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.
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]
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 "
Oct 16 2007 Some Other Crap That Happened...
- Seven minutes of The Dark Knight will be shown prior to IMAX screenings of I Am Legend. This is the closest many nerds will ever come to "seven minutes of heaven." [Collider]
- Steve Antin is set to direct Burlesque, a contemporary musical set in a neo-burlesque club in Los Angeles, but he'll be telling his wife he's "watching the game with some friends." [Variety]
- Orson Welles' sole Oscar for Citizen Kane will be auctioned at Sotheby's, and is expected to fetch around a million dollars. If you win, remember to leave positive feedback (A++++++++++++++++ C@@L DEALER!!!) [Reuters]
- Director Joe Carnahan has confirmed the earlier rumor that Chris Pine will play young James T. Kirk in the upcoming Star Trek prequel. Pine will spend the next six months training in the art of double-karate-chopping the shoulders, then rolling out of the way. [Smokin' Joe Carnahan]
Jul 16 2007 Elijah Kelley Oscar Watch
Desperately trying to avoid a "black guys love fat white chicks" joke here...
VH1 is reporting the Elijah Kelley will play Sammy Davis Jr. in an upcoming biopic. I didn't really know who Elijah Kelley was before today, but internet searches have led me to believe that he is an attractive black man with really nice teeth who looks like he smells nice. He's sort of what I wish I looked like.
Irregardless, this news can mean only one thing: Elijah Kelley will be winning an Oscar for best actor. I know the movie hasn't come out yet, but let's look at the facts here, people: He's playing a beloved, dead, black entertainer who battles racism and has a glass eye. Unless another movie comes out about a gay retarded clown musician living in a WWII-era Jewish ghetto, this one's pretty much a lock. The academy loves actors who play real people, because they're not very smart or creative, and they don't know much about acting; the easiest way to judge acting is to be able to compare performance to the real thing. Basically, they love a good impressionist. If Jimmy Fallon or Darrell Hammond ever turn to drama, they might runaway with the awards every year.
