The Hot Blog

First! Yowsa.

Here comes Babel, this year's Trash!

I count Dreamgirls in the lead with 8 nominations, although 3 of them are for "Best song", followed by Babel with 7 noms.

If somebody had told me a month ago that Pan's Labyrinth would get more nominations than The Departed I would have laughed in his face. However, I am extremely pleased that it happened, as it really is a more deserving film in my opinion.

No Volver in Foreign Film! Wow! Excited for Pan's, though...and Apocalypto did well for itself.

8
Dreamgirls
7
Babel
6
The Queen
Pan's Labyrinth
5
The Departed
Little Miss Sunshine
Blood Diamond
4
Letters from Iwo Jima
Notes on a Scandal
Little Children
Pirates of Caribbean

So with the only two BP and editing noms lining up for Babel and The Departed, are those the two most likely duking it out?

Films with multiple noms (a wacky cluster):

Dreamgirls-8
Babel-7
The Queen-6
Pan-6
Blood Diamond-5
The Departed-5
LMS-4
Notes-4
Pirates-4
Letters-4
Children of Men-3
Apocalypto-3
Little Children-3
Prestige-2
Devil Wears Prada-2
United 93-2
Flags-2

Happy for:

*Ryan Gosling!!!!
*Pan's Labyrinth!!!!
*Jackie Earle Haley!!!!
*Paul Greengrass!!!!!!!
*Jesus Camp!

Sad for:

*Dreamgirls=(
*The fact Wahlberg got the only Departed acting nom
*Ben Affleck
*Volver
Michael Sheen!!!=(
*Shareeka Epps

Angry they got nominated:

*Alan Arkin over Sheen, Nicholson, Affleck and Carell from his own movie...inexplicable
*Abigail Breslin over Epps
*Will Smith....zzzzz
*Djimon Honsou for playing the same part for the 5th time...not saying he doesnt do it well obviously.

Children of Men deserved Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor!

Oh well.

Yes.

The Queen is too small and too British, Little Miss Sunshine is also too small and too 'Sundance' and Letters is glad just to get nominated.

This definitely clears the way for Hudson to win Best Supporting actress, since her competition is three novelty votes (a little girl and the Babel twosome who will split the vote) and previous winner Blanchett.

Best Supporting actor probably has Murphy in the lead unless the Norbit trailers ruin it for him, in which case it goes to Arkin.

The Best Song nomination for An Inconvenient Truth has to be a first for a documentary, no?

It wouldn't be surprising to see The Departed, Babel or Little Miss Sunshine to take the Oscar. I hope for the first, I expect the last.

I don't get the love for Eddie Murphy in Dreamgirls. It seemed like he was riffing way too much on his old SNL James Brown caricature than really giving a superior acting performace. This might play out fine in the musical/comedy division at the Globes but not so well in the whole Oscar field.

I'm guessing it's mostly because he surprised people after giving us crap for so many years. But is that really a reason to reward a merely satisfactory performance as "best of the year"?

I've seen one of the Best Live-Action shorts nominated: it's a piece of garbage USC grad film.

I've seen all three Best Makeup nominees: one is a piece of garbage Adam Sandler movie.

Clearly the snub of the morning was LITTLE MAN for Best Makeup.

I've seen all those nominated for best picture and think that the academy members have really blown it this year. "Children of Men", "Little Children" and "United 93" were better films than the nominees. I'm glad Ryan Gosling got a nod.

Biggest outrage of stuff that was expected: No Volver in Foreign Film (let alone screenplay or director)

Biggest outrage, period: No Children of Men in Best Picture or Director

Biggest shock: No Dreamgirls

Happiest surprises: Mark Wahlberg, Ryan Gosling

The cinematographers have got to be the most perverse and parochial of all the branches. How can Iwo Jima not get nominated -- the most cinematographically striking and original film of the year, and one in which the cinematography is integral to the film's whole project.

Thrilled for Gosling. Glad the correct DiCaprio perf got nom'd. Would have liked to seen more for Children of Men, but happy it got the attention it did, despite the Uni freeze out. Makes one wonder what COM could've accomplished had Uni realized what gold they had...

Part of it has to be because Tom Stern is not ASC.

Although I don't see how desaturated-with-flashes-of-color is the most original look of the year. The year's best cinematography was Children of Men, which it seems has a good chance of winning.

Can we call this The Year Where The Academy Got Sick of Being Told What Their Favorite Movie of the Year Should Be? :) My theory is that there was an intentional Academy boycott due to all the hype about DG being a frontrunner long before anyone saw it.

I think this year will be seen as a groundbreaking one in terms of blowing apart all previous trends. The fact that the DGA nominated Condon and the LMS duo, when the DGA certainly had many more mainstays, like Greengrass and Eastwood, in the running.

And Leo was better in Blood Diamond than The Departed? And Mark Wahlberg was the only actor in that movie worth nominating? Really? Though I wasn't a fan of the movie, I'm kind of bummed that Sacha Baron Cohen wasn't nominated (he got the Richard Gere GG-comedy winner shutout this year)... and there's someone at a certain publicity company who is going to have a good morning since he was saying that Ryan would get nominated like five months ago. Good for THINKFilm...glad to see they're finally getting behind their movies/actors.

Either way, I like all five movies in the BP and I won't complain regardless of who wins.

Can we call this The Year Where The Academy Got Sick of Being Told What Their Favorite Movie of the Year Should Be? :) My theory is that there was an intentional Academy boycott due to all the hype about DG being a frontrunner long before anyone saw it.

I think this year will be seen as a groundbreaking one in terms of blowing apart all previous trends. The fact that the DGA nominated Condon and the LMS duo, when the DGA certainly had many more mainstays, like Greengrass and Eastwood, in the running.

And Leo was better in Blood Diamond than The Departed? And Mark Wahlberg was the only actor in that movie worth nominating? Really? Though I wasn't a fan of the movie, I'm kind of bummed that Sacha Baron Cohen wasn't nominated (he got the Richard Gere GG-comedy winner shutout this year)... and there's someone at a certain publicity company who is going to have a good morning since he was saying that Ryan would get nominated like five months ago. Good for THINKFilm...glad to see they're finally getting behind their movies/actors.

Either way, I like all five movies in the BP and I won't complain regardless of who wins.

in 1967, the academy went back to a single category for cinematography (rather than separate b&w and color), this is the very first time since then there has been no overlap in the cinematography and best picture nominations.

Hurray for Pan's Labyrinth nominations (cinematography and score!), and all the three amigos films getting screenplay nods.

Surprised for Letters from Iwo Jima

good for Click, the makeup was really incredible, the movie not so much. and clearly the makeup branch doesn't like seeing all their jobs replaced by computer animators (only one person in makeup in Pirates, the rest was digital).

having walked around the Poseidon sets, I can't say I'm surprised, Art Direction would have been more appropriate but the film had the best Practical effects (rather than all digital) of the year.

disappointed Leo/Departed didn't make it in. blame WB.

excellent for Mark Wahlberg

stunned my favorite of the pre nom frontrunners, Dreamgirls, didn't earn top two nominations

Delighted Patricia Field got her nomination for Devil Wears Prada - bank on it for the win, the women in the academy will definitely vote for it. It's a movie about costumes and playing dress-up and the importance of both to women, even more so than Marie Antoinette.

Delighted by Monster House making it in.

Good for Thomas Newman, getting nommed for the best score of the year.

bit disappointed United 93 got directing, the film was good, but not great, adequete directing, not exceptional.

Surprised and delighted children of men got editing

Like it's compatriots in bad (Poseidon and Click) Superman only got one nomination.

Borat for screenplay, IS NICE!

From Best Picture frontrunner to total denial. Amazing.

Condon must be on suicide watch.

Who gets fired in the aftermath?

What a mess.

