The Oscars

innerSpaceman · 02-23-2007, 07:51 PM

Well, this will be my first non-Oscar party year in five years, and I'm going to have withdrawals.

ETA: I take that back ... there was one year in that 5-year span that I watched at home alone.

We all know not to try and capture lightning in a bottle twice ... but when we do eventually have a Swanker Oscar Party, I wholeheartedly recommend the costume variety ... where guests are encouraged to come as nominated movies or characters from.

This year, you'll all be missing my drag turn as The Queen.

Babette · 02-23-2007, 10:46 PM

I was invited to a swanky party this year, but had to decline due to NASCAR. We should be back to mom & dad's place in time for pizza and Oscars with the family. That is how we usually watch them. Mom orders the pizza when Dad & Ubergeek cell in their ETA from Fontana (I don't always go to the race). iSm - you want to come? we can call you, too!

Alex · 02-25-2007, 10:46 AM

Well, having watched Babel last night I have now filled out quite a few categories. It won't have much of an impact on my preferences, though, since there is pretty much nothing I liked about it. The only film nominated for a major award that I think is completely unworthy (for the most part, even if I don't think they were in the top five, it isn't unreasonable that others would).

So, my rankings from actual nominations (best to least):

Best Picture
1. The Departed
2. Little Miss Sunshine
3. Letters from Iwo Jima
4. The Queen
27. Babel

(My pick for best picture, Children of Men, wasn't even nominated.)

Best Actor
1. Peter O'Toole - Venus
2. Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland
3. Leonardo DiCaprio - Blood Diamond
Unseen - Ryan Gosling - Half Nelson
Unssen - Will Smith - Pursuit of Happyness

Best Actress
1. Penelope Cruz - Volver
2. Judi Dench - Notes on a Scandal
3. Kate Winslet - Little Children
4. Helen Mirren - The Queen
5. Meryl Streep - The Devil Wears Prada

Best Supporting Actor
1. Jackie Earle Haley - Little Children
2. Alan Arkin - Little Miss Sunshine
3. Mark Wahlberg - The Departed
4. Djimon Hounsou - Blood Diamond
5. Eddie Murphy - Dreamgirls

Best Supporting Actress
1. Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls
2. Abigail Breslin - Little Miss Sunshine
3. Cate Blanchett - Notes on a Scandal
4. Rinko Kinkuchi - Babel
5. Adriana Barraza - Babel

Best Director1. Paul Greengrass - United 93
2. Martin Scorcese - The Departed
3. Clint Eastwood - Letters from Iwo Jima
4. Alejandro González Iñárritu - Babel
5. Stephen Frears - The Queen

Best Original Screenplay
1. Michael Arndt - Little Miss Sunshine
2. Guillermo del Toro - Pan's Labyrinth
3. Iris Yama****a - Letters from Iwo Jima
4. Peter Morgan - The Queen
5. Guillermo Arriaga - Babel

Best Adapted Screenplay
1. Alfonso Cuarón, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fregus, Hawk Ostby - Children of Men
2. Patrick Marber - Notes on a Scandal
3. Todd Field, Tom Parrata - Little Children
4. William Monahan - The Departed (loss of points for adapting a movie)
36. Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Peter Baynham, Dan Mazer, Todd Phillips - Borat (major loss of points for being essentially an unscripted movie; this isn't "best outline")

Best Cinematography
1. Emmanuel Lubeski - Children of Men
2. Guillermo Navarro - Pan's Labyrinth
3. Wally Pfister - The Prestige
4. Dick Pope - The Illusionist
Unseen - Vilos Zsigmond - The Black Dahlia

Best Art DirectionI've seen four out of five nominations but I don't even know what is being evaluated when you say "art direction." Is that set design?

Best Costume Designi
1. Patricia Field - The Devil Wears Prada
2. Chung Man Yee - The Curse of the Golden Flower
3. Sharen Davis - Dreamgirls
4. Consolata Boyle - The Queen
Unseen - Milena Canonero - Marie Antoinette

Best Sound Mixing
I've seen all five nominees but again can't really form an opinion since it generally isn't something I notice unless it is really, really bad.

Best Achievement in Editing
1. Clare Douglas, Richard Pearson, Christopher Rouse - United 93
2. Thelma Shoonmaker - The Departed
3. Steven Rosenblum - Blood Diamond
4. Douglas Crise, Stephen Mirrione - Babel
5. Alfonso Cuarón, Alex Rodriguez - Children of Men (I'm sure the editing is fantastic but you lose psychological points when your movie is most famous for not editing).

