OSCARS 2013

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

EW's picks are ew.

Hollywood Psychics still holding out for Lincoln

http://www.awardsdaily.com/Predictions/main.php

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/oscar-voters-brutally-honest-ballot-422546

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

“It’s a tough category because everything is mediocre. I’m definitely not voting for The Pirates. I’m not voting for Frankenweenie. Brave was unimpressive. So I guess it’s between ParaNorman and Wreck-It Ralph. So… [At this time he assigned the screen side of his iPhone to the former and the back side of it to the latter, and spun it on his desk.]

Vote: Wreck-It Ralph

Nathaniel's been slow to post anything this year.

Huh, between the print edition and the hit-generating slideshow, EW moved away from predicting Lincoln in director and screenplay. (So have I.)

"If there's a contender who has been robbed this year, it's Kushner."

Raise a glass.

the one i linked is an anonymous director walking through his ballet btw

That one's a really funny read, actually.

Though not quite as funny as Snow White's postmort on The Worst Oscar Production Number Ever: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/oscars-rob-lowes-snow-white-422225

I remember Bob Mackie said, "Why am I making a Snow White outfit?" I fainted once during a fitting because I hadn't eaten. I woke up, and Bob was going, "Honey, are you all right?" He gave me juice. My dress was bought for $23,000 by someone involved with the production who was buried in it. It was a man. I'm leaving it at that.

Uh-oh.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Oscar winners Russell Crowe, Jennifer Hudson and Catherine Zeta-Jones will perform at the Academy Awards in a tribute to the resurgence of big-screen musicals, organizers said on Wednesday.

The performance, which will also feature Oscar nominees Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman from "Les Miserables," is part of the several musical acts at the annual Hollywood awards on Sunday.

"We are pleased to have been able to amass so much talent to create the celebration of musicals of the last decade that we envisioned," Oscars producers Neil Meron and Craig Zadan said in a statement. "We are thrilled that so many talented actors have agreed to bring our vision to life."

Musicals have had a revival over the past decade in Hollywood. Death row drama "Chicago" won six Academy Awards in 2003, including top prize Best Picture, and girl-group drama "Dreamgirls" scored two Oscars in 2007 while television's "Glee" has won six Emmy awards since 2010.

R&B singer Hudson won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar in 2007 for her role in "Dreamgirls" and Zeta-Jones won the same award for "Chicago" in 2003.

Crowe, who stars in "Les Mis," won an Oscar for Best Actor in 2001 for his role in the Roman drama "Gladiator."

"Les Mis" scored eight Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Original Song. "Les Mis" actors Amanda Seyfried, Helena Bonham Carter, Eddie Redmayne, Aaron Tveit and Samantha Banks will also join the musical tribute.

Crowe to be dubbed by Beyonce.

That voting director is kind of a dick, but

"Michael Haneke just hates human beings, and I happen to be a human being and don’t like being shit on."

Says the director of Cruising (according to speculation).

the resurgence of big-screen musicals
the resurgence of big-screen musicals
the resurgence of big-screen musicals
the resurgence of big-screen musicals
the resurgence of big-screen musicals
the resurgence of big-screen musicals

I love how it describes Zeta Jones and Hudson getting supporting gongs for musical performances...and then old Rusty with his Oscar for Gladiator. *record scratch*

srsly, musicals went away for all of 8 or 9 years

Says the director of Cruising (according to speculation).

― Zero Dark 33⅓: The Final Insult (Eric H.), Thursday, February 21, 2013 11:17 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

god, no way. the guy who just made killer joe repeatedly & lazily emphasizing his preference to be 'uplifted'? not in a million years

that dude sounds like someone who's par for the course in hollywood/a terrible person

his reasoning for not voting for ang lee because of the ending but in the end plumping for david magee's screenplay makes absolutely no sense whatsoever!

See? Crazy enough to be the guy who directed Killer Joe.

god, no way. the guy who just made killer joe repeatedly & lazily emphasizing his preference to be 'uplifted'? not in a million years

He dislikes Amour and War Witch because they're depressing, but I didn't interpret that to mean that he always wants uplifting fare. He did say that voters as a whole tend to vote that way when it comes to the foreign-language-film category -- as a way, I guess, of defending his own vote for Kon-Tiki. But he also voted for Zero Dark Thirty as Best Pic and seems to have loved The Master.

He did say that voters as a whole tend to vote that way when it comes to the foreign-language-film category -- as a way, I guess, of defending his own vote for Kon-Tiki.

he said p much the same thing about searching for sugarman too

friedkin's denied it on his twitter anyway, and im willing to take him at face value

https://twitter.com/WilliamFriedkin/status/304630336183226368

yeah, Sugarman 'made me feel like a million bucks' sounds more like, I dunno, the guy who directed Chicago.

at least he didn't call ZDT "magnanimous" though

http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/enhanced/webdr03/2013/2/21/13/enhanced-buzz-840-1361472875-0.jpg

Team America should have been nominated.