No Dreamgirls or Sasha Baron Cohen as David had predicted.

No Children of Men for Director is a crime, but it should win for cinematography.

Lame Lame Lame that they actually went ahead and nominated two of the actresses for Babel in the same category. How cruel can you get?

Hahaha, Bling Bang got nominated? Priceless.

Clint vs Marty: The Rematch!

Who's the one person in Pirate 2 in real/non CGI makeup? Stellan Skarsgard?

And Dreamgirls wasn't nominated in the only category it actually deserved. Editing.

David, do you know how long it's been since we had a Best Picture nominee (Letters) that wasn't nominated by any of the four major guilds (DGA, PGA, SAG, WGA)? What a surprise.

From Yahoo:

"With five blacks, two Hispanics and an Asian, it was the most ethnically diverse lineup ever among the 20 acting nominees."

*golf clap*

Let's see: It's about 8:45 am Park City time by now, right? A good two hours after the Oscar nominations were announced. So, what, David should be on his second or third Colt 45 by now?

I gotta say, Moviecitynews had a real hard on for a dreamgirls best picture nomination, sometimes I thought they worked for Paramount. But I was glad that the films obvious weak second hour was not rewarded. It did not deserved to be a nominee for Best Picture of the year, and the nominations reflect that, and my faith is a little restored.

Woot for PAN'S LABYRINTH!

I gotta say..when I heard DREAMGIRLS didn't get a best pic nod, I laughed loudly and clapped. I'm SICK of movies rolled out at exactly the perfect time for the Oscars. I'm sick, as ED mentioned- of being told what movie is a sure fire Oscar lock. I'm so sick of it, it ruined my desire to see DREAMGIRLS. It just had all the wrong kind of hype for me.

I wish Leo had been nominated for The Departed. Blood Diamond is a huge piece of shit, though he is pretty good in it. Hounsou is undeserving. Thrilled for Gosling. Almost makes up for the bullshit LMS BP nomination. Happy for Wahlberg as well, and I'm glad Nicholson didn't get nominated.

... And the LMS backlash begins in full.

Which honestly, I likely count myself apart of.

With Dreamgirls and Departed both showing major weakness, I have to wonder:

a) Is Letters from Iwo Jima the new frontrunner?

b) Is--god forbid--Marty in jeopardy?

c) Could Jackie Earle Haley pull the upset?

I hope for c, and dread b. Haven't seen Letters yet so no opinion on a, but it sure is surprising. I'm kind of excited about the lack of frontrunner -- I hope none emerges before the ceremony.

You know, i'm pretty happy with all the nominations.

Other than Children of Men getting snubbed, which i knew was coming so it wasn't a shock, i think it's a fair representation of what the best was this year.

Very excited for Gosling, Haley, and Wahlberg.

oh, and double woot for Pan's Labrynth.

What a strange year. Blood Diamond has five nominations?!

As for Letters as a dangerous threat, shall we pull out the old Best Editing prerequisite trend? Babel and The Departed are the only ones who made that cut.

I'm not jumping on the bandwagon Tofu. I have been telling anyone who will listen that LMS is an overrated piece of crap since I saw it last summer.

For some reason all the Queen nominations are pissing me off, even though they are actually all fairly justified. I need to just relax and start to have fun, looks like many others are for a change.

Is Pan's a lock for foreign?

BABEL ALL THE WAY!!!!!

Stella's Boy: The problem with LMS is that it's simply no different from the dozens of other "quirky" indie flicks that rolled out in the 90's. This time, however, one just happened to have an effective marketing campaign.

Really happy for Rinko Kikuchi, as her segment was easily the best thing in Babel (which I didn't love, but respected and admired for the most part - see below).

On the opposite note, the Adriana Barraza segment deserves the award for "most unintentionally hilarious thing in the cinema in 2007." Seriously, I almost burst out laughing when I saw her bumbling around the desert in the hot sun. For me, the major problem with the film itself was that Innaritu and Arriaga stretched their premise to the point of absurdity - nowhere better illustrated than here.

"For those of you desperate for me to say, "I was wrong," I was wrong."

In all fairness, nearly all of us were surprised too.

Agreed about LMS Tofu. I felt like I had seen the same movie many times before.

Tofu,

it's the lead story about the oscars

Dreamgirls Snubbed....

But, i'm amazed how many people just shrugged it off like 'wow, i thought it would, oh well'

There's no real outrage..... yet.

And if anyone starts talking about race in terms of Dreamgirls not getting nominated (I'm just waiting for Beyonce's Father or Jamie Foxx to say something stupid), let's not forget that this looks like one of the most diverse nominee lists i can remember seeing.

It was a good group of nominees. I think, for once, they got it about 75% right.

Yeah, how DID Nicholson not get nominated? I was so sure he was a lock I didn't even notice it the first time. For once he's actually acting and not playing "Jack" and they pass him over.

I also forgot to mention how I find it funny DP says the "The race is, still, for those not in it, rather boring" when I could care less about the 50 or so people who were "snubbed." This years Oscars are WIDE OPEN and that's exciting. It really throws a wrench of superfluousness into the whole "Oscar prognosticator" crap...

Question: Did the nominations change who the favorites are in any of the major categories?

The only major shifts I see are...

Picture: Babel is probably the tentative favorite now instead of Dreamgirls

Supporting Actor: Murphy may be vulnerable but without Jack Nicholson or Brad Pitt the biggest comp. might be Alan Arkin playing an R-rated version of Ray Romano's dad.

Foreign Film: Pan is now the favorite over Volver!!!!

That's it..

Jack may have been acting for a change and not just playing Jack, but IMO it wasn't particularly good acting. Certainly nothing award-worthy.

I'm thrilled for LMS but I don't understand the hate for the film. I think some of you should learn to think for yourselves and put the EW down.

I'm thrilled for LMS but I don't understand the hate for the film. I think some of you should learn to think for yourselves and put the EW down.

I'm thrilled for LMS but I don't understand the hate for the film. I think some of you should learn to think for yourselves and put the EW down.

So what will this mean for the box office? LMS is played out and on dvd. But this could add another 15 mil each for the Queen and Babel, 20 for Departed (you know your going to see this again if they reexpand), and will this get audiences into LFIJ?

It is because I think for myself and haven't read EW in years that I am able to see clearly and hate LMS. I don't understand the love for it. I think some of you should learn to think for yourselves and ignore the hype.

Little Miss Sunshine isn't worth hating. It's not worth feeling anything about. It's just sort of mediocre. I laughed once and was a little bored by the end.

Any hate expressed for the movie is probably just a reaction to the hype by those who were underwhelmed.

For once he's actually acting and not playing "Jack"

For real? That was PURE Jack, just with a Boston accent and excessive sadism. You want to see Jack acting, rent About Schmidt.

Petaluma: Actually, the criticism I heard was that Nicolson was in "Super Jack" mode, being far too much like himself as to equate pure ham.

I'm looking forward to reading retrospectives that blame the giant black dildo for washing his chances.

And LMS got a huge boost by getting an EW cover.

Nice to see Children of Men get three. Had Universal supported it more it would surely have gotten Sound, Sound Effects Editing, maybe even Art Directon and Best Director.

I'm thrilled for LMS but I don't understand the hate for the film. I think some of you should learn to think for yourselves and put the EW down.

I'm thrilled for LMS but I don't understand the hate for the film. I think some of you should learn to think for yourselves and put the EW down.

I think the most interesting and legitimately exciting--what would you call it, races? competitions?--are for cinematography and costume design, with art direction as a close third.

I'm thrilled for LMS but I don't understand the hate for the film. I think some of you should learn to think for yourselves and put the EW down.

Filmsnob, step away from the "Post" button

I don't think LMS was any better or worse than all the quirky little indies that have come before, it is just that in this very weak year, it's one of the few movies that people talk about having really enjoyed. That can go a ways in noms, even if it doesn't seem like a traditional Oscar pick.

