Nov 19 2009 Some of These Documentaries Will Be Nominated for an Oscar
Specifically, five of them.
The preliminary fifteen documentaries that will be cut down to the five that will be Academy Award nominees have been announced. So, uh, here they are:
-"The Beaches of Agnes," Agnès Varda, director
-"Burma VJ," Anders Østergaard, director
-"The Cove," Louie Psihoyos, director
-"Every Little Step," James D. Stern and Adam Del Deo, directors
-"Facing Ali," Pete McCormack, director
-"Food, Inc.," Robert Kenner, director
-"Garbage Dreams," Mai Iskander, director
-"Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders," Mark N. Hopkins, director
-"The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers," Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith, directors
-"Mugabe and the White African," Andrew Thompson and Lucy Bailey, directors
-"Sergio," Greg Barker, director
-"Soundtrack for a Revolution," Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman, directors
-"Under Our Skin," Andy Abrahams Wilson, director
-"Valentino: The Last Emperor," Matt Tyrnauer, director
-"Which Way Home," Rebecca Cammisa, director
I, for one, am fairly surprised by the absence of Tyson, Anvil, and Capitalism: A Love Story. As well as the lack of nomination for Man on Wire, Super Size Me, An Inconvenient Truth, The Thin Blue Line, Spellbound, the entire Maysles Brothers catalog, and Nanook of the North. I don't understand exactly how these things work, but man, those were some good documentaries.
Nov 4 2009 Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin Hosting the Oscars
The Academy hasn't been having an easy time giving away the Oscars Ceremony hosting duties. Ignoring Billy Crystal's face desperately, expectantly pushed against their window, they pulled the blinds and asked Hugh Jackman to return to do more singing and dancing. He said no. The Academy tried Ben Stiller and Robert Downey, Jr. But, alas, they said, "What, because we were in a movie together a year-and-a-half ago? No. It's not like we're known as some kind of comedy team." (At this point, through the glass, came a muffled, "Me and Whoopi and Robin are sort of a team, though! If you remember Comic Relief!")
With the Academy on the verge of breakdown and ready to just call the whole thing off and publicly admit that the Oscars are pointless and terrible regardless of who hosts: a breakthrough. One of the Academy members suddenly noticed the [list of most frequent SNL hosts/poster for the Meryl Streep comedy It's Complicated] on the table. And it was settled:
There will be two hosts for the 82nd annual Academy Awards -- Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin -- the first time the show has had multiple hosts since the 1987 ceremonies.Almost immediately after Tuesday's announcement, insiders began speculating that Tina Fey -- who presented with Martin at the most recent Oscarcast and co-stars with Baldwin on "30 Rock" -- will join the team as one of its key writers. The show will air live March 7 on ABC.
Maybe they can trade off every couple hours. Or whenever our eardrums get numb to the sound of banjo.
Sep 1 2009 Let's Change How Academy Award Voting Works
The Academy of Motion Picture Whatever has decided on a new, fairer Best Picture voting method that will ensure the wrong film wins in a more complicated manner this year:
The new system will require voters to rank each of the 10 nominees on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being best.The process calls for PricewaterhouseCoopers to first determine if one nominee has more than 50% of the first-place votes, which would make that film the winner. If no film has achieved that threshold, films will be eliminated progressively, based on which is ranked first on the fewest number of ballots.
When a film is eliminated, the pic ranked second on those ballots will be accorded a first-place vote. Films will be eliminated until a single movie has a majority of the first-place votes and becomes the best picture winner.
With this and the change to extend the Best Picture nominees to ten, I have to admit the Academy is working really hard to make sure I'll at least be confused when I'm angry about who wins.
Best Picture voting gets a makeover [Variety]
Jun 29 2009 Academy Now Allowed to Deem Every Song Bullshit
In a move that, if done earlier, could have cost Randy Newman hundreds of Oscar nominations*, the Academy Awards have announced another drastic change in their nomination process (see first change here, web-slingers -- ed.) that could eliminate the Best Song category if no songs worthy of being deemed "best" are found. Basically, the Academy can now call every original song bullshit:
The music branch annually conducts a "bake-off" in which voters see clips of eligible songs as they are used in each film. The voters then rate a song on a scale of 6 to 10. Under the new ruling, if no song earns 8.25, there will be no nominations. If at least one hits that magic number, it will be nominated, as will the second-highest scorer.
