|
2008 Award Nominations
Yep, it's that time of year again. Get out your score cards!!
Spirit Award Nominations! Quote:
|
Quote:
Quote:
|
14th Annual Critics' Choice Awards
Quote:
|
L.A. Film Critics
Quote:
|
New York Film Critics Circle
Quote:
|
Jeez, another year where all my good intentions resulted in my seeing far fewer films than I'd wanted to. :rolleyes:
Netflix is my friend! |
Golden Globe Noms:
Quote:
|
Interesting - the only non-cable TV drama nominee is House.
|
I need to finish watching Cranford. I watched the first part. It was pretty good.
|
WTF? Slumdog Millionaire got nominated, but not Milk?
Slumdog Millionaire is soooo overhyped. |
Hugh Jackman is hosting the 2008 Oscars. Huh? Interesting choice.
|
Quote:
|
Slumdog Millionaire was good, but it wasn't best picture good.
|
I saw Slumdog Millionaire today. I'm not saying it is bad (it isn't) but it didn't do anything for me personally. Standard "love story against the backdrop of disaster" story where the disaster is epic poverty. The Who Wants to Be a Millionaire gimmick also didn't click (though an American remake I'd go see if they got Regis to play the host character).
So, I'll not be supporting it for any of the awards I've seen it up for so far. |
I liked Man on Wire. Glad to see it is getting recognition.
|
I hope Hugh Laurie wins- we love House. In the middle of watching a mini-marathon right now.
|
AFI Top 10 of 2008
Quote:
|
SAG Nominations
Quote:
|
I'm not sure how Frank Langella is a lead in Frost/Nixon if Heath Ledger is merely a supporting role (I know, it is frequently politics on how a studio promotes them).
Saw Frost/Nixon today. Brilliant performance by Langella without trying to do a spot on impression. All the standard caveats about being less impressed by role playing well recorded real people. The movie itself wasn't all that interesting, though, with a fantastic last 15 minutes. |
Yeah, I loved the last 15, too. And I agree that it's Sheen, not Langella, who is the lead. It seems to me that they go more by buzz/quality of performance than actual lead sometimes. (Though, Sheen's performance was equally brilliant, in my opinion - but Frost is simply not as iconic as Nixon.) Why is Sheen always overlooked? I loved, loved, loved him in The Queen. Can't wait for his next outing as Blair.
|
Don't know about Sheen. He was fine in The Queen (though some may recall I wasn't enamored of that film) but watching Frost/Nixon I will admit to thinking "hey, this is just Tony Blair again in 70s clothes."
I'll have to go and look now at how much of what is presented is fiction. |
Apparently it wasn't in this thread but I don't want to go looking for it. But somewhere after the Golden Globe nominees were announced I said that the exclusion of Milk as best picture didn't necessarily bother me since I didn't think it was a great film and could easily imagine that there were five better ones. At the time I hadn't seen any of the nominees.
Well, I've now seen four out of the five, and while it is certainly possible there were five better movies than Milk last year, none of those four are among them. Slumdog Millioniare is just overhyped "dignity of the poor" pablum. Frost/Nixon is quality product telling an uninteresting story that only gains in interest when it stretches the truth it is based on. There's nothing particularly wrong with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, but it just isn't exceptional beyond the CGI. Revolutionary Road is another entry in the artists' condescention that people living in the suburbs must be either self-loathing or self-delusional. Good movies have been made on this, even if it is vaguely insulting, but while well acted, Revolutionary Road adds nothing new and feels like Sam Mendes just returning to the trough of his greatest success. Interestingly the same could be said of Benjamin Button screenwriter, Eric Roth, who also wrote the very similarly structure Forrest Gump. Anyway, so Milk should be up there based on waht I've seen so far, though the Wall-E and Man on Wire both probably deserve it even more (and will get nothing at the Academy Awards since they are ghetto consigned. |
Quote:
"...except no AIDS." |
Best Achievement in Cinematography
Changeling (2008): Tom Stern The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Claudio Miranda The Dark Knight (2008): Wally Pfister The Reader (2008): Roger Deakins, Chris Menges Slumdog Millionaire (2008): Anthony Dod Mantle Best Achievement in Editing The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Angus Wall, Kirk Baxter The Dark Knight (2008): Lee Smith Frost/Nixon (2008): Daniel P. Hanley, Mike Hill Milk (2008): Elliot Graham Slumdog Millionaire (2008): Chris Dickens Best Achievement in Art Direction Changeling (2008): James J. Murakami, Gary Fettis The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Donald Graham Burt, Victor J. Zolfo The Dark Knight (2008): Nathan Crowley, Peter Lando The Duchess (2008): Michael Carlin, Rebecca Alleway Revolutionary Road (2008): Kristi Zea, Debra Schutt Best Achievement in Costume Design Australia (2008): Catherine Martin The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Jacqueline West The Duchess (2008): Michael O'Connor Milk (2008): Danny Glicker Revolutionary Road (2008): Albert Wolsky Best Achievement in Makeup The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Greg Cannom The Dark Knight (2008): John Caglione Jr., Conor O'Sullivan Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008): Mike Elizalde, Thomas Floutz |
For the first time ever I saw the award announcement live, I didn't even realize they were due out today. It was a thrill (that's sarcasm).
