Oscar open thread

Nobody who reads this blog cares about the Oscars? I'm encouraged!

First year in my life I've seen all five films; also, first year in my life I've WANTED to see all five films. Very much liked four of the five, and can honestly say it's certainly nice for a change to have a choice of films which are all of good quality, all thoughtful and intelligent, and all for big people.

Didn't see all the nominated performances, however, so can't really comment on some of them.

Best Actor -- I think Daniel Day-Lewis is pretty much a shoo-in for THERE WILL BE BLOOD, a film which I very much disliked. Great performance in a not-so-great film. I liked Clooney in MICHAEL CLAYTON too, but I don't think he has much of a chance.

Best Actress -- Only saw Ellen Page in JUNO, which was great. Nothing to compare her performance with, however.

Best Supporting Actor -- Javier Bardem is brilliant as the sociopathic killer Anton Chigurh in NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. Tom Wilkinson is prety darn good in MICHAEL CLAYTON too, but I can't see the Academy passing up Bardem's masterful turn.

Best Supporting Actress -- Saw three out of five of these: ATONEMENT, MICHAEL CLAYTON, and GONE BABY GONE. Tilda Swinton is very good in CLAYTON but I'm not sure if her part is "big" enough to get the gold. I think I'd give a slight edge to Saoirse Ronan for ATONEMENT over Amy Ryan in GONE BABY.

Best Director: Joe Wright's not up for ATONEMENT so this makes it a little easier. I'd give it to the Coens for NO COUNTRY...

Best Picture: More difficult, since I liked 4 out of the 5. As good as I think JUNO and MICHAEL CLAYTON are, I don't think either is quite substantial enough to win the Oscar. I didn't like THERE WILL BE BLOOD, but lots of other people did, so it's a possibility. Personally I'd give ATONEMENT a very slight edge over NO COUNTRY... but would be happy if either won.

By the way, I think that there will be less interest in the Oscars this year precisely because none of these films is a "blockbuster" and they are all grown-up and somewhat "difficult" movies.

What is this "Oscars" you talk about?

Razzberries to you, Cleveland.

I'm so glad my prediction above was wrong! Congrats to Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova!

I, too, am so glad that Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova won for "Falling Slowly." "Once" is a perfect little movie, remarkably void of narrative cliches. I don't want to give away any plot details for anyone who hasn't seen it, so I'll just say I especially liked the relationship between Guy and his father and the resolution of the relationship between Guy and Girl. The final few scenes are, in my opinion, perfect storytelling. There was a point near the end when I couldn't see how the filmmakers could wrap up the story, but when they did, it felt both unexpected and inevitable.

Hansard's and Irglova's acceptance speeches were wonderful, too, and if you search for "Once Oscar acceptance" on the YouTube, you should be able to find them.

I'm also pleased that Diablo Cody won for her "Juno" screenplay. That was a good piece of work, presenting the subject of teenage pregnancy in such a manner as to have those on both sides of the issue rally around the movie. That tells me she succeeded in telling the story in a suitably nuanced way.

I'm disappointed that Hal Holbrook didn't win for his role in "Into the Wild," though I haven't seen any of the other nominated performances, so I'm arguing in ignorance. But Holbrook's performance was so heart-breaking, I almost cried (again) during the little clip they showed during the ceremony.

One last thought: Is anyone else sick to death of the whole "Let's seat Nicholson down front and cut to shots of him mugging throughout the ceremony" routine?

I didn't realize until last night what a marvelously beautiful woman Marion Cotillard is.

(The buzz around Hollywood was that she deserved the award; it was just a matter of getting enough voters to see her Edith Piaf biography. I guess enough did -- that, and there is also the trend in recent years of giving Oscars for portraying real-life people over fictional characters.)

Despite Cleveland's uncharitable remarks above, one film I am pleased to see that won was "Freeheld" about a lesbian police officer dying of cancer and her (ultimately) successfull struggle to ensure her "partner" (gawd what an awful word) received her pension benefits upon her death. All her valiant efforts would have been unnecessary if America let ALL of its citizens marry the person they actually love.

"I was not shocked, however, to see a report of the lowest viewers in history. Homosocialism and making anti-American propaganda films bashing our kids in uniform is not a real popular phenomenon here, or in any free country."

Cleveland, I'm just as anti-homosocialism and anti-anti-Americanism as you are, but I don't think that the reasons you mention are why the Oscars had a low number of viewers. None of the major films nominated this year was either pro-homosexual or anti-American. The reason, as I mentioned above, was that the films this year were perceived as 'serious,''challenging' or 'difficult', hence a lot of your average moviegoers, who tend to like things like "Titanic" and "Spiderman" didn't see them. Basically, no blockbusters, only a few big stars, etc.

As for "Freeheld," it sounds exactly like the sort of preachy, message movie that I hate. I saw enough of these growing up as a fundamentalist Christian -- certainly don't want to see any made by fundamentalist homosexuals, or fundamentalists of any stripe, truth be told.

'A few days ago I purchased a cable TV movie, "In the Valley of Elah," because it had great reviews and because Tommy Lee Jones never made a movie I regretted watching.'

I avoided that one specifically because of the anti-war message. And actually, other than TLJ being nominated for Best Actor in it, that movie wasn't very prominent at all. It certainly wasn't "Brokeback-arama" all over again.

Personally, I found this year's Oscars quite heartening. While they haven't exactly restored my faith in the Academy (any faith I had in Hollywood is long gone), they did demonstrate that on rare occasions they manage to exhibit a modicum of intelligence.

"Seven Oceans Investments Club (SOIC) began as an idea in April 2008, and became operational as a partnership in May 2008 with seven members
We guarantee your investment will be safe with us..
Our main aim is to provide you with an investment opportunity that is as much safe as possible."