92 replies to this topic

[Loomis]

Well, BABEL, THE DEPARTED, LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA, LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE and THE QUEEN will be slugging it out this Sunday.

I think THE DEPARTED will win, if only due to a misguided and absurd desire to give Scorsese his "long-overdue recongition", or some such cobblers. I've only seen BABEL, THE DEPARTED and THE QUEEN, but my personal pick would be BABEL - overlong and more than a little pretentious, but still a riveting, dazzling piece of work.

Thoughts?

[Safari Suit]

I feel "The Departed" is a fairly safe bet. Scorsese seems a shoe-in for director too, because of the whole recognition thing (mind you, they've said that a couple of times before).

I guess there's an outside chance "Little Miss Sunshine" could be this year's "Crash", but it's pretty unlikely.

I am ill-qualified to comment on what should win.

[Harmsway]

THE DEPARTED will win, but it doesn't deserve it.

What does? Hard to say. I'm not overly fond of the other nominees (I've seen all but BABEL), and my pick for Best Picture would be the brilliant PAN'S LABYRINTH, but it's not nominated.

[Loomis]

THE DEPARTED will win, but it doesn't deserve it.

It certainly doesn't. I think it's an absolutely awful film, although I realise I'm in a minority.

I'd say THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND deserved a Best Picture nomination, or has it yet to be released in the States? Also CASINO ROYALE, and I'm not saying that just as a Bond fan.

[Tarl_Cabot]

My pick is none of the above. Apocolypto is my # 1. Ok, so Mel has issues...maybe his dad planted all kinds of silly ideas in his head...anyway, that's the best pic for me but If I have to choose a winner I'll go with The Departed and Martin Scorcese to win( I really dislike most of his films). The Departed is this year's Crash.

But the most purely enjoyable and rewatchable film of 2006 is Casino Royale...and I give some love to Rocky Balboa. I guess it's just a weak year.

THE DEPARTED will win, but it doesn't deserve it.

It certainly doesn't. I think it's an absolutely awful film, although I realise I'm in a minority.

I'd say THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND deserved a Best Picture nomination, or has it yet to be released in the States? Also CASINO ROYALE, and I'm not saying that just as a Bond fan.

I don't think it's awful; I did enjoy it but I think it's a bit too talky and the original, although way different, feels authentic while the Departed seems like an Ocean's umpteen installment...anyway, I won't care either way. I really don't give a damn anymore about the Oscars.

[Santa]

Although it won't, I'd quite like to see Little Miss Sunshine win. I get a little tired of 'worthy' films and for pure entertainment value, I'd say LMS beats the others. I also don't like to see the obvious always win, so I'm not interested in The Queen. I enjoyed The Departed but certainly wouldn't say it's worthy of this award by itself but I do believe in rewarding for a body of work in some cases, and I think this might be one of those cases for Scorsese.

[Harmsway]

THE DEPARTED will win, but it doesn't deserve it.

It certainly doesn't. I think it's an absolutely awful film, although I realise I'm in a minority.

I enjoyed it the first time around (but only as an entertaining film - I never once thought it deserved lots of acclaim). Even though I wouldn't go as far as calling it awful, I would say it's not one of Scorcese's best films, and it's not one of the best films to be released this year.

I'd say THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND deserved a Best Picture nomination, or has it yet to be released in the States?

It's been released. I don't know why it's not nominated. In fact, I'm somewhat mystified as to why the nominations are the way they are.

I thought that the crowdpleaser DREAMGIRLS would certainly get a Best Pic nom (though it wouldn't deserve a win), and that the exceedingly well-reviewed PAN'S LABYRINTH would be right up there with the other nominees. I even expected some more nominations for UNITED 93 - it seems to have been mostly ignored.

[Tarl_Cabot]

I did see United 93 but I didn't notice a more universally praised film in 2006. Why didn't Paul Greengrass get any love?

[Loomis]

Martin Scorcese to win( I really dislike most of his films).

Same here. Although I do think GOODFELLAS is excellent. CASINO I like, CAPE FEAR, maybe one or two others. RAGING BULL, TAXI DRIVER and so forth - overrated beyond belief. On the whole, I find his films pretentious, soulless, ugly and boring.

the Departed seems like an Ocean's umpteen installment

LOL! Agreed. And it isn't even an original work (they should start a new category: Best Adapted Picture) - it's a virtual scene-for-scene remake of a film to which it adds nothing.

