Awards Season 2006

[Matt]

Who else caught the announcer quoting scorsese as saying "Departed" is the first film he's made with a plot?

Upon winning the DGA: "'I can't believe this,' a stunned Scorsese said after accepting the award, a hug from presenter Steven Spielberg and a standing ovation from the audience. Scorsese went on to joke: 'This is the first movie I've done with a plot.'"

[domino harvey]

Though far from the best of those nominated, the Departed also wasn't the worst, so I'll call this year a wash

[Via_Chicago]

That was alright. I could've done without the interprative dancing though. Only a couple of huge surprises: Melissa Etheridge for best song and The Lives Of Others for best Foreign Film.

Is it really that big of a surprise? I've seen this sentiment echoed elsewhere, but the category this year reminded me of the 2001 Oscars. There, the crowd-pleasing foreign film with other nominations (Amelie), lost to the serious, socially-conscious film (No Man's Land). Same thing here. A fairy-tale fantasy versus a hand-wringer? I'll go with the hand-wringer everytime.

[Highway 61]

Though not unexpected, it's great to see Arkin and Whitaker get some mainstream recognition. This is probably the best we could hope for, given the nominees.

Also, Jerry Seinfeld should host next year.

[tartarlamb]

I think they're nominating O'Toole now just to run up his tally. As if the guy didn't have enough problems. Yeesh.

[exte]

This might be the first Best Picture that I actually can say that I fully like, since American Beauty.

Amen, brother. Amen. It's been a decadent decade so far, though I take my hat off to LOTR...

Gladiator (2000)
A Beautiful Mind (2001)
Chicago (2002)
Lord of the Rings: The The Return of the King (2003)
Million Dollar Baby (2004)
Crash (2005)

But really, can you believe The Departed won for best picture? Unbelievable. (Though in a positively good way!) Btw, did Eddie Murphy check out once he lost the award? His ego, my god...

[exte]

Also, Jerry Seinfeld should host next year.

My thoughts exactly! He killed up there!

[exte]

Here's a nice rundown...

[marty]

[Also, Little Miss Sunshine will win Best Picture and Alan Arkin will win Best Supporting Actor. I also wouldn't be surprised if The Lives of Others wins Best Foreign Language film over the more fashionable but clearly inferior Pan's Labyrinth.

I loved The Departed, so it's great but I didn't think they would give it to such a violent picture. It's refreshing for a change. I am so happy to wipe that grin off del Toro's smug face when everyone expected it to win best foreign film.

[Anonymous]

Now finally the best film of the year wins the Oscar. The Departed was by far the most exciting and brilliant new film I've seen in 2006. About time that Scorsese got his honor.

[Fletch F. Fletch]

I was pleasantly surprised to see that Michael Mann assembled the montage about America. Very nice.

And did anyone else notice that Adrienne Shelly was not mentioned during the roll call of the deceased? That was really crappy.

Nice to see Pan's Labrinyth gettin' some love. It got the second highest total of awards of the night, right behind The Departed. Yeah.

[flyonthewall2983]

Michael chose an interesting mix of films, I had no idea he liked Talladega Nights. And may I add that it sucked that the Academy didn't include Shirley Walker to that list.

[lord_clyde]

And let us not forget John C. Reilly cheering up his fellow comic actors with some sound Oscar advice.

[filmnoir1]

I enjoyed the show but did anyone else find it strange that when Bill Monihan won adapted screenplay for The Departed that the announcer said the original film Infernal Affairs was Japanese when it is really a Hong Kong film.
I am glad Scorsese won but I do not think this was even close to his best film. He wins for making a film that is sloppy and commercial rather than something which is artistic and trusts the viewer. I mean the rat at the end was too much.
I was sorry to see that Eddie Murphy did not win but Alan Arkin was great in Little Miss Sunshine, in my opinion, he was the best thing about the film.
As for best picture I think the Departed is a good film, but best picture? There were other films out there like United 93, and Children of Men that were better.

[lord_clyde]

Also want to throw in my disappointment that Children of Men (as far as I'm concerned the best film in MANY years) lost both Oscars. I guess my disappointment is offset a little by the loud applause (noticeably louder than the other nominees received) it received when read as a nominee.

[Antoine Doinel]

I thought the Michael Mann montage was one of the more awkward portions of the show if not a little self-congratulatory on the part of the Academy ("ooh, look how diverse we are!"). I think that would happen with any clip sequence that includes both Do The Right Thing and The Naked Gun.

[hieronymus]

And may I add that it sucked that the Academy didn't include Shirley Walker to that list.

I'm sure you mean Shelley Winters.
I thought the Michael Mann montage was rather odd, with not much dynamic rhythm or thematic coherence.

edit: My bad. I didn't know that Shirley Walker also passed away last year. BTW, did the montage include Winters?

