Academy Award Collusion?

[Hrvoje Simic]

I think both Anthony Dod Mantle and Danny Boyle share a gritty realist background combined with a bit of a punk aesthetic which is less about polish & more about energy and vibrancy -

Nicely put.

With Danny Boyle I'd add a great sense for music and rhythm combined with a pretty rare taste in electronic music, which he tends to incorporate into his films.

 

[Jonathan Stevenson]

We all occasionally wish we could "unsay" certain things *wink*

I shall now return home with my tail between my legs :blush:

 

[Roberto Lequeux]

I am so glad that Make up and VFX went to CCBB... if they didn't I would have jumped off a building. I was also happy to see they got Art Direction.

What was it 8 for Slumdog? Well I think it might call for catching it in on the big screen? lol... It really sucks when you didn't get to go to the movie before an Oscars rampage like that.

Congrats to Kate, and congrats to Sean Penn! In my eyes he is pure acting gold. I really liked how he took off his hat for the editor, very classy and humble. I was also very happy to see Penelope win. I was a bit biased there since I speak both languages but she did so much in so little time. What an adorable crazy she created!

Congrats to all the winners and nominees!

 

[Alex MacLean]

Each to his own. :sarcasm:

touché

 

[Dominic Cochran]

Mr. Mullen, maybe you can comment on why Slumdog was cinematically superior to films like Button or Knight, who seem to clearly have been better? I guess it's a matter of opinion.

No need to guess. It's clearly a matter of opinion. For instance, other than the technical achievements, I thought Benjamin Button was a terrible movie. But I can also understand why it got nominated. I just thought it was better the first time when it was called Forrest Gump.

 

[Cüneyt Kaya]

isnt it the first time that a digitally shot movie won an oscar for cinematography?---isnt this a historic moment

 

[Matthew Greene]

No need to guess. It's clearly a matter of opinion. For instance, other than the technical achievements, I thought Benjamin Button was a terrible movie. But I can also understand why it got nominated. I just thought it was better the first time when it was called Forrest Gump.

Hahaha, well, the novel was released in the 1920's so perhaps it's the other way around. :wink:

isnt it the first time that a digitally shot movie won an oscar for cinematography?---isnt this a historic moment

Oh, but it won for the 40% of the movie that was shot on film don't you know :sarcasm:

 

[Jonathan Stevenson]

Hahaha, well, the novel was released in the 1920's so perhaps it's the other way around. :wink:

Awwww, Snap!

 

[Craig W. Bickerstaff]

Wall-E really should have been a shoe in for sound.

 

[Jim Klatt]

Awwww, Snap!

It was very loosely based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story. Button's screenwriter did write Forrest Gump as well, and I think that you could say that the film actually has more in common with Gump than the original short story.

 

[Jonathan Stevenson]

It was very loosely based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story. Button's screenwriter did write Forrest Gump as well, and I think that you could say that the film actually has more in common with Gump than the original short story.

I just thought the comment was funny

 

[Chris Parker]

isnt it the first time that a digitally shot movie won an oscar for cinematography?---isnt this a historic moment

I wonder if in 20 years time, when a bunch of film school students are playing Trivial Pursuit, Film Buff version, and the question comes up.....

"What digital camera was used on the first digital film that won the Oscar for Cinematography?"

How many of them will say RED? Even though it wasn't......

 

[Dominic Cochran]

Hahaha, well, the novel was released in the 1920's so perhaps it's the other way around. :wink:

You may want to read the short story, THEN decide for yourself how much the film was based on it.

F. Scott is my second favorite writer so I'm certainly not disparaging him. The main problem I had with BB as a film is that if you take away the gimmick, the story itself is incredibly pedestrian and average. If you take away the gimmick in Gump, we're left with an epic story in which incredibly interesting things happen to and around him.

Fitzgerald was a smart man and knew it would work best as a SHORT story. Fincher should have made a short film.

Or at least one an hour shorter.

 

[Matthew Greene]

You may want to read the short story, THEN decide for yourself how much the film was based on it.

I have read it, I was just being silly with my comment.

 

[Dominic Cochran]

Definitely nothing wrong with being silly, especially when talking about something as ephemeral as an awards ceremony...

 

[Alex MacLean]

Fitzgerald was a smart man and knew it would work best as a SHORT story. Fincher should have made a short film.

Or at least one an hour shorter.

thank you.

 

[Roberto Lequeux]

I find that very interesting... Fitzgerald was a genius but I disagree on the running time. I walked out of the theater thinking it was not a minute too long. :huh:

I really appreciated the pacing set by the editors and director, and felt that it really helped full-lifetime timeline.

Then again I seem to be an above average chick flick lover amongst other guys, and there was a good full feature just about the relationship with Cate Blanchett in there. Then again it IS Cate Blanchett who I nearly worship as an actress. Also, I do tend to cut my stuff a bit longer than most, and have to fight myself to cut it down... :blush:

Yet I felt it moved forward effortlessly. I'd be very interested in hearing if more people felt it was that much on the long side, and if they are people that seldom enjoy 3 hs movies.

 

[Michael "Dorkman" Scott]

I'm curious how it's "fair" to give awards to films that don't deserve them just for the sake of "distributing evenly." Whatever had the best achievement in [BLANK] should win the award for achievement in [BLANK], regardless of its other nominations or wins.

Also, it's not like the voters knew which movie won which category. Even if they WANTED to "evenly distribute" the awards, there's no way they could know which films were getting more Oscars and which were getting less. That would, ironically, require "collusion."

I need to see Slumdog again, because I don't understand how it swept the awards. I liked it, don't get me wrong, but I didn't think it was particularly remarkable in any of the nominated categories. But that's how the Academy (and all the other awards groups) voted.

By the way, I think that the Sound categories need a serious overhaul. Personally I think sound editing and mixing should be combined into a single award, and there should be a separate award specifically for sound design. I don't even know which of the two existing awards is supposed to take that into account.

 

[Peter Hodgins]

Why do you say that?

Let's say a movie has the "best" director, odds are that the producer has some "pull" or credibility. Then maybe he already procured a great script ... this producer ... probably knows the best cinematographers and sound men etc. etc.

In other words all these guys tend to work together on projects.

would the "best" director agree to work on a project with inferior sound guys or editors ... no .... they tend to all work together.

A superstar producer will staff his entire production with superstar craftsmen.

So best Cinematography and best directing etc. etc. are likely to occur in the same picture, statistically , more often than random choice would predict.

 

[Dominic Cochran]

I find that very interesting... Fitzgerald was a genius but I disagree on the running time. I walked out of the theater thinking it was not a minute too long. :huh:

I appreciate your opinion, but just for the record I like chick flicks and long movies. I like ANY kind of movie if it's well done.

Just personally didn't like this one, but I enjoyed the FX and Production Design!