More Tom O'Neil Nonsense

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Precious Doll
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Post by Precious Doll »

Damien wrote:
Precious Doll wrote:
Reza wrote:I know there is a wealth of pickings in the best actress category this year but does Isabelle Huppert have any chance for Claire Denis' White Material? She has received excellent reviews.......but then she always does and gets ignored by the Academy.
She has no chance despite being one of Claire Denis' most accessible films. Most of Huppert's performances are uncompromising and in films that are not Academy friendly. A much bigger oversight is that she has been making feature films for 35 years, giving excellent performances over and over again and has yet to win a NY, LA or NCSC award. Maybe she might pick something up for White Material.
She has won a couple of IRA awards -- the awards my college gang still votes on over 3 decades after graduation. And if memory serves, Claude Chabrol has won more than once.

It's amazing Huppert hasn't won a National Society or NY Film Critics awards. Maybe it's that she's not "classically French beautiful" as Adjani and Binoche are.
That's true, she's not the classical French beauty, but neither is Yolande Moreau who won LA & National Society last year for a performance better then any of the ones the Academy nominated for best actress.

I suspect that some people and critic's may find Huppert too brittle or aloof and I can't think of another actress who has played so many unsympathetic characters. She is certainly doesn't play it safe and is fearless in her choices. Interestingly enough I hope to see Copacabana this coming Wednesday night which stars Huppert in a rare comedy role.
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Post by Reza »

Damien wrote:
Precious Doll wrote:
Reza wrote:I know there is a wealth of pickings in the best actress category this year but does Isabelle Huppert have any chance for Claire Denis' White Material? She has received excellent reviews.......but then she always does and gets ignored by the Academy.
She has no chance despite being one of Claire Denis' most accessible films. Most of Huppert's performances are uncompromising and in films that are not Academy friendly. A much bigger oversight is that she has been making feature films for 35 years, giving excellent performances over and over again and has yet to win a NY, LA or NCSC award. Maybe she might pick something up for White Material.
She has won a couple of IRA awards -- the awards my college gang still votes on over 3 decades after graduation. And if memory serves, Claude Chabrol has won more than once.

It's amazing Huppert hasn't won a National Society or NY Film Critics awards. Maybe it's that she's not "classically French beautiful" as Adjani and Binoche are.
Damien hasn't she ever placed second in the NY Critics awards? I believe you have all the results.
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Post by Damien »

Precious Doll wrote:
Reza wrote:I know there is a wealth of pickings in the best actress category this year but does Isabelle Huppert have any chance for Claire Denis' White Material? She has received excellent reviews.......but then she always does and gets ignored by the Academy.
She has no chance despite being one of Claire Denis' most accessible films. Most of Huppert's performances are uncompromising and in films that are not Academy friendly. A much bigger oversight is that she has been making feature films for 35 years, giving excellent performances over and over again and has yet to win a NY, LA or NCSC award. Maybe she might pick something up for White Material.
She has won a couple of IRA awards -- the awards my college gang still votes on over 3 decades after graduation. And if memory serves, Claude Chabrol has won more than once.

It's amazing Huppert hasn't won a National Society or NY Film Critics awards. Maybe it's that she's not "classically French beautiful" as Adjani and Binoche are.
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Post by ITALIANO »

Reza wrote:
ITALIANO wrote:All much more interesting than Best Actor, anyway, where one candidate has exactly the kind of role and I'd say even the kind of profile that is perfect for an Oscar - despite the critics' prizes that he might or might not win. If his name won't be in the envelope I will be really shocked. I don't even need to say who he is - just that he speaks Italian VERY well.
Mr Firth ofcourse !!
Yes.

As for Isabelle Huppert, it's not like she's not known in America - she even made a few movies there. But certainly the fact that not only she's never been Oscar-nominated, but incredibly she's never even won a prize from those critics' associations which are usually quite open towards foreign movies and foreign actors, well, I think it means something. And I guess it's something cultural. But then, can you imagine the members of the Academy seeing (and liking!) something like The Piano Player? It's not The Blind Side, let's face it.

