*** Official 2002 Academy Awards Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Dana Fillhart]

Here are my results:

Actor: 5/5 (100%)
Supporting Actor: 4/5 (80%) - had Quaid over Harris
Actress: 5/5(100%)
Supporting Actress: 4/5 (80%) - had Sarandon over Latifah
Animated Film: 5/5 (100%)
Art Direction: 3/5 (60%) - had Talk to Her and Far from Heaven over Road to Perdition and Frida
Cinematography: 4/5 (80%) - had Rings over The Pianist
Costume Design: 3/5 (60%) - had Rings and Far from Heaven over The Hours and The Pianist
Directing: 3/5 (60%) - had Jackson (Rings) and Haynes (Far from Heaven) over The Hours and Almodóvar (varTalk to Her), but I did have Almodóvar in my "In a Perfect World" column
Documentary (Full-Feature): 1/3 guessed (33%)
Documentary (Short Subject): Abstained
Film Editing: 4/5 (80%) - had Adaptation. instead of The Pianist
Foreign Language Film: 2/5 (40%) - only had Hero and Father Amaro correct
Makeup: Screwed this one up, didn't follow rules
Musical Score: 1/5 (20%, OUCH!) - only got Far from Heaven!
Musical Song: 4/5 (80%) - had Rings instead of Thornberries. Wonder if anybody guessed 5/5 on this one
Best Picture: 3/5 (60%) - expected this, but I'm happy: I guessed About Schmidt and Far from Heaven instead of Rings and Pianist. I did have Rings in my "Perfect World" column.
Short Film - Animated: Abstained
Short Film - Live Action: Abstained
Sound: 3/5 (60%) - had Far from Heaven and Star Wars instead of Gangs and Perdition.
Sound Editing: 2/3 (66%) - had Star Wars over Perdition
Visual Effects: 2/3 (66%) - had Harry Potter over Spider-Man. Ouch, hard to believe that one, too.
Writing - Adatpted: 2/5 (40%) - only had Hours and Adaptation.
Writing - Original: 3/5 (60%) - had Punch-Drunk Love and Antwone Fisher over Greek Wedding and Y Tu Mama.

Overall, I'm satisfied with the nominees, and (excepting one or two in the technical) I'm not surprised or upset. I'm happy to see The Lord of the Rings recognized again this year for BP, but a little surprised to find Jackson not in for Director (though the 5 that did make it are perfectly understandable).

While I'm a little disappointed that Far from Heaven didn't get nommed in some places I'd have hoped, I am happy to see Talk to Her get more recognition than I'd expected. Not only that, but The Pianist did extremely well, suggesting that the Academy might actually be finally opening up to foreign films.

Congratulations to all the nominees...looking forward to the winner announcements in March!

 

[MichaelPe]

The "Foreign Language Film" category is a joke... Remember, these are the same people who gave the award to "No Man's Land" the same year that "Amelie" was nominated in FIVE categories.

But, I'm glad that "Talk To Her" and "Y Tu Mama Tambien" were nominated for other awards, even though they weren't eligible for the main category.

I haven't seen 2 of the 5 foreign entries, but I'm still severely disappointed that "Cidade de Deus" was absent from the list.

 

[Sean Laughter]

Am I the only one a bit surprised at the lack of any sound nomination for AOTC?

 

[Mark Pfeiffer]

Scott Weinberg said:

I cannot believe that Greek Wedding was nominated for its screenplay!!!

I can't either but at least it didn't get a Best Picture nomination. Very pleased with Talk To Her and Y Tu Mama Tambien getting nommed there, though.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

Brian,

Then you were in the tiny minority, my friend.

But I'd have been right I expected PJ to get a nom (although, like Vickie, I think he's probably relieved he didn't), but I KNEW, KNEW, KNEW TTT would be on the BP list.

Anyways, I am fairly uninterested in the actual telecast this year. My only emotional connection is with DDL getting Best Actor, but that's less likely with the politics behind the awards. After the 4 hour+ fiasco last year, I'll bow out.

But it's fun to see how the industry views itself. The Oscars are a good barometer of that.

Take care,
Chuck

 

[Jarrod Ferris]

I hate to burst everybody's bubble, but PJ's direction was not that great, and kept TTT from being a masterpiece. I can't count on two hands the number of time Jackson broke the visual axis, and I don't mean in quick battle scenes, I mean in intimate moments.

I'm surprised though that Minority Report did not get nominations for Samantha Morton, cinematography, art direction, editing, and sound.

Must have been the old Blade Runner syndrome.