I think the closest to a non-BP contender dominating the movies that were nomianted for best picture was They Shoot Horses, Don't They?'s 9 nominations dominating all but Anne of the Thousand Days's 10.

"Little Miss Sunshine isn't worth hating. It's not worth feeling anything about. It's just sort of mediocre."

EXACTLY.

And Filmsnob, I think you should learn to put the "Post" button down.

The last film to win Best Picture with fewer than 6 nominations was The Greatest Show on Earth, in 1952. Bad news for the Departed and LMS...

Only twice during that time has a film with 6 noms won, Crash last year and Ordinary People in 1980. I'm really not looking forward to a possible win by Babel. ugh.

I'm one of the few on this board who actually liked "Blood Diamond." But Leo can't win on that nomination. He had a better chance with a nomination for "The Departed."

Everyone I know has seen LMS, they are all just casual filmgoers, not critics, and everyone liked it. Maybe Oscar voters are more like regular folks who buy tickets 10-20 times a year than you all believe. And maybe that ain't a bad thing. For the business of movies it is probably a good thing.

Hey DP or anyone else,

Children of Men getting 3 shows some strength that many in the blogosphere feel is well deserved. I know DP thinks it is undeserving of a BP nom and has outlined that it wasn;t release timing that eliminated it from consideration. I am curious if anyone can comment on how/whether any awards was handled? And if there was none, why that was the case.

I predict Babel will win BP, Pan for Foreign and maybe another win or two, and Children of Men will win once or twice. The story coming out of the Oscars will be the Amigos. Perfect irony with Mexicans winning in LA and immigration being one of the issues du jour.

"Can we call this The Year Where The Academy Got Sick of Being Told What Their Favorite Movie of the Year Should Be?"

I would hope that was the case, but they still fell for the BABEL, LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE advertising juggernaut. BABEL never fails to amaze me as an inexplicable award contender. Such low box office and such less-than-enthusiastic reception from the critics. UNIVERSAL is the big loser this year marketing-wise. They had winners laid in their laps (UNITED 93 with the biggest haul of Best Picture wins from critics and sitting on top of the 10-best heap, and CHILDREN OF MEN with glowing reviews and growing box office buzz) and they refused to spend much on ads. Sometimes when you DO have the best pictures, you've gotta let people know. Yet, Paul Greengrass pulled off a best director nod. I'm thrilled.

Everyone I know who has seen LMS thinks it is mediocre and doesn't get what all the fuss is about. They are all just casual filmgoers and not critics.

today kinda shows that 'the academy is too stupid to get "x" movie' and 'the academy doesn't watch the movies' theories are as worthless as the idiots that espouse them. Every film in real contention that people were complaining got hurt by a late start got seen, and quite well rewarded. Pan's, Children of Men, Letters from Iwo Jima. the ones that weren't supposed to get very many noms at all walked away with more than expected. Dave was right, I was wrong, the films still did extremely well for themselves with the academy.

I think the African American angle, plus the love for Babel and Pan's Labrynth could make for a historic night.

Three of the four acting categories will probably go to African-American performers. And Best Picture (which is a toss-up at best), could go to Babel and Pan's for best Foreign seems to be a lock.

I'm most happy about Jackie Earl Haley, what a great performance and great back story. though Eddi will probably take it.

Big disappointment? CASINO ROYALE shut out of any category. Yeah, I know, it was "just a James Bond movie." But, it was a superb movie period. This is where a special Oscar for stunts should come about.

This strikes me as an incredibly diverse year. I wonder if the number of nominated films is more than the usual. There seem to be more than the usual number of films like The Black Dahlia, The Good Shepherd, The Good German, The Illusionist, and The Prestige pulling off single and double nominations in tech categories.

Seriously, what is it like to be Jackie Earle Haley today? Man, I wish I could go back in time a couple of years and bet odds on a Haley Oscar nomination.

Now I'm just waiting for the big Danny Cooksey comeback of 2009.

If anyone suggested National Lampoons Vacation as Best Picture 24 years ago they would have just been laughed at. Little Miss Sunshine is a worse movie on every level.

Annie Hall only had 5 nominations.

Hey Stella,

I guess the casual moviegoers you hang out with those that I hang out with have different taste. FWIW, mine are affluent, highly educated, and socially liberal. And my friends could cares less about Oscar noms and don't even know there is a fuss about LMS.

Direwolf

They actually aren't all that different Direwolf. Don't they ever pick up a newspaper or magazine? I can't imagine not knowing that there has been a lot of hype for LMS.

LMS comparison to National Lampoon's Vacation:
http://carpetbagger.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/01/12/is-little-miss-sunshine-a-used-car/#comments

I *liked* LMS...but not Best Picture liked it. Still, nice to see a little movie get recognized. Or was it little?

I really doubt LMS, will get to the top prize. It's reward was a nomination.

But Arkin over Murphy, I can see that.

"I'd like to thank the Academy, thank the Producers of this great film, and I just want to leave you all with some words of wisdom. F--k a lot of women. Not just one woman, a lot of women. Haley Joel? You gettin' any? man you need to get that young stuff."

I've had it up to here with Blanchett being in every 2006 movie and all, but really, how must it feel to be one of the world's most acclaimed stage and screen actresses with decades of theater cred and accolades, then find yourself running (and likely losing) against this batch of no-names who will NEEEEEVER be in a real movie again?

when i clicked on that article, it took me to the page where a headline read:

Is LMS a Used Car?

And the ad in the corner was FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION: LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE

hilarious

Oh, if we only lived in a world where "National Lampoon's Vacation" could have beaten "Terms of Endearment."

Of course, I'd still be saying "The Right Stuff" was robbed.

LexG: Too funny. But consider this: Blanchett/Dench/Mirren - all have played Elizabeth I or II...I forgot...and Mirren has played it 2 times. I'm sick of the Brits and I'm sick of Elizabeth.

close encounters - 9 noms and no best pic nom
cold mountain - 7 noms and no best pic nom
driving miss daisy - best pic win, no best director nom

the Clint Academy came through (watch out Marty) - but not for Watanabe

no Children of Men pic or directing or actor or art direction

no Volver in foreign film, no Pedro Almodovar/Volvo for original screenplay

no cinematographers are best pic noms

no McAvoy or Pitt in supporting. Wahlberg over Damon, Dicaprio & Nicholson.

the great blanchett bows to the grand dame dench and gets supporting

no nod for Maggie G. /Sherrybaby

Desplat for queen and not painted veil score

Best director Oscar and BAFTAs identical
Best actress Oscar and BAFTAs identical
Casino gets no noms - BAFTAs gave it 9

Please god - keep Abigail Breslin home and in school...I fear we'll be seeing her paraded all over the d**** TV and internet.

Many wonderful films got nominated this year and what a good thing that they seemed to spread the wealth.

Particular kudos to Clint, Greengrass, Mirren and The Queen and the sound and make-up artists for nominating Apocalypto.

As usual, the documentary category is a laughable joke...

As for LMS, I am still stunned at how well this has been received. It is certainly not a bad film by any definition but Best Picture? Good grief.

I do think the vast overhype on this has created something of a backlash. On the flip side, it is probably one of the most mainstream films I have seen nominated in a long time.

Is it possible DG could be the Color Purple this year?

Lex, that's a rather ignorant comment. Barraza has been doing fine work in Mexico for some time now. And Kikuchi is on the verge of what should be a very successful career. Do you think only American movies count as real?

Granted, Breslin and Hudson are likely one-hit wonders.

Nicol, this is a serious question and not an attack or criticism. Did you see any docs you liked this year? As for the nominees, I saw (and didn't care for) An Inconvenient Truth but I have not seen any of the others. I do want to see Jesus Camp and Deliver Us From Evil, but I don't know anything about the other two.

