three of his features have originated with the material of others (a Christopher Buckley novel, a Diablo Cody screenplay, a Walter Kirn novel). On one level, it is hard to fathom his success in the supposedly liberal bastion of Hollywood: His politics lean right when they are at all legible, and yet he's embraced as an insightful social satirist, the second coming of Billy Wilder. On a deeper level, though, this disconnect makes perfect sense: It speaks to the brazen hucksterism that is so much a part of Reitman's method. He's a mediocre filmmaker but a world-class panderer. His movies, which instinctively play to both sides of a charged issue, are the height of smoke-and-mirrors artistry, wholly dependent on the concealment and the semblance of meaning.

i was a happier man when i woke up this morning and didn't know that people have compared jason reitman to billy wilder

I can see the comparison to Wilder superficially (movies about bad things that make people feel good) but Wilder would really get down in the ugly without the "guys, the love of a family is great" safety net Reitman clings to.

also Wilder made funny films.

Reitman's basically the guy execs wanted from Cameron Crowe after Jerry Maguire.

can't believe Crowe went rogue with Elizabethtown

I'd say that was the frightening overcompensation after Vanilla Sky, I think he's a roadie for pearl jam now or something

"up in the air" was def the most infuriating movie i saw last year

armond white is just lying to himself these days

Guys, don't read the comments section of that Lim article.

TS:

The Hurt Locker’s prologue, “War is a drug,” suggests it could be about any war.This is a breakthrough in the pop-war genre that, since Vietnam, has accustomed us to sentimental agit-prop.

Bigelow conscientiously streamlines her filmmaking. Avoiding portentous Kubrickian camera dynamics—which are only about self—she’s evocative and focused, unlike the showy, undisciplined Apocalypse Now.

Having already done poetic symbolism in the underrated K-19:The Widowmaker, Bigelow tells a Billy Budd–type story of Sgt.William James (Jeremy Renner), expert at defusing Improvised Explosive Devices, but, actually, constantly testing his mortality. James outrages and mystifies his comrades—especially Sanborn. Their white/black cultural differences are subtly highlighted by military equality. Their missions reveal suspicion, determination and inquisitiveness—authentically modern American traits as one would also find in westerns and urban noirs.

Bigelow shrewdly distills several genres, yet it’s all metaphor for personal involvement in policy. (The “hurt locker” is where James keeps souvenir detonators: “It’s fascinating to hold something that almost kills you.”) So far, the best fiction films about the Iraq War are Nick Bloomfield’s Battle for Haditha, Irwin Winkler’s Home of the Brave and John Moore’s allegorical Flight of the Phoenix remake, which Bigelow evokes in a stand-off scene between Bravo company, a group of British contractors and distant insurgent snipers. It’s sufficient praise to say The Hurt Locker joins that short list.

vs

Critics ridiculed Point Break when it was first released but, since then, Bigelow’s visual splendor and genre proficiency has won enough regard that she now receives retroactive esteem for The Hurt Locker, the Iraq War action film that critic Gregory Solman nailed as “totally unexceptional.”

Bigelow’s unexceptional film has gotten her heroized as an exceptional American female filmmaker through way-late feminism. The Hurt Locker lets the liberal media have both its Iraq War statement and female tokenism. Movies as art, or entertainment—and as a reflection of our culture’s spirit and politics—have been left out of the discussion.

It is disingenuous to use The Hurt Locker as an opportunity to comment upon the Iraq War—hijacking its dubious treatment on combat as a mental dysfunction (“War is a Drug”) beyond Bigelow’s deliberately noncommittal stance.

Hey guys, do you think Morbz hates Ingluorious Basterds? I wonder if I should ask him.

http://images.doba.com/products/474/9780517587164.jpg

wow @ the 2 contrasting quotes

yeah, old news. Still more interesting than Ebert.

Tarantella is the auteur your generation deserves (kinda like yr president)

was that last line provoked by anything at all or do you just say that stuff reflexively now, like punctuation

/Biden-asshole

Slant/House picks now complete (that last Should Win should be A Serious Man, of course):

http://www.slantmagazine.com/house/tag/academy-awards/

fwiw, I'd much rather A Serious Man win than Up or even The Hurt Locker. My two favorites in the category are your likely #1 and #10 ballot slotters.

Some good writing in that feature, guys.

I'm not really pleased with my own stuff in there except for the Mo'Nique writeup, but I love Ed's last few entries. I especially love that the longest posts were on the doc and live-action short categories.

I haven't seen Blind Side, Dist9 or An Education, and am not burning to. My disregard for Precious is about equal to IB.

so Best Picture is the only one where they list order of pref, have I got that right?

