2nd Annual American Film Institute 2001 Nominees (1 Viewer)

[Terrell]

This awards show is an absolute crapshoot. You can't tell who's gonna win. How the heck did Denzel Washington win Best Actor for Training Day over the likes of Crowe and Billy Bob? I like Washington, but there's no way he's better than Crowe in that role, much less Billy Bob.

As for Gladiator, no comment.

 

[Seth Paxton]

Here comes director.

This one should be interesting.

 

[Seth Paxton]

Altman beats out Howard, Field...

hmmm, wonder if this will happen at the Oscars too.

I think this is a lot like the Oscars will be...spread across many films.

I expect Beautiful Mind to win in a few minutes.

 

[Seth Paxton]

OH MY GOD!

What an UPSET. This is HUGE for FOTR! It is also leading an Oscar poll over at Variety.com.

I loved the film, but WOW!

 

[Terrell]

Big news for FOTR. But I've got one question. What is the criteria for this awards show? They nominate 10 films. Jeez, have some guts and pick a few. And Shrek nominated as one of the 10 best? C'mon. I don't get this awards show at all.

Anyway, big news for FOTR. Who won the AFI Best film last year?

 

[TerryRL]

Who won Best Actress?

 

[Terrell]

Sissy Spacek.

 

[MichaelPe]

Definitely an evening filled with many surprises. I was glad to see "Memento" win for best screenplay, but Robert Altman beating David Lynch? I haven't seen Gosford Park, so what do I know?
And what was with "The Fast And The Furious" being nominated for cinematography?

 

[Mark Pfeiffer]

Thanks for the posts. The local affiliate is showing Ohio State basketball instead, delaying the broadcast of the AFI Awards until 11:30. Not sure I really feel like watching the whole thing when I can get the results online.

 

[Terrell]

The whole show lost me. Not necessarily because of the choices. But you had films nominated for Best Picture and it's director not even mentioned for Best Director. You had 10 films nominated total, and even Shrek was in there. You had people from different films winning. Again, total crapshoot. I just don't get it. Maybe I'm to used to the Oscars and Golden Globes.

And Denzel Washinton for Training Day beating Crowe and Billy Bob for ABM and The Man Who Wasn't There. Go figure.

 

[TerryRL]

Thanks Terrell.

The award season is officially underway, I wonder how tonight's results will translate with the Oscar voters. If these, and the critics' awards, are any indication, no one movie has a clear advantage yet.

Although, I think LOTR will get a ton of nods come Oscar time.

 

[Seth Paxton]

Terrell, the AFI awards are new and the AFI is more respected than any other film group I can think of, perhaps the NY or LA critics are more respected. On-Line critics are growing in status too. Then would come the Academy. IMHO.

Golden Globes tend to be the "fishy" ones. We needent discuss People's Choice, Blockbuster, etc.

Altman has been picked by other critical groups for director over Lynch, Fields, Howard, Jackson, so it wasn't a big surprise.

Here's the film win totals to see the diversity.

FOTR - 3

Moulin Rouge - 2

Then with 1 award each:

Memento

A Beautiful Mind

In the Bedroom

Gosford Park

Royal Tenenbaums

Training Day

The Man Who Wasn't There

Missing from the winning films are Shrek, Muholland Drive, Ghost World, Monster's Ball, Black Hawk Down. They were all nominated of course.

Less technical awards here than the Oscars, but I would expect similar results from the Oscars.

I was certain A Beautiful Mind was the odds on favorite, but suddenly it seems like FOTR is way out front. Go figure. In fairness I would consider FOTR winning Best Pix Oscar to be similar to Gladiator, although I have FOTR ranked higher this year than I had Gladiator last year.

FOTR has been a critical fav, but I think most would not consider it to be Oscar champ material. Maybe the awards are finally coming around though. FOTR winning would be like Raiders or Empire Strikes Back winning to me, and I certainly think Raiders should have won at least.

 

[Seth Paxton]

Let me add too, Terrell, that it's not the AFI that is unusual.

This awards season is perhaps the MOST wide open I can ever remember. We've been discussing that in the Critics Lists thread and the AFI awards just verify it.

I think you should expect the exact same sort of diversity out of the Oscars this year. And if you recall, last year's Oscars were rather wide open as well. Gladiator got 2 big ones, but several films also won big awards, namely Traffic and CTHD.

