Oscar thoughts

[metallicorphan]

I was going to ask how Hathaway and Franco did,as i didn't see the awards,i did however see Kirk Douglas..."You Know.."

And i also saw Justin Timberlake announce that he was Banksy..and i have just found out today(no doubt years behind everybody) off my sister that Milla Kunis is the voice of Meg in Family Guy....couldn't be more different if they tried,LOL

I am also shocked that Christian Bale's real accent IS the cockney accent ...as i thought his accent in The Prestige was euugh..now i see(hear)that its his real accent..weird

[Moliere]

on another note:it will be interesting to see if Christian Bale wins,whether he will make a sly comment/poke fun on himself about his little outrage while on the T4 set...I would

I think he made a reference to it when talking about Leo's F bomb and that he had done enough of those recently.

[leo8877]

on another note:it will be interesting to see if Christian Bale wins,whether he will make a sly comment/poke fun on himself about his little outrage while on the T4 set...I would

I think he made a reference to it when talking about Leo's F bomb and that he had done enough of those recently.

Yeah he did.

My wife was clamoring for Steve Marting and Alec Baldwin to come back as hosts, she said they were way better than Hathaway and Franco.

[whiteboyskim]

Franco and Hathaway were absolutely awful. You know things are bad when Bob Hope has the best lines which also illustrates how poorly written the show is. Why people continue to hire Bruce Villanch for the show is beyond me. It was boring, unfunny, and just terrible. Billy Crystal appearing also made it painfully obvious that Franco and Hathaway were out of their depth.

Meanwhile Chris Nolan was shaking his head wondering "What have I done to Batman?"

[Ralph-Wiggum]

I didn't get a chance to watch much of the Oscars, but in the time I was watching they seemingly spoiled the ending of True Grit by showing a clip during the sound editing award. Seriously, of all the scenes to pick for that award, they had to show the climax of the movie? Bastards.

[PR_GMR]

I didn't get a chance to watch much of the Oscars, but in the time I was watching they seemingly spoiled the ending of True Grit by showing a clip during the sound editing award. Seriously, of all the scenes to pick for that award, they had to show the climax of the movie? Bastards.

They also totally spoiled the ending of 'King's Speech'. That was the complete final speech Colin Firth gives in the movie. Talk about a dumbass move by the show's producers.

[dedewhale]

Jennifer Lawrence from Winters Bone looked un-recognizably hot!

[ChaoZ]

I watched the show for Hathaway and wasn't really disappointed. She looked stunning throughout.
The rest of the show....meh. The best bits were within the first half hour it seemed.

[Isgrimnur]

I didn't get a chance to watch much of the Oscars, but in the time I was watching they seemingly spoiled the ending of True Grit by showing a clip during the sound editing award. Seriously, of all the scenes to pick for that award, they had to show the climax of the movie? Bastards.

They also totally spoiled the ending of 'King's Speech'. That was the complete final speech Colin Firth gives in the movie. Talk about a dumbass move by the show's producers.

And Toy Story 3.

I could do without ever seeing James Franco ever again.

[Freezer-TPF-]

Terrible hosting.  Franco was overly sedated and Hathaway needed to be sedated a bit more.  The Bob Hope projection bit was cool.

Bring back Steve Martin and/or Alec Baldwin.  If they want young, go with quadruple-threat Justin Timberlake.

[Larraque]

I could do without ever seeing James Franco ever again.

You're gonna be really sick of him soon then.

Personally I think he works best when playing a stoner type (like Freaks and Geeks / Pineapple Express). He was ok in Spiderman but I also figure Harry Osborn was getting stoned throughout.

I think he's going to make a terrible wizard of oz.

[metallicorphan]

I think he's going to make a terrible wizard of oz.

Awww WTF happened to Robert Downey Jr playing that role?..he was perfect i thought....pfft..i am pretty much out for that now

[Isgrimnur]

I could do without ever seeing James Franco ever again.

You're gonna be really sick of him soon then.

Personally I think he works best when playing a stoner type (like Freaks and Geeks / Pineapple Express). He was ok in Spiderman but I also figure Harry Osborn was getting stoned throughout.

I think he's going to make a terrible wizard of oz.

