The Academy has spoken and the nominations are in. Five outstanding achievements in each of their respective categories (aside from the two categories that only nominate three). Thursday morning, Oscar winning actor Forest Whitaker took the stage at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills to announce the nominees. Hundreds of members of the press from around the world waited anxiously for the announcement, and RowThree was there (by “there”, we mean hundreds of miles away watching a digital stream through wires and satellite).
Without any other commentary for the moment, the list of nominees are (to be updated live as each category is announced)…
– - BEST PICTURE
*Slumdog Millionaire
*Milk
*The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
*Frost/Nixon
*The Reader
– - BEST DIRECTOR
*Danny Boyle – Slumdog Millionaire
*David Fincher – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
*Gus Van Sant – Milk
*Ron Howard – Frost/Nixon
*Stephen Daldry – The Reader
– - BEST ACTOR
*Frank Langella – Frost/Nixon
*Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler
*Sean Penn – Milk
*Richard Jenkins – The Visitor
*Brad Pitt- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
– - BEST ACTRESS
*Meryl Streep – Doubt
*Anne Hathaway – Rachel Getting Married
*Kate Winslet – The Reader
*Melissa Leo – Frozen River
*Angelina Jolie – The Changeling
– - BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
*Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight
*Robert Downey Jr. – Tropic Thunder
*Phillip Seymour Hoffman – Doubt
*Josh Brolin – Milk
*Michael Shannon – Revolutionary Road
– - BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
*Penelope Cruz – Vicky Cristina Barcelona
*Viola Davis – Doubt
*Amy Adams – Doubt
*Marisa Tomei – The Wrestler
*Taraji P. Henson – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
see the rest of the nominees below the cut…
– - BEST SCREENPLAY (adapted)
*Slumdog Millionaire – Simon Beaufoy
*The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Eric Roth
*Doubt – John Patrick Shanley
*Frost/Nixon – Peter Morgan
*The Reader – David Hare
– - BEST SCREENPLAY (original)
*Frozen River – Courtney Hunt
*Happy-Go-Lucky – Mike Leigh
*In Bruges – Martin McDonagh
*Milk – Dustin Lance Black
*Wall-e – Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Pete Docter
– - BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
*Bolt
*Kung-Fu Panda
*Wall-e
– - BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
*The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)
*Encounters at the End of the World
*The Garden
*Man on Wire
*Trouble the Water
– - BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FEATURE
*Waltza with Bashir
*Revanche
*The Class
*The Baadar Meinhof Complex
*Departures
– - BEST ART DIRECTION
*Changeling – James J. Murakami, Gary Fettis
*The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Donald Burt, Victor Zolfo
*The Dark Knight – Nathan Crowley, Peter Lando
*The Duchess – Michael Carlin, Rebecca Alleway
*Revolutionary Road – Kristi Zea, Debra Schutt
– - BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
*Changeling – Tom Stern
*The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Claudio Miranda
*The Dark Knight – Wally Pfister
*The Reader – Chris Menges, Roger Deakins
*Slumdog Millionaire – Anthony Dod Mantle
– - BEST FILM EDITING
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Kirk Baxter, Angus Wall
The Dark Knight – Lee Smith
Frost/Nixon – Mike Hill, Dan Hanley
Milk – Elliot Graham
Slumdog Millionaire – Chris Dickens
– - BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Australia – Catherine Martin
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Jacqueline West
The Duchess – Michael O’Connor
Milk – Danny Glicker
Revolutionary Road – Albert Wolsky
– - BEST MAKE-UP
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Greg Cannom
The Dark Knight – John Caglione, Jr., Conor O’Sullivan
Hellboy II: The Golden Army – Mike Elizalde, Thom Floutz
– - BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Alexandre Desplat
Defiance – James Newton Howard
Milk – Danny Elfman
Slumdog Millionaire – A.R. Rahman
WALL-E – Thomas Newman
– - BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“Down to Earth” – WALL-E (Peter Gabriel)
“Jaiho” – Slumdog Millionaire (Gulzar and A.R. Rahman)
“O Saya” – Slumdog Millionaire (Gulzar and A.R. Rahman)
– - BEST SOUND MIXING
Wall-e
The Dark Knight
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Wanted
Slumdog Millionaire
– - BEST SOUND EDITING
Wall-e
Iron Man
The Dark Knight
Wanted
Slumdog Millionaire
– - BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Iron Man
I am not really pleased with the best picture nominations at all. I really wanted to see The Wrestler up there and fanboys around the globe right now are screaming “where is The Dark Knight?”