Interestingly, this amazing actress, despite having been nominated countless times for the Cesars which are, after all, as French as she is, has won only once, and not for one of her most famous performances (Chabrol's La Ceremonie).
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Post by Reza »

Precious Doll wrote:
Reza wrote:I know there is a wealth of pickings in the best actress category this year but does Isabelle Huppert have any chance for Claire Denis' White Material? She has received excellent reviews.......but then she always does and gets ignored by the Academy.
She has no chance despite being one of Claire Denis' most accessible films. Most of Huppert's performances are uncompromising and in films that are not Academy friendly. A much bigger oversight is that she has been making feature films for 35 years, giving excellent performances over and over again and has yet to win a NY, LA or NCSC award. Maybe she might pick something up for White Material.
I think with the Academy its more a case of slim pickings in the best actress category when a foreign actress gets a nod. Isabelle Adjani won American critics awards and an Oscar nod in 1975, a year when there was a real dearth of leading female performances. By the time the Academy honored her a second time in 1989 she had made a name for herself in Hollywood (not least by pairing offscreen with Warren Beatty).

Isabelle Huppert has yet to make her ''name'' with Hollywood insiders. And, as you say, her performances are not Academy friendly. A great pity as she deserves to be recognised.
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Post by Precious Doll »

Reza wrote:I know there is a wealth of pickings in the best actress category this year but does Isabelle Huppert have any chance for Claire Denis' White Material? She has received excellent reviews.......but then she always does and gets ignored by the Academy.
She has no chance despite being one of Claire Denis' most accessible films. Most of Huppert's performances are uncompromising and in films that are not Academy friendly. A much bigger oversight is that she has been making feature films for 35 years, giving excellent performances over and over again and has yet to win a NY, LA or NCSC award. Maybe she might pick something up for White Material.
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Post by Reza »

I know there is a wealth of pickings in the best actress category this year but does Isabelle Huppert have any chance for Claire Denis' White Material? She has received excellent reviews.......but then she always does and gets ignored by the Academy.
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Post by Reza »

ITALIANO wrote:All much more interesting than Best Actor, anyway, where one candidate has exactly the kind of role and I'd say even the kind of profile that is perfect for an Oscar - despite the critics' prizes that he might or might not win. If his name won't be in the envelope I will be really shocked. I don't even need to say who he is - just that he speaks Italian VERY well.
Mr Firth ofcourse !!
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Post by Okri »

The crazies have me rooting for Hilary Swank just for fun.
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Post by The Original BJ »

Thankfully people on this board realize you can like Bening's performance in The Kids Are All Right without being one of the crazies. And, as Mister Tee has stated, the situation w/r/t Bening is truly bizarre.

I liked Bening's performance a lot and think she definitely deserves a nomination this year. But the idea that some are putting forth -- that she is some kind of uncontested frontrunner for the win -- is beyond ludicrous. I'm VERY interested to see some of the upcoming actresses -- Portman, Kidman, Williams, Manville. And if it turns out that I like Bening best this year, I'll be happy to root for her, but the December on the horizon seems like it holds quite a few strong candidates. I see no reason to become so attached to an early contender without seeing the full field, as, it seems, many of the Bening-must-win-or-die claque have done.

I have yet to see Black Swan, but I'd also like to say that Portman strikes me as a VERY strong candidate. She's precisely the right age and fame level that often yields Best Actress wins, and she's got an apparently grueling role in a highly buzzed, auteurist-y movie. In other words, she could very well have BOTH the E! News crowd and the critics/intelligentsia in her corner -- if this situation comes to pass, she could easily steamroll over Bening and anybody else in her path to the Oscar. (Had Kidman not won in '02, I'd imagine she'd be an even stronger candidate as well, given her own fame level and the nature of her role.)

