The nominated films – Production (Picture):
“ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT” (winner), “The Big House”, “Disraeli”, “The Divorcee”, “The Love Parade”. Saw none of them.
Interesting that this was the only year multiple nominations for an actor or actress in the same category were allowed. So George Arliss beat himself (“Disraeli” over “The Green Goddess”) and two Ronald Colman performances (“Bulldog Drummond”, “Condemned”), among others.
Likewise, Norma Shearer in “Their Own Desire” was beaten by Shearer in “The Divorcee”, while Greta Garbo was an also-ran twice, in “Anna Christie” (of which I’ve seen pieces of on TV) and in “Romance”.
ROG
Category: Oscars
Oscar-Worthy Movies I Have Seen: 1928-1929
The first listed is the winner- Production (Picture):
“THE BROADWAY MELODY”, “Alibi”, “Hollywood Revue”, “In Old Arizona”, “The Patriot” (silent)
Saw none of these nor any of the nominated performances.
By the 1990s, this WILL change.
***
Appropriately, here’s “Finding His Voice”, a 1929 Max Fleischer cartoon about how optical soundtracks on films work:
ROG
Oscar-Worthy Movies I Have Seen: 1927-1928
I had so much fun with reviwing my experience seeing the Oscar-winning films, I’ve decided to review, year by year, all of the films I’ve seen that have received Oscar consideration for that year.
First up, 1927-1928, when the nominees were:
Production (Picture): “WINGS”, “The Racket”, “Seventh Heaven”
[“The Way of All Flesh” and “The Last Command” are omitted from the latest official Academy list]
Unique and Artistic Picture (also known as Artistic Quality of Production):
“SUNRISE”, “Chang”, “The Crowd”
I saw NONE of them, nor the films nominated for other categories.
NEXT.
ROG
Oscar 2006/2007 QUESTIONS
There was this recent newspaper story about famous local author Bill Kennedy
Oscar? He’s an old friend of this author, in which “Kennedy uses his love of movies to help choose Academy Award nominees and vote for winner”. It occurred to me – again – that the process of voting is not directly related to the quality of the film, but many other factors. So, I’m going to make picks, based not on who I want to win, or who OUGHT to win (given the holes in what I’ve seen, I really can’t do that), but who I think will win.
* indicates the sparse number of performances I actually saw – all in the movie theater, BTW, as opposed to on DVD or video, which I contend changes the viewing experience
BEST ACTOR
Leonardo DiCaprio-Blood Diamond. If he’d been nominated for The Departed, i think he’d have had a better chance.
Ryan Gosling-Half Nelson. Well-received. No one saw it.
Peter O’Toole-Venus. The man’s been up, what seven, eight times before. Where’s the love?
*Will Smith-The Pursuit Of Happyness. Good, but isn’t going to win.
Forest Whitaker-The Last King Of Scotland. Not only as an actor, but as a producer and director. You know how Hollywood loves the hypenates: Robert Redford, Kevin Costner, Mel Gibson, pre-meltdown. He wins.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Jackie Earle Haley-Little Children. Won some of the minor awards; wouldn’t totally shock me.
Djimon Hounsou-Blood Diamond. Wish I’d seen this. In the commercials, he seems to be in a constant state of rage. Anyway, I’m not hearing the buzz from the early awards.
*Eddie Murphy-Dreamgirls. The odds-on favorite, won lots of the early awards. But Norbit ads are not helping the cause. And he isn’t Hollywood friendly.
Mark Wahlberg-The Departed. Ptractically every pre-Oscar prognosticator had Jack in this slot, so I think it mitigates against Wahlberg.
*Alan Arkin-Little Miss Sunshine. Been around, likable film. I’m going against the wave and picking the salty grandad. (If I pick all the obvious choices, what’s the fun in that?)
BEST ACTRESS
*Penélope Cruz-Volver. It’s in Spanish, with subtitles. No.
*Judi Dench-Notes On A Scandal. She’s better than the film. Probably my second pick, and if there’s an upset in the category, she’ll win.
*Meryl Streep-The Devil Wears Prada. She’s already gotten her Oscar gold.
Kate Winslet-Little Children. Someday this woman, who’s been nominated more than anyone else at her age, will get one. Not this year.
*Helen Mirren-The Queen. Who I am to argue with EVERY major award-giving organization?
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Adriana Barraza-Babel. Might win, but will be cancelled out by Rinko Kikuchi.
*Cate Blanchett-Notes On A Scandal. Won two years ago.
*Abigail Breslin-Little Miss Sunshine. Anna Paquin notwithstanding, they ain’t gonna give it to a kid.