I think Haley will win BSA. He's got the momentum, the real comeback story, and a meaty actorly role that he pulled off with elan. He's this year's Marcia Gay Harden.

I think any of the BP nominees could take it. LFIJ is like Clint's version of Return of the King: Two relatively esteemed films in one year from the same director. LMS is the Little Film That Could, and won the PGA. The Departed has the overall-quality thing going for it at the genre-level of filmmaking, while The Queen has the overall-quality thing going for it at the boutique-level of filmmaking. And Babel has the international-political thing going for it. So it's anybody's ballgame.

I soooo wanted Little Children to be recognized in more categories. I don't know who fumbled that ball--it deserves so much more recognition. Also disappointed that Shareeka Epps, Catherine O'Hara, and Adam Beach didn't get nom'ed (the latter two primarily b/c I'm a Canuck--though we did rather well otherwise). I think that O'Toole may pull off an upset in Best Actor. Really glad Cohen wasn't nominated for Borat. I think Best Actress will be Mirren vs. Streep--I don't necessarily see her as a lock. The only lock I see is Hudson, though I think that Blanchett deserves it (liked Hudson, but it's true what ppl say about her acting when she's not singing).

It seems that Babel is the backlash movie of the year.

Rooting for Sarah Polley and Away From Her for next year Oscars (again being patriotic)

oh, and I think that that calling Breslin a one-hit wonder is rather unfair. She was in Signs (not a critical success, but a box office hit) and she's barely a teen--she may still be around for some time. Maybe she'll go the Heather Mattarrazzo route, or maybe the Christina Ricci route. Depends on how she's managed.

Chicago48,

To compare Dreamgirls to the Color Purple is almost embarrasing. The Color Purple is a classic. Dreamgirls is mediocre at best. There is no comparisson.

Man, I loved "Signs." And yes, I know I'm the only one.

Yeah, don't sleep on The Queen. It got a couple of tech nominations against tough fields, indicating a good size of support in the academy. If it wins Actress (a lock), Original Screenplay (co-frontrunner at the moment), and Score (good possibility with The Painted Veil not getting a nom), Picture would make it four.

Josh, I love Signs too.

"Is Pan's a lock for foreign?"

One word: Amelie.

Some of those nominations (or non-nominations) were shocking to say the least. No Dreamgirls, Volver or Jack Nicholson.

But, as sad as it was to see no Almodovar, or Dreamgirls or DiCaprio for The Departed and to see Clint Eastwood officially given the keys to Heaven and told he can tell God to shove off cause he's in charge, it was so exciting to see the following nominations:

The Devil Wears Prada for Costume!!!! The most deserved tech nominee of the morning, if you ask me. Without that, the movie would have failed.

Greengrass for Director aswell as U93 for editing

Three deserved nods for Children of Men and two nods for The Prestige

Nods for Borat, Happy Feet, The Black Dahlia, Mark Wahlberg and while it was for the wrong score, I was so happy to see Alexandre Desplat finally get an Original Score nomination.

I'm officially scared for Scorsese now, though. His film only got one more nominated that Eastwood's and, as already mentioned, Eastwood is now officially God, Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the three Wisemen.

So glad to see the tech categories thinking for themselves. Cinematography, Costume, Art Direction!!! All eclectic lists and deserved inclusions.

Still, for me, the two most shocking omissions are indeed Dreamgirls for Best Picture (clearly, it didn't get enough #1 or #2 votes) and Volver for Best Foreign Language Film.

Did anybody else think Salma Heyak was adorable during the nominees? Screaming for Penelope and then nearly bursting into tears upon announcing Babel for Best Picture (a culmination of all the love for Cruz, Inarritu, Cuaron and Del Toro - all of whom received at least one nomination each!)

To quote Kris Tapley over at InContention:

"Also, interesting stat passed along by a reader, Robert: this is the first year since 1927 that none of the Best Picture nominees were represented in the Best Actor category."

Yikes.

Also, for the second time in two years, the BP/Editing categories only matched 2/5. Way to go editors!!

THE QUEEN just could run off with Picture, but I continue to be perplexed by it; It's subtle almost to the point of, er, pointlessness. Really, when it's all said and done, it amounts to, Queen makes some moves, Blair makes some moves, they have a final meeting where she snipes at him a bit, then they go off into the garden, whole thing behind them. There's no grand statement or arc or leap, just some super-subtle give and take that results in a momentary concession then a few cross words. My personal bias is towards busier, louder movies anyway, but this one is like getting worked up over, say, a docudrama in which JFK made the historic decision of... cross his right leg instead of the left. Not to mention the preponderence of stock/newsreel footage. This kind of thing is effective in small doses in something like JFK or MUNICH where it transports the viewer back to a shockingly specific time and place, but imagine if those movies had relied on it to occupy 1/3 of their screen time. Of THE QUEEN's brief running time, I'd wager 25 minutes of it is just real-life footage from that week. Frears intercuts it less than he simply lets it take over the movie.

Not the only one! Scared the bejeezus out of me, and you could have heard a pin drop in the movie theatre multiple times during the movie...how often does that happen? The only other time i remember people listening so intently to a movie was during The 6th Sense tape recorder scene.

Maybe Dakota Fanning's management should have taken notes, and a quirky indie-esque comedy was the route to an Oscar nomination. Also, I would never say the transition from child actor to adult is a sure thing, but Breslin already has the Mostly Martha remake in the can, and should continue to work and could develop into an actress with a long respected career.

Great to see Little Children pull through even with all New Line did to destroy it but

the biggest travesty is The Fountain not getting a score nomination

"Barraza has been doing fine work in Mexico for some time now. And Kikuchi is on the verge of what should be a very successful career. Do you think only American movies count as real?"

No, I don't, but the Oscars sorta do; Foreign-language films, where Kikuchi and Barrazza will likely continue and flourish, are marginalized to a separate category unto themselves. While it's possible that one or both will turn up with one line in a minor supporting role in a stupid comic book movie, there's probably less chance that they'll have another prime, attention-grabbing part in a pretigious Oscar-bait flick anytime soon.

Obviously, they could still surprise, trump the odds, and go the Ken Watanabe route, but it's more than likely they'll go the way of the MARIA FULL OF GRACE chick, Keisha-Hughes Castle, or (gasp) Roberto Benigni.

And, you know, I was kinda making a joke.

One has got to wonder.

Will Becky Fischer, Ted Haggard, Fr. Oliver O'Grady, or Cardinal Mahony... be invited to the ceremony?

Stella,

Of course what you are doing is an attack and criticism. But I am a big boy and I can take it. That's cool.

To answer your question I have seen 3 and a bit of the nominated docs.

I watched Deliver Us From Evil at the theatre (which I said I would) which I thought was good for the first half but did degenerate into a simplistic polemic that did not ask the right questions and seemed more agenda driven then searching for truth. If JPII was still pope they would have linked it to him. But we got Benedict so he became the scapegoat. The reality of this horrible situation is far more complex then the film dares to try to cover.

I watched An Inconvenient Truth for similar reasons why I saw F/911. So many of my friends and family were talking about it that I wanted to see what it was like. Unlike Moore's work which is cinematic, this is not a good 'film' at all. Yes it is fear mongering propaganda.

I have also seen Iraq in Fragments. While this film does good at showing the inner ethnic tensions of the various groups in the area, too often you can see the director in the editing room choosing to only take bits which are very one sided. With docs like this I wonder what they left out. Who did they not talk too and what did they say?

The bit one I saw was Jesus Camp. Didn't pay, but walked into an auditorium after the film I was watching ended. Yes, it is nothing more then fear mongering propaganda. It merit's no more discussion and I am glad it flopped hard.

The other doc I have no familiarity with.

