Awards Season 2007

[Michael]

Nothing exciting, she was just overwhelmed.

It would be fun seeing how she'd react if she won the Oscar.

And I really hope she will win the Oscar. Really. She is fabulous and heartbreaking as Edith Piaf (who I'm nuts about since I was in kindergarten when my aunt played her records). The biopic is not my favorite genre but the film is nice enough.

[colinr0380]

Michael, have you seen the Claude Lelouch film Edith and Marcel, and if so how would you compare it to this latest biopic?

[Michael]

I've been wanting to see the Lelouch film for a long, long time. Very difficult to find. Let me say a bit about the new Piaf film. Even being one of the world's last fans of Piaf, I watched the film for Marion Cotillard's Oscar-nominated performance more than the story of Piaf itself. I was already familiar with Piaf's life and history. And I'm perfectly contented with my collection of 7 Piaf CDs and a vintage Piaf poster. Marion Cotillard carries the film totally on her back and she's always riveting to watch. If she wins the Oscar, then it's more than well deserved. The film itself is decent... more like a high-quality made-for-cable biopic type. Don't except too much. Just watch it for Marion's tour-de-force performance, which is pretty much the only thing worthy of the film, on a lazy night when you don't have anything better to watch.

[souvenir]

Here's a great FYC ad for Casey Affleck.

[exte]

Thought this was great!

Teen's interview with John Lennon yields Oscar nod

By Etan VlessingThu Feb 14, 9:02 PM ET

A 1969 encounter between a 14 year-old Beatles fan and John Lennon has inspired "I Met the Walrus," a five-minute Canadian film contending for an Oscar for best animated short.

Think "Almost Famous" with the Beatles. Except this portrait of a young boy in a dream landscape is told from his lips. The voice track for "I Met the Walrus" is based on an interview Jerry Levitan did 39 years ago with a surprisingly accommodating John Lennon.

Levitan, now a lawyer in Toronto, recalls doorstepping as a fake photographer to get into Lennon and Yoko Ono's room at the city's King Edward Hotel.

"My heart was beating so fast. I was like Al Pacino in 'The Godfather,' where he's in the restaurant with the planted gun and about to kill the cop," he says, remembering how he summoned the courage to knock at Lennon's door.

When Levitan did knock, the door opened a crack, he uttered "Canadian News," and was led in.

Levitan recalls Lennon throwing him a broad smile as he entered the crowded room. He fumbled with a Super 8 camera and an old Kodak Brownie around his neck to maintain his ruse.

After Levitan got Lennon to sign his copy of the "Two Virgins" album, he summoned yet more chutzpah.

"I just said to John, 'Can I come back later and bring a tape recorder and do an interview on peace so I can let kids listen to it?"' he recalls.

To his surprise, Lennon agreed. Later that day, Levitan jumped a long line of media, including U.S. network news reporters, to do a 40-minute interview with Lennon and Ono.

For 36 years, Levitan sat on the audiotape, until 2005 when he met Toronto-based animator Josh Raskin.

The duo agreed to pare the 1969 interview down to five minutes and overlay the voice track with a visual narrative of pen sketches by James Braithwaite and digital illustrations from Alex Kurina.

The resulting animated short has earned a host of awards on the festival circuit on its way to the Oscars.

Animator Raskin says festival audiences empathize with a young boy's nervousness and disorientation in his hero's midst while a visionary Lennon boldly riffs on youth culture and global conflict.

"You hear a larger-than-life figure interviewed by a relatively naive, over-excited teenager," Raskin observes.

Levitan, who produced "I Met the Walrus," says his Beatles encounter forever changed his life, not least because knocking at Lennon's hotel room door could have gone horribly wrong had the famed Beatle or his handlers turned him away.

"My big fear (was) someone (saying), 'Who are you? You're nothing, go away!' How would I have picked myself up from that?" Levitan says.

Instead, Lennon welcomed the Beatles fan across the threshold and saw value in making a recording with a 14-year-old to reach yet more young people with his message.

"The most important thing (for Lennon) at that moment wasn't getting on CBS or ABC, but talking to this kid for a long time," Levitan marvels.

[colinr0380]

By the way Michael have you seen the Vanity Fair Hitchcock recreations, including Marion Cotillard in Psycho?

[domino harvey]

Thought this was great!

I swear I've heard or seen this before-- is there a TV documentary or maybe even a movie that involves either this guy or someone who did something very similar to what he did where the interviewer and someone else listen to the tape inside a car while the camera rolls?

To answer my own question, I was thinking of the Louis Theroux special about Michael Jackson.

Thought this was great!

I swear I've heard or seen this before-- is there a TV documentary or maybe even a movie that involves either this guy or someone who did something very similar to what he did where the interviewer and someone else listen to the tape inside a car while the camera rolls?

