academy award nominations

[flip]

Originally Posted by MissTeeks

Judi Dench won an Oscar for 8 minutes as Queen Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love, so I guess there is a precedent for it.

The only real precedent is that a lot of Oscar voters don't even watch the movies and they base their picks on advertising and bribing.

The Oscars are a complete joke most of the time. So politicized and crooked.

Very few awards are giving based on merit, if any. If the "best" actor/actress/movie etc happen to win it is likely more about coincidence than anything else.

[3thirty]

agreed, the oscars are all about marketing and PR

[howard_the_duck]

Saw the Wrestler and was shocked it didn't get a Best Picture nomination. Also can't believe Springsteen never got nominated for his song. Was shocked by that oversight.

I quite liked Benjamin Button. A tad clunky here and there, but i really liked the story and the acting was great by a loaded cast.

[simonsays]

[JiriHrdina]

Originally Posted by driveway

Saw Slumdog Millionaire last night and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Highly recommend it to anyone, and I think I'm gonna have to go get the soundtrack.

That said, I don't really think it's 'best picture' material. It's a wonderful fantasy of a film, with enough darkness to be palatable for modern tastes, but best picture? I dunno.
.

I dunno. I grow tired of best picture awards having to go to some sort of movie with a message. You end up with melo-dramatic pieces of junk like Crash winning when people focus too much on that.

Slumdog had a fairly inventive narrative that was well written. The direction and cinematography were outstanding and the performances were terrific across the board.

Works for me.

[VANFLAMESFAN]

I'm determined to see all the best pic nominess this year, and I've seen 3 of the 5 right now. I went and saw The Reader on Friday. Brilliant movie, very heavy, very emotional and top notch acting from Winslet and Cross. GO SEE THIS MOVIE!!!

Slumdog was very good as well, it was a lot of fun and had a nice pace to it.

Ben Button....Technically speaking, it was spectacular, the makeup, costume, visuals, sound was all top notch....and it was a great fantasy story. I really enjoyed it.

[Yeah_Baby]

Originally Posted by driveway

And for all y'all Dark Knight lovers, it's a great movie, but it shouldn't be anywhere near a best picture trophy. As all superhero movies are bound to be, it's a profoundly flawed film.

And for whoever was asking about Return of the King's win. They gave all the trophies to that film to recognize the acheivment that is the whole trilogy.

I never said it should, win but come on man. Freaking Beauty and Beast got a best picture nom....

[StrayBullet]

So I finally saw Frost/Nixon yesterday and it's official, I've seen every Best Picture nomination for this year's Oscars - Before the actual show. This marks the first time I've ever done so and I actually feel as though I can finally decide for myself who should win. I understand that the Oscars have really just become this marketing tool and an over-hyped, ized award show, but what isn't these days? I just think it's fun to talk about the nominations and get involved with the "Who should won?" debates. Now these aren't reviews and I don't want to delve into the plots at all... They're just a quick blurb.

The Curious Case of Benjamin button truly has no business being nominated. It's an interesting movie with some great parts, scenes and performances, but it constantly felt like another Forrest Gump. Cate Blanchett was mesmerizing as usual, but the film did drag on after the 2 hour mark. It's good, it's watchable, but definitely not great and not Best Picture worthy.

Changeling was equally as interesting as Benjamin Button and the movie took a turn that was unexpected. Throughout watching the film, I did not keep in mind that it was "based on a true story" and never once did I think to myself that it was incredible just because Eastwood did it. It maintained it's intensity and you find yourself building such a hate for some of these characters (Jeffrey Donovan) that you can't help but think that they're doing an incredible job on the screen. The one thing that did agitate me was Angelina Jolie constantly yelling out the same lines: "WHERE IS MY SON!", "GIVE ME BACK MY SON!, "FIND MY SON!". Seriously... those are her only lines.

Slumdog Millionaire is alot of fun and I will encourage people to go out and see it. It's probably my personal pick to win the award, but understanding the Academy, it will likely lose to the next two I'm about to mention. If it doesn't win, I wouldn't be disappointed, but I am happy to see that it had it's hype and people have gone out to see it.

Frost/Nixon is one that caught me by surprise. I remember watching the trailers all summer and thinking to myself, "There is no way I am sitting through that.". I also felt as though the film industry was ramming this movie down our (everyone, not just Americans) throats to crucify Nixon one more time - I was wrong. I was compelled and interested and Frank Langella's performance was that of equal to Jamie Foxx in Ray... simply incredible. I could see it winning Best Picture and wouldn't be mad if it did.

