80th Annual Academy Awards

[mashari]

Wow, this is like the first time I got both Actress categories wrong. I wonder if this'll be Julie's last shot at another Oscar?

Oh, and I almost didn't recognize Tilda!

[Sonic Youth]

Academy Awards' ratings were a dud for 2008
by The Associated Press
Monday February 25, 2008, 1:04 PM

The Oscars are a ratings dud. Nielsen Media Research says preliminary ratings for the 80th annual Academy Awards telecast are 14 percent lower than the least-watched ceremony ever.

Nielsen said Monday that overnight ratings are also 21 percent lower than last year, when "The Departed" was named best picture.

The least-watched Oscars ceremony ever was in 2003, when there were 33 million viewers.

Nielsen has no estimate yet on how many people watched Sunday night, but based on ratings from the nation's biggest markets, the Oscars will be hard-pressed to avoid an ignominious record.

The show had a 21.9 rating and 33 share.



Edited By Sonic Youth on 1203970523

[Steph2]

You -- more than anyone -- with your insisting that bisexuality is a myth, has driven me firmly back to women.

well then, THANK YOU Marco!

Anyway...I was watching the Oscars with some students and I left the room in disgust when Christie lost, and didn't even bother watching the rest of the show. Seriously. Nothing against Marion Cotillard, but you all know I loved Away From Her, thought it was the best film of the year, and really, really wanted Christie to win. So disappointed!

Otherwise, from what I saw, what a dull show! And I think Javier Bardem and Casey Affleck looked the hottest.

[Sonic Youth]

Sonic said (I think) the Cotillard haters will get the last laugh...

Let me very quickly jump in to clarify. It wasn't a dig against Cotillard personally. I haven't even seen the movie to make a judgement. It was just an off-the-cuff crack (at her expense, true) about the trajectory of SOME who become stars internationally, then try to break through in Hollywood and fail. (Penelope Cruz was foremost in my mind. Wonderful actress back in Spain with a distinguished career, comes to America, makes some lousy movies and can't make a successful adjustment to the English language, hies it back to Spain and makes the superb "Volver"... you know, like that.) Sorry, it was meant in good humor.

What's striking about Cotillard is that she is the sole Oscar winner who in person radiates glamour, unfeigned celebrity glamour of the sort we yearn to see in our Hollywood stars. You don't get that from Javier Bardem or Daniel Day Lewis, CERTAINLY not from Tilda Swinton. I'm not going to speculate if this was a factor to her victory (I do know she did a lot of campaigning), but I'll say this: over here, she was THE big story in all the post-Oscar coverage. I don't really follow celebrity coverage, so I don't know if she was such a media darling before last night. But she's one now. The American media has fallen prey to her allure. This was such an Hollywood-averse Oscar year - few real "stars" quote-unquote were nominated, none of the films made a lot of money at the box office except for "Juno" - that there had to be something to latch onto that evoked old-fashioned Hollywood glamour and beauty. And, even though she's French, Cotillard is it.

I think she's very beautiful, and her wide-eyed delight was cute and charming. But I find her beautiful only as an icon, a vision. Gorgeous to look at, and that's about as far as it goes. Nothing really seductive about her. Tilda Swinton isn't half as beautiful as Cotillard, but she looks like she'd be a lot more fun in the sack.



Edited By Sonic Youth on 1203970072

[ITALIANO]

Emphasis on I doubt.

[Akash]

Emphasis on firm.

[ITALIANO]

Oh no!!!

[Akash]

Ok, ok, mine was an opinion, not an accusation

You -- more than anyone -- with your insisting that bisexuality is a myth, has driven me firmly back to women.

[ITALIANO]

Well for goodness sakes, anyone can objectively find anyone else attractive -- man or woman, it shouldn't matter. In fact, if American men weren't so insecure in their masculinity, more of them would be able to say, "That guy is attractive" without fear or hesitation (the way women easily comment on other women).

Ok, ok, mine was an opinion, not an accusation

[barrybrooks8]

I thought I would post how my group at work did with the Oscars. Some categories we were 100% (due in part I think to my ramblings about not taking as many chances I as usually do), and some were embarassingly low...

