Academy Awards - Live Thread 79th Oscar Awards

25 February 2007 | DollyCali

[DollyCali]

The Queen

Peter Morgan's "The Queen" is nominated for six Academy Awards, including one for best picture.

The Departed

Under Martin Scorsese's directing, "The Departed" is nominated for five Oscars.

Babel

"Babel" is nominated for seven Oscars, including best picture and director.

Letters From Iwo Jima

"Letters" is nominated for four Academy Awards, including best director and best picture.

Little Miss Sunshine

"Sunshine" is nominated for four Academy Awards, including best picture

Leonardo DiCaprio

Nominated for his role in "Blood Diamond," this is Dicaprio's third nomination.

Ryan Gosling

Nominated for "Half Nelson," this is Gosling's first Oscar nod.

Peter O'Toole

This is veteran actor Peter O'Toole's eighth Academy Award nomination.

Forest Whitaker

Whitaker is nominated for playing the brutal dictator Idi Amin in "The Last King of Scotland."

Will Smith

Smith is nominated for an Oscar for the second time for his roll in the film "The Pursuit of Happyness."

Penelope Cruz

Cruz, nominated for "Volver," plays a woman whose life is thrown into chaos.

Kate Winslet

Winslet plays a discontented wife in "Little Children," earning her fifth nomination.

Helen Mirren

Helen Mirren played royalty in "The Queen," earning her third Orcar nomination.

Judi Dench

No stranger to the Academy, this is Dench's sixth nomination.

Meryl Streep

Streep played a well-dressed, outrageously demanding editor in "The Devil Wears Prada."

Mark Wahlberg

In "The Departed," Wahlberg explores the underbelly of the Boston police force.

Alan Arkin

No one plays a heroin-addicted Grandpa like Alan Arkin, nominated for "Little Miss Sunshine."

Eddie Murphy

"Dreamgirls" was a box office hit, and earned Eddie Murphy his first Oscar nomination.

Jackie Earle Haley

Nominated for "Little Children," this is Haley's first Oscar nod.

Djimon Huonsou

This is Huonou's second nomination -- this time, for "Blood Diamond."

Rinko Kikuchi

Kikuchi, up for "Babel" in which she plays a deaf teenager in Tokyo.

Jennifer Hudson

Nominated for "Dreamgirls," this is Jennifer Hudson's first Oscar nod.

Abigail Breslin

This is young Breslin's first nod, for "Little Miss Sunshine."

Cate Blanchett

This is Blanchett's third Oscar nod -- this time, for "Notes on a Scandal."

Adriana Barraza

This is Barraza's first nomination, for Amelia in "Babel."

Clint Eastwood

Eastwood is also nominated for Best Picture for "Letters From Iwo Jima."

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu

Inarritu is nominated for directing "Babel."

Martin Scorsese

Scorsese is a familiar face at the Oscars -- this is his eight nomination.

Stephen Frears

Frears got the nod in 1990. This time, it's for directing "The Queen."

Paul Greengrass

Greengrass is up for "United 93," his first nomination.

[ReignOfError]

Why is Jack bald? Is he taking Chemo?

Show of solidarity with Britney.

[Cedar]

Appreciate the thread...after the show I came to FR looking for it!

[athelass]

I only just found this thread! I got stuck over on the hecklers thread. FR is so big! I can see I missed a fun discussion. I was beginning to feel very alone, like the only conservative in the world who watches the Oscars. So glad to have found you all, albeit too late. Oh, and to Joe who hasn't seen Ghost Rider yet..please don't..it's horrible!

[Maven]

I admire Helen Mirren because she has the confidence not to have plastic surgery. She is who she is - a beautiful 61-year-old woman.

Maven

[DollyCali]

Glad you made it. My back has been "rough" , so I stretched out on floor to watch awards. After second set of commercials I moved my keyboard & mouse down to the floor to sort of post without up /down .. (hate to go back & see the typos) I dont have laptop

[DollyCali]

Did you see here interview with Barbara Walters? She was charming there, Also said she would do a nude scene again if the situation was appropriate. She didn't marry until she was 52 she said!

[DollyCali]

Glad you found us! Yes I know what you mean about "lonely"

The movie lovers at FR are very definitely in the minority & made to feel like second rate citizens most of the time.

Every time I post a movie thread (I dont do many due to hecklers) I get slammed in one way or another.

I start these threads to have fun discussion with fellow enthusiasts...not to spar & defend what I consider enjoyable & to be made morally deprived for enjoying the flicks along the way

[ReignOfError]

Leonardo DiCaprio has turned out to be, in our opinion, the best younger actor Hollywood has come up with in a very long time.

DiCaprio and Johnny Depp are the best two actors of their generation, and they're far enough apart in age and appearance that I doubt they're often up for the same roles. Basically, they're like the modern-day Redford and Newman. If you haven't seen it, check out What's Eating Gilbert Grape, which stars both and got a 19-year-old Leo (deservedly) his first Oscar nomination.

I tried to hate DiCaprio, because of the whole teen-hearththrob, cover-of-Tiger-Beat thing, but there's a lot more to him than that.

We liked the picture, gory as it was and with about every other word starting with f.

"A Martin Scorcese Film" is about all the disclaimer you need for that.

DiCaprio was so great in The Aviator, the Howard Hughes bio, that we will take a chance on anything he is in.

DiCaprio carried that movie on his shoulders. It's hard enough to play something like OCD, but to show the internal struggle and the gradual worsening ... that's a performance with a lot of layers. But Leo still got a lot of scenes stolen by Cate Blanchett, who was absolutely perfect.

