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Posted: **Mon Feb 18, 2008 6:43 pm**

Controversy over Elite Squad's win at Berlin.

BBC

Posted: **Mon Feb 18, 2008 6:54 pm**

Berlinale Awards

Posted: **Mon Feb 18, 2008 8:00 pm**

kinjitsu wrote:Berlinale Awards

Is that the hottest (female) jury in the history of the Berlinale?

Posted: **Tue Feb 19, 2008 5:16 am**

colinr0380 wrote:surely Juno cannot be as bad as Crash and Million Dollar Baby?

My friend, prepare to have your expectations shattered. Juno makes Million Dollar Baby look like a Satyajit Ray film, and Crash like one of Altman's greatest works.

Having said that, I bet it wins on Sunday, and puts an end once and for all to the Oscars' credibility.

Posted: **Thu Feb 21, 2008 5:43 am**

Stunning article:

Sound mixer hoping to avoid 20th loss at Oscars
By Ray Richmond2 hours, 4 minutes ago

If you look up the word "loser" in the dictionary, you probably won't find a respected Academy Award nominee as the accompanying illustration. And yet somehow, sound mixer Kevin O'Connell has been required to fight that unfortunate perception.

O'Connell has been nominated for an Oscar 19 times, only to go home every year without the big prize. On Sunday, he will be in contention again, nominated this time for his work on the Michael Bay blockbuster "Transformers."

This is actually O'Connell's 36th career awards show nomination. He has won precisely once: in his lone Emmy nomination, in 1989, for the miniseries "Lonesome Dove."

But if you're looking for lingering embarrassment or ambivalence, you've come to the wrong guy. O'Connell happens to be the most-nominated sound mixer in Oscar history, and the idea that he should feel like a perpetual bridesmaid doesn't even enter his consciousness. All he knows is that on Oscar nomination morning, he's received that call 20 times in a 25-year sound career.

"That's a big honor in itself," O'Connell said earlier this week. "It's a testament to the fact I've been fortunate to be surrounded by so many talented people. And it's because people like Michael Bay and Tony Scott and Jerry Bruckheimer have entrusted me with their vision."

So O'Connell doesn't spend a lot of time worrying that he's become the Susan Lucci of the Oscars?

"Oh gosh, no," he replies. "If I deserve to get it this time, I will. I know that my not having won gets me a lot more attention, and if it shines a spotlight on the sound community a little bit, I feel good about that. My only hope is that if I don't win again, the press will allow whomever does to revel in their moment and not ask questions about me."

There have been only two times when O'Connell admits that he was less than philosophical after coming away from Academy Awards night empty-handed. Once was in 1987, when he earned a nomination for "Top Gun" (his fourth). "I thought 'Top Gun' was the best-sounding movie that year," he recalls. "Every other year since then, the movie that deserved to win has won."

The other wrenching disappointment came for O'Connell last year, and it was mixed with overwhelming heartache. His mother, known as Skippy, had been severely ill and took a turn for the worse on Oscar night. As soon as his category was announced, O'Connell rushed from the Kodak Theatre ceremony (he'd been nominated for "Apocalypto") to be at his mom's side.

Skippy died in her son's arms 90 minutes after he arrived.

"She was the best mom on the planet, so this was just devastating," O'Connell remembers. "This woman was actually responsible for giving me my first job in the business, while she was the assistant to the head of the sound department at 20th Century Fox. She told me that all she wanted was for me to work hard and win an Oscar someday, and that when I was onstage, to thank her in front of the whole world."

The fact that Skippy isn't around to hear her boy pay tribute if he finally makes it to that podium on Sunday saddens O'Connell a little bit, he admits. But without sounding too maudlin, he feels secure in the knowledge that his mother never saw him as the son who lost 19 straight times.

"She was really proud of me," he says. "And if I win, I'm still thanking her."

Posted: **Thu Feb 21, 2008 5:02 pm**

If he wants to win, maybe he should stop working on such terrible films. I mean, look at his filmography! It's a litany of everything that's wrong with American movies (except for Starship Troopers, which is awesome). It literally runs from Stroker Ace to Space Chimps.

Posted: **Thu Feb 21, 2008 5:38 pm**

Those movies may suck, but at least the sound mixes are awesome (well, maybe not award-winningly awesome, but still...).

