Okay, the Academy Awards are Sunday...who will win, who should win .etc
Here are the nominees...how many of these movies have you seen>?


BEST PICTURE
A BEAUTIFUL MIND
GOSFORD PARK
IN THE BEDROOM
THE LORD OF THE RINGS:
    THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
MOULIN ROUGE        


ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Russell Crowe
Sean Penn
Will Smith
Denzel Washington
Tom Wilkinson

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Jim Broadbent
Ethan Hawke
Ben Kingsley
Ian McKellen
Jon Voight

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Halle Berry
Judi Dench
Nicole Kidman
Sissy Spacek
Renie Zellweger

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Jennifer Connelly
Helen Mirren
Maggie Smith
Marisa Tomei
Kate Winslet

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
JIMMY NEUTRON: BOY GENIUS
MONSTERS, INC.
SHREK

ART DIRECTION
AMILIE
GOSFORD PARK
HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE
THE LORD OF THE RINGS:
   THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
MOULIN ROUGE

CINEMATOGRAPHY
AMILIE
BLACK HAWK DOWN
THE LORD OF THE RINGS:
   THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE
MOULIN ROUGE

COSTUME DESIGN
THE AFFAIR OF THE NECKLACE
GOSFORD PARK
HARRY POTTER AND
   THE SORCERER'S STONE
THE LORD OF THE RINGS:
   THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
MOULIN ROUGE

DIRECTING
A BEAUTIFUL MIND
BLACK HAWK DOWN
GOSFORD PARK
THE LORD OF THE RINGS:
    THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING MULHOLLAND DRIVE

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
CHILDREN UNDERGROUND
LALEE'S KIN: THE LEGACY OF COTTON
MURDER ON A SUNDAY MORNING
PROMISES
WAR PHOTOGRAPHER

DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
ARTISTS AND ORPHANS: A TRUE DRAMA
SING!
THOTH

FILM EDITING
A BEAUTIFUL MIND
BLACK HAWK DOWN
THE LORD OF THE RINGS:
    THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
MEMENTO
MOULIN ROUGE

  FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
AMILIE
ELLING
LAGAAN
NO MAN'S LAND
SON OF THE BRIDE

MAKEUP
A BEAUTIFUL MIND
THE LORD OF THE RINGS:
    THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
MOULIN ROUGE

MUSIC (SCORE)
A.I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
A BEAUTIFUL MIND
HARRY POTTER AND
    THE SORCERER'S STONE
THE LORD OF THE RINGS:
    THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
MONSTERS, INC.

MUSIC (SONG)
KATE & LEOPOLD
THE LORD OF THE RINGS:
    THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
MONSTERS, INC.
PEARL HARBOR
VANILLA SKY

94 responses total.

Okay my two cents worth:

Best Picture:

Will win:  A Beautiful Mind 
Should Win:  The Lord of the Rings 

(I thought LOTR was the best film I saw last year, but A Beautiful Mind
seems to have the momentum and not everyone likes Tolkien...)


Best Actor:

Will win:  Russell Crowe (A Beautiful Mind)
Should win:  Russell Crowe (I thought he was great in that movie...Denzel
Washington would also be deserving if he won for Training Day)

Best Actress:

Will win: Halle Berry (Monster's Ball)
Should win:  Halle Berry (she was great in that movie....I haven't yet
seen Sissy Spacek in In the Bedroom but I hear she's really good too)


Best Supporting Actor

Will win:  Sir Ian McKellen (Lord of the Rings)
Should win:  Sir Ian McKellen (He should have won for Gods and Monsters a
couple of years back and plus which he's great as Gandalf)


Best Supporting Actress:

Will win:  Jennifer Connolly (A Beautiful Mind)
Should win:  Jennifer Connolly (there's debate about whether she's
nominated in the right category, I think she is, she's not the center of
that movie so its more a supporting role...and she's really good)

Best Director:

Will win:  Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind)
Should win:  Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings...that movie was a great
directorial accomplishement...but Howard is seen as overdue since he didnt
get it for Apollo 13)
./

Who the fuck cares?  Self congratulatory nihilism is what it is.  Its an
NPR moment and doesn't mean spit.  It should be a simple vote, who all
'star-ed' in a movie the public actually paid the most hard earned money
to see.

Peter Jackson has serious pacing and control issues in the movie.  He
shouldn't win.

