2008 Oscar Buzz

[atlantean0208]

It is nearing February - time for the Oscar. The following films are the critics favorite at the moment. If you already watch them, discuss . All those that I listed are not really a contender for Best Picture but there are some of it got nomination for Best Actor and Best Actress.

The following 7 films are the serious contender for Best Picture, however only 5 will be nominated for the Oscar ceremony on the 24th February:

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
THE DARK KNIGHT
* Nominated by Producers Guild of America (PGA). The PGA's nominees often mirror those chosen by Oscar voters, and the winner usually takes the best-film Oscar
FROST/NIXON
MILK
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
WALL*E
THE WRESTLER

Best Foreign Film: LET THE RIGHT ONE IN

Other consideration, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Actress & Best Supporting Actress:

BURN AFTER READING
VALKYRIE
GRAN TORINO
REVOLUTIONARY ROAD
IN BRUGES
VICKY CHRISTINA BARCELONA
PINEAPPLE EXPRESS
THE READER
DOUBT
LAST CHANCE HARVEY
RACHEL GETTING MARRIED
CHANGELING
MAMMA MIA
TROPIC THUNDER

[Guo Xiang]

The Dark Knight!

[atlantean0208]

The Dark Knight!

LOL, sis - I dunno you also love TDK. I'm sure yy also going to vote for TDK coz she posted very big picture of a certain dead male with scary make-up on my wall who I think will get nomination for Best Supporting Actor

However I heard 2008 it will be the year for David Fincher and Brad Pitt - Benjamin Button

[xJadedx]

Wall-E will probably win best animated feature, so no best picture for that one.
I like The Dark Knight a lot, but I don't think it'll make it for best picture either.

I'm hoping for Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight) and Robert Downey Jr. (Tropic Thunder) to get nominated.

[Ren Ying Ying]

i'm almost 100% sure Wall-E will win for animated film.

Dark Knight was a decent movie, but i'm not sure if the movie itself is even oscar nomination worthy for "best picture". Heath Ledger, though, is definitely a good condenter for best actor.

[999roses]

Are we traveling back in time or something? 2008?

[Ren Ying Ying]

The movies of 2008 are being evaluated.

[atlantean0208]

The Directors Guild Of America (DGA) nominees for "Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film" have been announced, and there are no surprises. The five finalists are...

David Fincher, THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
Danny Boyle, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
Christopher Nolan, THE DARK KNIGHT
Ron Howard, FROST/NIXON
Gus Van Sant, MILK

The winner of this award almost always goes on to win the Oscar for Best Director

the following is the known exception:

1968: Anthony Harvey won the DGA Award for The Lion in Winter while Carol Reed took home the Oscar® for Oliver!

1972: Francis Ford Coppola received the DGA's nod for The Godfather while the Academy selected Bob Fosse for Cabaret.

1985: Steven Spielberg received his first DGA Award for The Color Purple while the Oscar® went to Sydney Pollack for Out of Africa.

1995: Ron Howard was chosen by the DGA for his direction of Apollo 13 while Academy voters selected Mel Gibson for Braveheart.

2000: Ang Lee won the DGA Award for his direction of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon while Steven Soderbergh won the Academy Award for Traffic.

2002: Rob Marshall won the DGA Award for Chicago while Roman Polanski received the Academy Award for The Pianist.

[atlantean0208]

THE DARK KNIGHT GOT SNUB - the Academy is bunch of a f*cking stupid people

How can a film be worthy of eight nominations, most of them technical, but not Best Director? Do you think editors, cinematographers, etc. act of their own volition? That they’re not guided by the director? Or were you merely prejudiced against what you saw as a superhero movie?

I said that once the Best Animated Feature category came into existence that it would be harder or close to impossible for an animated film to get nominated for Best Picture. Guess what? It will NEVER happen. If “WALL-E” couldn’t do it in a year that produced such lackluster alternatives as “Frost/Nixon” and “The Reader” then nothing ever will. And the same goes for superhero movies. “The Dark Knight” tied for the second-most overall nominations with no nod for Best Picture (with “Dreamgirls”). It’s clear that the Academy loved every aspect of the film but hesitated when it came time to pick a superhero movie as one of the top five films of the year. Shame on them.

