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[cleolinda]

OH SHIT I FORGOT TO SET MY ALARM.

So, Oscar nominations! There is outrage on the Fametracker POTO thread that Phantom did not get a costume nomination ("NO BEST COSTUME??? Are they out of their minds?! No pants. No. Pants.")--instead, Troy got it, which... rrrrright. But yay for Clive Owen! Yay for Cate and Kate! Yay for Snicket! And two nominations for Jamie Foxx--I know he kept getting Supporting and Best noms at other award shows, but somehow I'm just shocked that the Oscars were on the ball with that. Don Cheadle and Sophie Okonedo (Hotel Rwanda) and Catalina Sandino Moreno (Maria Full of Grace) and Morgan Freeman were also nominated, so it's an extremely multicultural year. What I love about this is that it should be completely normal and we shouldn't even bat an eyelash, you know, that the noms aren't 99% white people, but historically, that's what you'd get every single year, and everyone would start wailing about all the great non-white actors who got snubbed. But somehow--I don't know, maybe the great Berry-Washington twofer broke some kind of mental block for Oscar voters, because this is one of the best, most evenhanded nomination groups I've ever seen. There's not a single person nominated who doesn't seem to belong there.

Interesting snubs: No Paul Giamatti? Yeah, it looks like Sideways is kinda screwed now; I would say that Best Picture is squarely between The Aviator and Million Dollar Baby now, with The Aviator more likely to take it. No Liam Neeson for Kinsey; no Marc Forster for Finding Neverland; no Fahrenheit 9/11--Michael Moore held it out of Best Documentary in hopes of getting a Best Picture nom--and no Passion of the Christ for picture or acting. Michael Moore is one of those people I wish would stop being on my side because he makes my side look stupid--I was really glad when Bowling for Columbine won and then he had to get up there and be a gigantic frickin' ass about it, so I'm sort of pleased by the snub this year. As for Passion of the Christ and Crazy Mel Gibson--well, it's probably not fair of me to rag on a movie I haven't seen, but I decided very early on that two solid hours of beating and whipping and bleeding and hey hey ow it hurts was not for me. As far as I can tell, an actual "Passion of the Christ in Fifteen Minutes" would have been something along the lines of--

ROMANS: *thrash!*

ROMANS: *scourge!*

ROMANS: *pistol-whip!*

JIM CAVIEZEL: GODDAMMIT, THAT ACTUALLY HURT!

GOD: *lightning bolt*

Wash, rinse, repeat. I'm kind of glad about this snub, too, but mostly because of the Crazy Mel Gibson megalomania, though, not because of the subject matter of the movie.

And yet... I'm as big an Oscar hound as anyone, but somehow... this year just isn't all that exciting to me. It's the first time in about ten years, maybe more, that I haven't had something I was actively rooting for. I'm not real fond of Clint Eastwood's directorial oeuvre--I'm conscious that they're Great Movies, but... yeah. So I've got to root for The Aviator, which (as I've said) I liked, but... well. It could have been easily trounced by stronger movies in a different year. This just seems like an off-year for the Oscars--good stuff, yes, but nothing that just sets you on fire. Kind of reminds me of 1995-96--I loved Sense and Sensibility, but really, the whole year competition-wise was just kind of meh. And then Braveheart won anyway. Eh. Your mileage may vary, etc.

Comments

[ex-krazycat651.livejournal.com]

Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind - best picture of last year. *gives academy the finger*

[cellardoor28.livejournal.com]

i also kind of went blah. but yay for clive and johnny (and lemony snicket getting 4 noms).

that's actually pretty accurate about POTC. i HATED it. we just sat and mocked during the whole thing.

[cimness.livejournal.com]

did you see this rant? the ranter thinks (for a few reasons) that leroux's original draft had the phantom as the good guy and raoul as a wicked nobleman intent on making christine his mistress, with a tragic ending wherein she goes with raoul to save the phantom's life.

http://darkerotica.blogspot.com/2005/01/phantom-of-opera-great-movie-bad-plot.html

i don't buy it (for a few other reasons), but there are some interesting points about the story to consider anyway, i suppose.

and the costumes in phantom were amazing, while troy was all "miniskirt!!!1"--but perhaps they're being given credit for, what, historical reconstruction. or something.

[abstruse-soul.livejournal.com]

braveheart! thewlis! dennis quaid! whoopee!

/fannishness

i didnt see the aviator, even though i wanted to, though all i heard about it were good things from friends and all. It could have been easily trounced by stronger movies in a different year. like which movies, doth ye think?

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

Well, after the fan-gasm that was last year -- how can you top it, really? Anything will be a relative letdown.

That said, dittos on Moore/Gibson and the "multicultural" feel of the noms this year. We shouldn't have to notice this, but, yeah, welcome to cold sober reality. And is Liam Neeson's snub a result of the cultural war (OMGWTFS-E-X!) or just too many good performances in one year?

Was disappointed. Kinda hoped The Incredibles would pick up a little non-genre steam. And I still don't want to see Million Dollar Baby -- is there something wrong with me?

