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Understand This
"The problem with [all Oscar] formulations, and the reason they tend to stumble over themselves almost as soon as they emerge from a would-be-Oscar analyst's cortex, begins with the phrase 'the Academy', and its implicit assumption that each year's nominations represent an act of coherent collective will that is designed to reflect a particular set of truths.
"In fact, the Academy is, much like its home country, a hydra-headed agglomeration of different constituencies, often in fierce conflict, and the electoral decisions it makes can in different years reflect fearfulness, defensiveness and retreat, or a kind of split decision that denotes a compromise between the past and the future, or, on certain delightful occasions, an unexpected surge of thoughtfulness, good taste and high aspiration." -- from Mark Harris's impressively well-written assessment of the '098 Oscar race that appeared in Sunday's Observer.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on February 2, 2009 at 11:11 PM
comment #1
byanyother
says ...
He's such a good writer.
Posted by byanyother
at February 3, 2009 5:26 AM
comment #2
Calraigh Bracken
says ...
Does anyone know when exactly the Academy decide who the winners are? Like, what day/time period are they decided on/within?
Posted by Calraigh Bracken
at February 3, 2009 7:33 AM
comment #3
DeafBrownTrashPunk
says ...
I wonder that, too, Calraigh. and who type those "and the winner is..." winner results? I wonder if they're kept locked inside a room until the very last minute so that the winner results won't be leaked to the media.
Posted by DeafBrownTrashPunk
at February 3, 2009 8:03 AM
comment #4
Krillian
says ...
And the winners will be...
Pic - Slumdog
Actor - Penn, Milk
Actress - Winslet - Reader
Supp Actor - Ledger, TDK
Supp Actress - Viola, Doubt
Director- Boyle, Slumdog
Or Screen - Milk
Ad Screen - Frost/Nixon
Tech awards - split between TDK and Ben Button
Doc - Man on Wire
Anim - Wall-E
I think Rourke had a shot until that WrestleMania rumor surfaced.
Posted by Krillian
at February 3, 2009 12:36 PM
comment #5
moviemaniac2002
says ...
For decades, the Academy existed as way for
Factory workers to celebrate Factory product.
In the 60's and 70's, as the studio Factory
system began to deteriorate....the Factory product now competed with the "new cinema"
(or in simple terms, the ancestors and forefathers or our current indie-art films.(Best historic example and required reading..."Pictures At A
Revolution" about the year when studio spam like
"Dr.Dolittle" competed with "Bonnie & Clyde")
And strangely enough, look where we've arrived now at the Oscars....topsy turvy....studio popcorn product driven out and largely exiled from the awards, even when it's as artistically
rendered as any Coen Brothers head-scratcher.
("The Dark Knight") Once upon a time, art and commerce actually intertwined at the Academy Awards...now they're paralell lines, farther apart than ever...(the Best Actress award summed it up for me perfectly last year....given to a woman
nobody ever heard of for a movie nobody ever
went to see....not to mention a Best Picture award to a film that had most audiences walking out in disbelief and frustration.)
As for this years noms.....I'm torn on the Kate
Winslet issue.....I'd like her to win for no other reason than to end the ad nauseum "youngest actress with most nominations and no wins' blathering.....but if she does win, it means enduring another one of her odious, simpering, yammering acceptance speeches. Good luck , Kate....I'm with ya all the way, with my finger on
the 'mute' button.
Posted by moviemaniac2002
at February 5, 2009 8:21 AM
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