National Society of Film Critics

[mashari]

Well Jamie Fox did not do his own singing and I thought Cotillard portrayed Piaf alot better than he did with Ray Charles and this is an award for acting not singing, they gave an award to an american idol contestant last year for singing how about rewarding acting. Christie is in the same situation as Spacek, the difference is Spacek was american and was in a much more popular acclaimed movie, the SAG will decide this race and I think the actors will rally around Cotillard.

Actually Jamie did, from what I hear--they blended his vocals with Ray's. In 'Rose,' I read that it was purely diva Piaf's vocals that were used. Cotillard needs both the GG and SAG to upset Christie.

[Sabin]

Somewhere between the Oscarcasts of '05 (with the boring-ass winners we already knew, the lousy final pick, and the wonderful host) and the Oscarcast of '06 (with the myriad pleasant surprises, wonderfully produced show, and horrible host), we've got one for the ages.

[Steph2]

In retrospect, I'm rather shocked that the Academy had the good taste to laud the script to 'Children of Men' over Reitman and Gosling over Eckhart. Rather shocked indeed.

Yes, and then they went on to pick The Departed over the overrated Babel and Little Miss Sunshine...what an oddly satisfying year!

[Sabin]

I'll assume you're one of those fuddies who didn't like the wonderful Thank You for Smoking...

None of those words apply. The film is competent but very poorly filmed, the acting is all over the place, and the satire is completely toothless. The screenplay has no third act to speak of. Aaron Eckhart is very amusing and the scene with Sam Elliot is completely brilliant in every single regard, but the film was one of the most overrated of the year. In retrospect, I'm rather shocked that the Academy had the good taste to laud the script to 'Children of Men' over Reitman and Gosling over Eckhart. Rather shocked indeed.

[avril94]

Well Jamie Fox did not do his own singing and I thought Cotillard portrayed Piaf alot better than he did with Ray Charles and this is an award for acting not singing, they gave an award to an american idol contestant last year for singing how about rewarding acting. Christie is in the same situation as Spacek, the difference is Spacek was american and was in a much more popular acclaimed movie, the SAG will decide this race and I think the actors will rally around Cotillard.

[cam]

but methinks Hairspray can still make it in. It's got a large fanbase, the B.O. numbers, and low-brow as it may be it still is an all around happy film that voters can respond to.

Personally, I think Hairspray is dead in the water. What a silly movie.

[Sonic Youth]

Fuddies?

Thank You for Smoking looked like an issue of Mad Magazine from the '80s, only not as clever. I'll submit it was the fuddies who liked the film.

[Eric]

Juno was a vast improvement on that toothless, reactionary attempt at satire.

[OscarGuy]

I'll assume you're one of those fuddies who didn't like the wonderful Thank You for Smoking...

[Eric]

And who would have realized that Jason Reitman would be a better director than his father Ivan.

People who are frequently wrong.

[OscarGuy]

And who would have realized that Jason Reitman would be a better director than his father Ivan.

[mashari]

Ridley Scott's snub at the DGA nods, severely hurt 'Gangster's' chances for the "popular" slot, but methinks Hairspray can still make it in. It's got a large fanbase, the B.O. numbers, and low-brow as it may be it still is an all around happy film that voters can respond to.

Did Cotillard even do her own singing in 'Rose'? If not, that's 3 big strikes against her. What's so funny about the Best Actress race this year is that with the 3 challengers(Cotillard, Jolie, Page) of the perceived front-runner(Christie) each of them seems to have something the other doesn't.

Page has the Box office, Cotillard has the actor-love, and Jolie has the household name. With those factors spread all over the place I'm thinking voters will have no choice but to go for Christie...unless one of them manages to take BOTH the GG and SAG to mix thinks up.



Edited By mashari on 1199816867

[The Original BJ]

Its hard for me to fathom the academy awarding a best actress oscar for what Page does in Juno its a good performance oscar worthy now that's stretching, I think in the end Cotillard will snatch it.

I don't really understand what's so problematic about Juno finding its way onto a Best Picture slate at this point. I know comparisons have been made to Little Miss Sunshine, which I honestly don't get, but doesn't there always seem to be some sort of quirky, crowd-pleaser in the final lineup (LMS, Babe, The Full Monty, Chocolat, etc.) with this Academy? It's not going to win Best Picture, for godsakes.

Also, I tend to agree with avril. I really don't think Ellen Page is going to win, either. Her nomination is enough; they're not going to award her with the big one. Marion Cotillard has a better chance of taking Julie Christie's Oscar away. It's a very BIG performance and has many Oscar staples going for it -- musical biopic with drug addiction, physical transformation (with lots of good makeup), over-the-top, scenery-chewing performance. While there are just as many detracting factors (foreign film, virtually unknown actress), I can see her posing much more a threat than Ellen Page, who I believe will be remembered next year for her performance as Sylvia Linkens.

I don't get the comparisons to Little Miss Sunshine either.

Juno is slight, and I wouldn't vote for it, but it's competently filmed, has a narrative that actually goes some place, and most of all, it's pretty funny. (I guess that's the part I really didn't understand about LMS -- I just didn't think it was very fun at all.)

Plus, I also appreciated that, in this era when Judd Apatow's fratboy antics are seen as the height of comedy, the film has a genuine sympathy and concern for women's issues, not only with the character of Juno, but also, and maybe even moreso, with Vanessa. I think Diablo Cody's characters could speak like actual human beings more often, but I think the introduction of a new female voice in American film comedy can't be a bad thing.

Not a great film, but if there's a "comedy" slot that needs to be filled, I have no problem with it going to Juno this year (and please, maybe that can become the "popular" film and I can stop worrying about American Gangster).

[flipp525]

Its hard for me to fathom the academy awarding a best actress oscar for what Page does in Juno its a good performance oscar worthy now that's stretching, I think in the end Cotillard will snatch it.

I don't really understand what's so problematic about Juno finding its way onto a Best Picture slate at this point. I know comparisons have been made to Little Miss Sunshine, which I honestly don't get, but doesn't there always seem to be some sort of quirky, crowd-pleaser in the final lineup (LMS, Babe, The Full Monty, Chocolat, etc.) with this Academy? It's not going to win Best Picture, for godsakes.

Also, I tend to agree with avril. I really don't think Ellen Page is going to win, either. Her nomination is enough; they're not going to award her with the big one. Marion Cotillard has a better chance of taking Julie Christie's Oscar away. It's a very BIG performance and has many Oscar staples going for it -- musical biopic with drug addiction, physical transformation (with lots of good makeup), over-the-top, scenery-chewing performance. While there are just as many detracting factors (foreign film, virtually unknown actress), I can see her posing much more a threat than Ellen Page, who I believe will be remembered next year for her performance as Sylvia Linkens.



Edited By flipp525 on 1199812820

[avril94]

Its hard for me to fathom the academy awarding a best actress oscar for what Page does in Juno its a good performance oscar worthy now that's stretching, I think in the end Cotillard will snatch it.