Additionally, they've moved to present the boring, isn't-this-person-great awards--"the Thalberg nod to filmmakers, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and the honorary Oscars for career excellence"--at an exclusive gala rather than during the ceremony. Sounds to me like someone's clearing out some room for the hour-long memorial reel we're going to need if celebrity deaths continue at the current rate. And maybe we can extend the time we spend meeting the accountants holding the briefcases full of sealed awards? One can only dream.
*His early work is genuinely great, though.
Two more Oscar tweaks [Variety]
Jun 24 2009 This Will Mess Up Our Academy Awards Gambling
Cameron Diaz will have to trudge through twice as many film titles next year! Finally catching up to the trend of critics making top ten lists, the Academy Awards will begin nominating ten films for Best Picture beginning with the 82nd Oscars next year, leaving Hollywood the burdensome task of creating nearly a dozen watchable movies before year's end.
I can only assume that, given another few decades, the Academy Awards will finally catch up to internet list trends and add nominations for "Ten Most Ridiculously Hot Aliens to Get Laid in a Sci-Fi Movie."
Oscar expands best pic noms to 10 [Variety]
Feb 23 2009 A Few Seconds of a Bunch of Upcoming Movies
If you made it to the end of the Oscars--or more likely, if you dozed off and were awakened by the credit sequence's jamming guitar--the night's reward was a three-minute movie preview sequence. For some of the films (Public Enemies, Whatever Works), it was a first look at scenes from highly-anticipated projects. For others (Old Dogs!), it was the warning: oh god, Robin Williams and John Travolta made some kind of boot camp comedy, and it's called Old Dogs. Here it is:
Continue Reading " A Few Seconds of a Bunch of Upcoming Movies "
Feb 23 2009 Our Best Actors, Actresses, Documentary Shorts, Etc.
Here's the complete list of Academy Awards winners. Print it out, decorate it with macaroni and glitter, and hang it by your desk so that everyone walking by knows you care an unusual amount about acting awards.
Continue Reading " Our Best Actors, Actresses, Documentary Shorts, Etc. "
Feb 20 2009 Live Oscar Blogging Sunday, Let's Say 8-ish!
Make the Oscars marginally more interesting this year: come here for live blogging! On Sunday (8 ET, 5 PT), I'll be posting up-to-the-minute coverage of the out-of-touch event, giving you the best in largely uninformed but modesty entertaining commentary. Remember how much fun we had last year? (Note: last year's makes nearly no sense now, out of context.) It will be about the same fun this year. Drag the computer desk in front of the television and join me for a night of constantly hitting the refresh button, OK?
Jan 22 2009 So Here's the Full Oscar Nominations List
The Oscar nominations have arrived! You've been wondering what 2008 movies had the best sound editing, and I've got the answer. You've been thinking The Dark Knight and WALL-E were two of the best movies of last year, and I can tell you they weren't. You figured, "Well, Charlie Kaufman will probably at least get a Best Original Screenplay nomination," and you were dead wrong. You were pondering why you even bother paying attention to meaningless awards shows, but the Oscars nominations are strangely silent on that matter.
Anyway, here are your 2009 Academy Award nominations:
Continue Reading " So Here's the Full Oscar Nominations List "
Dec 9 2008 'Dark Knight' Score Deemed Elegible for Academy Award
Variety is reporting that the Academy has reversed it's previous decision that would have rendered James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer's Dark Knight score ineligible.
The Music Branch Executive Committee of the Academy has reversed its Nov. 10 decision declaring their score for "The Dark Knight" ineligible for the 2008 Academy Awards.The score was disqualified due to five names being listed as composers on the music cue sheet.
After reviewing information submitted by the affected parties, the committee concluded that two, Zimmer and Howard, were responsible for the score's authorship.
Now to see if Zimmer can pass the drug test. He says he's clean, but everyone's noticed he's put on way more bulk than composing alone could ever generate.
Nov 13 2008 'Dark Knight' Score Oscar DQ'ed
Ut oh, Dark Knight fans, it looks like the prediction that the film "will win every award ever dark knight rules" might not be entirely accurate. Variety is reporting the score has been disqualified from nomination because too many names were listed on the cue sheet:
The score for "The Dark Knight" has been disqualified by the executive committee of the Academy music branch.Their previous collaboration, on "Batman Begins," was similarly disqualified in 2005.
