Anyone give a shit about the Oscars?

[Diabolical]

No? Well fuck you, I do...for once.

There were so many great flicks last year and most of the best of them were nominated.

By this time tomorrow night I should be able to say that I've seen all 10 Best Picture nominees (The Kids Are All Right & 127 Hours to go).

The big 6 categories:

BEST PICTURE:
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King’s Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone

DIRECTING:
Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
David O. Russell, The Fighter
Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech
David Fincher, The Social Network
Joel and Ethan Coen, True Grit

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE:
Javier Bardem, Biutiful
Jeff Bridges, True Grit
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
James Franco, 127 Hours

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE:
Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:
Christian Bale, The Fighter
John Hawks, Winter’s Bone
Jeremy Renner, The Town
Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech
Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:
Amy Adams, The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter, The King’s Speech
Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit
Jackie Weaver, Animal Kingdom

[vynsane]

didn't see them, don't have cable anymore.

[anarky]

I haven't been able to give a shit about them since they gave Eminem an Oscar in their only pop music category. Even the Grammys shut that dumbass out of the big prize.

[Senor JabbaJohnL]

Many of my film student friends care about them, but I really don't. It's just an excuse for Hollywood to jerk itself off for a few hours.

Am I bitter about the Annie Hall thing? Probably. But going beyond the fan perspective, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Star Wars has had a significantly bigger impact on the industry and the world at large than Annie Hall did, so I don't really trust their judgment. Oh, and Crash sucks ass.

[anarky]

I will say with no hesitation that Star Wars is a better movie and was more deserving of the little golden man than Annie Hall.

Doesn't mean Annie Hall (or anything from Woody Allen in the 1970s) doesn't kick ass, though.

I've always gotten the impression that the nominations and voting are based more on both what people think they should vote for than what they want to vote for, or what's actually better. There are a shit-ton of movies that really deserve credit, but don't even get nominated because they're genre films, or not artsy enough, or whatever. TMNT is a glaring incident of that; it might not be a great movie in the sense that it should get any of the traditional Oscars, but, really, it was one of the most beautifully animated movies of all time, and probably deserved a nomination. (Though, let's be honest, there should be a "Best Feature Film Animation" that's separate from "Best Visual Effects" or "Best Animated Feature Film," because people who do gorgeous animation on an otherwise shitty movie are essentially screwed.)

Or Return of the King: great movie, but, really, was it the best of everything in the world (except, apparently, acting)?

[Diabolical]

I agree that the Oscars are nothing more than Hollywood patting itself on the back, but at the same time I like seeing great films get the recognition they deserve.

Typically there are only 2 or 3 films that truly deserve the Best Picture nomination, most are just overly dramatic films that nobody outside of the industry (and critics) gives a shit about.

This year, all 10 of the films have been really good, even though in most years I never would have considered watching many of the nominees like The Kids Are All Right, The King's Speech or Winter's Bone. I'm glad I did see them, especially The King's Speech.

I'm still pissed that Shutter Island didn't get a single nomination.

It was no surprise when Return of the King won Best Picture since it was a pretty weak year (Return of the King, Lost in Translation, Master and Commander, Mystic River, Seabiscuit).

And Crash was far better than the favorite, Buttfucking Cowboys.
(Not because of the subject matter, but because it boring as fuck.)

[Rollo Tomassi]

I think Oscar gets it right far more often than they get it wrong.

As for this years noms, I was positive Social Network would walk away with the BestPic...until I saw The King's Speech. What an absolutely wonderful film in every regard. Acting. Directing. Cinematography. Editing. And on an emotional level, I felt very uplifted after viewing it. I know overhyping a movie by recommending it too much can backfire, but I really recommend seeing it.

And like Diabolical, I had no great urge to see it before I saw it. My parents went and I was bored that day and tagged along.

[Diabolical]

I've now seen all 10.
127 Hours - Franco is great in what is essentially a one-man movie, but he ain't got a shot in hell of beat8ing Firth or Eisenberg. There are other people who bookend the flick and others during flashbacks/hallucinations, but 127 Hours is all about Franco.