 

[Seth Paxton]

He'll certainly perform it himself,

Not likely. Unless they reversed their decision I believe the Oscars no longer feature the performances of Best Song.



Brian, I'll bet your right about that TTT thing. I mean look at its nomination count and its REALLY low for a Best Picture. Really, in those sorts of terms TTT is the Fully Monty for this year. It is the lowest scoring film on my Best Pix formula. Road to Perdition and TTT both got 6 nominations. Something to think about.

I also have Chicago with 13 (everyone knows that), GONY - 10, Hours - 9, Pianist - 7, Frida - 6, Adaptation - 4, Far From Heaven - 4, About Schmidt with just 2, Catch Me If You Can - 2, Talk to Her - 2, Spider-Man - 2.


Frida came through strong which makes me happy. I really liked that film. Schmidt really didn't come through though, just 2 noms when it was in the running for Pix, Director, Writer.



Looking at my Best Pix formula which still has to factor in the Guild winners (PGA, DGA, SAGs, ASC, WGA, ACE) I have...

18.81 Chicago
15.98 Hours
14.97 GONY
11.00 Adaptation
8.86 Schmidt

8.74 Pianist
8.74 Far From Heaven
7.19 TTT
5.74 Frida
5.38 Greek Wedding
5.22 Perdition

I'll stop including the non-nominated films from now on. I just wanted to put the scores in some perspective. It's pretty typical of the scores from other years. Chicago seems certain to score at least a 20. 2nd and 3rd had a decent showing. I think the fact that GONY has stayed so close to Hours is surprising.


edit: I just added in the points if Hours wins every single guild it's nom'd for and it still only scores 18.42, so it is already mathematically eliminated in my Best Pix formula no matter what the guilds do.

GONY tops out at 18.30 if it wins all it's noms, so it is also out. It's official, by my formula Chicago has already won no matter what twists the guilds come up with. Now if Chicago loses every guild then the final scores could be closer than they have ever been, but I don't think that will happen. Chicago will probably win at least some of the Guilds and Hours/GONY both seem unlikely to win all the Guilds they are up for.

 

[Timothy Alexander]

1) Eminem for Best Song : Little Hitler should never be encouraged.

Little Hitler? Oh c'mon. :rolleyes

And someone explain to me why The Two Towers didn't get a best cinematography nomination? It was still just as beautiful as the first one to look at.

 

[James Reader]

How can Mike's New Car be nominate for best Animated Short? Wasn't it created "exclusively for home video"?

 

[Patrick Larkin]

Let's hear it for Roman Polanski!!



Oh, and I never understood how a film could get nominated for Best Picture but not get nominated for Best Director. Um, didn't the director CREATE the picture?

 

[TheLongshot]

Well, I'm happy that "Spirited Away" got nominated for Animated Film, and hopefully it will win. I'm also happy that "Hero" got nominated for Best Foreign Film, so that Miramax actually will treat it seriously, and not hack it up like it does with most of their HK films.

Also, I'm happy that Adaptation got nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actor, since I thought both were deserving, even if I didn't think much of the film overall.

Jason

 

[Andy Sheets]

(And I swear, if ROTK doesn't sweep next year I will MURDER!!!!!)

Well, I'm skeptical and since I don't think ROTK will get any major awards, regardless of quality, I'll keep my distance next year

I just don't think the relatively low number of nominations for TTT indicates a big run for the finale next year. If anything, I think the Academy probably feels it gave the story its recognition last year and that aside from another Best Picture nomination (which would be very good, mind you), ROTK will probably get still fewer nominations than this year's installment.

 

[Seth Paxton]

Um, didn't the director CREATE the picture?

No. A rather large group of people all working together did.

For example, if you just put a camera down in front of a stage and filmed some actors speaking, but it was incredible acting, writing, haunting scoring, then the film could still be incredibly compelling, be considered one of the best films of the year, yet involved literally no "direction".

Great writing or acting can easily improve average direction and raise it to an outstanding level. Even great editing can (though many directors like to have at least some say in the edit).

 

[Seth Paxton]

BTW, last year ABM broke the "must have a Cinematography nom to win" thing in my formula.

This year Chicago will break the "must have a Best Score nomination" concept. Of course this is a very special case as Chicago would win this catagory if only it were eligible.

 

[Patrick Sun]

I think Minority Report's lack of nominations comes from being released in the summer. The people that make up the academy, as a whole, tend to have very short memories, and are very susceptible to the marketing of the films, and vote via the buzz of the films that are released late in the year.

