The Oscars

I was amused to see Jello Biafra quoting Mommy Dearest.

This Lord of the Rings shit needs to go take a flying leap.

is it just me (relative, i know) or is this the lamest oscars in recent memory.

Either that or Robert Crumb talking about his 'sexual attraction to cute cartoon characters' in the documentary montage. If it hadn't gone by so fast, I'm sure that would have fucked with the minds of quite a few innocent young viewers.

I guess the only real disappointment, as in something I was sure would definitely happen, was McKellen's loss, but Anthony's right, Broadbent's brilliant and a half and the recognition is well deserved. Personally I thought his turn in Topsy-Turvy a couple of years back really should have garnered him something.

As for the LOTR hate, heard it all before -- and I shall not be moved and you shall not pass.

Saskia = my idol. *envies*

I DON'T CARE

Good boy. She was indeed a vision.

I watched the first one (best supporting actress) and then crashed into bed (it was 2am GMT). I absolutely knew it was going to be Jennifer Connelly and then it was so I thought I'd go to bed with a 100% prediction record intact.

Who was that blonde woman sitting near the front with an enormous chest jacked up?

If they give HIM the BBC job next year Ed will watch every second.

Loved it.

what the fuck were circusfuckingsoleilfuckingfrenchwops hanging from the ceiling for?

and what the fuck was sandra bollocks doing there - is that the only way she can make it onto an oscars stage?

john williams is the antichrist by the way - memories of bordeom filtered down through the assholes of a lame american society.

Tonight made me want to ask Ossama why bother?

Points:

Waking Life is a terrible film and should be blown up.

Moulin Rouge is a terrible film and should be blown up.

Nicole Kidman has the worst "pretending to be happy for the other person" face I've ever seen, and didn't deserve to be nominated anyhow for that piece of shit film.

Kate Winslet looked really pretty.

Denzel makes a terrible, terrible, TERRIBLE bad-ass undercover cop. Even with 8 guns strapped to him, smoking a joint and "dissing" Ethan Hawke, I didn't think he was a bad ass. That's something too, Ethan Hawke? If they maybe hired a believable bad ass for Denzel's role, they could've gotten someone less wussy than Ethan Hawke as the protagonist.

Jennifer Connolly is such a pretty girl, why did she look like Lara Flynn Boyle last night?

RUSSELL CROWE CUT YOUR HAIR. I'm trying to convince my boyfriend to cut his freakin' hair since he's looking like Macy Gray lately, and seeing Russell with long hair isn't going to help me convince him since he fancies himself looking like Russell Crowe. GRRR FUCK YOU RUSSELL.

Spike Lee was in the Poiter reel. This is one of the few things I saw as I only watched about 20 minutes of the show.

i liked Berry's performance. missed her acceptance speech which is probably for the best. They always make me cringe. I never even heard of Training Day, wtf?

Waking Life isn't abstract, it's bollocks. The storyline is complete rubbish, the philosophy is complete rubbish, and it has Ethan Hawke in it. RUBBISH.

Waking Life is abstract, beautiful, AND rubbish all at once (not to mention annoyingly clever and irritatingly self-conscious), but I think that was intentional to begin with. Damn sight better than the execrable Shrek (bleck!) and the tedious Monsters Inc.

What's odd, is that I would have expected Broadbent to win (or even be nominated) for his role in Moulin Rouge, and not Iris.

Best Hobbit? Peter Jackson himself. Proof here

The realest moment: The appearance of THOTH! Nobody knew what to make of him, he was great. He looked like an Aztec Carrot Top. Or something. Is he big in NYC?

I hate Halle Berry. That felt like the fakest moment to me, quite an accomplishment. I thought Sissy would win it for breaking a plate. But she didn't, and I thought she looked kinda pissed, too.

Whoopie was great, even when the jokes fell flat. Was it my imagination, or did she have some catty jokes about Halle right after she won? "Oh, thanks ever so for breaking down the door for us, Halle" or something like that? If so, that was a pretty real moment. Maybe I misread it, though.