Of the movies involved in the list above, I believe I've seen
"Gosford Park", "In the Bedroom", "Fellowship of the Ring",
"Monster's Ball".  I'm hoping Robert Altman gets best director
for "Gosford Park", but I wouldn't mind seeing David Lynch win
for "Mulholland Drive", either (not that he has a chance).  I
think "The Man Who Wasn't There" should get best cinematography,
but it's unlikely (the film should have been nominated in some
other categories as well).  I'd like best adapted screenplay
to go to "Ghost World", but that's probably not going to
happen.

In any given year, the movies I like best tend not to win a
lot of awards.

Re #2: 

"Who the fuck cares?"  Only the billion or so of your fellow humans who 
will be watching the broadcast.  

"nihilism . . . an NPR moment"  That's idiotic, but if it's true then 
nihilists and NPR are close to taking over the world, which would be 
really cool.  I mean, the politicians and religions have fucked it up 
pretty good, so why not give the nihilists and NPR a chance?  They 
couldn't possibly be any worse.  

"doesn't mean spit"  If what Jennifer Lopez is planning to wear Sunday 
night "doesn't mean spit," then, like, the whole world is upside down 
and life itself has no meaning and the terrorists win.

"It should be a simple vote, who all 'star-ed' in a movie the public 
actually paid the most hard earned money to see"  Why would a vote be 
necessary to determine that?  Just look up the stats, ja?  The vote is 
what gives professionals a chance to acknowledge the ones they consider 
the best in their profession.  There have been accusations that the 
voters often do confuse box office with quality, which means the 
winners might closer to your ideal than you think.  But I refuse to 
believe that this is true, or that, even if it is, it has anything to 
do with the nihilists or with NPR.

I have heard of none of the movies and one of the actors.  Our public library
is a few years behind in providing videos of movies.

I've actually seen one of the movies that is nominated for an Oscar!

Egads!  These truly must be the last days.

Re #6:
    You have not heard of the Lord of the Rings movie???

        No they're not the last days.  I just saw _Resident Evil_, so I know
what the last days will look like.  Don't worry until they start coming out
with seriously strange names for places like "Raccoon City".

i don't really give a shit either. but i did think 'in the bedroom' was good
work. lord of the rings was visually enticing. artificial intelligence was
.. intellectually insulting, but looked expensive and toyed with everyone's
fear of not being loved. moulin rouge quite frankly frightens me, and i really
want to see beautiful mind despite the fact that the biggest moron i know
thought it was really good. oh and my partner says momento is great.

so i'll give in the bedroom best picture and lord of the rings cinematogrpahy
since amelie has to get art direction. 

and i don't care what they wear. although i did like bjork in her swan get-up.
i hope someone half decent sings this year. i dont want to sit through that
goddamn moulin voulez-vous rouge crap. anyone know?

  I've seen three of the "Best Picture" nominees ("Lord of the Rings",
  "Moulin Rouge", and "In the Bedroom".)  I hope the other two are better
  movies, but of the three I've seen I'd have to pick "Lord of the Rings".
  "Moulin Rouge" was cringe-inducingly bad and I thought "In the Bedroom"
  took itself too seriously and moved too excruciatingly slowly.  "Lord
  of the Rings" most notable achievement, as far as I can tell, was in
  meeting most people's expectations -- I'm not sure that qualifies it
  to be "Best Picture."  On the other hand, it sure as heck beats the
  awful film that won last year ("Gladiator")

This response has been erased.

  If anyone's passing through Maryland anytime soon, could they spray a 
  bit of WD-40 on Jamie's hyperbole switch?  It can't be good for him to
  have it stuck in the "On" position 100% of the time..

In my universe "In the Bedroom" wins.

        I still can't figure out whether I liked "Moulin Rouge" or not. 

This response has been erased.

In my universe, nobody says "In my universe" anymore.  "In my 
universe 'In the Bedroom' wins" is one step below "I'm all about 'In 
the Bedroom,'" if that's possible.  So we won't say that anymore, k?

My favorite of the five that have been nominated for Best Picture is "A 
Beautiful Mind" but I also liked all of the others (except Moulin Rouge 
which was so bad I couldnt even watch the whole thing although it isnt 
the worst movie I have seen this year and I did watch it a full 10 
minutes longer than I watched Freddie Got Fingered)

In my universe I can say anything I want.  And do.  

In your universe that can be silly, irritating even.

Universes are like that.

