OSCARS 2013

Contenders I think were far from injustice (and, in some cases, were totally defensible):

The Dark Knight for Best Picture
Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction loses to Martin Landau in Ed Wood
Al Pacino never winning for The Godfather
Driving Miss Daisy
Martin Scorsese denied until The Departed
John Cazale, never nominated in his tragically way-too-short, but nearly perfect career
Angelina Jolie kissing her brother
Björk's swan dress

are you arguing that Grantland is right to champion these lost causes or that these people and films deserved to lose?

Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction loses to Martin Landau in Ed Wood

only a cause for ppl who love superfly shtick i guess

xp I wouldn't have put them in brackets for the worst things Oscar has ever done, for various reasons.

Like I don't consider The Departed to be radically cut-rate compared to Goodfellas, and I think Al Pacino wasn't the best in his category in either of his at bats.

And Bjork's swan dress was the best thing to ever hit that stage.

and Driving Miss Daisy is good.

Good enough that its win isn't offensive, given Do the Right Thing wasn't up.

sorry, The Departed is tepid

So is Goodfellas.

If that doesn't make posts very much in character, I have no character.

Better to give Marty his Oscar for that one over the previous two nods.

No joke. As far as I'm concerned, both Scorsese and the Academy dodged 2 bullets there.

i don't really understand the constant retrospective defenses of movies that didn't win but turned out to be huge and monumental in the mainstream, like pulp fiction's lack of oscars isn't exactly hurting its reputation with anyone

well i do understand it i guess

sorry, The Aviator is at least as "good" as The Departed

u know what else sucked, neither King Kong nor Duck Soup won in '33 and as a result no one watches them

you're insane. People under 30 watch Duck Soup all the time.

following your line of reason everyone has seen Gentleman's Agreement

you're insane. People under 30 watch Duck Soup all the time.

LOL

damn Alfred, you haven't had a moment like that since ya fell for The Onion.

Alas Eric seems to know too many ppl under 30!

There was like three or four layers of sarcasm going on in the last few posts.

a veritable carapace.

the only sincere remark was the one about the Kazan movie about John Jewfield.

that one was about on a par w/ Philadelphia methinks

sorry, The Aviator is at least as "good" as The Departed

I still maintain The Aviator is really underrated. But I like Gangs of New York too so maybe that invalidates all my opinions forever.

if The Aviator had won and ILX had gone apeshit over its sparkling repartee Morbs would hate it too

I don't hate The Departed, at least it's not Cape Fear or Hugo.

Scorsese may be the one director where Morbius and I seem to be close to 100% on the same page.

i liked 'hugo' a lot but i know i'm not winning that debate around here.

Caught a few seconds of "Insomnia" on TV today and realized we're due for Hillary Swank to come out of nowhere to win an Oscar for something. Double check your ballots everyone, let's not get blindsided again.

amazing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mgrxvTdl-Q

That's great. Joe Spinell!

They should have added Robert Benigni over Nick Nolte to their list of travesties. (I've never actually seen Life Is Beautiful, but I'm counting that as a minor technicality.)

Best Actor in '98 was kind of a toss-up, but IIRC, Benigni's main competition was Ian McKellen.

I just tried to verify that and got caught in an Internet nostalgia trip:
http://web.ncf.ca/aw220/99oscar.htm

I checked around a bit, and it seemed close going in: McKellan won the L.A. Film Critics and National Board of Review, Nolte the National Society and the New York Film Critics, Jim Carrey the Golden Globe, and Excitable Italian Man the Screen Actors Guild.

woulda voted Nolte among the nominees, overall Beatty in Bulworth

actually I just found my end of '98 wrapup, and my best acor choice was Homayon Ershadi in A Taste of Cherry and The Pear Tree.

Ian McKellen - fucking ham who should stay on the stage

Oscar needs more winners like this honey-baked ham (the movie in which he played the ham was a dog though).

 Best Actor
Tom Hanks, Saving Private Ryan	5:2	[10:11]	9:5
Ian McKellen, Gods And Monsters	5:2	[6:4]	6:1
Nick Nolte, Affliction	4:5	[5:1]	8:5
Roberto Benigni, Life Is Beautiful	8:1	[10:1]	10:1
Edward Norton, American History X	16:1	[33:1]	40:1

I honestly and truly don't remember anyone thinking that Hanks was set to win his third lead acting Oscar in the span of 5 years. I think a lot of people were pretty sure it was a three-way contest between Nolte, McKellen and Harvey's Euro Windup Toy.

At the time, I'm sure I was in Norton's corner.

once you saw those pecs, sure.

http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/movies/my_cote_is_equal_to_brad_pitt_paolHiC6vWIAvjLzFExewM

Rita Gam, a one-time starlet of the 1950s, doesn’t always see all the movies on the Oscars roster — but as a member of the prestigious Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, she always makes sure to vote.

“I never missed a year voting since 1954 — since I’ve made movies,” says Gam, 85, who appeared in classics such as 1952’s “The Thief,” which earned her academy membership, and 1961’s “King of Kings.”

“One is always an active member — until you go to heaven.”

The classic beauty, who was once married to Sidney Lumet “back when he was an actor,” was also a onetime roommate of Grace Kelly.

So which movies is she excited about on this year’s roster?

“Amour”? Never heard of it.

“Life of Pi”? Blank stare.

“Zero Dark Thirty”? Hasn’t seen that yet.

“I voted for ‘Argo’!” she says triumphantly.

Ben Affleck for Best Director? “I think he’s up there!”

Indeed.

Oh, and will there ever again be a year in which one single movie doesn't sweep the guild awards? It seems not.

Have never bothered to watch it, but I've little doubt Cavalcade is, indeed, worse than Slumdog and probably the majority of that top 10.

― Zero Dark 33⅓: The Final Insult (Eric H.),

Pauline Kael wouldn't agree:

“An orgy of British self-congratulation in the restrained, clipped style of Noël Coward, with the added know-how of an American producer (Winfield Sheehan) and a Hollywood director (Frank Lloyd)… Coward knows plenty of tricks, and the performers know how to get the most out of his lines.”

Yeah but what if Kael watched Slumdog.

xp Are you kidding? Kael would've been all "all I wanna do is * * * * and a $ and take your moNAY."

She would have been MIA after about 10 galangs (galangs means minutes right)

No, that jaided ho would've sat like a milliner's model until the very last "is that your final answer?"

Can't remember '91 or '92 (which I'm sure I watched parts of), so this is my official earliest Oscar memory:

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

Nathaniel's been slow to post his predictions.

Peters/Sondheim specialty = extra gay