OSCARS 2013

he made a cute lil afflecky speech about "THIS is the award that really matters anyway haha not really"

I saw that. I had never heard of the Critics' Choice awards before.

i envy you

Bennie is better looking now, no.question, but GBG is the only one of his auteur efforts I'd watch again, and he's responsible for Morgan Freeman 's worst perf to date. That should count for something.

Hollywood has done so well forgetting its meh potboiler tradition that his films get overpraised.

worse than invictus? dreamcatcher??

Misread that as "meth potboiler."

I saw that. I had never heard of the Critics' Choice awards before.

I hadn't realized that Critics' Choice Awards were given by the Broadcast Film Critics Association. Apparently they branded their year-end prizes as the Critics' Choice Awards a few years ago and now have a cable-TV ceremony and everything.

It's not cable TV anymore! They've risen to the high esteem of the CW.

The real question is who will win the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards. I can't wait for Michael Haneke to get slimed!

Yeah, but first he'll have to say "I don't know," which I don't know...

can Mama be Chastain's Norbit?

More like Lawrence will be her Arkin.

Americans among hostages seized in Algeria

sooooooo

couple good jokes

http://www.vulture.com/2013/01/david-edelstein-oscars-anxiety.html

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/are-hollywood-awards-gender-out-touch

There would be riots in the streets of West Hollywood if they ever dropped Best Supporting Actress imo.

Always fun to see them all ranked: http://www.slantmagazine.com/house/2013/01/ranking-oscars-2013-nominees/

I'm much higher on: Wreck-It Ralph, Amour, Death of a Shadow, and that's about it

I'm much more down on: Beasts of the Southern Wild, Maggie Simpson, The Sessions, The Hobbit

I've seen only 13 of those, and I'm thrilled with that.

LOL, I've only missed 12. Always get behind the 8 ball on feature length docs and foreign films.

Not planning on catching Mirror Mirror or The Pirates! either.

is there going to be the theatrical release of nom'd shorts that we've seen in the past few years?

Yep, in theaters this weekend, I think.

On balance, I think the documentaries are probably the strongest and live action the weakest, but it's not a particularly distinguished field this year.

List is far too kind to SLP, Pi and Beasts for sure.

Pi is the one of those three I'm kind of soft on.

My rankings for the three short film categories:

Fresh Guacamole
Death of a Shadow
Adam and Dog
Kings Point
Open Heart
Redemption
Buzkashi Boys
Mondays at Racine
Asad
Inocente
Paperman
Curfew
Maggie Simpson in "The Longest Daycare"
Head Over Heels
Henry

"Hollywood's Oscar-bait movies have gotten to be so unwatchable and look so bad that those mid-90s "Tom Hanks wants an Oscar!" films that got served up every year, and that we took for granted at the time, the most mediocre of those movies would be like a revelation compared to what we've been getting lately. Castaway looked like a typical 7/10 at the time but move it to a Pitchfork 8.5 now, which is good enough for my Best New Lonely January Weekend Viewings."

conversation with a friend

i just buy XANGO® at $35/bottle

http://www.xango.com/products/xango-juice

oops wrong thread

probably tastes better than Oscar bait films

XANGO® Unchained

Life of Pi is p. amazing visually and it sounds like the biggest flaws in the plot are straight from the book. I expected to hate it but from the sinking ship to the island is very good.

Bawbra!

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/oscars-2013-barbra-streisand-perform-416794

Glad to see they've given up on trying to appeal to the young audience, unless they have a completely blinkered understanding of Guilt Trip's performance.

2012's Oscar Nominees

Harvey the Hutt: I shoulda sent out Django discs and had PTA cut The Master.

http://www.salon.com/2013/01/30/harvey_weinstein_says_he_screwed_up_on_the_master_and_django/

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2013/01/how-zero-dark-thirty-crashed-just-outside-compound/61499/

damn, the Slant predic for foreign film hates seniors more than Haneke does.

...not to mention that Commie Ed Asner.

Always the most competitive category:

Since March 21, 1994, when the first regular obituary segment was dropped into an Academy Awards show, a spot on the yearly scroll of recently deceased movie luminaries has become one of the evening’s most hotly contested honors. And as in most Oscar races it is the focus of sometimes ferocious campaigning.

This time around it is a safe bet that Ernest Borgnine, Charles Durning, Nora Ephron, Tony Scott, Richard Zanuck and Marvin Hamlisch will get their few seconds in a roughly three-minute remembrance.

Beloved figures all. But who fills the next 30 or so spots in the memorial for this year’s show, which takes place on Feb. 24 at the Dolby Theater, is open to debate. And that debate is under way at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, where a committee of members whose names are discreetly concealed from other members and the public are measuring celebrity, weighing achievement and trying to ward off entreaties from those who believe a loved one, friend or former client should have a last moment in the limelight....

“Of all the committees, it’s the hardest one to do,” said Tom Sherak, whose three years as president of the Academy ended last year.

“The committee’s names are never mentioned, ever,” Mr. Sherak added.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/08/movies/awardsseason/even-the-oscar-memorial-list-is-a-focus-of-campaigning.html

I remember hearing on anecdotal evidence (of course) how often it used to be for Academy member's wives to fill out their ballots for them. Make their choices and send it in nbd

Shirley Bassey to appear.

I watched the short live action films. Are these always so dire?

Anyone saw The Invisible War? This and Brave are the two films I want to win. As in, i'll be sad if they don' win and the rest I don't care that much.

Also, is there ILM top film 2012 thread?

argo won best director and film at the baftas. i've never seen it and i never will but ugh all the same. lets hope that emmanuelle riva's win for best actress is a foreshadowing of an oscar win.

The Invisible War shook me more than any film I saw in the fourth quarter: https://humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2013/01/07/the-battle-continues-the-invisible-war/

I watched the short live action films. Are these always so dire?

There's almost always at least one or two outright disasters in the mix. Last year's was an above average slate, tho they ended up going for the most boring option. Lately, the smuggest, snarkiest entry tends to be the frontrunner -- i.e. God of Love and The New Tenants, which I'd argue is the possibly the single worst film to win an Oscar since Crash. I'm betting on Curfew this time around.

i don't trust the academy to get the big stuff right, i expect about the same for the categories i know nothing about

I missed this list last year (and apparently The Artist's win happened after the voting): http://www.filmcomment.com/article/extended-trivial-top-20

I'd say most of the winners I've seen from the 50s and 60s were just about as bad as the winners from the last 15 years, but they are 100 percent OTM about #1.