The Oscars

Lance Quazar

Well-known member
Dr. Gonzo said:
I feel you poking me with that stick (but insider is hardly the word I would use)

Don't have much time to type at the moment but I will say
I think Charlie Kaufman's "Anomalisa" will beat "Inside Out" for best animated feature... why?
Because it's Charlie ****in' Kaufman and the Academy loves Charlie Kaufman.
(ie Eternal Sunshine, Adaptation, Being John Malkovich)

Oh, man, I wish I had seen this yesterday so I could have told you how wrong you were without looking like I'm only saying this after the fact.

The Academy does not "love" Charlie Kaufman. The Academy "likes" Charlie Kaufman. He was nominated three times (before Anomalisa) and won only once. He was not nominated for "Synecdoche, NY," though many critics though he should have been.

But the Academy LOVES Pixar. Hell, the Best Animated Film Oscar was practically invented just for Pixar, since everyone was worried that they were going to pose a serious challenge to live-action films in the Best Picture department.

And no one in the establishment really wants to give "proper" Oscars to animated films, so they created a new category so they could ghettoize animated films and pat them on the back every year with their own kiddie award.

Pixar has won the more than half of the time since since the creation of the category in 2002.

Some of the films nominated in that category are absolutely atrocious, but they have to have at least three nominees a year, so they'll pick anything to fill the roster.

"Inside Out" was a huge, massively popular and critically lauded movie which many called Pixar's best yet. It was better reviewed than "Anomalisa", which was still flying way under the radar.

Oh, dear. I'm afraid you really missed the mark with this one, old friend.
 

Lance Quazar

Well-known member
Pale Horse said:
The Big Short is Really Good. I can associate a little with Bale/Burry, only I'm not that rich. Or respected. Or...nevermind.

That being said, I'm sticking to me picks.

Read THIS HOLLYWOOD EXECUTIVE'S breakdown of the categories as well. It how Hollyweird thinks.

Couldn't tell from the article if he was guessing who would win or who he wanted to win. Because if it's the former, he crapped the bed big time. Not guessing Leo? Please.

And he was pretty wrong in most categories, except the blindingly obvious ("Big Short" for screenplay, "Son of Saul" for foreign.) I give him a little credit for guess Alicia Vikander, which wasn't a sure thing. Brie Larson he also got right, but that one was a little more obvious.

Beyond that, I'm not impressed.
 

Lance Quazar

Well-known member
Joe Brody said:
This is what George Clooney means when he says we are moving in the wrong direction. We were better in the 1990's.

Indeed. And it's not (entirely) America's fault. Foreign markets, as a general rule, aren't interested in movies with black leads. And with those markets more and more and more essential to Hollywood's bottom line (particularly China), things actually are worse now.

The problem is, black people only seem to get nominated in films that require black actors. Usually historical dramas about slavery or MLK or whatever.

Look at the list of black actors nominated for a leading Oscar - playing characters like Malcolm X, Rubin Carter, Muhammad Ali, Nelson Mandela, Idi Amin, Ray Charles, Solomon Northrup, etc. etc.

It's increasingly rare that black actors are cast in leading roles that could have gone to people of any race. And if your name isn't Denzel Washington or Will Smith, the odds plummet.
 

Moedred

Administrator
Staff member
Pale Horse said:
Oprah shouldered Selma, Tyler Perry funds Madea. What projects does Spike Lee fund? Where is the Pinkett-Smith Hollywood Machine?
Spike Lee was set to film the prequel or sequel to Red Tails, but Lucas pushed away from the table after losing $70M of his own money. Ted Turner blew the same on 2/3 of his Civil War trilogy nobody saw, a labor of love. (Still cheaper than AOL.)

Except for vanity projects, film is a business, nothing more. It's representative of what the ticket-buying population wants to see. Not of the world, not even themselves. Studios do careful research and usually know how to get their money back. If they're missing out, it's their loss.

Sunday was another navel-gazing Oscars telecast about one ethnic group's underrepresentation in four categories. But when will the short, fat and balding get their due?
 

Finn

Moderator
Staff member
Pale Horse said:
F) Finn...F in Finn.
Hey, I've seen exactly two movies that came out in 2015. The other one didn't even receive nominations.
(E: Wait, it did. In one minor category.)

I guess I could've given my one-year-fits-all stance on the Best Actress: The one with the best rack.
 

Pale Horse

Moderator
Staff member
Moedred said:
Except for vanity projects, film is a business, nothing more. It's representative of what the ticket-buying population wants to see. Not of the world, not even themselves. Studios do careful research and usually know how to get their money back. If they're missing out, it's their loss.

