The Race For Oscar Begins

El Vez · Post by **El Vez** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 1:44 pm

This is like the playoffs and the Super Bowl for me and it kicks off with the L.A. Critics this year.

http://movies.yahoo.com/mv/news/iw/2005 ... 27100.html

Go William Hurt!

noiseradio · Post by **noiseradio** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 1:55 pm

I'd love to see WIlliam Hurt snag that statue. He was the best thing in History of Violence. I also hope Philip Hoffman gets it. He went to school with my brother at NYU. It would be nice to see him get some official recognition.

El Vez · Post by **El Vez** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 2:29 pm

I caught Syriana last night and Hurt had a sharp little cameo in that as well. To me, he's one of those guys like Sir Ralph Richardson who, as he gets older, just gets weirder and more interesting in the choices he makes as an actor.

I think this is Philip Seymour Hoffman's year. Along with Jeffrey Wright, he's on my "Best Working Actor Not Named Gene Hackman" short list and that performance is so universally well regarded and he's racked up so many great ones in the past seven years that he's already overdue even though he's not even forty. I think the thing that has kept him out of the race so far in spite of the overwhelming acclaim and his popularity amongst his peers is that he really doesn't care at all about the campaigning side of it. It's to his credit really but he so would have scored one for '99 except that he couldn't be bothered to pick for his publicist whether they push him for Magnolia or The Talented Mr. Ripley.

El Vez · Post by **El Vez** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 2:33 pm

Also, I'm really, really looking forward to Brokeback Mountain and Tommy Lee Jones' The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada.

Post by **BlueChair** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 3:35 pm

two words: Match Point

El Vez · Post by **El Vez** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 3:38 pm

Four words: Scarlett Johansson's perfect ass.

Tim(e) · Post by **Tim(e)** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 4:48 pm

Johnny Depp should at least get a nomination for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (regardless of how anyone feels about the film)... the guy adds a touch of geius to any role he is given and deserves the gong!

bobster · Post by **bobster** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 5:09 pm

El Vez wrote:Four words: Scarlett Johansson's perfect ass.

And they don't give awards for that. Bluechair's hair can get one, but not Ms. Johanson (who I used to live across the street from...sadly, as close to that particular ass as I'm ever likely to get). Life is simply unfair.

Anyhow, I'm definitely in the same place as El Vez with following this stuff, but I'm busy and I'll have to keep it short today....

Re: L.A. Film Critics awards. Something tells me this is going to be one of those all-over-the-map years. I just don't see "Brokeback" (which I, er, haven't seen yet) sweeping this thing in all the different awards. For one thing, film critics have more experience than almost any other humans in watching gay-themed films. I hate to say this, but that could be a big problem for this movie with male heterosexual voters. For another thing, there are still couple of big contenders that haven't been seen all that widely, like "Match Point" and "The Producers." "King Kong" could even be a major contender in a lot of awards.

And, yup, this certainly could be P.S. Hoffman's year. He's built up a lot of good will and been really, really, good in countless good movies. How good he is in "Capote" (which I'm hoping to see later today, finally), may almost be secondary -- but people love it when you impersonate a well known figure and make them forget who they're watching. We'll call it the Martin Landau/Bela Lugosi (or the Jamie Fox/Ray effect). The other contender in this area is Joaquin Phoenix for "Walk the Line". He was very, very good in that movie, but, for me, I was watching another "merely" another very fine performance from Joaquin Phoenix, not the Man in Black. Should be interesting.

Now, a rant of little or no interest....

They gave one simply absurd award for a "contribution" to L.A. film culture by giving an award to Kevin Thomas. Mr. Thomas has given more glowing reviews to truly bad films than any other critic living. If this were mere quirkiness of taste, I'd be fairly cool with that, but it's pretty obvious and well known to anyone who cares, the man is nothing more or less than a very well placed quote whore (though his whoring can benefit indie and foreign films as much or more than big mainstream films, but he's pretty much equal opportunity.) Not sure what, if anything, tangible he gets for this, but it's really hard to believe he's sincere.