Good lord, he's getting a lot of work.  I'm not a fan of drunk/stoner humor at all.  I didn't make the conenction with him as Harry Osborne, but I didn't really care for that portrayal either. 

[kratz]

He was great in 127 Hours.  Really great.

I like him...

I actually thought the hosting wasn't bad at all.

[Isgrimnur]

He was great in 127 Hours.  Really great.

The clip where he was doing the video to his parents was decent, I thought, but I didn't care for his hosting.

[rittchard]

I didn't watch a lot of it, but I'm really getting bored of how predictable the main awards are.  It's like even if I avoid all the magazine analyses and not having seen a majority of the movies, pretty much every major award was a non-surprise.  Best Picture, Director, Actor/Actress, Supporting Actor, both screenplays, editing, even sound was predictable this year.  The only one I didn't guess was Supporting Actress and I think costumes or something lame like that. 

[Freezer-TPF-]

I did like the comment delivered by Donnie Darko that the short film categories are often what makes or breaks Oscar pools.  Watch the shorts, win the pool!

[kronovan]

I don't know what to think the Academy any more. A number of films I saw won in categories I didn't feel they deserved and then they weren't even nominated for others in which they did. Then of course there were the many all-too-predictable winners. Bier winning was about the only pleasant surprise for me. I thought I was alone in my opinions, but I watched with my B-in-law and other friends who work in the Film industry and there was a lot of "you've got to be kidding" comments. We couldn't even stomach watching the whole event and turned it off before the end. Quite honestly, I think I preferred the BS the awards were in the 60's and 70's when many an outraged baby boomer got passed over, to what it's become now that the baby boomers are firmly in control. Sadly the Academy really needs a good shakeup again.

[lildrgn]

He was great in 127 Hours.  Really great.

I like him...

I actually thought the hosting wasn't bad at all.

I'm with you about the hosting. I thought AH did well being the natural, and JF was a little too wooden. Even with that, I thought they were funny and I really enjoyed the little mash-up at the beginning.

WRT the Kirk Russell thing, I just thought it was uncomfortable. Clearly he's with it, but his speaking led to a lot of what I thought were forced smiles/laughs in the audience as if we couldn't understand him on TV, he was probably impossible to understand in an auditorium.

[Bullwinkle]

He was great in 127 Hours.  Really great.

I like him...

I actually thought the hosting wasn't bad at all.

I'm with you about the hosting. I thought AH did well being the natural, and JF was a little too wooden. Even with that, I thought they were funny and I really enjoyed the little mash-up at the beginning.

WRT the Kirk Russell thing, I just thought it was uncomfortable. Clearly he's with it, but his speaking led to a lot of what I thought were forced smiles/laughs in the audience as if we couldn't understand him on TV, he was probably impossible to understand in an auditorium.

I assume by Kirk Russell, you meant Kirk Douglas and not Kurt Russell (or Russell Brand).

Keep in mind the man had a stroke and is almost 100, so far as his speech goes.

I didn't get polite smiling at all, especially with his "You know..." bit.

[lildrgn]

He was great in 127 Hours.  Really great.

I like him...

I actually thought the hosting wasn't bad at all.

I'm with you about the hosting. I thought AH did well being the natural, and JF was a little too wooden. Even with that, I thought they were funny and I really enjoyed the little mash-up at the beginning.

WRT the Kirk Russell thing, I just thought it was uncomfortable. Clearly he's with it, but his speaking led to a lot of what I thought were forced smiles/laughs in the audience as if we couldn't understand him on TV, he was probably impossible to understand in an auditorium.

I assume by Kirk Russell, you meant Kirk Douglas and not Kurt Russell (or Russell Brand).

Keep in mind the man had a stroke and is almost 100, so far as his speech goes.

I didn't get polite smiling at all, especially with his "You know..." bit.

Oops, my bad. Douglas was what I meant. And I figured he'd had a stroke or something. Some of it was funny, but speaking for myself, it was hard for me to understand him.

[kratz]

Douglas was sort of painful to watch, but what worked was that I think he KNEW he was painful to watch, and his 'You know' thing showed there is a pretty sharp mind in there still... so it was funny stuff.