I love Lord of the Rings. I thought it was cute when the camera showed Ian M. and his Kiwi Love Bitch holding hands. Gwyneth looked like she was wearing one of those fake "ripped guy" muscle t-shirts under her gown. I'm sick of Josh Harnett's non-hairdo, it's his thing. "Oh, isn't it adorable how un-styled he is, he's so aw shucks natural." Not that he isn't really cute. Sometimes I like J Lo. Her Valley of the Dolls/That Girl hairdo was pretty cool, nobody takes chances like that anymore. Well, I guess Celine Dion did with that backwards pimp suit a few years ago.

That Cirque D'Soleil thing was the best performance I've ever seen on the Oscars. I don't know, I've always thought they were a sort of cute, "edgy", yawn-inspiring bunch of circus hipsters. They're way better than that.

And just who is Toby McGuire? I guess I could look him up, but gosh he's so dorky and bland I had to laugh a little. Maybe he's cuter in real life... I know Josh is!

2) Is it me, or did John Williams reference his own work more than any other film composer, during the soundtrack homage?

3) Audience's thoughts during Arthur Hiller's speech: "Okay, be polite. Must not look bored. Man, the Cirque du Soleil wuz awesssssome!!!!"

4) Experimenting with Acceptance Speeches:

a) I think i t would be great if for one Oscar ceremony, instead of thanking their wives and children, each and every recipient thanked Gene Simmons of KISS instead.

b) If that can't be done, then how about this: every person who is thanked by the main recipient and is present at the ceremony then gets to go up and in turn gets to go up and thank others, and so forth...

Abstract in film can be good, so what if the is no real beginning middle or enf.

That was an ENORMOUS misreading. I would bet all of my money and my life that everything Whoopi said was 100% genuine (and [irrationally, so no apology is necessary, I'll get over it] I got mildly offended when I read your interpretation).

Sometimes I like J Lo. Her Valley of the Dolls/That Girl hairdo was pretty cool, nobody takes chances like that anymore.

This is because no one wants to look like they've put a chinchilla on the top of their head except Christina Aguilera.

(i think a beautiful mind DID deal w.nash's sexuality but admittedly in a very extremely elliptical way => could a movie even be made (by anyone) that was direct and UNelliptical abt paranoid schizophrenia AND bisexuality AND higher mathematics...?)

...like that song he wrote about Jodie Foster not sleeping with him because she's a lesbian. It'd become an all-out celebrity deathmatch then.

Okay, on an unrelated note, I SAW the end of Waking Life. It didn't make the story and dialog any less cheeseball, corny, PHI101 crap. Abstract can be good, but more often than not abstract is horrible because the directors who do it are so up their own asses with their impressedness with themselves that they can't see the forest for the trees. Which brings us to Richard Linklater.

And I still don't think thinking that Whoopi Goldberg was cracking jokes about Halle Berry (which is a weird interpretation, what the hell?) is as offensive as hearing someone repeatedly refer to her as a hillbilly fucking race rider. I'm still waiting for an explanation for that. I thought her acceptance speech was obnoxious, and I think Halle Berry is insane, but regardless she is a decent actress and just because precious ice queen Kidman (who looked like she was going to murder while Halle was on stage, incidentally! What's up with the sore losers this year, her, Spacek, Crowe...) didn't win for godawful Moulin Rouge doesn't justify calling her nasty names.

Ally, I'd be surprised if more than half the country saw it, since it came out just before 11th September. I've seen Denzel do better in other flicks ("Glory" is a personal fave). It's not like the Oscar judges are actually original: "Hey, we gave it to him once....I know! Let's do it again, and look REALLY hip."

Though seeing Sidney Poitier win it WAS pretty cool....

Jumping up to read anthony's rant of the moment....

Whoopi was just being sarky, as per usual. Thank God, since I was about to choke from the level of earnestness. Spacey's asking for the "moment of silence" was a neat touch, but did we REALLY need Woody Allen? Why show up this year, when he couldn't be bothered before? "Mr. New York" is usually too precious for that.

