*** Official 2003 Academy Awards Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Sean Cauley]

And I've got to think that the nominations for Visual Effects probably set some sort of record for "greatest number of words in only three movie titles."

You've got Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. I wish I had stock in the ink company that makes the ballots.

 

[Craig S]

As I have time over the next few days I'll analyze our predicitions to see how we did. But one thing our group predicted which very few other pundits did - the fall of Cold Mountain. We had it with 6 noms, it got 7 (but two of those were Best Song). We didn't match up the noms it got, but we did foresee the Academy's ambivalence towards this flawed epic.

I wish somebody in our group had gone out on a limb for CoG!
Vickie, I only see 1 nod (Foreign Language) for Twilight Samurai. What's the other one? Are you sure you're not reading that instead of The Last Samurai in some category?

 

[Chris Atkins]

Really frustrated by the SEABISCUIT best picture nom. I thought COLD MOUNTAIN and LAST SAMURAI were both far superior films.

Can anyone who defended The Matrix's visual effects victory over TPM care to defend the Academy's exclusion of REVOLUTIONS from a nomination this year?

 

[Jay E]

Yeah, City of God gets four nominations but can't be nominated for best Foreign film. They really need to change the nominating procedure for Foreign films.

 

[Brian W.]

I just called the Academy and told them of the discrepancy in the Sound Editing nominees. The operator transferred me to the publicity department, and the woman I spoke with was very surprised to hear of the situation.

"So which is it?" I asked. "I have no idea," she said. "Do you need to know right now?" I told her no and thanked her. I'm sure it's probably a typo in the printable list, but we'll see if they get it corrected.

 

[Brian W.]

Aha! They just corrected it. I had it on the screen, hit "refresh," and watched the two Lord of the Rings lines sort of "zip up" and Finding Nemo magically appear. So the nominee for Sound Editing is Nemo after all, not ROTK. Shoot.

 

[ZacharyTait]

Surprises:

Dijimon Honsou and Samantha Morton for In America.
Keisha Castle-Hughes for Whale Rider.
All 4 of City of God's nominations.
No Best Actress for Nicole Kidman

Disappointments:
Nothing for Sean Astin and Andrew Lesnie for ROTK

Pleased with:
No BP or BD for Cold Mountain
Johnny and Bill for Best Actor

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Glad to see Johnny Depp get nominated for Best Actor, Keisha Castle-Hughes get nominated for Best Actress, and American Splendor and In America getting noms in their respective Best Screenplay catagories.

Plus all the ROTK noms, of couse.

 

[Vickie_M]

Ooops, you're right. I misread the list.

 

[Ray Chuang]

Now that I've made my predictions, not a few comments!

1. Return of the King winning so many nominations is not a surprise. The movie is well-liked by just about everybody, and its Producers Guild of America and Golden Globe wins makes this the leading contender for Best Picture and Best Director.

2. I was a bit surprised at how many nominations Master and Commander got. I do agree especially with the many technical nominations for this film. Mind you, I was surprised that Russell Crowe didn't get a Best Actor nomination for this movie.

3. I am not surprised at the nominations for Lost in Translation, since many AMPAS voters LOVE "small" films like this one. It will be extremely interesting to see if Bill Murray can win a Best Actor Oscar--especially against Sean Penn and Ben Kingsley.

4. Charlize Theron's nomination for Best Actress means she is now in the lead to win that Oscar. Mind you, there may be some sympathy votes for Diane Keaton, especially since many people have felt that relative few older women have won this Oscar.

5. Personally, I think if there was no Animated Feature Oscar this year I would not be surprised if Finding Nemo got a Best Picture nod instead. Instead, Finding Nemo is a virtual lock to win the Animated Feature Oscar.

6. A lot of big stars besides Russell Crowe didn't get nominated--Tom Cruise being the most blatant example.

All in all, I think this year AMPAS voters did a pretty good job with the nominations, with relatively few blantant overlooked performances.

 

[Haggai]

Good call, Brian W. Maybe I'll feel like slogging through the database later if nobody else does, but my initial guess is that you're absolutely right about this being very rare, if not unprecedented.

 

[Vickie_M]

Wishful thinking, Craig (it was Last Samurai). I'm still happy that it wasn't forgotten.

 

[ZacharyTait]

I just looked and it's Last Samurai, not Twilight Samuari in the Costume category.

EDIT: I see Vickie beat me to it!

 

[Chuck Mayer]

Also very happy to see Depp in the mix. The Academy branching out just a little from established "expectations" is a good thing.

Chris, I have HAPPILY defended The Matrix over TPM. The right film won, for many reasons. None of which belong in this thread. For what it's worth, the only actual competition for visual effects this year should have been between ROTK and either of the Matrix films (I'll go with Revolutions), with Pirates getting some respect as the eventual third (or fourth, after the OTHER Matrix). But the backlash is palpable, and Gaeta is hated for being an asshole *AND* brilliant.

Take care,
Chuck

 

[ZacharyTait]

Ditto on everything Chuck said.

 

[Vickie_M]

Ugh, if Diane wins for that silly role I'll put a brick through the TV. Then, I felt the same way about Anette Bening and Hilary Swank, and the Academy members did the right thing in that case.

 

[Brian W.]

Ooh, no Adapted Screenplay nomination for Cold Mountain, either. No Picture, no Director, no Screenplay. Doesn't get much snubbier than that. I really enjoyed the film, but I'm glad. I'm glad Miramax and ol' Tricky Weinstein finally got snubbed. It's been a long time coming.

Especially because even a few months ago, Cold Mountain was touted as THE film to challenge ROTK, the only one that could. Ha!

 

[Brian Dobbs]

Where can I read more about why the Matrix Reloaded wasn't nominated?

This is ridiculous.

 

[Chris Atkins]

Well Chuck you know I agree that REVOLUTIONS should have been nominated this year, but if you are willing to admit that backlash is possible for REVOLUTIONS, then you have to admit it could have figured into the decision between TPM and THE MATRIX as well.

Just looking for consistency...would be happy to discuss more in the REVOLUTIONS or STAR WARS threads...

 

[Brian W.]

I'll do it later, much later... I haven't been to bed yet! (I work night shift -- I didn't just stay up all night for the Oscars.)

I know it's not totally unprecedented, but it MIGHT not have happened since the Best Picture nominees were whittled down from 10 to 5 in the mid-1940s.