As for this years noms, I was positive Social Network would walk away with the BestPic...until I saw The King's Speech. What an absolutely wonderful film in every regard. Acting. Directing. Cinematography. Editing. And on an emotional level, I felt very uplifted after viewing it. I know overhyping a movie by recommending it too much can backfire, but I really recommend seeing it.

Agreed. I won't be disappointed in the slightest if either one wins, although I can see myself rewatching The Social Network more than The King's Speech in the future.

[Senor JabbaJohnL]

Typically there are only 2 or 3 films that truly deserve the Best Picture nomination, most are just overly dramatic films that nobody outside of the industry (and critics) gives a shit about.

This year, all 10 of the films have been really good, even though in most years I never would have considered watching many of the nominees like The Kids Are All Right, The King's Speech or Winter's Bone. I'm glad I did see them, especially The King's Speech.

...

And Crash was far better than the favorite, Buttfucking Cowboys.
(Not because of the subject matter, but because it boring as fuck.)

Well, the fact that they only usually nominate those kinds of movies is exactly why they expanded the Best Picture category from five to ten. People are more prone to give a shit about the Oscars if movies they like are nominated, and they'll get more attention if they nominate more popular movies alongside the artsy fartsy ones that nobody's ever heard of. So they get more viewers and then hope that that will cause the people to go see the other movies, thus doing better business in a number of ways. People push and campaign so hard for their movies that it's hard to tell whether the voters are actually choosing the movies they think are truly the best pieces of art, or which one's producers sent them the most kewl stuff in the mail.

I've also heard the argument that the Oscars are good because they drive filmmakers to be the best and to make great films. I call bullshit on that. Well, it might be true, but if the only reason you're making a movie (or doing anything at all, really) is for recognition, then that's as bad as only doing it for money.

As to the 2005 awards, I haven't seen Brokeback Mountain, Capote, or Good Night and Good Luck (but I really enjoyed Munich), so I can't comment much on the other nominees. Crash is just such a piece of cinematic bullshit with the most shallow, one-dimensional group of characters (many of whom completely change at the core of their being for no reason whatsoever, with no motivation at all), but it congratulates the viewers for being "above" all the incredibly-simple-yet-over-the-top racism. As James Rolfe might say, it fuckin' sucks, it suckin' fucks, and I don't like it.

[anarky]

Brokeback Mountain has some Anne Hathaway boobootitties.

[Diabolical]

Brokeback Mountain has some Anne Hathaway boobootitties.

So did Havoc which didn't make that a good movie either.

Brokeback also had Heath Ledger using a big honkin' wad o' spit in his hand for lube.

[Rollo Tomassi]

Looking at the recent past Best Pic wins, I'd say Oscar definitely gets it right more than they get it wrong. And so many of them, I knew..KNEW..they were going to win after I walked out of the theatre.

