Oscar nominations

[FrodoFriend]

No kidding? I thought since it is a "musical" it would be nominated for the music............oh well, that gives LotR more of a chance!

[Pailan]

Found these fun tid bits on theonering.net thought this might help fuel some debate.

1. The movie receiving the most nominations has won best picture for the past 9 years.

2. In the past 20 years (I was too lazy to go back farther), the movie receiving the most nominations won best picture 90% of the time.
[Caveat: the two exceptions are 1981 and 1991...so, 2001?]

3. In the past 20 years, when only one of the movies up for best picture has double digit nominations, it wins 87.5% of the time.

4. In the past 20 years, when a movie has 3+ nominations more than its nearest competitor (it's happened 6 times), it wins 100% of the time.

Nice to know but how will these facts play out in March?

[bropous]

Interesting stats, pailan, but somehow the winds seem to be blowing away from Fellowship. I would love to be again pleasantly surprised by an Academy for which I have little or no respect. Isn't there some inherent hatred of fantasy movies in the Academy? Oh well, I will personally freak out and give birth to a bovine if Fellowship wins best picture.

[coolismo]

simple really: BM is a much better picture than FOTR

[jerseydevil]

I agree - A Beautiful Mind deserves to win. It is a much better picture. I also think that Ron Howard should win for Best Director and that Russel Crowe, although I don't like him personally, should win Best Actor. Russell Crowe's performace was spectacular.

[Comic Book Guy]

Moulin Rouge was disallowed in the Music catagories because it already had pre-existing material that were written for other movies I.E 'Come What May' was written for Romeo and Juliet. In light of this, Howard Shore and Enya have their Oscars locked.

[eowyn144]

i`m just gonna say that i`ll b happy whatever they win and it won`t make much difference to me because I love the film and have seen it at least 5 times and it will remain the best film of my time(about 14 years) in my mind and thats all that matters.
also i`d like to say that if they don`t get best sound track then something has gone seriously wrong somewhere. it is truly amazing and has the proud honour of containing the only piece of music to actually bring me to tears.
howard shore is a genius.
and enya has the most beautiful voice around.do u suppose enya could actually be an elf?

[Arathorn]

speaking of enya, I first got hooked on her music when I heard Lothlorien playing at a friends house about 10 yrs ago. I told her it reminded me of mallorn trees, elves: Lothlorien.
I was shocked to find out that that was the title of the song. very creepy

[Evenstar]

I really want LotR's to win an Oscar...any Oscar!!! But I also want A Beautiful Mind to win...(or mainly Russel Crowe) I gotta suport my fellow Australians!!!!
Maybe LotR can win best picture....and Russel Crowe can win best Actor..(cause he sooo is)

[Aragorns Dimple]

I'm really pleased that Sir Ian Mc got a Nom for Best Supporting Actor......but what about Elijah Wood as Best Actor? I think perhaps the Academy is being age-ist by not nominating him, seems you have to be at least over the age of 30 to have any credibility there.

I mean, come on, Denzel is a great actor, but "Training Day" isn't such a stand-out kind of movie, bit of a cliche really, the 'tired cop' routine. And who the heck is Tom Wilkinson???

I want to see Nominations for Elijah Wood AND Sean Astin by the time RoTK comes out!!!

Vive le Hobbits!

[Gerby]

[edit] You are banned, and that means you are not allowed to post, don't push it.

[eowyn144]

totally agree. elijah deserves more credit.he is so young yet still soo talented.rock on lij!

[barrelrider110]

Regardless of whether you like what he did with the story or not, I think Peter Jackson above all else should win an Oscar. He filmed three movies at once in 15 months, presided over thousands of extras and minute details, and did a bang-up job of keeping faithful to the books while making a holywood blockbuster.

[Liviaine]

I might have said this before, so excuse me if I have, but LotR should win technical awards, and maybe best director. It probably won't win best picture though.

[jerseydevil]

I'd like to know where Jackson kept faithful to the books. Other than the underlying plot and the place names and character names - he changed everything.

Also since it's only FOTR that he is up for a Best Director award - I don't think the fact that he filmed the other too can be taken into account.

I think it'll get technical awards, maybe Best Score. The top 3 awards, Best Picture, Best Director and Best Supporting Actor I'd be very surprised with it winning.