The Oscars are a nice diversion for a day, but given the breadth of films that came out last year, it's too bad only one can "win" in each category while many will "lose", though being recognized with a nomination isn't a bad thing either.

It's too bad the Academy can't release a list of the top 10 vote getters in each category, just to recognize those other films so that the movie-going public might be alerted to some films that deserve viewership, though crippled with a small marketing budget.

 

[Alex Spindler]

Interesting choices all around. I still have a lot of work to do to catch all of the major nominees, but there seem to be some honestly good choices. Outside of the asinine Makeup category, of course. I sort of wish there was a little less consensus on Chicago because I would rather there be some mystery about the final verdict.

Wonderfully deserved noms for Daniel Day Lewis, whom I've considered watching the film solely to see. Also great to see so many acting nominations for Adaptation to include Nicolas Cage, who I didn't think was going to make the cut.

Also...I know that I might be the only one here...BUT...LILO AND STITCH....ALOHA!!!!!!!!!!

I'm right there with you. To anyone who considers it inferior to Ice Age I say...clears throat...Meega na la queesta!

 

[Brandon Conway]

Here are the nominations, and my feelings about them - including who got robbed.

Best Picture:

Chicago
Gangs of New York
The Hours
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
The Pianist

From this list, I gotta go with Gangs of New York. However, there are many other films I would have put up here, namely Road to Perdition ( ), Minority Report ( ), Adaptation, and About Schmidt.

Directing:

Rob Marshall - Chicago
Martin Scorsese - Gangs of New York
Stephen Daldry - The Hourse
Roman Polanski - The Pianist
Pedro Almodóvar - Talk to Her

Gotta root for Scorsese on this one. Polanski is an interesting choice, and he won't win just because of his fugitive status.

Some shafts - Spielberg for either of his films, particularly Minority Report; Sam Mendes for Road to Perdition; Peter Jackson for TTT.

Actor:

Adrien Brody - The Pianist
Nicolas Cage - Adaptation
Michael Caine - The Quiet American
Daniel Day-Lewis - Gangs of New York
Jack Nicholson - About Schmidt

In reality, this is a three-way race between Nicolas Cage, Daniel Day-Lewis and Jack Nicholson. No real major complaints here, but it would have been nice to see Tom Cruise for Minority Report.

Actress:

Salma Hayek - Frida
Nicole Kidman - The Hours
Diane Lane - Unfaithful
Julianne Moore - Far From Heaven
Renee Zellweger - Chicago

No major shocks. Nicole Kidman or Renee Zellweger are gonna end up winning.

Supporting Actor:

Chris Cooper - Adaptation
Ed Harris - The Hours
Paul Newman - Road to Perdition
John C. Reilly - Chicago
Christopher Walken - Catch Me If You Can

Pretty good list. I personally thought that Jude Law had a more dynamic performance in Road to Perdition, but I'll take what I can get. The favorite has to be Chris Cooper for Adaptation.

Supporting Actress:

Kathy Bates - About Schmidt
Julianne Moore - The Hours
Queen Latifah - Chicago
Meryl Streep - Adaptation
Catherine Zeta-Jones - Chicago

A very competative catagory, I could see any of the nominees winning. Look out for Catherine Zeta-Jones - lead roles that end up in the supporting catagory usually win.

Animated Feature Film:

Ice Age
Lilo & Stitch
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron
Spirited Away
Treasure Planet

Great list of nominees. It's gonna go to either Lilo & Stitch or Spirited Away, with Ice Age being the dark horse.

Adapted Screenplay:

About a Boy
Adaptation - by Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman
Chicago
The Hours
The Pianist

Adaptation is the runaway favorite here it's not even funny - even though it is.

Original Screenplay:

Far from Heaven
Gangs of New York
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
Talk to Her
Y Tu Mamá También

Will Oscar go traditional drama (Gangs of New York, Far from Heaven), or underdog comedy (My Big Fat Greek Wedding)? I'll say the latter.

Art Direction:

Chicago
Frida
Gangs of New York
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Road to Perdition

Once again, Minority Report gets jacked. I see Chicago wowing the academy here, but I'd rather see any of the last three nominees win.

Cinematography:

Chicago
Far from Heaven
Gangs of New York
The Pianist
Road to Perdition

Somebody didn't want to be killed, so they nominated Road to Perdition. I see it as the favorite, but Chicago and Gangs of New York could also win without much argument.

Minority Report is looked over - again.

Costume design:

Chicago
Frida
Gangs of New York
The Hours
The Pianist

Hello?! Where is Minority Report?!

