Academy Award Thread

[imagineer99]

Alright, it's nearing that time again....the Academy Awards. The big show...THE OSCARS.

To refresh your memory, here are the nominees:
Let's Discuss

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Best Motion Picture of the Year
Nominees:
Brokeback Mountain (2005) - Diana Ossana, James Schamus
Capote (2005) - Caroline Baron, William Vince, Michael Ohoven
Crash (2004) - Paul Haggis, Cathy Schulman
Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005) - Grant Heslov
Munich (2005) - Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy, Barry Mendel

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Nominees:
Philip Seymour Hoffman for Capote (2005)
Terrence Howard for Hustle & Flow (2005)
Heath Ledger for Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Joaquin Phoenix for Walk the Line (2005)
David Strathairn for Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Nominees:
Judi Dench for Mrs. Henderson Presents (2005)
Felicity Huffman for Transamerica (2005)
Keira Knightley for Pride & Prejudice (2005)
Charlize Theron for North Country (2005)
Reese Witherspoon for Walk the Line (2005)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominees:
George Clooney for Syriana (2005)
Matt Dillon for Crash (2004)
Paul Giamatti for Cinderella Man (2005)
Jake Gyllenhaal for Brokeback Mountain (2005)
William Hurt for A History of Violence (2005)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Nominees:
Amy Adams for Junebug (2005)
Catherine Keener for Capote (2005)
Frances McDormand for North Country (2005)
Rachel Weisz for The Constant Gardener (2005)
Michelle Williams for Brokeback Mountain (2005)

Best Achievement in Directing
Nominees:
George Clooney for Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005)
Paul Haggis for Crash (2004)
Ang Lee for Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Bennett Miller for Capote (2005)
Steven Spielberg for Munich (2005)

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
Nominees:
Crash (2004) - Paul Haggis, Robert Moresco
Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005) - George Clooney, Grant Heslov
Match Point (2005) - Woody Allen
The Squid and the Whale (2005) - Noah Baumbach
Syriana (2005) - Stephen Gaghan

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published
Nominees:
Brokeback Mountain (2005) - Larry McMurtry, Diana Ossana
Capote (2005) - Dan Futterman
The Constant Gardener (2005) - Jeffrey Caine
A History of Violence (2005) - Josh Olson
Munich (2005) - Tony Kushner, Eric Roth

Best Achievement in Cinematography
Nominees:
Batman Begins (2005) - Wally Pfister
Brokeback Mountain (2005) - Rodrigo Prieto
Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005) - Robert Elswit
Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) - Dion Beebe
The New World (2005) - Emmanuel Lubezki

Best Achievement in Editing
Nominees:
Cinderella Man (2005) - Daniel P. Hanley, Mike Hill
The Constant Gardener (2005) - Claire Simpson
Crash (2004) - Hughes Winborne
Munich (2005) - Michael Kahn
Walk the Line (2005) - Michael McCusker

Best Achievement in Art Direction
Nominees:
Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005) - James D. Bissell, Jan Pascale
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) - Stuart Craig, Stephanie McMillan
King Kong (2005) - Grant Major, Dan Hennah, Simon Bright
Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) - John Myhre, Gretchen Rau
Pride & Prejudice (2005) - Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer

Best Achievement in Costume Design
Nominees:
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) - Gabriella Pescucci
Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) - Colleen Atwood
Mrs. Henderson Presents (2005) - Sandy Powell
Pride & Prejudice (2005) - Jacqueline Durran
Walk the Line (2005) - Arianne Phillips

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score
Nominees:
Brokeback Mountain (2005) - Gustavo Santaolalla
The Constant Gardener (2005) - Alberto Iglesias
Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) - John Williams
Munich (2005) - John Williams
Pride & Prejudice (2005) - Dario Marianelli

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song
Nominees:
Hustle & Flow (2005) - Jordan Houston, Cedric Coleman, Paul Beauregard ("It's Hard Out Here For a Pimp")
Crash (2004) - Michael Becker, Kathleen York ("In the Deep")
Transamerica (2005) - Dolly Parton ("Travelin' Thru")

Best Achievement in Makeup
Nominees:
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) - Howard Berger, Tami Lane
Cinderella Man (2005) - David LeRoy Anderson, Lance Anderson
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) - Dave Elsey, Annette Miles

Best Achievement in Sound
Nominees:
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) - Terry Porter, Dean A. Zupancic, Tony Johnson
King Kong (2005) - Christopher Boyes, Michael Semanick, Michael Hedges, Hammond Peek
Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) - Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell, Rick Kline, John Pritchett
Walk the Line (2005) - Paul Massey, Doug Hemphill, Peter F. Kurland
War of the Worlds (2005) - Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer, Ron Judkins

Best Achievement in Sound Editing
Nominees:
King Kong (2005) - Mike Hopkins, Ethan Van der Ryn
Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) - Wylie Stateman
War of the Worlds (2005) - Richard King

Best Achievement in Visual Effects
Nominees:
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) - Dean Wright, Bill Westenhofer, Jim Berney, Scott Farrar
King Kong (2005) - Joe Letteri, Brian Van't Hul, Christian Rivers, Richard Taylor
War of the Worlds (2005) - Pablo Helman, Dennis Muren, Randy Dutra, Daniel Sudick

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year
Nominees:
Corpse Bride (2005) - Tim Burton, Mike Johnson
Hauru no ugoku shiro (2004) - Hayao Miyazaki
Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) - Steve Box, Nick Park

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
Nominees:
Bestia nel cuore, La (2005) - Cristina Comencini (Italy)
Joyeux Noël (2005) - Christian Carion (France)
Paradise Now (2005) - Hany Abu-Assad (Palestine)
Sophie Scholl - Die letzten Tage (2005) - Marc Rothemund (Germany)
Tsotsi (2005) - Gavin Hood (South Africa)

Best Documentary, Features
Nominees:
Darwin's Nightmare (2004) - Hubert Sauper
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005) - Alex Gibney, Jason Kliot
Marche de l'empereur, La (2005) - Luc Jacquet, Yves Darondeau
Murderball (2005) - Henry Alex Rubin, Dana Adam Shapiro
Street Fight (2005) - Marshall Curry

Best Documentary, Short Subjects
Nominees:
God Sleeps in Rwanda (2005) - Kimberlee Acquaro, Stacy Sherman
A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin (2005) - Corinne Marrinan, Eric Simonson
The Life of Kevin Carter (2004) - Dan Krauss
Mushroom Club, The (2005) - Steven Okazaki

Best Short Film, Animated
Nominees:
Badgered (2005) - Sharon Colman
The Moon and the Son (2005) - John Canemaker, Peggy Stern
The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello (2005) - Anthony Lucas
9 (2005) - Shane Acker
One Man Band (2005) - Mark Andrews, Andrew Jimenez

Best Short Film, Live Action
Nominees:
Ausreißer (2004) - Ulrike Grote
Cashback (2004) - Sean Ellis, Lene Bausager
Síðasti bærinn í dalnum (2004) - Rúnar Rúnarsson, Þórir Snær Sigurjónsson
Our Time Is Up (2004) - Rob Pearlstein, Pia Clemente
Six Shooter (2005) - Martin McDonagh

 

[imagineer99]

I'm trying to make it a point to see every best picture nominee this year...

I have seen each except for "Good Night and Good Luck," which I'm going have to wait until it hits the DVD rack.

As always, I think the academy has a serious vendetta against genre films (Sin City, Batman Begins) and less publicized films (Everything Is Illuminated), so I can't immediately sympathize with their choices for the big five. That said, hands down "Brokeback Mountain" will take the prize. Personally, this wouldn't be my choice--I thought it was a well-made, but altogether very basic story.

I thought Crash was well made, but is just not best picture material. Munich was riveting for the first two hours--then it started to drag. Speilburg let the film go for too long. Capote, was surprisingly good. Hoffman gave unquestionably the best performance of the year. I hope he takes home the statue for best actor.

Those are my thoughts, yours?

 

[BwanaBob]

FYI...

Steve will probably be on later to remind you to please not use the term 'Official' in your post. There's not much of anything sponsored from the website. Legal stuff and all... you know.



(edit: I'll post my thoughts later... )

 

[dandaman]

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Nominees:
Judi Dench for Mrs. Henderson Presents (2005)
Felicity Huffman for Transamerica (2005)
Keira Knightley for Pride & Prejudice (2005)
Charlize Theron for North Country (2005)
Reese Witherspoon for Walk the Line (2005)

I think we know who Connor's vote goes to. :lol:

 

[imagineer boy]

Lookin at all of the best picture nominees kinda makes you miss the hobbits a little... Heck, I pretty much never heard of any of the best picture nominees except for Munich until the oscars were announced. :lol:

Let's see, *looks at all the other nominees* Well, for best actress, I'm going for Judi Dench from Mrs. Henderson presents.... uh for her amazing performance as uhh... Mrs. Henderson! As she presents some stuff... err... Wait, I haven't heard of that movie either..... Nah! Kiera Knightly for best actress! :sohappy: Surely she's hot enough to win over the acadamy.

 

[SIR90210]

I saw no movies in the theatres this past year, so I'm really only psyched about (a) Jon Stewart hosting, (b) anything Narnia is nominated for, and (c) Keira Knightley. Beyond that, I don't care.

 

[Connor002]

I hate award shows...

 

[dxwwf3]

As always, I think the academy has a serious vendetta against genre films (Sin City, Batman Begins) and less publicized films (Everything Is Illuminated), so I can't immediately sympathize with their choices for the big five.

What else is new? It's all a political popularity contest. The only way a small film gets nominated is if it's on every critics top 10 list (Still hard to believe that Eternal Sunshine didn't get a best pic nomination.......oh yeah I remember why ) and if there's a certain number of action scenes in a film, then it is automatically dropped from consideration. Same could be said if it reaches a certain number of laughs. Some might disagree, but I think Batman Begins and/or Sin City might have been nominated if they weren't about the characters of Sin City and Batman.

I haven't seen any of the best picutre nominations yet, but I really would like to rent Crash, Good Night..., and Munich. I haven't had time to rent them yet, but I will.

 

[imagineer99]

Oh, since Paul Giamatti seems never get the respect he deserves, I do hope he picks up the statue for the Cinderella Man. I know some people thought it was sappy, but I really enjoyed that movie.

 

[dxwwf3]

Oh I thought Cinderella Man was nearly pitch perfect. Just as good, if not better, than Seabiscuit IMO. Very moving film.

 

[dxwwf3]

The Golden Schmoes (From JoBlo.com) has it about right and we can actually vote for these awards. Nominations made by the people of the site and voted on by the people:

http://www.goldenschmoes.com/

 

[dandaman]

I saw no movies in the theatres this past year, so I'm really only psyched about (a) Jon Stewart hosting, (b) anything Narnia is nominated for, and (c) Keira Knightley. Beyond that, I don't care.

Actually... that applies to me, too. :lol:

 

[imagineer boy]

Oh, since Paul Giamatti seems never get the respect he deserves, I do hope he picks up the statue for the Cinderella Man. I know some people thought it was sappy, but I really enjoyed that movie.

It was a very good movie. It wasn't one of those movies that are great but kinda boring, this one just kept my attention the whole time. Its really a shame that it didn't get the respect it deserves at the Oscars ( mainly because they said it was too similar to Million Dollar Baby. ? Just because it has boxing doesn't mean it doesn't deserve a nomination. )

 

[dxwwf3]

Well, for me, I thought Cinderella Man was a ton better than Million Dollar Baby. That's one film that I should have really liked, but it did absolutely nothing for me.

 

[NemoRocks78]

Best Motion Picture of the Year - It was all bound to happen. I've seen Munich, Crash, and Good Night, and Good Luck, and they're all defintiely worth of the nods (although someone like myself would have definitely rather had King Kong and Sin City in there :lol: ). Brokeback is most likely taking the award home, but it would be great to see Crash or Munich upset.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role - Extremely happy to see Terrence Howard land a nod for Hustle & Flow.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role - Give it to Paul! :lol: However, I'm thinking that we'll most likely see it go to Clooney (this one still puzzles me and many others --- his role was more of a leading one in that film). It was also odd to see Will Hurt get a nod, especially since he was on screen for only 10 minutes in A History of Violence. I personally would've rather seen Val Kilmer for Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang or Mickey Rourke for Sin City, but we know the Academy would've never done that.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role - Very nice to see Amy Adams in there. :sohappy:

Best Achievement in Directing - Surprised to see Bennet Miller get in (although I really can't say anything since I haven't seen Capote yet)....would've been nice to see Peter Jackson or Woody Allen. Ang Lee is almost guaranteed the win, but it would be awesome if Clooney or Spielberg wins.

Best Achievement in Cinematography - Where's The Constant Gardener? Even Jarhead should've gotten in....

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score - I'll have to say that this was quite disappointing. Brokeback Mountain, Memoirs of a Geisha, and Munich all have good scores, but The Constant Gardener and Pride & Prejudice? Batman Begins and King Kong should've gotten those spots (I'll even go out on a limb and say The Chronicles of Narnia :lookaroun :lol: ).

Here's my predictions for the major categories:

Best Motion Picture of the Year - Brokeback Mountain
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role - Philip Seymour Hoffman for Capote (2005)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role - Reese Witherspoon for Walk the Line (2005)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role - George Clooney for Syriana (2005) -OR- Paul Giamatti for Cinderella Man (2005)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role - Rachel Weisz for The Constant Gardener (2005)
Best Achievement in Directing - Ang Lee for Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen - Crash (2004) - Paul Haggis, Robert Moresco
Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published - Brokeback Mountain (2005) - Larry McMurtry, Diana Ossana

 

[sillyspook13]

Will somebody please tell me what Crash is? I had never heard of it until I saw it nominated, but everybody around me talks about it like it's something I'm expected to know......:veryconfu

 

[imagineer99]

CRASH

It's a movie exploring racial tensions and sterotypes for various types of people, through multiple interconnected stories.

Interesting movie. Not perfect, but quite good.

Not to be confused with another movie from 1994 called "Crash" directed by David Cronenberg, of course...

 

[imagineer99]

Alright, I'm not letting this thread die just yet...

Judging the response, I'm afraid a big fear is realized--frankly, most people haven't seen a majority of the nominated films. Why? They don't play at a lot of mainstream cinemas.

I'm fortunate enough to go to school in a city, and therefore, seeing an arthouse movie/ independent film tends to be a tad easier. Nevertheless, it was still a chore to be able to finally see "Capote" (well worth it BTW) and Brokeback is still only playing at one theatre in my area, and it's probably going to win best picture!

There's a real problem with the Hollywood heiarchy today to the point where it's just plain elitist and stupid. If a movie is worthy of so much praise, give people a chance to see it! And, stop flooding the cinema with craptacular movies like "when a stranger calls" and "Date Movie."

You ask the average movie goer about "Ms. Henderson Presents" and they're going to think you're off your rocker. Ask them about "Big Momma's House" and they'll know exactly what you're talking about. Sad but true.


Anyways, how about that Jon Stewart. He should be a good host...

 

[dxwwf3]

I've never really found Jon Stewart to be all that funny, but I'd say he will be a decent host. At least we won't get any Billy Crystal opening numbers.

 

[Uponastar]

I usually try to see as many of the nominated films as I can before Oscar night. This year I've only seen "Crash". I'm not really interested in the others. At least not interested enough to see them in the theater.
So, although I usually look forward to Oscar night, this year's event won't hold much interest for me. This happens every so often. Just not my type of film this year.

By the way, "Crash" was great. I hope it does well!