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Damn! All the pieces fit now!

From Yahoo News:

LOS ANGELES - Celine Dion will unveil her new song, "I Knew I Loved You," during a tribute to Italian composer Ennio Morricone at this year's Academy Awards, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Wednesday.

Morricone, who will receive an honorary Oscar at the Feb. 25 awards, orchestrated the song for 1984's "Once Upon a Time in America," directed by Sergio Leone.

Songwriters Alan and Marilyn Bergman wanted to write lyrics for the song, but the film's producers felt none were needed. The Bergmans got their chance with Dion's version.

Morricone, 78, has received original score Oscar nominations for "Days of Heaven," "The Mission," "The Untouchables," "Bugsy" and "Malena."

The new rendition of "I Knew I Loved You," produced by Quincy Jones, will appear on Morricone's upcoming greatest-hits album and on Dion's forthcoming record.

It's one of Morricone's prettiest melodies, so I'm curious as to how this will sound.

sherlockjr wrote:True, but Hitchock not winning is a disgrace. I'd rather he be in the company of John Ford (who won four!).

Not really. You can count with single hand how many of the truly top 25 directors of all time have ever won an Oscar for directing.

Antoine Doinel wrote:HOMER SIMPSON'S OSCAR PICKS

the Nicholson line was great

Dylan wrote:From Yahoo News:

LOS ANGELES - Celine Dion will unveil her new song, "I Knew I Loved You," during a tribute to Italian composer Ennio Morricone at this year's Academy Awards, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Wednesday.

Morricone, who will receive an honorary Oscar at the Feb. 25 awards, orchestrated the song for 1984's "Once Upon a Time in America," directed by Sergio Leone.

Songwriters Alan and Marilyn Bergman wanted to write lyrics for the song, but the film's producers felt none were needed. The Bergmans got their chance with Dion's version.

Morricone, 78, has received original score Oscar nominations for "Days of Heaven," "The Mission," "The Untouchables," "Bugsy" and "Malena."

The new rendition of "I Knew I Loved You," produced by Quincy Jones, will appear on Morricone's upcoming greatest-hits album and on Dion's forthcoming record.

It's one of Morricone's prettiest melodies, so I'm curious as to how this will sound.

Ugh, I'd rather Metallica perform their version of "Ecstacy of Gold". Speaking of music, Al Pacino will be presenting an award to Van Morrison at the technical Oscars. Also, again of speaking of music and the award season, did anyone else catch The Police at the Grammys?

The Police put on quite a show. Although going to one of these could probably be much more exciting.

I didn't read all of Ebert's predictions, but I agree with all of the predictions for the top categories. Yet the enemedia is still saying the races are WIDE OPEN. Zzz.

SncDthMnky wrote:The Police put on quite a show. Although going to one of these could probably be much more exciting.

Oh absolutely. A friend of mine is in a pool of on what date on the upcoming VH tour when the band will crack. I have the right mind, however, to start one on what date a Police show will turn into a street fight between Sting and Stewart Copeland.

And if YOU haven't watched them Oscar picks yet, haul over to The Piratebays oscar special at Oscartorrents. In the time of YOU, YOU get to decide, no brown nosing required !

OSCARTORRENTS®, and the OSCAR THE PIRATE® statuette design mark are the unregistered marks of no one in particular. No ©2007. Nothing to do with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences & ABC, Inc. All Rights Reversed. The Official Oscars is a sham produced by villiains in partnership with the cult of celebrity. By accessing this site you're probably comitting a felony somewhere -- but let your own idea of what is right and wrong be your guide.

anton wrote:haul over to The Pirate Bay's Oscar special at Oscartorrents.

Oh, goody, now I get an excuse to quote this hilarious "legal" note:

The Pirate Bay wrote:To those worried about downloading in case they get sued: by our calculations, your chances of getting nailed are way less than your chances of winning the lottery. Don't think twice about it.

To all intellectual property landlords: we are aware that OscarTorrents might annoy you -- but contain your righteous indignation for a while, and think: we're only linking to torrents that already exist. Face it: your membrane has burst, and it wasn't us who burst it. Your precious bodily fluids are escaping.

You haven't beaten us, so why not join us? Think of a new business model that doesn't involve overpriced pieces of plastic and skanky cinemas hawking cheap carbohydrates while relying on $6/hr projectionists who can't keep a film in focus -- not to mention insulting your audiences by (to pick a few examples) surveilling us with nightvision glasses, searching bags, 30 minutes of commercials and bombarding us with ridiculous anti-piracy propaganda. Take a look at yourselves. Is it really any wonder we're winning?

Ebert said Moulin Rouge was going to win Best Pic on the Red Carpet a few years ago. He's good at predicting the noms, not so much the winners. He thinks Babel is going to sweep for the same reason he thought Crash would: he likes the film.

barrett wrote:Also, on gambling sites LMS is the favorite, so something's going on...

I have been saying it for a while now that LMS will win Best Picture. One other poster even derided me for it. It has now won the Producer Guild Award, Screen Actors Award and the Writers Guild Award. I am not saying it is a great film and in fact most of the other nominees are much better films but I think with all the doom and gloom in the current world that the Academy will give it to something a little more upbeat and optimistic about the human condition. The wind has gone out of Babel's sail and I think even liberal Hollywood is SOOOO over the Middle East and films that make political statements. Yes, yes, we are all the same and our lives are connected and interdependent (how novel!). The other films are quite depressing reminders about how evil we have all become so I predict LMS to win Best Picture and Alan Arkin in an upset win over Eddie Murphy for Best Supporting Actor. The other favourites will win though.

