*** Official 2008 Oscars Nominations List and Forum Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Malcolm R]

I thought the award for Visual FX was the big surprise of the night. Was it a case of ILM splitting the vote (didn't they do FX for both Transformers and POTC)? Or an anti-ILM vote altogether?

I haven't seen The Golden Compass, but I find it hard to believe it out-did the FX of both other nominated films. Unless the Academy is just in love with talking polar bears.

 

[Patrick Sun]

The Academy was hating on Michael Bay.

 

[Malcolm R]

He wasn't attached to POTC, was he?

 

[TravisR]

That would be my guess. Lots of bitterness and jealousy made it a case of "I'll vote for anyone who isn't ILM".

And for the record, I thought that Transformers was a laughably terrible movie but the effects were great.

 

[Michael Reuben]

Aside from the general downward trend in viewership, the writers' strike really messed them up. Not knowing until pretty late in the game what kind of show they were going to have, they did a lot less promotion. I think many people didn't even know when the Oscars were on this year.

Case in point: My brother and his wife (who live in L.A.!) called me just after Javier Bardem won for No Country. They were on their way back from seeing the film and wanted to know whether the guy who played Anton had been nominated for an Oscar.

M.

 

[Robert Crawford]

That and no big title this year to incite more interest from the general public. IMO, just a bad year in promotion and not enough titles to generate excitement. Case in point is myself, I didn't watch one second of the show and had little rooting interest in it.




Crawdaddy

 

[Kirk Tsai]

Bob, Cameron Diaz was presenting the Best Cinematography award and mentioned that the first award went to Sunrise. They did not show any clips or do anything further.

 

[Michael Reuben]

Too bad -- I thought it was one of the better shows in recent memory. Not too long, didn't drag, a more relaxed Stewart than in his first outing, some nicely spontaneous moments (Daniel Day-Lewis kneeling to Helen Mirren, or Tilda Swinton joking about Clooney's Batman suit); a couple of sly references for those paying close attention (Joel Coen referencing Cormac McCarthy and Homer); and some nice surprises among the winners.

I know people love to complain about the Oscars, but I just don't get most of the complaints I've read about this year's ceremony, either here or in the press.

M.

 

[Holadem]

(Helen Mirren is foin.)

--
H

 

[Chuck Mayer]

Well, that doesn't follow from last year...when ILM won. Especially combined with the fact that Transformers lost EVERYTHING this year. And I tend to agree that ILM might have split the vote, since I thought Pirates 3 deserved the Oscar. I think Deakins split the vote, which is why Elswit won (although TWBB was a fine choice). It happens.

 

[Bob Turnbull]

Thanks for the info on "Sunrise" Kirk...

Why do you ask? I guess I'd say she's super-foin.

I assume it's pronounced like loin (as in pork loin), but I keep wanting to pronounce it as a French word (as in fwain).

Marion, vous etes tellement fwain!

 

[Edwin-S]

I only caught the tail end of this. I watched from the thing from the selection of Best Actor and on. I was sure that Anderson was going to get Best Director when Daniel Day-Lewis won Best Actor; however, after the the two brothers won, I pretty well guressed who was going to get Best Picture.

I couldn't be bothered watching the whole thing. I really have little respect or time for an organization that will lock a film out of contention for Best Picture based on the type of film it is, rather than its merits.Their prejudices just make their selections meaningless to me.

 

[Michael Reuben]

But not so meaningless as to leave you uninterested in commenting.

Happens every year.

M.

 

[Edwin-S]

Got me there. What can I say? Commenting on their selection process is just a nasty c-c-c-c-compulsion that overtakes one.

 

[Lew Crippen]

I downloaded all the animated (and live) shorts from iTunes and watched via Apple TV. From a technical and visual perspective, I was blown away by My Love (Moya lyubov)—sort of like looking at a half hour of Degas or Renoir (if they had made short films).

Further, the storyline is realistic and (given the visuals) not at all saccharine.

Brilliant filmmaking.

 

[Lew Crippen]

Probably because I’ve been a lurker for a couple of years()—I always look at the Movies area first (and occasionally post in other areas where I might have a bit of knowledge).

I’m a lot more interested in the content than the technology, even though I do have a technical background.

 

[teapot2001]

There's Lew. Now, where's Seth and all those other people?

~T

 

[Bob Turnbull]

I think your extensive knowledge of film and always interesting way of expressing it kinda demands that you post in the Movies section more as well...

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

It's just about as sacchrine and implausible as you might expect, but it's an absolute love letter to music. One of my surprise favorites from last year.

Jamia Simone Nash has been performing since long before August Rush, too. One particularly incredible performance when she was really tiny can be found here.

 

[Vickie_M]

I don't know if I count as one of "those other people" but I've been reading the reactions. I enjoyed the Oscars. Even though my favorite, There Will Be Blood, didn't win BD and BP, I'm a huge Coen Brothers fan so I was very happy to see them win. I was happy for Once, Tilda, Marion, The Golden Compass(! what a surprise!) and it's cool that TWBB got a couple of nice awards. I didn't predict Cinematography. I thought Art Direction would be the other category where it would win a 2nd Oscar. I watched it in HD and boy did everything look nice!

Besides TWBB's wins, highlights of the night for me were Cate Blanchett's reaction to Marion winning, and Jon Stewart bringing Marketa back onstage.

I don't know if I'm going to do the Guild thing next year. I don't know if even one person ever looked at either of the awards pages I did. It was fun doing them, but a lot of work. I guess I'll decide that next December.

Vickie