Yeah and if you dont like it, stay the fuck out of her universe. :P

In my universe, the sky is red with purple polka dots. 

[md stares out of your screen with exasperated expression on face and 
little gloom cloud over head]

my match is scheduled for 9:30 tonight and they'll have the awards on in the
pub too - this should be nice and CHAOTIC.

who's singing? .. anyone ... anyone ...?

I didn't watch the show, but here are some results:

    Best Picture:  Beautiful Mind
    Best Director:  Ron Howard, "Beautiful Mind"
    Best Actor:  Denzel Washington, "Training Day"
    Best Actress:  Halle Berry, "Monster's Ball"
    Best Supporting Actor:  Jim Broadbent, "Iris"
    Best Supporting Actress:  Jennifer Connelly, "Beautiful Mind"

Is this the first time black actors have taken both of the "Best Acting"
awards?
 
Seems like it would be...

It is the first time that an African-American actress won the Best 
Actress Oscar(tm), and Denzel Washington the second African-American 
Best Actor (Sidney Poitier was the first).

LOTR didn't take ANY big ones?  

As usual, I haven't seen any of the movies that actually won the Oscars.  So
I take full responsibility for cursing LOTR out of the winner's circle.

LOTR won best cinematography.  I consider that to be a "big" award.
Your mileage may vary.

who got art direction?

        Moulin Rouge, I think.

        Whoopie started with a monolouge that sounded like it was 
written for Johnny Carson.  Modern stuff, just sounded Carson-esque.

        I like how Randy Newman stopped the musicains before they
could start and drown out his first win in 16 tries speech.

I'm hearing a lot of talk about how big of a deal it is that African Americans
swept the best acting Oscars.  I'm rather disappointed.  You'd think we'd be
at a stage of "enlightenment" where one wouldn't even raise an eyebrow at what
color the actors happened to be.  I'm particularly ashamed at the greater
entertainment industry, Hollywood as its crown jewel, which has often thought
of itself as a champion of social issues.  This is another unfortunate blow
to their credibility.  I'm especially amused by people who "understand the
plight of the black actor" or root for the "little engine that could."  Talk
about arrogance... that creates more problems than it solves.  

Oh well, I'm pleased with most of the winners.  LOTR is a fun movie and well
done, but not Best Picture material.  Denzel is a winner I'm pleased with,
not because he's black but because I'm extremely impressed every time I see
him on screen.  Beautiful Mind was a good pic, too.

Agreed.  If you want people appointed to jobs because of their ability
and character, vote republican as they seem to be the groundbreakers.

Otherwise if you want filipinos playing 'native americans' (Lou Diamond
Philips is sure indian ain't he), mexicans playing greeks (not just
zorba, ol' tony sure did a few), germans playing mexicans (the original
_Magnificent Seven_ ) and jews playing italians look to hollywood to
talk the talk but not walk the walk.  Part of it is that they are
a reflection of the culture  and it is true that to there have been few
leaders rather than merely followers, but 'hollywood's 'job' if you 
will is not 'social engineering' but rather entertainment.  The
goverment doesn't do a very good job of producing entertaining films
(well, not intentionally) and it is rare when a popular hollywood film
also has a social message that folk see as beneficial.  

Should studios be required to toe some EEOC line and
produce X% of content featuring 'ethnic stories'?  Well, it doesn't
often 'sell' that well even when done voluntarily.  Should actors
portraying ethnicities be required to be of that ethnicity?  Well, 
Alec Guinness did a pretty good job in _Lawrence of Arabia_ (so well
in fact that the role of Feisal was attributed to another brit in
an academy special oscar some years ago...).  And sometimes the racism
does go the other way, remember who's project _Malcom X_ was?

(Don't remember any Mexican characters in the original "Magnificent Seven".
Lots of Japanese characters, though.)

Of the nominated movies, the only ones I saw were "Shrek" and "Monsters
Inc."  I'm glad to hear they both won awards.

I don't remember any Japanese characters in the original "Magnificent Seven."
There are quite a few in "The Seven Samurai," though.

"Magnificent Seven" was the original Japanese movie.  When it was finally
shown in the US the name was changed to "Seven Samurai" to avoid confusion
with the western remake.

Hey richard picked them pretty well. He got 4 out of 6. 

I didn't know "Magnificent" or "Seven" were Japanese words.

brighn, are you actually claiming that the Japanese don't have a word for the
number seven?  ;)

Well, they don't like to say it...

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