An extremely boring and predictable set of nominations. I've said elsewhere but The Reader better be a great movie because none of the other four are. That isn't to say they're bad, just that if those truly are the best it was a lackluster year. |
Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Alexandre Desplat Defiance (2008): James Newton Howard Milk (2008): Danny Elfman Slumdog Millionaire (2008): A.R. Rahman WALL·E (2008): Thomas Newman Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song Slumdog Millionaire (2008): A.R. Rahman, Gulzar("Jai Ho") Slumdog Millionaire (2008): A.R. Rahman, Maya Arulpragasam("O Saya") WALL·E (2008): Peter Gabriel, Thomas Newman("Down to Earth") Best Achievement in Sound The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce, Mark Weingarten The Dark Knight (2008): Ed Novick, Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo Slumdog Millionaire (2008): Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke, Resul Pookutty WALL·E (2008): Tom Myers, Michael Semanick, Ben Burtt Wanted (2008): Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño, Petr Forejt Best Achievement in Sound Editing The Dark Knight (2008): Richard King Iron Man (2008): Frank E. Eulner, Christopher Boyes Slumdog Millionaire (2008): Tom Sayers WALL·E (2008): Ben Burtt, Matthew Wood Wanted (2008): Wylie Stateman Best Achievement in Visual Effects The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton, Craig Barron The Dark Knight (2008): Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Timothy Webber, Paul J. Franklin Iron Man (2008): John Nelson, Ben Snow, Daniel Sudick, Shane Mahan Best Animated Feature Film of the Year Bolt (2008): Chris Williams, Byron Howard Kung Fu Panda (2008): John Stevenson, Mark Osborne WALL·E (2008): Andrew Stanton Best Foreign Language Film of the Year Der Baader Meinhof Komplex (2008)(Germany) Entre les murs (2008)(France) Revanche (2008)(Austria) Okuribito (2008)(Japan) Vals Im Bashir (2008)(Israel) |
Best Documentary, Features
The Betrayal - Nerakhoon (2008): Ellen Kuras, Thavisouk Phrasavath Encounters at the End of the World (2007): Werner Herzog, Henry Kaiser The Garden (2008/I): Scott Hamilton Kennedy Man on Wire (2008): James Marsh, Simon Chinn Trouble the Water (2008): Tia Lessin, Carl Deal Best Documentary, Short Subjects The Conscience of Nhem En: Steven Okazaki The Final Inch: Irene Taylor Brodsky, Tom Grant Smile Pinki: Megan Mylan The Witness from the Balcony of Room 306: Adam Pertofsky, Margaret Hyde Best Short Film, Animated La Maison en Petits Cubes: Kunio Kato Ubornaya istoriya - lyubovnaya istoriya (2007): Konstantin Bronzit Oktapodi (2007): Emud Mokhberi, Thierry Marchand Presto (2008): Doug Sweetland This Way Up (2008): Alan Smith, Adam Foulkes Best Short Film, Live Action Auf der Strecke (2007): Reto Caffi Manon sur le bitume (2007): Elizabeth Marre, Olivier Pont New Boy (2007): Steph Green, Tamara Anghie Grisen (2008): Tivi Magnusson, Dorthe Warnø Høgh Spielzeugland (2007): Jochen Alexander Freydank |
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is the most overrated movie of our time. Best Picture and 12 other nominations?! What a crock.
Unless I'm missing something. Can someone point to an element of the film that commented on the unique experience of living life backwards? I saw only a pretty neat love story and the character arc of any adventurous man whose instincts could have been engendered by any number of life experiences. It seems to me living backwards would have produced some very unique curiousities ... but I saw none. Bah. Spoiler:
|
No, it was pleasant but not great.
