Re: PGA Winners
Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 5:16 pm
I will ONLY give you Brokeback Mountain.
Moulin Rouge only won National Board of Review and the Satellite and Globe awards for Comedy/Musical prior to and after the PGA.
The Aviator had only the BAFTA award, the Globe and Las Vegas/Phoenix critics.
Little Miss Sunshine only had the Spirit Award.
The Artist has several awards, including those from the New York, Washington D.C., Boston, Indiana, San Diego, Las Vegas, Detroit, Saint Louis, Phoenix, Vancouver and Broadcast Critics plus the Globe.
And the minute you bring up Crash with regard to it losing to Brokeback Mountain with the PGA, then perhaps you should consider that The Help was a far more PGA-friendly film. It was a box office smash hit. Crash barely made any money at all and was considered a commercial weakling. The Help had everything it needed to win the PGA award, but didn't. That should tell you something about the pull The Artist has on its audiences. Yes, The Help has Oprah pulling for it like Crash before it. But there's one thing Brokeback, Capote, Good Night and Munich didn't have: Harvey Weinstein.
Weinstein is the most formidable campaigner in Oscar history. Not since the early days of studio politics dealing out Oscars to save face and influence people or make deals has there been someone so in tune with Oscar voters that he can drag their votes out even with the most dubious selections. Like The King's Speech last year, Harvey finds a crowd-pleaser (or I should be more specific: Academy-pleaser) and turns it into a juggernaut. All through precursor season even while Social Network was drawing in the prizes, Speech slowly emerged as the ultimate winner, something we should have seen more vividly through the precursor season. This time, Harvey not only has a similarly pleasing film on hand, he has critics complicit in that love.
I know you want this to be a season where everything gets turned on its ear and surprises lurk around every corner. Those surprises end on Tuesday when a rather uniform slate with a handful of shocks makes its appearance. You may have some acting races that are all over the map, but there is one race that seems more clearly aligned to lock status (not locked yet, mind you, but close) than any other and that's Best Picture to The Artist.
And going back to the films you listed? Only The Aviator and Brokeback Mountain were even remotely considered contenders for Best Picture. To suggest Moulin Rouge or Little Miss Sunshine is to dismiss the current appreciation for and critical plaudits for The Artist. I would be happy to be wrong (I haven't seen the film yet, but I'm already sick of hearing about it), but I can't think of another film in the race at this point I'd like to see take it all. I'm rather uninspired by everything that's contending right now, so I'm not suggesting The Artist is the de facto winner out of some desire to see it win or to bolster its chances. I've seen the writing on the wall and I'm responding to it.
Moulin Rouge only won National Board of Review and the Satellite and Globe awards for Comedy/Musical prior to and after the PGA.
The Aviator had only the BAFTA award, the Globe and Las Vegas/Phoenix critics.
Little Miss Sunshine only had the Spirit Award.
The Artist has several awards, including those from the New York, Washington D.C., Boston, Indiana, San Diego, Las Vegas, Detroit, Saint Louis, Phoenix, Vancouver and Broadcast Critics plus the Globe.
And the minute you bring up Crash with regard to it losing to Brokeback Mountain with the PGA, then perhaps you should consider that The Help was a far more PGA-friendly film. It was a box office smash hit. Crash barely made any money at all and was considered a commercial weakling. The Help had everything it needed to win the PGA award, but didn't. That should tell you something about the pull The Artist has on its audiences. Yes, The Help has Oprah pulling for it like Crash before it. But there's one thing Brokeback, Capote, Good Night and Munich didn't have: Harvey Weinstein.
Weinstein is the most formidable campaigner in Oscar history. Not since the early days of studio politics dealing out Oscars to save face and influence people or make deals has there been someone so in tune with Oscar voters that he can drag their votes out even with the most dubious selections. Like The King's Speech last year, Harvey finds a crowd-pleaser (or I should be more specific: Academy-pleaser) and turns it into a juggernaut. All through precursor season even while Social Network was drawing in the prizes, Speech slowly emerged as the ultimate winner, something we should have seen more vividly through the precursor season. This time, Harvey not only has a similarly pleasing film on hand, he has critics complicit in that love.
I know you want this to be a season where everything gets turned on its ear and surprises lurk around every corner. Those surprises end on Tuesday when a rather uniform slate with a handful of shocks makes its appearance. You may have some acting races that are all over the map, but there is one race that seems more clearly aligned to lock status (not locked yet, mind you, but close) than any other and that's Best Picture to The Artist.
And going back to the films you listed? Only The Aviator and Brokeback Mountain were even remotely considered contenders for Best Picture. To suggest Moulin Rouge or Little Miss Sunshine is to dismiss the current appreciation for and critical plaudits for The Artist. I would be happy to be wrong (I haven't seen the film yet, but I'm already sick of hearing about it), but I can't think of another film in the race at this point I'd like to see take it all. I'm rather uninspired by everything that's contending right now, so I'm not suggesting The Artist is the de facto winner out of some desire to see it win or to bolster its chances. I've seen the writing on the wall and I'm responding to it.