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Thread: Oscars

  1. #1
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    Oscars

    I found thinkgs very predictible until Hurt Locker started winning all those technical awards that I was sure would go to Avatar. At that point, all you had to do was revise your previous Avatar picks and move them to Hurt Locker and there were no surprises at all.

    While I am pleased the Academy finally recognized a female director, I find myself disgusted that Cameron did not win. He opened new worlds, literally and figuratively, in Avatar. He took Hollywood where it will go for the next decade or two... and for that he has to watch his ex-wife win the award he should have gotten.

    Look at the massive boxoffice take for Alice in Wonderland this weekend-- much of that was fueled by 3D and IMAX ticket sales. Avatar is the film that brought 3D and IMAX to the masses. Everyone in Hollywood will reap the benefits. An industry that had been dying from piracy and other digital robbery suddenly has new life. James Cameron did that and the Academy snubbed him. For shame.

    Was his film the best of the year? No. But, his directing -- his mastery of a technicial medium that no one had mastered in quite that way before -- deserved Best Director.

    Pity.

    I loves Sandra Bullock's heartfelt speech. I thought Martin and Baldwin were funny and hit the right notes. NPH's opening routine was bawdy and funny. I used my DVR masterfully to skip the street dance routine and a few other typical slow points. There seemed to be a lot more talking than usual tonight -- especially those speeches for the Best Actor/Actress nominees... yawn.

    Did Up In The Air not win a single award? Wow... how did that happen? This was a strong year for top films -- Basterds and Up In The Air were good enough to win most years.

    --Jason "does anyone know if Bigelow and Cameron hate each other or if their divorce was amicable?" Evans
    Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?

  2. #2
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    Quote Originally Posted by JasonEvans View Post
    While I am pleased the Academy finally recognized a female director, I find myself disgusted that Cameron did not win. He opened new worlds, literally and figuratively, in Avatar. He took Hollywood where it will go for the next decade or two... and for that he has to watch his ex-wife win the award he should have gotten.

    Look at the massive boxoffice take for Alice in Wonderland this weekend-- much of that was fueled by 3D and IMAX ticket sales. Avatar is the film that brought 3D and IMAX to the masses. Everyone in Hollywood will reap the benefits. An industry that had been dying from piracy and other digital robbery suddenly has new life. James Cameron did that and the Academy snubbed him. For shame.

    Was his film the best of the year? No. But, his directing -- his mastery of a technicial medium that no one had mastered in quite that way before -- deserved Best Director.

    Pity.
    I disagree. I am not sure what the award as described above would be for (maybe it is the technical awards), but "directing," meaning instructing the actors, their blocking in the scenes, etc. isn't it to me. Of the 7 movies I saw of the 10 nominated, Avatar was #6. As far as "director," Reitman, Bigelow and Tarantino all were better "directors" as far as I'm concerned.

    And I'm not sure how the economic success of Avatar -- a movie I saw enjoyed, but feel no need to ever see again -- makes it the best directed movie. Maybe some kind of special award needed to be given it. Something from Wired or PC Magazine.

    Glad to see Christophe Waltz win. ANd while there are probably a dozen actresses that could have done just as good a job as Sandra Bullock in that role I enjoyed her speech.

  3. #3

    I understand what you both are saying.

    I understand what Jason is saying. I also think that directing Avatar was a huge job with so many people, effects, etc etc.

    I also not seen all of the nominees. However I think that Hurt Locker was the better movie. It "stuck" with me longer than Avatar. It would have gotten my vote.

    SoCal

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by JasonEvans View Post
    "does anyone know if Bigelow and Cameron hate each other or if their divorce was amicable?" Evans
    All indications are (at least up until this juncture) that Bigelow and Cameron are quite friendly to each other (and even consult each other still, on film projects)-- quite weird, if you ask me, but it's not my life/marriage/divorce/career...

  5. #5
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    Saw part of the show. Even though I started an Oscar/awards season thread back in December, I couldn't commit to any excitement. Like 2005, I pretty much sat out this year. I did see 5 of the 10 Best Picture nominees, but all on DVD. (Inglourious Basterds, District 9, The Hurt Locker, A Serious Man, Up, in order of preference.)

    I liked the John Hughes tribute. When he died of a heart attack, a few people remembered that prescient line Ally Sheedy makes in The Breakfast Club. It was nice to hear her mention it. I would have liked Jon Cryer to say, "Charlie Sheen couldn't be here tonight..."

    Quote Originally Posted by JasonEvans View Post
    I used my DVR masterfully to skip the street dance routine and a few other typical slow points.
    So you missed the dance interpretation of The Hurt Locker?