My only real complaint with the results was that I think Aronofsky deserved the director award, and I personally felt that Black Swan was the best film of the year... but I'm not really surprised or upset by the actual result.  King's Speech was still good.

Luckily, they are now trying to make it worse.  Wait, what?

[metallicorphan]

9 most scathing reviews of the Oscars


some good ones in there

9. “James Franco played a guy who cut off his own arm. Why couldn’t he play a guy who likes Anne Hathaway?” — Jeff Garlin, via Twitter

6. “[Billy Crystal] introduced a video projection of very-dead former host Bob Hope, and the desperation became too much to bear. I hope at least Hathaway or Franco was backstage somewhere and self-aware enough to realize they had been replaced by a dead man.”— Katey Rich, Cinema Blend

[Bullwinkle]

I liked this one:

“10:48 The coming obits should include a mention of this show.” — David Edelstein, New York Magazine

[Blackjack]

*I realize thread was created for 2011's Oscars, but figured I'd wake up this zombie thread for 2012, hope that's OK.  

Roger Ebert's having a fun little "Outguest Ebert on the Oscars" contest, with some nice prizes. Here's the actual entry page to place your votes, to enter the contest:

Outguest Ebert on the Oscars (if you really want to enter, you'll have to register an account at the page there, I think)
http://suntimes.upickem.net/upickem/contest/questions.asp?contestid=50026
*If you're like me, you probably haven't seen most of these films at all. Doesn't hurt to make some educated guesses though.  

His own votes here:
http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2012/02/it_doesnt_take_a_crystal.html

It doesn't take a crystal ball to see that this year's Academy Awards will amount to a shootout between "Hugo," with 11 nominations, and "The Artist," with 10. Fittingly, they are two movies inspired by love of movie history, the first about the inventor of the cinema, the second about the transition from silent films to talkies.

            With that in mind, I bring you this year's Outguess Ebert Contest. The first prize will be an all-expenses paid trip for two to Los Angeles to attend a Hollywood premiere. Runners-up will receive personally autographed copies of my Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook 2012.

            Ground rules: (1) Anyone anywhere can enter, unless such contests are prohibited where you live. (2) Yes, you can enter online; go to Outguess Ebert. In fact, that is the preferred mode of entry. (3) Deadline for submissions is 5 p.m. CST on Friday, Feb. 24.

            In self-defense, I will point out that the deadline for my predictions was Feb. 7, with the Oscars more than two weeks away, on Feb. 26. Predicting so far in advance is a handicap, and as a result, you have an excellent chance of outguessing me. Still, this annual contest is fun and provides me with an opportunity to show how badly I can do.

My mom and I loved The Descendants, but the Academy always seems to have a weakness for a movie with a uniqueness to it (some would say 'gimmick') like The Artist, which I'm going to try to catch Saturday.

Guessing is always imperfect. I don't think many folks thought Avatar wouldn't get Best Picture in 2009 (The Hurt Locker did). Many people were bent out of shape over Rocky getting Best Picture in 1976 over Network, Taxi Driver and All The President's Men. Or Ordinary People getting it over Raging Bull in 1980. etc. etc.

I'm really not sure how meaningful the awards are anymore because most of the films have already left theaters and moved to DVD by the time they have the awards ceremony. They're meaningful in terms of being awards plastered on marketing or appended to an actor's or director's name from that night forward, but in terms of helping the movie become a hit or something, it doesn't seem to have much impact nowadays.

[kratz]

The list of best pictures this year is generally a joke.

[Isgrimnur]

Why wasnt' Tintin nominated for Best Animated Film?!?

[Purge]

Now don't start THAT again.

[Harkonis]

nitpicky, but it's 'outguess' not 'outguest'  I'm quite sure he can get better guests than me

[kronovan]

My thoughts - who cares.

2nd thought; why wasn't a new 2012 Oscar Thoughts thread started? I went to the 1st page and saw films like Black Swan and immediately thought people had lost their minds and sense of time. 

[PR_GMR]

The list of best pictures this year is generally a joke.

This!

[Blackjack]

I did finally catch The Artist at an arthouse theater today. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and it's just very cleverly done and unique. You won't see lame sequels or attempts to clone it cause it's about a simple love story in a single era (the change from silent to sound-movies).

