Oscar watch-along thread

Cafe Society
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For no reason I’m going to point out that for every category except best picture, only the people who do that thing are supposed to be allowed to vote. Meaning, only art directors can vote for art direction, only sound editors can vote for sound editing. This usually ends up meaning that the sci-fi and fantasy movies, which actually have good art & sound, will win, because the people voting know the criteria.

But for best picture, it’s a huge number of people that get to vote, and they usually end up voting for whatever movie they like.

So when a movie like Hurt Locker wins best sound mix/editing, editing, directing, and picture, it’s easy to assume that people simply voted a “straight ticket”, or they just picked Hurt Locker for every category on their ballot because they liked it, even if they have no idea what a sound mixer is. Instead, when a movie wins all those awards, it’s because several disparate groups of voters each independently thought each thought the area of their expertise was best in that movie.

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I agree. She usually does something offbeat, to her discredit. I think she thinks it makes her look “individual,” but what it makes her look is dopey. I’ve never seen her look as good as last night and it proves she doesn’t have to be a goofball.

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I look forward to hearing more about this whole thing.

IMDb doesn’t have any connection between her and the movie she was on stage for.

And it looked suspiciously like security escorted them off stage.

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Actually an even bigger surprise, from what I read, was the winning Best Foreign Language Film. The two front runners were the French and the German film. Nobody expected the film from Argentina to win.

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Watched the show on tape-delay, so just catching up on the thread now.

She was in Duvall’s The Apostle. Shame on the show for not including her in the montage.

I was disappointed in the show. NPH was great and needs to host next year. I love Martin & Baldwin, but they were stiff and not very funny in general. Agree with others that the Hughes tribute was too much.

I wish they had kept the Best Song nominee performances (there were good songs this year) and skipped the Best Score dance number.

They should have dropped the so-called Horror montage (Jaws? really?) and shown us the lifetime achievement award instead.

Whoever produced this year’s show needs to not do it next year.

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I do not believe this is true. The nominations are done by the craft people. but the voting is open to all academy members. If I am wrong, I will go see Precious which looks like the most depressing movie ever made.

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You don’t think Jaws is a horror movie?

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I thought Martin & Baldwin were great.

I also agreed that they should have kept the Best Song performances, but that was because there were good nominees this year. When I heard the nominees, I was thinking, “I wish they’d perform the whole thing!” But most recent years I have had no interest. How can I get someone with exactly the same taste as me to make the decision?

I was watching the red-carpet arrivals on E! and Ryan Seacrest was blabbering on with some celebrity and walking right behind him was Mickey Rooney. I’m thinking, Seacrest, you fool, you have a chance to talk to Mickey Rooney and you’re talking to <I don’t remember who> but if I had been the celebrity, I would have said, “Look who’s here! OMG!” and stepped aside. Somebody like Clooney would have done that.

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Speaking of which, did you catch that awkward conversation where the interviewer was hitting on Clooney and he mentioned his girlfriend didn’t understand English?

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Not really, no. But on the other hand, moreso than Misery.

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No, but I bet it’s not true. She probably understood every word. If it was Giuliana Rancic, she and Clooney go way back with that flirtation stuff, and he plays along gamely.

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Mickey Rooney has been a cranky old coot for many years. Seacrest may have been aware of that. Just sayin’.

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My thoughts…

1 - Hooray for Avatar not winning! I can’t stand Cameron, and I am far more impressed with real cinematography and acting. Not to mention the plot stolen from The Battle for Terra…

2 - I love the John Hughes tribute. We can all put on berets and drink wine while we watch French cinema, but ultimately, his movies mean a lot more to be and my real life than any “indie director” or Movie Snob Opinion

3 - Loved, loved, loved Martin and Baldwin. They played to straight, and came off as super-duper hilarious. I laughed more than I have at the Oscars in years…

4 - Did George Clooney seem pissed off?

5 - While done well in the past, I was totally bored with the intros for Best Actor/Actress this year

6 - I am going to hell, and I’m clearly a bad person, but I just cannot get over the Precious girl. She knows she was going to the Oscars, she has a million to one shot at real career, she seems smart and is clearly talented…she couldn’t get some time in at the gym? I certainly don’t believe that she should pursue the skinny-mini look (I’m looking at you, Ms. James Cameron), but does she not know her career will be cut short by a massive heart attack if she keeps carrying that weight around?

