The 84th Academy Awards Thread v. BILLY CRYSYTAL

[Accelerando]

Today the nominations for the 84th Academy Awards were announced. There were some surprises (EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE) and there were some snubs (THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN, anyone???)

The nominations are:

Best Picture

THE ARTIST
THE DESCENDANTS
THE HELP
HUGO
EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
WAR HORSE
THE TREE OF LIFE
MONEYBALL

Best Director

Michel Hazanavicius - THE ARTIST
Alexander Payne - THE DESCENDANTS
Martin Scorsese - HUGO
Woody Allen - MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
Terrence Malick - THE TREE OF LIFE


Best Actor

Demian Bichir - A BETTER LIFE
George Clooney - THE DESCENDANTS
Jean Dujardin -  THE ARTIST
Gary Oldman -  TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY
Brad Pitt - MONEYBALL

Best Supporting Actor

Kenneth Branagh - MY WEEK WITH MARILYN
Jonah Hill - MONEYBALL
Nick Nolte - WARRIOR
Cristopher Plummer - BEGINNERS
Max von Sydow -  EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE

Best Actress

Glenn Close -  ALBERT NOBBS
Viola Davis - THE HELP
Meryl Streep - THE IRON LADY
Rooney Mara - THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
Michelle Williams - MY WEEK WITH MARILYN

Best Supporting Actress

Berenice Bejo - THE ARTIST
Jessica Chastain - THE HELP
Melissa McCarthy - BRIDESMAIDS
Janet McTeer - ALBERT NOBBS
Octavia Spencer - THE HELP

Best Animated Feature

A CAT IN PARIS
CHICO AND RITA
KUNG FU PANDA 2
PUSS IN BOOTS
RANGO


Best Adapted Screenplay

Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash - THE DESCENDANTS
John Logan - HUGO
George Clooney, Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon - THE IDES OF MARCH
Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin (story by Stan Chervin) - MONEYBALL
Bridget O'Connor & Peter Straughan - TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY

Best Original Screenplay

Michel Hazanavicius - THE ARTIST
Kristen Wiig & Annie Mumolo - BRIDESMAIDS
J.C. Chandor - MARGIN CALL
Woody Allen - MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
Asghar Farhadi -  A SEPARATION


Best Foreign Film

BULLHEAD (Belgium)
MONSIEUR LAZHAR (Canada)
A SEPARATION (Iran)
FOOTNOTE (Israel)
IN DARKNESS (Poland)


Best Art Direction

Laurence Bennett; Robert Gould - THE ARTIST
Stuart Craig; Stephenie McMillan - HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2
Dante Ferretti; Francesca Lo Schiavo - HUGO
Anne Seibel; Helene Dubreuil - MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
Rick Carter; Lee Sandales - WAR HORSE


Best Cinematography

Guillame Schiffman - THE ARTIST
Jeff Cronenweth - THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
Robert Richardson - HUGO
Janusz Kaminski -  WAR HORSE
Emmanuel Lubezki - THE TREE OF LIFE


Best Costume Design

Lisy Christl - ANONYMOUS
Mark Bridges - THE ARTIST
Sandy Powell -  HUGO
Michael O'Connor - JANE EYRE
Arianne Phillips - W.E.

Best Editing

Anne Sophie-Bion and Michel Hazanavicius - THE ARTIST
Kevin Tent - THE DESCENDANTS
Kirk Baxter, Angus Wall - THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
Thelma Schoonmaker - HUGO
Christopher Tellefsen - MONEYBALL

Best Make-Up

THE ARTIST
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2
THE IRON LADY

Best Original Score

Ludovic Bource - THE ARTIST
John Williams - THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN
Howard Shore - HUGO
Alberto Iglesias - TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY
John Williams - WAR HORSE

Best Original Song

THE MUPPETS - "Man or Muppet"
RANGO - "Real in Rio"

Best Sound Editing

DRIVE
HUGO
MONEYBALL
TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON
WAR HORSE