 

[Terrell]

I agree about People's Choice and all that other stuff. But this awards show was strange and I didn't get it. Why 10 films. Can't they whittle it down. And why have only 3 or 4 directors nominated, yet have 10 films? It makes no sense whatsoever to me.
And I ask again, how in God's name did Denzel Washington beat out Crowe and Thornton with his Training Day performance. I'm no critic, but it makes me think these people don't know what the h*ll they're doing. Pardon my French.
As for last years Academy winners, the difference is there was some continuity. There was none in this. You had a set number of films nominated, not 10. Actors and actresses were nominated for most of those films. The directors were nominated mostly for the film that was nominated for Best Pic, and etc. Otherwise, how can a movie be nominated if the director, nor any actors, nor screenplays weren't nominated.
Anyway. I don't get it and probably won't. But I do agree it's wide open.

 

[Seth Paxton]

Terrell, AFI is not the only group to give Washington the Best Actor nod this season, so that isn't out of left field either.

 

[Terrell]

But do you understand my point, or do I just sound like a looney bird? As for acting, I've seen Training Day, and there's no way in my mind he's as good as Crowe or Thornton. I suspect he might not even be nominated. But what do I know. I'm just a movie fan. Don't get me wrong. He's a great actor. I just didn't think he was nearly as good in that role as the other two.

I guess in the end what I'm saying is there's some continuity that makes complete sense with the Academy Awards. I didn't see that here.

 

[Seth Paxton]

And what I'm saying is that you won't see that continuity this year at the Oscars. In many ways the AFI group is not much different than the Academy. It's not the AFI, it's this season. Washington MIGHT win an Oscar, seriously. Or he might not even get nominated. It's all over the place. You might just see Washington win a Golden Globe as well, he's nominated.
Also, the Globes also have 10 Best Picture nominees because they break it into 2 catagories, drama and comedy/musical. That's as much a cop out. Altman might very likely win best director from them as well too.
Many of the AFI judges are directors, actors, producers, writers. Add in many respected critics and you have a pretty strong industry cross-section.
Hopefully this link will work, let me know.
Here is the AFI jury at Variety.com
The AFI jury

 

[Chris]

Just as a note:

And I ask again, how in God's name did Denzel Washington beat out Crowe and Thornton with his Training Day performance. I'm no critic, but it makes me think these people don't know what the h*ll they're doing. Pardon my French.

[RANT MODE ON]

I personally think Denzel's performance in Training Day is incredibly underrated; meanwhile "A Beautiful Mind" is terribly overrated, as it won't even make my top 20 list of the year; it is probably the only performance I have ever seen Cameran Crowe in where my skin crawled because of how bad I thought the adaptation of someone with mental disorders was.. it appears as though when hollywood types get cast in roles of people with mental problems, they stretch it to the hilt and do the "I'm a loony!" bit. Do people honestly think that developing odd facial ticks and weird movements means that they capture what is going on in the mind of someone with mental disorders?

I found the whole performance rather dissapointing, and Ron Howard's direction was bad.. outside of Jennifer Connely, who was great in this film, the whole thing (IMHO) was the kind of illness-of-the-moment film I wish would just go away and never see the screen again.

[RANT MODE OFF]

That having been said, it was good to see Denzel finally get rewards for a performance that was out of the norm for him, and far more detailed and interesting then I've seen in most of the films this year.

 

[Guy_K]

I see what you're saying. That you prefer the way that the Oscars nominate the 'best picture' films for several awards each. IE: Gladiator -- noms best picture, best director, best actor, best supporting actor.. traffic -- noms for best picture, best director, best supporting actor...

I think it'll be spread out at the oscar awards too, not just AFI, because there were many great independent films that could possibly win single awards.

 

[Terrell]

Ok, I'm going to have to absolutely flog Chris for thinking Crowe's performance was anything but exceptional. Or get him some glasses(just kidding). And he absolutely spanks Washington.
Anyway, thanks for the link, but it looks like you have to sign up. Anyway, I agree that this ear is wide open. But something tells me the Oscars will have way more continuity with the nominees than AFI. But thanks for trying to explain it to me. I just found it strange.
One last thing, if they have 10 and they split between comedy and drama, why not have a Best Comedy and Best Drama category like the GG?
Guy, exactly. I mean, how can it be Best Pic if neither the directors, actors, screenplay, and editing weren't even nominated. And in many cases, that's the way it was. And before anyone goes bonkers, I'm not trying to cut down FOTR. But there were a number of instances like that. Again, although I understand this year is wide open.