7 - I hate Barbra Streistrand. And Sean Penn. And even though I think he’s a tool, Tim Robbins intro for Freeman was quite funny…

8 - Speaking of which - what’s the deal with Freeman? At both the red carpet and the show, he looked like he was on pills…

9 - I really thought this year was an excellent example of how to appeal to the general public, while still being smart. Martin and Baldwin were a good example of that, as was the Horror montage and the Hughes tribute. I would have cut the Best Actor Intros to include a more in depth look at the people who won the Lifetime/Thalberg Awards - say, four different montages of each person’s work sprinkled throughout the show. But dragging a dinosaur on stage to make a speech was, IMO, rightly excluded.

294

You think Corman would have made a boring speech?

295

Morgan Freeman was in a pretty bad car accident a while ago, maybe he *is *on pills.

Sean Penn needs to go on antidepressants or something. He is just never happy about anything. Look at his face. His face is formed into a permanent scowl. He doesn’t like anything. He’d only be happy if existence ended so there wouldn’t be anything left to not like.

Guy needs to do a comedy. I cant think of a movie he’s been in within the last 20 years that wasn’t soul-crushingly serious and/or depressing. Somebody throw a pie at him.

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I realize I have seen too few of the movies to say much of anything definitively. Haven’t seen The Blind Side, An Education, A Serious Man, A Single Man, Crazy Heart, Hurt Locker, The Last Station. Mostly glad The Cove won and still annoyed that Up won Animated Feature.

One thing I don’t really understand, what makes a movie like Julie & Julia more “weighty” than The Blind Side?

297

I’ve seen several interviews with him over the past weeks. He’s come across pleasant and cultured as always, but very slow and confused. He deflected many questions with “aw, shucks” anecdotes and asides. I think he’s just a sweet old man that is definitely feeling his age and slowing down. Not quite Grandpa Simpson yet, but heading there.

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It’s the elephant in the room (no pun intended). I’ve seen her on a couple of interview shows, and she’s being praised for accepting herself as she is. Nothing wrong with that but like you say, she’s looking at a heart attack and/or diabetes. And if she wants an acting career, there are very few roles for 300-pound actors.

Speaking of Mrs. Cameron, I’m going to hell too, because all I could think was that Katherine Bigelow was aging a lot better than Cameron’s current wife.

Sigourney Weaver’s dress was awful. I thought everyone else looked pretty good, and I really liked Vera Farmiga’s dress, and Penelope Cruz’s too.

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Rilchiam, Mickey Rooney may be a cranky old coot. Unless he had already expressed a desire not to be interviewed, it’s Seacrest’s job to interview famous people and he should be doing it.

Sateryn76,

  1. Agree. Can’t speak to the plot, but I can’t stand Cameron either.
  2. I loved the Hughes tribute too, but I thought it should have stuck with Ringwald and Broderick. I was creeped out by Macauley Culkin and the rest of them standing there were awkward.
  3. As my post above.
  4. He was acting! Russell Crowe wouldn’t play along in 2001 when there the FBI was monitoring a plot to kidnap him, and Steve Martin came on stage and announced that a suspect had been named. ‘‘Tom Hanks, you should be ashamed of yourself,’’ he said. Hanks hung his head in shame and mouthed, ‘‘I’m sorry.’’ Crowe just acted like an asshole. Clooney, on the other hand, was working with the hosts.
  5. Yeah, they were reaching.
  6. I don’t know anything about her or if she has any future roles. I wish her good luck and hope for the best.
  7. Agreed, though I don’t really hate Penn, I don’t much care for him. Robbins’ story was funny.
  8. Didn’t notice.
  9. Good point.
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I agree, it was glaringly bad. They lingered on people in the audience while someone was onstage accepting their Oscar, congrats on your win here’s a video of you accepting your Oscar but we don’t actually have the camera focused on you for most of it. When they started the Memorium segment they pulled back so it was like we were in the cheap seats trying to watch and I could not tell who was shown after Patrick Swayze.

Streep always gives a great performance and I think everyone just expects it so in order to stand out even more she has to have a vehicle that will really catch peoples attention. I liked Julie & Julia but Streep and Tucci were the best thing about it and the rest of the movie was nothing special. Anyway, she’s basically competing with herself
and previous amazing performances.

It looked like they just got plaques instead of statues, what a rip!

Agree on all, especially the dance number versus individual Best Song performances. I thought the hosts were okay but I love Steve Martin and he could have hosted with a gerbil and I’d have liked it. But Baldwin did get a couple good lines here and there. Overall there were a lot of bad directorial and production decisions.

By the way, Fawcett was in a couple movies and Joy on The View pointed out that Bea Arthur was also missing. Someone needs a slapping with a wet trout.