Best Sound Mixing

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
HUGO
MONEYBALL
TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON
WAR HORSE

Best Visual Effects

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2
HUGO
RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON
REAL STEEL

Best Documentary Feature

HELL AND BACK AGAIN
PINA
IF A TREE FALLS: A STORY OF THE EARTH LIBERATION FRONT
PARADISE LOST 3: PURGATORY
UNDEFEATED

Best Documentary Short

THE BARBER OF BIRMINGHAM: FOOT SOLDIER OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
GOD IS THE BIGGER ELVIS
INCIDENT IN NEW BAGHDAD
SAVING FACE
THE TSUNAMI AND THE CHERRY BLOSSOM

Best Animated Short

DIMANCHE/SUNDAY
THE FANTASTIC FLYING BOOKS OF MR. MORRIS LESSMORE
LA LUNA
A MORNING STROLL
WILD LIFE

Best Live Action Short

PENTECOST
RAJU
THE SHORE
TIME FREAK
TUBA ATLANTIC



Some of my thoughts:

- I'm glad to see John Williams back on the bill, and he's nominated for 2 awards. He always been one of my favorite composers.

- Under the new rules there can be anywhere between five and ten Best Picture nominees, depending on how many films receive at least five percent of the first place ballot votes.  9 movies were nominated. The if there was one slot left to nominate a film, why couldn't films that deserve a nomination like A Seperation (which will win the Best Foreign Film category), Drive, or TinTin just fill in that tenth slot?

- Speaking of TinTin, that sumptuousness of a film was shafted in every respect. Motion capture is looked down upon (no thanks to Robert Zemeckis), but Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson did it right! It should have been nominated for Animated Feature and Visual Effects at the very least!

- Leonardo DiCaprio and Michael Fassbender were expected to be nominated, but were left out. That being said, I hope Gary Oldman seals the deal with his first Oscar!

- The Artist will take home the Best Picture nomination, but Tree of Life has the potential to upset.

- I hope that Rise of the Planet of the Apes wins the Best Visual Effects category, with the filmmakers hoisting Andy Serkis on a litter while he's robed fashionably, being fed grapes by beautiful women as he is flicking off the academy for not nominating him.

[antigoon]

Surprised to see Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close on the Best Picture list. Everything I've heard about it has been negative.

[Zantera]

Drive deserved more nominations.
I have only seen Moneyball from the "Best Picture"-category, so all in all I feel slightly underwhelmed about it.

[Dream Team]

My only comment is that it really sucks that Eddie Murphy withdrew from hosting.

[Cool Chris]

I wouldn’t care if Billy Crystal hibernated 364 days of the year. On the 365th he needs to be hosting the Oscars. He was born for that job.

With our baby being born haven’t been able to see hardly any movies recently, so have no stake in this (not that I ever do). But I might watch for Crystal alone.

[KevShmev]

Having that many nominations for Best Picture is just ridiculous.

[masterthes]

Speilberg should've gotten a directing nod for War Horse. Agree with the Tintin snub, and I think Ben Kingsley should've gotten nominated for Hugo. Extremely Loud only got nominated because of the subject matter naturally

[SystematicThought]

Now we can say that the fat kid from Superbad is an Academy Award nominated actor...

And yeah, antigoon. I've only ever heard negative things about Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.

[Sigz]

No nomination for the Dragon Tattoo OST? iamdisappoint.jpg

[emindead]

Surprised to see Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close on the Best Picture list. Everything I've heard about it has been negative.

Replace that movie with The Tree of Life.

[TL]

Surprised to see Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close on the Best Picture list. Everything I've heard about it has been negative.

Replace that movie with The Tree of Life.

Tree of Life is already on the list.

One thing that strikes me as odd about the list is; why nine? There are quite a few deserving films that could have gone in that 10th spot (and would have been better than most of the current list). I could see reducing it to 5-7 if they felt it wasn't a strong field after that, but nine? Reducing it by one makes it feel like they were going to do 10 like the last few years, but someone at the Academy didn't want something that made the cut to be on there.