Perfect 100%:
Best Picture-No Country for Old Men
Best Actor-Daniel Day Lewis
Best Supporting Actor-Javier Bardem
Best Director-Ethan and Joel Coen
Best Adapted Screenplay-No Country for Old Men
Best Score-Atonement
Best Song-Falling Slowly

Not too bad:
75% Best Actress-Marion Cotillard
75% Best Supporting Actress-Tilda Swinton
88% Best Animated Film-Ratatouille
75% Best Original Screenplay-Juno
70% Best Art Direction-Sweeney Todd
70% Best Makeup-La Vie En Rose

Poor:
63% Animated Short Film-Peter & the Wolf
63% Live Action Short Film-Mozart of Pickpockets
52% Best Costume-Elizabeth: The Golden Age
50% Best Sound Mixing-Bourne Ultimatum

Vile:
35% Best Documentary-Taxi to the Dark Side
33% Best Doc Short-Freeheld
8% Best Foreign Language Film-The Counterfeiters
30% Best Cinematography-There Will Be Blood
20% Best Editing-Bourne Ultimatum
30% Best Sound Editing-Bourne Ultimatum


I came in 2nd, dammit.

[ITALIANO]

Houseboat was certainly a big hit. But for example Legend of the Lost, Desire Under the Elms, Heller in Pink Tights, The Pride and the Passion, That Kind of Woman, A Breath of Scandal weren't very successful at the box office (and some were real flops).

[Akash]

Good to see that you are back to, well, let's say bisexuality. You were missed.

Well for goodness sakes, anyone can objectively find anyone else attractive -- man or woman, it shouldn't matter. In fact, if American men weren't so insecure in their masculinity, more of them would be able to say, "That guy is attractive" without fear or hesitation (the way women easily comment on other women). Oh and I agree with you on Josh Brolin.

Anyway, Cotillard was the most fuckable person at the Oscars. That I saw anyway.



Edited By Akash on 1203968658

[Big Magilla]

A couple of corrections to my comments on Loren. It was Gina Lollobrigida, not Loren, who starred in Bread, Love and Dreams. It was The Fall of the Roman Empire for which she was paid $1 million after Elizabeth Taylor had been paid the same sum for Cleopatra but her $750,000 fee for El Cid was a record at the time.

Good or not, and Pride and the Passion is far from good, Loren's pre-Oscar American films were highly successful. Some of them, such as Houseboat, The Black Orchid and It Started in Naples are very watchable still.

Cotillard is not without charm, but these actresses who gush over her - Nicole Kidman, Charlize Theron, Sharon Stone and the like are not exactly paragons of subtelty themselves.

[ITALIANO]

And Marco, what about that guy singing the last (and worst) song from Enchanted? He was a little more than pleasant to look at, no? But then again he's American so you probably didn't even notice him

I honestly didn't even notice him, but then I must confess that during those boring songs I wasn't paying much attention to the show. I think the most attractive man on that stage was Josh Brolin - ok, American, but still solid, real, not plastic. I like him, I must admit. And he's not a bad actor either.

I will try to see Enchanted, I swear. Junebug unfortunately never opened in Italy. But this Amy Adams... I don't know, from what I saw yesterday I can't say that I find her that charming. And definitely NOT sexy. But of course I never saw her acting, so she could be the new Eleonora Duse - we'll see.

Good to see that you are back to, well, let's say bisexuality. You were missed.



Edited By ITALIANO on 1203967716

[Akash]

And Aakash, I agree with you - Cotillard IS gorgeous, so much that (I know that sex is a forbidden subject here, sorry) I was thinking yesterday that she's the kind of girl who could drive me back to that never-much-missed heterosexuality. But then of course the sight of Amy Adams singing made me realize that I've made the right choice after all.

LMAO! Aww, Adams is a cute girl, come on. Totally endearing as the big beating heart in "Catch Me If You Can." If you respect my opinion at all, revisit her in that film, and check out Junebug too. I was torn between her and Michelle Williams for the supporting Oscar that year (ultimately, I would have given it to Williams, I think).

And by the way, I didn't think she was the best of the year in "Enchanted" -- I was just going for people who seemed to be on "Oscar's radar."

And Marco, what about that guy singing the last (and worst) song from Enchanted? He was a little more than pleasant to look at, no? But then again he's American so you probably didn't even notice him



Edited By Akash on 1203966505