2009 81st Academy Awards

Or is it 2008? Not sure how they count it. Nominations came out today:

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/39851

I'll start the complaining with the obvious - WALL-E AND Dark Knight already robbed of even a Best Picture nomination. I had a feeling WALL-E would get snubbed because, well, that's why they created the Animated film category, to specifically duck this kind of situation, but I still think it's the greatest film achievement of the year.

TDK "snub" made me dance a little.

OK three noms for Best Song??? What's up with that?

(typed while dancing) And oh yeah, TOTALLY forgot about the existence of TDK. Oopsy!

Not only did they only do three noms for Best Song, two of them were from the same movie! I would've thought Springsteen a shoo-in for a nomination.

Yeah me 2. Although it'll be rad if Rahman and M.I.A. can walk home with a statue despite the crap movie attached to their song

Chris Orr: Sometimes--last year, for instance--the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences does a pretty good job of recognizing excellence in film. Sometimes, it does a bad job. This year, it did a very, very bad job. If it was a disappointing year for film, it's an awful one for the Oscars.

bah. Oscar has sucked consistently.

Apparently he forgot 2006's list.

Slate's Oscar conversation:

I guess I'm just puzzled at The Reader having barged its unsubtle way into so many big categories. If academy voters want to reward Kate Winslet for her entire body of work (and why shouldn't they, even if 33 is a bit young to start bemoaning your long-overdue Oscar), why overlook her obvious blue-chip project of the year, a beautifully crafted if somewhat lifeless movie, in favor of the morbid pandering of The (even more lifeless) Reader? The most likely answer—that a majority of academy voters simply enjoy morbid pandering for its own sake—is so dispiriting that I'd prefer to leave this an open question.

Ten points off, however, for lamenting Darren Aronofsky's absence from the Best Director list.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Gdt6SgFdNNw/SXiexVO84XI/AAAAAAAAKdo/POWFtup2rzE/s1600-h/oscarpreferences.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Gdt6SgFdNNw/SXiexVO84XI/AAAAAAAAKdo/POWFtup2rzE/s1600-h/oscarpreferences.jpg

Bad pictures have won Best Picture since about, oh, The Broadway Melody. Face it - how many great films have won Best Picture? Ten maybe? Maybe. But who cares? The Oscars telecasts are great trash like a fun David Lean film if such a thing were to exist. More Snow White/Rob Lowe doing Mary proud please. And yes, Virginia, they should be longer! Waaaaaay longer. I didn't dedicate half my life to rotting celluloid just to have the year in cinema (or a moneyed representation thereof) honored in a mere 3.75 hours.

And this year will be particularly special to me since one of my idols will be honored - Jerry Lewis (even though I had trouble making it through The Big Mouth last night).

why watch The Big Mouth? that's Decline Jerry.

Well, the first half hour was hilarious. And I'm a fan of his two 1980s films. Plus I'll even watch tripe like Boeing Boeing to honor a comedian I've come to love more than even...well, some others.

how many Colgate Comedy Hours have you seen?

Oh there's dreck on deck. But okay, he's the greatest American film comedian ever.

well, NO! top 10.

Well, YES! #1, sweetz. :)

other weak years in my lifetime:

2003
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Lost in Translation
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (unseen by me)
Mystic River
Seabiscuit

1989
Driving Miss Daisy
Born on the Fourth of July
Dead Poets Society
Field of Dreams
My Left Foot

1985
Out of Africa
The Color Purple
Kiss of the Spider Woman (haven't seen this)
Prizzi's Honor (or this)
Witness

I haven't seen any of the five nominees this year, and the only one I plan to see is Frost/Nixon.

I haven't seen Button (though I still want to see it), but I thought Slumdog was pretty solid.

Weakest Oscar BP lineups in my Oscar-conscious lifetime (aside from the already cited and truly dire 2003 lineup):

1997
As Good as It Gets
The Full Monty
Good Will Hunting
L.A. Confidential
Titanic

1999
American Beauty
The Cider House Rules
The Green Mile
The Insider
The Sixth Sense

... And, yeah, this year. Interesting to note that in just about all these years, I think the best movie (by default in some cases) ended up winning.

Might make a good poll.

And, yeah, this year. Interesting to note that in just about all these years, I think the best movie (by default in some cases) ended up winning.

You think Titanic and American Beauty were the best films in their respective year's lineups?

Maybe on the latter, hell yeah on the former. L.A. Confidential is some bullshit.

I suppose The Insider might be better than I'm remembering it.

Yes it is.

jesus christ at that 1999 list

Yeah, this year's slate is pretty awful, but at least 2008 wasn't that good a year for movies. 1999 had a lot of good options and they nominated fucking Green Mile. Still the benchmark for Oscar disillusionment.

Hi Morbs, look! I posted on ILF!