“Che” = ZERO nominations.
only 4 noms for Best Actress?
“Robert Downey Jr. – Tropic Thunder”
Are there scenes in Tropic Thunder I missed? This is the biggest bullshit nomination I’ve ever come across. Get a ‘prestige actor’ put them in a comedy, have them do as good a job as the Will Farrells out there, and then nominate them. I don’t even think he was even that GOOD to begin with.
Colin Farrell actually won the best actor Golden Globe against RDJ, and even though In Bruges isnt a comedy, it’s absolutely a much better performance. No nom.
No Eastwood best actor – YAY!
Richard Jenkins in the Visitor IS nominated – DOUBLE YAY!
most of the nom categories are shit.
I’m rooting for the Class against Waltz With Bashir. I havent even seen WWB but tough
ah, theres the 5th actress nom. Jolie. *snicker
The Changeling has more nominations than Gran Torino. I guess vote splitting from the Eastwood ass kissers fucked things up.
Sally Hawkins has to be the biggest snub on this list.
Eastwood will be considered a snub, but it is not
Frost/Nixon is the most overrated movie to have all of these noms. It is not horrible but it really not particularly good. It is the very definition of average, and thats way more boring and easy to hate.
The Reader also sucks and its awful to see its Oscar bait pay off.
I actually thought last years Oscar list did a decent job overall. This year is an out of touch idiotfest with more wtf nominations than the Golden Globes. That’s how bad.
Yeah, it went REALLY fast. I had to play catch up.
I’m for Waltza with Bashir as Andrew put it.
this is absolute shit. couldn’t be worse.
the only saving grave is Anne Hathaway and Trouble the Water.
“I’m for Waltza with Bashir as Andrew put it.”
if you go see the Class, I’ll go see Waltz With Bashir, and then we can agree that the Class rules
are there more than 3 original song noms? Where’s Brucey?
Don’t drag me into this. I never said anything about Waltz did I? Not in foreign language. I think it should be nom’d for Animated feature. Though a foreign nom would is too. PS – still haven’t see it. Tomorrow night hopefully.
Fucking The Dark Knight is nominated for it’s dull cinematography over The Wrestler?
I think it’s bullshit that The Wrestler gets no nominations other than the actors, but I haven’t seen any of the other nominees so… Seriously though, The Reader I will go on a limb before I’ve seen it and say not only is it inferior to The Wrestler, it’s a pisspoor movie.
If Bruce Springsteen is not nominated then the oscars can expect anthrax.
“Presto” was nominated for best animated short. Was that the one in front of Wall-e? That movie awesome. Better than Wall-e itself.
Henrik, the Reader is every bad cliche of an Oscar bait movie, and it doesn’t even do them particularly well.
Who wants to report Henrik to the NSA? Here’s your chance.
Amy Adams in Doubt? Please. I like Amy Adams, but where is Rosemarie DeWitt (RGM) or Rebecca Hall (VCB)?
He seriously wasn’t nominated?
Oscars.org says theres only 3 song nominees – and while at least “Gran Torino” is not also one of them, “The Wrestler” indeed got what is now the biggest Oscar snub since “Hoop Dreams”
I don’t even remember the songs in Slumdog (other than the M.I.A. tune).
Most years when people are bitching about the Oscars (esp. if they rag on the value of awards shows anyways) they usually overdo it.
This year you couldn’t underdo it enough. Bitch away, Internet. Bitch away.
But where do you even begin?
I’m not surprised by all the love for The Reader, but I am surprised that I didn’t see it coming earlier. Classic holocaust drama that Oscar loves, and none of the prediction sites I frequented gave it much thought, other than for Kate. Crazy category switch there, by the way.
Biggest snub in my opinion is Jenny Lumet for Rachel’s screenplay. How did Happy-Go-Lucky make that category? I’m not as familiar with Mike Leigh’s direction, but Kurt, didn’t you say in a podcast that he and his actors do a lot of improvising around a very loose story structure?
No Dark Knight for Best Picture, and no Nolan for Director: Boooooo!
Jenkins, Hathaway, Ledger, In Bruges screenplay: Yay!
Not much to get excited about this year. I haven’t even looked at the smaller categories yet, I’d better go do that now.