Sources inside the committee said that the big issue was the fact that five names were listed as composers on the music cue sheet, the official studio document that specifies every piece of music (along with its duration and copyright owner) in the film.
Zimmer said, in an interview with Variety prior to this week's Acad action, that listing multiple names on the cue sheet was a way of financially rewarding parts of the music team who helped make the overall work successful. (Performing-rights societies like ASCAP and BMI use the cue sheet to distribute royalties to composers.)
Zimmer, Howard and the other three individuals -- music editor Alex Gibson, ambient music designer Mel Wesson and composer Lorne Balfe -- reportedly signed an affidavit stating that the score was primarily the work of Zimmer and Howard.
That apparently wasn't enough for the majority of the committee, which was also supplied with documentation indicating that more than 60%, but less than 70%, of the score was credited to Zimmer and Howard.
From the facts that have come forward so far, I don't at all agree with this ruling, but I am willing to let it slide so long as it also means Tom Cruise can't be nominated for Valkyrie under the same conditions. He may be the only name given credit for his performance, but there are clearly numerous other entities--many of them alien, all beyond our realm of understanding--living inside his physical form, contributing to his eye-patch acting.
Feb 25 2008 Full Academy Awards Winners List
Like a cold compress for your still-raging Oscar Fever, here's the complete winner list from last night. Settle your bets and rejoin society.
Feb 24 2008 Oscar LiveBlogging! (Part III)
10:05 - How have they made us hold our collective breath for two hours, waiting expectantly for the winner of Best Sound Editing? A deserved win--those Bourne Ultimatum people really made those tire squeals sing.
10:07 - Something else I noticed about The Bourne Ultimatum: not only were the tire squeals awesome, they really had a great balance with the gunshots and stuff. Great mixing, in a sense.
10:09 - Did you know women have been allowed to win Oscars as well? It turns out they have for some time now.
10:15 - Marion Cotillard wins Best Actress, leaving most of America asking, "who?"
10:19 - Colin Farrell presents Best Grunge Band.
10:24 - Was it not timely enough to make Nicholson say, "You make me want to be a better presenter"? I would love to knock those f***ing glasses off his grinning face.
10:26 - Did you know this isn't the first Academy Awards ceremony? Films have existed, and won prior to this year!
10:30 - The Bourne Ultimatum wins Best Editing, continuing to take home all of the awards no one pays attention to.
10:31 - Nicole Kidman looks like she just found a pirate's treasure, and immediately covered herself in it.
10:34 - It's really uplifting whenever an award-winner has to be carried out.
10:42 - Of course they let Penelope Cruz present Best Foreign Film. Might as well give Tom Cruise Best Short. You know? Because he's short. And she's foreign. Anyway, The Counterfeiters won.
10:45 - "The versatile and handsome Patrick Dempsey"? Did he write this introduction himself?
10:48 - If John Travolta weren't still needlessly in the public eye, I'd believe he were the adult Eddie Munster.
10:51 - Once wins best song after Enchanted splits its vote three ways, with three equally terrible songs. And can you believe the female wanted to speak? Luckily, she was promptly denied.
11:00 - There Will Be Blood wins Best Cinematography; Hillary Swank wins Best Muscley Woman. Try again next year, Zellweger.
11:03 - When they showed the scene from Hook, I was terrified Rufio died.
11:05 - As usual, the obituaries was run like an episode of Kid's Court: hold your full applause until you want to crown a posthumous winner. Did I miss Roy Scheider or was he snubbed yet again?
11:06 - Oh yeah, and Brad Renfro.
11:09 - God, do they really need to point out the relevance of music? I understand that music is important to films. Everyone understand this. If you're going to do this, at least do it for editing or something that's actually overlooked. And Dario Marianelli of Atonement wins, for creating whatever that collection of notes played behind the images is all about.
11:15 - The constant threat on your life that enlisting presents has just been justified: you might get to present an Oscar!
11:18 - Taxi to the Dark Side wins Best Documentary Feature, denying Michael Moore the chance to make a long-winded political diatribe. I'm genuinely disappointed.
