OSCARS 2013

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.

Carpetbagger predictions. I am appalled that De Niro is a front runner.

where ya been? Lincoln backlash.

wd love to read DDL's in-character text messages

Sort of "fun" that at least 3 of the top 8 still have 3 viable contenders, and another is a total toss-up. Sucks that Lincoln will lose in almost all of those.

If ever we needed a mulligan at HND.

I root for films I like to lose at this point. A greater honor.

A strategy so fulfilling you've adapted it for everything else in life.

Nate Silver runs the numbers. LOL at the pitiful weighting in the directors' category:

http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/22/oscar-predictions-election-style/

"it’s going to be blind luck if we get this one right: you can’t claim to have a data-driven prediction when you don’t have any data."

Of course, Silver admits his method just doesn't work in this field. Case in point:

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/02/22/movies/22fivethirtyeight-oscar-charts/22fivethirtyeight-oscar-charts-custom6.png

my only stake in this is hoping waltz doesnt win. that should be sam jackson's nomination

The other four should be Matthew McConaughey's.

Bruce Willis as Capt Sharp, imho

it's SUCH a relief to dislike something more than you.

you could make a long list and you know it

(as could Zero Dark Grumpyclimber)

have no problem with the Willis performance, ESPECIALLY in this group.

jaymc, has an acting category ever before consisted entirely of past winners?

pretty sure this is the first time -- in a supporting category at least

Yeah, first time in any category AFAIK.

Filled out the office Oscar pool earlier today. Interestingly, my picks are identical to Nathaniel's (with the exception of the shorts, which we don't do):
http://thefilmexperience.net/blog/2013/2/22/final-oscar-predictions.html

no Bond film has ever won Best Song, THAT's weird.

More than most years I'm appalled by the predictions. As in, I can't fathom De Niro and Argo as frontrunners

I still think TLJ will win. But De Niro does have two things going for him: 1) He's taken an unusually active role in Harvey's campaign for him, and 2) In a category of former Oscar winners, he's gone the longest time without one.

if it closes the deal, argo might be my least favorite best pic winner for, as i kinda said before, using actual deep issues as window dressing on the story of how hollywood saved half a dozen gov't bureaucrats from an inconvenient incarceration. i don't necessarily think it's bad, it's just a movie that really blows it after what i thought was a pretty compelling opening stretch.

2) In a category of former Oscar winners, he's gone the longest time without one.

he's been phoning it in for the last 25 years or so

feel like there are a dozen or so entirely defensible-to-excellent de niro performances in that timespan.

yeah definitely. he delivers basically a perfect performance in jackie brown, and a bunch of other movies

with jackie brown, ronin, the score etc. the filmmakers knew what they had to work with and gave him an appropriate role, and it turned out ok. it's not because of him putting in much effort.

Deniro was fine in the 90s... 00s are a different story

midnight run
jacknife
goodfellas
cape fear
mad dog and glory
this boy's life
a bronx tale
casino
heat
wag the dog
jackie brown
ronin

now if you're arguing the past 15 yrs i don't much beef w/that stance, though i think he's been good in a few things over that timespan too.

i think he's def been taking it easy and also making poor choices; his stabs at gritty pics or thrillers have been mostly failed attempts (city by the sea, 15 minutes, righteous kill)

sorry but that nineties list is Jean Renoir worthy compared to a decade level

*level = later