[Michael]

By the way Michael have you seen the Vanity Fair Hitchcock recreations, including Marion Cotillard in Psycho?

AWESOME! Must pick up Vanity Fair today.

Marion Cotillard is a very beautiful woman. While watching her in Vie en Rose, she looked so familiar so I looked her up online. I was amazed to find out that she is the one who played Tina in A Very Long Engagement.

Any Oscar predictions? Which Best Pic nominee do you think will win? My favorite of the five nominees is There Will Be Blood but I doubt that it will win. The Academy may not want to award a depressing and brutal film again especially after The Departed won last year. I'd say that the safe bet is Atonement, don't you think?

[domino harvey]

Any Oscar predictions? Which Best Pic nominee do you think will win? My favorite of the five nominees is There Will Be Blood but I doubt that it will win. The Academy may not want to award a depressing and brutal film again especially after The Departed won last year. I'd say that the safe bet is Atonement, don't you think?

This is actually a really interesting year because four of the five Best Picture noms could legitimately pull it off. I've been reading a lot of the buzz/insider blogs and here's the basics: No Country seems like the shoo-in but a lot of voters are getting bored with its inevitability. There Will Be Blood is representational of the kind of film that should be getting the Best Pic but it winning would be something of an upset. TWBB and No Country's votes could cancel each other out, paving the way for a Juno upset. Atonement has zero momentum. And then there's the Wild Card: Michael Clayton, which is sweeping with older Academy voters and could very well even upset Diablo Cody in the screenplay category. Personally I think the vote canceling is the most plausible outcome, so my guess is Juno-- but this is really one of the most unpredictable Oscar ceremonies in years.

The Michael Clayton surge is fine so long as it doesn't endanger Lewis's deserved Oscar-- which if you believe the word on the street right now, it might. I love Clooney as much as the next guy but he would be the subject of so much (deserved) animosity from a win over Lewis. But after Crash, the Oscars are teetering so close to becoming a joke that I can't see them making a mistake of this magnitude-- which I guess is another reason why Juno may not get Best Pic after all.

[colinr0380]

I'll go for No Country For Old Men then - I would agree with the people saying that though both this and There Will Be Blood are dark, No Country seems darker in a 'safer' way (well known novel adaptation, not 'reinventing' cinema but doing what it does extremely well). I suppose No Country for Best Film and Blood for Best Director?

I doubt Atonement stands any chance with its British subject matter (especially after winning the BAFTA so having already picked up its 'major' award). I could see that little girl picking up supporting actress though - being cute (and American) she is sure to melt American voter's hearts!

Juno would be a bigger upset than Crash if it won, and my guess is everyone will be voting for Diablo Cody or Ellen Page more than the film itself.

Sadly Michael Clayton seems to have been overlooked.

(Though to declare my bias I've only seen Atonement out of those films so far!)

[domino harvey]

In my magical world of self-delusion, Christie, Cottilard, and Page all cancel each other out and Laura Linney wins Best Actress. I want to live in a world where that happens.

[Michael]

Atonement has zero momentum.

Why is that? It won BAFTA Best Film after all but that doesn't gurantee the Oscar win of course. It's romantic, epic.. beautiful people, beautiful landscapes, beautiful everything. The Academy digs that kind of movies.

Juno? I don't think so. It's too slight and "indie" like last years Little Miss Sunshine, nothing wrong with that but the Academy likes to end the night with a bit more glitz and flare.

[colinr0380]

The way all those British actresses cancelled each other out for Helen Hunt to win all those years ago? Sadly I do live in a world where that happened!

EDIT: Not that I'm bitter or cyncial or anything like that... (although it was a bigger travesty than Marisa Tomei! And giving Dench a consolation Oscar the next year for the awful Shakespeare film three minute cameo was even worse, depriving all the nominees that year of fair competition!)

[domino harvey]

Atonement has zero momentum.

Why is that? It won BAFTA Best Film after all but it doesn't gurantee the Oscar win of course. It's romantic, epic.. beautiful people, beautiful landscapes, beautiful everything. The Academy digs that kind of movies.

Precisely because of this. Younger voters are only too aware of The English Patient-itis, and the older viewers who would be leaning towards that sort of film are far more enamored with Michael Clayton. And, if you can believe it, Juno is also skewing older viewers, Atonement is simply not on anyone's ballots.

The way all those British actresses cancelled each other out for Helen Hunt to win all those years ago? Sadly I do live in a world where that happened!

I could see it happening. Linney is well-loved by the Academy and honestly had she been up against anyone but Julia Roberts she would rightly have won for You Can Count On Me. Her performance in the Savages is exactly what the Academy should be rewarding: turning nothing into something. It's the sort of thing Glenda Jackson used to get Oscars for, it would be well-deserved here. But if I had to bet money I would put it on Page.

[Michael]

Atonement has zero momentum.