[Cyropaedia]

"Delirious" is arguably the greatest stand-up comedic routine ever. So many of today's comedians were inspired by that video. "Uncle Guss" and his barbecue routine is a classic...

"Get that lighter fluid outta here...".

[ReignOfError]

"Once Upon A Time in America" ... it's takes place over 30 years.

It may have seemed that long, but I think it was actually just under 4 hours.

[athelass]

Well, I really appreciate this thread. All of Hollywood is not bad or evil or political. It was worth watching the whole boring four hours tonight just to hear Helen Mirren and Forrest Whitaker. I love storytelling, I love movies, and a great movie..a good story well told..has the power to change the world. They certainly make my world more interesting! The Queen was spectacular. I even enjoyed The Last King of Scotland. Last night we saw Amazing Grace. I could only hope we see it honored in next year's awards, but since it is about an 18th century Christian I won't hold my breath. Seriously, I can't recommend it highly enough.

[Maven]

Did you see here interview with Barbara Walters? She was charming there, Also said she would do a nude scene again if the situation was appropriate. She didn't marry until she was 52 she said!

No, I missed it. I try to avoid Barbara Walters at all costs, and, too, I had recorded The Amazing Race to watch after.

Did you see Mirren in "Calendar Girls"? Took off her clothes. :)

Maven

[ReignOfError]

Well, I can say this for absolutely certain...Ellen didn't do that good of a job as host. She probably won't be invited back.

One of the friends I was watching with opined about halfway through that Billy Crystal should expect a truck full of money to back into his driveway some time in the next few months.

I didn't think Ellen was awful, but I didn't think she was great. She had a lot less to do than Billy used to, but that's been a general trend over the last few years. They've also done away with the elaborate song-and-dance numbers in favor of film montages, which I think is a good step. The shadow-dancing segments were a little goofy, but some of them were pretty clever, and they didn't go on long enough to annoy me.

But what do I know? I didn't think Letterman was so awful a few years back. He was ... Letterman. Had any of the folks surprised by his performance, or anyone involved in hiring him for the gig, ever watched his show? Ever?

[athelass]

I don't remember Letterman hosting. How long ago was that? I do remember Whoopie Goldberg. That was painful. At least Ellen wasn't offensive as so many comedians like to be. When they do lots of stupid stuff it goes too long but when they don't it's really dull. I wish they could find the balance. Though, I guess I enjoy the years when I loved the movies no matter what the show looks like. So I haven't enjoyed the show since Return of the King!!

[durasell]

Did you see Mirren in "Calendar Girls"? Took off her clothes. :)






Setting an awful example for our senior citizens!

[athelass]

That was fantastic! I love that movie. Hey, if you've got it, flaunt it. And it was a true story!

[durasell]

It was a cute little movie. There are a lot of those small Brit movies that are very, very good. One that sticks in my mind is Withnail and I (sp?)

[ReignOfError]

I agree with the little or NO politics.

The sum total of events that I thought were political at all:
1) Ellen's off-hand one-liner about Gore getting more votes, which is mild compared to the digs pointed at presidents of both parties in the past.

2) The Algore/Leo spiel about the Oscars being "Green," which is less about partisan politics than about the academy patting itself on the back.

What annoyed me about that is not the political content (really, the only thing political was having Al Gore on the stage to announce it) but the fact that it was so non-specific. A press release on the Web gives a little more detail: "Among the practices included in this effort were the purchase of energy credits to offset carbon emissions from the telecast and pre-show production units and the Governors Ball, the incorporation of environmentally sound features into the green room design, the promotion of recycling and waste reduction practices, and the use of recycled materials in paper products."

Personally, the main environmental measure I'd like to see is the recycling of the red carpet itself -- they basically rip it up and throw it away. Surely there could be plenty of volunteers to cut it up into neat 2" squares that could be nicely packaged with a certificate of authenticity and sold to raise money for some worthy cause.

3) The award wins for "An Inconvenient Truth" and for the song from it. The documentary feature category is the only one where likelihood of a win tracks closely to box office success; Academy members tend to vote for the one and only film in the category they've heard of. And if it hadn't been Gore's movie, it would have been Jesus Camp.

I thought there was an unusually weak song field this year. The "Dreamgirls" songs were nowhere near the quality of the classic Motown songs they strove to emulate (I'm talking about the writing; the performances were dead solid), and they split the votes three ways. They should have gotten Holland-Dosier-Holland, or some of the real Motown songwriters, on board.

Even Randy Newman, whom I usually like a lot, had a pretty weak entry this time out. I think that a really strong song could have beaten the Ethridge song, which was a solid but unremarkable folk-rock anthem, but since none of the other songs was compelling, folks voted their politics.

That's it. Other than that, I didn't hear any political comments from anyone outside the documentary and song categories, and even they were mild.

[athelass]

Withnail and I? I haven't seen it. I just looked over on Netflix. No wonder, it's from 1987! I'll put it on my list. Have you seen Five Children and It? If you like small British films you should see that, it's wonderful. And Nanny McPhee. Loved it!

[athelass]

It was a pretty mild year as politics go, but you didn't hear anyone supporting the troops or saying "God Bless America" either. In fact, I think Jennifer Hudson and Forrest Whittaker were the only ones who thanked God at all! That film montage about how there's no such thing as an American because we're all so different. That was stupid. A weak nod to "diversity". It did gall me to see Gwyneth Paltrow up there like she loves us after so recently trashing America to the British press. Do they think we forget this stuff? And that "the Oscars have gone green" crap from Algore when the streets are full of limos and the theater is full of diamonds. Unbelievable hypocrisy. "Energy Credit" is the most ridiculous concept ever.