11:24 - Stewart's comment that Harrison Ford sounds like the name of an auto dealership may be my new favorite joke for the night. Besides Harrison Ford's earring.
11:26 - Diablo Cody wins for Best Original Screenplay and for Being Totally Awesome and Edgy, and Always Bringing Up Being a Former Stripper.
11:28 - If I'm to believe this last commercial, maybe JC Penney is actually a really great department store?
11:30 - I can't make this clear enough: this is not the first Oscars. There were previous winners!
11:35 - I mean, yeah--who else was going to win Best Actor besides Daniel Day-Lewis?
11:38 - Did I mention I'll also be liveblogging Jimmy Kimmel Live? They finally talked me into it after that last preview. (This isn't true.)
11:40 - Wait, who are these other people receiving awards? Isn't this a one time, never before occurring event?
11:43 - Wow, the Coen Brothers won Best Director. I thought What's-His-Nuts would win.
11:45 - Fair enough--No Country For Old Men wins Best Picture. Though most voters admitted they hadn't yet gotten out to see that pregnant girl one yet.
11:48 - I guess that's it. And not even an hour over schedule. Goes to show how much time you can save just by cutting an obituary or two.
Note: Oscars, from now on always close with an '80s saxophone riff.
Feb 24 2008 Oscar LiveBlogging! (Part II)
9:03 - It was torturous how they made Amy Adams go out there, alone, in the middle of the stage, to sing this cheerful song. That made it sort of enjoyable.
9:09 - The Golden Compass winning over Pirates of the Caribbean and Transformers: an organized atheist conspiracy?
9:12 - Sweeney Todd won art direction, because none of the voters had seen a Tim Burton movie before. And how about this plastic woman?
9:16 - That was a Designing Woman, right? In the audience.
9:19 - Jarvier Bardem wins an expected but deserved victory, which he sullies with another joke about the Prince Valiant haircut. And what was that jibberish he said at the end?!
9:24 - These joke montages would be going over a lot better if the actual joke montages weren't so grossly similar.
9:29 - The Mozart of Pickpockets wins, but the real winner is presenter Owen Wilson--for surviving. Seriously though, did anyone else feel a palpable discomfort when he went up there?
9:31 - Nothing--even theatrical release--will stop Jerry Seinfeld from advertising for Bee Movie. When he dies, he will be buried in a bee costume.
9:33 - When this guy walked into the auditorium with a doll of a boy cradled under his arm, do you think anyone questioned that?
9:39 - Tilda Swindon wins, dressed as half a wizard. Or possibly as an art piece: "Woman Emerging From Satin."
9:48 - I stepped out for a moment, but apparently the Coen Brothers won Best Adapted Screenplay.
9:50 - Did you know it's really hard to run the Oscars? You might think it's just watching some free movies, deciding your favorite stuff, and giving the ballots to an accounting firm, but its actually...
It's basically that.
9:52 - "Wow, that was amazing!" - The best thing Jon Stewart has and probably will say all night. And is this really Miley Cyrus, or is this Hannah Montana?
9:55 - OK, I'll admit I didn't see Enchanted. This was seriously a song, and it's now being considered for an award? This is really terrible, and increasingly confusing as more costumed characters enter.
Continued in Part III! (And the Designing Woman was definitely Dixie Carter.)
Feb 24 2008 Oscar LiveBlogging! (Part I)
8:00 - Now that I'm actually sitting down to watch this, I'm having some second thoughts. Catching the tail-end of the Barbara Walters Oscars special was a harsh reminder of the three-hour marathon of self-indulgent I've signed up for. And how long has Harrison Ford (her interviewee) worn an earring? Why?
8:03 - I'm glad they've started the show with Regis Philbin. Going right to Jon Stewart would probably be too jarring for older viewers. Best to start them off easy.
8:05 - Marion Cotillard was dressed as an albino mermaid then?
8:07 - God, I knew they'd have to make some cute joke about Javier Bardem's hair in No Country For Old Men. I can't wait until they ask Daniel Day-Lewis if he's going to be drinking a milkshake tonight.
8:12 - Mickey Rooney, still alive! And apparently decorated by the military.
8:14 - It was really sad when Jennifer Garner revealed Juno was the first time anyone had given her praise for a movie. Funny, but sad.