[barrelrider110]

My fellow Jerseyite,
Did you see a long-expected party? A Balrog? Did you see Orcs, the Watcher of the Water, Elves, Dwarves, wisdom, folly, good, evil, friendship, loyalty, etc., etc., etc. Come on!

Nobody, I mean nobody could ever bring your vision of ME to the screen, nor mine either for that matter. Your vision is yours, mine is mine. PJ's is PJ's and therefore that's the way the movie is. I don't want to get into this old discussion of whether PJ was faithful to the books. He never could completely. Never. The movie would be too long and too boring at least for non-Tolkien fans.
Ralph Bakshi. He tried to be as faithful to Tolkien as he could. I remember seeing his version when it opened in theatres. There was all of 20 people in the place when the movie started rolling, and when it was over there was maybe 10. New Line took one hell of a gamble and Peter Jackson pulled it off! And I don't agree with everything he did, but it was better than I expected.

My point was it was a monster of a job, and I don't remember enjoying a movie since Star Wars in, what 1978?

Nobody has ever done anything like it before.

The man deserves the award more than Opie, more than anybody.

[jerseydevil]

yeah - I did see an Long Expected Party - I also saw Merry and Pippin as just Laurel and Hardy or the two stooges and used as comic relief.

The fact that Bakshi's film didn't do well had nothing to do with the initial interpretation (first half) it was because the movie was terrible, the animation was terrible, the special effects were terrible.

Jackson did an okay job of bringing LOTR to the screen - he did a GREAT job of making the movie appeal to the lowest common denomiator viewer. Just because it appeals to almost everyone - does not mean that the movie itself is great. Also there was very little friendship/loyalty really shown. Yeah - they all went on the quest together - but except for Frodo and Sam - they all were just there. Aragorn was in it for Arwen, Pippin and Merry just wanted to be there for the sake of being there.

I'm also not saying that he had to be completely faithful to the books - but as I said else where - he didn't have to make it into a Hollywood action movie. Sorry - but that's all it is in my opinion.

I just feel Jackson could have stayed truer to the books and still have made a blockbuster hit.

[IronParrot]

I don't think A Beautiful Mind deserves to win, though everything right now indicates that it will, even though the numbers are in LOTR's favor. Although it was a strong film, it was far too mainstream and conventional for my tastes. Sure, it's a demonstration of how old-fashioned filmmaking can be done and done well, but it just doesn't take very many artistic risks in really contributing to the medium.

Personally, who should win? LOTR, by far. But if there's one film that I would NOT cry about snubbing it, it would be Moulin Rouge!, which is easily Best Picture-worthy, and if it weren't for LOTR, would be the only film I want to take away the top prize. But the snubbing of Baz Luhrmann for Best Director (biggest single snub of the Oscar nominations, though Memento was the film that really got shafted) ruins MR's chances.

Well there's also Memento, but the Academy didn't seem to remember it, and it just doesn't have MR or LOTR's "lovable" factor.

As for the technical awards: I'm totally torn between MR and LOTR for many of them, particularly Costumes, Art Design and Cinematography (in the latter, by far the strongest crop of nominees in any category, count in The Man Who Wasn't There, as well).

In short, I expect to be disappointed at the Academy Awards last year. Of course, it's not their fault if they want to (finally) reward Ron Howard, after all but shutting out Apollo 13 (which is quite a ways better than ABM, I find) - and it wasn't his fault that he released that the same year as Braveheart.

The real pity is that Gosford Park and In The Bedroom, artistically praisable but overall unimpressive projects, took two of the spots. I'm glad the Academy is recognizing independent films more and more, but couldn't they pick ones that are both inventive and lovable, like Memento and Amelie?

Anyway. I have far more to rant about, but it wouldn't have anything to do with LOTR.

Just at least give it Best Original Score. That's the category where LOTR really, really rises above the competition by miles and miles and miles, and should be a no-brainer.

[Evenstar]

OK so Ironparrot...I'm slow so be nice but were you saying that you liked Moulin Rouge or disliked it!! If you did like it then YAY!! If not them HMPH!!!

[IronParrot]

I loved Moulin Rouge! incredibly. My second-favourite movie of the past year.

What I was saying was that other than LOTR, the only other nominee I feel is worthy of winning Best Picture is MR.

So, "YAY!"