Actually, how he's been able to stay at the L.A. Times all these years is a real mystery to me. He's never been promoted to senior film critic, he's always been second or third or fourth banana, but he's always been there, while far better film critics (Kenneth Turan, Sheila Benson, Michael Wilmington, and the intelligent-if-overly-affable Charles Champlin of my youth) have been "senior" there and come and gone.

Frankly, this ranks up in my mind with George Tenet's Medal of Freedom in the ranks of unearned awards. Well almost. In my mind, the man should have to pay the movie tickets (and lost time) of all the poor souls who went to really bad films saying, "but, hey, it got a good review from the L.A. Times!" And then he owes something to all the filmmakers of good indie films who tickets sales were affected by the fact that the people who saw these frequently assumed that all indie films were aboput as bad as the one Kevin glowingly recommended to them.

The L.A. Times has been on a firing spree, hacking their editorial page to death. If they're going to fire the heroicly outspoken, unreconstructed hippy liberal Bob Scheer and lots of other good writers, why, oh why, do they keep this clown?

End of rant of little or no interest. And so much for "keeping it short."

El Vez · Post by **El Vez** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 6:01 pm

However, it sure was nice to see that they gave a Lifetime Achievement award to Richard Widmark. As cool as Edmund Gwenn was as Santa in the original Miracle on 34th Street, Widmark really should have one Best Supporting Actor that year for pushing Mildrid Dunnock down a flight of stairs. The irony of that being his career defining moment is that, from what I understand, Widmark is pretty much one of the nicest, most decent guys to ever stake out a career in Hollywood.

martinfoyle · Post by **martinfoyle** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 7:12 pm

Todays Observer is predicting The Squid and the Whale to be the surprise Oscar winner. No doubt there'll be other similair pieces, all part of the hype. I've long since given up on keeping up with it all, I'm merely glad if a decent film or 2 turns up per week. If it's any good, it'll get here eventually.

El Vez · Post by **El Vez** » Mon Dec 12, 2005 3:50 pm

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051212/ap_ ... ics_awards

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Mon Dec 12, 2005 4:19 pm

In Hollywood Oscar is king, you know?

bobster · Post by **bobster** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 12:20 am

martinfoyle wrote:Todays Observer is predicting The Squid and the Whale to be the surprise Oscar winner. No doubt there'll be other similair pieces, all part of the hype. I've long since given up on keeping up with it all, I'm merely glad if a decent film or 2 turns up per week. If it's any good, it'll get here eventually.

I think they're barking up the wrong tree. Every year, there is one -- and, unfortunately only one -- funky indie film that gets a bunch of nominations. We'll call it the "Lost in Translation" syndrome. "Squid" will probably get some acting nominations, possibly a writing nomination, but I think that's it. This year's LIT will be....(drum roll)...A History of Violence (but Felicity Huffman, I'd say, may already have a lock on Best Actress for another funky indie film, "TransAmerica." The only thing better than playing a disabled person, in Oscar's eyes, is creating some plausible gender confusion.)

Post by **BlueChair** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 10:36 am

Speaking of which, the Golden Globe nominations have been announced.

http://www.hfpa.org/news/id/13

martinfoyle · Post by **martinfoyle** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 7:05 pm

BlueChair wrote:Speaking of which, the Golden Globe nominations have been announced.

http://www.hfpa.org/news/id/13

More interesting for whats missing. No Six Feet Under, A New World or King Kong. Good to see Match Point getting so many nods, and great to see Kelly Macdonald get one. Only one for Breakfast On Pluto? Oh dear, looks like that film is going to get lost in the rush.

El Vez · Post by **El Vez** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 8:22 pm

My Oscar predictions

PICTURE
Brokeback Mountain
A History of Violence
King Kong
Match Point
Walk The Line

DIRECTOR
Woody Allen, Match Point
David Cronenberg, A History of Violence
Peter Jackson, King Kong
Ang Lee, Brokeback Mountain
Steven Spielberg, Munich

ACTRESS
Judi Dench, Mrs. Henderson Presents
Vera Farmiga, Down To The Bone
Felicity Huffman, Transamerica
Keira Knightley, Pride & Prejudice
Reese Witherspoon, Walk The Line

ACTOR
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote
Tommy Lee Jones, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
Heath Ledger, Brokeback Mountain
Joaquin Phoenix, Walk The Line
David Straithairn, Good Night, And Good Luck

