Oscars 2008 Pre-game Shenanigans

Yeah, it was Sorkin before Sorkin was SORKIN. It was written in the Clinton years, hence its almost total lack of dramatic urgency.

we could also be referring to A Few Good Men.

xp

oh, that hasn't changed! CWW is 97 minutes long, and half that time is Hanks drinking, whoring and trying to escape drug charges. Balanced against, you know, a 10-year war w/ the USSR.

Yes, but the Reagan years were like that.

So naturally Hanks is the one NOT getting nominated? (xpost)

Hoffman is actually good in it. Hanks is certainly the first name I think of to play a 6'4" Texas hedonist.

morbz why the fuck do you care about this movie so much

To the extent I care, it distorts recent history.

So does Hairspray.

well, "recent" in relative terms

well I bet Hairspray doesn't have "Based on a true story" title upfront (even tho it is)

59 Best Song eligibles?

http://www.cinematical.com/2007/12/16/academy-announces-59-contenders-for-original-song-oscar/

CHUCK WORKMAN SOBS QUIETLY

The Writers Guild has notified the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and Dick Clark Productions that their requests for an agreement to allow writers to prepare material for the 65th Annual Golden Globe Awards show have been denied.

The Guild has also denied a request from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for a waiver in connection with the use of clips from motion pictures and past Academy Awards shows for use during the annual Academy Awards presentation.

clips from motion pictures and past Academy Awards shows

Wait, how is this any different from showing reruns?

I look forward to the fat-free Oscars. How about...an hour?

xp: new context? u see, Chuck Workman CREATES.

Anyone who complains about the length of the Oscar telecast doesn't really love the Oscars. The fact that it's a bloated, self-congratulatory mess is part of the appeal.

I envision Jon Stewart doing his Reggie Van Gleason voice at least 6 times. "HOOOOOOO, no cuhlips!"

an oscars without the canned quips would be refreshing

Yeah, hearing Clooney & Co bait the FCC with improvised 'filth' wd be way more exciting.

I mean, I kinda get why people like the long telecast, but I don't want to stay up until 1am just to find out that, yes, Atonement won after all.

Haha, it would maybe be the first time the movie winning outdoes the actual show for phony pomp.

from the NYT:

"...though a request had not yet been made, the union’s directors had already decided they would not grant a waiver for writers, including the prospective host Jon Stewart, to work on the show. Mr. Stewart declined to comment in an e-mail message sent on Tuesday."

I am envisioning the Oscars becoming a 60-minute PBS special.

he basically only does oscar films, which i think is lame but there we have it.

Except for that Terry Gilliam movie that no one saw.

And what is the deal with these Oscar-bait roles knocking me on my ass this year? First Amy Ryan, then Hal Holbrook. Now Vanessa Redgrave. I am turning into Rex Reed.

Eric, when are you coming out for Julie Christie?

have Atonement and Sweeney Todd both lost their Oscar glow, as far as getting 6-8 nominations goes?

Yes they have. I'm sort of wondering if Atonement will get anything outside of maybe one acting nod and costume design.

"Asked about the fate of the Oscars, one specialty distrib said Tuesday: 'It's like contemplating my own mortality. I know it's something I have to face, but not today.'"

-- from a 1.8.08 Variety story

outside of maybe one acting nod

the Ronan child or KK?

how in hell are Atonement's chances upped by the GG win, when they have no overlapping members w/ the Academy?

maybe the Hollywood Foreign Press can start bribing the Academy's membership too.

Atonement seems like such a Oscar film that it's really hard for me to imagine it getting snubbed in favor of Juno or Michael Clayton. I don't really understand the backlash: it got good reviews, right?

too mainstream

There is no empirical bump. But if Atonement was nominated by the Academy (since ballots came in before the GGs), it does give its chances for a win a minor boost. Of course, the Globes haven't predicted BP since Chicago, and even that seemed to just get in under The Pianist's wire.