The thing I wondered was Spoiler:
|
And to repeat a service provided in past years, if you are interested in cramming in all the nominees here are you're viewing options for all the nominated films. Additionally, there will be screenings of all the Animated and Live Action shorts on February 8. Check local theaters.
Australia - 1 nomination (Costume Design) Still in theaters. Limited availability (200+ theaters). Released to DVD on March 3, after the Academy Awards.The Baader Meinhof Complex - 1 nomination (Foreign Language Picture - Germany) Has not been released in the United States. Has not been released on DVD even in Germany.The Betrayal (Nerakhoon) - 1 nomination (Documentary Feature) In 1 theater. Not available on DVD.Bolt - 1 nominated (Animated Feature) Still in theaters. Limited availability (300+ theaters).Changeling - 3 nominations (Actress, Cinematography, Art Direction) No longer in theaters. Releases on DVD February 17.The Class (Entre les Murs) - 1 nomination (Foreign Language Picture - France) Has not yet played in theaters in the United States. Has not yet been scheduled for DVD release in the United States. French DVD release is March 24 after the Academy Awards.The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - 13 nominations (Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actress, Adapted Screenplay, Editing, Cinematography, Art Design, Costume Design, Makeup, Visual Effects, Sound, Original Score) Still in theaters. Wide availability (2,000+ theaters).The Dark Knight - 8 nominations (Supporting Actor, Editing, Cinematography, Art Direction, Makeup, Visual Effects, Sound, Sound Editing) No longer in theaters. Available on DVD. Not available from Netflix streaming.Defiance - 1 nomination (Original Score) Still in theaters. Wide availability (1,700+ theaters)Departures (Okuribito) - 1 nomination (Foreign Language Picture - Japan) No information. Has not played in the United States.Doubt - 5 nominations (Actress, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress twice, Adapted Screenplay) Still in theaters. Moderate availability (700+ theaters).The Duchess - 2 nominations (Art Direction, Costume Design) No longer in theaters. Available on DVD. Not available from Netflix streaming.Encounters at the End of the World - 1 nomination (Documentary Feature) No longer in theaters. Available on DVD. Not available from Netflix streaming.Frost/Nixon - 5 nominations (Picture, Director, Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Editing) Still in theaters. Limited availability (100+ theaters).Frozen River - 2 nominations (Actress, Original Screenplay) No longer in theaters (barely ever was). Releases on DVD February 10.The Garden - 1 nomination (Documentary Feature) No theatrical release. Not available on DVD.Happy-Go-Lucky - 1 nomination (Original Screenplay) Still in theaters. Very limited availability (>50 theaters). Release on DVD March 10, after the Academy Awards.Hellboy II: The Golden Army - 1 nomination (Makeup) No longer in theaters. Available on DVD. Not available from Netflix streaming.In Bruges - 1 nomination (Original Screenplay) No longer in theaters. Available on DVD. Not available from Netflix streaming.Iron Man - 2 nominations (Visual Effects, Sound Editing) No longer in theaters. Available on DVD. Not available from Netflix streaming.Kung Fu Panda - 1 nomination (Animated Feature) No longer in theaters. Available on DVD. Not available from Netflix streaming.Man on Wire - 1 nomination (Documentary Feature) No longer in theaters. Available on DVD. Available from Netflix streaming.Milk - 8 nominations (Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actor, Original Screenplay, Editing, Costume Design, Original Score) Still in theaters. Limited availability (200+ theaters).Rachel Getting Married - 1 nomination (Actress) Still in theaters. Very limited availability (>100 theaters). Release on DVD March 17, after the Academy Awards.The Reader - 5 nominations (Picture, Director, Actress, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography) Still in theaters. Moderate availability (400+ theaters).Revanche- 1 nomination (Foreign Language Picture - Austria) Has not played in the United States.Revolutionary Road - 3 nominations (Supporting Actor, Art Direction, Costume Design) Still in theaters. Limited availability (100+ theaters).Slumdog Millionaire - 10 nominations (Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Editing, Cinematography, Sound, Sound Editing, Original Score, Original Song twice) Still in theaters. Moderate availability (600+ theaters).Tropic Thunder - 1 nomination (Supporting Actor) Still in theaters. Very limited availability (>100 theaters). longer in theaters. Available on DVD. Not available from Netflix streaming.Trouble the Water - 1 nomination (Documentary Feature) No longer in theaters. Not available on DVD.Vicky Cristina Barcelona - 1 nomination (Supporting Actress) Still in theaters. Very limited availability (>100 theaters). Release on DVD January 27.The Visitor - 1 nomination (Actor) No longer in theaters. Available on DVD. Not available from Netflix streaming.Wall-E - 6 nominations (Original Screenplay, Sound, Sound Editing, Original Score, Original Song, Animated Feature) No longer in theaters. Available on DVD. Not available from Netflix streaming.Waltz with Bashir - 1 nomination (Foreign Language Picture - Israel) Still in theaters. Very limited availability (>10 theaters). Has been released to DVD in Israel.Wanted - 2 nominations (Sound, Sound Editing) No longer in theaters. Available on DVD. Not available from Netflix streaming.The Wrestler - 2 nominations (Actor, Supporting Actress) Still in theaters. Limited availability (100+ theaters). |
Interesting list of nominees.