[orcus116]

Surprised to see Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close on the Best Picture list. Everything I've heard about it has been negative.

Are you kidding me? That movie oozes Oscar bait, especially if you watch the trailer.

[SystematicThought]

Because it's emotional? Tugs at the heart strings

[TL]

Surprised to see Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close on the Best Picture list. Everything I've heard about it has been negative.

Are you kidding me? That movie oozes Oscar bait, especially if you watch the trailer.

It has also been panned by critics. It has a 48% at Rotten Tomatoes and a 46% at Metacritic right now.

[emindead]

Surprised to see Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close on the Best Picture list. Everything I've heard about it has been negative.

Replace that movie with The Tree of Life.

Tree of Life is already on the list.

I've heard more negative stuff about The Tree of Life than any other recent movie.

[antigoon]

Surprised to see Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close on the Best Picture list. Everything I've heard about it has been negative.

Are you kidding me? That movie oozes Oscar bait, especially if you watch the trailer.

Surely the typical Oscar bait fares better with critics, though.

[jcmistat]

Only film that I've watched that was nominated for any award this Oscars was Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Lots of movies I've never even heard of. This year overall for me has been pretty lackluster.

[fadetoblackdude7]

Gary Oldman needs to take home the Best Actor award, because it's GARY OLDMAN!!! No, but seriously, he's one of my favorite actors.

[jcmistat]

Guy 1: Everyone should like Gary Oldman!
Guy 2: What do you mean everyone?
Gary Oldman:

[TL]

I've heard more negative stuff about The Tree of Life than any other recent movie.

Admittedly, I misread your other post.

I'd say it's important to recognize the difference between critical reaction to Tree of Life and Extremely Loud.
I actually didn't think Tree of Life was all that great, but it's pretty obvious with it that Malick was at least attempting to do something creative and unique. Whether one thinks he succeeded or not, there was genuine creative effort there.

With Extremely Loud, the less than stellar critical reaction was more because many felt it was pandering, and very transparently just trying to be emotionally manipulative, and an 'award' film.

Gary Oldman needs to take home the Best Actor award, because it's GARY OLDMAN!!! No, but seriously, he's one of my favorite actors.

Gary Oldman is indeed awesome. I should go watch Leon again.

[skydivingninja]

I'm looking at the best picture list, and I just can't see myself wanting to see many of them.
-The Artist looks like Oscar bait because its about movies and there's a story that seems a little too familiar (guy/girl are in love, guy starts getting shit from life, girl gets diamonds from life, guy resents girl, guy eventually realizes that its o.k. or something).  That's what I can guess just from a one-paragraph synopsis.  Add the quirky black/white silent thing and you have Oscar committees drooling all over it.
-Moneyball is a movie that looks like your standard inspirational sports movie.  Unfortunately, like every other inspirational sports movie on the planet, there's no way it can measure up to Remember the Titans or Air Bud.
-The Help was a summer movie that lots of people liked (and was disliked by black people because it made civil rights look like a white woman's idea), lets nominate it so some people will care!
-Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, while being a Tom Hanks movie, is just such deliberate Oscar bait, which you can tell just by watching the trailer.  9/11 is the new WWII. 
-War Horse.  There's only two ways this movie can end.  The Horse escapes WWI and comes home, then dies, or the Horse escapes WWi and comes home and his boy owner dies.

As for the others, I could see myself seeing them.  The Descendents, while looks very much like a "middle age guy experiences middle age and teenagers" movie, it was co-written by Jim Rash (Dean Pelton from Community) so as a member of the Community Cult I almost feel obligated to support the Dean.  I've heard interesting things about The Tree of Life.  Hugo looked interesting, and Midnight in Paris looked pretty good as well.  I do want to see Drive, since its supposed to be a really good action movie that cares about more than just explosions.

I just feel like there are so many movies nominated for an Oscar this year that are trying to be Oscar movies instead of good movies.  Take last year, we had Inception, The Social Network, Toy Story 3, True Grit, and Black Swan.  The year before we had District 9, The Hurt Locker, Inglorious Basterds, and Up.  I just don't feel like there are many best picture noms or winners nowadays that are really THAT memorable. 

