“And the winner is”. With those words there will be at least 5 people holding their collective breath, while a finely coiffed and swathed celebrity tears open a sealed envelop with the closely guarded secret. Welcome to the Live Blog of the 84rd Academy Awards from fabulous downtown Hollywood or, in my case, on the couch in the family room with my lap top, a pitcher of martinis and Parmesan popcorn, Oh, and lots of napkins.
I used to chuckle at the introduction of the tuxedoed men carrying the brief case with those envelops and the silly ritual of reading of the “Rules” on how the votes were cast and who voted on what. Do they even do that any more?
The first Oscars were presented on May 19. 1929 at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood at a private brunch for 270 people. My how far they have come. Now it is the “hottest” ticket in town and the parties after for winners and losers are elaborate affairs that would keep food pantries in business for a year. I shouldn’t be too critical many of the industry’s actors, directors and producers do wonderful humanitarian work for causes that would be easily forgotten.
In 2009, the Academy decided to return to its roots. When the award for Best Picture was presented in 1934 and 1935 there were 12 nominees, and from 1935 to 1943 there were 10. This years there are nine nominated movies contending for the golden guy with a sword. Over at the New York Times, Melena Ryzik, a k a The Carpetbagger, gives her predictions for the winners:
Best picture: “The Artist”
Best director: Michel Hazanavicius, “The Artist”
Best actor: Jean Dujardin, “The Artist”
Best actress: Viola Davis, “The Help”
Best supporting actor: Christopher Plummer, “Beginners”
Best supporting actress: Octavia Spencer, “The Help”
Best adapted screenplay: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash, “The Descendants”
Best original screenplay: Woody Allen, “Midnight in Paris”
Best animated film: “Rango”
Best foreign language film: “A Separation,” Iran
You can cast your ballot for your favorite in this poll let us know how well you do during the course of the show. h/t to our reader seakit.
There was a lot of revealing stories recently about the diversity of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and who votes for the awards. Low and behold, the Academy voting panel is overwhelmingly white, male and over 50. The other revelation was why there were only two song nominated from a list of 39 songs that were given Academy voting members. It’s the rules:
As it turns out, the sheer number of songs in the running split votes to the point that only two songs could be featured on the ballot, per current Academy rules. Basically, voters had to sort through the 39 songs and score each on a scale of 6 to 10 points, and only songs that received an average of 8.25 points could be nominated. Hence, only two songs made the cut.
There are pro’s and con’s for this. The pro, it will mercifully spare us from some really bad productions. The con, a lot of really good artists like Elton John, Lady Gaga, Chris Cornell, Mary J. Blige, and Willie Nelson did not make the cut. Now that’s a rule that needs to be revised.
One of the categories the Academy needs to create is “Best Animal in a Featured Film.” Some of the scene stealers this year are a Jack Russel terrier named, Uggie, “The Artist“, who won an inaugural Golden Collar from Dognewsdaily.com. He beat out his competition for cute, a fellow Jack Russell, Cosmo, “The Beginners”. The Dobermans that appeared in “Hugo” appeared to be quite fierce but, according to the trainers, in reality were quite timid and shy. As the late actor Lee Marvin said when he accepted his 1965 Oscar for Best Actor, “I think I should be sharing this award with a horse somewhere out there in the San Fernando Valley,” a reference to the horse Kid Shelleen rode, who appeared to be as drunk as Shelleen was.
The annual Razzie nominations were announced last night. The Razzies honor the worst movies and performances of the year. Adam Sandler was nominated for a record 11 awards for everything from worst actor to producer for three movies, “Jack and Jill,” ”Just Go with It” and “Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star.” He takes that title from Eddie Murphy who had 5 awards for just one picture, “Norbit,” in 2007.
Along with “Bucky Larson” and “Jack and Jill,” worst-picture contenders are “New Year’s Eve,” ”Transformers: Dark of the Moon” and “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1.”
“Jack and Jill” led with 12 nominations, with “Transformers” second with nine and “Breaking Dawn” right behind with eight. [..]
For worst actor, Sandler is up against “Bucky Larson” star Nick Swardson, along with Russell Brand for “Arthur“; Nicolas Cage for “Drive Angry,” ”Season of the Witch” and “Trespass“; and Taylor Lautner for “Abduction” and “Breaking Dawn.”
Swardson also was nominated for worst supporting actor for “Jack and Jill” and “Just Go with It.”
For worst actress, Sandler is joined by another cross-dressing actor, Martin Lawrence in “Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son.” Also nominated were Sarah Palin for her documentary “The Undefeated”; Sarah Jessica Parker for “I Don’t Know How She Does It” and “New Year’s Eve“; and Kristen Stewart for “Breaking Dawn.”
Appropriately, the winners will be announces on April Fool’s Day.
I will be your fashion and performance critic as we watch the parade down the red carpet and the main event. BTW, I always cry at the memorial tribute. Below the fold is the list for all the nominees. On with the show.