The Reader. Let's see... So it's about this woman who befriends... well, a 14 year-old boy. They end up having this... affair and... she begins asking him to do his homework and read books to her. Boy grows up... She leaves... Boy becomes a law student and finds her on trial for being a Nazi. It's an incredible movie!!! This is the way I've been describing this movie to everyone and all I get is blank stares. Perhaps it's how I describe it or perhaps you can't actually sell this movie to anyone, but it's seriously a great film and is the one I think that will win. Kate Winslet deserves whatever noms or wins she gets for this and the young fellow in the film is great too.

[BlackEleven]

^ Changeling isn't a best picture nomination. Milk is. Perhaps you're confusing the two?

I haven't seen the Reader yet, but I've seen the others. You're thoughts are very similar to mine on the ones you have listed, so I'm looking forward to seenig the Reader. My pick at this point from the ones I've seen is Milk.

[StrayBullet]

Originally Posted by BlackEleven

^ Changeling isn't a best picture nomination. Milk is. Perhaps you're confusing the two?

I haven't seen the Reader yet, but I've seen the others. You're thoughts are very similar to mine on the ones you have listed, so I'm looking forward to seenig the Reader. My pick at this point from the ones I've seen is Milk.

Yes. You're right... I also saw Milk and for some reason went on a tangent about Changeling! So dumb....

Milk was a decent movie as well with Josh Brolin and Sean Penn turning in great performances. Sean Penn is likely the sleeper for Best Actor after Langella and Rourke. The problem I had with this film was that it felt pedestrian and I guess I expected alot more from Gus Van Sant. The effort is there. The acting is definitely apparent, but in terms of a biopic it gave me no new light to Harvey Milk. I can't entirely point out the reason I knew about Milk in the first place, but there was something missing for me. It would probably rank in the same place... Just above CCBB and absolutely below Slumdog.

What did you like about Milk? I'm interested.

[Machiavelli]

I agree about Milk. It was good, but it was almost too straightforward. It just seemed to plod along.

Sean Penn did a wonderful job, as usual.

[VANFLAMESFAN]

Thought it was a good show last night. I enjoyed Hugh Jackman's number at the beginning. Thought he did a solid job. Having the 5 actors introuce all the acting categories was a nice spin.

I was a big fan of the Reader, so I wanted it to win some awards but wasn't shocked when it didn't. Frost Nixon was also very good and I thought Langella did a great job, I would have had no issue had he won. Sean Penn was hwoever very good and a deserved winner as Harvey Milk. Slumdog was a nice story and I liked how it took the viewer thru so many different emotions. I understand why it cleaned up. I thought Benjamin Button was a solid fantasy story with a good heart, but no, it didn't deserve much more than some technical awards.

I saw all 5 best pic nominees and this is how I would have ranked them. I liked them all.

The Reader
Frost/Nixon
Slumdog Millionaire
Milk
Benjamin Button

[VladtheImpaler]

So all it takes for Bollywood to get some recognition is to put Brits in charge? How colonial.

[RW99]

I thought it was a good show as well, they really changed it up a bit. The 5 presenters, the fancy sets and the montages with movies that will never get an Oscar were great. Though I only saw a handful of movies that were up for awards, Dark Knight, The Wrestler, Wall-E. Ledger won, which was great.

[Dan02]

Originally Posted by Sainters7

I didnt realize how few movies I've seen this year until I saw this list. I think I've seen maybe two of the movies nominated on there. Maybe I'm just seeing crap.

That better then me, I've only even heard of 2 of the 5 and haven't seen any of them.

[Coach]

LOVED Jackman's opening bit. Absolutely hilarious. To be honest, I like when they show clips of the actors in the movie better than the 5 presenters, but overall I though it was not bad

[VANFLAMESFAN]

Originally Posted by MattyC

LOVED Jackman's opening bit. Absolutely hilarious. To be honest, I like when they show clips of the actors in the movie better than the 5 presenters, but overall I though it was not bad

Yeah, I like watching the clips as well, but I wouldn't mind the 5 actors thing every once in awhile. I hope they don't make that a staple going forward. Seeing Deniro take a couple jabs at Sean Penn was pretty cool.

[BuzzardsWife]

Originally Posted by Bob

Isn't Benjamin Button just Forrest Gump 2008?

uh no..not even close..did u see both movies?

[BuzzardsWife]

Originally Posted by VANFLAMESFAN

Yeah, what an ugly bitch.

wowww..high standards? i just don't see anything ugly here

[VANFLAMESFAN]

Originally Posted by BuzzardsWife

wowww..high standards? i just don't see anything ugly here

I was being sarcastic. I was commenting on a poster who said he didn't like Anne Hathaway. I'm a huge fan of hers. Beautiful and talented. And smoking hot in Get Smart....