My spoilers would be:

Spoiler for Hiden:

It's not entirely silent. Sound is used for a couple different sequences.

There's a seemingly grim moment late in the movie that briefly left me thinking "WTF? It CAN'T end like this!" but it's a "fake out" really. It's a "prop."  

I still think expanding the best picture nominees from 5 to 10 and then now to a "fluctuating number" based on voting percentages was a mistake. I mean, 5 nominees worked for decades and decades and decades. Expanding the number really hasn't improved ratings for the show (which peaked the year Titanic won a bunch). There aren't any mega blockbusters up for nominations this year, so the ratings will probably stink again, Billy Crystal or not.

If TV ratings really mean that much, then just require that one $200M+ box office grosser be nominated for Best Picture every year. In essence, that seems to be what the increase in Best Picture nominations to 10 hoped to achieve. I think it's great smaller films that few people saw like The Hurt Locker and No Country for Old Men can win Best Picture, but it sucks for TV ratings. But who cares? TV ratings aren't supposed to be what the awards are supposed to be about.

[metallicorphan]

The Artist cleans up at The BAFTAs



Very surprised with best animated feature went to Rango,i have seen that and loved it,but surprised it was Bafta worthy,especially after you guys have been praising Tin Tin(which i have not seen)

Spoiler for Hiden:

Best film

WINNER: The Artist

Nominees:
The Artist
The Descendants
Drive
The Help
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy


Outstanding British film

WINNER: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Nominees:
My Week With Marilyn
Senna
Shame
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
We Need To Talk About Kevin


Best director

WINNER: Michel Hazanavicius

Nominees:
Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist
Nicolas Winding Refn - Drive
Martin Scorsese - Hugo
Tomas Alfredson - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Lynne Ramsay - We Need To Talk About Kevin


Best actor

WINNER: Jean Dujardin

Nominees:
Brad Pitt - Moneyball
Gary Oldman - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
George Clooney - The Descendants
Jean Dujardin - The Artist
Michael Fassbender - Shame


Best actress

WINNER: Meryl Streep

Nominees:
Berenice Bejo - The Artist
Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady
Michelle Williams - My Week with Marilyn
Tilda Swinton - We Need to Talk About Kevin
Viola Davis - The Help


Best supporting actor

WINNER: Christopher Plummer

Nominees:
Christopher Plummer - Beginners
Jim Broadbent - The Iron Lady
Jonah Hill - Moneyball
Kenneth Branagh - My Week with Marilyn
Philip Seymour Hoffman - The Ides of March


Best supporting actress

WINNER: Octavia Spencer

Nominees:
Carey Mulligan - Drive
Jessica Chastain - The Help
Judi Dench - My Week with Marilyn
Melissa McCarthy - Bridesmaids
Octavia Spencer - The Help


Outstanding debut

WINNER: Tyrannosaur

Nominees:
Attack The Block - Joe Cornish (director/writer)
Black Pond - Will Sharpe (director/writer), Tom Kingsley (director), Sarah Brocklehurst (producer)
Coriolanus - Ralph Fiennes (director)
Submarine - Richard Ayoade (director/writer)
Tyrannosaur - Paddy Considine (director), Diarmid Scrimshaw (producer)


Best foreign language film

WINNER: The Skin I Live In

Nominees:
Incendies (Canada)
Pina (Germany)
Potiche (France)
A Separation (Iran)
The Skin I Live In (Spain)


Best animated feature film

WINNER: Rango

Nominees:
The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn
Arthur Christmas
Rango


Best documentary

WINNER:Senna

Nominees:
Senna
George Harrison: Living in the Material World
Project Nim


Best original screenplay

WINNER: The Artist

Nominees:
The Artist - Michel Hazanavicius
Bridesmaids - Annie Mumolo, Kristen Wiig
The Guard - John Michael McDonagh
The Iron Lady - Abi Morgan
Midnight In Paris - Woody Allen


Best adapted screenplay

WINNER: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Nominees:
The Descendants - Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash
The Help - Tate Taylor
The Ides Of March - George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon
Moneyball - Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Bridget O'Connor, Peter Straughan