[Dr Amicus]

So far the news over here in Blighty can be summarised as:

Helen Mirren wins the Oscar.
Stephen Frears robbed.
Helen Mirren reigns over the Oscars.
The Queen robbed as Best Picture.
Helen Mirren crowned as Queen of the Oscars.
Somebody wins Best Director.
Helen Mirren conquers Hollywood.
Peter O'Toole robbed.
Helen Mirren etc etc....

And that's before tomorrow's national newspapers...

[flyonthewall2983]

So far the news over here in Blighty can be summarised as:

Helen Mirren wins the Oscar.
Stephen Frears robbed.
Helen Mirren reigns over the Oscars.
The Queen robbed as Best Picture.
Helen Mirren crowned as Queen of the Oscars.
Somebody wins Best Director.
Helen Mirren conquers Hollywood.
Peter O'Toole robbed.
Helen Mirren etc etc....

And that's before tomorrow's national newspapers...

That's funny. I saw a documentary on Phil Collins, and at one point it talked about how in Britain after he won Best Song for "You'll Be in My Heart" all anyone talked about in the media was that a Brit-directed film swept the Oscars.

[Lino]

You know what my current dream is? To be Kathleen Turner in Serial Mom and have Al Gore on the witness stand and ask him: "Do you recycle?".

God, what a shameless way to get re-elected!

[MichaelB]

So far the news over here in Blighty can be summarised as:

Helen Mirren wins the Oscar.
Stephen Frears robbed.
Helen Mirren reigns over the Oscars.
The Queen robbed as Best Picture.
Helen Mirren crowned as Queen of the Oscars.
Somebody wins Best Director.
Helen Mirren conquers Hollywood.
Peter O'Toole robbed.
Helen Mirren etc etc....

And that's before tomorrow's national newspapers...

I still have a copy of Rome daily paper Il Messaggero covering the 1992 Oscars, and managing to come up with not just an Italian but a specifically Roman spin on more or less everything.

It probably helped that it was the year that Fellini won an honorary Oscar and Clint Eastwood won multiple times for Unforgiven. The headline was "Clint dedica il suo trionfo a Sergio Leone", which roughly translates as "well done Clint, but you know as well as we do that if it hadn't been for that great Roman Sergio Leone you'd still be playing TV cowboys".

Even more amusingly (for a Brit, anyway), Al Pacino got about ten times more coverage than Emma Thompson. I suspect not being born Emanuela Thompsoni was her basic disadvantage.

[Kirkinson]

A huge picture of Jennifer Hudson took up more than half of the Chicago Tribune's front page this morning.

[Greathinker]

I am glad Scorsese won but I do not think this was even close to his best film. He wins for making a film that is sloppy and commercial rather than something which is artistic and trusts the viewer. I mean the rat at the end was too much.

I think there's something more subversive to The Departed keeping it from being a total commercial product. What you call sloppy I perceived as Scorsese taking jabs at conventions while at the same time working within a conventional gangster drama, akin in style to those from the 30's--as he said himself during the globes. Instead of the rat at the end being cheesy I thought it was a nice tip of the hat to those past genre pictures.

Surprisingly undouchebag choices in the major categories for an otherwise sorry year for film. I think I would have stopped watching for good if Babel or United 93 (had it been nominated) would have got best picture.

[flyonthewall2983]

It probably helped that it was the year that Fellini won an honorary Oscar and Clint Eastwood won multiple times for Unforgiven. The headline was "Clint dedica il suo trionfo a Sergio Leone", which roughly translates as "well done Clint, but you know as well as we do that if it hadn't been for that great Roman Sergio Leone you'd still be playing TV cowboys".

I think for Clint, and I can't speak for him of course, but it seems like in any TV biography of him or otherwise, he tends to hold Don Siegel in higher regard as a director that influenced him directly than Sergio and rightly so. Sergio made him a star, but Don made his image diverse, and because of Dirty Harry, a bigger star.

[Michael]

I think there's something more subversive to The Departed keeping it from being a total commercial product. What you call sloppy I perceived as Scorsese taking jabs at conventions while at the same time working within a conventional gangster drama, akin in style to those from the 30's--as he said himself during the globes. Instead of the rat at the end being cheesy I thought it was a nice tip of the hat to those past genre pictures.

I concur. There are many things about The Departed that bring my mind to many classics and there's no coincidence that in that film and every film he has made, Scorsese expresses his passion for many films made long ago. The last shot of The Departed resembles a lot to the one that hauntingly shuts down Mamma Roma. And what about that chilly stroll Vera takes passing the men without any eye contact after the funeral? That inspiration has to come from Alida Valli.