The odds according to Betfair:

Best Director
Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire 4/11
David Fincher - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button 6/1
Ron Howard - Frost/Nixon 13/2
Stephen Daldry - The Reader 8/1
Gus Van Sant - Milk 10/1

Best Film
Slumdog Millionaire 2/5
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button 7/2
Milk 8/1
Frost/Nixon 12/1
The Reader 14/1

Best Actor In A Supporting Role
Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight 1/12
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Doubt 10/1
Josh Brolin - Milk 10/1
Michael Shannon - Revolutionary Road 16/1
Robert Downey Jr - Tropic Thunder 16/1

Best Actress In A Leading Role
Kate Winslet - The Reader 10/11
Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married 2/1
Meryl Streep - Doubt 9/2
Melissa Leo - Frozen River 10/1
Angelina Jolie - Changeling 12/1

Best Actress In A Supporting Role
Penelope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona 10/11
Marisa Tomei - The Wrestler 11/4
Viola Davis - Doubt 9/2
Amy Adams - Doubt 6/1
Taraji P. Henson - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button 12/1

Best Animated Film
Wall-E 1/6
Kung Fu Panda 11/2
Bolt 8/1

Best Actor In A Leading Role
Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler 4/5
Sean Penn - Milk 15/8
Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon 11/2
Brad Pitt - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button 10/1
Richard Jenkins - The Visitor 12/1

Some good bets there I reckon.

The Sixth Sense > The Insider & Amer Beauty

oh I wd take 6-1 Fincher action

I was gonna say,

Stephen Daldry - The Reader 8/1

I'd be all over that if I were the type.

the tech awards seem ridiculously easy to predict this year btw

(I mean, almost everything "below" screenplays)

Seriously, I hope they hold off on announcing BSActress until the last possible block.

opinions on some from the shitty years:

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (i mean if you like this sort of thing, if not i got no beef if you hate this)
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (awesome)
My Left Foot (really good)
L.A. Confidential (it's kinda retarded when you actually think about the characters and what is actually motivating them but it's entertaining)
Titanic (basically the ship sinking is the only good part)
The Green Mile (i guess i liked this more than i thought i would but it's pretty stupid and considering that every character is either saintly or evil incarnate it's also completely without interest)
The Insider (awesome)
The Sixth Sense (ok but even back then i felt like shymalan was too smug in his style for some reason)

The Insider > Sixth Sense > Amer Beauty

I'd say all three are about the same level of "meh" to me. American Beauty is a more accomplished piece of moviemaking, but also arrogant as all hell.

At the time, tho, I'd probably have stunted for Sixth Sense.

American Beauty is so obviously the work of a thee-ATER director "branching out"; the other two, whatever their faults, work as movies.

You really should see The Insider again; it's quieter than you remember.

Why couldn't Miami Vice have been nominated for BP instead of The Insider? Oh right, smoking is bad.

loooooooooooooooooooooooool

yeah, it's pretty mysterious how michael mann's worst movie ever didn't get nominated for an oscar

why do we have this thread on the "snob" board?

Only the elite smoke now.

also, Michael Mann made a worse film than Ali?

what the hell

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has made an exception to its rules

They sure are getting awfully selective with their rules these days.

Seriously, I'm to the point where I'd LURVE to see The Reader take picture/director/script/actress.

xp: kinda like the presi___t's "no lobbyists" rule.

is it as risible as it looks?

You'll probably call it only the 3rd worst nominee in BP.

but what will you call it?

Ranks pending viewing of Frost/Nixon.

Denby:

...In fact, of the five nominees for best picture.... only “Milk,” a bio-pic with a thrilling sense of history and lots of jokes and sex, has the aesthetic life and human vitality that warrant its nomination.

http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/cinema/2009/02/09/090209crci_cinema_denby

Denby and A.O. Scott on the nominees.

good god denby is a moron.

here’s a movie that begins with a wizened baby and ends with physical perfection

no it doeesn't.

I love the startled reactions when Denby proclaims that it's impossible to like a movie that's such a conceit.

Denby's pretty right on here, though even I'm getting tired of bringing these alternate movies up:

Even so, a nod for best picture could have gone to more deserving movies, such as Jonathan Demme’s “Rachel Getting Married,” which settles down into a revelatory examination of a family’s anguish and joy; or “Happy-Go-Lucky,” Mike Leigh’s startling look at the power and the limits of goodness; or even the animated masterpiece “WALL-E,” with its vision of the end of industrial civilization and its ironic salvation in an anodyne space station decorated in cruise-liner moderne.

Be very afraid.

Academy president Sid Ganis used this year's Nominees Luncheon to talk up changes to the upcoming ceremony. "Cinematographers, editors, composers. All of you guys. You're in for a big surprise." What sort of surprise? Lord only knows, but he promises that it will be truly different, that it'll take "some risks," and "Your categories are being presented in a completely different way. Heads up."

http://www.cinematical.com/2009/02/03/the-oscars-get-risky/

just saw frost/nixon.

what a crock

except for the lovely rebecca hall.

from the Carpetbagger:

In Contention points out that this isn’t Taraji P. Henson’s first trip to the rodeo. Although she was not a nominee, she joined Three Six Mafia on-stage at the Kodak Theater in 2006 to sing “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” from “Hustle and Flow.” The song went on to win, proving once again just how down the Academy is.

