The Movie Thread

[RGMike]

OMG! Crash pulls the Best Pic upset!

Leaving it and BBM with 3 awards each.

[Gazoo]

Oscar spreads the love - Crash wins Best Picture, Ang Lee wins Best Director.

comments to follow

and Jon Stewart in a non-presence disappointment.  ('course, I missed the first hour, maybe he had his claws snipped early?)

[RGMike]

Oscar spreads the love - Crash wins Best Picture, Ang Lee wins Best Director.

comments to follow

and Jon Stewart in a non-presence disappointment.  ('course, I missed the first hour, maybe he had his claws snipped early?)

I'm not sure what you were expecting. I think he was trying to be dignified and low-key. His nastiest joke (the Baldwin Bros. one) got a smattering of boos. He saw what Chris Rock got last year for being "edgy".

The pre-taped bits (the opening and the "Best Actress" campaign commercials) were pretty clever, I thought.

in any case, here's Ben Karlin, Stewart's exec producer and co-writer:

"The Oscar show is not the place for any kind of revolutionary act. We don't want to do something that feels cheap, like we totally gave up on doing something that makes us laugh, but if we're doing material that's political in nature, we want to make sure it's filtered through the world of movies, not just political for the sake of being political. We're trying to find that balance. It's all about being able to beat yourself up in a pure way."

Meanwhile, defamer.com's Oscar nite blog is mighty funny.

[RGMike]

BTW, Sat afternoon I saw a terrific docu called Street Fight, about 2 guys who ran for mayor of Newark NJ in 2002 (and who apparently are running against each other again this year).  I didn't even realize it was one of the 5 Best Docu Oscar nominees until tonite.  That means I've seen 4 out of 5,  a record for me, I think -- and the 5th one (Darwin's Nightmare) is opening within the month.  Still think Grizzly Man got shafted; not surprised the penguins won.

[princessofcairo]

snoozer of an oscars. agreed - the best bits were the pre-taped parts ("REESE!"). the streep was gorgeous, as always. i was a little worried that 3com mafia's light show would send poor bobby altman into a seizure. i can't believe that song was nominated, much less that it won. ugh. it's not even a "real" song! i mean, it was written by a character in the movie, and wouldn't otherwise be considered for airplay on the real radio (the one that exists offscreen). ugh. just ugh.

dolly would have been much cuter accepting her award, though i doubt she would have been so excited! at least i can say that about 3com. they were genuinely happy!!! that was nice.

poor, poor lauren bacall.

just as the nominees were being announced for best pic, i secretly hoped crash would win (even though i'd been rooting for BM). something about seeing sandra bullock reminded me of what a great overall film it was.

and WOW - so great for mr. hoffman. even though i was rooting for HL. quite happy with both (upset, for me) wins.

what's up with the shelley winters memorial clip being longer than the anne bancroft one? hissboo.

and would that all aceeptance speeches be as moving and as cognizant of the clock as gavin hood's (not reese witherspoon's, who, by the way, is a "real woman").

[RGMike]

i was a little worried that 3com mafia's light show would send poor bobby altman into a seizure. i can't believe that song was nominated, much less that it won. ugh. it's not even a "real" song! i mean, it was written by a character in the movie, and wouldn't otherwise be considered for airplay on the real radio (the one that exists offscreen). ugh. just ugh.

THANK you! One of the problems I had with Hustle & Flow was that the rap numbers came across (to me, anyway) like Chapelle's Show parodies of "dirty South". I kept expecting Chapelle's version of "Li'l Jon" to walk onscreen at any moment.  And yet the film presents the songs unironically, as if we're supposed to think they're great.

[princessofcairo]

i was a little worried that 3com mafia's light show would send poor bobby altman into a seizure. i can't believe that song was nominated, much less that it won. ugh. it's not even a "real" song! i mean, it was written by a character in the movie, and wouldn't otherwise be considered for airplay on the real radio (the one that exists offscreen). ugh. just ugh.

THANK you! One of the problems I had with Hustle & Flow was that the rap numbers came across (to me, anyway) like Chapelle's Show parodies of "dirty South". I kept expecting Chapelle's version of "Li'l Jon" to walk onscreen at any moment.  And yet the film presents the songs unironically, as if we're supposed to think they're great.

yes, "parody" is the word i've been seeking. i keep calling it a "cute" film.

during the "these are people who died, died!" montage, i couldn't stop singing, "robert wise, robert wise" to the tune of "edelweiss." of course, it began with "rachel weisz."

[Lightnin' Rod]

dolly would have been much cuter accepting her award, though i doubt she would have been so excited! at least i can say that about 3com. they were genuinely happy!!! that was nice.

poor, poor lauren bacall.

Since none of the songs did a thing for me, I didn't care who won the award.  Like, whatever.

Agreed on LB.  Very painful to watch.