Best original score

WINNER: The Artist - Ludovic Bource

Nominees:
The Artist - Ludovic Bource
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
Hugo - Howard Shore
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Alberto Iglesias
War Horse - John Williams


Cinematography

WINNER: The Artist

Nominees:
The Artist - Guillaume Schiffman
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Jeff Cronenweth
Hugo - Robert Richardson
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Hoyte van Hoytema
War Horse - Janusz Kaminski


Editing

WINNER: Senna

Nominees:
The Artist - Anne-Sophie Bion, Michel Hazanavicius
Drive - Mat Newman
Hugo - Thelma Schoonmaker
Senna - Gregers Sall, Chris King
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Dino Jonsater

Production design

WINNER: Hugo

Nominees:
The Artist
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows - Part 2
Hugo
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
War Horse

Costume design

WINNER: The Artist

Nominees:
The Artist
Hugo
Jane Eyre
My Week With Marilyn
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Sound

WINNER: Hugo

Nominees:
The Artist
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows - Part 2
Hugo
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
War Horse

Special Visual Effects

WINNER: Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows - Part 2

Nominees:
The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows - Part 2
Hugo
Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes
War Horse

Make-up and hair

WINNER: The Iron Lady

Nominees:
The Artist
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows - Part 2
Hugo
The Iron Lady
My Week With Marilyn

Short animation

WINNER: A Morning Stroll

Nominees:
Abuelas
Bobby Yeah Robert Morgan
A Morning Stroll

Short film

WINNER: Pitch Black Heist

Nominees:
Chalk
Mwansa The Great
Only Sound Remains
Pitch Black Heist
Two And Two

Rising Star Award

WINNER: Adam Deacon

Nominees:
Adam Deacon
Chris Hemsworth
Chris O'Dowd
Eddie Redmayne
Tom Hiddleston

[Bullwinkle]

I loved Tintin and Rango both, but while I think Tintin may be more accessible (and gets bonus points from me just for being Tintin), I actually think Rango might have more artistic merit.

[Rumpy]

I haven't seen Rango, but what impressed me about Tintin was how it managed to be convincing and move beyond the uncanny valley of motion capture to the point that it felt more like traditional animation than motion capture and I think it's artistic in its own right, but it might be that Rango edged it out.

[Bullwinkle]

I haven't seen Rango, but what impressed me about Tintin was how it managed to be convincing and move beyond the uncanny valley of motion capture to the point that it felt more like traditional animation than motion capture and I think it's artistic in its own right, but it might be that Rango edged it out.

Rango has animation art, to be sure, but where it may be elevated above Tintin is story and character.  It's not a typical tale, at all, and it's filled with semi-obscure references (certainly obscure for the kid audience) and symbolism.

It also works as a kid movie.

[Blackjack]

My mom and I finally caught Hugo in 3-D at a decent size theater still playing it and we loved it. Adored it.  I hate to think anyone doesn't see it because they think it's a "kids movie" (must be about the only PG movie Scorcese ever directed post-1970s when PG was almost more the equivalent of today's PG-13 or a soft R), or they don't like Sacha Baron Cohen (amusing and eventually touching as a French police officer), or because Chloë Grace Moretz isn't a handgun and knives-wielding kiddy vampire in this.  I wish I had seen it sooner, but I do think that's a good thing about Oscar nominations; it might convince you something is worth seeing that you might otherwise have skipped.

[Purge]

I haven't seen Rango, but what impressed me about Tintin was how it managed to be convincing and move beyond the uncanny valley of motion capture to the point that it felt more like traditional animation than motion capture and I think it's artistic in its own right, but it might be that Rango edged it out.

Rango has animation art, to be sure, but where it may be elevated above Tintin is story and character.  It's not a typical tale, at all, and it's filled with semi-obscure references (certainly obscure for the kid audience) and symbolism.

It also works as a kid movie.

I didn't find it to be unique - I found that it wasn't sure if it was a kids movie or a teen movie - there were moments in it that made me uncomfortable to have my son watching it. I don't recall them off-hand.

It felt like the movie with Norm MacDonald playing a squirrel who was the adopted father of a bastard reindeer from Santa's Flying Forces. 

Kinda like a half-drunken uncle who means well, but drops F-bombs while talking to children.