Nice to see Milk getting so many noms, but I feel it will win none. Just a feeling. I think Best Pic might just go to Slumdog. We'll see. With each year that passes, I have less enthusiasm for the Oscars. I don't see myself running to see all the movies that are up for major awards. Ever since Crash won Best Pic, I have lost all my faith in the Academy. |
Quote:
I enjoyed the film while watching it, and have hated it more and more ever since I left the theater. The worst thing about this awards season, though ... is I got absolute NO screeners! Bah. |
I wonder if Shahrukh Kahn will appear at the Oscars like he did at the Golden Globes?
|
By Alex's list I am due to see 22 films. But I rarely get to most of the foreign or the docs (usually 1 from each category.) And I'm not interested in Revolutionary Road. The only real biggies I have left include The Reader, The Wrestler, Frozen River, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Happy-Go-Lucky, and In Bruges. Which, I guess, is pretty good considering I haven't been able to get to a movie theater during convalescence.
I don't think he's posted it here, but Tom called Slumdog as winner of BP about 2 months ago, based on academy taste and elimination of their less-preferred elements. Will be interesting to see if his long-term call is so prescient! I generally think that the academy doesn't necessarily reward the best films, but they also seem to go out of their way, 19 times out of 20, to withhold rewards from popular favorites. I quite liked The Dark Knight but suspected it wouldn't get love beyond the techs and the Ledger nom. It seems the Oscar-Watching fandom is in a complete tizzy about it, but I wasn't at all surprised. I do think Ledger is a lock for that category, though. Who's in for the short film screenings this year? I'll post info as soon as I know where they'll be shown. If our theory is correct (one year of compelling films, one year of duds) this should be a "good" year. |
He called it, but does he agree with its inclusion (let alone winning)?
I enjoyed it, but I just didn't think it was good in any particularly special way. But it does have those elements that people seem to like. |
How is it that Bruce Springsteen's The Wrestler can win the Golden Globe, but not even get NOMINATED for the Best Original Song Oscar?
|
Would he call it his favorite film of the year? No. Nor would I. Just that the Academy will call it that. ETA - I think we separated what we would choose and what the Academy would choose so long ago that it doesn't really register to us in our Oscar-watching. (We might say something like, "I'm really pulling for ____" if one of our favorite performances or choices actually align with their choices. But that isn't too often.) Though if they go with something that we hate from the bottom of our hearts (read: Crash) we'll bitch. Bug if Slumdog wins, to me it'll just be another nice-but-flawed film on which the Academy lavishes attention. It won't bother me too much.
And Kevy, the Springsteen song is over the credits, and the Academy has ruled recently that songs must be judged on their use within in the context of the film. (That didn't stop them from nominating the Wall-E song, but it is for that reason that I expect Jai Ho from Slumdog to win.) |
Quote:
|
Sounds good. My problem with it getting so many nominations is that I found it to be just slightly better than middling and condescendingly bad in several ways.
But I do agree that it was a weak year. I think this would have been a good year to see some more mainstream films (Wall-E or Dark Knight) in there or to let a couple movies (like Man on Wire or something foreign or Wall-E) break out of the ghettos of the Documentary, Foreign Language (though this has the lowest walls of all the ghettos), and Animation. But with such a dull list of nominees, I don't expect I'll be going out of my way to watch. |
Why are people surprised that The Dark Knight didn't get a best pic nom? It's rare that an action flick, much less a superhero flick would get a nom for bp.
|
| All times are GMT -7. The time now is 05:40 AM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2025, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.