[Loomis]

I'm somewhat mystified as to why the nominations are the way they are.

I thought that the crowdpleaser DREAMGIRLS would certainly get a Best Pic nom (though it wouldn't deserve a win), and that the exceedingly well-reviewed PAN'S LABYRINTH would be right up there with the other nominees. I even expected some more nominations for UNITED 93 - it seems to have been mostly ignored.

I'm still at a loss to understand why BORAT is nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay - I mean, I've read the explanations, but it still doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And, anyway, is that film's screenplay, be it adapted or original, really Oscar-worthy stuff? I mean, I like BORAT, but just don't see that its script is anything special. I also like MIAMI VICE, but I wouldn't call for it to get an Oscar nod for its screenplay.

OTOH, I think Sacha Baron Cohen deserved a Best Actor nomination for BORAT, as did Stallone for ROCKY BALBOA. Oh, and Craig for Bond, obviously.

[Tarl_Cabot]

Martin Scorcese to win( I really dislike most of his films).

Same here. Although I do think GOODFELLAS is excellent. CASINO I like, CAPE FEAR, maybe one or two others. RAGING BULL, TAXI DRIVER and so forth - overrated beyond belief. On the whole, I find his films pretentious, soulless, ugly and boring.

the Departed seems like an Ocean's umpteen installment

LOL! Agreed. And it isn't even an original work (they should start a new category: Best Adapted Picture) - it's a virtual scene-for-scene remake of a film to which it adds nothing.

The Age of innocence was intolerably dull and joyless. I didn't like Goodfellas and I really think the Mafia genre, which Scorcese has concentrated so much of his career, is an east coast fetish. I didn't bother with Casino. I saw the previews and I din't have any reason to think it offered anything new...

[Harmsway]

And it isn't even an original work (they should start a new category: Best Adapted Picture) - it's a virtual scene-for-scene remake of a film to which it adds nothing.

I haven't seen the original... is it worth checking out?

I'm still at a loss to understand why BORAT is nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay - I mean, I've read the explanations, but it still doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And, anyway, is that film's screenplay, be it adapted or original, really Oscar-worthy stuff? I mean, I like BORAT, but just don't see that its script is anything special. I also like MIAMI VICE, but I wouldn't call for it to get an Oscar nod for its screenplay.

It's quite ridiculous, IMO. BORAT was largely improvised.

OTOH, I think Sacha Baron Cohen deserved a Best Actor nomination for BORAT, as did Stallone for ROCKY BALBOA. Oh, and Craig for Bond, obviously.

I'll say okay to Cohen and Craig, but Stallone? Nah. His work in ROCKY BALBOA is comptetent, but nothing that exceptional.

[Tarl_Cabot]

I think he deserved a nod for actor and director,writer.

[Loomis]

And it isn't even an original work (they should start a new category: Best Adapted Picture) - it's a virtual scene-for-scene remake of a film to which it adds nothing.

I haven't seen the original... is it worth checking out?

Definitely. It's far from a great film, and it has plenty of flaws, but it tells the same story as THE DEPARTED much more stylishly and much less pretentiously (and, as though this needs mentioning, without needing an extortionate running time). Good entertainment, especially if you're a fan of east Asian cinema.

[Tarl_Cabot]

Oscar loves extortionate running times.

off topic for sec since I see you and Harms: When is the Bourne 3 trailor coming?

[Loomis]

Well, the release date is just over five months away, and I believe they've already shot plenty of material (indeed, I think filming is just about to wrap), so I'd expect a teaser trailer any time now.

[Tarl_Cabot]

well, I don't wanna OD on advanced pics and trailors like I did on CR but a little teaser would be nice. Comon, universal...throw us a friggin bone.

[Agent 0015]

The race would be between Little Miss Sunshine and The Departed. I would love to see them choose a comedy for Best Picture, but I have a feeling that The Departed would get it.

[Jim]

It's quite ridiculous, IMO. BORAT was largely improvised.

An interview in this month's EMPIRE with one of the screenwriters states that it was "95% scripted"; they predicted responses to Baron Cohen's statements and depending on what his stooges said, it was either response A, B, C or D.

Hugely funny film nonetheless.