Why is that? It won BAFTA Best Film after all but it doesn't gurantee the Oscar win of course. It's romantic, epic.. beautiful people, beautiful landscapes, beautiful everything. The Academy digs that kind of movies.

Precisely because of this. Younger voters are only too aware of The English Patient-itis, and the older viewers who would be leaning towards that sort of film are far more enamored with Michael Clayton. And, if you can believe it, Juno is also skewing older viewers, Atonement is simply not on anyone's ballots.

Yes and no. Not that I'm trying to staunchly defending Atonement. It's #4 of the nominees for me, Juno being the last. Most of the characters in Atonement are young, in their teens and 20s while almost all the characters in The English Patients are older, in their 40s and 50s. I think younger voters could identify with Atonement, especially Kiera Knightley with no problem. It's far from being bloated or messy like The English Patient.

About Laura Linney. I loved her in You Can Count On Me. Such a beautiful performance. I rooted for her when she was up for the Oscar but such horror, she was defeated!

The problem with Michael Clayton, a fine film, is that almost no one knows about it. It's still pretty much the stranger.

[domino harvey]

Michael, every academy voter is quite well-acquainted with Michael Clayton. I know what you're saying, that it wasn't a commercially popular film, but the momentum on this film is insane right now. I understand your defenses of Atonement but the opposite is true, the film has no momentum with voters or pundits, and the British award it won actually worsened it's chances because now the Academy feels it already won a big award and they can turn their attention to their favorites. Atonement is perceived to be like the English Patient, I know it's a much better film than that but in a field like this, it has a zero, underline, percent chance of winning.

I think another important factor not to be overlooked is Ebert's raving about Juno. The last two movies he was this fanatical about both won Best Pic, Crash and Million Dollar Baby and I think Academy voters listen to him a lot more than at the very least any other critic. If the trend holds, it could be a threepeat.

[colinr0380]

I think another important factor not to be overlooked is Ebert's raving about Juno. The last two movies he was this fanatical about both won Best Pic, Crash and Million Dollar Baby and I think Academy voters listen to him a lot more than at the very least any other critic. If the trend holds, it could be a threepeat.

So he is sort of the super-delegate of films? I know it is issue-tastic but surely Juno cannot be as bad as Crash and Million Dollar Baby?

[souvenir]

As strange as it sounds, the editors guild award is Sunday night and it could nearly cement No Country for Old Men's chances. The Globes just don't matter (see Babel last year). No Country has won SAG ensemble, DGA, Producers Guild, and Writers Guild awards. Those are the people who vote on the Oscars. If every single guild gives No Country their award and it loses Best Picture, it would be a stunner.

[domino harvey]

Well, Million Dollar Baby was a very good film, Crash certainly wasn't and Juno is somewhere in the middle. I guess something else to consider is that unlike with Crash, there's not a film this year that voters are voting "against" like with Brokeback Mountain, which could complicate the chances of an upset for Juno.

I still feel that No Country For Old Men feels too inevitable for the Academy, there's less excitement and more shoulder-shrugging "of course"s for the film and after giving it to the Departed, they might try to lean in another direction.

[Michael]

Didn't care for Crash and Million Dollar Baby (its last third a joke). But Oscars 2007 will be definitely interesting. I'm still going to keep my pom poms out for There Will Be Blood.

[exte]

I still feel that No Country For Old Men feels too inevitable for the Academy, there's less excitement and more shoulder-shrugging "of course"s for the film and after giving it to the Departed, they might try to lean in another direction.

But I like in a way that they're honoring the NYC/NYU directors back to back... and the thought of the Coens with fours Oscars each - will that be a record? Wasn't Warren Beatty nominated for four Oscars twice, but never won more than one? I think James Cameron won three, as did Peter Jackson and Francis Coppola, but I'm not sure there's ever been anyone that's won four in a single evening...

[jaredsap]

I think James Cameron won three, as did Peter Jackson and Francis Coppola, but I'm not sure there's ever been anyone that's won four in a single evening...

Walt Disney did in 1954.

[Jeff]

As strange as it sounds, the editors guild award is Sunday night and it could nearly cement No Country for Old Men's chances.

ACE has thrown a bit of a curveball.

The American Cinema Editors handed out a slew of awards this evening that included top honors for "The Bourne Ultimatum" and "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" in the drama and comedy categories for narrative features. Michael Moore's "Sicko" won out in the documentary field.

[domino harvey]

Oh man, that's not a good sign for No Countriers

[Via_Chicago]

Oh man, that's not a good sign for No Countriers

It would have been a bad sign if There Will Be Blood won instead, but it didn't. This is a strange year since only two of the five Best Pic nominees are up for the Editing Oscar. That old rule of Best Pic = Best Editing has been holding strong now for some twenty-odd years; I don't expect it to change, even with Clayton and Juno momentum. I expect the Coen film to hold strong.