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

[Chuck Mayer]

And Seth, you shoulda trusted me on TTT. There was NO WAY it wasn't going to be among the five nominees

Take care,
Chuck

 

[Seth Paxton]

Gere just didn't fit in and the other 5 actors all had juicy dramatic roles, even Cage in Adaptation had a lot more to do on screen simply by having two very different personalities to portray next to each other. That is a showcase role.

In a normal year Gere could have fit in, but the only way Caine was going to stay out was if they saw the film as too small.

 

[Tom Ryan]

Wait, no director nom for PJ? That's bizarre.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

WTF - TTT in as BP but PJ not there as director!!?!?!

Unbelievable.

Hey Chuck, we are the few and the proud!

TTT nom really helps strengthen ROTK's position when it's turn comes up. Now, so far, each segment has been nominated for BP. I really feel this is important in maintaining consistency across the films.

 

[Scott Weinberg]

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

I knew everyone said it would happen, but I was still hoping it wouldn't. An Emmy...maybe. No way an Oscar.

 

[Seth Paxton]

Not surprising on the TTT in, PJ out thing

Yeah, maybe if I listened to myself once in a while. I just said this yesterday that for TTT/PJ I could see him out but the film in as I was saying that I could see GONY/Scorsese as being film out/dir in.

Then the next day I forgot all about it apparently.


Talk to Her and Y Tu Mama Tambien both made surprise pushes out of the foreign film realm. Those were where the real surprise choices came from IMO.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

The Academy has been doing a 4/5 ratio of BP and BD for the last few years. That way, they can sort of recognize *SIX* major films. PJ was an obvious ditch...he was there last year for the same thing. He'll probably be there next year, so he was an easy drop.

Like I said, Scorcese has this award on his shelf already.

Take care,
Chuck

 

[Seth Paxton]

Chuck, you'll notice that I did put TTT back in as my pick the other night. I'm slow but not stupid.

 

[Tom Ryan]

The PJ not getting best director thing makes sense, in a way...usually one film of the best picture five has its director get snubbed for a nom, and this just sets him up all the more to win next year.

 

[Arman]

Overall: I gave the Academy a thumb up, no shocking nominations (like My Big Fat Greek Wedding as Best Pix nominee)

Biggest Disappointments:

#1. Where is City of God for Best Foreign Language Film?

#2. Non-nominations of Adaptation. & Talk To Her for Best Picture but then there's no way they could have stopped the madness & hypes for GONY & Chicago.

#3. Queen Latifah for Chicago? The amazing Samantha Morton should replace her.

Chicago should never campaign for a Best Actor nominations for Richard Gere. His role is not a lead. I'm happy that he was shutout because his performance in Chicago was inferior compared to all those nominated.

 

[Ray Chuang]

I think the race for Best Picture is between Chicago and The Hours. It'll be VERY interesting which movie will win, because these movies are exactly the types of movies AMPAS voters are suckers for.

I am a bit concerned that AMPAS will give Martin Scorsese the award for Best Director as a de facto "Lifetime Achievement Award", though. Mind you, I think Rob Marshall (Chicago) might just win, though.

This year's nominations makes it MUCH more likely that The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King--if it is a good movie--will win several of the important Oscars next as a cumulative award for Peter Jackson's landmark work.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

Seth,
I knew you believed. But now you will always believe...ME!



Hahaha, they went true to form this morning. Shame about Andy, but hopefully Smeagol will give him a shot next year (if he deserves it). I'd like to have seen a bit more from Minority Report, but hey, no biggie.

Take care,
Chuck

 

[Randall Dorr]

Go Spirited Away!!!

And Bowling for Columbine made it, too.

It's great to see Julianne Moore get two noms, but it will probably lessen her chances of winning for Far from Heaven. Kidman will almost certainly get that. (But if Kidman wins this year, it's less likely she'll win next year for Dogville.)

 

[Chuck Mayer]

It's sad we have to look at last year and next year for this, but it makes it a more complex system of checks and balances.

I think Chicago has this bagged for BP. The Hours might be a great prestige pick, but clearly, Chicago has the love of the industry. The Hours serves a different role. It will be the #2 vote getter, but we'll never know that.

Take care,
Chuck

 

[Arman]

Yeah, although there have been hypes & talks about it, one of the biggest not pleasant surprises too is My Big Fat Greek Wedding nominations in screenplay.

I'm so happy for Y Tu Mama Tambien too but something is missing there ... Confessions of A Dangerous Mind, I guess.

 

[Brian W.]

I am simply stunned at Jackson's not being nominated. He was considered a shoe-in... it was TTT that many thought was on shaky ground.

So 6 nominations for TTT. Okay. Better than none. I'm pleased with the BP nom.

So, the pundits were exactly right this year as far as the Best Picture nominees goes.

I was not at all surprised by Gere's snub. I predicted he would not be nominated. I'd like to also note I predicted Pedro Almodavar's director nomination. (But who the hell could have predicted the Peter Jackson snub?)

And if I'm not mistaken, is this the first year the Oscar BP nominees match the BAFTA BP nominees 5/5?

 

[Arman]

I thought it is going to be very close between Chicago & The Hours (not my personal picks). Now it is very clear, The Hours stands no chance against Chicago. It looks like only Martin Scorsese (& GONY) can beat Chicago.

Anyway, I'll be very happy to see a The Pianist or LOTR:TTT upset. These two are are the best among the nominees.

 

[Seth Paxton]

City of God and 8 Women were 2 foreign films I thought would go in.


Hey, "I Move On" from Chicago does go in for Best Song. So does Eminem. But MADONNA is sent packing. Probably payback for unleashing Swept Away on the world.

 

[Walter Kittel]

I'll second Arman's

- Where is City of God?

Surprised to see that Minority Report didn't get a Visual Effects nomination. An easy replacement choice for the adequate FX of Spider-Man. ( Although for my money, the best FX of the year belong to Solaris. )

- Walter.

 

[Craig S]

OK folks, I've started a thread for predictions only. When you're ready to weigh in, post your picks here.

Relatively few surprises this year. The big one for me is Almodovar over Jackson for director. Quaid being overlooked is a minor surprise.

The Pianist is stronger than most of us gave it credit for, getting some unexpected noms (i.e., Costumes).

I'll grade the HTF picks later, but it looks like as a group we did really well for the most part. For the acting categories we were 18 out of 20, and we had the wild cards for the other two slots. We nailed Best Picture, and were 4 out of 5 on Director. That's well over 90% on the Big Six categories!!

More later...