Oscars

AdamG

AdamG

Just wanted to throw out that I'm pumped about Phillip Seymour Hoffman finally getting his due from the Academy. He has had tons of great performances in fims such as Happiness, Love Liza, Magnolia, Boogie Nights etc... Glad to see him win for an incredible performance in Capote.

I was also incredibly surprised to see Crash take home best picture. I have thought that it deserved it since I saw it in the theater 3 times, but was sure that Brokeback would take it home with it's media hype. Glad to see the Academy can still look past all the media lobbying and give the award to the best film.

Thats it. :)
 
I was pretty pleased with Most of the results. I didnt feel Peter Jackson & Co deserved much of anything this time around.

King Kong to War of The Worlds? King Kong wasnt THAT good.


VERY glad Hoffman won. He has been largely unrecognized in the acting community. Love Lisa, Happiness... GREAT movies.
 
Agreed on just about everything. Jon Stewart was refreshingly good as MC, all seemed very appropriate this year. Although I love Hoffman's work and am happy for him winning I am continually upset when actors of biopics who win awards don't even acknowledge the person that lived so that they would have the opportunity to win the award, as was even the case with Leo in the Aviator and was not the case with Foxx with Ray. Hoffman won at the indie spirit awards too.

Was pulling for Elswit to win for Good Night as it really was a statement and a fastastic bit of cinematography but so was Geisha from what I've seen.

Was expecting Brokeback to sweep, am very thankful it didn't.
 
Oscars...

I was hoping Brokeback wouldn't win either. I never really say it out loud, cause whenever you say you don't care for that movie, everyone labels you 'anti-gay'. I could care less if it was about gays or not, I just didn't think it was that good of a movie. I'm 'anti-boring-ass-movie'. And I sit through some long ass shit. (JFK, Magnolia, Amadeus) are all favorites of mine.

That being said, I didn't think Crash was all that either, but it was defintly the more powerful of the two. But I like Haggis' Million Dollar Baby script more. I got to meet and talk with Paul Haggis at the Screenwriting Expo in LA last November and he is a real interesting guy, and I'm looking forward to more from him.
 
This is the first year I really haven't cared at ALL about Oscar. Simply I'm fed up with the Acadamy giving out awards and nominations to films that just aren't that good. Broekback was seriously overrated as was Crash. Great films get overlooked EVERY year and it's always the films with the 'message' that get rewarded.

How do you win an Oscar? Simply make this film:

A disabled, blind former transsexual lesbian in a wheelchair with tourette's who over comes great heartache and family tragedy to beat the *INSERT Military/Religious/Political Subtext HERE* to be a better person.

It's that predictable.

To be honest the Oscar's have been garbage since Sam Jackson was overlooked for Pulp Fiction and that twat Costner won over Goodfellas.
 
I thought Brokeback deserved the oscar over Crash, which was a mishmash with too many characters, an overly ambitious script, and asked too much of the audience. It seemed contrived, oddly enough, next to the gay cowboys in love story, which in the end seemed to have nothing to do with gay cowboys in love- a point which has already been made by numerous critics. Glad Hoffman got the Oscar, think Ledger deserves serious recognition for a career-making performance.

As for the Oscars themselves? Ooo, more shiny shit for people to get apoplectic over. Who cares.
 
WideShot said:
Jon Stewart was refreshingly good as MC
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I really didn't care for him as a host that much. The way I perceived his hosting was that he wasn't experienced enough to pull it off, he was nervous as hell and was reaching for a laugh. He wasn't really all that enjoyable to me. I started muting his dialogues when he came out to talk.

On the other hand, Hoffman won. Yay.

Brokeback Mountain lost. Boo. Shame on Hollywood for being such homophobes.
 
Jon Stewart = Brilliant

Brokeback = I haven't seen it. To me, it looks boring, like Pride and Prejudice would seem boring. But holy crap, it sure makes people sensitive. "gayness" is so widely accepted in Toronto that people just see the movie as another love story. But how about a movie about a gay president? Now THAT's controversy!

Crash was awesome. One of the few movies I actually got to see this year, and I was blown away.

I'm glad Hoffman won, because he's an awesome guy. Would have liked to see Phoenix take it, for the same reason, but whatever.

Overall though, no one really seemed that exciting, and I have three words to describe the evening:
Dull, Dull, Dull.

The only memorable moment was Ben Stiller in his unitard. Witherspoon seemed like the only award winner to be emotionally moved, Hoffman too, but everyone else seemed like they had just won a trip to Antartica.
(including the March of the Penguins, but in that case, it was a good thing).

