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Just watched the Oscars on fast-forward (no better way to go these days) -

The Good - Morricone. Well deserved, if a little late. (My gut feeling tells me Ms. Doris Day has told the Academy where they can stick their little Oscar...)

The Bad - Eastwood may be the finest working director these days, but he's also a little jittery, and plainly does not speak, or understand, Italian. Considering Coppola and Scorsese were on hand, it came across a tad insulting to both Morricone and the general audience.

The Ugly - Celine Dion.

Classiest Dame Award - Milena Canonero. The Ms and I are still swooning over her suit, demeanor and elegance.

The Bad - Eastwood may be the finest working director these days, but he's also a little jittery, and plainly does not speak, or understand, Italian. Considering Coppola and Scorsese were on hand, it came across a tad insulting to both Morricone and the general audience.

I suppose you can excuse it by saying Eastwood and Morricone have an association in film (the same movie launched their careers). I would have preferred it if they'd somehow subtitled his speech.

devlinnn wrote:The Bad - Eastwood may be the finest working director these days, but he's also a little jittery, and plainly does not speak, or understand, Italian. Considering Coppola and Scorsese were on hand, it came across a tad insulting to both Morricone and the general audience.

HMMM I WONDER IF MAYBE EASTWOOD WAS ON HAND FOR ANOTHER REASON

flyonthewall2983 wrote:

domino harvey wrote:Dayton and Faris are pretty well known in the music video scene, they took their time getting around to making a movie

Is there a list of their videography somewhere? I'm pretty sure that they did some videos for The Smashing Pumpkins and some other '90's alt-rock acts.

You are right.They worked with Jane's Addiction,R.E.M and others.But they worked closely and more often with the Pumpkins.And a lot of those Pumpkins videos had big cinematic references....from Méliès to some Felliniesque stuff.I know that Billy Corgan talks a lot about working with them on the Smashing Pumpkins video collection dvd.And as close friends of the band, I think they even shot some concert footage from the band's early days (also on the dvd,if I am not mistaken).

domino harvey wrote:

devlinnn wrote:The Bad - Eastwood may be the finest working director these days, but he's also a little jittery, and plainly does not speak, or understand, Italian. Considering Coppola and Scorsese were on hand, it came across a tad insulting to both Morricone and the general audience.

HMMM I WONDER IF MAYBE EASTWOOD WAS ON HAND FOR ANOTHER REASON

Sometimes, being bleedin' obvious is not the way to go. Morricone's gifts to cinema deserved better treatment.

Insulting to me was the Academy not playing or showing a piece of 'Once Upon a Time in the West'...Arguably, the most beautiful film score ever.Instead they decided to focus on his nominations(in my humble opinion,not his best work) and waste our time with Celine Dion.

flyonthewall2983 wrote:Is there a list of their videography somewhere?

Wikipedia

Thanks, Matt. This just reminds me how sad it is that Mark Romanek's next project is in development Hell at the moment.

And I concur that it is an insult that they did not include Once Upon a Time in the West as part of the Morricone montage. Apparently Ennio was moved at watching Celine sing that song. I must admit, it's a beautiful song and melody, but it's just sad they had to get her to do it.

domino harvey wrote:Dayton and Faris are pretty well known in the music video scene, they took their time getting around to making a movie

Except that it took 5 years to get financing and casting into place.

And we all know that music video directors get plum projects and are treated with massive respect by Hollywood. Outside of Michel Gondry, those with any kind of vision (ie. the aforementioned Mark Romanek, Jonathan Glazer) either struggle to get their films made or end up doing horror remakes.

[quote]An Open Letter to the Academy:

John Sinno's open letter to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is worth a read, so I'm posting it below. Sinno was one of the producers of James Longley's Iraq in Fragments, a documentary full of poetry and ambiguity — uncommon virtues for such a political film. Like the movie, the letter speaks for itself.

John Sinno
Typecast Films
3131 Western Ave Suite 514
Seattle, Washington, USA
March 2, 2007

An open letter to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

I had the great fortune of attending the 79th Academy Awards following my nomination as producer for a film in the Best Documentary Feature category. At the Awards ceremony, most categories featured an introduction that glorified the filmmakers' craft and the role it plays for the film audience and industry. But when comedian Jerry Seinfeld introduced the award for Best Documentary Feature, he began by referring to a documentary that features himself as a subject, then proceeded to poke fun at it by saying it won no awards and made no money. He then revealed his love of documentaries, as they have a very “realâ€

Thank you for posting that, very interesting

John Sinno is a whining idiot. Is he aware that Jerry Seinfeld is a COMEDIAN? You know, he was JOKING! Man, these documentary filmmakers need to get a sense of humour. Also, why did they have to mention Iraq. People are SOOOOO over Iraq which probably explains why these docos don't do that well. Myself, I am looking forward towards the invasion of Iran and Syria! Iraq and Afghanistan are SOOO 2003!

I think people are making WAY too much out of Jerry Seinfeld's comments at the Academy Awards. It's not like people heard his routine and were like "You know what? He's right! Documentaries are depressing! I'm never going to see one again!".

As for the Academy's changing of the rules for Documentary Feature nominees that's a different issue and shouldn't be tied into the tired drama about Jerry Seinfeld's supposedly corrosive remarks.