About Anthony's rant: * Halle, you egotistic bitch, Lena Horne could act you out of anything . You forgot Eartha and Josephine and Nina . Even Angela Basset can out act you - fuck anyone can out act you and Ms. Basset can out act anyone - watching such a hysteric and dull performance get an award that should have gone to a million other actresses and then watching you bawling like a woman whose seen jesus, it makes one sick. That and thanking everyone you have ever met including yr lawyers twice, pathetic . * Yeah, I know yr the first black actress to win this award but just because you fucked the hillbilly and talked about Race doesn't make you any one of talent.

***(stifling my laughter) Anthony, you're the little monster I hope to have, someday;>

Halle's speech was not any worse than any other; just bloody hysterical for 10 minutes.

I was ready to leap through the TV, and drag her off stage.

At 4 1/2 hours, the show was already too damn long. All of us don't live on California time.***

We got to see Reese's pussy? I can't believe I missed it!! d'oh!!

Was it my imagination or did Kate Winslet have a cold? She kept playing with the end of her nose and sniffing

Well, the montage also featured work by Bernard Herrmann, Ennio Morricone, Maurice Jarre, Alfred Newman (no not THAT Alfred Newman), James Horner, etc. I thought it was just Williams was conducting it. Of course, it all got very soundbyte-ish anyway, like a big "Hooked on Movie Themes" commercial. Strange that they would choose Herrmann's "Citizen Kane" over "Vertigo", and Jarre's "Dr. Zhivago" over "Lawrence of Arabia", if it was supposed to be a 'Greatest of ALL Time' (echo echo echo) montage...

i hadn't heard of half the movies nominated until last night. i am outta da loop, permanently i think.

I can say with absolute conviction, though, that the world would be a much better place if more stars looked like they put a chinchilla on the top of their heads. ;>{+}

It's so hard to find the right emoticon.

ryan oneal and ally what'sherface - what the fuck was that? as if love story was anything but an excuse to put some pictures along with anice song.

I agree to a point, but didn't Nash himself deny any involvement into matters with the same sex?

And yes, Nash himself has denied it. I don't see how rumors of homosexual experimentation really has anything to do with the core story of A Beautiful Mind or how throwing it in randomly would've really improved the storyline of the movie, which is how this person overcame his disability.

Wait, I only just read this, this is the funniest thing I've ever, ever read. So Denzel's performance as an adult cop on the wrong side of the law is comparitively convincing to 13-year-old juvenile delinquents? Thank you, thank you for proving my point so much better than I ever could. I bow down and worship you.

I still say the ultimate proof is that they had to cast weasel-face wuss-bag as his foe and not someone actually interesting or threatening. It's like that Charlie's Angels thing I had a problem with, the best villian they could take on was THE THIN MAN??? Ooooh, where's Belle & Sebastian Fan and the Pothead?

evageline says: Yeah, the door has been opened if you have nice breasts and look like a pretty white girl with a tan. MEE-OOW. ;)

re: Nash and Beautiful Mind. I think the homosexuality, or more accurately hypersexuality, is as key of a part of the diesase as the delusions. Ron Howard and company do a diservice to Nash, other schizophrenics and the audience by cowardly leaving this out. I'm reading this book now -- so far I could have done without all the math clique namedropping. bleh.

Ally's polemic = fun.

I thought she looked like Nelly Furtado.

Did the camera ever show Laura Elena Harring and her 27 million dollar necklace and million dollar shoes? I only saw her in still photos afterwards. She looked pretty too, and had a nice dress.

Nick: Have you ever done this before?

i was thinking: I wish instead of having 5 Best Picture nominees or 10 Best Picture nominees, it was just open-ended and they nominated however many movies they thought were worthy of consideration. if done correctly, it would make "just being nominated was an honor" less of a meaningless cliche.