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Matt Dillon, Crash
Paul Giamatti, Cinderella Man
Jake Gyllenhaal, Brokeback Mountain
William Hurt, A History of Violence
Donald Sutherland, Pride & Prejudice

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Maria Bello, A History of Violence
Scarlett Johansson, Match Point
Catherine Keener, Capote
Rachel Weisz, The Constant Gardener
Michelle Williams, Brokeback Mountain

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY (I *think* these are all original screenplays!)
Crash
Match Point
Munich
The Squid & The Whale
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Brokeback Mountain
The Constant Gardener
A History of Violence
Pride & Prejudice
Syriana

Who Wins: Brokeback, Cronenberg, Hoffman, Witherspoon, Gyllenhaal, Keener, The Squid & The Whale and Brokeback again.

Post by **BlueChair** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 9:00 pm

I wouldn't be surprised if King Kong doesn't get much in the way of accolades.

bobster · Post by **bobster** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 1:40 am

Well, I think you can be sure of a SFX sweep for "Kong" and maybe one or two technicalish awards (Production Design? Cinematography?) but there's a definite prejudice against genre films, particulary ones with a edge of juvenile fantasy (not that there's anything wrong with that!).

Since so many of the films are still unseen by me, I don't have strong opinions yet about what "should" win...but I always track 'em down so I can grouse with great authority about the grave injustices the morning after...

El Vez -- I think you're predictions are pretty damn close to what I'd predict, except that this is the almost the first I've heard of that Tommy Lee Jones movie and I think "Syriana" might pick up a another nomination for George Clooney, who did a great job but, more importantly, gained thirty pounds and got himself a nasty, still painful, injury during the torture scene. He says he regrets gaining the weight now because of the back problems...but I'm sure a little gold man would ease his pain.

El Vez · Post by **El Vez** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 8:13 am

BlueChair wrote:I wouldn't be surprised if King Kong doesn't get much in the way of accolades.

The Academy usually likes to have one massive commercial hit in the major categories and King Kong looks like the best possible candidate. Great cast, beloved gentle genius director, incredibly broad audience appeal and, if the "A" from Enterainment Weekly and 3 1/2 stars from USA Today are any indication, it's the rare blockbuster that's shaping up to be a critical fave.

Tim(e) · Post by **Tim(e)** » Sun Dec 18, 2005 5:21 pm

King Kong was a major disappointment for me. There were moments where I thought Jackson must have been on something.

martinfoyle · Post by **martinfoyle** » Sun Dec 18, 2005 6:04 pm

King Kong is expected to do only $50 in the US this weekend, it had ben expected to do at least $60. Still it increased 40% betweeen friday & saturday so the spin now is that it'll do great on word of mouth. Had to take the nieces to see it on friday so I saw it twice in 2 days. It held up nicely, still thinks it's a goody and Naomi Watts is a certainty for the Oscar. Colin Hanks was also very good, I nearly prefer him now to to his oul fella.

miss buenos aires · Post by **miss buenos aires** » Sun Dec 18, 2005 8:33 pm

Loved King Kong, except for the scene where I couldn't get enough layers (eyelids, hands, jacket) between my eyes and the screen. Any movie that makes me transfer my adoration from Adrien Brody to a giant gorilla is strong stuff indeed.

Post by **BlueChair** » Sun Dec 18, 2005 10:20 pm

Saw Brokeback Mountain this afternoon. Really wonderful film.

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Thu Dec 22, 2005 11:59 pm

BlueChair wrote:Saw Brokeback Mountain this afternoon. Really wonderful film.

I'm waiting for Mr. Average's review.

bobster · Post by **bobster** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 12:27 am

miss buenos aires wrote:Loved King Kong, except for the scene where I couldn't get enough layers (eyelids, hands, jacket) between my eyes and the screen. Any movie that makes me transfer my adoration from Adrien Brody to a giant gorilla is strong stuff indeed.

Was that the bugs, Ms. BA? One of my friends -- who I tend to think of as a pretty hardy lady -- decided to take an extended bathroom break right about then. If I hadn't the movie was only PG-13 and therefore things could not get TOO gruesome, I might have been nervous.