As for the lack of Tintin, while I haven't seen that either, I completely agree that it should be nominated, only because there's no way in hell Puss in Boots was good enough.

/crazyrantover.

[ReaPsTA]

I hate living in a world where David Fincher isn't nominated for best director.

[TL]

I hate living in a world where David Fincher isn't nominated for best director.

Also where Christopher Nolan wasn't nominated last year. Both of those snubs are pretty bad.

I saw The Artist last night, and The Descendants earlier today. Both were better than I was expecting.

The Artist was charming, enjoyable, and knew exactly what it was trying to be. I wouldn't have nominated it though. It's an enjoyable little film, but there really just isn't enough substance for it to be up for best picture. I'd recommend it for a fun viewing, but not for this award.

The Descendants was less vanilla than I was expecting, so it gets points for that. It was 'good', but I didn't feel that it was 'great'. There's nothing obviously wrong with it, but there also wasn't really anything that makes it stand out for me.

So that leaves Hugo, War Horse, and Extremely Loud. Hugo should be fun from what I've heard, but I'm really not looking forward to the other two. I'll go in with as open a mind as possible anyway.

[TL]

We're less than a week out, so I'm reviving this thread.

I've seen all of the Best Picture nominees now. Personally, I feel that it should go to either Hugo or Midnight In Paris, with Hugo being more likely. They may give it to The Descendants, though I hope they don't.

I'm going to declare War Horse as the worst of the nominees. It's embarrassingly bad at times.

[YtseBitsySpider]

I can't see HUGO not winning best picture.

it's simply an incredible film...about well....the history of Films.
The Academy eats that shit up.

I saw it and most of the pictures in that list, and my wife saw the girly ones.....Money Ball was good...not good enough...War Horse was incredible, but simplistic and nothing new in the way it was told.

Hugo just sucked us in on so many levels, and at all ages, my 9 year old identified with the boy, middle aged people will identify with the orphaned station guard, and older folks with the film maker.

it SHOULD win.

[TL]

Well, that was disappointing.

Don't get me wrong; The Artist is quite good. It's well made, and is just delightful. However, it really just doesn't feel substantial enough in any way, in my opinion.

It was good, but Hugo was just... better.

[Super Dude]

I felt just the opposite of all of you.

[YtseBitsySpider]

Hugo still did quite well.

[Cool Chris]

It's official. Not even the great Billy Crystal can save the Oscars from the snoozefest it has become. His opening bit is still awesome, even though it is old and predictible. Same with his musical montage. Most of his jokes fell flat though.

Cirque De Soliel: You are awesome at what you do, but what the hell were you doing here other than wasting time?

Christopher Guest and friends: You are brilliant, but that Wizard of Oz bit was terrible.

Christopher Plummer winning at age 82, my lord! Congrats! What can I say but 'taH pagh, taH be'

Robert Downey Jr: Don't ever stop being awesome.

Meryl Streep: Other actresses might like to receive nominations from time to time, you don't have to kick ass in every single movie you are ever in. Has anyone ever had a near-four decade run of acting greatness like her?

Will Ferrell: You seem like a nice guy, but I have never laughed at anything you have done since your old SNL days.

Jennifer Lopez: Go away.

[ariich]

Don't get me wrong; The Artist is quite good. It's well made, and is just delightful. However, it really just doesn't feel substantial enough in any way, in my opinion.

Then you must be missing something, because the film and the whole idea behind it has a ton of substance.

-The Artist looks like Oscar bait because its about movies and there's a story that seems a little too familiar (guy/girl are in love, guy starts getting shit from life, girl gets diamonds from life, guy resents girl, guy eventually realizes that its o.k. or something).  That's what I can guess just from a one-paragraph synopsis.  Add the quirky black/white silent thing and you have Oscar committees drooling all over it.