Best Sound Editing
See Best Sound Mixing (saw five of five)

Best Visual Effects
1. Pirates of the Caribbean
2. Superman Returns
3. Poseidon

No strong feelings here, but I thought the effects in Superman Returns and Poseidon were substandard.

Best Make-Up
1. Pan's Labyrinth
2. Apocalypto
3. Click

Best Song
Saw all five nominations but don't have specific memory of any of them.

Best Score
1. Javier Navarette - Pan's Labyrinth
4. Phillip Glass - Notes on a Scandal
Unseen - The Good German

The other two nominations go somewhere between 1 and 4 but I do'nt have specific memory of noticing the score. Pan's I do and it was good, Notes' I do, and it was bad.

Best Short Film, Animated
Only saw The Little Matchgirl and was not particularly impressed.

Best Short Film, Live Action
Saw none.

Best Short Documentary
Saw none.

Best Feature Documentary
Only saw An Inconvenient Truth and while it may be the most important of the group, I don't think it was particularly well made.

Best Foreign Language Film
Only saw Pan's Labyrinth and it is worthy. Have only heard wonderful things about The Lives of Others but haven't seen it myself yet.

Best Animated Feature
1. Happy Feet
2. Cars
3. Monster House

While the number of animated films has boomed in recent years the number of quality efforts hasn't really seen a similar boom. I'd be in favor of dumping this category.

innerSpaceman · 02-25-2007, 03:33 PM

And, with 3 hours to go ... here's how I'd vote if I were a member of the Academy .... (not who I think will win).
I copied the format from Alex, and I left his "ranking" of my picks ... just 'cause.

Best Picture
4. The Queen
and I also put Babel at 27 or lower

Best Actor
1. Peter O'Toole - Venus
(Forest Whitaker and Ryan Gosling unseen)

Best Actress
1. Kate Winslet - Little Children
an upset (in my own mind even) over Helen Mirren
(Judy Dench and Penelope Cruise unseen)

Best Supporting Actor
1. Jackie Earle Haley - Little Children

Best Supporting Actress
1. Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls

Best Director
1. Paul Greengrass - United 93

Best Original Screenplay
2. Guillermo del Toro - Pan's Labyrinth

Best Adapted Screenplay
1. Alfonso Cuarón, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fregus, Hawk Ostby - Children of Men

Best Cinematography
1. Emmanuel Lubeski - Children of Men
(unseen - The Prestige)

Best Art Direction
Pan's Labyrinth - Eugenio Caballero
- what's being evaluated is set design and, separately, the artistic design of the entire picture (which likely includes preliminary elements of set design). Set decoration, a yet separate and integral element of any picture's "look" is not recognized by the Academy.

Best Costume Design
1. Patricia Field - The Devil Wears Prada
yes, these real clothes were the best costumes of the year ... and far from being authentic high fashion, were very carefully selected for the pop-image of high fashion that the story portrays.

Best Sound Mixing
John Reitz, Dave Campbell, Gregg Rudloff and Walt Martin - Flags of Our Fathers

Best Achievement in Editing
1. Clare Douglas, Richard Pearson, Christopher Rouse - United 93

Best Sound Editing
Sean McCormack and Kami Asgar - Apocalypto

Best Visual Effects
1. Pirates of the Caribbean

Best Make-Up
2. Apocalypto
(Click unseen)

Best Song
Truth be told, I have no idea which Dreamgirls song was which ... 3 were nominated, and each was likely inferior to many of the ineligible songs from the original show. So I can vote neither honestly nor honorably in this category.

Best Score
Alexandre Desplat - The Queen
(Notes on a Scandal - Unseen and unheard)
I found each of the nominated scores fairly unremarkable

Best Short Film, Animated
The Danish Poet

Best Short Film, Live Action
The Saviour

Best Short Documentary
None seen.

Best Feature Documentary
An Inconvenient Truth - which I liked better than the only other one I saw, Jesus Camp

Best Foreign Language Film
I only saw Pan's Labyrinth and am completely confident it's the best foreign language film of the year.

Best Animated Feature
2. Cars
Indicating it was poor year for animated features.

In a couple of hours, we'll see how well the Academy agrees with me .... but it turns out Alex and I agree on quite a lot.

Cadaverous Pallor · 02-25-2007, 03:55 PM

Thanks for the info, Alex.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gemini Cricket

I loved how you could see hints of their "special underwear" through their white shirts. Those kinds of details make a film wonderful.

I didn't know that about Mormons either. I'm used to the concept of undergarments with religious significance. My father and brothers wore Tallit katan for years.