I used to feel a bit sorry for Eddie Murphy until I saw how conceited he was at the Golden Globes. I hope he doesn't win.

marty wrote:

barrett wrote:Also, on gambling sites LMS is the favorite, so something's going on...

I have been saying it for a while now that LMS will win Best Picture. One other poster even derided me for it. It has now won the Producer Guild Award, Screen Actors Award and the Writers Guild Award. I am not saying it is a great film and in fact most of the other nominees are much better films but I think with all the doom and gloom in the current world that the Academy will give it to something a little more upbeat and optimistic about the human condition.

The film is hardly optimistic -- not to get all spoilery here but at the end of the film none of the characters have really overcome their hardships.

If the Academy were really looking to give an award to an upbeat film, Dreamgirls would've been nominated for Best Picture. If the Academy wants to give the award to a "non-message" picture I think The Queen has a much stronger shot than LMS.

The Academy loves Clint and LFIJ still has plenty of steam behind it. I think right now it's the frontrunner with The Queen and LMS close behind.

voting's still open until the 20th, so all the word of mouth can only help LMS and since Scorsese has no real competition since there's no movement on Iwo Jima, Best Director's as much in the bag as any Oscar ever has been. if anything, Babel's DVD release on the 20th is a pretty lousy move, even pushing it ahead a few weeks would have helped it get seen. I'd say LMS or the Departed for Best Pic, Scorsese for Director, Whittaker, Mirren, Hudson and who knows for best supporting actor-- that's really the most interesting category this year, and it's the one we'll find out first

Even though it would nice to see Alan Arkin win Best Supporting Actor, I would be equally happy to see Mark Wahlberg win. The more I thin about it, I really can't see LMS losing out to any of those other films. There is no way The Queen will win as it's a UK film which Hollywood acknowledges every ten years or so but not this year. Letters From Iwo Jima won't win as it's a foreign-language film. Its nomination is reward for Eastwood. The Departed is too violent for Academy and it's also a remake of a very recent Asian film. No, I think Little Miss Sunshine is the front runner and word of mouth for the film is growing, even here in tiny Australia.

The final Oscar picks (to be revisited in two weeks time):

Best Picture - Little Miss Sunshine
Best Actor - Forest Whitaker
Best Actress - Helen Mirren
Best Supporting Actor - Alan Arkin
Best Supporting Actress - Jennifer Hudson
Best Director - Martin Scorsese
Best Original Screenplay - Little Miss Sunshine
Best Adapted Screenplay - The Departed
Best Foreign-Language film - The Lives of Others
Best Documentary Feature - An Inconvenient Truth
Best Cinematography - Pan's Labyrinth
Best Film Editing - United 93

Best Foreign-Language film - The Lives of Others

Or Pan's Labyrinth. The Lives of Others is receiving a great buzz also so we will see.

domino harvey wrote:if anything, Babel's DVD release on the 20th is a pretty lousy move, even pushing it ahead a few weeks would have helped it get seen.

DVD release dates doesn't have much to do with the movie getting seen. The studio organizes screenings for voting members and I'm sure DVD screeners are in their hands already. If anything, Warner Independent is really going to have to push the press on this film again over the next week to keep it from slipping from the Academy members' minds.

marty wrote:The more I thin about it, I really can't see LMS losing out to any of those other films. There is no way The Queen will win as it's a UK film which Hollywood acknowledges every ten years or so but not this year.

I definitely see where you're coming from, but I think LMS skews to a younger crowd, while The Queen is definitely tailor made for the aging Academy members. It's a refined piece of filmmaking that treats its elderly subject matter with dignity. That might resonate a lot more strongly with members as opposed to a dysfunctional family road trip comedy. Arkin is pretty much a lock for supporting actor though.

Finally caught Half Nelson tonight, and am shocked at how swiftly this was passed over. Well, ok, I'm not shocked, but another notch has been taken out of my respect for the Academy, and it's not like they had a lot to afford me. What was once a mild distaste for an Abigail Breslin nod is starting to simmer.

I mean, c'mon! Shareeka effin' Epps!

-Toilet Dcuk

toiletduck! wrote: What was once a mild distaste for an Abigail Breslin nod is starting to simmer.

I liked Abigail Breslin in Lodge Kerrigan's Keane albeit her small but impressive performance was overshadowed by Damian Lewis's tour-de-force performance.

I mean, c'mon! Shareeka effin' Epps!

Absolutely! I also saw Half Nelson last night. Loved every bit of it. Gave it 5 stars on Netflix. Ryan Gosling and Shareeka Epps were so riveting to watch. Even though I praised Babel and Little Miss Sunshine earlier on here, Half Nelson is a masterpiece compared to those films.

Michael wrote:

I mean, c'mon! Shareeka effin' Epps!

Absolutely! I also saw Half Nelson last night. Loved every bit of it. Gave it 5 stars on Netflix. Ryan Gosling and Shareeka Epps were so riveting to watch. Even though I praised Babel and Little Miss Sunshine earlier on here, Half Nelson is a masterpiece compared to those films.

I concur. Half Nelson is a wonderful film and Shareeka Epps definitely deserves her due. In a just world, Half Nelson and Little Children would've been best picture nods. But the former didn't have a big enough studio behind it to push the film and the latter was essentially mishandled by the studio (the damn DVD is going to be a bare bones release!).

Anyway, as toiletduck! mentioned, expecting sane choices by the Academy is pretty much a lost cause.