Which flick got the most nominations overall?
I kind of think Speed Racer should’ve been up for best visual effects. Maybe cinematography too.
…and set design?
I have been looking forward to seeing Bruce Springsteen perform that song live on the show since I heard it.
I’m with you Goon, just a black hole of dread this shit.
I mean best picture is Slumdog Millionaire, the two biopics, the holocaust and the epic romance. FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK.
The only music I remember from Slumdog is the overall main score, and “Paper Planes” – Springsteen’s song is fucking haunting to the point is one of the main marketing drives behind one of the best revivewed movies of the year.
way to fuck up.
Speed Racer had more interesting visual effects than Iron Man or The Dark Knight(wtf?).
The Class is really, really good. I mean REALLY, REALLY GOOD. Review kinda coming as I attempt to process everything that is going on in that film.
No Sally Hawkins = Epic Fail of the nomination process.
No Benicio Del Toro = confirmation Epic fail of the nomination process.
No Let The Right One In = That really sucks. It deserved a nomination at least.
Benjamin Button & Milk are such safe fucking choices it hurts. (Unless Benjamin is penance for skipping Zodiac last year.) Wither Synecdoche? This is the one film that people will probably still be film people will watching 20 years from now.
Uh… yeah. Iron Man had some missiles flying around and a giant robot. Speed Racer was innovative and bold. A bunch of new stuff I’d never seen before.
“I kind of think Speed Racer should’ve been up for best visual effects. ”
The three movies that are nominated use effects well but for the most part are coasting off of other innovations in other films. Speed Racer is going to be ripped off left and right, and then those movies will end up nominated. Utter bullshit.
Listening to Kermode’s review of Speed Racer right now. He seems to sort of agree with everything we’ve been saying (i.e. “thumbs up”). I forgot about the part in the beginning in which Speed races against his brother’s record and you see the “ghost” of his brother’s car – just like when you race against your previous record in a video game (like Mario Kart or Pod Racer); fucking awesome.
“Wither Synecdoche? This is the one film that people will probably still be film people will watching 20 years from now.”
Stop being a pretentious cock, Kurt, you need to see Lady in the Water again to get rid of these ridiculous statements.
Ashley, The screenplay is almost always the most interesting category in Oscar where less ‘safe’ choices are made. (usually along with both Supporting Actor categories and occasionally, Cinematography)
All that being said, THE READER is a really fabulous film, and perhaps the only of the 5 even worthy of a nomination.
As to the other 4 best picture noms: All hail the middlebrow. The Choices are not that great. Ugh.
Henrik, A similar reaction was had to The Life Aquatic and 8 1/2. I’m trying to ignore your comparing me to a phallus.
“All hail the middlebrow.”
Chicago, Crash, The Departed, No Country For Old Men.
Middlebrow is what the Oscars celebrate, but I thought The Wrestler had a chance. I guess even that is too difficult for regular people to understand.
At least this is going to be the first year since forever that Leonardo DiCaprio doesn’t have an oscar nomination.
I’m grasping at straws to get something out of this show. To be honest I kind of like watching it, especially since it’s late at night and even though the danish coverage is an embarrasment, you still know it’s only you and the other hardcore fans who’s watching it which is a nice feeling.
But it just sucks that it could be so good, with the best movies winning, the right people giving the good speeches, but it ends up being masturbation of big budget studio films that affected nobody but seemed like they should.
Darren Aronofsky said that somebody at Venice told him about The Wrestler: “The film promises nothing, yet delivers everything.” Well, oscarwinners promise everything, yet deliver nothing.
Even by Oscar standards, this is a spectacular fuck-up. (Worst. Nominations. Ever.)
Faint saving grace: The Reader, Mickey Rourke, Penelope Cruz, Marrisa Tomei, The In Bruges Screenplay, Man on Wire and 3/5 of the Best Supporting Actor category except for the baffling Robert Downey Jr. and Josh Brolin noms.)
There was no question Synecdoche wasn’t going to get nominated. it was too polarizing right now and so even though its not my 2. of the year its not worth pining over like its a shock. its just an excuse to remind people you like Synecdoche
“Hey guys, we need the Oscars to be a success. Should we have Bruce Springsteen perform his best song in a decade on our show?”
“No”
“Okay”
There’s a danish film nominated for best short. yey.