2009 - Hurt Locker. Knew it. Way better than Avatar which was its only real competition that year. Avatar blows.
2008 - Slumdog Millionaire. Knew it. The other movies were decent, but they were also rans.
2007 - No Country For Old Men. Knew it.
2006 - The Departed. Knew it.
2005 - Crash. This is one that's debatable. I preferred Brokeback Mountain to Crash
2004 - Million Dollar Baby. Not a slam dunk for me, but compared to Aviator, Finding Neverland, Ray, and Sideways, easily the best of those five. Sideways downright sucks, so you can see there was a dearth of selection that year.
2003 - Return of the King. Duh. But I have to say, Master and Commander is seriously one of my favorite films ever. Had ROTK not been a nomination, I would've been rooting for MnC.
2002 - Chicago. Eh. No. Obviously, I would've picked Two Towers. And Gangs of New York, Hours, and The Pianist were the other choices. Pianist gets immediate disqualification for being made by a sick fuck. Never saw Hours. Gangs was not memorable, but neither was Chicago for me.
2001 - A Beautiful Mind. Again. No. Even if I was rooting for Fellowship, I would say Moulin Rouge was that years best film. And Gosford Park and In the Bedroom were both rather well done. Beautiful just seemed like the "safe" choice that year, but nowhere near the best.
2000 - Gladiator. Hell yeah. Knew it.
1999 - American Beauty. Ahhh...1999 was SUCH a fantastic year. Of all the noms, Beauty, Cider House Rules, The Insider, Sixth Sense, and the Green Mile, the only one I would've had a problem with winning was Green Mile. I picked Beauty to win that year, but I can easily sit down and watch Cider and Insider and enjoy them over and over and over. We were spoiled with good films that year.
1998 - Shakespeare in Love. As a 20-something male, obviously my choice was for Saving Private Ryan that year, but I saw Shakespeare after it won and was delighted by how good it was. Elizabeth, Life is Beautiful, and Thin Red Line were also all very good films. It was another good year.
1997 - Titanic. No. It was good, but L.A. Confidential was so much better. Hell, I like Good Will Hunting better than Titanic. And I'm not a Titanic hater like a lot of people. I enjoyed it. it was a great movie. But it wasn't the best. Now I want to go watch LAConf again.
1996 - English Patient. Wow. '96 was a weak year. Jerry Maguire? Seriously? I don't think I had a pic that year. I've never seen Shine or Secrets and Lies. And Fargo was decent as a cult film, but certainly no best pic. English wins by default I guess.
1995 - Braveheart. Barely beat out Apollo 13. In retrospect, can Mel Gibson reach back thru time and taint his previous work? I picked Braveheart at the time, but I can sit through Apollo13 anytime. It was on TV a few months ago, and I stopped flipping thru channels to watch it to the end. Then I started flipping channels again, and it was on the WestCoast feed and I watched it again, back to back. And Babe was that year as well, and that movie is also awesome. So '95 was a good year.
1994 - Forrest Gump. Beat out Pulp Fiction AND Shawshank Redemption. I think not. I believe I had Pulp Fiction that year. But in hindsight, I think Shawshank is the best movie from that year. And Forrest is still a fantastic film, just not quite as good as the other two.
1993 - Schindler's List. Yeah, I think that one's a no brainer. Holy hell, the Fugitive got nominated? Damn, good for the Fugitive.
1992 - Unforgiven. Also the easy win, up against A Few Good Men, Scent of a Woman, Crying Game, and Howards End. Although, I think Few and Scent are memorable films.
1991 - Silence of the Lambs. Knew it. AND I Knew it when it came out in March. JFK is the only one that comes close that year. Bugsy? Prince of Tides? Please...and Beauty and the Beast is still a wonderful film. Kudos for being the only animated film to get a best pic nom ever.
1990 - Dances With Wolves. Another easy win in my opinion. Awakenings, Ghost (Ghost?! Really?), GodfatherIII (that was like a legacy pledge at a frat house), and Goodfellas.
1989 - Driving Miss Daisy. I've yet to see DMD. As such I can't honestly tell you if its better than Field of Dreams, Dead Poets Society, My Left Foot, and Born on the Fourth of July. But Field has become almost anthemic for Americana. It's like the one movie guys are allowed to cry at the end of.

Going back farther than that, as I look at the list of 80s films, I realize there are a LOT of films I haven't seen, including the winners. And I realized I was a little kid back then and most of the films on the list are forgettable. Except Ghandi beating E.T. in 82 and Chariots of Fire beating Raiders of the Lost Ark in 81. My seven year old self is crying "Foul!"

So in the past twenty years, over half were slam dunks for me, and a majority of the others were either years where I concede the winner was just as good as my fave or I didn't have a strong opinion. They only got it "wrong" a few times.

[Rollo Tomassi]

The show starts in ten minutes. Last chance to shout out your predictions.

[anarky]

I predict the special about "wolves vs bears in Yellowstone" at 8 on PBS will be fucking awesome.

[Diabolical]

I guess I never posted my pics here.
I did on facebook shortly before the show started and I went 5 for 6, missing Best Supporting Actress (I chose Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit).