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Yeah, the show is running smoothly, but nothing really horrible or hilarious has happened yet. Please let Annette Benning fall or something.




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In between trying to keep up with the TORC meltdown, and the webcoverage of the Oscars (it's not broadcast here until tonight) I am not managing to do much work today!

:cheers Cate Blanchett!

I'm elated to see conservative America has not denied the Oscar to Alejandro Amenabar's "Mar Adentro" (The Sea Inside).
Also, it was about time for Clint Eastwood to receive the "official praising" he really deserves.

He won a few gold guys for UNFORGIVEN, didn't he?




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*E*V*E*N*S*T*A*R* wrote:

He won a few gold guys for UNFORGIVEN, didn't he?




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Unforgiven was the movie he deserved to win for as opposed to the meh that is M$B. My favourite wins on the night was for the Screenplay awards which I have a personal (and maybe one-day professional) affection for. For once, both screenplay awards went to the best scripts of the year instead of whichever films are likely to win Best Picture. Eternal State of the Sunshine Mind for Original Screenplay (fantastic to see Kaufman finally win that oh so deserved Oscar) with its clever, truthful (yet also romantic) screenplay and Sideways for Adapted Screenplay, which is such a rich, playful, enjoyable, rewarding script.

So what does Scorcese have to do to win? Of the nominees for BP I thought that the best thing about The Aviator was its direction, especially in the first half of the movie, and only Alexander Payne would have deserved it more. I love the Clint, and the man is an icon, but M$B, like Mystic River left me cold and underwhelmed, especially in the direction department.

But clearly he is fantastic for actors, two winners for Mystic River and two for M$B... if I was an actor or actress I'd be lining up to be in his next project...

Other positives was The Incredibles winning more than just the animation award and The Sea Inside taking out foreign film (on the back of Bardem's excellent performance).

Gotta say, funniest and truest joke made all night by Chris Rock was the crack about having the Oscars in the Parking Lot next year, I'm really unimpressed about having talented people who work damn hard to create that movie magic being handed their Oscars in their seats like 2nd class citizens, it made the Oscars seem cheap, tawdry and no better than the Globes.

Like Demo said about the parking lot comment...

And did anyone else notice that the back rows and some boxes were nearly empty?
That never looks good in any TV show.

I remember when Unforgiven was awarded 4 oscars (including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor and Best Director) that many people comented and wrote about this being a once in a lifetime chance for him, doubting he could ever manage to achieve what he did with Unforgiven, some even remained skeptical after Mystic River.
I'd love to hear what they are saying now.

Quote:

but M$B, like Mystic River left me cold and underwhelmed, especially in the direction department.

I can say the same about Gangs of New York and The Aviator(not to mention Leonardo DiCaprio's average, and far from outstanding, performance)...

Also KUDOS to Jorge Drexler for singing his song on stage when he received the award from whasisnamenow? for Best Original Song.
I can't believe that TV channel which owned the broadcasting rights for the Oscar ceremony, decided Jorge was not appealing enough to American audiences and, ignoring his opinion and feelings, simply asked Banderas and Santana to play "Al otro lado del río" during the ceremony.

I don't even think that Mystic River or M$B are Eastwoods best directed movies, I prefer both Unforgiven and Perfect World in that department (anyone who can get a sympathetic performance out of Kevin Costner deserves kudos in my book).

As for Scorcese, no argument from me in regards to Gangs of New York which was unimpressive across the board save in some of the technical departments and Daniel (legend) Day-Lewis. But I think he did a much better job with directing The Aviator especially in the first half where both the aviation sequences and the early hollywood scenes were directed with old-style bravura and panache... unfortunately the second half degenerated into a more conventional biopic fare where Scorcese struggled to make a pretty weak and muddled scrip soar. But that first half alone elevated him above M$B in the directing department. Personally I think that the award should have gone to Alexander Payne, followed by Mike Leigh or the unnominated Michel Gondry or Brad Bird.

As for Leo DiCapro... he was completely out-acted by Day-Lewis in GONY but I thought he gave a good account of himself in The Aviator and I genuinely enjoyed his performance, where I thought he demonstrated some of that talent he displayed in his earlier movies such as Gilbert Grape. After Jamie Foxx and Don Cheadle he would have been my third choice for Best Actor.

Since TORC was down during the Oscars (;)), I wasn't able to go fetch my predictions, but I'll do that now. They're listed by category, winner, and my personal prediction. Correct predictions are in bold.

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Art direction - THE AVIATOR / THE AVIATOR
Supporting actor - Morgan Freeman for MILLION DOLLAR BABY / Morgan Freeman for MILLION DOLLAR BABY
Animated film - THE INCREDIBLES / THE INCREDIBLES
Makeup - LEMONY SNICKET'S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS / THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST
Costume design - THE AVIATOR / THE AVIATOR
Supporting actress - Cate Blanchett for THE AVIATOR / Cate Blanchett for THE AVIATOR
Documentary Feature - BORN INTO BROTHELS / SUPER SIZE ME
Film editing - THE AVIATOR / THE AVIATOR
adapted screenplay - SIDEWAYS / SIEWAYS
visual effects - SPIDER MAN 2 / I, ROBOT
short film (live action) - WASP / WASP
Short film (animated) - RYAN / GOPHER BROKE
Cinematographer - THE AVIATOR / THE AVIATOR
Sound Mixing - RAY / SPIDER MAN 2
Sound editing - THE INCREDIBLES / THE INCREDIBLES
Documentary Short subject - MIGHTY TIMES: THE CHILDREN'S MARCH / CHILDREN OF LENINGRADSKY
Musical score - FINDING NEVERLAND / FINDING NEVERLAND
Musical song - THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES / PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
Actress in a leading role - Hilary Swank for MILLION DOLLAR BABY / Hilary Swank for MILLION DOLLAR BABY
Foreign Language film - THE SEA INSIDE / THE SEA INSIDE
Original screenplay - ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND / ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND
Actor in a leading role - Jamie Foxx for RAY / Jamie Foxx for RAY
Directing - Clint Eastwood for MILLION DOLLAR BABY / Clint Eastwood for MILLION DOLLAR BABY
Picture - MILLION DOLLAR BABY / MILLION DOLLAR BABY

Elsewhere, I had made an official guess that SPIDER MAN 2 would take Visual Effects, then afterwards I saw that my TORC guess was different. So in one place or another, I officially guessed 18 categories correctly. Go me. My initial choice for Makeup was Lemony Snicket, but I unwisely changed it before the ceremony. And I had a feeling about BORN INTO BROTHELS, but the documentary and short film categories are such toss-ups that there's no real way to guess them. Oh well. I am happy with my placing.

Figures that I finally kick ass in the Oscar thread and no one is around to care. *flips off Ted*




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