After seeing Gladiator this weekend, I’d be willing to put up five bucks saying either Russell Crowe is nominated for Best Actor or it gets a Best Picture nomination. That is, if I were a betting man…
OK, I realize it’s REALLY early for this, but given this year’s crop of movies so far, are there any others that come close to deserving a nomination?
I thought Crowe’s performance was the worst of the three principals, and I thought the movie was overlong and poorly conceived.
Of the movies I have seen this year I would rate Wonder Boys, The War Zone and High Fidelity far above it. I suspect I will also rate Ghost Dog and Virgin Suicides above it once I atually get to see them.
As for Crowe, while I have admired hiw work in the past if I cannot find 5 better performances by a male lead this year then I will be very sad for it would mean that all the theaters in South Florida have closed down.
Um… I’m not intending to insult foreign film but don’t you have to pick movies from this country and year 2000 to qualify?
Looking at IMDB:
The War Zone (1999) (UK)
Ghost Dog (1999) (Appears to be French)
Virgin Suicides (1999)
But perhaps you know they qualify for some reason? I’m not really up on the detailed Oscar restrictions…
Date of US release is what matters for Oscar nomination, I believe. The War Zone might have been hit the states last year, I am fairly certain the Ghost Dog and Virgin suicides did not. As for the country of origin (for the production company, I believe) that is not considered, except for the “foreign” awards, of course. Remember Breaking the Waves? Life is Beautiful? The Piano?
Spiritus Mundi is correct about Oscar qualification rules. Ghost Dog and Virgin Suicides are 2000 films for the purposes of Academy consideration, although The War Zone, sadly, is not, meaning its chance has passed.
As far as Gladiator, my review will be up on my site soon, but I wouldn’t hold my breath for any major artistic awards come the end of the year. It’s populist entertainment, a la Braveheart (which, incidentally, should not have won, IMHO), but it’s got a somewhat literary subtext that dilutes its popcorn appeal.
Bottom line, I thought it was pretty good, but not great. Of course, we all know that quality has nothing to do with Oscar recognition (Forrest Gump, anyone?). But knowing what the Academy usually honors, I would say that Gladiator’s chances of being nominated for Picture, Actor, Director, Screenplay, or in any other significant category are slim to none.
Who will be nominated? This early, it’s impossible to say. I think Julia Roberts has a 50/50 shot at being remembered for Erin Brockovich, but just about everything else will be chosen from movies that haven’t come out yet. For example, I bet Tom Hanks is a shoo-in for Castaway. Michael Douglas will get good notices in Traffic, and depending on what Soderbergh does with the movie, it has a chance at a Best Picture nomination. Jim Carrey will be playing the Grinch, and M. Night Shyamalan’s Unbreakable is tentatively scheduled for Thanksgiving. (He’s the writer/director of The Sixth Sense, for those of you who don’t read credits.) Kevin Spacey has a fall movie, Pay It Forward, and keep your eye also on Thirteen Days, the re-creation of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Fringe possibilities: Proof of Life, starring Russell Crowe and Meg Ryan; *The Golden Bowl, a Merchant/Ivory production. Or any of the other hundred Oscar-oriented movies released after Hallowe’en.
But Gladiator? I think not.
A bit hyperbolic, aren’t we? Quality, aka beauty, is in the eye of the beholder, and films somewhat rely on popular appeal. To some people, a statue of Jesus in a bucket of urine is beautiful; to others an abomination. So to fault a group of voters for not always picking what you would as “quality” is ridiculous.
That said, box office dollars = mass appeal = some consideration. Can anybody say Titanic? I knew you could…
I’ll not bicket about those if that’s your opinion but what about cinematography?
You guys might also take a look at the reviews on IMDB, which are almost universally good. Of course, the average person isn’t going to review a film unless they loved it or hated it, so I take them with a grain of salt…
“bicket”? bicker that is…
I didn’t like ‘Gladiator’ much, although most of the audience did. As for oscars, I think it will be shut out.
BTW, Spiritus Mundi , ‘Ghost dog’ really, really, really sucked.
OK, so no one else wants to stick their neck out and make a WAG, eh? Fine. But if Gladiator is nominated many months from now, I shall return…
Ahem…
Time to pay up, folks. 
How on earth was I supposed to know that the remainder of 2000 would suck as hard as the first half?
I still think Gladiator doesn’t belong in the category, but it’s the only Hollywood epic of 2000 that was worth a shit, so it’s understandable that it snagged a nomination. I’m just disappointed that the year overall was so mediocre as to warrant the movie even being still in consideration at the end.
Sigh…
I stand by my earlier position. I also disagree with Cervaise (and others) about the quality of movies available this year. While there few great movies, there were many very good ones. And Gladiator wasn’t one of them. (Neither were Erin Brokovich or Chocolat, for that matter.) I posted a quick list of better films here.
I love Gladiator, and I dont care what you think!
:p, nanny nanny boo boo
Looks like a few people were wrong in this thread.
Interesting thread resurrection. Thanks!
I thought for a second everyone had gone mad
:smack: always check the dates, dammit
Thread bumps like this one are as lame as a flashback episode of <i>Full House</i>.
“That sure was a big mix-up, Stephanie! But say, do you remember the time Uncle Jesse’s friend mrblue predicted that <i>Gladiator</i> would get a lot of Oscar nominations?” <i>screen goes all swimmy</i>
Yes, Major Kong, why don’t you go bump all the two year old threads where people talked about things that turned out to not be true. The staff will really appreciate it.
I think only posters who posted the correct prediction should be able to ressurect a thread.
Call it the I told you so rule.