It is a business. Louis C.K. made reference to that too before he introduced the Documentary Short nominees. But you don't need money to win an Oscar. You need a compelling story. The business model of victimization has run it's course. The world knows this. Hollywood does too. Money moves faster than social change.

I'd love a biopic of the life of Don Cornelius, or John Huggins. How about a legal drama around Charles Houston? Want an Oscar? Write a movie sympathizing Kony (his persective?) Matthew Henson, the Explorer who found the North Pole could make a powerful story.

Sheeeet. I should (as a white man) write that script and reap Oscar gold...for the Black man of course. Who'll fund me?
 

Moedred

Administrator
Staff member
Pale Horse said:
You need a compelling story.
Story is everything. I'm with Hitchcock: actors are cattle. I'm sure plenty of winners and nominees would tell you privately all they did was look serious while the music swelled. While being beautiful, of course. Someone once intercut dramatic stock footage with an actor staring at the camera for a lighting test... viewers considered him amazing at his craft.
 

Joe Brody

Well-known member
Quick thoughts:

1. Very surprised and disappointed by the Mark Rylance win. It was not that commanding of a performance. Wry and resigned. Not too hard.

2. Equally surprised by 'Fight The Power' being played at the end of the telecast.

3. Speaking of the ending, gotta love favorite (Pittsburgh) son Michael Keaton -- what a deserving second act to his career. I loved the way he was there with Chris Rock at the end reaching for a cookie.

4. Chris Rock is right about Hollywood (at best) being sorority racist -- but his Pricewaterhouse joke proved he is grade school racist.

5. Agree with Moedred that the show is irrelevant. Forget discussions, mentions at work the day after = 0.

6. Charlize Theron, Rachel McAdams, Alicia Vikander and Soairse Ronan all looked great. Kinda makes me wish Kubrick and some of the old time directors were still around because they appreciated and knew how to frame a film around a beautiful woman.

7. Loved Leo making a point about climate change, and Alejandro González Iñárritu is the man -- loved his resolve in getting his speech out.
 

Pale Horse

Moderator
Staff member
Joe Brody said:
Quick thoughts:

1. Very surprised and disappointed by the Mark Rylance win. It was not that commanding of a performance. Wry and resigned. Not too hard.

Very shocking indeed. Upset of the night, for sure.

2. Equally surprised by 'Fight The Power' being played at the end of the telecast.

Kinda like the machine is trolling us.

3. Speaking of the ending, gotta love favorite (Pittsburgh) son Michael Keaton -- what a deserving second act to his career. I loved the way he was there with Chris Rock at the end reaching for a cookie.

dTsShUa.gif


5. Agree with Moedred that the show is irrelevant. Forget discussions, mentions at work the day after = 0.

It's an industry specific awards show. Kinda like Mike at my work getting the presidents award for best sales in 2015, but we don't televise it and don't get swag bags.

6. Charlize Theron, Rachel McAdams, Alicia Vikander and Soairse Ronan all looked great. Kinda makes me wish Kubrick and some of the old time directors were still around because they appreciated and knew how to frame a film around a beautiful woman.

I'm gonna go watch Rear Window just for Grace Kelly, now.

7. Loved Leo making a point about climate change, and Alejandro González Iñárritu is the man -- loved his resolve in getting his speech out.

You hippy. And that's coming from a Californian, chuckle.
 

Joe Brody

Well-known member
Love the fist pump.

And you nailed it with 'Rear Window' -- though don't watch it with Finn because he won't get past Miss Torso in the first few minutes.
 

Finn

Moderator
Staff member
Joe Brody said:
And you nailed it with 'Rear Window' -- though don't watch it with Finn because he won't get past Miss Torso in the first few minutes.
I had no idea she received a nomination.
 

Le Saboteur

Active member
Pale Horse said:
C) Le Sab I'm directly calling you out.

Is this level of desperation that we've reached around here?

Sorry I missed the show. I was obliged to relocate residences so yet another Chinese national can park some cash in the overheated Bay Area real estate market.

Quickly:

Best Picture: Nope (The Revenant)
Best Actor: Yes
Best Actress: No (Saoirse Ronan)
Best Supporting Actor: Yes
Best Supporting Actress: No (Jennifer Jason Leigh)
Best Animated Feature: Yes*

* - No way Charlie Kaufman wins this. Half the Academy hates the man.