Chicago will win. I'll pull for Gangs of New York.

Documentary feature:

Bowling for Columbine
Daughter from Danang
Prisoner of Paradise
Spellbound
Winged Migration

Bowling for Columbine has to be the favorite here.

Documentary Short:

The Collector of Bedford Street
Mighty Times: The Legacy of Rosa Parks
Twin Towers
Why Can't We Be a Family Again?

I have no comment.

Film Editing:

Chicago
Gangs of New York
The Hours
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
The Pianist

Gangs of New York, by a long shot in my opinion.

Jacked over - Minority Report, Road to Perdition.

Foreign Language Film:

El Crimen del Padre Amaro
Hero
The Man without a Past
Nowhere in Africa
Zus & Zo

No Y Tu Mamá También?

Makeup:

Frida
The Time Machine

Give me a fraking break! WORST.NOMINEES.EVAR.

Where's Star Wars!? LOTR?! Hell, even Men in Black II?!

Just think about this phrase - "The Academy Award Nominee 'The Time Machine'"

This catagory should be dropped if they're gonna keep overlooking the obvious. Last year they shafted Planet of the Apes, so I guess this was to be expected this year....

Original Score:

John Williams - Catch Me If You Can
Elmer Bernstein - Far from Heaven
Elliot Goldenthal - Frida
Philip Glass - The Hours
Thomas Newman - Road to Perdition

Nice list. I'll go with Newman or Williams.

Original Song:

"Burn It Blue" - Frida - Music by Elliot Goldenthal, Lyric by Julie Taymor
"Father and Daughter" - The Wild Thornberrys Movie - Music and Lyric by Paul Simon
"The Hands That Built America" - Gangs of New York - Music and Lyric by Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen
"I Move On" - Chicago - Music by John Kander, Lyric by Fred Ebb
"Lose Yourself" - 8 Mile - Music by Eminem, Jeff Bass and Luis Resto, Lyric by Eminem

Another good selection. Great to see Eminem up there - it really is a great song. It'll be worth watching the Oscars this year just to see him perform.

But U2 is the clear favorite here.

Animated Short Film:

The Cathedral
The ChubbChubbs!
Das Rad
Mike's New Car
Mt. Head

Who knows what will win. Ill pick The ChubbChubbs.

Live Action Short Film:

Fait D'Hiver
I'll Wait for the Next One... (J'Attendrai Le Suivant...)
Inja (Dog)
Johnny Flynton
This Charming Man (Der Er En Yndig Mand)

*shrugs shoulders*

Sound:

Chicago
Gangs of New York
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Road to Perdition
Spider-Man

Um, sorry, Star Wars kicked trash in the sound department (with the exception of TTT). I would have liked to see Signs in this catagory, but oh well.

Any of the nominees could win. I'm guessing Chicago.

Sound Editing:

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Minority Report
Road to Perdition

Good list, but again, where's Star Wars?

LOTR to win.

Visual Effects:

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Spider-Man
Star Wars Episode II Attack of the Clones

Battle of the Blockbusters. Minority Report was better than Spider-Man. This is a two-way battle between the juggernauts of SW and LOTR. I'll go with SW.

OVERALL FEELINGS

Minority Report was jacked over, big time. Too bad, really, as it is a great film.

And, of course, I'm highly disappointed that the Academy ignored all the films released in January-November when voting for Best Picture. Road to Perdition so deserves to be up there, it's nearly criminal that it is not. :frowning:

That's my view and I'm sticking to it.

 

[Ted Todorov]

The "Foreign Language Film" category is a joke... Remember, these are the same people who gave the award to "No Man's Land" the same year that "Amelie" was nominated in FIVE categories.

I hope you're not seriously suggesting that Amelie is a better film than No Man's Land?

The biggest problem with the category are the nominating rules -- time and time again the best film from a given country doesn't get submitted, or you are confronted by the absurdity of not having Divine Intervention eligible to be nominated because it doesn't have a country.

Ted

 

[Jason Seaver]

Okay... I didn't do any predictions because I really don't want to think about the Kremlinology that it entails, but some thoughts on the nominations:

Lead Actor
Seen all these, and I can't complain much. If I had a vote, it would be for Daniel Day-Lewis, with Michael Caine a strong second.

Supporting Actor
Seen all but Reilly, although I'd be tempted to give it to him for doing the Supporting Actor thing very well in about ninety different movies. I would have liked to see Brendan Fraser in here for The Quiet American, maybe in place of Harris.