Heath Ledger will win the best supporting actor thing I’m sure. Haven’t seen Doubt, but Hoffman has one already, and Michael Shannon? Puh-lease. Where was the performance? Anybody could have played that character and people would have loved it, rarely has a character been so set up to love by a screenplay, except perhaps Pumba in The Lion King or something.
for a taste of critics vs. academy thinking, the Reader is the film with the most noms to be decidedly divisive amongst the majority of critics, so they will probably help in the complaint department.
60% on Rotten Tomatoes. 58/100 on Metacritic.
I haven’t seen Wall-E either, but I KNOW the screenplay for The Wrestler, flawed as it is, is way, way better than the screenplay for Wall-E.
Gotta get off this thread now.
Biggest Irony is The Dark Knight gets an editting nod. Isn’t that one of the universally agreed flaws of TDK, the amateur editing of some scenes (Alfred/Wayne in the underground ‘bat office’)
Nope Goon. Shannon has that special brand of crazy. He deserves recognition. Same with Viola Davis in the small role in Doubt. It’s a great scene.
I didn’t say anything about Shannon. I thought he was good.
There’s a lot of good editing in the Dark Knight, a LOT. but the bad editing sticks out.
Did Che qualify for this years Oscars?
Tropa de Elite would have been a pretty cool foreign langauge nod, but I’m not sure whether or not Brazil qualified the film.
Elite Squad was released in 2007 in Brazil, so maybe they submitted it last year?
Nobody has yet mentioned MELISSA LEO up for best actress. That’s a HUGE plus in this sham of an awards show.
But still, go Anne Hathaway!
Here are far more “correct” nominations:
http://www.rowthree.com/2008/12/03/tighter-than-the-oscars-spirit-awards-nominations-revealed/
Or these:
http://www.rowthree.com/2009/01/12/row-threes-top-ten-films-of-2008/
Robert Downey Jr’s performance in TT is the best comedic performance I have ever seen. It deserves any praise it gets.
TDK OTOH is a truly disasterous film when you watch its editing. Dialogue is off, stunts are repeated in the same format, at one point they simply end a scene without actually resolving it (As an added bonus they later reference the scene as if it was actually resolved. Wha?), you have garbage bins falling in front of a bike that magically disappear and so on and so forth. An outright mess of a film.
The only snub I’m really upset about is The Fall. How it didn’t get a nomination for costume design or cinematography is beyond me. Oh that’s right, no one saw it.
Also Kurt, Let the Right One In wasn’t eligible this year, but is eligible next year due to a late release date in Sweden.
Gamble, while I didn’t care for The Fall as a film, you’re spot on about Cinematography and costume design.
Ahh, bad timing and rules minutae, forever the bane of Oscar and the ‘spirit’ of the award. Lost in the bureaucracy once again. Damn you Kafka.
Jay C. does the RDJ imitation from Tropic Thunder perfectly, should he get an oscar nom too?
I remember reading that the worst edited film of the year was Indy IV as far as film flubs, and Dark knight was second… so lets just call it: these awards mean absolutely nothing, they are Golden Globes Redux.
again,
http://www.rowthree.com/2008/12/03/tighter-than-the-oscars-spirit-awards-nominations-revealed/
No Michelle Williams or Sally Hawkins, but Angelina JOLIE for CHANGELING? do that hand out awards for crying really well? Sucks.
“Robert Downey Jr’s performance in TT is the best comedic performance I have ever seen.”
Let me know what happens when you see your second comedy film. All he does is grunt, you can’t hear him half the time, and his actual dialogue isn’t funny anyways.
Most overrated acting job of the year. He’s actually much funnier in Iron Man essentially just being himself. He’s funnier in Zodiac and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang again, just being himself. The voices and characters are so one dimensional and shallow, the character is as much a grand creation as Pitka in the Love Guru.
if Milk is going to get a best supporting actor nod, how the fuck did it go to Brolin instead of Franco? Franco is way better than Brolin in that movie.
Well, the performance was funny, but I agree with Goon that RDJ is much funnier when he is just sort of being “himself.” He’s WAY funnier in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.
For RDJ’s full range of acting prowess, see Two Girls and a Guy.
Let me know what happens when you see your second comedy film. All he does is grunt, you can’t hear him half the time, and his actual dialogue isn’t funny anyways.