The 10 Biggest Oscar Snubs of 2009

Best actor:

Richard Jenkins - THE VISITOR

Frank Langella - FROST/NIXON

Sean Penn - MILK

Brad Pitt - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler

Best Actress

Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married

Angelina Jolie - Changeling

Melissa Leo - Frozen River

Meryl Streep - Doubt

Kate Winslet - The Reader

Best Supporting Actor

Josh Brolin - Milk

Robert Downey Jr. - Tropic Thunder

Phillip Seymour Hoffman - Doubt

Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight

Michael Shannon - Revolutionary Road

Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams - Doubt

Penelope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Viola Davis - Doubt

Taraji P Henson - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Marisa Tomei - The Wrestler

Best Animated Feature Film

BOLT

KUNG FU PANDA

WALL-E

And the winner is WALL-E, NO CONTEST

Best Director

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - David Fincher

Frost/Nixon - Ron Howard

Milk - Gus Van Sant

The Reader - Stephen Daldry

Slumdog Millionaire - Danny Boyle

BEST PICTURE

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Frost/Nixon

Milk

The Reader

Slumdog Millionaire

[Ghaleon]

It's really hard to nominate a superhero fantasy movie for the Best Picture.

The "closest" to one was Lord of the Rings but that was based on a novel that is considered literature.

I think superhero movies tend to have simple "action-like" plots and characters. Oscar board usually don't like that. The only exception i can think of that has a simple action-like plot is maybe Gladiator but the Oscars got lot of flak for nominating it (and awarding it).

[atlantean0208]

I think superhero movies tend to have simple "action-like" plots and characters.

TDK is anything but simple plot and characters. Joker and Harvey is the best characters that come out to the silver-screen last year and TDK plot is indeed complex.

[Ren Ying Ying]

TDK is anything but simple plot and characters. Joker and Harvey is the best characters that come out to the silver-screen last year and TDK plot is indeed complex.

it's not necessaily about the complexity of the plot, but rather than the "meaning" of the plot. the dark knight was entertaining enough, but the depth of the "meaning" is not yet oscar worthy. The Oscars like movies that either elicits emotions, inspirations, or analytical thoughts. The Dark Knight "tried", but I think some of it was a bit too cheezy and perhaps even overdone.

[atlantean0208]

it's not necessaily about the complexity of the plot, but rather than the "meaning" of the plot. the dark knight was entertaining enough, but the depth of the "meaning" is not yet oscar worthy. The Oscars like movies that either elicits emotions, inspirations, or analytical thoughts. The Dark Knight "tried", but I think some of it was a bit too cheezy and perhaps even overdone.

Emotion is one part of it, but Best Picture also consider the technical aspect of the filmaking. Look at this nominations for TDK:

Best Supporting Actor
Best Art Direction
Best Cinematography
Best Editing
Best Makeup
Best Sound Editing
Best Sound Mixing
Best Visual Effects

That show that TDK is very worthy film to be considered for Best Picture and its director for Best Director. Clearly The Reader is not supposed to be there in the Best Picture category.

[Canuck21]

Emotion is one part of it, but Best Picture also consider the technical aspect of the filmaking. Look at this nominations for TDK:

Best Supporting Actor
Best Art Direction
Best Cinematography
Best Editing
Best Makeup
Best Sound Editing
Best Sound Mixing
Best Visual Effects

That show that TDK is very worthy film to be considered for Best Picture and its director for Best Director. Clearly The Reader is not supposed to be there in the Best Picture category.

The little nominations like Best Makeup and Best Visual Effects don't make it a Best Picture. IMO, TDK is overhyped and not deserving of a Best Picture nod, but Best Director would be more acceptable. As for The Reader, I haven't seen it, but even the critics didn't like the movie that much so it's really a surprise that it got nominated. Overhyped as it is, I think TDK would have been a better choice than a movie neither the mass nor the critics liked.