As for Best Picture, Crash was okay, but I thought it had problems.  Too "fabricated" in it's story line, it had to work too hard to loop all the story lines back on themselves.  I thought Brokeback was much more seamless in how it told it's story.  I'm a "story guy," so that's just my opinion.

Didn't see any of the other BP candidates...

Yay for phillip seymore hoffman.  I haven't seen Capote yet, but Hoffman has been terrific in every movie I've seen him in, so it's a good thing...

[mshray]

and would that all aceeptance speeches be as moving and as cognizant of the clock as gavin hood's

Princess, did you know to shout back "Awethu!" when he yelled out "Amandla!" after getting his co-stars on camera?  I did & my wife, kids & mother-in-law all looked at me like I was nuts.  Had to call my dad right away to confirm that they did, and they had.  So I wasn't totally alone.

I also thought that Bancroft got slighted, that Bacall was deeply unfortunate to come across like that, that Rachel Weisz is even awesomer when she's pregnant, & that the taped bits (especially the non-gay cowboys one) were the funniest things Stewart did.

My top 3 onstage moments:

Gavin Hood's acceptance
the Tomlin/Streep into for Altman
Clooney's acceptance

[princessofcairo]

and would that all aceeptance speeches be as moving and as cognizant of the clock as gavin hood's

Princess, did you know to shout back "Awethu!" when he yelled out "Amandla!" after getting his co-stars on camera?  I did & my wife, kids & mother-in-law all looked at me like I was nuts.  Had to call my dad right away to confirm that they did, and they had.  So I wasn't totally alone.

yes, the neville brothers taught me that phrase.

[mshray]

OMG! Crash pulls the Best Pic upset!

Leaving it and BBM with 3 awards each.

Actually there was a four-way tie in the awards count, as King Kong & Memoirs of a Geisha each also got 3 Oscars in the lesser categories.

[RGMike]

and would that all aceeptance speeches be as moving and as cognizant of the clock as gavin hood's

Princess, did you know to shout back "Awethu!" when he yelled out "Amandla!" after getting his co-stars on camera?  I did & my wife, kids & mother-in-law all looked at me like I was nuts.  Had to call my dad right away to confirm that they did, and they had.  So I wasn't totally alone.

yes, the neville brothers taught me that phrase.

Awethu Franklin is my fave singer.  And how 'bout Latifah's cleavage.

[princessofcairo]

and would that all aceeptance speeches be as moving and as cognizant of the clock as gavin hood's

Princess, did you know to shout back "Awethu!" when he yelled out "Amandla!" after getting his co-stars on camera?  I did & my wife, kids & mother-in-law all looked at me like I was nuts.  Had to call my dad right away to confirm that they did, and they had.  So I wasn't totally alone.

yes, the neville brothers taught me that phrase.

Awethu Franklin is my fave singer.  And how 'bout Latifah's cleavage.

yeah, that was nice. i was hoping she was raising the roof for dolly, though. that would have been classic! "and the oscar goes to....my girl, my dawg...dolly p in the house!"

[mshray]

and would that all aceeptance speeches be as moving and as cognizant of the clock as gavin hood's

Princess, did you know to shout back "Awethu!" when he yelled out "Amandla!" after getting his co-stars on camera?  I did & my wife, kids & mother-in-law all looked at me like I was nuts.  Had to call my dad right away to confirm that they did, and they had.  So I wasn't totally alone.

yes, the neville brothers taught me that phrase.

Awethu Franklin is my fave singer.  And how 'bout Latifah's cleavage.

Heh heh, that would be funnier if "awethu' were pronuonced the way it looks, but it's from the Xhose language & it is correctly said like 'away-too'.

Just in case not everyone knows, amandla awethu means "power is ours", and in anti-apartheid rallies the speaker would shout "Amandla!" & the crowd yells back "Awethu!"  Then they might sing "Nkosi Sikele Africa" which for my money is far & away the most beautiful National Anthem anywhere.

[princessofcairo]

movies i watched last week:

in good company - much better than i expected. laugh-out-loud funny as ebert might say. or is it roper? dennis quaid can be good )in a jeff daniels sort of way) when he wants to be.

house of sand and fog - my! my! my! stellar perfs on the parts of the behranis. i hated the ending, but that's the way the story goes, i guess.

short cuts - i love the characters and the dialogue, but i just don't like bobby altman. too long-winded. watch "the anniversary party" for a shorter version of the same story.

christiane f. - a german film about a young girl who falls into drugs and prostitution. bowie in concert! and the entire soundtrack is bowie.

gorky park - let's not talk about it. i couldn't believe the entire movie was about sable.

ararat - excellent! excellent! a bit challenging (read: slow) at parts. but christopher plummer is wonderful. and the weaving of stories was quite tactfully done...

101 reykjavik - hilarious movie about a boy and the women in his life. full of icelandic humour.

on deck for today: i'm gonna git you sucka.