Best Picture
“The Artist” *
“The Descendants”
“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”
“Hugo”
“Midnight in Paris”
“The Help”
“Moneyball”
“War Horse”
“The Tree of Life”
Best Actor
Demian Bichir, “A Better Life”
George Clooney, “The Descendants”
Jean Dujardin, “The Artist” *
Gary Oldman, “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”
Brad Pitt, “Moneyball”
Best Actress
Glenn Close, “Albert Nobbs”
Viola Davis, “The Help”
Rooney Mara, “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”
Meryl Streep, “The Iron Lady” *
Michelle Williams, “My Week With Marilyn”
Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh, “My Week With Marilyn”
Jonah Hill, “Moneyball”
Nick Nolte, “Warrior”
Christopher Plummer, “Beginners” *
Max Von Sydow, “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”
Best Supporting Actress
Berenice Bejo, “The Artist”
Jessica Chastain, “The Help”
Melissa McCarthy, “Bridesmaids”
Janet McTeer, “Albert Nobbs”
Octavia Spencer, “The Help” *
Best Director
Woody Allen, “Midnight in Paris”
Michel Hazanavicius, “The Artist” *
Terrence Malick, “The Tree of Life”
Alexander Payne, “The Descendants”
Martin Scorsese, “Hugo”
Best Original Screenplay
Woody Allen, “Midnight in Paris” *
JC Chandor, “Margin Call”
Asghar Farhadi, “A Separation”
Michel Hazanavicius, “The Artist”
Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo, “Bridesmaids”
Best Adapted Screenplay
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxton, Jim Rash, “The Descendants” *
John Logan, “Hugo”
George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon, “The Ides of March”
Aaron Sorkin, Steven Zaillian, “Moneyball”
Bridget O’Connor, Peter Straughn, “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”
Best Animated Feature
“A Cat In Paris”
“Chico & Rita”
“Kung Fu Panda 2”
“Puss in Boots”
“Rango” *
Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
Bullhead (Belgium)
Footnote (Israel)
In Darkness (Poland)
Monsieur Lazhar (Canada)
A Separation (Iran) *
Original Score
“The Adventures of Tintin” John Williams
“The Artist” Ludovic Bource *
“Hugo” Howard Shore
“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” Alberto Iglesias
“War Horse,” John Williams
Best Original Song
“Man or Muppet,” The Muppets; Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie *
“Real in Rio,” Rio; Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown, Lyric by Siedah Garrett
Best Achievement in Art Direction
“The Artist”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2”
“Hugo” *
“Midnight in Paris”
“War Horse”
Best Achievement in Cinematography
“The Artist” *
“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”
“Hugo”
“The Tree of Life”
“War Horse”
Best Achievement in Costume Design
“Anonymous”
“The Artist” *
“Hugo”
“Jane Eyre”
“W.E.”
Best Documentary Feature
“Hell and Back Again”
“If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front”
“Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory”
“Pina”
“Undefeated” *
Best Documentary Short Subject
“The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement?”
“God Is the Bigger Elvis”
“Incident in New Baghdad”
“Saving Face” *
“The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom”
Best Achievement in Film Editing
“The Artist”
“The Descendants”
“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” *
“Hugo”
“Moneyball”
Best Achievement in Makeup
“Albert Nobbs”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2”
“The Iron Lady” *
Best Animated Short Film
Dimanche/Sunday
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore *
La Luna
A Morning Stroll
Wild Life
Best Live Action Short Film
“Pentecost”
“Raju”
“The Shore” *
“Time Freak”
“Tuba Atlantic”
Best Achievement in Sound Editing
“Drive”
“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”
“Hugo” *
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon”
“War Horse”
Best Achievement in Sound Mixing
“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”
“Hugo“*
“Moneyball”
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon”
“War Horse”
Best Achievement in Visual Effects
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2”
“Hugo” *
“Real Steel”
“Rise of the Planet of the Apes”
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon“
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Wikileaks. Shoot, what to do????
and I know everyone is raving about Gary Oldman’s performance but I really didn’t care for it. J and I disagreed – he thought he was great. He had read the books and I had not. That might have made the difference.
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The tax that the Potter movie paid and Michael Douglas bad Wall Street joke.
But then I can’t type and listen at the same time.
Spartans Rule.
needs to talk to Kirstie Alley’s designer.
http://calendar.jcp.com/februa…
And the message:
Good for Penneys
I did not expect that. But I’ll tell you, she was fantastic in The Iron Lady. I mean fantastic. We walked out of the movie thinking it was a best actress performance but I had not seen many of the other movies.
It’s either the acting or the makeup, not both.
Harry Potter was robbed!
it was the entrance to the Vanity Fair party.
The irony was not lost on me.
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However, I don’t think that is the most flattering top of the dress that was possible.
Thanks for hosting Momcat and ek. Much appreciated! I am headed to bed.
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The Artist if they put it back in theaters this week.
Who actually gets the oscar for best picture? The producers?
I love white hair.
Thanks TSHG!
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Thank you all for keeping us company. Goddess willing, we will be back next year
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