Anyway, I really hope that Slumdog Millionaire wins big, at least Best Picture and Best Director. I thought it was such a great movie, one of the best I've seen in years.

[atlantean0208]

The little nominations like Best Makeup and Best Visual Effects don't make it a Best Picture. IMO, TDK is overhyped and not deserving of a Best Picture nod, but Best Director would be more acceptable. As for The Reader, I haven't seen it, but even the critics didn't like the movie that much so it's really a surprise that it got nominated. Overhyped as it is, I think TDK would have been a better choice than a movie neither the mass nor the critics liked.

Anyway, I really hope that Slumdog Millionaire wins big, at least Best Picture and Best Director. I thought it was such a great movie, one of the best I've seen in years.

Who said about Best Picture, I said worthy of a nominations. Even though performance is good by actor/actress what if the picture look bad. Film making is not just acting. Or else we should just watch Broadway.

LOL - little nominations WTH, all those things are what make a movie look and feel good. A movie is not just about actor/actress/screenplay it's about everything, as I said if we only want those, just watch Broadway.

Anyway don't belittle all the technical people who work in the background, without them there will be no movies.

[atlantean0208]

Is AMPAS Out Of Touch?

Members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences may have shot themselves in the foot with their selection of top Oscar nominees on Thursday, the Chicago Tribune suggested today (Friday). The newspaper observed that by selecting so many relatively obscure movies, the Academy seems to have guaranteed another low-rated Oscars ceremony. Entertainment writer Marc Caro noted that The Dark Knight, which took in $531 million at the domestic box office last year also garnered 94 positive reviews on the Rotten Tomatoes website, compared with 60 percent for The Reader, which has grossed only $7.9 million. "Yet The Reader is a best picture (and director) nominee, and The Dark Knight is not," Caro observed. Mediaweek analyst Marc Berman added: "The problem with the films this year is none of them are huge, mass-appeal hits." Caro concluded that by denying recognition to films like Knight and Wall-e, the movie academy "risks confirming the suspicions of those who think it has grown out of touch with mainstream tastes."

[Canuck21]

Who said about Best Picture, I said worthy of a nominations. Even though performance is good by actor/actress what if the picture look bad. Film making is not just acting. Or else we should just watch Broadway.

LOL - little nominations WTH, all those things are what make a movie look and feel good. A movie is not just about actor/actress/screenplay it's about everything, as I said if we only want those, just watch Broadway.

Anyway don't belittle all the technical people who work in the background, without them there will be no movies.

My gosh, did I striked a sensitive nerve or something? You'd think I just insulted your mother.

Whilst the technical elements of filmmaking enhance the movie experience, directing, screenplay, acting and cinematography to some extend can make or break a movie. I can let pass average special effects if the directing, acting and the scenario are good, but if the directing sucks, then the movie is ruined for me. That's why we have posts like "What's the most important element in film?" because some aspects of filmmaking are just more important and that's also why those nominations are at the end of the Oscar ceremony; the best are reserved for last.

You can think and fight all you want, but the fact is not all elements are considered equal to many viewers and also to the Motion Picture Academy.

[Canuck21]

Is AMPAS Out Of Touch?

I don't care about mainstream tastes because the mainstream often have really bad tastes. At the same time, being a mainstream movie does not make it a bad movie so it shouldn't be snubbed as it is often the case. If it's good, then it is deserving. Box-office gain should not come into consideration for inclusion nor exclusion.

[jadebunny9]

Wall-E is actually my favorite, but out of those actually nominated for Best Picture, my vote goes to Slumdog Millionaire. Awesome movie.

[atlantean0208]

I don't care about mainstream tastes because the mainstream often have really bad tastes. At the same time, being a mainstream movie does not make it a bad movie so it shouldn't be snubbed as it is often the case. If it's good, then it is deserving. Box-office gain should not come into consideration for inclusion nor exclusion.

Well 94% of the critics said that it is an excellent movie. Even Titanic which is a mainstream movie doesn't has those high percentage of approval from critics, but hey it wins 11 awards. Compare to The Reader I'm sure TDK is indeed better. 531M, means lots of people like it. All sorts of people.