Sabin wrote:And I haven't seen 'August Rush' or 'Enchanted' but "Guaranteed" is such a beautifully mournful anthem.
The Eddie Vedder snub(s) can be attributed to the manner in whch the Best Song nominees are chosen.
Members of the music branch receive videos of the scene(s) in which the song is heard in the movie. Which means, for eample, if the song is heard over the end credits, they get a clip of the end credits.
So, the videos for the songs in Into The Wild would have shown Emile Hirach walking or hiking or driving. Such moments are far less likely to grab a voter's attention than, say, the production numbers of Enchanted where the songs are the raison d'etre of the scenes. And while Once doesn't have production numbers, a clip of Glen and Markéta singing "Falling Slowly" would be entirely about the song.
"Y'know, that's one of the things I like about Mitt Romney. He's been consistent since he changed his mind." -- Christine O'Donnell
What completely baffles me still is Jason Reitman's nomination for Juno. What exactly did Reitman do directorially that was so award-worthy, compared to Sean Penn? Was he riding the coattails of the film? What it the industry name his father has worked for? Whatever was the deciding factor, it couldn't possibly be the quality of the film.
I'm almost totally satisfied with the roster of nominees this year but I must say the only real issue I have is that 'Into the Wild' is so much better than 'Atonement', 'Michael Clayton', and 'Juno' and I don't understand people liking any of them more. Its nominations for Hal Holbrook and Film Editing are sorely deserved but the lack of love for this wonderful film is something I don't understand. I don't understand voters picking 'Atonement' or Jason Reitman over the film and Sean Penn. I do understand them picking Ruby Dee over Catherine Keener. And I haven't seen 'August Rush' or 'Enchanted' but "Guaranteed" is such a beautifully mournful anthem.
Outside of a shameful 'Into the Wild' shut out and an even more shameful Johnny Greenwood snub, great year. And I would say that while Alexandre Desplat is one of our great new composers, his work on 'Lust, Caution' is one of the least impressive I've heard from him. Nick Cave & Warren Ellis did much more beautiful, resonant work in 'The Assassination of Jesse James...' but that's true of everybody involved in that film in relation to any nominee in any single category.
Some people don’t need BIG SCENES! to recognize good acting. Redgrave's sublime cameo, much like her sister's in Kinsey, is an example of subtle acting.
"The mantle of spinsterhood was definitely in her shoulders. She was twenty five and looked it."
It's tough when you're competing with two other women from your own film who played the same role as you. But you're Vanessa effing Redgrave! Six previous nominations...yet no room for dear 'Nessa. Punishment for that ridiculous haircut she sported in her scene? That's the best we can come up with.
that haircut was pretty awful.
I mentioned this in another thread. I actually thought that Redgrave's hairstyle was rather consistent with the character of Briony and a smart decision by the hairstylists. Emotionally arrested in her youth by the horrible thing she'd done, it wasn't a stretch to think that Briony would de-sexualize herself as a penance, retaining the page-boy hairdo even into old age. The fact that it was awful looking even seemed to reinforce that.
Even without the hairdo, Redgrave didn't deserve a nomination. The small role didn't provide her with much to do, unlike Ruby Dee. At least she had a big scene to give the Academy a reason to nominate her. Redgrave didn't have that.
"Because here’s the thing about life: There’s no accounting for what fate will deal you. Some days when you need a hand. There are other days when we’re called to lend a hand." -- President Joe Biden, 01/20/2021
It's tough when you're competing with two other women from your own film who played the same role as you. But you're Vanessa effing Redgrave! Six previous nominations...yet no room for dear 'Nessa. Punishment for that ridiculous haircut she sported in her scene? That's the best we can come up with.
that haircut was pretty awful.
I mentioned this in another thread. I actually thought that Redgrave's hairstyle was rather consistent with the character of Briony and a smart decision by the hairstylists. Emotionally arrested in her youth by the horrible thing she'd done, it wasn't a stretch to think that Briony would de-sexualize herself as a penance, retaining the page-boy hairdo even into old age. The fact that it was awful looking even seemed to reinforce that.
"The mantle of spinsterhood was definitely in her shoulders. She was twenty five and looked it."
It's tough when you're competing with two other women from your own film who played the same role as you. But you're Vanessa effing Redgrave! Six previous nominations...yet no room for dear 'Nessa. Punishment for that ridiculous haircut she sported in her scene? That's the best we can come up with.
that haircut was pretty awful.
"When it comes to the subject of torture, I trust a woman who was married to James Cameron for three years."
-- Amy Poehler in praise of Zero Dark Thirty director Kathryn Bigelow
Poor Tim Burton, you guys. He directs some of the most beloved movies of a generation, in completely unnominatable genres like horror/comedy (Beetlejuice), surreal comedy (Pee Wee's Big Adventure), and dark, murky superhero event picture (Batman). The fact that Edward Scissorhands never got the awards it deserved was both predictable and outrageous.
Then, after a string of bad luck -- and by "bad luck" we mean "the near-career-killing abomination that was Planet of the Apes" -- he began putting his house back together again. He pulled a Best Animated Feature nomination for Corpse Bride, which is kind of junior varsity but a crucial step forward. Even that Charlie and the Chocolate Factory remake wasn't as terrible as it looked.
Finally, with Sweeney Todd, he delivered an almost impossibly perfect marriage of his own gothic sensibilities to Stephen Sondheim's most acclaimed musical, and...nothing. Swallowed whole by the artiest Best Director lineup in recent memory.
It's probably just as well; it might upset the delicate balance of Burton's weirdo-outsider worldview to be accepted by the in-crowd. And then who'd be around to put Johnny Depp in a fright wig every three years or so?
John Travolta got the nod for the same reason that Will Ferrell did for the abyssmal Producers. They love their musicals and anyone nameworthy of getting some ratings from the casual movie-goer who only sees movies because John Travolta or Will Ferrell or Sandra Bullock are in them or they were produced by Oprah Winfrey
"Jesus! Look at my hands! Now really, I am too young for liver spots. Maybe I can merge them together into a tan."
Actually, I would have liked to see Amy Adams grabbing a nod, specially for the uncommon but accomplished performance she gave and (plus) for how odd it would have looked on the final list.
But James Marsden? Travolta? Come on!
"If you place an object in a museum, does that make this object a piece of art?" - The Square (2017)