That's how I understood it, yeah.

wait, they're weighted ballots this year?

yes, endlessly blathered about; I envy your distraction!

not sure how I'll bet at the party to beat all the experts in attendance... Not sold on Wallace & Gromit yet again, but that's the 'conservative' bet, which is usually smartest.
Also think Avatar & THL are splitting the sound awards, but I invariably pick the wrong pairing.

no, not weighted. Instant runoff voting

cnn column says 'precious' will win best picture because it has the "best title"

http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Movies/03/05/oscar.theory.best.picture/index.html?hpt=Sbin

pretty lol

are they just going to announce the winner of best picture and leave people to guess what happened during the instant run off, or will they announce any of the details?

that column has a point, Preciousbasedonthenovelpushbysapphire really rolls off the tongue and has a ring to it.

Oh the charm. I meant, the stereotypes:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-2010-oscars-covers-hires-sp,0,5816984.htmlstory

The Playlist's picks:
http://theplaylist.blogspot.com/2010/03/playlists-2010-oscar-predictions.html

^sound mixing/editing assist that i used for my office pool.

They also picked El Secreto de Sus Ojos for foreign language film, vaguely claiming "experts" say so. Anyone know anything about this one? Synopsis looks interesting.

Anyone know of a printable ballot that doesn't suck (black&white, in the shape of a page, etc)?

Christoph Waltz, “Inglourious Basterds” ...it is a pretty solid performance if a little too queeny for our taste sometimes.

Like I said: Martin Short!

there is a printable ballot on the official Oscar site. 2 page PDF, one in colour the other B/W. xpost.

yah but it's not very good. it doesn't list the directors, song performers, or writers, and it's in a weird proportion.

http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2010-03/52571680.jpg

The Oscars. Enjoyed by interracial gay couples everywhere.

Is that Armond in the corner?

The one folding her arms with the stink face on?

No, the potted plant.

Britishers: The Most Dangerous Man in America is on BBC4 tonight.

― Freddy 'The Wonder Chicken' (Gukbe), Monday, February 15, 2010 5:44 PM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

thanks for the heads up. got this off iplayer and finally got around to watching. 2 stars. solid.

OK, the yahoo ballot is acceptable: http://oscars.movies.yahoo.com/nominees

They also picked El Secreto de Sus Ojos for foreign language film, vaguely claiming "experts" say so. Anyone know anything about this one? Synopsis looks interesting.

I think the idea is that it's more traditional/sentimental than the others, and that's what wins in this category rather than movies w/hype.

Is this streamed online by ABC or will I need to go underground?

Happy Oscars to all!

Apropos of not much, Best/Worst Case Scenarios in some of the categories.

PICTURE: Inglourious Basterds/The Blind Side
DIRECTOR: Quentin Tarantino/James Cameron
ACTOR: Jeremy Renner/Morgan Freeman
ACTRESS: Gabourey Sidibe/Carey Mulligan
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Christoph Waltz/Matt Damon
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Mo'Nique/Maggie Gyllenhaal
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: A Serious Man/Up
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: In the Loop/An Education
ORIGINAL SCORE: Sherlock Holmes/Avatar
ORIGINAL SONG: Not really fond of any of these
CINEMATOGRAPHY: The White Ribbon/Avatar
FILM EDITING: The Hurt Locker/Precious
ART DIRECTION: Sherlock Holmes/Nine
ANIMATED FILM: Fantastic Mr. Fox/Princess and the Frog
BEST ANIMATED SHORT: A Matter of Loaf and Death/Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty
LIVE ACTION SHORT: Miracle Fish/The New Tenants

really, how far we have fallen to T-Bone Burnett from Three6 Mafia.

Maggie Gyllenhaal about as good as it gets this year.

Don't make me glad I'm not in New York this year.

This Cablevision/ABC fiasco is corporate foot-shooting at its finest.

http://www.examiner.com/x-4819-Cable-TV-Examiner~y2010m3d7-Customers-lose-Oscars-programming-in-Cablevision-and-ABC-dispute

ie, I have to go to a party cuz my TV has no Oscars!

I'm certainly gonna form a Basterds-hating caucus tonight, hon, and repeating my best lines from the IB thread (so hard to choose).

Your host will not appreciate that.

I just hope he's got Time Warner Cable.

Or a converter box.

http://www.livestream.com/aplive

Associated Press live stream, for Oscars...

fwiw: Jeff Bridges, Christoph Waltz, Sandra Bullock (LOLZ), Mo'Nique, Bigelow, Hurt Locker

also, Fantastic Mr Fox over Precious as best film about stealing chicken.

http://www.livestream.com/aplive

Associated Press live stream, for Oscars...

― ned ragú (suzy), Sunday, March 7, 2010 6:25 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

will this work in the uk. sry this is a p lazy question

looks like it's working in germany, but nothing to see yet so maybe it will not

thanks for the link btw suzy

I am relying on you guys to do your worst for me - I would stay up but I seriously have to go to Portcullis House for a women's day conference tomorrow (LOL Thatcher Room) and for once I just want to be sensible about this.

had a big night on friday and didn't get to bed until 3pm saturday, so i'm actually pretty well set for a late night tonight. ap stream is solid, although the audio is pretty hilar.

BTW, In The Loop now playing on BBC2. Excellent prep for tomorrow.