Alex · 02-25-2007, 04:07 PM

They don't talk about it (Mormons) at all. If you want to quickly and likely irredeemably offend a Mormon try to talk about it with them. Among the most offensive things (to a member) done at anti-LDS events is the public display and desecrtaion of these garments.

02-23-2007, 07:51 PM	#1
innerSpaceman Kink of Swank Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Inner Space Posts: 13,075	Well, this will be my first non-Oscar party year in five years, and I'm going to have withdrawals. ETA: I take that back ... there was one year in that 5-year span that I watched at home alone. We all know not to try and capture lightning in a bottle twice ... but when we do eventually have a Swanker Oscar Party, I wholeheartedly recommend the costume variety ... where guests are encouraged to come as nominated movies or characters from. This year, you'll all be missing my drag turn as The Queen.
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02-23-2007, 10:46 PM	#2
Babette Snubbed Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: cupcake heaven Posts: 433	I was invited to a swanky party this year, but had to decline due to NASCAR. We should be back to mom & dad's place in time for pizza and Oscars with the family. That is how we usually watch them. Mom orders the pizza when Dad & Ubergeek cell in their ETA from Fontana (I don't always go to the race). iSm - you want to come? we can call you, too!
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02-25-2007, 10:46 AM	#3
Alex . Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 13,354	Well, having watched Babel last night I have now filled out quite a few categories. It won't have much of an impact on my preferences, though, since there is pretty much nothing I liked about it. The only film nominated for a major award that I think is completely unworthy (for the most part, even if I don't think they were in the top five, it isn't unreasonable that others would). So, my rankings from actual nominations (best to least): Best Picture 1. The Departed 2. Little Miss Sunshine 3. Letters from Iwo Jima 4. The Queen 27. Babel (My pick for best picture, Children of Men, wasn't even nominated.) Best Actor 1. Peter O'Toole - Venus 2. Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland 3. Leonardo DiCaprio - Blood Diamond Unseen - Ryan Gosling - Half Nelson Unssen - Will Smith - Pursuit of Happyness Best Actress 1. Penelope Cruz - Volver 2. Judi Dench - Notes on a Scandal 3. Kate Winslet - Little Children 4. Helen Mirren - The Queen 5. Meryl Streep - The Devil Wears Prada Best Supporting Actor 1. Jackie Earle Haley - Little Children 2. Alan Arkin - Little Miss Sunshine 3. Mark Wahlberg - The Departed 4. Djimon Hounsou - Blood Diamond 5. Eddie Murphy - Dreamgirls Best Supporting Actress 1. Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls 2. Abigail Breslin - Little Miss Sunshine 3. Cate Blanchett - Notes on a Scandal 4. Rinko Kinkuchi - Babel 5. Adriana Barraza - Babel Best Director1. Paul Greengrass - United 93 2. Martin Scorcese - The Departed 3. Clint Eastwood - Letters from Iwo Jima 4. Alejandro González Iñárritu - Babel 5. Stephen Frears - The Queen Best Original Screenplay 1. Michael Arndt - Little Miss Sunshine 2. Guillermo del Toro - Pan's Labyrinth 3. Iris Yama***a - Letters from Iwo Jima* 4. Peter Morgan - The Queen 5. Guillermo Arriaga - Babel Best Adapted Screenplay 1. Alfonso Cuarón, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fregus, Hawk Ostby - Children of Men 2. Patrick Marber - Notes on a Scandal 3. Todd Field, Tom Parrata - Little Children 4. William Monahan - The Departed (loss of points for adapting a movie) 36. Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Peter Baynham, Dan Mazer, Todd Phillips - Borat (major loss of points for being essentially an unscripted movie; this isn't "best outline") Best Cinematography 1. Emmanuel Lubeski - Children of Men 2. Guillermo Navarro - Pan's Labyrinth 3. Wally Pfister - The Prestige 4. Dick Pope - The Illusionist Unseen - Vilos Zsigmond - The Black Dahlia Best Art DirectionI've seen four out of five nominations but I don't even know what is being evaluated when you say "art direction." Is that set design? Best Costume Designi 1. Patricia Field - The Devil Wears Prada 2. Chung Man Yee - The Curse of the Golden Flower 3. Sharen Davis - Dreamgirls 4. Consolata Boyle - The Queen Unseen - Milena Canonero - Marie Antoinette Best Sound Mixing I've seen all five nominees but again can't really form an opinion since it generally isn't something I notice unless it is really, really bad. Best Achievement in Editing 1. Clare Douglas, Richard Pearson, Christopher Rouse - United 93 2. Thelma Shoonmaker - The Departed 3. Steven Rosenblum - Blood Diamond 4. Douglas Crise, Stephen Mirrione - Babel 5. Alfonso Cuarón, Alex Rodriguez - Children of Men (I'm sure the editing is fantastic but you lose psychological