His dialogue isn’t meant to be funny, as he is clearly the straight man in the film. Which is the brilliance of the performance. They take a truly ridiculous setup (having a white method actor play the role of a black man) and just turn him loose. The entire setup is a huge slap in the face to conventional Hollywood acting, and the inherent ridiculousness of method acting. On top of that, with that setup they simply have Downey play the role totally straight, and he nails it. And that it is played straight is what makes the character so endearing, compelling and complex. It would be if Donny in The Big Lebowski was actually played by The Jesus instead. The contrasting nature of the entire performance is both surreal and ridiculously funny while simultaneously creating a character that truly outshines anything else on screen. The Coens understand this complex relationship incredibly well, which is why they so often make their characters have such unique and varied looks. The look of a character and how they physically carry themselves can be just as funny as the lines they deliver.
Hell, the best joke in Burn After Reading is when Malcovich is lying on his back trying to think of the next line to his memoirs. Why? Because this formerly straight laced professional has turned into a slovenly mess, as well as they are stealing the shot straight from Barton Fink, a true artist who really was struggling to go up with a piece of art rather then a superfluous puff piece. Yet not a line was uttered in the shot, it merely was funny by simply existing.
There is absolutely nothing complex about his Tropic Thunder character.
At all.
Its a stereotype voice and a fake british actor voice. Oh how complex. There’s nothing shining through. If it was played exactly the same by any other actor, known or unknown, it would not receive recognition. I love RDJ, but that nom is pure RDJ asskissery.
its also sad to think of him as the straightman, when theres nothing funny in that movie to play off of anyways.
Tropic Thunder sucks.
Who the fuck are these people that actually thought The Dark Knight would be nominated for best picture?
I mean thats not a comment about the movie, its basic common sense about what the Oscars do.
Its a stereotype voice and a fake british actor voice
It’s Australian. Did you even watch the movie?
whatever. Thats about how memorable it was. How anyone can think this is better than any of the male performances in say, Burn After Reading, is crazy. Especially Pitt, who of any ‘serious’ actor, owned a comedic role better than anyone else.
SUPER disappointed by the list. As Andrew mentioned, one of the few lights in this whole debacle is Melissa Leo. As much as I loved RGM and Hathaway, I hope Leo takes it. Though it was a good year, SO many great films and performances were snubbed. Where the fuck is Ballast? Yeah, it’s a small film but hello! Cinematography at least?!
I still have a few movies to watch, namely The Changeling and Benjamin Button and a few of the docs and a few of the missed foreign films but for the most part, I’m obviously populous since I’ve seen most of the stuff on the ballot.
And a quick comment on the 2 Slumdog songs: the ones that feature M.I.A. are the less impressive of the soundtrack. “O Saya” is excellent (though it features M.I.A. – who I love):
And “Jai Ho” is frekin’ awesome:
Jai Ho is pretty good. I thought that was a main score theme and not an original song.
But why only 3 songs. arent there normally 5?
“I thought that was a main score theme and not an original song.”
That I don’t know about. I’m not familiar with the breakdown of score/original song and since I’ve only seen the ONE release for the movie, I’m assuming they don’t have a “score” per say.
And I too though there were generally five.
And to be fair, my fave song off the soundtrack/score is “Ringa Ringa“.
My guess on the three songs instead of 5 was to keep the length ofthe show down by only having three performances. It’ll be funny to see most of the ‘live music’ in this years Oscar broadcast be Bollywood-style numbers. From a British Film. Weird.
Re: Springsteen
- apparently he wasn’t eligible because he put the song on his album
Re: Speed Racer
- the film should be nominated for some stuff, but had absolutely no chance – it wasn’t even on the short list for nominations – Hollywood don’t really like the W. Brothers, Warner doesn’t really like Joel Silver despite contractually linked with him (until that contract ones out), the film bombed and Warner just didn’t bother doing anything with the film in terms of Award promotion (I bet they didn’t even submit the film for nomination, which you need to do…)
Re: Milk
- i love, love, love MILK. Van Sant’s direction is really underrated. While I wouldn’t peg it as my favorite, I really, really enjoyed the direction. Out of the Director and Film categories, I’d vote for Milk.
Re: Song
Wall-E is great. That song was not. At all!
re: giachinno
Again his score for Speed Racer was pretty rocking, but I wish the rules would allow that his theme from Cloverfield could get a nod – great, great, great song (and I really don’t care for the film itself)
I could imagine caring about the acadamy award show if Lost weren’t back this week.
