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Cloverfield [BLU-RAY] (Paramount Home Entertainment, 6.3.2008) Disguised under deliberately goofy, yet deliciously edible-sounding, aliases such as Cheese and Slusho, Matt Reeves' Cloverfield was produced and rushed into theaters under an equally appetizing shroud of secrecy. From last year's incredibly elusive Super Bowl ad to the film's viral marketing campaign, Cloverfield had everybody scratching their heads and drooling in anticipation. Aside from the as-yet untitled title and the Blair Witch-ian visual style, the film's biggest appeal was the enigmatic creature who was last (un)seen hurling the decapitated head of the Statue of Liberty onto the crowded streets of New York City. All we knew about the mysterious beast was that it was big and angry. Now that the highy-anticipated project has come and gone, one question has fortunately been answered: Cloverfield was a major success. (continued)

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Dry humor, dead mom

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Oscar's biggest loser Kevin O'Connell, a sound-mixer who's been nominated 19 times and lost every time, was allegedly "dissed" by Oscar-winning Dreamgirls sound-mixer Michael Minkler last Sunday night, to wit: "I think Kevin should go away with 19 nominations, Kevin is an okay mixer, but he should take up another line of work."

Now The Envelope's Tom O'Neil is reporting that O'Connell's mom died Sunday night -- very sad, very sorry -- but it seems that Minkler was probably trying to be droll. Dry humor is an art form; ditto deadpan delivery. You have to get it just right. I'm guessing that Minkler's timing was off and it came out wrong.

The wrinkle is that Kris Tapley riffed on the same thing about 24 hours ago, which Defamer picked up on.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on March 1, 2007 at 8:32 AM

comment #1

Monument says ...

I don't know, I saw the press room video and Minkler seems to be dead serious. And according to O'Connell's partner on Apocalypto Greg P. Russell, he meant every word of it.

Watch the press room questions on oscars.com/video and see for yourself. Whatever his intentions, he comes off as petty and totally without class; especially when compared to his fellow winners who said nothing but good things about O'Connell.

Posted by Monument at March 1, 2007 9:54 AM

comment #2

ArchiveGuy says ...

There's a long thread on this at OscarWatch, but for those who saw the video (and witnessed the event), the consensus was that Minkler was dead serious (though he obviously wouldn't have known about O'Connell's mother at the time).

Greg P. Russell (O'Connell's co-nominee) wrote a response to Kris Tapley, which you can fine here: http://www.incontention.com/2007/02/greg_p_russell_responds_to_mic.html

Posted by ArchiveGuy at March 1, 2007 10:01 AM

comment #3

corey3rd says ...

Michael Minkler is this week's Biggest Jerk in Hollywood. Wonder if he'll show up at the funeral and tease her with the trophy.

Posted by corey3rd at March 1, 2007 10:08 AM

comment #4

Joshua Mooney says ...

Is the implication that O'Connell's mom died Sunday as a direct response to his losing yet again? I don't get it.

I have to conclude, based soley on Minkler's comments, that he meant what he said in dead earnest (no pun intended), and that maybe there's some bad blood between the two guys. One would have to be a master of dry, deadpan (AGAIN, dammit, no pun intended) delivery to make THAT quote work as comedy. On the face of it, sounds like a brutally honest opinion. And certainly an unnecessary one. Nothing more odious than a sore winner.

Posted by Joshua Mooney at March 1, 2007 10:09 AM

comment #5

snackyx says ...

After watching the clip I can only assume there is some past bad blood between these two. Minkler seems pissed off that O'Connell is trying to win votes by publicizing the fact he has never won after 19 nominations. There is no hint of droll humor from this clown--after he paused and said something to the effect of "We thought this might come up" you could see it was not a lighthearted issue. Minkler comes off as a world-class jackass.

Posted by snackyx at March 1, 2007 10:14 AM

comment #6

cjKennedy says ...

Wow, yeah. I was going to give the guy the benefit of a doubt, but he's just being a dick. Partly he seemed annoyed at being asked the question (and that's almost fair), but he also seemed to have a personal beef with O'Connell.