But your real question is this...do I still feel I can critique something without seeing it?

Yes, and all of these films affirmed my view. I knew Deliver Us From Evil would be well intended but very one sided and too blinded by what she 'wanted' to find...not what was.

I knew Al Gore would be fear mongering propaganda as was Jesus Camp. No big surprises.

As for Iraq In Fragments...good in some was but obviously as with most docs, you have to always question what are you not seeing, what are you not being told.

Sadly, as long as the overwhelming majority of doc filmmakers come from the extreme left wing of the political spectrum, it will not be necessary to see their films. The music will change and the song will remain the same...or something like that.

One does not have to see Al Gore to know what the arguments are in it. He is an extremist in his views.

I did not have to pay to see Jesus Camp to know it would be extremist, anti-Christian propaganda.

The problem is you want me to give left wing documentary fimmakers the 'benefit of the doubt'. Perhaps I would if they would not sing the same mantras over and over as though nobody heard them the first time. Perhaps I would if I did not read so much that contradicted what they believe. Perhaps I would if I saw the world as simply as they.

I also know I do not have to see Left Behind 3 to know it is Evangelical propaganda and fear mongering. What you do not like is that the extreme left has become just like the extreme right. Blinded by ideology and hate and to any complexities and nuance.

Do you really have to see "Who Killed The Electric Car?" to know what the answer will be?

I know Avi Lewis and Naomi Klein are hard core Canadian Marxists. I do not have to see The Take to know it is quite literally, pro-communist propaganda.

You asked a question so I have done you respect by giving you the best answer I could. If David Duke made a doc on the history of African Americans would you have to see it to know it would be racist?

Do you watch Christian Evangelical films before you judge them? Any Kirk Cameron in your collection? Do you walk the walk?

That thing on TV where Kirk Cameron goes around the Sunset Strip telling all the revelers they're thieving liars who will burn in hell is THE funniest thing ever.

Funny, when I saw SIGNS (in Burbank), the only thing I heard was the all-Filipino/Armenian audience of 15-year-old kids with wispy mustaches and raging hormons yelling "This shit's alll STUUUUUUPID" for 95 minutes.

Jesus you are a defensive prick Nicol. My initial question was sincere. I honestly wanted to know if you saw any docs that you liked this year. I am always up for a good doc, and I have only seen one of the five nominees (we agree about An Inconvenient Truth). I am not looking for you to give someone the benefit of the doubt and my question had nothing to do with whether or not you (or anyone else) can critique films without seeing them. I sincerely wanted to know if you say any good docs this year. Simple as that. I regret asking in the first place. I have learned my lesson.

saw any, not say any

Since Abigail Breslin's getting all these accolades, think maybe she can put the money to some good use and help her brother Spencer buy an aging device? Hasn't that fat fucker been like 13 years old for a DECADE now? Forget Lipnicki; Spencer Breslin was the same age in THE KID *seven years ago* as he is now!

It's the reverse of the Nick Stahl/Ethan Embry disease, where they went from being 10 in 1993 to 36 in 2006.

"Jesus you are a defensive prick Nicol."

Jeez man, I thought you were asking in response to the other threads about the Dakota Fanning Film and some points I was making.

Sincerely, if I misinterpreted what you wrote then accept my apologies. I actually thought I was giving you a more coherent answer then just a yes or a no.

Perhaps that is part of the problem with these blog comments. But I intended no offense.

Sorry, man.

Best.

No, it wasn't related in any way to the other threads. Really only wanted to know if you saw any good docs last year, nominated or otherwise.

Poland sneers at Greengrass' nomination on his revised DIRECTORS listing it as the most expensive nomination in history. oh yeah? the campaigns for SUNSHINE and BABEL and DREAMGIRLS were deafening. I saw only a few print ads for Greengrass' movie. not once did an ad for U93 appear on MCN. maybe he's still pissed that WORLD TRADE CENTER never got much love from critics...and now the Academy follows suit.

I did see a doc that Warner's will be releasing called Suicide Killers. Algerian director Pierre Rehov went undercover and infiltrated suicide bomber camps in the Mid-East. It is shocking and quite disturbing. Perhaps the darker older brother to Iraq in Fragments.

There was also a British Chanel 4 Doc called Undercover Mosque that, while not theatrical, can be found on the net. They are both worth checking out.

Best.

Thank you.

From what I remember, Michael Douglas in "Wall Street" was the last Best Actor to win for a film with no other nominations. Given that four of the five actors nominated this year were in films nominated for nothing else, it's likely to happen again.

And for the money, I still think they'll give it to Peter,

Kikuchi is only the second female of Asian descent ever nominated for an acting Oscar, I believe. Or, I think she is. Interesting fact if my memory serves me well.

The Best Original Song performances are going to interesting. Beyonce, Jennifer and Eddie all sing them in the movie. Can they get them all to sing at the ceremony?

(i know this reply was off topic, but I haven't seen any of the docs, so...)

The Greengrass nod was a godsend. I'd been predicting him since April too, so go me!

Oh! I know what I wanted to mention.

Dreamgirls' box office. Will it fall off for good or will it continue to get $$$ because of Hudson/Murphy and it's other 6 noms?

And what does this mean for Letters from Iwo Jima? It hasn't even made $3mil yet.

So Nicol-since you didn't see it and many of us did...who DID kill the electric car? Seriously...you say you know who it was and don't need to see the film so please, show us your cinematic mind reading.

For what it's worth, WHEN THE LEVEES BROKE is the best doc of the year...it's not even close.

Babel is the front runner now. Marty and Clint are going to split votes for the "macho" sector and i really hope that LMS gets nothing (mediocre movie)and the Queen is out.

The same goes to Director. Marty was the lock , til Clint show up again. So, Iñarritu could be the winner.

Mirren and Whitaker are the contenders (maybe O'toole plays the old guy card and wins)

The Queen in original is a lock, but the adapted category is going to be bloody. The Departed is the favorite but not a lock.

Hudson and Murphy were the locks til today, now they are one of five again...Hudson probably wins (Go Rinko go!), but Murphy has serious competition in Arkin (meh) and Earle Haley. Even Whalberg ( a la Clooney last year)

Pan`s will win foreign ( where the F**K it's Volver? grrrr) and Happy feet animated.

Pan's or The prestige( a hugely underrated wonderful movie) should get some love in art direction and the Wonderful Children of men should get some in Photography

Marie Antoinette for Costumes, Apocalypto for Makeup

Editting and Score are going to be tought. In music i really could'nt say a favourite, and in the editting probably will win Telma for the epilectic and atrocious work in The Departed but i really hope im wrong.

FX locked for Pirates. And sound and edit sound should go for Apocalypto, but the academy members are like sheep, so probably goes with Pirates.
But you know, war movies and Musicals usually has somethin to say in those categories.

The best thing in this nominations is that If Clint wins Best Director, Marty's next movie is gonna be: KILL CLINT VOL.3 ^_^

I did see When the Levees Broke. I agree that it is excellent.

David Poland called The Departed an unlikely Best Picture candidate after its first screening. Can someone explain how that is "supporting the movie from the start?"

Marty has already made his peace with this Oscar business. To me, The Departed is an allegory for the 2004 Oscar race with Matt Damon (Eastwood - the biggest oscar whore since Beatty '75-'81) staring longingly at the Boston Statehouse golden dome (alot like Oscar's cranium). DiCaprio (Scorsese) goes undercover for lunatic Frank (Weinstein) and starts being uncomfortable in his own skin. He sees Annette Bening thrown off the roof by Hilary Swank and starts to worry about his chances. Scorsese tells himself M$B is nothing but a few fancy lighting tricks. There's a mentally challenged guy saying the N-word. And Maggie's family, holy crap, Maggie's family, how can people vote for that? He convinces himself he's won, then suddenly loses (gets shot). Scorsese was probably told by hundreds of academy voters in 2002 and 2004 that they had his vote, but they're all rats in Hollywood. Lying two-faced rats. Only Ray Winstone (Thelma Schoonmaker) can be trusted. The movie ends with a rat and the Oscar.

