Awards Season 2009

[domino harvey]

Someone at the Academy loves extra work

[swo17]

I'm all for this. It makes everyone truly consider each nominee, and accounts for people hating movies as much as loving them. Also, as I'm sure I've said before, they hire PriceWaterAhmadinejadhouseCoopers to tabulate Oscar votes. Surely those guys can develop a spreadsheet at least as complicated as the one zedz uses for the lists projects.

[zedz]

I'm all for this. It makes everyone truly consider each nominee, and accounts for people hating movies as much as loving them. Also, as I'm sure I've said before, they hire PriceWaterAhmadinejadhouseCoopers to tabulate Oscar votes. Surely those guys can develop a spreadsheet at least as complicated as the one zedz uses for the lists projects.

I'm even prepared to sell them my technology for a modest six figure sum.

[Antoine Doinel]

I'm all for this. It makes everyone truly consider each nominee, and accounts for people hating movies as much as loving them. Also, as I'm sure I've said before, they hire PriceWaterAhmadinejadhouseCoopers to tabulate Oscar votes. Surely those guys can develop a spreadsheet at least as complicated as the one zedz uses for the lists projects.

Not really. If an small studio film without the financing to make sure all 5800 Academy members sees the film, gets the the most number one votes, but not "the majority" of ballot appearances, they're out meaning that studio pictures are still going to be favored.

[swo17]

You make a good point Antoine. I guess we will just have to wait and see how it actually plays out with the nominees. I do definitely think it's an improvement at least, if not perfect. Not to blame this all on math though--no algorithm in the world can completely correct for the fact that hordes of people still like movies like Crash.

[domino harvey]

LOS ANGELES — Of the 89 documentary films eligible for Oscar consideration this year, 15 were selected for a short list of potential nominees. And Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story" wasn't one of them.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the 15 titles Wednesday.

Some of the year's most popular documentary features were overlooked, including Moore's R-rated film, which was praised by critics and earned more than $14 million at the box office.

Also omitted from Oscar consideration was the well-reviewed Mike Tyson documentary "Tyson," the rock-doc "It Might Get Loud," and the story of Vogue magazine and its editor-in-chief, "The September Issue."

The short list of films is determined by a committee of members of the academy's documentary branch. They watch all eligible contenders and vote for their favorites by secret ballot. The top vote-getters make the short list of potential nominees.

The selections this year are "The Beaches of Agnes," "Burma VJ," "The Cove," "Every Little Step," "Facing Ali," "Food, Inc.," "Garbage Dreams," "Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders," "The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers," "Mugabe and the White African," "Sergio," "Soundtrack for a Revolution," "Under Our Skin," "Valentino The Last Emperor" and "Which Way Home."

Five documentary features from that list will be chosen as nominees for the 82nd Academy Awards. Nominations will be announced Feb. 2, 2010, and the awards will be presented March 7.

[Matt]

Agnes Varda getting nominated and Michael Moore getting "snubbed" means the system works.

[tavernier]

She's not nominated yet--she could still be left off the final list of 5 nominees.

[rs98762001]

Agnes Varda getting nominated and Michael Moore getting "snubbed" means the system works.

Agreed. Although how/why ANVIL was left out I have no idea.

[Brian C]

Of those, I've seen The Beaches of Agnes and The Cove, and they were both much better than Capitalism, Tyson, and It Might Get Loud.

So yeah ... so far, so good as far as I'm concerned.

[Lemmy Caution]

Valentino: The Last Emperor?
Really? Is this any good?
Or just a nod to a related industry and all of the film stars who appear in it?
I hadn't given the Dvd much consideration.
It just sounded like an industry handjob, directed by a Vanity Fair photographer.
Can't imagine this will make the final cut.

Looking forward to the Animation list.
Helluva year for non-humans.

[knives]

animation short list
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel
Astro Boy
Battle for Terra
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Coraline
Disney's A Christmas Carol
The Dolphin – Story of a Dreamer
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Mary and Max
The Missing Lynx
Monsters vs. Aliens
9
Planet 51
Ponyo
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of Kells
Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure
A Town Called Panic
Up

[Matt]

I wonder how different that is from the "animation long list."

[knives]

Doesn't have Aliens in the Attic?

[Lemmy Caution]

No Sita Sings the Blues?
Isn't that 2009?

(thanks for the list)

[Matt]

Doesn't have Aliens in the Attic?

Maybe that film falls short of the 75% rule.

No Sita Sings the Blues?

It was 2008, but I'll bet the unusual distribution arrangement for that film disqualified it last year.

[domino harvey]

Add "petty" to the list of things Tom O'Neil is

But Crash. I predicted Crash. Crash, you guys, Crash. Crash!

[davebert]

No Sita Sings the Blues?
Isn't that 2009?

(thanks for the list)

Aye, it debuted in 2009 but it also played on PBS, plus the Internet... it's managed to disqualify under just about every one of the rules imaginable. It's a shame, as I'm sure it could have really had a shot, but that would have meant restricting what Nina wanted to do with it to fit the traditional release pattern.

The "short list" is the long list of nominees, but it's shorter than every film that theoretically could qualify but didn't submit proper paperwork. The nice surprise this year was that everyone submitted films even if they didn't think they had a shot vs. Up and Coraline, and in the process expanded the field.

Finally, a shameless plug: I'm the distributor of Secret of Kells, one of those "what the hell is this movie on the list I've never heard of" films, although it won the audience awards this year at Annecy and Edinburgh.

We're running a dark horse campaign to get a nomination on a tiny budget, especially trying to push the insanely detailed classic 2D to take advantage of a voter backlash in the face of a big 3D trend.

If folks are interested in seeing it prior to March release, our Oscar qualifying run is at the AMC Burbank 8 starting this Friday. Director Tomm Moore's going to fly in for the Sunday screening, which will be a lot of fun. Original Irish trailer here. Crappy website I made here.

ASIFA's nominations are out tomorrow, so that should give the first indication of where the field might be headed. I'm going to guess Up, Coraline, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Ponyo, and Secret of Kells, because I'm an optimist.


UPDATE:

And here's the ASIFA Annies list of nominees for Best Animated Feature, as announced this morning:

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of Kells
Up

[lacritfan]

Independent Spirit Awards Nominations

[hidaniel]

How to fix easily the Oscars:

10 nominee steel cage match, last man standing wins.

44.95$ on Pay-pay-per view.

[domino harvey]

Independent Spirit Awards Nominations

Wow, I knew this year was bad, but I didn't realize it was this bad. Also

Maria Bello
DOWNLOADING NANCY

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

I just get upset when people think the Coen Bros. and anything with Zooey Deschanel qualifies as independent cinema. Good thing no one really cares about these!

[domino harvey]

ASIFA's nominations are out tomorrow, so that should give the first indication of where the field might be headed. I'm going to guess Up, Coraline, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Ponyo, and Secret of Kells, because I'm an optimist.


UPDATE:

And here's the ASIFA Annies list of nominees for Best Animated Feature, as announced this morning:

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of Kells
Up

Wow, congrats on pulling that one off! =D>

[lacritfan]

National Board of Review

[reno dakota]

LA Film Critics

Boston Film Critics

AFI Top Ten

All around, a good day for "The Hurt Locker" and Kathryn Bigelow.