Also, just to disagree with O'Neil and his ilk one more time, I find it baffling that so many (not here, as evidenced by our discussion) have latched onto the notion that unless Moore goes supporting, she probably won't even get a nomination. Now, in an overly competitive field, no one is necessarily safe, and Moore MIGHT not be nominated in Best Actress even if she's campaigned that way. But she's hardly on the outskirts of this race. She's a four-time past nominee in a showy role in a Best Picture contender. How is she not a really solid Best Actress contender? (Also, the bird-in-the-hand rule should come into play here: we've seen Moore's performance and how her film has been received. Until the other candidates' films open, it's hard to talk certainties.)

And, last, but certainly not least, while writing this post I looked up Tom O'Neil's recent Best Actress predictions. He discusses, in the following order, Bening, Portman, Williams, Lawrence, Manville, Halle Berry (for Frankie and Alice), Kidman, Reese Witherspoon...and then, lastly, writes this:

"I'm listing Julianne Moore only because she might be nominated. Of course, she has no chance of winning an Oscar this year because of her insistence upon remaining in the lead race (where she can only do damage to her "Kids" costar) instead of dropping to supporting where she has a shot."

He's seriously pathetic.




Edited By The Original BJ on 1290986172
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Post by ITALIANO »

I haven't yet seen any of the possible nominees, so I can't say if their performances are good, bad or what else. But on paper, and till now, Best Actress seems to be the most interesting race - and the most balanced, with no clear front-runner (I feel that it will stay this way even during the critics' prizes). Plus, as far as I know there's no Sandra Bullock-type turn (popular star in a huge box-office hit) in sight, and no "beloved veteran" either - the Meryl Streep spot. Yes, there's Annette Bening. I don't remember which Greek philosopher, on the then-relevant (relevant even today, actually) difference between "fact" and "perception", declared that "even perception is a fact". So it doesn't really matter if Bening is really overdue for an Oscar or just "perceived" that way - the point is if this perception is only an internet thing or will be shared by a large portion of the Academy. We'll just have to see - for the moment I still have my doubts.

As for Manville, I haven't seen her movie but she's exactly the kind of actress - and, from what I've heard, hers is the kind of role - that even if she's in every single frame is still put in the Supporting category. This could make Supporting Actress slightly less exciting maybe - but then Supporting Actress can always be surprising.

All much more interesting than Best Actor, anyway, where one candidate has exactly the kind of role and I'd say even the kind of profile that is perfect for an Oscar - despite the critics' prizes that he might or might not win. If his name won't be in the envelope I will be really shocked. I don't even need to say who he is - just that he speaks Italian VERY well.
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Post by Eric »

Was sort of hoping that a bunch of the critics awards would not go to Colin Firth this year due to last year's citations, but now I'm seeing (with dismay) that all three of the majors went elsewhere last year, so there probably is little to prevent him from steamrolling through this year's precursors.

NYFCC: Clooney
LAFCA: Bridges
NSFC: Renner

Here's to hoping Gosling lives up to the oversized hype.
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Post by Okri »

Here's the thing. I don't even see Bening as a surefire nominee, and I don't get why everyone else does. The film itself didn't do quite as well as it could have. Outside of NBR, she's not a near shoo-in for any awards (like Mister Tee, should she win a big critics award, I'll have to change my perception here).

My top five right now is Kim, Michinmeyer, Lawrence, Sheen and Dorval.
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Post by Damien »

Today happens to be Tom O'Neil's birthday, a date he shares with Gloria Grahame, Jose Iturbi, Hope Lange and my late father.
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Post by Big Magilla »

I'm expecting either a Firth/Manville or Franco/Portman or Franco/Williams combo from the major critics.

While I see Bening as a surefire nominee, I think she has to win either the Globe or SAG or both to become the favorite for the Oscar. What would really be interesting is if there is no early consensus winner and we have to wait for the envelope to be opened to find out who actually wins.
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