[tdalton]

I think that it's between The Departed and Little Miss Sunshine. I thought that both were great films (well, Little Miss Sunshine was great all the way up until the end where the film completely lost me), and I think that either of them is certainly deserving. I haven't seen the other three, but Babel is the only one of them that even interests me at all, so I'll probably catch that one later on.

As far as who will win, I think that it will be Little Miss Sunshine. It's win at the SAG awards as well its wins in the Producers Guild and Writers Guild awards shows that it was a film that had a great deal of staying power with many of the people who have the opportunity to vote for the Oscars. The Departed may sneak by because of the sentiment to finally give Scorcese an Oscar, but I think that he will be upset yet again, this time by Little Miss Sunshine.

[Bon-san]

I predict a duel between BABEL and LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE. I would say BABEL is the favourite, but that LMS could snatch a win.

I think Scorcese will get a directing Oscar for THE DEPARTED, but the film won't win the big prize.


So, since I've said all that, it'll proabably end up being THE QUEEN or LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA that takes it.

[Qwerty]

I really don't care much who wins from that listing.

Suppose I would need to see quite a few of them to have a better idea. Little Miss Sunshine looks quite fun, but I've yet to see it.

[PrinceKamalKhan]

Haven't seen any of them. Casino Royale should win but won't for obvious reasons. I never miss the Oscars. I never watch them(at least not since 1992 when Timothy Dalton attended with Whoopi Goldberg, anyway) and I never miss them.

[Loomis]

It's quite ridiculous, IMO. BORAT was largely improvised.

An interview in this month's EMPIRE with one of the screenwriters states that it was "95% scripted"; they predicted responses to Baron Cohen's statements and depending on what his stooges said, it was either response A, B, C or D.

It'd be funny if the Oscar-worthy lines and reactions in the printed screenplay seen* by the Academy voters were mostly Ds and didn't actually make it into the film because no one ever prompted them.

*Actually, are nominated scripts printed and sent to voters for their conscientious perusal, or is everyone supposed to just infer what the year's best screenplay must be based on how good the film resulting from it is?

[Loomis]

OTOH, I think Sacha Baron Cohen deserved a Best Actor nomination for BORAT, as did Stallone for ROCKY BALBOA. Oh, and Craig for Bond, obviously.

I'll say okay to Cohen and Craig, but Stallone? Nah. His work in ROCKY BALBOA is comptetent, but nothing that exceptional.

Biased I may be - okay, biased I am, but I think Sly deserved a Best Actor nod for the same reasons Craig deserved one. He had to deliver a decent performance in the face of huge public ridicule, recreating and building on a much-loved and iconic role (and one from the distant past, incidentally, so a comparison would be reuniting The Beatles - were they all still with us - in 2006 and expecting them to play as well together as during the '60s), while providing something new. Also, he needed to get himself into tremendous physical shape and turn in a flawless athletic performance, too (not exactly something that Judi Dench ever has to do, although she seems to be awarded an Oscar every other year). All this at almost 60, and directing himself to boot. It's rather like if, in A VIEW TO A KILL, Moore had managed to pull of a Craigworthy belter of a Bond performance.

But the West is decadent and divided, and the Oscars are insular and snobbish.

Similarly, my call for Baron Cohen to be nominated goes far beyond the quality of his acting (which is, frankly, mostly imitation Sellers at an undergraduate pissup) - it's about various accomplishments surrounding it.

[Harmsway]

Biased I may be - okay, biased I am, but I think Sly deserved a Best Actor nod for the same reasons Craig deserved one. He had to deliver a decent performance in the face of huge public ridicule, recreating and building on a much-loved and iconic role (and one from the distant past, incidentally, so a comparison would be reuniting The Beatles - were they all still with us - in 2006 and expecting them to play as well together as during the '60s), while providing something new.

Well, I suppose that's fair, but I just wasn't that impressed by ROCKY BALBOA or him. Maybe I'm less qualified to judge because I have no nostalgic connection to the character (on the other hand, I might be more qualified because of that lack of connection), but I still think ROCKY BALBOA is worth scoffing at, and that to enjoy it, disbelief has to be willingly suspended. Furthermore, the ridicule facing him was nowhere near the ridicule Craig faced on CASINO ROYALE.

Also, he needed to get himself into tremendous physical shape and turn in a flawless athletic performance, too (not exactly something that Judi Dench ever has to do, although she seems to be awarded an Oscar every other year).

