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Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 8:16 pm
by Big Magilla
Mister Tee wrote:Magilla, I haven't heard of that Blethyn movie. But I've kind of stopped counting on her to do anything but play broad as the side of a barn.
Not this time. She plays an English country farm widow searching for her missing daughter after a terrorist attack on London. Think Hanna Schygulla in Edge of Heaven.
Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 7:51 pm
by Mister Tee
Just to update on something discussed below: an ad in tomorrow's Times has The Last Station doing a one-week qualifying run in NY in early December. Obviously they'll do an LA one as well, so the film and its leading players are officially in the race.
Magilla, I haven't heard of that Blethyn movie. But I've kind of stopped counting on her to do anything but play broad as the side of a barn.
Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 3:20 pm
by Sabin
RE: Anthony Dod Mantel
You're probably correct. Save for Roger Deakins in 2007, I don't think many shooters have had a year as good as Robby Müller had in 1996 with Breaking the Waves and Dead Man. Not just beautiful films, but landmark. From all accounts, Anti-Christ is one of the most beautifully shot films in a more conventional manner. It probably won't happen but...well...
Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 2:45 pm
by Big Magilla
Late addition to this year's best actress contenders: Brenda Blethyn in London River which is being given an Oscar qualifying seven day run in L.A. and N.Y. beginning November 13th.
Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 2:40 pm
by The Original BJ
Sabin wrote:BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Anthony Dod Mantel, Antichrist
Really?
I know Anthony Dod Mantel is hot off last year's win but...this seems like nothing remotely like what the cinematographers ever go for.
Not even critics awards could get Breaking the Waves a nomination, and that film was much more deserving than this one. Plus, Breaking the Waves didn't have any shots involving scissors and Charlotte Gainsbourg.
Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2009 9:25 pm
by Mister Tee
Okri wrote:BJ, would you argue that 1998 had a year of two breakouts (Paltrow and Blanchett)? Because that's what I see happening to Sidibe and Mulligan. Granted, both had acted in oscar nominees before, and Paltrow had been around for a half-decade (with Pitt, Se7en, etc), so it isn't quite a fair comparison (along with Meryl Streep's resurgence in this decade), but I don't expect Streep to dominate the critics awards.
Mister Tee, it's worth mentioning that as soon as Nathaniel/The Film Experience saw The Last Station, he predicted it for three acting nods (McAvoy/Mirren in lead, Plummer in support). Given that it's SPC, I expect them to do the one week release than February thing.
I just keep waiting for Last Station to show up on Comming Soon's calendar. I would have expected it by now.
I have to vote no on Paltrow as a breakout in '98, chiefly because, when I saw Emma in the summer of '96, I thought she was not only a certain nominee but a very possible winner -- based on the film's quite substantial (by small-movie standards) gross, and her slow climb to audience awareness over the preceding few years.
She wasn't listed, of course, but that's because it was a freakishly competitive year for actresses -- in addition to the five nominated, Madonna got all sorts of ink for being omitted, and she wasn't as deserving as Paltrow, Debbie Reynolds, Winona Ryder in The Crucible, or Courntey Love in The People vs. Larry Flynt (who also suffered from category confusion).
Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2009 9:16 pm
by Zahveed
Sabin wrote:A slate of five animated features that includes 9 and no Ponyo would make me angry.
Furious even.
.....ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssorry?
Don't be sorry. You're not the Academy.
Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2009 8:25 pm
by Okri
Yes, regarding Mulligan. She was in Bleak House and was really quite delightful (and it had quite an awesome cast, all of whom should be stars in their own right). (And she was Sally Sparrow in Doctor Who.)
No on Sidibe.
Your point stands, of course. I just was wondering if you thought it was comparable.
Both Precious and An Education look to be major oscar stories, which can't be said of Julie and Julia (which correlates to 1998's vehicles for the aforementioned leads). It's doubtful there'll be any other major contenders for the prizes (Mirren's sweep three years ago marks it unlikely for her, Cornish's film isn't getting the hype it needs for a strong push from the critics. Who else is there? Swank? Monoghan? Ronan? Swinton could be a critical wildcard, but are critics really that adventurous?).
Meanwhile, Sidibe is already doing the press circuit quite winningly (dancing on Ellen, the New York Times Magazine cover, as well as doing a bang-up job ignoring the narrative pushed on her). Mulligan, as near as I can tell, hasn't be quite prevalent, but I think we'll see more from her (and the reviews are really quite rapturous).
While I think we've gone past the point of Streep being taken for granted (she's practically an institution), and the clamour to give her a third oscar seems to grow louder every year, I don't think this is it. The nomination's in the bag, though.
Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2009 8:15 pm
by The Original BJ
Okri, I only vaguely remember 1998's race -- I followed it somewhat, but the only major nominee I saw in real time was The Truman Show, so take these comments with a grain of salt, but Blanchett and Paltrow strike me as break-outs of entirely different varieties.
Paltrow was Hollywood royalty -- everyone knew her parents -- and had major roles in Se7en and Emma (among others) before Shakespeare. Blanchett was less known, but even she played the lead in Oscar and Lucinda the year before Elizabeth -- obviously O&L wasn't a huge film, but go back and read those reviews, there were an awful lot of "this Blanchett gal is going to be big" notices.
As far as Mulligan and Sidibe go -- could you place those names before this year?
Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2009 7:42 pm
by Okri
BJ, would you argue that 1998 had a year of two breakouts (Paltrow and Blanchett)? Because that's what I see happening to Sidibe and Mulligan. Granted, both had acted in oscar nominees before, and Paltrow had been around for a half-decade (with Pitt, Se7en, etc), so it isn't quite a fair comparison (along with Meryl Streep's resurgence in this decade), but I don't expect Streep to dominate the critics awards.
Mister Tee, it's worth mentioning that as soon as Nathaniel/The Film Experience saw The Last Station, he predicted it for three acting nods (McAvoy/Mirren in lead, Plummer in support). Given that it's SPC, I expect them to do the one week release than February thing.
re: VOD
What rainbard and eric said. Though I think both Summer Hours and In the Loop could have emerged as screenplay contenders, a la The Barbarian Invasions.
Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2009 7:35 pm
by Greg
Sabin wrote:...one of the prawns?
Huh?
Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2009 7:04 pm
by Sabin
A slate of five animated features that includes 9 and no Ponyo would make me angry.
Furious even.
.....ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssorry?
Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2009 6:59 pm
by Zahveed
rain Bard wrote:A slate of five animated features that includes 9 and no Ponyo would make me angry.
Furious even.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
...one of the prawns?
Yes.
Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2009 6:28 pm
by The Original BJ
A couple more thoughts on the actress race:
I had totally forgotten about Abbie Cornish. (Shows how much that performance registered with me.) In retrospect, I was probably a little harsh toward her. I think she'd be an unoffensive nominee, and far more acceptable as place-filler than Hilary Swank.
Mulligan and Sidibe seem like the top critics' award contenders, but I wonder if one would really have to run away with the precursors to become the Best Actress favorite. The last time someone came from nowhere to win Best Actress was Hilary Swank, and she completely dominated critical consensus that year. One wonders if, given the choice between two breakouts, Meryl might be a stronger third-win candidate than initially thought.
Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2009 6:11 pm
by rain Bard
A slate of five animated features that includes 9 and no Ponyo would make me angry.
Edited By rain Bard on 1256857899