Oscars 2006

[Usivius]

So.... any surprises?

Not for me, although I was disappointed that Cronenburg and Viggo were not nominated for History of Violence.
Hollywood gone inde?.... Nah, Hollywood likes movied that create buzz .. so if an "inde" film does it (and we can debate the loose term "inde") then they will milk it...

Although, I am going to be hard pressed to win my Oscar pool this year...

[sgt.null]

seems that Hollywood simply picked the most liberal movies that came out this year. must be its way of protesting Bush. so they can all hug one another for their bravery. to me, quite an unappealing bunch of movies. none seem as good as say, Mystic River. and no I haven't seen any of the films, they just don't seem to warrant my attention. no LotR.

[Usivius]

well, considering 'BEST PIC' catagory, there are some that follow the typical Oscar trends: bio-pic (Capote), 'art' film (Good Nigh and Good Luck), and 'big' picture (Munich), 'tragic' movie (Crash) ... having said that, I guess there were other films not nominated that could have fit these.

But you are right, there doesn't seem to be the 'edge' there has been in other years ... BUT, is still much better than a year of 'Chariouts of Fire' let's say ...

[taraswizard]

Here's a list just so we all know what we might be discussing.
The following includes the major nominees in awards category.
Best movie
Brokeback Mountain
Capote
Crash
Good night and good luck
Munich

Best actor
Phillip Seymour Hoffman - Capote
Terence Howard - Hustle and flow
Heath Ledger - Brokeback Mountain
Joaquin Phoenix - Walk the line
David Strathairn - Good night and good luck

Best actress
Judi Dench - Mrs. Henderson presents
Felicity Huffman - Transamerica
Keira Knightly - Pride and prejudice
Charlize Theron - North Country
Reese Witherspoon - Walk the line

Best supporting actor
George Clooney - Syriana
Matt Dillon - Crash
Paul Giamatti - Cinderella Man
Jake Gyllenhall - Brokeback Mountain
John Hurt - History of violence

Best supporting actress
Amy Adams - Junebug
Katherine Keener - Capote
Frances McDormand - North Country
Rachel Weisz - Constant Gardener
Michelle Williams - Brokeback Mountain

Director
Geoge Clooney - Good night and good luck
Paul Haggis - Crash
Ang Lee - Brokeback Mountain
Bennett Miller - Capote
Steven Spielberg - Munich

[Alynna Lis Eachann]

I haven't seen any of these except for Brokeback, and I can tell you that this is one powerful movie. I don't actually like the hype that's surrounded it lately (Operah's piece on it was especially awful), because I think the movie speaks for itself. I also resent the fact that anybody wants to label it as "liberal." This is not a movie about politics, it's a movie about emotion.

[Fist and Faith]

But you are right, there doesn't seem to be the 'edge' there has been in other years ... BUT, is still much better than a year of 'Chariouts of Fire' let's say ...

Damn, I was tempted to abuse my mod powers, you Philistine!



Chariots of Fire is among my few favorite films of all time!!!

[taraswizard]

Alynna what did her 'auspiciousness' Ms Winfrey say about the movie? I'm interested. Agreeing with your other comments. Furthermore, it's a group of syndicated radio talk show hosts, Limbaugh, Medved (used to host PBS At the movies apprears sometimes on MSNBC), Praeger (well known host in LA and sometimes appears on Larry King's TV show) and others of that conviction who are saying BbMt is propaganda for the acceptance and normalizing of a gay lifestyle. Of course that all sounds a little foolish since AFAIK the Annie Proulx short story on which the movie was based was written in the early 1960s, FWIW I think that was before Stonewall.

[Alynna Lis Eachann]

Alynna what did her 'auspiciousness' Ms Winfrey say about the movie? I'm interested.

It wasn't anything specific that she said, but the whole air of the interview (she had the four main characters on the show) was all "What was the kissing scene like?" (which was an actual question) and probing about the actors' comfort level more than about the substance of the movie. I don't like her too much to begin with, but in my opinion she ened up portraying the flick as overdone and cheesy. If I had seen that interview before the movie, I never would have bothered with the movie itself. She just didn't show it in a very intelligent or thought-provoking light.

[taraswizard]

ROFLOL. How Teen people of the Winfrey woman (could she be more shallow)? Hope she put on a Valley gal accent when asking questions like that, did she giggle and twirl her hair after asking the question? She should have. Firstly, Jake aned Gyllenhall are actors so the question really makes no sense using that PoV. IIRC, no one has asked Hal Sparks (one of the stars of QaF) what's it like to be naked with another guy. That cracks me up and LOL.

[Usivius]

Damn, I was tempted to abuse my mod powers, you Philistine!



Chariots of Fire is among my few favorite films of all time!!!

my apologies Fist ... good movie but I was highly disappointed that it was chosen as 'best'. "Atlantic City" or "Reds" should have won. Heck! "Raiders of the Lost Arc" (also nominated for Best Pic that year) should have won over Chariots!

