And The Oscar Goes To......

[aibohphobia]

Oct 22, 2009 3:26:21 GMT -4 @solly79 said:

Oct 21, 2009 19:09:36 GMT -4 neeley said:

I heard that too and I think the Academy falls, more often than not, for safe and formulaic films (even though they sometimes don't look like it at first - like M$B, Crash, A Beautiful Mind). Which is why I still believe that Hilary and Amelia are going to sneak in.

True, but at least those movies even Crash had warm critical reception, and with Crash, Lion's Gate sent out screeners to everyone. I don't think Fox is going to spend that much money on Amelia since it's critical reception is pretty bad right now even worse than The Reader's. It depends on how it does at the box office, and if the Metacritic scores go up significantly as more critics get to see it. More importantly, Swank certainly isn't going to win again, so a nomination for Best Actress probably won't due that much to help once it's out on DVD, and Best Picture seems unattainable even with 10 spots because there are other biopics that are still in the running. Also, with Kathryn Bigelow, Lone Scherfig, and Jane Campion still have a better chance of getting in than Mira Nair, whose movies have never really been Academy favorites, and with that category at most they'll probably only nominate 1 to 2 women possibly for Best Director this year.

Plus, with those movies, there was also another reason why they won. With A Beautiful Mind, it was because Ron Howard was due, and Russell Crowe was on a hot streak at that time. It also was a good alternative to awarding LOTR too early.

Then, since they waited to award the last LOTR movie that meant that Mystic River and Clint Eastwood got passed over, and since The Aviator wasn't what they were going to honor Martin Scorcese with, Million Dollar Baby won. Plus, Morgan Freeman had the "due" factor.

Of course, Crash was seen as the alternative to those that didn't want to honor Brokeback Mountain. Plus, it really helped that it was set in LA, and had a large ensemble cast, and was a "message movie."

Finally, even The Reader which didn't do that well critically was helped a lot because of Syndey Pollack's and Anthony Minghella's involvement in producing the film, and because it was finally time for Kate Winslet to win.

[canuckcutie]

I have seen Up In The Air and I thought George was great. The only negatives for me are that he won not that long ago and that his character in the movie is pretty close to his real life persona. I could see some voters seeing it and thinking that it's not a huge stretch for him.

Matt Damon could do well this year between The Informant and Invictus. He's had a number of great performances. I looked online and he only had a best actor nom for Good Will Hunting. Is that right? So I thing he is definitely in the running.

[huntergrayson]

He's an Oscar winner for the Good Will Hunting screenplay, but, yes, that was his only acting nomination, which given how astounding he's been in stuff since (Ripley, The Departed), is remarkable.

[canuckcutie]

Yeah I realize he has an oscar for writing, I'm just surprised he hasn't garned that many acting noms from the academy. I totally thought he'd been nominated for acting since GWH. He got great reviews for The Informant when it came out - I'm just wondering if it was a bit too early and if he'll be forgotten come awards time.

ETA: I agree with you. I think he did some of his best work in The Departed and Ripley. I'm not sure what happened in terms of him being overlooked - if those were just years when there was a lot of great male performances to chose from. Usually there are too many great male performances and not enough award worthy female performances.

[happypenguin]

Oct 22, 2009 21:29:02 GMT -4 canuckcutie said:

Yeah I realize he has an oscar for writing, I'm just surprised he hasn't garned that many acting noms from the academy. I totally thought he'd been nominated for acting since GWH. He got great reviews for The Informant when it came out - I'm just wondering if it was a bit too early and if he'll be forgotten come awards time.

ETA: I agree with you. I think he did some of his best work in The Departed and Ripley. I'm not sure what happened in terms of him being overlooked - if those were just years when there was a lot of great male performances to chose from. Usually there are too many great male performances and not enough award worthy female performances.

The Departed itself had a lot of great male performances competing from within the movie itself. As for Ripley, the role itself wasn't lead actor Oscar bait. Given how conservative the Academy is and given "evil" roles do better in supporting.

[may2]

Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin are co-hosting the Oscars this year. Steve could do fine without Alec.

[Spinderella]

Nov 3, 2009 20:08:09 GMT -4 @may2 said:

Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin are co-hosting the Oscars this year. Steve could do fine without Alec.

Shit. Steve Martin is the BEST host. I loved it when he did it several years back. Alec Baldwin can just be a random sidekick in the audience for the opening number (a la Anne Hathaway).

I wish I had an Alec Baldwin mute button.

[Martini Girl]

Steve Martin is my all-time favorite Oscar host, so I'm very pleased....

They're in a movie with Meryl, which comes out later this year, but the pairing is odd.

[angelaudie]

Alec can be quite funny and charming under the right circumstances. Steve Martin, of course, is a hoot. The pairing is odd and out of nowhere but could work if done right.

[Deleted]

Well, having seen them work together on SNL and 30 Rock, I think it has the potential to be awesome (I'm expecting inside jokes about their "battle" to host SNL more, Steve's hosted 15 times and Alec's hosted 14 times.) Steve is one of my favorite Oscar hosts and I still love Alec. And with Ricky Gervais hosting the Golden Globes awards season has the potential to be a lot more entertaining next year.