Classy.

Posted by cjKennedy at March 1, 2007 10:21 AM

comment #7

Josh Massey says ...

Michael Minkler and John Kerry apparently share the same sense of humor.

Posted by Josh Massey at March 1, 2007 10:22 AM

comment #8

wayne76 says ...

Sound mixers?? Are you fucking kidding me? I don't sneeze at the craft of sound mixing, of course, but I can hardly stand the bickering of The Beautiful Ones, much less that of a bunch of fat, nerdy SOUND MIXERS. Jesus.

Yet another asshole associated with Dreamgirls. Huge shock.

Posted by wayne76 at March 1, 2007 10:25 AM

comment #9

lesterg says ...

If I spent 2006 mixing School for Scoundrels, Bobby, My Super Ex-Girlfriend and Doogal, I'd probably be a bitter asshole as well.

Posted by lesterg at March 1, 2007 10:35 AM

comment #10

Melquiades says ...

Seems odd to suggest that being considered among the very best in your craft 19 different years is somehow a sign of mediocrity.

But yeah, it doesn't look like it was intended as a joke either.

Posted by Melquiades at March 1, 2007 10:44 AM

comment #11

Rich S. says ...

It kind of puts the lie to the old "it's an honor just to be nominated," doesn't it? Even worse, it shows the mentality of those inside the profession. Prior to Sunday, was anyone suggesting that Scorsese quit working as a director because he hadn't yet won one of the academy awards for which he was nominated?

Posted by Rich S. at March 1, 2007 10:55 AM

comment #12

JD says ...

After watching this clip, I took a look at a few others and they're all kind of interesting. William Monahan gets somewhat adversarial (understandably) when a few consecutive reporters try to suggest that the actors did all the work and/or the movie was heavily improvised.

Posted by JD at March 1, 2007 11:08 AM

comment #13

Monument says ...

Kevin O'Connell's response:
"As you may or may not know, my mother Skippy passed away on Sunday night right after the Oscars. I was holding her in my arms when she died. I was not made aware of Mr. Minkler's comments until Monday morning. I have not seen them personally and at this point I have no intention of looking at them or reading about them. I'll get back to you when I get that far down of my list of what is important to me. Take care, Kevin."

Posted by Monument at March 1, 2007 12:27 PM

comment #14

corey3rd says ...

If anything O'Connell's mom probably lasted longer waiting for the Oscars in hopes her son might finally pull one out.

The simple fact is that Michael Minkler is the kind of jerk who even when he gets told what went down that night as he opened his big yap, he won't feel a bit of shame. It's great that his big Oscar night could only be topped by kicking a man on the night his mother dies.

Posted by corey3rd at March 1, 2007 12:37 PM

comment #15

Cadavra says ...

Well, he's got SPIDEY 3 this year. Maybe the 20th time will be the charm!

Posted by Cadavra at March 1, 2007 3:44 PM

comment #16

Silverscreenvideos says ...

Since the Academy as a whole votes for the technical Oscars and most people have a tough time discerning the nuances of sound work anyway, winning or not winning the Oscar is sometimes more a function of which movie was the loudest than anything else.

However, now all the members of the Academy have something they can relate to. Don't look for Minkler to get another Oscar any time soon, and this would be a good time to circle in O'Donnell for Spider-Man 3.

Posted by Silverscreenvideos at March 2, 2007 12:52 AM

comment #17

Fellini says ...

And the Best Comment award goes to: Melquiades! Right on the spot!

Anyway, it sure would be nice if he wins next year and doesn't show up to receive the award... because, quite frankly, there are waaaay too many more important things in life...

Posted by Fellini at March 2, 2007 10:10 AM

comment #18

kimi98 says ...

And the Best Comment award goes to: Melquiades! Right on the spot!

Anyway, it sure would be nice if he wins next year and doesn't show up to receive the award... because, quite frankly, there are waaaay too many more important things in life...

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