points when your movie is most famous for not editing). Best Sound Editing See Best Sound Mixing (saw five of five) Best Visual Effects 1. Pirates of the Caribbean 2. Superman Returns 3. Poseidon No strong feelings here, but I thought the effects in Superman Returns and Poseidon were substandard. Best Make-Up 1. Pan's Labyrinth 2. Apocalypto 3. Click Best Song Saw all five nominations but don't have specific memory of any of them. Best Score 1. Javier Navarette - Pan's Labyrinth 4. Phillip Glass - Notes on a Scandal Unseen - The Good German The other two nominations go somewhere between 1 and 4 but I do'nt have specific memory of noticing the score. Pan's I do and it was good, Notes' I do, and it was bad. Best Short Film, Animated Only saw The Little Matchgirl and was not particularly impressed. Best Short Film, Live Action Saw none. Best Short Documentary Saw none. Best Feature Documentary Only saw An Inconvenient Truth and while it may be the most important of the group, I don't think it was particularly well made. Best Foreign Language Film Only saw Pan's Labyrinth and it is worthy. Have only heard wonderful things about The Lives of Others but haven't seen it myself yet. Best Animated Feature 1. Happy Feet 2. Cars 3. Monster House While the number of animated films has boomed in recent years the number of quality efforts hasn't really seen a similar boom. I'd be in favor of dumping this category.
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02-25-2007, 03:33 PM	#4
innerSpaceman Kink of Swank Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Inner Space Posts: 13,075	And, with 3 hours to go ... here's how I'd vote if I were a member of the Academy .... (not who I think will win). I copied the format from Alex, and I left his "ranking" of my picks ... just 'cause. Best Picture 4. The Queen and I also put Babel at 27 or lower Best Actor 1. Peter O'Toole - Venus (Forest Whitaker and Ryan Gosling unseen) Best Actress 1. Kate Winslet - Little Children an upset (in my own mind even) over Helen Mirren (Judy Dench and Penelope Cruise unseen) Best Supporting Actor 1. Jackie Earle Haley - Little Children Best Supporting Actress 1. Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls Best Director 1. Paul Greengrass - United 93 Best Original Screenplay 2. Guillermo del Toro - Pan's Labyrinth Best Adapted Screenplay 1. Alfonso Cuarón, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fregus, Hawk Ostby - Children of Men Best Cinematography 1. Emmanuel Lubeski - Children of Men (unseen - The Prestige) Best Art Direction Pan's Labyrinth - Eugenio Caballero - what's being evaluated is set design and, separately, the artistic design of the entire picture (which likely includes preliminary elements of set design). Set decoration, a yet separate and integral element of any picture's "look" is not recognized by the Academy. Best Costume Design 1. Patricia Field - The Devil Wears Prada yes, these real clothes were the best costumes of the year ... and far from being authentic high fashion, were very carefully selected for the pop-image of high fashion that the story portrays. Best Sound Mixing John Reitz, Dave Campbell, Gregg Rudloff and Walt Martin - Flags of Our Fathers Best Achievement in Editing 1. Clare Douglas, Richard Pearson, Christopher Rouse - United 93 Best Sound Editing Sean McCormack and Kami Asgar - Apocalypto Best Visual Effects 1. Pirates of the Caribbean Best Make-Up 2. Apocalypto (Click unseen) Best Song Truth be told, I have no idea which Dreamgirls song was which ... 3 were nominated, and each was likely inferior to many of the ineligible songs from the original show. So I can vote neither honestly nor honorably in this category. Best Score Alexandre Desplat - The Queen (Notes on a Scandal - Unseen and unheard) I found each of the nominated scores fairly unremarkable Best Short Film, Animated The Danish Poet Best Short Film, Live Action The Saviour Best Short Documentary None seen. Best Feature Documentary An Inconvenient Truth - which I liked better than the only other one I saw, Jesus Camp Best Foreign Language Film I only saw Pan's Labyrinth and am completely confident it's the best foreign language film of the year. Best Animated Feature 2. Cars Indicating it was poor year for animated features. In a couple of hours, we'll see how well the Academy agrees with me .... but it turns out Alex and I agree on quite a lot. Last edited by innerSpaceman : 02-25-2007 at 03:39 PM.
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02-25-2007, 04:07 PM	#6
Alex . Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 13,354	They don't talk about it (Mormons) at all. If you want to quickly and likely irredeemably offend a Mormon try to talk about it with them. Among the most offensive things (to a member) done at anti-LDS events is the public display and desecrtaion of these garments.
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