Lead Actress
My weakest of the major categories; I've only seen Hayek and Kidman, and won't see Unfaithful. Salma Hayek's nomination boggles the mind, considering how thoroughly and completely Alfred Molina blows her off the screen in Frida. And even the people who saw Rabbit-Proof Fence would be unlikely to nominate Evelyn Sampi (the damn "wasted vote" mindset), but you're not going to find a more arresting performance in the category.

Supporting Actress
::sigh:: I really do have to see Chicago, don't I? Samantha Morton was fantastic in Minority Report, but no dice.

Animated Feature
Well, at least Stuart Little 2 didn't make the list. Since nominations are done by the specific peer group, I wonder how many ballots were "Spirited Away and filler", as opposed to what the more general membership will do. I still think Metropolis not even being nominated is a crime.

Art Direction
Seen all but Chicago. Frida, no doubt, has the most art direction, but I like Road To Perdition - just looked classy all the way through.

Cinematography
Far From Heaven was the most-discussed throughout the year, but I would choose The Pianist here (without having seen FFH and Chicago) - lots of great showing-not-telling, and always very clear.

Costume Design
For crying out loud, did the voters see any movies but Chicago? Sort of surprised not to see Road To Perdition appear here; few of the nominees really impressed me in the department.

Director
Spielberg should be here, as should Phillip Noyce. Two guys with two very good films apiece.

Documentary Feature
Am I the only person on Earth who thought Bowling For Columbine was tremendously overrated? This cateogry is always goofy - the IMDB barely shows Prisoner Of Paradise exisiting, and how the heck you overlook Standing In The Shadows Of Motown is beyond me. Although it at least looks as though each of these movies has played somewhere.

Documentary Short Subject
I know diddly-squat here, other than how "Mighty Times" was supposed to play the Boston Film Festival but didn't. I think I would have found room for a couple large-format films - "Space Station 3-D" and "Ocean Men".

Editing
If the Lord Of The Rings movies editing is so damn good, why do they release alternate cuts? I really don't get this - TTT, The Hours and The Pianist seemed to go on forever, and Gangs appeared to have a huge chunk cut out that made the transition to the draft riots seem incredibly awkward. I think I'm hoping for Chicago be default.

Makeup
Why bother?

Score
Williams's first score in years that doesn't sound like every other John Williams score would be my choice. Well, actually, my choice would be Toshiyuki Honda's catchy Metropolis score. Punch-Drunk Love was probably way too much to hope for.

Original Song
I'm not a fan, but I'm pleased to see Eminem here, although I strongly suspect that there's a whole bunch of hip-hop that I don't know about that deserves to be here. The usual way to pick the winner (song most likely to play at a wedding) doesn't work here, but I figure Paul Simon comes closest.

Best Picture
Eh. Gangs Of New York, I guess. Maybe Chicago will blow me away.

Animated Short
Hey, two that people may have actually seen! I'm bummed; either there wasn't a Spike & Mike "Classic" animation festival this year or it didn't hit Boston, so I've seen fewer animated shorts than usual.

Live Action Short
Haven't seen any of these; "The Remembering Movies" is the best I've seen. Glad Coolidge has the "Oscar's Shorts" program.

Sound/Sound Editing
Someday, someone will explain the difference between these two awards to me so that I can understand it. Star Wars really should be here, though.

Visual Effects
It's like everyone just forgot Minority Report. I'd pick Star Wars for the sheer mass of visual splendor (and, dammit, Yoda looked better than Gollum), but I can't really fault a TTT win.

Note on "synthespians": One of my suggestions for the HTF awards was to create a seperate category for things like Yoda, Gollum, and traditional animated (especially when using Disney's "Lead Character Animator" method) and animatronic characters, since these performances don't fit cleanly into either the "performance" or "visual effects" categories. I understand the praise Serkis has gotten, and maybe he deserves a "real" nod since I gather Gollum was mostly a roto job, but it seems to be selling the guys at WETA short, whereas an award here doesn't recognize Serkis. I really do think a new category is needed to recognize this not necessarily new, but increasingly common, type of team performance for one character.

Adapted Screenplay
Adaptation is an original screenplay, but it deserves the win.

Original Screenplay
I thought MBFGW was adapted from Vardalos's one-woman show. Also, do the voters get to see the actual screenplays? I got the feeling a whole subplot was cut out of Gangs, and if it makes the story more cohesive, should that be taken into consideration?

Whew. So, I'm guessing about 25 messages have been posted since I started this.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Brandon, you might want to clean up that post and copy it to the Oscar Prognosticator's thread.