Maybe Scorsese will get to play Wahlberg's role this year. Maybe not. Maybe @#$* yourself.

milestogo? I'm keeping my eye on you, kid. Ya got skills. That was a riot.

Overall okay with the noms. LMS shouldn't be on the list of BPs, but there's always one that sticks out. Looking back at it it now and without the hindsight of knowing the empire it created is there any reason Star Wars was a BP and not Close Encounters? The BP generally is a game of Which One Doesn't Belong?

The doc category is more and more becoming a list of docs that made waves. It seems like there's a happy medium from the previous years when the sure-fire way to not get nominated w2as to be noticed in any way and what we have now which almost seems to reward national distribution deals. Nonetheless that's a pretty solid list and I got a lot out of each of those films. Just wish it was also pointing out some overlooked gem, too. (I wholly agree that LEVEES is hands down the best doc of the year. It's so good it deserves to defy the rules and steal the award out of the hands of the eventual winner.)

If categories were parties I'd want to be invited to cinematography. That seems to be where the really interesting guests are hanging. A pound-for-pound nice list of movies in that category.

Nothing offended me. Gosling, Haley, and Greengrass made me smile and even though it was a foregone conclusion I have so much pride for Whitaker's nomination. He's such a good guy and a favorite of mine for years and I'm so pleased to see him have his year. There have rarely been nicer guys honored so.

Don't know if it was Academy eligible, but the best documentary I saw this year was A Lion in the House. Looks like you can purchase the DVD through the website: http://www.lioninthehouse.com/

Is it true Condon bashed the Oscars over Brokeback? Do I smell backlash here?....somebody tell me about it, I didn't know.

I'm already sick of all the "why Dreamgirls didn't get nominated" theories out there. They're all ridiculous, from the "everybody hates Geffen and doesn't want him to win an oscar" theory to the "David Poland curse" theory. For whatever reason, a lot of folks just didn't respond to the movie as predicted.

Well actually Mason - this will HELP DG BECAUSE IT GOT 8 NOMs so the boxo should go through the roof. payback is a b****.

Chicago is this year's Waterbucket.

Just to repeat it in this thread:
It's idiotic to decide you can criticize a movie without seeing it. Yes, you can _disdain_ a movie without seeing it (as I would disdain the Left Behind movies without seeing any), but these are not the same things. One is a responsibility for an active movie-goer and critic, the other is lazy.

I agree that An Inconvenient Truth was not much of a film - I never need to see it again - but the Global Warming Deniers like Nicol are the extremists in today's world, not the advocates.

Jesus Camp was also somewhat one-sided and divisive, but it was also the scariest movie of the year. Any movie that depicts children in a religious setting urged to pay homage to a cardboard stand-up of Pres. Bush is certainly a must-see.
I never saw the other three nominated docs, but now I have a reason to.

There's a david Poland Curse theory?? Wow...who knew ;-)

Nicol-still waiting to hear your take on who killed the electric car based on your outer perceptions of the actual, fact based, film.

Jesus Camp is at the top of my queue, I can't wait to see it. And I've heard the scene w/ Ted Haggard is a howler given the news surrounding him presently.

For Best Actor: Smith, Gosling, Whitakker, O'Toole are those film's only nominations. Leo for Blood Diamond is 1/3 of it's noms. Interesting. Maybe Smith will take it, but after seeing "Scotland" it's hard to argue against Whitakker, mind-blowing performance.

Any of you dying to see "Catch and Release" or "Blood and Chocolate"? I think Pan's will get the biggest B.O. boost this weekend, Dreamgirls should stay on it's current trajectory and the re-release of The Departed will get good audience too.

And Dave, just in case you are wondering, Paul Giamatti's nomination last year was the most expensive award ever campaigned for.

Greengrass deserves that prize more than anyone this year, but to see Scrosese get it would be fine by me.

"Well actually Mason - this will HELP DG BECAUSE IT GOT 8 NOMs so the boxo should go through the roof. payback is a b****."

Hey, I hope it does. I enjoyed the film and there's no one easier in this biz to root for than Bill Condon. All I was saying was I sick of all the theories about why it didn't get a best picture nom.

Well, I read all of those comments, where's my fucking medal? Moving on.

I'm sitting there in front of the TV, watching the announcements, and I see Clint's name. And then I see LFIJ as a Best Picture nominee, and I knew something was missing. Then it hit me, they didn't go for Dreamgirls. Somewhere there must be an article headline that says, "Academy tells Dreamgirls it's not going." Unreal. Still, I haven't seen the film, and now that the hype will die down, it'll probably be more enjoyable.

wongjongat, Away From Her was one of my favourite films that I saw last year. I hope it does well when it's released - and I think that it could easily result in some Oscar love next year. I even told Sarah Polley that when I met her at the VIFF, although she said that'd be nice, but it's not her concern. I was kinda babbling though, seeing as how I grew up watching her shows etc. Anyhow.

Really happy for Wahlberg and the Pan's love. I think it's the frontrunner, but another Amelie type situation could happen.

I think that Marty will win. God, I hope he does. It strikes me that he and Peyton Manning have something in common - everytime they get to a certain point, everyone says, "Is this the year?"
What if the Colts and Scorsese win their respective races? That would make for an interesting coincidence.

Have yet to see Venus, but I hope O'Toole wins, because he's Peter frickin' O'Toole!

Overall, gotta say I'm pleased with the noms, although I'm sure David Geffen is sharpening up his sword...

How was Giamatti's performance the most expensive?

honestly, this Dreamgirls thing is going to get old quick.

It's a good movie, with nominated songs and performances, that has made money, and it won a Golden Globe for.....

BWAH HAH HAH HAH HAH

Sorry... sorry... i almost got that out without laughing, but then i said Golden Globe.

Of course they're going to meltdown, but isn't that sad? Why can't we celebrate the achievements of these films rather than look past the one, albeit large, flaw.

It amazes me that in Hollywood, you can have critical acclaim, financial success, award worthy performances, and then it's all worthless because you didn't get a best picture nomination.

Hollywood continues to puzzle me.

The millions, and millions Universal spent on that movie with just Giamatti's nod to show for it. that's how. It's just a guess, I'm sure there are other examples that us clever movie fans can conjure up.

Bravo for Gosling and Rinko, two darkhorses who are very deserving. Not so shocked at Nicholson, b/c of the SAG noms, but feel he got screwed none the less. Wahlberg over Jack is a joke of the highedt proportions, as brilliant and deserving as Wahlberg was. But I don't see how the impact is even comparable...

As for Dreamgirls its a shock even though the film never lived up to the hype. Still, its a far better film than Iwo Jima, which is just stale pedigreed crap IMO. But the Academy loves to honor Clint for mediocrity like MMB so whatever.

Children of Men and Little Children and Volver are the biggest, most regrettable snubs. As well as Sasha Cohen, who should have got a nod over OToole's comotose ridiculous nonsense. A sympathy nod if there ever was one.

As for Nicol's ongoing blithering idiocy, see this poster for what it is...a person who burns books they haven't read, an anti intellectual fascist who has lost any and all credibility on this blog for any reasonable reader. With fascists like that, no matter how hard one tries, you just can't save them with love. So as they foam at the mouth about things they know nothing about, its necessary to continue to point out the inherent sham of their ideas. Anyone that pretends to know about art they haven't experienced is a charlatan of the lowest order. What a joke...

I'm telling you....Nicol is Armond White...I'm almost convinced.

Anyone going to Santa Barbara Intl Film fest this weekend?? I'm going so hit me off the blog and maybe we can grab a soda.