Enjoying Steve Pond's The Big Show, which follows the Academy Award broadcasts from 1994 to 2004. I thought I was starting a history of the enterprise (you get that in the first chapter), but it only covers that time frame, and the primary focus are the broadcasts more than the actual awards. A gossipy, basically meaningless subject treated soberly--often my favourite kind of book.

How Hoop Dreams missed being nominated

http://phildellio.tripod.com/pond.jpg

They still miss Frederick Wiseman every time, so whatever fix they came up with only partially worked.

Hoo boy.

Change is coming to the #Oscars. Here's what you need to know:

- A new category is being designed around achievement in popular film.
- We've set an earlier airdate for 2020: mark your calendars for February 9.
- We're planning a more globally accessible, three-hour telecast. pic.twitter.com/oKTwjV1Qv9

— The Academy (@TheAcademy) August 8, 2018

"A new category is being designed around achievement in popular film." = "Finally superhero movies and Adam Sandler phone-ins will get the Oscars they've been cheated out of." /eyeroll

extra time has been added to the broadcast for academy members to literally jerk each other off on stage

so they're going back to their Wings / Sunrise roots

I think we can pencil in Black Panther for the virtue signaling pop award

it's good that they're figuring out a way to keep tony art films like The Shape of Water ($189 M worldwide gross) from dominating

wow can't believe the oscars is gonna have a 'best kiss' category now wtf

needs a biggest explosion category. best use of teal and orange. I could go on.

Jokes aside, there should be an award for casting and for stunt work. Even if they aren't part of the telecast.

An Oscar for stunt work is a commercial-break Oscar category if there ever was one.

Then again, all the categories actually worth presenting to the world are all going to get delegated to commercial breaks anyway.

Finally! The evening will be a lovely night in front of the fire.

it's good that they're figuring out a way to keep tony art films like The Shape of Water ($189 M worldwide gross) from dominating

I get what you're saying, but $189 M is pocket change to Marvel and Star Wars.

yeah, i think we both know Paul Schrader can stay home next winter

^^You say that now, but just you wait until you see his gritty reboot of The Elongated Man!

The Oscars I care the most about:

Best Foreign Film
Best Documentary
Best Documentary Short
Best Live-Action Short
Best Cinematography ...

Huh, maybe I'm not the one to make suggestions about how they can stay relevant after all.

Oscars: The Academy Confirms Movies Eligible for Best Popular Film Can Also Compete for Best Picture

These sound like good changes that should have happened at least 20 years ago.

Twenty years ago, the biggest movie of the year was Titanic and it won all the awards, so.

lol

https://variety.com/2018/film/awards/academy-retreats-on-popular-oscar-category-for-now-1202930117/

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/oscars-bolt-from-abc-to-youtube-starting-in-2029-1236453188/

In news that will send shockwaves across the entertainment industry, the Oscars ceremony, which has aired on ABC since 1976, will be moving to YouTube starting in 2029 and will be broadcast by the streamer through at least 2033, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Wednesday.

The Disney-owned Alphabet Network will continue to air the Oscars — long the world’s most watched awards telecast — through the 100th edition of the awards show in 2028. After that, the ceremony will be available live and for free to over two billion people around the world on YouTube, and to YouTube TV subscribers in the United States.

Honestly, I am OK with this, especially if it means that the show can evolve into something that doesn't have to appeal to network TV viewers or be limited by network TV constraints. My only concern is whether I will be able to sign up for a free trial of YouTube TV each year.

Mark Harris on Bluesky:

"Seriously: I think this is weird, but that's because I'm old and like it when silly rituals stay the same. That sentimentality aside, unyoking the Academy Awards from a network that has seemed increasingly annoyed by their requirements could (COULD, not WILL) be great and liberating."

"Best-case scenario: The Oscars get to be themselves. No length worries, the honorary awards start streaming, things loosen up. Worst case: This is a desperate attempt to youthify, and the result will look like [how-do-you-do-fellow-kids.gif]"