OK... that's just me

[Fist and Faith]

I've seen Raiders about 23 times, and can quote most of the dialog, so I won't argue on that point. And the first time I saw Chariots, I hadn't slept the night before. Some party, iirc. So I fell asleep during the movie, and figured it was terribly boring. Heh. Anyway, my opinion of it has risen tremendously after the next couple viewings.

Oh heck, I was gonna copy & paste some quotes from it, but I'll just start a thread for it.

And shame on me, but I've never seen Atlantic City or Reds.

[Worm of Despite]

I really hope "Good Night, And Good Luck" wins best pic.

[dlbpharmd]

I haven't seen any of the movies nominated for Best Pic, although I probably will see all of them eventually with the exception of Brokeback.

I can say that I think Phoenix did an outstanding job portraying Johnny Cash. And, can we finally admit to ourselves that Paul Giamatti is one of our finest actors, and deserves to be recognized as such? Please?

[matrixman]

The only Best Picture nominee I've seen so far is Capote, but I'll say right now that I'm surprised and disappointed by the omission of The Constant Gardener. I watched it just before the nominations were announced, and I was convinced it would be a contender. I felt it was just the kind of serious, complex drama that the Academy loves to reward. Besides that, it also happens to be a very good movie. I think it's superior as a whole to Capote, at any rate. Yeah, it's nice that Rachel Weisz got a Best Supporting Actress nomination, but that's underwhelming.

Taraswizard didn't list the more technical nominations, so I wonder if The Constant Gardener at least got a Best Cinematography nod, because it's a visually fabulous movie (in a very gritty way).

To add to what Usivius said, I'm also puzzled as to why A History of Violence was also virtually ignored. (Is that Best Supporting Actor for John Hurt correct? I don't remember seeing him in the movie at all.) At the very least, I would've thought David Cronenberg would get a Best Director nod. This film generated a lot of buzz when it first premiered earlier in the year, but I guess the legendary amnesia of Academy voters has reared its head.

[Kinslaughterer]

Both Munich and Constant Gardener were excellent films. Capote intrigues me as well. Probably some of the best movies this year for content and screenplay.

[matrixman]

Now that Oscar night is over, here were the big winners:

Best movie: Crash
Best actor: Phillip Seymour Hoffman - Capote
Best actress: Reese Witherspoon - Walk the line
Best supporting actor: George Clooney - Syriana
Best supporting actress: Rachel Weisz - The Constant Gardener
Best director: Ang Lee - Brokeback Mountain

Well, of the Best Picture nominees, I still haven't seen either Crash or Brokeback Mountain, so I have no comment on those films, except that I was surprised that Crash won the big prize, what with all the seeming critical momentum Brokeback had going into the awards.

I managed to watch both Good Night And Good Luck and Munich last week. The former was a good little gem of a movie, but Munich...WOW! I'm still reeling from it. As usual, very impressive virtuoso filmmaking from Spielberg. Munich and The Constant Gardener are the two best dramas of '05 I've yet seen (not that I've seen that many movies this past year). I'm sure Brokeback and Crash are fine films too, and I've every intention of seeing them, but they're going to have to be something pretty darned special to rival either The Constant Gardener or Munich in my mind.

I'll have to check out Syriana too, even though it confused the hell out of Jay. The Constant Gardener confused me the first time around, too, but I managed to make sense of it...eventually.

Oh, and congrats to Tsotsi for winning Best Foreign Language Film. Avatar, maybe you don't follow these things, but it's nice that a South African film got recognized by the Academy voters. I didn't see this film, but I did read the original novel back in school.

[Avatar]

Thanks MM. Actually, I had no idea it had won until LuciMay mentioned it in a PM this morning. I haven't seen it either. And I didn't know it was a novel for that matter. Now I'm going to have to find it and read it.

--A

[matrixman]

The novel is by Athol Fugard. I remember it as one of the more harrowing books we covered in English class, but in a good way. Hey, I'll take thought-provoking literature like Tsotsi over boring dreck like Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Ubervilles anyday. It would be lovely if I could get an apology from the school for foisting crap like Tess on me. But I digress...

I'm surprised that Tsotsi wasn't known to you, being that it's a South African novel, and a famous one at that. Or at least famous enough for it to have made it all the way from your country to a Canadian classroom. At any rate, I highly recommend the book. It's a powerful read.

[Avatar]

Shall have a look for it definitely. To my shame, I've never paid much attention to South African literature...not enough sci-fi/fantasy.

I think I even have a collection of Athol Fugard works, (although, I suspect it's actually his plays), left to me by my grandmother somewhere. Will have to search though.

--A

[Usivius]

Woo hoo! In our family Oscar pool this year, of which for the last 5 years I have absoluely 'tanked' in, I scored 20 out of 24 right. Pretty darn good for me. My highest yet.

What tripped me up? The two 'short' categories: documentary and animated. And the big one: song ... sheesh! (can't remember the fourth one.)
Overall, no real surprises except 'song', and I was impressed with John Stewart's job as hosting.