Arnold did it for TERMINATOR 3 (and looked far better and fitter than Stallone, if I do say so), but I'd never argue he deserved an Oscar for his return to that role.

[HildebrandRarity]

Well, BABEL, THE DEPARTED, LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA, LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE and THE QUEEN will be slugging it out this Sunday.

I think THE DEPARTED will win, if only due to a misguided and absurd desire to give Scorsese his "long-overdue recongition", or some such cobblers. I've only seen BABEL, THE DEPARTED and THE QUEEN, but my personal pick would be BABEL - overlong and more than a little pretentious, but still a riveting, dazzling piece of work.

Thoughts?

Thoughts?

None of them can hold a candle to Casino Royale. The best movie of the year is not even up for a nomination. Hence there is no reason to waste my time on that kind of garbage.

Question: Did The Departed, Babel, etc have as high a critical rating as Casino Royale on sites like Rotten Tomatoes?

Edited by HildebrandRarity, 24 February 2007 - 01:34 PM.

[Loomis]

Biased I may be - okay, biased I am, but I think Sly deserved a Best Actor nod for the same reasons Craig deserved one. He had to deliver a decent performance in the face of huge public ridicule, recreating and building on a much-loved and iconic role (and one from the distant past, incidentally, so a comparison would be reuniting The Beatles - were they all still with us - in 2006 and expecting them to play as well together as during the '60s), while providing something new.

Well, I suppose that's fair, but I just wasn't that impressed by ROCKY BALBOA or him. Maybe I'm less qualified to judge because I have no nostalgic connection to the character (on the other hand, I might be more qualified because of that lack of connection), but I still think ROCKY BALBOA is worth scoffing at, and that to enjoy it, disbelief has to be willingly suspended. Furthermore, the ridicule facing him was nowhere near the ridicule Craig faced on CASINO ROYALE.

True. I guess I'm just railing against how snobbish the Oscars are. After all, the Baftas recognise CASINO ROYALE by nominating it in several categories. I still think there's a reasonable case for giving Sly a nomination for ROCKY BALBOA (not an award), though.

BTW, I think Schwarzenegger's performance in T3 is absolutely horrible. Lazy, self-parodic, charmless and in-it-for-the-money - everything Stallone could have been (and by rights should have been) in ROCKY BALBOA but wasn't. Then again, I think T3 is a wretched film and an utter disgrace to the series.

[Bon-san]

Well, BABEL, THE DEPARTED, LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA, LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE and THE QUEEN will be slugging it out this Sunday.

I think THE DEPARTED will win, if only due to a misguided and absurd desire to give Scorsese his "long-overdue recongition", or some such cobblers. I've only seen BABEL, THE DEPARTED and THE QUEEN, but my personal pick would be BABEL - overlong and more than a little pretentious, but still a riveting, dazzling piece of work.

Thoughts?

Thoughts?

None of them can hold a candle to Casino Royale. The best movie of the year is not even up for a nomination. Hence there is no reason to waste my time on that kind of garbage.

Question: Did The Departed, Babel, etc have as high a critical rating as Casino Royale on sites like Rotten Tomatoes?

The Academy Awards have always disregarded 'action films' so it's no surprise, really, that CR received no nominations in the major categories. While one can disagree with the Academy on this approach, at least one must grant that the Academy has been consistent about this. Comedies also get less respect from the Oscars than perhaps they should. Again, though, it's been a fairly consistent thing.

My bigger beef is the 'herd mentality' that seems to take over the voting more often than not. If early sentiment* favours certain films or performances, the voting invariably tilts accordingly. There are the occasional surprises, but handicapping the Oscars has got to be one of the easiest games in town, even if one hasn't seen the films. Which I suspect many of the Academy voters haven't. Very lame, that.


* As expressed by film critics (both professional and of the watercooler variety) and/or reported by news agencies.

[Harmsway]

BTW, I think Schwarzenegger's performance in T3 is absolutely horrible. Lazy, self-parodic, charmless and in-it-for-the-money - everything Stallone could have been (and by rights should have been) in ROCKY BALBOA but wasn't. Then again, I think T3 is a wretched film and an utter disgrace to the series.

Oh, I agree - I was just trying to make some sort of comeback about the physical performance aspect (and I was amazed by how fit Arnold looked). TERMINATOR 3 was a sham, and a terribly lazy film.