comment #1

Jamieson says ...

We all know that Zodiac is a film that will be watched by many for years and years to come while Juno will be a nice footnote of 2007 regardless of what AMPAS decides to nominate. Don't lose sleep over it Jeff.

Zodiac doesn't need Oscar to solidify its legacy.

comment #2

lazarus says ...

If only Ellen Page could appear in a Norbit sequel between now and the time final Oscar ballots are due.

comment #3

JaySmack says ...

Juno? Oscar-worthy? Now I KNOW hell has frozen over. Just goes to show what a group of utter, irrelevant dumbasses AMPAS is.

comment #4

bo4pres says ...

Zodiac will be watched by many for years and years to come? Was it even watched by many IN THE YEAR IT CAME OUT? I think not.

comment #5

Walter Sobchak says ...

Okay, that settles it. I'm going to have to see "Zodiac" again and see what I missed the first time. I liked it, I really did. But at the risk of being permanently banned from this site, I thought there were five films better than "Zodiac" this year. ("Gasp! My smelling salts, please!")

comment #6

vansmith says ...

Zzzzodiac, lets not get carried away, it was good, a drawn out police procedural, my friend said it was like an episode of hill st blues with hip actors..i could see it not reasonating with the academy..

comment #7

Dan Revill says ...

I'm with Jeff on this one. If Juno gets a nomination, then yeah, Hell probably has frozen over.

comment #8

JaySmire says ...

Do Jeff's supporters just enjoy posting? Zodiac doesn't even deserve a top ten place in my book. It was an interesting film with very little drama. Juno is the better film.

However, the real mystery is why Jeff can't back the best film of all--There will be Blood. You want a film to remember? How about one of the best of the decade. I just saw this film and was blown away.

For the Record: I will see the director's cut of Zodiac this week just to see if I was wrong. If I was, I will be the first to thank Jeff for showing me the light.

comment #9

lawnorder says ...

Fuck Juno.

comment #10

The Winchester says ...

What makes reading this post that much more entertaining are the Juno: For Your Consideration banners on the side.

comment #11

Joe Leydon says ...

In Bertrand Tavernier's classic Life and Nothing But, the late, great Philippe Noiret says the best way to deliver tragic news to someone is by "stunning" them: "You have to strike once, so hard it's like a nightmare. Later you wake up and life seems gentler." Therefore...

Jeff, quit being such a whiny, bitch-ass pussy about this. Zodiak won't get a Best Picture nomination. It never had a chance of getting a Best Picture nomination. Now get over it, nut it up, and act like a man, dammit, or I'll have to come out to the West Coast and pistol whip your sorry ass. Capische?

Gosh, the things I have to do for people sometimes...

comment #12

Joe Leydon says ...

Of course, all that faux tough talk would be a lot more effective if I'd actually spelled Zodiac correctly.

comment #13

Mgmax, le Corbeau says ...

I'm with everyone who thinks Zodiac is one of the ten best movies of the year, but not one of the five.

As for Juno, yeah, how could it possibly aspire to a nomination like Chocolat, or Chicago, or Shakespeare in Love? C'mon folks, get real. Jeff is turning into Stanley Kramer here, insisting that Zodiac has the big deep subject matter that's worthy of an Oscar and Juno is too trivial for one. (Because as we all know, murder is a worthy subject and growing up isn't.) That's the kind of thinking that gives us I Am Sam as an Oscar contender, and I reject it utterly and all of its works.

comment #14

PerfectTommy says ...

I agree, how can the institution that gave "The Greatest Show on Earth" Best Picture have sunk to the depths of considering giving a nomination to "Juno".
I like the years when there are a variety of film genres nominated for the BP Oscar. And the best thing a nomination or a win can do is get more people to see a good movie. But if only "serious" and "important" films are nominated that will cut into the general public's interest in the awards and then they won't pay attention at all to the nominations.
Yeah, I wish "LA Confidential" had taken the Oscar over "Titanic". But it could be that people who tuned in to root for Leo and Kate might have then become aware of Russell and Kim.
I want to see "No Country" take the Best Picture Oscar. I think it deserves that place in history. But getting that recognition won't add or substract from my personal appreciation and enjoyment of the film.

comment #15

lazarus says ...

Mgmax, I'll give you Chocolat, but that had no chance at winning. Chicago was seen as a breath of fresh air, and the first musical in decades that was even good enough to be considered. Shakespeare in Love had a great highbrow/lowbrow combo, and was a better screenplay than Diablo Cody could ever dream of writing. You're telling me those are in the same ballpark? Juno in 5 years is going to hold up about as well as Napolean Dynamite does now.

I won't be whining if Juno gets the big noms. But it would be a truly pathetic choice for BP, and not easily explainable like Crash's win.

comment #16

Kristopher Tapley says ...

Are you on suicide watch then?

comment #17

Mgmax, le Corbeau says ...

Sorry, I think Shakespeare in Love is a nice frothy entertainment for the NPR demographic but there's more real feeling in any five minutes of Juno than in that whole thing. (Except maybe the five minutes with Rupert Everett in them.)

I'm not gaga over Juno, but I liked it just fine, audiences like it just fine too, and I think this idea that it's somehow unworthy of competing for the award that was earned by Ridley Scott's Imperial Wrestling Federation movie or Anthony Hopkins channeling Boris Karloff is misguided.

comment #18

RoyBatty says ...

This is exactly why I left caring about Academy Awards behind with the rest of my childish things - THEY DON'T MEAN A FUCKING THING.

Listen to you all, arguing over the most utter pile of horseshit there is: whether a supposed piece of art deserves to win a popularity contest. Because thats all they are at the end of the motherfucking day.

Are your views and opinions about ZODIAC so fragile that unless others chime in with Top 10 lists or metal encased awards they don't really matter?

Grow a pair for chrissakes...

comment #19

Josh Massey says ...

Little Miss Sunshine got a nomination over Children of Men. I fail to see a shock here.

comment #20

Vitesse98 says ...

At least "Juno" is a hundred times better than the simply inexplicable "Little Miss Sunshine," so there's some solace in that.

"Children of Men" is a better movie than "Zodiac," and that one got slept on even worse. "Zodiac" is well made and sticks with you, sure. "Children of Men" made me want to be a better person.

comment #21

Josh Massey says ...

Children of Men is the movie of the decade. The Academy ignorance of it was the final, final, final straw in me giving a shit about the Oscars.

comment #22

George Prager says ...

CHILDREN OF MEN made you want to be a better person how? By shaving on a regular basis so you didn't look like Clive Owen? MEN was utter horseshit. I've yet to meet someone who can tell me that they liked it with a straight face. On the other hand I saw LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE again and it holds up. It's a movie for the ages.

Then again, the Oscars are a joke, especially when it comes to best picture. The Oscars are were films go to die.

comment #23

Higgy Hackford says ...

my favorite movie is a film for the ages and your favorite film is for shit! and anyone who disagrees is a know-nothing turd! if you can't see that, you're beyond help!

sorry. i couldn't resist joining in this mature, intellectual debate.

comment #24

Padaratz says ...

That's why the films selected for the Cannes Film Festival are usually much better than the 5 Best Pictures selected by the Academy.

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly were the big winners (Best Film and Best Director, respectively. Zodiac and No Coutry for Old Men went home empty-handed.