“She, over a decade, kind of went down the rabbit hole, getting lost in her work, until finally at the end of the movie, [the pilot] says ‘Where do you want to go?’ She has no idea where she goes now. Who is she now? She’s trained to be unemotional and analytically precise. I’m trying to be the exact opposite. I’m trained to be emotional and kind of a hot mess, so that was a bit of a stretch.” Jessica Chastain on her role in Zero Dark Thirty.
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AO Scott, Manohla Dargis and Stephen Holden do their annual “And the Oscars Should Be” column. They only agree on two films, Amour and Zero Dark Thirty.
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“If they don’t, they won’t vote. And that could suppress the number of people who participate in Oscar nominations this year. We’ll never know, as the Academy does not release the number of people who vote.” – Anne Thompson speculating on what many Oscar bloggers (Hammond, Feinberg, Poland) are calling a “disaster” in Academy online voting.
Just so you all know, Hammond wrote this in mid-December:
Firmly answering those concerned members, the Academy is going the extra step of automatically sending a paper ballot to every dues-paid voting member who did not, for whatever reason, register to choose either online or paper ballot options by today’s deadline. In other words — have no fear. As long as your dues are paid up, one way or another next week you will be getting a ballot even if you did nothing. Whew.
That means, they got paper ones in case the online thing doesn’t work out. The only ones shit out of luck are those overly confident seniors who chose the online option, couldn’t figure it out, called the helpline, still couldn’t figure it out, got huffy because they might have had to download Firefox, then threw up their hands. How many of THOSE do you think are out there?
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In Contention’s Kris Tapley tweeted his best performances: “Chastain, Day-Lewis, Hathaway, Hedlund, Lavant, Lerman, Jackson, Mann, Neeson, Phoenix/Hoffman, Riva & Wallis.”
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“But there’s also a case to be made that doing that is part of the job of Oscar writers such as myself. We have a platform that can serve a purpose beyond just, “Look at me, I’m a good guesser!” There’s value in pushing for what you think is right – or at least worthwhile (which, ironically, is the central theme of Compliance, too.)” EW’s Anthony Breznican’s column, Why I Wish I’d pushed Harder for Ann Dowd
Compliance (2012) – Movie Review
The Dumbest Movie Ever
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZlttXngDdg&feature
Totally agree with Paddy M’s comments regarding Rust & Bone, Matthias Schoenaerts is definitely lead and was wonderful…
@PaulH. but never have I read anyone say, here’s the plot, other than a boy and a tiger on a raft and the tiger has 800 chances to have the kid for dinner but doesn’t take the kill shot.
On “Life of Pi”….Probably because to do so would reveal the plot of the story. After all the Tiger, the hyenna, Heck, I already forgot the other two creatures represented what the story is all about. I took wondered where did these creatures go. Of course, the pay off is in the ending. BTW, the kid had a better dinner than the tiger.
“How can Dargis and Scott not acknowledge Life of Pi? It’s such a unique film and it was expertly delivered. Ang Lee should get a nomination – there are NO crib notes to follow for this movie (unlike all the other options, however great their respective movies are).”
Because like most posters on here, neither of them, I suspect, can convey what the eff the plot of this is about? We’re always told, it’s good, it’s Ang Lee, he’s due after the Brokeback Mountain screwjob in ’05, but never have I read anyone say, here’s the plot, other than a boy and a tiger on a raft and the tiger has 800 chances to have the kid for dinner but doesn’t take the kill shot.
Given some of the terrible choices these people have made, maybe it’s good if some of them DON’T vote.
Every Oscar season, there’s a silly overblown story about how something or other is going to change the race. This year it’s the online voting story, about which Sasha has been a voice of reason. For the SLP crowd, there was momentary hope that when actually voting for BP, oldsters would be required to tweet their choice while humming the latest from Imagine Dragons.
That couple in the video reminds me of people who go to comedies that people say are funny and go in laughing and continue laughing through the movie no matter that the movie isn’t very funny at all. But they think it is so they laugh. Or how about those that go into a movie that they heard has great reviews and even though they didn’t care for the film come out saying it was good just because they think they must. This said, I will say I did enjoy the film “Les Miserables” but come on folks, the film is hardly romantic or sad in any way shape or form unless you are terribly sensitive. The thing that makes the movie worth seeing is seeing the performers singing the wonderful songs, the costumes and the set designs, and of course the facial flaws and pimples of the performers and of course if you know the Hugo story already that helps to enjoy the film even more so because if you don’t the film is so disjointed and detached you wouldn’t know there is a story to this musical much less know when to be sad or when to be cheery.
Some pretty odd picks from the NYT (and THE major omission, as Mac said above).
Finally watched The Grey night before last, only because I’d heard a few people mention it – didn’t much care for it, the main problem being the whole “wolf” thing. Bad – really bad – FX kept taking me out of it, and anybody that lives near wolves would have issues with the behaviour portrayed in the film. Not since Richard Harris battled that rubber orca has a species been so poorly portryed. Plus, the predictable “Ten Little Indians-style who’s gets killed next is annoying. So, considering his other work, seeing Neeson as a pick for Best Actor for this is mind-boggling.
How can Dargis and Scott not acknowledge Life of Pi? It’s such a unique film and it was expertly delivered. Ang Lee should get a nomination – there are NO crib notes to follow for this movie (unlike all the other options, however great their respective movies are).
And what is with AO Scott’s infatuation with The Grey? Liam Neeson is going through the motions and the man v. nature theme was better covered in The Edge, a movie that was equally mediocre.
For the NYtimes trio, each of their slates of five best directors are – surprise! – the people that directed their five best pictures. Could have saved space by just writing: “Best Director: see above.”
LMAO Hugh Grant for The Pirates! A leading role in a crappy animation. Although she does also have Matthias Schoenaerts in Best Supporting for Rust and Bone – I’m happy to see appreciation for that performance, but it’s a bigger role than Marion’s, and certainly not supporting.
Dargis has Hugh Grant in Best Supporting for Pirates? Is that a typo, or just really weird?
Honestly, I would have stuck with a paper ballot too. I don’t trust online voting especially when it’s important. It always freaks me out when someone suggests switching our government voting to all online. You need a paper trail.
That whole online voting fiasco story only highlights how out of touch the Academy is. Get them all to do it online, nix paper ballots and see what the nominations turn out to be. I bet they’d be significantly better.
How many of THOSE do you think are out there?
6,000 🙂
Most old timers will have stuck to paper ballots.