*** Official 2004 Academy Awards Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Jim Ogilvie]

If you had any doubt about how classy Hillary Swank is...

Just saw on 60 Minutes Wednesday, they re-ran Mikes interview with her, but updated it with some Oscar footage.

Right at the end they showed what Swank did after the show was over. The clips show her walking out the front of the theatre with Oscar in hand, holding it out into the crowd to let people touch it briefly and share in her win. Then she ended up at a burger place for a veggie burger.

Gotta love that. I will admit, before M$B I never knew who she was ('Boys Don't Cry' was never a movie I cared to see). But she sure as heck has impressed me. Pretty outstanding character.

Good on ya, Hillary.

 

[teapot2001]

Jorge Drexler wasn't invited to any of the Oscar after-parties. When he showed up to one of them to try to get in, the security asked who he was. Drexler showed the security his statuette and said, "I'm Oscar." He got in.

~T

 

[Jay E]

I would agree with your statement if I knew that the producers of the show made these changes without the approval of the Academy itself. I'm not sure they did.

The nominations & the award ceremony itself are 2 different things in my book. I had no problem with the nominations themselves (except maybe leaving out Paul Giamatti), but the way the awards were presented was a major change from the previous years and IMO, not at all for the better.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

Jorge just became one of the coolest people in the world. How sad that it works like this. Also the best speech of the night.

So, the ratings weren't quite the big numbers. So the studio overestimated Happens all the time. I still think Rock helped them. I expected a bigger drop.

And lastly, the segregrating of the awards was unacceptable. I am surprised any of them would stand for it, even those unaffected. An Oscar is an Oscar.

And for the record, Titanic would have stomped ROTK, "rewarding the trilogy" and all. It would have lost to SList, though. See ER's quote above

Take care,
Chuck

 

[Patrick Sun]

I believe Hilary and company stopped at an "In-and-Out Burger" spot for their late night snack. You have to love the unpretentiousness of Hilary, she's perfectly at home eating with the peeps at a burger joint, while others might want a little more refinement in their dining.

 

[Tim Glover]

Agreed that Titanic would have won over ROTK. Not just for Picture, but also the technical awards too. Maybe not visual effects. Score, and the rest to Titanic.

 

[Robert Crawford]

She also allowed several fans waiting outside the Kodak theater to touch the Oscar as they stood in line after the show.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

I did not know that there were that many 13 year old girls as voting members in the Academy!

 

[Zen Butler]

Saw that can o' worms coming a mile away.

 

[Seth Paxton]

Oh, I agree with that, but then that moves them more toward the avant-garde end of the spectrum and away from the pop mentality that Jay fears.

It's hard to believe now, but in the late teens and into the 20's the film industry was fighting to prove itself as a "high art", not for pride but for financial gain. Box office was limited by the mainly "lower class" image of cinema attending. Much of film theory of the day centered around this debate of cinemas as immoral dens of dark commonness (and even real danger of crime) vs film as a respectable high-art worthy of the middle and upper classes paying to attend (like theater or opera).

The Oscars were a part of that as were the hirings of many great foreign artists. William Fox specifically targeted Murnau for Sunrise to establish his company as a "serious art" filmmaking company.


Obviously this continues today with companies like Miramax and Dreamworks trying to establish their "importance" via the Oscars.

Yes a winner get an Oscar bump, but its the REP that is most important coming out of the Oscars. That is a bigger bump to FUTURE income. And that is another reason why the Oscars won't become the Blockbuster Awards.


Titanic vs ROTK - I side with Titanic, mainly because I just watched the killer documentary included on the DVD of Fox's '53 version of the film. I didn't realize just how big book sales and interest in general was for Titanic BEFORE JC's film.

Watching that it was easy to understand just how much pull that film had. It's a story that was filmed some 6+ times, often with strong BO success (Raise the Titanic not so much), so really the success of JCs film should not have surprised. People are fascinated with the subject, and in this case it was the first time an ACCURATE portrayal of the ship sinking (breaking in half) was being shown on the big screen (the Hallmark TV version did it the year before).

Just seeing the fanatic public interest when they found the Titanic (which I had forgotten about) tells you that the topic is huge, bigger even that the LOTR book sales prior to the films. People just love all things Titanic. Even the "Raise the Titanic" book had great sales.

The subject of the two films would put Titanic over ROTK for the Oscar (just like SList). SList beats all comers of course, because its topic is even more compelling and the film was a masterpiece of telling it.

 

[Seth Paxton]

no need for 2 posts

 

[Julian Lalor]

Which, of course, explains emotional drivel like Titanic and Gladiator.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

One man's emotional drivel is another man's primal connection.

Take care,
Chuck

 

[Patrick Sun]

Anyone noticing the new ads for the Oscar winners last night on TV, touting the winner of X number of Oscars for the Oscar-winning films?

 

[Jay E]

Just to clarify again, I'm NOT talking about who the Academy nominates or awards its statues to, it's the way they present the awards that I'm worried about.

Since the beginning of the awards almost 80 years ago, the Academy has been pretty consistent in the kinds of films they nominate and give the final award to, and I don't expect this to change.

 

[Tino]

That's a First!

 

[Rob Willey]

"Those are some good burgers, Dude."

Rob

 

[Lou Sytsma]

To be sure Chuck. Just to be clear I am a big fan of Titanic - but I would take ROTK or either of the two LOTR films over it.

 

[teapot2001]

Actually, Hillary Swank went to Astroburger. http://www.astroburger.com/index.html

~T

 

[Seth Paxton]

Hardy har har.


Emotional drivel - well I might say the same of M$Baby's third act. The point is to pick films that cover BOTH ASPECTS at the same time, that are "important" and "artistic" and a good watch too. Oscar voters probably aren't that different than us in terms of tastes (look at our top 10's totals the last few years). They like a powerful scene or two, something the moves them, grabs their attention, perhaps feels fresh.

That's why I put my Titanic post regarding the doc. on the 53 version DVD. Forget Leo and Kate (though I like that part too), there are plenty of emotional moments just seeing the event take place. Heck, I was choking up on the 53 version just thinking of some of the events going on, knowing that they had truth behind them (like the band playing). That helps you win right there.

Being on the back of that ship watching it tip and then shoot straight into the ocean...that's a powerful moment, the kind that helps win awards. "Now there's something you don't see every day" as Molly Brown says in the film.