[PO] Penelope's Elimination Game

[Reza]

The Results page has now been updated and it is now up to Oscarguy to pass along a category to. I have had a horrible cold for the past four days and have not been on the Board.

Thank you.

Get well soon.

[flipp525]

I have also read the story Away from Her is based on (I am blanking on its name...I don't think it was the same), and there Sarah Polley took a strong short story and expanded it in lovely ways. The other two films are not "writer's films," and I think their strengths and beauty were created in the directors chair.

It comes from Alice Munro's short story, "The Bear Came Over the Mountain" and, you are right, FilmFan, it was masterfully adapted. The wonderful thing about an Alice Munro short story (she is truly one of the masters of the genre) is that they can be so large in scope, you'd almost have to pare down the story rather than expand upon it to get it on-screen. In this case, I think Polley did a great job of beefing up the ancillary characters and extending certain sequences between Grant and Fiona, however the beautiful essence of Munro's original work is still up on the screen which is the earmark of any successful adaptation.

By the way, the collection from which this story is taken, "Hateship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage" (2001) is a fantastic read. The title story itself is being adapted into a film of its own starring Julianne Moore in 2011.

The Results page has now been updated and it is now up to Oscarguy to pass along a category to mrlg. I have had a horrible cold for the past four days and have not been on the Board.



Edited By flipp525 on 1250179672

[Reza]

And, at this point, until we have that results page updated, we should probably pause the game.

This game is all about ''pauses''.

[OscarGuy]

I thought that seemed familiar...oh well, but at least I get to eliminate a film I feel even less strongly about than No Country. Slumdog is kicked to the curb and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button moves in.

And, at this point, until we have that results page updated, we should probably pause the game.

[Reza]

Oh, crap. I was looking at the results page and was basing my selection on that.

Who is in charge of updating the results page?

[Okri]

Oh, crap. I was looking at the results page and was basing my selection on that. Lets bump that forward a year and give Oscarguy adapted screenplay for 2008.

[FilmFan720]

I just did Adapted Screenplay 2007...I gave it to Away From Her...need a new category

[OscarGuy]

I'll have to pick a category later, but this is an easy one.

There Will Be Blood takes it from No Country for Old Men.

[Okri]

Oscarguy, tackle best adapted screenplay, 2007.

[Okri]

Flipp isn't around to answer this one and I'm after him, so I'll try.

Sooner or Later (I'll Always Get My Man): I don't have any passes left, but as expected with Sondheim, this is delicious. Mister Tee mentioned a while ago that Sondheim, as he went later into his career, tried to remove easy emotionalism from his music, and while I half-agree, that's obviously not applicable here. Just wonderful.

Somewhere in My Memory: I'm always surprised that Home Alone (Home Alone!!!!) has a song. So I went to listen to it on youtube, and all I could find were instrumental versions. Oh well. It sounds nicely pretty and all, but it would have to be jaw droppingly amazing for me to go with Home Alone above an ineligible Sondheim.

.... okay, found one with lyrics. It's Christmas-time trite. Which is basically enjoyable. But not profoundly so.

Promise Me You'll Remember: zzzzzzzzzzzzzz. It doesn't help that it starts out similarly to "Try to Remember" and I love Jerry Orbach's version of it.

I'm Checkin' Out: Also enjoyable. Meryl Streep is awesome, but she doesn't win the Peneloscar if I award this.... so I'm going for

Blaze of Glory: It's on my iPod. I only feel slight shame.

[HarryGoldfarb]

But I think both "The Power of Love" and "Miss Celie's Blues" would have been perfectly honorable choices, of very different song types. Since "Miss Celie" is the genre to which I've got a much stronger affinity, and because it serves as a key plot point, I give it the win.

great!

[The Original BJ]

"Say You, Say Me" strikes me as one of the dumbest Original Song choices ever. I'm not sure the other White Nights song is any better. And I don't think I've ever heard the original tune from A Chorus Line.

But I think both "The Power of Love" and "Miss Celie's Blues" would have been perfectly honorable choices, of very different song types. Since "Miss Celie" is the genre to which I've got a much stronger affinity, and because it serves as a key plot point, I give it the win.

(In fact, when I read Alice Walker's novel after I had seen the film, I thought that song was one of the few moments in the picture the filmmakers absolutely nailed the feeling Walker described in her book.)

Flipp: Original Song, 1990.

[rain Bard]

I wish I'd seen either of the Robert Mulligan films; I suspect I'd prefer their screenplays to the other options here. Not having seen either, I feel like I can't pick.

I suppose if I were to use up a pass on an Oliver Stone oscar win, it would be this one. But I'm not gonna.

So I will pick the comedy I remember more fondly (perhaps because it's because I haven't seen it in so long): Warren Beatty and Elaine May's Heaven Can Wait.

OBJ: take on 1985. Best Song.

[Reza]

I thought Flipp was the coordinator of this game but he appears to be too busy to even respond.

Anyway, it appears that rudeboy is out of this game or no longer interested.

So I'll continue:

Best Song 1975

I don't recall the song from Funny Lady and have not seen The Other Side of the Mountain or Whiffs....so cannot comment on the songs nominated from these films.

''I'm Easy'' from Nashville is a nice song written by Keith Carradine for which he won the Oscar. However, I prefer Diana Ross' hit song, ''Do You Know Where You're Going To'' from Mahogany. So that gets the award.

Rainbard: Best Adapted Screenplay 1978



Edited By Reza on 1249694857

[Reza]

Bump.