[sunihiroku.livejournal.com]

Michael Moore is one of those people I wish would stop being on my side because he makes my side look stupid--I was really glad when Bowling for Columbine won and then he had to get up there and be a gigantic frickin' ass about it, so I'm sort of pleased by the snub this year.

My sentiments EXACTLY.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Now, that's a movie I could have rooted for.

[ayrdaomei.livejournal.com]

I was also surprised that Forester didn't get a direction nom for Finding Neverland; I thought he did a terrific job with that. Also surprised at the best pic nom for Ray; I really enjoyed the movie, and I'm thrilled Jamie's nominated, but I thought it was a bit pedestrian for best picture. I'm uber-excited by the Don Cheadle nomination, for I love him muchly ^_^

[cordilleran2.livejournal.com]

*chortles* You'd think you'd learn to stop filming when lightning strikes you when you're making a film like that...maybe it's just me.

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

My first thought: "Huh, what did Cleo say about Pirates of the Carribean?"

Eh. Pirates, Passion. Same diff.

[sweetle.livejournal.com]

I've said kind of the same thing about the overall meh-ness of this year's crop of award contenders.

On the other hand, this year I am less distracted by the need to squee at hobbits and randomly yell "Fuck Opie!" at my TV. Thus leaving me more time and energy to devote to the all-important cause of snarking at what people are wearing.

[elanorkat.livejournal.com]

ROMANS: *thrash!*

ROMANS: *scourge!*

ROMANS: *pistol-whip!*

JIM CAVIEZEL: GODDAMMIT, THAT ACTUALLY HURT!

GOD: *lightning bolt*

heh heh.

Nope, still haven't seen it.

I agree - there's nothing on that list to set me on fire. Apart from Sunshine, and I'll root for yay!Kate, but...

I'm trying hard to look past the fact that it all looks rather bleak with no LOTR...

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Well, the women had some good costumes--I did really like Helen's--and there were a shitload of them for crowd scenes. I actually didn't really like what they came up with for the big POTO masquerade scene, but... come on, Christine and Carlotta looked frickin' awesome.

Oh, and as someone who loves the book, I say that ranter is on crack. The Phantom is way unhinged and megalomaniacal--things you really only get hints of in the movie--and by the end, Christine is just weeping with fear to get away from him and save Raoul. Raoul's kind of a twit, but both he and Christine are very young (I think he's 20-21), and Leroux sort of rags on how naive he is, while Christine actually grows up pretty quickly. I loved that, myself--that Raoul, the ostensible hero, was flawed. But the Phantom is totally the villain in the book--he's pathetic instead of sensitive, stalky instead of attractively obsessed, and disgusting instead of woobified.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Dennis Quaid? I'm talking about the Mel Gibson "FREEEEDOM!" movie. Maybe you mean Dragonheart...?

[sunihiroku.livejournal.com]

Fan-gasm! That's exactly what it was, too! :D

And no, Liam's snub is a result of the Academy apologizing to Clint Eastwood early for giving the statuette to Scorcese. Why the fuck else was he nominated?

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I don't want to see MDB myself, either.

The Liam Neeson thing is interesting, but... and again, I don't know because I haven't seen half this stuff, but the reviews I've been reading overall weren't as strong for Kinsey. I'm not really surprised his nomination fell by the wayside.

[ex-krazycat651.livejournal.com]

Me too.
Oh well, I'll root for screenplay and for Kate.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Not only that, but he got struck TWICE.

[fba.livejournal.com]

As far as I can tell, an actual "Passion of the Christ in Fifteen Minutes" would have been something along the lines of--

You do know you are going to hell don't you?

I'll keep you a seat ;-)

[sunihiroku.livejournal.com]

Oh God, I just remembered that it's our first LOTR-less year in a long time.

*turns white and shaky* I don't think I can cope with this. Will there be any chance that the hobbits will be there together anyway. Oh, please!!

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Heeeeee. I still have a hate on for Ron Howard. That year fucking broke my heart, man--I can't believe that movie beat FOTR AND Moulin Rouge.

[cimness.livejournal.com]

christine and carlotta indeed looked awesome. carlotta's dresses were actually rather more impressive, which they couldn't have been without being silly. evidently christine needed the kind of dignity you can still have wearing a skirt slit up to the hip.

the blue trojan costumes were cool/interesting. helen's were pretty, but not really *surprising* in any major way.

yeah, the ranter is on crack. she seems to have taken the obsession of many fangirls a few steps further. it's amazing how anybody came away with that outlook from the *book*--i mean, in the musical it's totally possible, but in the BOOK it's clear that he's a big ol' stalker. but a lot of people seem to like the book and like reading it with that ranter's, uh, revisionist attitude.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but there's been a space on the hell train with my name on it for a long, long time now. ; )

[cimness.livejournal.com]

ps: "attractively obsessed"? ahahah.

[electricland.livejournal.com]

I heart you so much. Right on target, as always.

*hee*