Atonement is this year's Memoirs of a Geisha.

atonement was written by britishes, not your striking communiss americans: SUBTEXT.

so sight unseen i think it has the proverbial shot, and surely the fox-searchlight fake indie thing is over with now? again sight unseen i don't think 'juno' has the legs.

there's no way -- sight unseen -- that something as dark as 'no country' will win best oscar pic. and that might go for 'blood' too. where is the 'dreamgirls' candidate in the mix?

So, if Julie Christie wins the SAG award, she's a lock for Best Actress, no?

should i see atonement?

Rex Reed and Andrew Sarris certainly think so -- i don't think i could stand 2 hours of Keira Knightley though

you're jesting now, nrq.

yeah more or less. i will see 'no country', but probably not the other contendahs.

maybe living in flyover country is what amplifies Oscar season ... it's like the one time of year that most of the film-going world is on the same page about what movies to get excited over, et al.

Keira Knightley is onscreen for maybe a quarter of the film.

I don't know why I feel this vague sense of disappointment that Atonement's fortunes are falling. I haven't even seen it.

It would've been nominated in a heartbeat 10 years ago, but as Morbs pointed out, today's model Oscar juggernaut is jacked-up, bloody action picture with a name-brand director attached.

is this your way of telling me to stay away from There Will Be Blood?

there will be blood is not a jacked-up bloody action picture, fwiw. for truth in advertising it should be called there will be some blood, eventually.

i don't understand the fuss about no country, which i think is pretty medium-warm. but i guess since fargo didn't win best picture the coens are eligible for the career-recognition nod. plus cormac mccarthy is at the peak of great-american-artist lionization, which would probably help.

there's hardly any blood in 'TWBB'.

but more than in Juno, presumably.

I'm not sure there's any Oscared jacked-up, bloody action picture before The Departed. Maybe it was an anomaly.

'the godfather'

(also see Slant & FilmExperience links above)

foreign language? i haven't seen any of these. counterfeiters has some buzz i guess.

don't bet vs Nazis

i guess it helps that it's austrian, so they don't have to give it to two german films in a row.

ok i went ahead and put bardem. sigh. (will be kicking myself if hh pulls it out.) sticking with cate, though, on general principles.

shitload of "best oscars ever" guff in UK press today. will be so glad for it all to be over. wonder if 'semi pro' and 'vantage point' will get a look-in next year. guess not.

A friend insists Cotillard will win, and maybe in another year she might since the role is pure Oscar bait (playing a real person, she cries, screams, lunges across the room).

(It will be Dee and not Swinton I mark on my personal pool ballot, btw.)

Not on uk tv?

apparently not! i think it might be on sky?

I can only seem to find "red carpet coverage" on E, which we don't get.

weird

it is really. guess the beeb was priced out, and to be fair no-one watches it anyway -- snug in that popular 2am on monday morning slot.

You'd think someone would at least pick it up to show Monday night, like itv(?) did w the grammys. I'd watch it.

i searched radiotimes.com for 'oscar' and 'academy' and got jack.

it's on sky premier pay-for-view and sky one tomorrow night. really looking forward to the clips on the jonathan ross show*

isn't it on Sky Movies? It was last year.

uh, xpost.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/02/23/movies/20080223_REVENUE_GRAPHIC.html

mmm chocolate swirl!

Since (soon)this is no longer pre-game, shouldn't there be a show/postmortem thread?

OSCARTOPSY 2008

It's on Sky Movies right now.

OK, I laughed like a fool over Jon Stewart's Olympia Dukakis gag.

Badolf Titler. Hilarious, Jon. Really. Who's writing these jokes, Nelson Muntz?

I hope that entire room gets somehow blown to smithereens and only Javier Bardem is somehow spared

Rolling CHALLENGING OPINIONS thread 2008

I can't bring myself to start a new thread in October, but it has begun:

http://weblogs.variety.com/thompsononhollywood/2008/10/oscar-watch-wal.html