I don't know what makes you think that, because that's not even remotely the story, and there really is a lot of themes in the film. It's lovely, but also makes you think.

I for one am really glad it did so well in the Oscars; it was a daring idea but it paid off because it really is a great film.

[TL]

Then you must be missing something, because the film and the whole idea behind it has a ton of substance.

See, I disagree with this. It was a very well done homage to classic cinema, with some clever uses of the format. You could even take it as a metaphor for the current film industry being forced to deal with changing times. For the most part though, it was an effective but simple story.

Tell me, what exactly do you think I'm 'missing'? I'm not saying the film had no substance, or that it wasn't good; I'm saying there were better films nominated.

Anyway, best moment of the night: Emma Stone hamming it up while presenting an award.

[Cool Chris]

Anyway, best moment of the night: Emma Stone hamming it up while presenting an award.

For a moment, at least, but it (like most things in these shows) got old really quick.

[ariich]

Then you must be missing something, because the film and the whole idea behind it has a ton of substance.

See, I disagree with this. It was a very well done homage to classic cinema, with some clever uses of the format. You could even take it as a metaphor for the current film industry being forced to deal with changing times. For the most part though, it was an effective but simple story.

Tell me, what exactly do you think I'm 'missing'? I'm not saying the film had no substance, or that it wasn't good; I'm saying there were better films nominated.

Well, the biggest theme of the film is loss of status, and specifically being relegated from one of the biggest stars in the world to a complete nobody, simply because of advances in technology. It's something that was prevalent among many silent era stars when talkies came in, largely because many of them either weren't American (and therefore had strong accents) or otherwise had voices that weren't really suitable. And so the film looks quite a lot at how one of these stars might respond emotionally. That's pretty much the major focus of the story! It's a shame you just see it as an "homage to classic cinema".

And yeah I'm not saying you have to like it as much as other films, far from it, and I can see why many people wouldn't really dig The Artist. But just from your description of it, it seemed you missed the major theme which was what, for me, makes it such a great film.

[TL]

Yes, I'm clearly a retard who didn't understand the story. Oh, wait, that's not what I said at all.
The film itself WAS an homage. This may shock you, but I actually was able to follow that plot. I am aware of the effect the transition from silent film to talkies had on many of the stars of the time. I asked what I apparently missed, not for a synopsis of the very easy to understand story.

Newsflash; an homage can have an original story, and its own themes. Also, I didn't say I didn't "dig" The Artist. I specifically mentioned that I liked it quite a bit. I didn't say it had no substance; I said that it had less than some of the other nominees.

It was an homage that did a great job of telling a story pertaining to the very thing they were paying tribute to. Being an homage doesn't preclude it from having themes. I still don't see how someone could watch The Artist and Hugo, and declare The Artist to be better while keeping a straight face.

Maybe stop being so condescending for a second, and giving history lessons on things anyone discussing the film would already know, and actually read what I wrote.

[ariich]

Woah, chill dude, what's with taking it so personally? I never said you didn't understand the story and certainly didn't imply you were a retard, but your post that seemed to write the film off as nothing special didn't make reference to what struck me as the main theme, and what makes the film so good.

I wasn't meaning to be condescending at all, and indeed was responding exactly to what you wrote, rather than maybe what you intended. I wasn't saying you didn't understand the plot, I was trying to explain the emotional substance behind it, although maybe it's something that just doesn't speak to you, which is fine. The fact that the plot is simple in premise doesn't mean it can't have complex emotions behind it, and that's what it sounded to me like you were missing in seeing the film as not "substantial enough in any way".

I haven't seen Hugo yet though I'm keen to, but this statement is quite ridiculous:

I still don't see how someone could watch The Artist and Hugo, and declare The Artist to be better while keeping a straight face.

Quality is all about opinion. You seem to think I was telling you that your opinion was somehow wrong, which couldn't be further from the truth, I was just trying to give across what I love about the film as it seemed as though you weren't seeing it. But it seems weird that you'd respond so strongly about that considering you then go on to indicate that your opinion is the "correct" one.