Screen Actor's Guild Awards

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OscarGuy
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Post by OscarGuy »

That's kinda funny, Italiano, my comment on Facebook after the DGA win was:

"Oh the Humanity! Tom Hooper is a DGA winner and Darren Aronofsky, David Fincher, David O. Russell and Christopher Nolan are not. Who can't see how wrong that statement is?"

I wasn't referencing their individual films, but their talents as directors. You may have individual qualms about each, but they are all more talented in general than Tom Hooper is.




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Post by ITALIANO »

Damien wrote:Harvey Weinstein talkin' Oscars and The King's Speech:

http://nymag.com/daily....ch.html
We know the man. But especially when he says that the critics have gone too far in praising The Social Network as if it was this unbeatable masterpiece he isn't completely wrong - this certainly plays a role in this rejection that we're seeing now.

The backlash may be tougher than the movie itself deserves. And honestly, ok, while I admit that some of them, Fincher especially (I haven't seen The Fighter and True Grit yet), may not have done their best work ever this year, still it doesn't happen often that we get four (I'll consider the Coens as just one entity here) of the best young or semi-young American directors nominated in this category; the fact that they will probably lose to a Tom Hooper doesn't exactly sound right. But these things, as we know, happen.
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Post by Damien »

Harvey Weinstein talkin' Oscars and The King's Speech:

http://nymag.com/daily....ch.html
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Post by Okri »

It's interesting, Tee, that you mention 2006. That year had the two biggest sweepers I've ever seen in lead (Mirren and Whitaker; Mirren went so far as to win an award dedicated to African American performer), a default career award and an award for best song masquerading as best supporting actress. Meanwhile, for all the split the precursors may have delivered us, it was clearly Scorsese's year (hell, Roger Ebert posted his preference article and he didn't want to name that he felt Innaritu should win best director because he'd feel bad). The general feeling was one of "We're so sorry, and we really love you" - I actually didn't bother watching the oscars that season. Meanwhile, that was the year we saw the big budget studio film Children of Men flounder because of a poor release strategy. That might be my least favourite season of recent years, actually.

I love oscar season. I love that finally, FINALLY, all those films we've been hearing about I actually get to see. I love seeing the top ten lists and seeing which films I should get to before making my own. I enjoy the critics derbies (remember when LA went for WALL.E).

But this year... not so much. Whenever I see the "On over 350 Critics Top ten lists" thing for The Social Network, I rather want to cry. This year strikes me as being far more homogeneous than any other I can recall (Kanye West, Breaking Bad, Modern Family, Freedom and The Social Network.) and for all the worry about the critic in modern culture, they certainly don't mind making themselves look like one monochromatic mindless blob. I expect the oscars to go bland. I don't really expect it from the critics - certainly not to the extent of this year. Even the year of the Slumdog sweep we saw a far greater variety from the critics.

Would I be happy if this was the The Hurt Locker getting usurped? Nope. I don't really see it as the same. In one race, a film I was invested in was successful in the critics derby and could potentially be a history making choice (first women director to win/direct a bp winner) getting usurped by Dances with Ferngully or Precious (which would also be potentially history making, but I hadn't seen it before the oscars). I think that would suck, and be potentially draining. This year, we're seeing a film that I thought was all right dominating the critical conversation like nothing else getting usurped by oscar bait that I haven't seen. After the disappointment that the nominations were, this is practically a pick-me-up.
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Post by Hustler »

A few things are clear after the ceremony.
Melissa Leo´s win at the Oscars is out of the question. I am thinking of those who hoped for a Steinfeld´s win here.
As for the TKS is undoubtedly this year´s chosen for the academy awards.
My last question is: Does Annette still have chances?




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Post by Greg »

I think Tom Hooper looks like Owen Wilson.
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Post by rolotomasi99 »

flipp525 wrote:This might be Tom Hooper's only chance; he's sure not winning any beauty contests any time soon.
The only pretty one of the male directors is Christopher Nolan, but the other boys in the Academy were jealous and refused to nominate him.

Although Fincher does have a certain handsome bear-ishness to him. The rest are all very dorky looking.
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Post by Damien »

ITALIANO wrote:
OscarGuy wrote:Italiano, that kind of comment almost seems like it was in jest, not an actual personal appraisal of herself.
She seemed very serious and emotionally destroyed.

As for Best Picture, The Social Network in theory isn't dead yet and with both its strong supporters and this voting system it could get back and win at the last moment... but The King's Speech is such an evident crowd-pleaser that it won't be easy.
Yes, I agree. Sasha seemed very sincere when she wrote that piece. But she also sounded shell-shocked.

Funnily, years ago when I heard that Sylvester Stallone had a son named Sasha, I thought how odd that he would give his boy a girl's name.
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Post by ITALIANO »

OscarGuy wrote:Italiano, that kind of comment almost seems like it was in jest, not an actual personal appraisal of herself.
She seemed very serious and emotionally destroyed.