Best Cinematography: Yes (Really, really torn between this and Roger Deakins' work on Sicario.)
Best Costume Design: Yes
Best Directing: Yes
Best Documentary Feature: Nuh uh (What Happened, Miss Simone?)
Best Documentary Short: Yes, but a total guess.
Best Film Editing: Yes
Best Foreign Film: Yes (Even though I dearly wanted Theeb to win, there's no way Son of Saul doesn't win this.)
Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Yes
Best Original Score: No (Sicario)
Best Original Song: No (Til It Happens to You)
Best Production Design: Yes
Best Animated Short: Not a chance (Sanjay's Super Team)
Best Live Action Short: Nyet (Ave Maria)
Best Sound Mixing: Yes
Best Sound Editing: Yes
Best Visual Effects: No (The Force Awakens)
Best Adapted Screenplay: No (The Martian)
Best Original Screenplay: No (Inside Out)

So that gives me... thirteen on the year.
 

Le Saboteur

Active member
After 56 years -- and dozens of broken bones -- H-wood has finally recognized the genius of Jackie Chan. Despite dozens of imitators nobody does it better.


And you thought 2016 was all bad? Just look at that amount of joy!

actor-jackie-chan-poses-with-his-honorary-award-at-the-8th.jpg
 

Joe Brody

Well-known member
Sunday night sure could use a little Jackie Chan. I scanned the notes from last year. Man, if the 2016 show was irrelevant, I guess we ain't seen nothing yet.

I'm at a disadvantage, I've only seen 4 of the best film noms (La La Land, Fences, Manchester By the Sea and Hell or High Water). I want to see Hidden Figures but it looks like a renter/buy on iTunes. I have zero interest in Arrival. I can't bring myself to see Hacksaw Ridge due to Gibson, Garfield and Gore. And I just don't yet have the resolve to see Moonlight or Lion.

That said, I don't think La La Land is deserving but even with the membership shakeup, I agree with the prognosticators that it will win.

And having watched the trailers for the films I haven't seen, I just don't see a true Best Picture in the bunch. Hell or High Water and Manchester By Sea are the type of small indies I felt like I'd see every other month in the early '90's.

As a Pittsburgher, I'm all about August Wilson and love Fences -- though it's a small (albeit powerful) film. With a really strong performance of Jitney just having opened on Broadway, I can't say if that will help or hurt. Jitney's opening will help build the NRG around August Wilson, but it will hurt because Jitney is a larger cast (I was impressed when I saw it in the second week of previews last month) and IMO a better play.

Sadly, I don't have any insights or thoughts about Moonlight or Lion. I don't think Hacksaw has much of a chance because of the 3G's and Arrival, 'no' I don't think so.

Cool article from the New Times on geographical preferences for different pictures.
 

Le Saboteur

Active member
Joe Brody said:
I'm at a disadvantage, I've only seen 4 of the best film noms (La La Land, Fences, Manchester By the Sea and Hell or High Water).

Hidden Figures is as run of the mill as it gets. In a non-Affirmative Action year, it wouldn't have been nominated.

I normally end up seeing most of the technical awards -- and very few of the Best Picture noms -- but, not this year. I think I've seen a total of four movies that were nominated. Of those, the only thing I'm certain should win is The Jungle Book for Best VFX.

I wrote a ballot over at The New York Times, but rather than waste your time, here's just the first few:

Best Picture: La La Land
Best Director: Barry Jenkins
Best Actor: Viggo Mortensen
Best Actress: Emma Stone
Best Supporting Actor: Dev Patel
Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer
 

Pale Horse

Moderator
Staff member
Le Saboteur said:
... -- but, not this year. ... Of those, the only thing I'm certain should win is The Jungle Book for Best VFX.

Best Picture: La La Land
Best Director: Barry Jenkins
Best Actor: Viggo Mortensen
Best Actress: Emma Stone
Best Supporting Actor: Dev Patel
Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer

I didn't see Lion or Hidden Figures or Moonlight. But I can agree with everything else above.
 

Joe Brody

Well-known member
Agreed -- those are good pics. Though even I'm a huge Viggo fan (and this household has been groovin on Captain Fantastic for months), I wouldn't be surprised to see Denzel win. He made Fences happen and his performance is nuanced and powerful.

On the supporting actor front, some who I respect are saying Mr. Ali is a lock. We'll see. I'm never right on my picks and I haven't seen the film.
 

Forbidden Eye

Well-known member
Joe Brody said:
Sunday night sure could use a little Jackie Chan. I scanned the notes from last year. Man, if the 2016 show was irrelevant, I guess we ain't seen nothing yet.

Oh man, if you had only known!

The Best Picture reveal! Talk about a WTF moment!
 
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