    As I watched it, I thought of the grand Oscars tradition of lame song-and-dance numbers that try, in vain, to forge some connection to an entirely different medium. After a show that had been generous (for once) with acting clips, it would have nicer to spend that time to, you know, play more than one track off a film's instrumental soundtrack.

    I wanted to ask the producers, "Have you ever considered... NOT doing a dance interpretation of The Hurt Locker?"

  6. #6

    The Oscar Show

    was terrible in my opinion.

    SoCal

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mudge View Post
    All indications are (at least up until this juncture) that Bigelow and Cameron are quite friendly to each other (and even consult each other still, on film projects)-- quite weird, if you ask me, but it's not my life/marriage/divorce/career...
    Yeah, in his interview on Fresh Air, he said they were married for a few months 20+ years ago and have remained lifelong friends and still collaborate/consult with each other. He said specifically that he would feel good if he won or if she won - so taking him at his word, if he feels bad today, it's not because he lost to his "ex-wife" and he's happy for her.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by JasonEvans View Post
    I find myself disgusted that Cameron did not win. He opened new worlds, literally and figuratively, in Avatar. He took Hollywood where it will go for the next decade or two...
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...011503042.html

    Gene Weingarten of the Washington Post summarized the problem with amazing technical effects when he wrote: (CGI is) a science that has made it possible to realistically create absolutely anything . . . The problem is that when absolutely anything is possible, absolutely nothing is special.

    Quote Originally Posted by JasonEvans View Post
    --Jason "does anyone know if Bigelow and Cameron hate each other or if their divorce was amicable?" Evans
    There is a lot of room between those two extremes. A lot of room.

  9. #9
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    And I'll add, there were a lot of beautiful actresses out there last night, but not many could top Kathryn Bigelow. I had no idea she was 58.

  10. #10
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    I counted 14 George Clooney reaction shots. I put the over/under at 15 and went with the over. I lose. Twice. Because seriously? George was not rockin' it last night. Dude needed a haircut. And a hotter girlfriend. If he can't be mine, he should be with the hottest woman in the room. (Matt Damon's wife would beat George's girl in a head-to-head competition.)

    Glad Kathryn Bigelow won. Super glad Avatar did not. As a script writer, a lot about Avatar offended my sensibilities. But agree it looked great and should have won all the visual awards, which it did. I cleaned up with guesses, which I do in real time. After the first hour or so, the only award I didn't guess correctly was Best Actress but that was mostly because I wanted to hear Meryl's speech. C'mon, Academy, give it to her, it will be a classic.

    I missed all three shorts categories, Best Actress, and costume design, that's it. Enjoyed the costume design winner's speech and her dress. If you're going to win costume design, I want to see interesting clothes on the stage!

  11. #11
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    Explanation of Last Night's Kanye Moment

    Here

    Wow! That is pretty wild. You could tell on his face and in her tone they didn't like each other.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by allenmurray View Post
    Gene Weingarten of the Washington Post summarized the problem with amazing technical effects when he wrote: (CGI is) a science that has made it possible to realistically create absolutely anything . . . The problem is that when absolutely anything is possible, absolutely nothing is special.
    That is a really, really weird statement.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by JasonEvans View Post
    I found things very predictible until Hurt Locker started winning all those technical awards that I was sure would go to Avatar. At that point, all you had to do was revise your previous Avatar picks and move them to Hurt Locker and there were no surprises at all.

    While I am pleased the Academy finally recognized a female director, I find myself disgusted that Cameron did not win. He opened new worlds, literally and figuratively, in Avatar. He took Hollywood where it will go for the next decade or two... and for that he has to watch his ex-wife win the award he should have gotten. ...

    Was his film the best of the year? No. But, his directing -- his mastery of a technical medium that no one had mastered in quite that way before -- deserved Best Director. ...
    I find the awards to be more about agenda than merit. If I were Meryl Streep, I stop going to the ceremony, or a least get as lit up before hand as Jeff Bridges did.

    I am torn on the merits of Cameron's directing, to the extent he was a pioneer in using technology to transport the audience to a new world and to provide that world with depth (unfortunately, pun intended), to make it seem real, he was very deserving. My problem is that the story was so stale that the emotions of the characters had no chance, and the "story telling" suffered.

    Conversely, much of the success of inglorious basterds was due to the writing, which allowed Tarantino to push the actors to make the characters larger than life. I wouldn't call it character development as much as character exposition, but I found the staging of the individual scenes to be outstanding and memorable. I think Tarantino's work was even more award worthy.
    Quote Originally Posted by brevity View Post
    ...So you missed the dance interpretation of The Hurt Locker? ...