Has anyone even seen any of these movies. Doubt? The Reader? I was bored just looking at their posters.
The films that I enjoyed this year:
Synedoche, NY
Wrestler
Be KInd Rewind
Wristcutters: A Love Story
Paranoid Park
Dark Knight
Wall E
Red Belt
Ben Button
And while Let The Right One In was a little slow for me I did enjoy the imagery and look forward to watching it again.
The Lost thread is on the Morepop section of Rowthree… rant away Rusty.
“apparently he wasn’t eligible because he put the song on his album”
from wikipedia on last years winning, Falling Slowly from “Once”
For some time, the song’s eligibility for an Oscar was in dispute, as it had appeared in 2006 on The Cost (an album issued by Hansard’s band, The Frames) as well as in the movie Beauty in Trouble; it had also been performed by the couple in various European venues. The Academy ruled that because the song had been composed for the movie, and the prior public exposure during the long period that the movie took to produce had been minimal, it remained eligible.[1] The Academy had ruled likewise on a similar controversy involving 2004 Best Original Song nominee “In the Deep”.
Springsteen wrote this fucking song at Rourke’s REQUEST for the film, for the character. If they couldn’t make an exception for it, but could for Once, then that’s a load of bullshit.
Giaccino’s Speed Racer score is indeed better than any of the actual nominees.
“The Wrestler” from The Wrester was on the eligible film list from Dec 16/08:
http://www.oscars.org/press/pressreleases/2008/08.12.16.html
Don’t see anything about it being taken off.
I’m floored by some of this. The Academy isn’t making it easy for anyone that tries to defend them this year…
The Wrestler: No Aronofsky for Best Director. No Bruce! At least Mickey will win and Marisa was nominated.
No Michelle Williams, but yes to Jolie?
Surprised at the lack of love for Revolutionary Road (Mendes, DiCaprio).
You guys are just getting fucking annoying with your baseless Robert Downey Jr. complaints. What is so baffling about it? He was nominated for a Golden Globe by the HFPA. He was nominated for a BAFTA. He was nominated by the Chicago Film Critics Association. He was nominated by the International Press Academy. He was nominated by the f’n SAG. I hate to use award nominations for any sort of justification, but when EVERYONE is nominating him, when everyone ELSE is seeing it. It has nothing to do with ass-kissery. I’d like to see another actor capture the subtleties that RDJ was able to bring to the character. Honestly, at the risk of sounding like a complete snob, if you’re that convinced that his performance is “nothing special,” I’m going to be a complete dick and say you really don’t know a damn thing about the craft of acting, especially in the realm of comedy, and that you are ugly, you have no friends, and your mother hates you.
Jonathan your opinion is an embarrasment.
“I hate to use award nominations for any sort of justification”
Please stop then.
“but when EVERYONE is nominating him, when everyone ELSE is seeing it. ”
Everyone else saw the emperor’s clothes, therefore if you didn’t see them, at the risk of sounding like a complete snob, if you’re that convinced that these clothes were “nothing special,” I’m going to be a complete dick and say you really don’t know a damn thing about the craft of fashion, especially in the realm of regality, and that you are ugly, you have no friends, and your mother hates you.
I can’t believe Goon beats me in referencing danish art in order to prove a point.
High five?
One thing I’m laughing about today, and its actually completely unfair in a way but I dont care.
There are so many Dark Knight fanboys out there bitching right now, that can easily and rightfully point out that the Reader did not get that well received…
The Reader right now is the most hated film of 2008, and it is almost entirely from people who have not seen it
lol.
Oh, please Henrik. You know what, I actually don’t hate using it even. It is a way of expressing that they are in a small minority and that the vast majority of others who are critical of film and acting disagree. It’s a fine example.
Piss off.
“I actually don’t hate using it even.”
Good, then don’t stop, just stop being dishonest about it.
And Jonathan, you can be cute about your hero worship all you want, but you should expect that for every die-hard RDJ fan defending everything he does out there, there is a die-hard hater who finds nothing special about anything he does, least of all his HURRRing in Tropic Thunder. So don’t say:
“You guys are just getting fucking annoying with your baseless Robert Downey Jr. complaints.”
unless you want a
“You are just getting fucking annoying with your baseless Robert Downey Jr. praise.”
on half your posts.