I guess I am capable of seeing the point that if I were nominated in my field for an Academy Award and then someone more famous than me stole the spotlight by belittling the very reason I was there, that wouldn't be the most enjoyable situation. He's not objecting to the use of comedy... When you look at the sound editing or whatever, those had "funny" intros that managed to make the recipients look good. Seinfeld made them look bad, and it was clearly salt in the wound of not winning

But you know what? We'll never know what's it's like to be in John Sinno's shoes. Maybe Jerry could've saved that bit for the night before for an appearance on Leno or Letterman, perhaps. Personally, I think Seinfeld was on there as a favor to remind viewers of why they liked his show in the first place, i.e., to get the taste of Michael Richard's racism out of everyone's mouth. But truly, I think Sinno has a very valid argument. The audience is so huge for the Oscars, only second to the Super Bowl, that Jerry could've shown far more respect and given greater homage to the artful field of documentary filmmaking. (I still think he would make a great host, though...)

EDIT: Domino Harvey beat me to it...

exte wrote:But you know what? We'll never know what's it's like to be in John Sinno's shoes. Maybe Jerry could've saved that bit for the night before for an appearance on Leno or Letterman, perhaps. Personally, I think Seinfeld was on there as a favor to remind viewers of why they liked his show in the first place, i.e., to get the taste of Michael Richard's racism out of everyone's mouth. But truly, I think Sinno has a very valid argument. The audience is so huge for the Oscars, only second to the Super Bowl, that Jerry could've shown far more respect and given greater homage to the artful field of documentary filmmaking. (I still think he would make a great host, though...)

EDIT: Domino Harvey beat me to it...

Huh? Do people actually still care about the Michael Richards incident? No, Jerry was on there as part of the continuing buildup to Bee Movie that he has coming out in the fall.

I dunno, I think Jerry Seinfeld brought some attention to a category that is usually a bathroom break for most viewers. That he made a mild joke IMO on their behalf I don't think is such a big deal. It should also be said, the rest of Seinfeld's routine had far more digs at concession stand prices than anything else (which caused another uproar among movie houses who felt that Seinfeld had no idea about the cost of movie distribution blah blah blah which is really besides the point). In both cases, I just think they should lighten up and be able to laugh at themselves.

Antoine Doinel wrote:I dunno, I think Jerry Seinfeld brought some attention to a category that is usually a bathroom break for most viewers.

Right you are! If Seinfeld didn't come on and the category was introduced by, I don't know, Corey Feldman then about 800 million viewers would have missed the award and would have gone to the bathroom, made a cup of coffee or jerked off.

There was no purpose in denigrating the category for the sake of a joke. The Oscars are primarily a promotional tool and Seinfeld's intro was counterproductive even if it was funny.

marty wrote:People are SOOOOO over Iraq

Except the Iraqis. And the soldiers. And anyone who cares about anything happening further away than next door.

marty wrote:If Seinfeld didn't come on and the category was introduced by, I don't know, Corey Feldman then about 800 million viewers would have missed the award and would have gone to the bathroom, made a cup of coffee or jerked off.

Who'd jerk off to Corey Feldman?

Seinfeld was painfully unfunny, and while I didn't even really take notice of the swipe at documentaries at the time, as a former usher, theater manager, and current office employee for a movie theater, the stuff about how he has a right to dump his shit on the ground was the most infuriating moment of the night, because I know that jackasses across the country will half-seriously say "I put it down - why should I have to pick it up?" as they trash theaters.

I want to punch him repeatedly.

Is he aware that Jerry Seinfeld is a COMEDIAN? You know, he was JOKING! Man, these documentary filmmakers need to get a sense of humour.

One of the worst, most boring comedians ever. And if you thought he was funny at the Oscars, then your, not "these documentary filmmakers", sense of humor is questionable. The Oscars should had brought out Lisa Lampanelli or Sarah Silverman instead!

Michael wrote:

Is he aware that Jerry Seinfeld is a COMEDIAN? You know, he was JOKING! Man, these documentary filmmakers need to get a sense of humour.

One of the worst, most boring comedians ever. And if you thought he was funny at the Oscars, then your, not "these documentary filmmakers", sense of humor is questionable. The Oscars should had brought out Lisa Lampanelli or Sarah Silverman instead!

Amen to Sarah Silverman. Her new show is hilarious.

"Warning, Tonight's Episode contains full frontal Jewdity."

The Oscars should had brought out Lisa Lampanelli or Sarah Silverman instead!

Great though it would be, I can't see Sarah Silverman getting an invite to show off her particular brand of humour at the Oscars in the foreseeable future...

Sarah Silverman is the comedic equivalent of Andrew Dice Clay. She says a lot of "controversial" stuff hoping for laughs. It doesn't take much to go on stage and say, "JEWS! VAGINAS! AIDS!".

If you actually think that's true, you're totally misreading Silverman's comedy. Whereas the root of Clay's comedy is in drawing a bond between his hateful angry-white-man racism/homophobia/misogyny and his audience's, and thus satisfying/justifying said angry-white-man audience's own bigotry, Silverman's comic persona is much more complex. Her wedding of bigotry and an overtly pleasant demeanor is about exposing prejudice within the viewer. The ironic juxtaposition of tones - loveable Jewish American Princess and Klan member - creates a sort of cognitive dissonance and forces the viewer to recognize the folly of the biases her on-stage persona would seem to avow. It's so so so so so much more than "JEWS! VAGINA! AIDS!"

Oy. Sarah S is pleasant enough (she was good at last year's Independent Spirit Awards, not so much this year). The main problem is her apparent notion that joking about AIDS or whatever is "controversial" or "outrageous". Also those two gay dudes on her show are boring as hell and the whole notion of having gaybors jumped the shark about 5 years ago.

To the whiny pissant Iraq director, STFU. We ARE tired of hearing about Iraq 24/7. WTF does Iraq have to do with the Oscars? I liked your film tho'.