Rinko Kikuchi-Babel. Might win, but will be cancelled out by Adriana Barraza.
*Jennifer Hudson-Dreamgirls. People applauded in the theater when Ms. 7th Place on American Idol sang. The “slight” that Dreamgirls not getting Best Picture may actually enhance her Hudson’s chances. My one concern is whether Dreamgirls plays as well on DVD as it does in the theater.
BEST DIRECTOR:
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu-Babel. Heard it was a bit of a mess.
Clint Eastwood-Letters from Iwo Jima. With two well-regarded films, and that hyphenate thing going, Eastwood should have a chance. But the film is in Japanese, and I don’t see the older voters actually watching it. Moreover, he’s won recently; are people sick of him winning?
*Stephen Frears-The Queen. Nice little film, which I saw. Don’t think it’ll win.
Paul Greengrass-United 93. By all accounts, a respectful retelling. I’m guessing that some of those screening DVDs will stay in the shrink wrap. (Do screening DVDs COME in shrink wrap?)
Martin Scorsese-The Departed. Finally. When the speculation came up with him on his last two nominated films, it felt forced. But this movie was well-reviewed. It’s time.
BEST PICTURE:
I could make a case for any of them.
Babel-For those who like the convoluted style of Traffic or Crash.
The Departed-For those who want to show Marty and the cast the love.
Letters from Iwo Jima-Since it’s ineligible for Best Foreign Language Film by the Academy, let’s show our love for Clint here, without slighting Marty.
*The Queen-All the other films split the vote, and the monarch reigns.
*Little Miss Sunshine-The Screen Actors Guild Best Assemble film is dark enough that a comedy finally wins for Best Picture. Maybe it’s the fact that I REALLY LIKED THIS FILM, but I’m going to pick Sunshine. Or Babel. Or The Departed. Maybe Iwo Jima. The Queen? OK, Sunshine, even though it wasn’t even nominated for Best Director. (But if it doesn’t, it’ll probably win the Screenplay award.)
So, who do you think will win, and why? If you have a blog/web page and have already commented on this, please leave your link.
If I were to run out tomorrow night to see one more film before Oscar night, I would tend to look for the one that will give me the most major nominees for the buck, such as Babel or Little Children, but don’t know if I’ll have time.
Oscar QUESTIONS
The number of 2006 movies I’ve seen this year its pitiful. So, I’m curious to find out:
1. What movies and performers are going to get nominated? I don’t mean the obvious ones, the Dame Dench, Leo DeCaprio (who I will guess right now will win for Best Actor (in “The Departed” over Forest Whitaker, based on the old “body of work” tradition), and the Golden Globe winners. I mean, Abigail Breslin for “Little Miss Sunshine”? (She was as much a supporting role in that film as Jennifer Hudson in “Dreamgirls”, which is to say, Not really. What “omigod” nomination will make it on the ballot?
2. Who would you like to see nominated who won’t make it? My pick, Will Ferrell in “Stranger Than Fiction” which maybe was too cerebral for traditional Will Ferrell fans. I didn’t see “Sherrybaby”, but since I liked Maggie Gyllenhaal in “Stranger”, I’ll root for her to get nominated. That IS how the Academy works, isn’t it? Have siblings been nominated in successive years, such as Warren Beatty and Shirley
MacLaine?
On another topic:
January 18, 2007 (FinancialWire) Despite rampant speculation that satellite radio companies Sirius (NASDAQ: SIRI) and XM (NASDAQ: XM) may be contemplating a merger, comments by Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin may indicate that the move would violate antitrust regulations. Martin said that a merger between the two, who are the only major satellite radio companies, would be against restrictions built into both Sirius and XM licenses.
3. Do you listen to satellite radio? I never have. If so, what do you listen to? How do you think a merger would affect the companies, and the listeners?
***
I watched 1 Vs. 100 last night. Tom the Dog missed an easy question and was eliminated, but won $6,100. I know this because he told me, NOT because I watched the show. I have NO idea (until he undoubtedly recaps today) what question he missed, or even THAT he was eliminated, until the end of the show, when the camera finally panned to square #81. This is why I think it’s a flawed game show:
The contestant can get big money, but the surviving mob members get bupkis. Seems that one should get SOMETHING for getting a right answer, even if it’s $10 per question.
I don’t know who in the mob is left. Maybe they need to make the numbers larger or something, or have a tote board on the side or superimposed or this: when each mob member is eliminasted, gave him/her their .15 second of fame and put their face and number on the screen. SOMETHING.
Tom SHOULD try out for JEOPARDY!
I really want to know what he missed. I got all the questions right, but the QWERTY keyboard question was a guess (all the letters of gas ARE on the same line).