In the end, the only thing I'm going to remember from the Oscars is the fact that my girlfriend cooked me some quite dainty mini-burgers, fries with garlic mayo, cheese and crackers, and an excellent Merlot. MMM. Now THAT's interesting.
 
I thought Stewart was OK, not great, but good enough. He was best by far when he just improvved (his stuff about Three 6 Mafia was very funny).

Crash affected me like no film has in a long, long time. Freaked me out completely even though I had figured out what was one of the likely plot lines early on. It was my personal fav of the films.

I wanted to see Grant Heslov win! I love him! He is so well known as the sidekick (unfortunately even in the Scorpion King), to see him in the serious Best Pic Category and screenplay was awesome. Have to give props to Larry McMurtry though.

I completely agree with the hoorays for Hoffman. He is one of my favorites. Of course, the best actor category this year was full of favs- underrated actors who could have taken home the gold guy and I would have been really happy... Joquim or Strathairn would have had me smiling too.

Knew Witherspoon was a shoo-in. They love her, we love her (at least I do, when she's not doing romantic comedy), why not give her the gold? :)

No big surprises, but I was glad that the praise was spread around. Proves that media hype won't entirely drive the day. Good movies about PEOPLE and FEELINGS are still what we want. Popcorn movies are great, but for 'art', I want relationships, redemption and hope.
 
mr-modern-life said:
How do you win an Oscar? Simply make this film:

A disabled, blind former transsexual lesbian in a wheelchair with tourette's who over comes great heartache and family tragedy to beat the *INSERT Military/Religious/Political Subtext HERE* to be a better person.

It's that predictable.
Click to expand...

Pitch it if it's that simple.


I thought Stewart could have been much more brazen. I liked the Scorcese remark...in fact, I think it far better encapsulates the academy's (non-partisan)negligance in acknowledging great artists (to me, that's the *problem* with these awards) as opposed to the constant whining about the Oscars *liberal skew*.
 
Yeah there were definitely some questionable wins that were handed out. I felt that Reese was very deserving of her award. I was not expecting to see that kind of performance out of Mrs. Legally Blonde, she really did a great job in that character. Phoenix definitley deserved to win too, but the competition with the male actors was alot thicker than the females this year. Kong was good, but not sure it deserved to clean up the technical awards like it did.


Some of my low points of the night
- Three6Mafia Performing and winning. Ugh, flet like the MTV awards and there's no way that song was better than the one from Crash.
- The winners with thiers "bits" The Penguins, The big bowties etc... Flet like a circus act.
- WTF was with them playing the wrap it up music throughout the entire speech and then when thier time was up just cutting the music?
- Listening to presenters mis-pronounce last names of famous actors all night
- The Brokeback western montage. Every joe with some editing software has been doing it, why not the Academy. ??

High Points of the Night
- Jon Stewart. I thought he was pretty good. There were times he was reaching but when he is just himself and not reading directly from a script, he is much better.
- Ben Stiller's green screen act. Thought it was stupid at first, but found myself laughing my ass off at the end of it.
- Ferrell and Carrell together. The bit was a tad dull, but those two guys are just funny together. Would love to seem them in a comedy side by side.
- Stewarts Three6Mafia/Scorsese line. You have to admit that was funny.
- Seeing Hanks get smashed witha a viola.
- I really enjoyed the Altman tribute. Thought that was well done.
 
bird said:
I liked the Scorcese remark...in fact, I think it far better encapsulates the academy's (non-partisan)negligance in acknowledging great artists (to me, that's the *problem* with these awards) as opposed to the constant whining about the Oscars *liberal skew*.
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I couldn't agree more. That musical group winning the award for original song upset me. How what that the BEST song? And who the hell voted for them? :angry:

Sorry for the rant, my musical tastes are a bit more conservative.

It takes all kinds to make the world go 'round. :D
 
Maybe it's just me being a stick in the mud and being a little older than the average screenwriter/filmmaker on this board but I remember the days of the Oscars being a lot more classy and sophisticated. Not that I particularly like that better but growing up with it like that, I tend to keep expecting it and wow... Doesn't happen.

The celebs are all dressed up... That's about the only consistent aspect throughout the years...

For extremely personal and business reasons, I was very happy to see Moresco and Haggis win Best Original Screenplay... I say Moresco first because he was in fact responsible for most of the writing.

Go Bobby!

filmy
 
To me, Stewart is only funny when he's doing political humor and he was (undertsndably) handcuffed in that aspect last night. He did have a few high notes - the 36 Mafia comments, the "string synching" comment, the run-away-from-a-burning-car-in-slow-motion comment, etc; but overall he was restrained and generally unfunny. BTW, the funniest host related joke was Steve Martin's kids.