As for Best Picture, The Social Network in theory isn't dead yet and with both its strong supporters and this voting system it could get back and win at the last moment... but The King's Speech is such an evident crowd-pleaser that it won't be easy.
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Post by rolotomasi99 »

Mister Tee wrote:Last year, I was as lukewarm on The Hurt Locker as many here are on Social Network. Suppose Bigelow's film had, in addition to taking the critics' prizes, won the Globe -- and then the more-sentimental Precious had pulled the PGA/DGA/SAG sweep King's Speech has. Would people truly be gleeful about how exciting the year had become? I think I'd be saying about the same thing: we'd gone from one predetermined outcome to another, and in general a more retro one. Sorry...my definition of interesting doesn't fit that circumstance.
Maybe it was because I was still hurt from BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN losing, maybe it was because I thought no film so smart or so intelligent could win Best Picture (NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN being a fluke), but I genuinely had no sure feeling about THE HURT LOCKER winning Best Picture. After all, I (mistakenly) thought UP IN THE AIR had won the majority of the critics’ awards, AVATAR was the biggest movie ever and won the Golden Globe, and everyone kept saying THE HURT LOCKER was too small and too serious to win Best Picture. Until the final envelope was opened and the winners were announced, there was no certainty THE HURT LOCKER could go all the way.

As for THE SOCIAL NETWORK, people did not help the film when they declared it CITIZEN KANE for the 21st century, and they are not helping it now by comparing THE KING’S SPEECH assumed Oscar success to HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY winning over Welles’ film. The reason the BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN loss was so painful was not just because it lost, but because it lost to CRASH. If Best Picture had gone to GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK and MUNICH, I think the reaction would not have been as fierce. It is not as if THE SOCIAL NETWORK is losing to SECRETARIAT or anything.
I would say they are very equal films if you break it down. Both have witty screenplays with very basic story structures and characterizations, both have strong performances all around, and one has a visual simple director who was perfect for the material and the other has a visually amazing director who was wrong for the material. That leaves them pretty equal as far as I can see.

I just am hoping the weighted ballot helps a third film slip in and take Best Picture. I am hoping something like TRUE GRIT can appeal to enough of the voters from both camps to get a few first places and a majority of the second places. It would be great to see it find its place. Though, if the Academy really wants to shake things up, they could give Best Picture to the sci-fi film, the horror film, or the animated film. That would certainly be different for them.
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Post by flipp525 »

This might be Tom Hooper's only chance; he's sure not winning any beauty contests any time soon.
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Post by OscarGuy »

Italiano, that kind of comment almost seems like it was in jest, not an actual personal appraisal of herself.

And it's also possible that anti-Brokeback Mountain support rallied behind Crash as the most likely alternative, so it's more likely another result could occur because of a banding-together of voters.
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Post by ITALIANO »

Sasha a woman's name?! Never in my life. I admit that the comments there are mostly on the absurd side, but even the lady herself, mamma mia! She has written this long dramatic post (in an English worse than mine) saying that she's in this profound personal crisis because she failed to predict The King's Speech's fortune at the Oscars, and she's lost all her dignity, and she won't look at herself in the mirror anymore, and so on... Relax, girl. There are worse and more humiliating things in life.

Anyway, all this shows how un-boring the race has become now.
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Post by Big Magilla »

Mister Tee wrote:Does anyone really believe bad-mouthing about the real-life characters in movies matters to Oscar voters? If anything, it probably strikes them as dirty campaining, and reinforces the determination to stick with the film.
That's exactly what put A Beautiful Mind over the top in my estimation.
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Post by Mister Tee »

A couple of things about that article:

Does anyone really believe bad-mouthing about the real-life characters in movies matters to Oscar voters? If anything, it probably strikes them as dirty campaining, and reinforces the determination to stick with the film.

It's odd to see The English Patient on that list of anti-Nazi films. My recollection is that the film was criticized for being insufficiently anti-Nazi, having Almasy sell out Colin Firth et al. to try and get back to Kristin. (Though my argument was, it was Firth who had initiated the betrayal, by violating the specific neutrality of the expedition in the first place)

I rather doubt 2nd-3rd place listings will help bring down King's Speech, as it's the film's general comfort level that's made it seem an Oscar natural. More divisive films are more likely to win with pluralities of scattered results.

Contrarily: if Fincher has any chance of winning best director, it's probably if supporters of other nominees rally around him. There was a report that one of the other contenders at the DGA affair (you'd suspect Russell or Aronofsky) couldn't suppress a laugh when Hooper was announced as winner. If people holding that view conclude it's strictly between Fincher and the TV guy, they may unite behind Fincher rather than cast ballots around the lot (much the way third-party supporters in elections tend to opt for one of the major candidates when voting finally takes place).
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