No dishonesty. I changed my mind.
And I’m not going to get into a pissing contest with you, but my post was obviously not malicious (like 97% of your posts, I have been keeping a tally) despite my harsh accusation, but nor was it very serious as demonstrated by the absurdity of my last sentence.
“for every die-hard RDJ fan defending everything he does out there, there is a die-hard hater who finds nothing special about anything he does.”
I don’t think that’s accurate Henrik. Of course, no way to prove it. Although Jonathan’s examples show that for everyone praising RDJ, there ISN’T an equal (or even close to equal) number of haters. Most people enjoyed the performance and critics (and let’s face it, while we like to bash them and there are some stupid ones, “the critics” have seen a hell of a lot of film and are fairly seasoned) praised the shit out of it.
So in that way, Jonathan is right. Of course, most critics thought Wall-e was the greatest achievement since sliced bread so…
Regardless, I’m not particularly concerned if Henrik thinks I’m “right” or not. Besides the fact that I was not addressing him, I value his opinions probably just about as much as he values mine.
And I wasn’t trying to show anyone the light – as if I ever expect to change anyone’s mind on here – just pointing out that there is a large majority of people that found his performance awards-worthy, including his fellow Hollywood actors (SAG), the largest entertainment press organization in the world (IPA), and the Academy who is made up of 6,000 critics, actors, filmakers, studioheads, etc.
We all recognize that doesn’t make it “true,” all you have to do is point to Crash winning all these awards, and I don’t really care. That wasn’t my point.
“my post was obviously not malicious (like 97% of your posts, I have been keeping a tally)”
‘I may be mad, I may be blind. I may be viciously unkind. But I can still read what you’re thinking.’
At least Robert Downey Jr. doesn’t suck like M. Night Shyamalan. His films are TERRIBLE.
Thanks Andy, LOL. See? You just need to put things into perspective. Though I’m still mad at all the love for Slumdog.
After a quick check, it looks like The Reader was the least-liked film to get multiple nominations this year. It got the second-second lowest score on Metacritic with 58 — after Australia with 53, which was only nom’d for costumes.
can we all coalesce Rodney King style and just agree that the oscars mean about as much as a Grammy?
All I know about Rodney King is from American History X, but I agree with the meaning of the oscars.
Henrik,
A) that was in the deleted scenes wasn’t it? Not actually in the movie. And it doesn’t really explain much.
B) It was a BIG BIG deal when it happened: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_King
Oh thats’s right. I remember Norton talking about it at dinner in that one scene.
For Your Consideration:
The Academy Awards are fucking stupid
Make sure to stay up to the 4 minute mark where a 25 year old drunk Rob Lowe badly sings (and partially lip syncs) a duet with Snow White to the tune of “Proud Mary”.
Rollin! Rollin! Keep those cameras rollin!
Jesus tapdancing christ.
I actually had to look up Snow White clips because I couldnt remember Snow White possibly talking in such an annoying fashion. She sounded like the Ghost of CHristmas Present from “Scrooged”
Never knew how the nomination process worked, but boy does it sound ridiuclous. Check it:
http://www.variety.com/VR1117998897.html
yeah man jonatan those oscars suck donkeyballs
There’s even more to it then that. First time nominees are at a decided disadvantage as they are not members of the Academy, while previous nominees/winners typically are. That means someone like Meryl Streep can vote for herself while Melissa Leo can not.
In one rather infamous incident in the Best Actress category, the winner won by one vote. Guess which of the two nominees could vote for the award and which one couldn’t?
@goon – She sounded like the Ghost of CHristmas Present from “Scrooged” — you mean Carol Kane? Lovely actress.
Most astute piece of writing on the Academy Awards that I’ve read in a while (even it it panders shamelessly to the audience that would read this particular article):
http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/feature/2009/01/22/oscars/index.html (you have to wait about 3 seconds for the ad to show before getting the article over at Salon.com)
“But the idea of being deserving or not is beside the point with the Oscars: Most of us watch the ceremony on TV as a way of matching up our own ragtag sets of likes and dislikes with those of the Hollywood professionals, who — ostensibly — know what they’re doing. That’s part of the fun, and even our frustration with the Academy is part of the fun. So why beat up on them?
Because beating up on them is also fun.”
Another Oscar article, this one written by Raymond Chandler in 1948. Little has changed in 50 years.
http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/48mar/chandler.htm