I wished Munich had won Best Pic. It was a far better movie than Brokeback or Crash. But the fact that it caused some controversy in Hollywood (they only like it when the controversy lies elsewhere) and because Speilberg's gotten his the film didn't stand a chance. But I liked Crash better than Brokeback.

Best Animated Feature for Wallace and Gromit was fantastic! I knew it was gonna happen, but I couldn't help smiling because of it.

Reese was a surprise for me. I didn't think the character was Academy friendly (i.e. it was too mainstream America).

So glad for Hoffman. I've loved him from the moment he walked on screen to "I Believe in Miracles" and isolated Dirk Diggler. I've not seen Capote but in the clips I saw he did a marvelous job.

I'm with filmy, I'd like to see the Oscar show return to a more classy show, instead of jokey and flashy.

Poke
 
Was I the only person who found Lauren Bacall's presentation disturbing? It was very saddening to see her in such bad shape. I certainly hope it was justs a case of nerves and not an age issue. I shed a tear as she presented the Film Noir montage, she acted exactly the way my grandmother did before she passed away from Alzheimers. :tear:
 
I noticed a few comments about "going to the cinema instead of watching DVDs" and "it's all better on the big screen".

The way it came across was as if the industry was really worried... Ironically enough, we all watched it on a TV set.

And what was with all the interpretive dances? Is that back in fashion? (Because I do it all the time at work)
 
I was very angry about the way Ms. Bacall seemed to be treated by the program. She is obviously having trouble walking, but the director decided she'd walk out to the mic, and created one of the longest, saddest stage crosses in history. I was already grumbling about that directorial mis-step when it became apparent abou 1/4 of the way through her speech that she'd lost her way and could not read the prompter to find it again. There is nothing shameful in wearing glasses if you need them, or in having large print notes on the lecturn to cheat with.

If she and/or the director were trying to show that she's still in the pink, they did a poor, poor job of it. How much more elegant it would have been to have the camera cut to Ms. Bacall already standing at the lecturn, and had she lost her way to simply have looked down- or better yet, have a pre-arranged line to get to fast if she was in trouble, so the director knows to roll the montage.

I feel that this was one of the worst directed shows ever. We were treated to that strange midshot of Morgan Freeman standing in the wings, completely unaware that he was on camera... The interested quick cut to the stage so that we could watch two stage hands carry off a set piece and my favorite, the director's voice cutting into the program saying, "And all right, go". And who decided to have a musical accompaniment to the speeches??? Not to mention, when you win a BIGGIE and there's more than one of you, YOU SHOULD GET YOUR MOMENT TO THANK YOUR PEOPLE. RUDE RUDE RUDE!
 
I too agree that the Oscars have taken a major downward slide since when I used to watch as a kid.

As for Stewart "reaching" for laughs.. it wasn't that he was reaching, but that a lot of his comments were a bit against the political grain of the crowd.. which is why they weren't too into what he was saying.. I mean, there was one shot of Charlize Theron during his opening bit that she just looked ready to kill him.. I enjoyed him.. but over all, I wasn't impressed with the show. Maybe it's the 3-6 mafia thing, maybe it's the lack of 'class' .. who knows, it just felt "cheaper" than it used to.
 
From what I've gathered from this and other boards about the Academy's motivation for how they vote:

They are homophobic.

They love gay themes.

They hate controversy.

They love controversy.

They are too easily swayed by media attention.

They overlook media attention.

They pander too much to the common man.

They are out of touch with the common man.

They are too liberal.

They are too conservative.

Does that about sum it up?

Btw, the highlight for me was Clooney's acceptance speech.
 
"...you know its hard out here for a pimp..." :rofl: I realize that that was kinda crazy but I think that is the closest some of those folks will EVER get to Hip-Hop! Good Grief! an OSCAR?!? ....okay, well, what is the criterion for music? How do they vote for it? Eminem got an Oscar a few years ago... Does the music have to move the story along? Okay, so what else? Personally, I thought that was too funny. Who gets to keep the statue?

...I think the most I got out of the Oscars is that I really want to be able to tell great stories that move people. I sit and watch the Oscars and think, well, I don't really need and Oscar (though it would be nice) but I want to be a great storyteller. on IMDB.com and article said that the academy chose, for best pic, a non controversial film. Crash was non-controvercial? Wow. What do you have to do to be controversial...

......as for the rest: Yay for Phillip Seymour Hoffman! And I am glad that Terrance Howard even got some attention and I am glad for Murderball in that it was even nominated....it seems as if indie film is beginning to infiltrate the machine....

-- spinner :cool:
 
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