8:16 - Cameron Diaz once again proves she's the go-to-girl for the dissection of dark, complex characters.
8:17 - What was with the world's oldest fan (with home-decorated shirt) and the kids? Are they trying to work in elements of The Price is Right?
8:22 - I wish I'd been writing down all the times a shot made me think "they're still around?" I've already missed too many to start now.
8:26 - Regis clearly has a bet that he can find the least relevant people to talk to. His latest find: the stage.
8:27 - I'm so sick of Jack Nicholson's sunglasses. Either he's lost his eyes or he's constantly in a poker tournament. I guess we'll find out if he starts wearing a cowboy hat, too.
8:31 - What better way to introduce the Oscars than with an apocalyptic vision of a war-torn Hollywood, dominated by the very icons we once revered. Smart thinking giving Terminator the statuettes.
8:32 - Jon Stewart appeared to be delivered to the stage by a pneumatic tube, or some sort of giant cryo-chamber. I hope they keep that up throughout the night.
8:37 - Man. When the writer's strike ended, did Leno's writers immediately start on this material? The Norbit joke was pretty good though.
8:42 - Thank god Elizabeth won for Costume Design. I was starting to worry no one would ever recognize the brilliance in recreating old, giant dresses.
8:48 - This Oscars retrospective presents a pretty compelling thesis: if this is what we give you, why do you keep watching?
8:53 - I love stilted banter! (This won't be the last time I say this.)
8:54 - No surprise that Ratatouille won Best Animated Picture. Sort of a surprise when director Brad Bird started doing a long anecdote with voices.
8:58 - Once again, an obscure foreign film (La Vie en Rose) beats an American classic (Norbit). I guess the DVD box will just say "nominated" for an Oscar now.
Continued on Part II!
Feb 22 2008 Oscar Liveblogging Sunday Night at 8!
In the interest of keeping up with the trendiest blogging trends, I'll be liveblogging the Oscars this Sunday, 8pm Eastern to god-knows-when, pummeling you with my every thought on winners, losers, obituaries, and song and dance numbers. Why go to a social gathering when you can stay home, glancing back and forth between televised dresses and a computer screen, alone if not for a wine bottle and a stranger's incremental written critique? See you Sunday!
Jan 30 2008 'Crash' Coming to TV, So What Else Could?
Riding off the high of a three-year-old Best Picture Oscar Win, it's been announced that the ensemble melodrama Crash will be coming to Starz as an original series. So I started thinking, what other Oscar winners could we cash in for a probably-terrible television series, and what would they be like? This is as far as I got:
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) - The king is back--and he wants the fellowship to rent an apartment! Ut oh!
Forrest Gump (1994) - It's like Quantum Leap with an idiot, with Forrest time traveling to cause famous events in history. And Bubba is Al.
The Silence of the Lambs (1991) - All of the current Hannibal-related movies are broken up into half-hour shows, and a laugh-track is added.
Dances with Wolves (1990) - A reality show in which Kevin Costner competes against other celebrities to create the best dance possible with a wolf partner.
Driving Miss Daisy (1989) - Cash Cab, but they'll only pick up white contestants.
Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) - Retitled Kramer vs. Cramer, Michael Richards and Mad Money's Jim Cramer compete in weekly verbal and physical sparring.
The French Connection (1971) - Gene Hackman joins host Chuck Woolery in the search for love abroad.
The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) - Just some people singing or dancing, maybe lifting things? I don't think it matters. With a name like The Greatest Show on Earth, who's not going to watch?
Any other Best Pictures you think would make a good television series?
Jan 22 2008 It's Oscar Nomination Time!
Like Grandma's birthday, some 80-year-old traditions seemingly must continue despite that absolutely no one is deriving any enjoyment anymore. Thus, the Academy Awards nominations have been released, for whatever joyless ceremony/reading by Access Hollywood staff they're planning. And the nominations are...
(Warning: Norbit is nominated. Seriously.)
Jan 16 2008 Academy Awards Poster for Possible Oscars Ceremony
Behold the new Oscars teaser poster, an alluring hybrid of inspirational posters and a Photoshop filter showcase sure to get you excited for the hypothetical awards ceremony. God, lens flares are so hot right now.
Oscar's 80th Poster [Awards Daily]