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Judd Apatow is coming to the Oscars - and he's bringing a new film.

The comedy writer-director-producer, whose screen credits include "Knocked Up," will unveil fresh material on stage and on screen during the Oscar telecast on Feb. 22, said show producers Bill Condon and Laurence Mark.

They said Apatow and his work will appear during a tribute to comedy.

"We're thrilled to say that our contemporary comedy master Judd Apatow is contributing both a film and live material to that part of the show," Condon said Wednesday.

"Judd was truly a prince to hop on and truly whip up special shooting for it," Mark added. "It's a big deal."

Condon and Mark have kept mostly mum on details of the show, but they have said that filmmakers of all stripes will participate. Last week they announced that "Moulin Rouge!" director Baz Luhrmann would create a production number featuring Oscar host Hugh Jackman. "Capote" director Bennett Miller is also contributing a film sequence to the telecast.

obv Bill Condon stfu

Morbs, Apatow is a contemporary comedy master.

As far as I can tell there is no "Reader" thread, so here will have to do. Good timing: http://www.slate.com/id/2210804/

To much blah blah blah about the movie's moral quandries; nowhere near enough deconstruction of its formal shoddiness.

I kind of hope Winslet wins for it, just to make that episode of Extras she did into something bizarrely real.

I did like that "there's no business like shoah business" line that was doing the rounds.

I haven't actually seen the Reader yet. How bad is it?

It's crucially dull.

"What does the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have against music? First they only nominated three songs instead of five in the Best Original Song category -- omitting such obviously worthy choices as Bruce Springsteen's title number from The Wrestler -- and now they're drastically reducing the amount of time those three songs will get during the Oscar telecast. And Peter Gabriel won't stand for it!"

http://www.cinematical.com/2009/02/12/peter-gabriel-refuses-to-sing-butchered-wall-e-song-at-oscars/

''You know damn well that I'm not really going to say, 'It's about f---ing time,''' he says. ''I've got to get it off my mind, though. Because if I keep thinking it, it might pop out and I'm not going to be able to do anything about it.'' Lewis laughs that whiny ''Hey, lady'' laugh. ''You'd pay to see that, wouldn't you? I would too. Belieeeeeve me, I would too!''

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20254948,00.html

"I didn't think The Reader was that good until it got those Oscar nominations. Now I think it's real good.

http://oscar-watch.ew.com/2009/02/revisiting-the.html

i'm sure that'll be true of your second viewing of Milk!

if Ledger had lived, would he have been nominated? History says no.

Nate Silver does the AAs. (no techs alas)

http://nymag.com/movies/features/54335/

Profile of Our Beloved Armond, contrarian.

Silver's prediction of Henson will be his downfall.

No sign of the shorts yet on iTunes here in the U.K. They were supposed to go up today. Any luck for those of you in the U.S.?

I have to think Armond will take issue with that picture of him in the New York profile.

very Miles Davis.

or

http://blogs.fayobserver.com/entertainment/files/2008/11/grace.jpg

Nate Silver will not have a downfall as long as this year's player projections for Baseball Prospectus -- you know, his most important and socially significant work -- turn out all right.

He's also probably wrong about Rourke, or at least to the extent that he has 2-to-1 on Penn.

I don't think those are 'odds,' exactly

Can't we get Karl Rove to give us his odds?

He probably thinks Milk will lose too.

you know Rove must love Frost/Nixon for how it paints RMN as glamorous, tall and self-aware.

btw the NY Times ran a big story Sunday about the Oscar show set design, but I certainly don't give a damn.

Nathaniel sees SM sweep:

http://www.thefilmexperience.net/Awards/2008/tally.html

I entered a Oscar pool and I've yet to pick a dark horse winner (I was one of the few who picked Tilda Swinton last year); haven't decided whether I'm going with Rourke or Davis.

Go with Rourke.

I just know the party pool on Sunday night is going to come down to Docu Short.

http://www.thefilmexperience.net/Awards/2008/oscar_symposium.html

Nah, I think Best Actor will tip the scales for a lot of us.

wanna bet?

Just the ten dollars.

well, have fun in Philly and come prepared with Ladies Man quotes.

haha preview

We learn being tortured is worth it. If you give the right answers it's like winning the lottery: they'll set you free and pay you off, you get the girl, a dance sequence where you're the star.

Part of the torture is that you have to turn every experience you've ever had into a mnemonic device that could save your life in a deadly game of Trivial Pursuit. It's no longer enough just to spin the cylinder in Russian Roulette like in The Deer Hunter. Now somebody has to ask you what's the capital of South Dakota first.

http://www.nplusonemag.com/oscar-preview-2009

http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/2009/02/anger_man.php