Posted: **Thu Feb 21, 2008 6:19 pm**

Usually these categories are usually awarded to more "populist" films, but say what you will about Transformers, the sound mix was pretty damn impressive (as it is for most Michael Bay films).

Posted: **Thu Feb 21, 2008 7:14 pm**

Antoine Doinel wrote:Usually these categories are usually awarded to more "populist" films...

I get that, but most of the past winners have been those nominated for more than just sound and effects work: Dreamgirls, Ray, Lord of the Rings: ROTK, Chicago, Black Hawk Down, Gladiator, The Matrix, Saving Private Ryan, Titanic, The English Patient, Apollo 13, etc.

The nominees are selected by those who do that type of work, but everyone in the Academy votes for the winner. I'll bet there are a lot of snobs in the Academy who wouldn't vote for a Michael Bay film if it was the only film nominated. Any one of the other films nominated has a more likely chance of winning.

Posted: **Thu Feb 21, 2008 7:18 pm**

Antoine Doinel wrote:Usually these categories are usually awarded to more "populist" films, but say what you will about Transformers, the sound mix was pretty damn impressive (as it is for most Michael Bay films).

Unfortunately I could still hear the dialogue at times!

Posted: **Fri Feb 22, 2008 1:52 am**

George Clooney's Oscar picks and Time magazine's inability to spell "original".

Posted: **Sun Feb 24, 2008 7:08 am**

Independent Spirit Awards were mildly surprising. Juno was expected but I didn't see the Savages taking home two awards, esp one for Hoffman's phoned-in performance.

Also, am I crazy for thinking Schnabel has a chance at winning Best Director even without the Best Pic nod? There seems to be a lot of good will towards him, more than I can ever remember for someone occupying the consolation director's slot

Posted: **Sun Feb 24, 2008 8:33 am**

domino harvey wrote:Also, am I crazy for thinking Schnabel has a chance at winning Best Director even without the Best Pic nod? There seems to be a lot of good will towards him, more than I can ever remember for someone occupying the consolation director's slot

God, I hope he's got a shot. As much as I think PTA deserves the award, there's no one whose speech I want to hear quite so much as Schnabel. It's the single reason that I was upset over the canceled Golden Globes.

-Toilet Dcuk

Posted: **Sun Feb 24, 2008 6:51 pm**

Andy Trudeau's breakdown of the Oscar nom'd scores on NPR is always worth a listen.

Posted: **Mon Feb 25, 2008 2:32 am**

domino harvey wrote:Independent Spirit Awards were mildly surprising. Juno was expected but I didn't see the Savages taking home two awards, esp one for Hoffman's phoned-in performance.

Those wins for Savages, coupled with no noms for Linney or Bosco, showed that the Spirit Awards are as worthless as the Oscars.

Posted: **Mon Feb 25, 2008 2:41 am**

Man am I ever glad Ruby Dee didn't win. Ruby Dee looked ready to make a drunken stab attack too

Posted: **Mon Feb 25, 2008 2:46 am**

Thank God Cate didn't win either.

Posted: **Mon Feb 25, 2008 2:50 am**

I love that PTA didn't do one of those stupid "I'm gonna pretend to type" clips

Posted: **Mon Feb 25, 2008 3:44 am**

You were surprised?

Love that Best Foreign Film voiceover:

"This is the first win and second nomination for Austria!"

Posted: **Mon Feb 25, 2008 3:55 am**

Raoul Duke wrote:That was the rudest fucking thing I've ever seen and they should be ashamed

Ruder than not letting the third sound mixer get a word in?

EDIT: At least she's getting an opportunity.

Posted: **Mon Feb 25, 2008 4:01 am**

Oh my God they brought her back on. This is amazing!!!!

I may have my problems with Stewart but him bringing her back on is probably the single classiest thing any Oscar host has ever done =D>

Posted: **Mon Feb 25, 2008 4:06 am**

Bergman got a much bigger applause than Antonioni. Jerks.

Also, I hadn't heard about Laszlo Kovacs.

Posted: **Mon Feb 25, 2008 4:08 am**

Oedipax wrote:Bergman got a much bigger applause than Antonioni. Jerks.

Yeah, fucking philistines!

Posted: **Mon Feb 25, 2008 4:08 am**

domino harvey wrote:I may have my problems with Stewart

Why, because he's funnier than you?

Posted: **Mon Feb 25, 2008 4:09 am**

Amy Adams is just the cutest thing

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