>>>I'm telling you....Nicol is Armond White...I'm almost convinced.

No he just doesn't accept the biased, agenda driven crap without questioning it.

And for that he is called a fascist by halfwits.

If you hang around long enough you discover that everything is agenda-driven. Even and especially the anti-agenda-driven camp.

Questioning is very good. When you find you come up with the same answers time and time again, though, it may be time to reconsider your interrogation methods.

my 2 cents about DREAMGIRLS.
(sorry, too much has been said already).
it was good, i admit. but good in the
SOUTH PACIFIC, CAMELOT, OKLAHOMA category.
they didn't get best picture noms either.
it wasn't an inspired adaptation like
WEST SIDE STORY, CHICAGO, SOUND/MUSIC,
KING and I, GIGI, etc. when people talk about
the great musicals, DREAMGIRLS just won't
be in the line up.

Nicol's deal isn't that he 'doesn't accept the biased agenda driven crap'. He is himself highly agenda-driven as an anti-liberal Catholic. Plenty of people are agenda-drive. The problem is, he's not interested in dialogue, just diatribe. This is what makes him a bit fascist.

But Nicol is not Armond White. Nicol doesn't use terms like 'smug' or 'fraudulent' as much as AW does, Nicol doesn't rail against the NY critical elite, and Nicol liked United 93 and Letters from Iwo Jima, which AW hated.

I will definitely skip the Oscar show this year and most likely the ones in the future. That’s a big decision for me, who has seen the show for the last 17 years. This year, I only care for the technical awards, especially Cinematography, Score, Art Design, Editing.

Living here on West L.A., where most of the Academy members live or meet, gives you a better idea of who they will nominate and who will win.

Two big RED flags were seen last year from the Academy, two big signs you need to remember: (1) some of them ignored Brokeback, and talked about having zero intentions of watching that film. How can you ignore a film that is nominated for best pic. and which won countless awards? Is homophobia a member of the Academy? It is interesting we have a lesbian hosting the show this year. I am not fooled. (2) the Academy preferred a song about a pimp, over Dolly Parton, one of the best American songwriters. How can I continue following/trusting the academy’s decisions? Now, I prefer to trust the overall consensus of the film critics and the results of film festivals.

I have seen ALL the top films of the year (including top documentaries) in the main theaters of L.A.: Arclight--Hollywood, AMC Century City 15—Westwood/Century City, Pacific Theatre—The Grove, and the small theatres on West L.A. (the ones who care for good cinema). The only film that I seen twice this year is Pan’s Labyrinth. When you ask yourself, which one is the best film? You need to take in consideration as many factors as you can. Pan’s does very well in most of the factors looked by the academy: (a) great acting by every single character (including the fairies). Sadly (for the academy “standards”), there are no “well-known” actors/actresses in this film. I bet most of you never heard of Maribel Verdu, or Sergi Lopez?; (b) very original screenplay; (c) superb cinematography; (d) sweet-to-the-ear score; (e) costumes; (f) original makeup; (g) amazing art design/direction. The ONLY flaw from this masterpiece is its late release. The five best pic. nominees should be thankful of that mistake. If not, Pan’s could have become another Million Dollar Baby this year. Surprisingly, Letters From Iwo Jima, which was released one week prior to Pan’s got the final slot. Letters could become the big surprise on February 25th.

I’ve seen some negative criticism against Pan’s. However, most of it comes from people who don’t like to hear other language but English, or who thinks this tale has “a lot of violence.” FYI: this film is rated R. You see the same type of violence or worst on national TV or PG films. Like Rober Ebert says, this is “a fairy tale for grown-ups”. I would add: for cinema grown-ups…

Since I live in a nation based on democracy, I accept the decision of the ones who were willing and/or able to vote in a specific time period. That decision could change an hour, a day or a month after they did cast their vote. Did an academy member regret not voting for the really deserving movie this year or prior years? Since I do not agree with the academy past behavior, I will prefer to watch a real classic movie on DVD or I will go to a movie theatre to appreciate good cinema while the show is aired.

Please, don’t think I am against all the nominations from the academy. There are true cinema stars who shared their directing/acting skills with us during 2006. Still, I don’t consider the academy to be the group, which gives the last word on who is the best.

For now, enjoy the TV/internet media comedic drama. And the winner is…. You?

Pan's Labyrinth received six nominations, which is a huge number for a foreign release. I don't understand your dismay, Tony_in_LA.

a comment about the Academy's music branch...
the real snub for DREAMGIRLS came about due
to the strange rules of the music voters.
they have no category anymore for MUSIC: ORIGINAL
SCORE and/or ADAPTATION. this used to be a
common category and people like Andre Previn,
Johnny Green, Alfred Newman and John Williams won as often as Edith Head. they got rid of the category a couple of decades ago. this is bizarre in light of the fact that so many films (even best picture winners) centered around music. but, the people responsible for the music orchestrations went w/o mention or special notice. i'm referring to AMADEUS, CHICAGO, WALK THE LINE, MOULIN ROUGE, EVITA, etc. etc.

"The Best Song nomination for An Inconvenient Truth has to be a first for a documentary, no?"

The glorious, angry, mythic, tragic, hysterical documentary MONDO CANE received a "Best Song" nomination for the Oscars in 1962. All praise it.

Thank heaven for Dreamgirls not getting nominated, only Babel would have been a worse choice. oh, wait... there it is. I saw Dreamgirls in an empty theatre. I'm sure many of these voters saw it at home with a screener. This movie DIES without a pre-enthused, hyped-up crowd. The music is stale, and it's a cookie cutter version of any number of far better VH1 biopics that actually feature true Holland-Dozier-Holland hits. Did anyone else think the reveal of Eddie Murphy snorting coke was the funniest scene of the year? Only to be topped by a 5 minute scene of Eddie Murphy rolling up his sleeve prepping to shoot up, all PG-13 and whatnot. Patethic.

Sad for no Black Book and wrong Dicaprio performance.

Last year, I read a good explanation of the Byzantine vote-counting procedures that determine who gets nominated, but I have since forgotten what they were. Can someone either explain them in a nutshell or link me to a post or site that explains them? (I think it had to do with how many people get first-place votes, not who gets any of the fourth- or fifth-place votes.) Please and thanks.

i have a deadline so suddenly the scars oops mean Oscars don't cause much distress...and some nice surprises.

I wonder which behemoth of a oscar movie will earn my favorite quote...from one of my favorite directors:

"Monsters are born too tall, too strong, too heavy, that is their tragedy."

Jeff you mention a scene that I had problems with. In fact, Babbatunde, the original actor had problems with that script which was offered to him. Read his statement here:
http://blackvoices.aol.com/black_lifestyle/soul_spirit_headlines_features/testimony/_a/testimony-obba-babatunde/20061221140509990001
In the original play, James Early doesn't do drugs, and he doesn't O'd, he just disappears after he and Lorrelle breakup.
For me the 2nd part became a bit cliche', a bit soap opera-ish. So I can the point from critics that it was sloppily written, but I think they mean the 2nd half, not the first because that first half was smoking!
But it was still entertaining. I bought the CD and I'm buying the DVD.

No nominations for CRANK? How can we take these seriously?

Let's see if I can remember (and describe) the preferential voting system used by the Academy for nominations. For this example, just do Best Picture and assume 6000 ballots are cast.

The key to getting nominated is to get 1/6 + 1 of the total votes cast, so in this example the magic number would be 1001. All voters vote for five films and rank them in order of preference. They count all the #1 votes first. Any film that gets zero #1 votes is eliminated (even if it is named on every ballot in a lower slot). Any film that has 1001 or more #1 votes is nominated.