    I wanted to ask the producers, "Have you ever considered... NOT doing a dance interpretation of The Hurt Locker?"
    There was some phenomenal dancing on that stage. I never considered it to be "interpretive," but then I only pay attention to the athleticism and grace of the performers. They were truly astonishing. Why they were on the Oscar stage is beyond me. Maybe the Academy is determined to make us better people whether we like it or not.

    Quote Originally Posted by allenmurray View Post
    ...

    Quote Originally Posted by JasonEvans View Post
    --Jason "does anyone know if Bigelow and Cameron hate each other or if their divorce was amicable?" Evans
    There is a lot of room between those two extremes. A lot of room.
    And the Sahara is vast, yet there are few inhabitants.


    I understand that there were a series of Tiger Woods jokes that were pulled at the last minute by the higher-ups because they were too "rude." I would have enjoyed Steve and Alec do that routine!

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by allenmurray View Post
    Gene Weingarten of the Washington Post summarized the problem with amazing technical effects when he wrote: [I] The problem is that when absolutely anything is possible, absolutely nothing is special.
    Quote Originally Posted by cato View Post
    That is a really, really weird statement.

    It makes more sense in the context of the article. When you watch an action sequence (he used car chase scenes as an example) that you know was done "live" with "real" stunt men/women it has a different flavor than one that was done with CGI. While it might not be as spectacular as the CGI one, you appreciate the difficulty in a different way.

    The use of CGI requires a suspension of disbelief different from that of older movies. I can watch the car chase scenes in an old movie and be amazed at the talent it took to "do what they did". I can watch Avatar and be amazed at the talent it took to "make that world". But I know in the back of my mind that people actually drove those cars in The French Connection. I also know that what is happening in Avatar isn't real anywhere but on screen (the difference may also speak to some folks' inability to really connect with science fiction in general). So Weingerten's statement that "when anything is possible, nothing is special" relates to the different kind of skills involved in making those two different kinds of movies. As I said, in the context of the article the statement makes more sense than it does standing alone.

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by JasonEvans View Post
    --Jason "does anyone know if Bigelow and Cameron hate each other or if their divorce was amicable?" Evans
    Quote Originally Posted by allenmurray View Post
    There is a lot of room between those two extremes. A lot of room.
    Quote Originally Posted by BD80 View Post
    And the Sahara is vast, yet there are few inhabitants.
    Given the high rate of divorce, I know many people who are or have been divorced (including myself). I imagine you know many as well. It has been my experience that most would neither describe themselves as "hating" their ex, nor would they describe things (at least at the time of the divorce) as being amicable - defined as: exhibiting goodwill and an absence of antagonism. Thus my experience is that most divorced people are in the middle, not at one extreme or the other.
    Last edited by allenmurray; 03-08-2010 at 01:33 PM.

  16. #16
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    Cameron on NPR

    Jason:
    Go to 29:30 in this interview to hear what Cameron says.

    He says they are friends, colleagues and collaborators and that he considered them both being nominated a "win-win". The fact of her sending him script of The Hurt Locker and asking him for his opinions/ideas before she directed it says something.

    Correction of my earlier post - he says they were married for two years, twenty years ago. (I erroneously said "a few months")

  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by BD80 View Post
    I find the awards to be more about agenda than merit. If I were Meryl Streep, I stop going to the ceremony, or a least get as lit up before hand as Jeff Bridges did.
    It is a bit of a joke that everyone thinks, "Meryl won't win because she has won before."

    Well, she has not won since 1982 in Sophie's Choice. Yes, she is great EVERY YEAR but at some point we need to recognize that the greatest actress of all time needs more than 1 Best Actress Oscar.

    --Jason "she should have been up for Supporting in Prada... she would have walked away with that award" Evans
    Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?

  18. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bostondevil View Post
    I counted 14 George Clooney reaction shots. I put the over/under at 15 and went with the over. I lose. Twice. Because seriously? George was not rockin' it last night. Dude needed a haircut. And a hotter girlfriend. If he can't be mine, he should be with the hottest woman in the room. (Matt Damon's wife would beat George's girl in a head-to-head competition.)

    I don't know why more people aren't talking about this. Sheesh.

    Anyway, George should also have a girlfriend who, um, let's see... WANTS TO BE THERE. Wow, could she have been any less interested? From the red carpet to the awards to the show... yikes. C'mon girlfriend, you're on George's arm. Play the part.

  19. #19
    There seemed to be quite a bit of gum chewing by the red carpet strollers. There were more than a few cud chompers last night.
    Gross.

  20. #20
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    Hey BD... It's George calling...

    And he's lit.

    Link

    Ok, who knows if he really is, but it was funny.

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