The film that got the lowest number of #1 votes is eliminated, and for those ballots the votes go to the film ranked #2 (assuming that film hasn't already been eliminated or already been nominated). You keep working your way up the films from the bottom, redistributing their votes based on next preference, and any time a film crosses the 1001 threshold, it becomes a nominee. Eventually you'll wind up with 5 nominees. The system gives an advantage to a film with smaller passionate support against a film with broad lukewarm support.

"If you think it's a big deal for me, you have missed my reality completely."

Yeah, right.

To the person who asked if Kikuchi was only the 2nd Asian actress to ever be nominated...

Depends on how you define Asian. If you mean in terms of nationality, then yes, you would be correct. Miyoshi Umecki was the only previous Asian female national to be nominated for an acting nod (and win). However, if you reaaaally want to split hairs:

Salma Hayek is half-Lebanese
Cher is half-Armenian
Meg and Jennifer Tilly are both half-Chinese
Merle Oberon was half-Ceylonese (Sri Lankan)

Murphy's resignation back into drugs was the only element separating his performance from his previous showman acts. The dead glaze over his eyes all but secured his Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations.

That said, I wouldn't be too surprised if DG honestly does die on home video. The crowd at the theater applauded as if on cue at my viewing.

Guys...guys...guys.

Although I'm certainly not going to rush out and see DREAMGIRLS...you're still treading on spoiler turf so...stop...please. I still want to see it eventually and don't need to have it dissected here. Thanks.

wongjong, thanks for that. I was fairly sure there was another of purely asian descent, but I wasn't sure of those others. People like Heyak aren't exactly seen as being of Asian descent though.

Seattlemoviegoer, it puzzles me why they haven't brought that category back with the insurgance of musicals and the like. They don't have the Original Comedic Score category anymoe either.

Here's an interesting fact:

Two of the Best Foreign Language Film nominees were directed by females (Deepa Mehta and Susanne Beir) and one of the Best Picture nominees was co-directed by a woman (Valerie Faris).

UNITED 93 was clearly the year's best film, but it was also the toughest to watch --experience-- so it's Best Pic snub was not surprising. At least Paul Greengrass got a nom.
But where is THANK YOU FOR SMOKING among the nominees? NOWHERE! It was '06's most enjoyable film. I would've given Aaron Eckhardt a Best Actor nom.
And Philip Glass's beautiful and lilting score for THE ILLUSIONIST should've been nominated as well.
Oh well. Go BABEL!

The Fountain score by Clint Mansell not being nominated is something that really bothers me - it was by far one of the most beautiful of the year.

Tofu - I agree that was a great reaction. I just had problems with the whole drug thingy...why not suicide? (ala Paul Wms) or die by drink? It seems so cliche - Black soul singer dies not by heart attack or suicide but THAT way. (sorry spoiler) Other problems I had with that second half - Effie doesn't "change" she stays the same stubborn person. Why didn't he soften her up a little?

Oh well, my fave foreign movie is Water...I hope it upsets Pan's....I got more of an emotional pull from Water than Pan's which 'startled' me...

And I pray that Departed gets best movie nod...it's time for gangster-crime movies to get some love ala the Godfather...

JeffMCM,

"The problem is, he's not interested in dialogue, just diatribe. This is what makes him a bit fascist."

Irony, they name is JeffMCM. Nothing at all diatribic in calling someone who disagrees with you a fascist. He He.

Carpetmuncher,

"As for Nicol's ongoing blithering idiocy, see this poster for what it is...a person who burns books they haven't read, an anti intellectual fascist who has lost any and all credibility on this blog for any reasonable reader. With fascists like that..."

He He. Where I come from calling someone a 'fascist' or 'Nazi' is a last line of defense for an anti-intellectual who knows that they can no longer win the debate with ration, logic and reason. He He.

And no, I am not Armond White although I take the comparison as a form of flattery.

Damn NY elites!

Oh and for those who wanted my take...

I have not seen the film but I'm gonna take a wild, no holds barred, shot in the dark guess and reveal who I think "Killed The Electric Car".

If you do not like spoilers DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER!!!!!!!!

NICOL D SPOILER ALERT!

WARNING!!!!WARNING!!!

CODE RED NICOL D SPOILER ALERT!!!!

Who Killed the Electric Car?

Big oil. Capitalism. Republicans. Free Market. Auto Industry.

There, now I've saved y'all 4.25. Put it into the gas tank of your car the next time you fill up.

Waitaminute...isn't Mel Gibson in this thing?

I revise my answer.

MEL GIBSON KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR!

I think you exceeded the "hee hee" quota for any one given post and now I have no choice but to imagine you as the bespeckled nerdy girl on the bus with extra warm gummi bears in her pocket at the end of Ferris Bueller.

And with your advocacy of "Holiday Road" and "Dancin' 'Cross the USA" could I be far wrong?

And for my daily dose of "girls, you're both pretty" - it should be noted that anyone who belittles their opposition is an elitist. That label cuts both ways - against the intelligencia and the well-connected mouthpieces that call anyone with an education an elitist. In the end, anyone who engages in an argument with a desire to win is an elitist because you are holding your point of view as superior to others.

Labels are dangerous and should only be used on canned goods.

Since we're bitching about the type pad thing on another thread, if the blog gets a new format, can we have an "ignore" feature so fucktard Chicago can quit ruining movies? Dude...you're an A-#1 asshole.

Way to go Nicol on the electric car thing! You've proven you actually hate cinema and would prefer to read spoilers and columns and "reviews" rather than experience anything that might make you think or feel emotion while in a dark room with strangers. Finally, I get you.

I agree Petaluma. Who puts the spoiler warning after the spoiler!? Seriously.

I have to agree. Fortunately I've seen DREAMGIRLS and the retroactive alert didn't ruin the movie for me. I saw PAN last night, so I'm immune to Chicago's continued attempts to ruin that one for everyone.

More than anything, Chicago, it shows a severe lack of respect for your fellow readers and an alarming shortage of civility. This is just a comment thread on a movie blog, but you should take other people into account more when you post things like that. You have all the time in the world before you click "Post". You can ensure people's moviegoing experiences a little more carefully than you have lately.

Short of that, an "ignore" function would be genius.

Wow. All this vitriol for Nicol. First it's because he's against logic and persuasion, and then it's because he's too much into logic and persuasion, and not enough into "feeling emotion" in dark rooms with strangers.

All this hatred for the guy has gotten me rooting for him. Keep it up, smartasses.

Once you pay attention to what he's saying, you'll be less interested in rooting for him.

I don't hate the guy, I just wholly disagree with 90% of what he says. How can you "hate" an anonymous web poster?

I do take issue with his judgement of films without seeing them and claiming he doesn't need to see them to make a cogent criticism of them. That's just lame. I used appreciate Nicol's thought out ideas, but knowing now he doesn't even bother to see the things he hates/dislikes/disagrees with really kind of renders them moot.

Jeffmcm...

You seem to know it all. How do you know I would side with you and not him?

As for the criticism about whether one needs to see _Who Killed The Electric Car?_ to find out the answer--it's all in the trailer. Which played before I saw _An Inconvenient Truth_. Whose central points, also, all in the damned trailer. (Except for his dopey frog-in-the-kettle illustration, already proven wrong by the friendly folks at snopes).

I just like to believe, like Anne Frank, that people are essentially good.

Are you saying that the Snopes people proved that you can drop a frog into boiling water and it'll just stay there and boil?

Wow, Jeff. If you saw _An Inconvenient Truth_, then you have terrible viewing comprehension skills.

The analogy is, if you drop a frog in boiling water, it will jump out. But if you drop a frog in room-temperature water, and then gradually increase the heat, the frog will not notice the change, and will boil to death, even tho it could jump out at any moment. The analogy would seem apt, in saying that smallest negative changes in society, culminated over the long run, would lead to certain death for that society.

But the basis for such an allegory, is questionable.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling_frog