Posts Tagged ‘Oscars’
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Tom was totally prepared to spring of the line. He did stretches and everything. Drank a Gatorade, too!
I’m not entirely sure what headbands and tank tops have to do with watching movies, but the fact that Cami and I have only seen one of the four nominated films this year if a distinct reflection of our slack attitude this year.
Much has been made about Hollywood’s lackluster output in 2005 and I think by this point you would know that my stance is one of total agreement. You would assume in a year so rife with mediocrity, it would prompt one to search harder for the good stuff – the creamy nougat, as it were. Instead, like kryptonite, 2005’s abysmal line up drained my will to live.
But yesterday the Oscar nominations were announce and I feel reenvigorated! As has become our tradition, Cami and I make it a point to see all 5 films nominated in the Best Picture category. If nothing else than to be totally pompous after the fact when one of them walks away with the little gold man – "Oh, I knew they would win all along. That olther film wuz robbed!"
I was a bit surprised to see Good Night and Good Luck up there, but it’s a welcome change of pace. I haven’t seen Munich – and I know some people swear by it. But my question is, how could Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix be nominated in their respective acting categories and Walk the Line not be represented with a nomination? It seems as though it would be more deserving than Munich. But then again, I haven’t seen Munich. So maybe I’m totally talking out my ass. A situation I intend to remedey in the coming weeks!
This was a while back, but I read an interesting thought over at Hollywood Elsewhere in advance of the awards season. Another reader had written to the column pointing out that the field of (then) potental nominees appeared to be thinning out to what we essentially ended up with. Pointing out that the Oscars were originally created to celebrate the films of the major studios, has Hollywood painted itself into a corner with bottom-line thinking? In other words, has their reliance on blockbusters and sequels totally written them out of the awards ceremony they helped to create. Has quality been turned over to the independent filmmaker? In what way are the Oscars now different than, say… The Independent Film Awards?
It was an interesting thought – and I was kind of paraphrasing it – but is this a representation of either a more definative rift between art and commerce. Or does it represent the overall integration of "independent" movies into the American mainstream? Is the word "independent" being revised to mean something else? Used to be "independent" meant you sold off all your comic books and maxed out your credit cards to get your film made. Now it means that the "independent arm" of Warner Bros. or Sony has picked up your film, but the content is too obtuse for general audiences looking for popcorn entertainment. Still, they’ll finance your film essentially for the accolades.
Food for thought.
Switching gears.
Wanted to point out to you the little mailing list sign up form directly above this blog and directly below the comic. I encourage you to sign up for it. I’m going to be making some announcements soon and I like to keep the people on the mailing list informed early. It’s just a means for me to communicate more directly with you guys.
What’s some of the stuff I’m working on? Well, the Theater Hopper: Year One book, for starters. Plus, I might have some new t-shirt designs in the works. If so, you’d be tipped off to their sale early if you were a mailing list subscriber! Tease, tease, tease!
Another little something I want you to check out…
Remember last year when I designed a shirt for Threadless.com? Well, I have another design for sale over there that you should check out. Here’s a preview:
It’s called "Squirrels Are Nature’s Ninjas" and it’s on sale now. I didn’t come up with the title. Actually, someone else submitted it to OMG Clothing – also owned by the fine people at Threadless. Much like my previous design, the slogan was handed off to me and I went at it with a visual representation. I’m really happy with how this one turned out.
At any rate, I don’t get anything if the shirt sells except for the feeling of pride if it sells out an they later reprint it.
However, I *DO* get referral bonus points if I send you to the site and you buy something – anything! – in inventory. So, if you’re combing through the site and find another design you like, please follow this link before you make your purchse:
http://www.threadless.com/?streetteam=Tom%20Brazelton
That way, the referral points come back to me.
Many thanks.
Not much else to write about. Well, we’re having a little trouble in the THorum right now. We’re not sure what’s causing it. But I’ve gotten a few e-mails from people who are trying to create accounts and are getting errors. For now, the best advice I can give is to keep trying. If it doesn’t register you the first time, try again or even a third time. Eventually, it will go through. We’re working on resolving the problem soon. Thanks for your patience.
Here’s to everyone having a great Wednesday!
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Who knows what it is about Jared that Tom has such a hard time lying to him. He just cracks under the pressure!
Incidentally, the counters for the Web Comics List reset this week, so if you’d like to lend your support by voting for Theater Hopper, that would be great. Right now we’re getting spanked by my good buddy "Mighty" Mitch Clem who recently launched a new comic called San Antonio Rock City. It’s hard to begrudge him. The comic is flat-out hilarious. Autobiographical and honest. Two great tastes that go great together.
Now let’s rip that number one spot out of his hands like the proverbial baby from which candy is stolen.
Originally I was going to do a comic about how lame the remake for When A Stranger Calls looked, but I’d be telling you guys something you already know. When I started to pick up vibrations that "media analysts" were predicting the forthcoming Oscar’s telecast to be one of the lowest rated ever… Well, it just tied in too perfectly with Wednesday strip, so I decided to follow the narrative thread.
Sidebar: Can I call myself a "media analyst" since I draw this comic and write this blog? I’d like to think I can. I’m going to start putting "media analyst" on all my business cards. It’s not like you have to be accredited for such things…
Back on track. It doesn’t surprise me that analysts are handicapping the broadcast. Really, I don’t think it matters. So what if there were no huge blockbusters this year that the Academy could get behind. Truthfully, I’d rather see a smaller picture like Brokeback Mountain go home with the Oscar for Best Picture than some bloated epic like Titanic. Anything that might jolt the Hollywood system from it’s slumber I think is good. Maybe they’ll realize that they’ve been beaten out of their own game by the independents and go back to making, y’know, FILMS THAT MATTER!
Quick question: Have you guys noticed a shift in tone in regards to Brokeback Mountain since it emerged as the Oscar frontrunner – the film with the most nominations?
This used to be The Little Movie That Could. Lots of big obstacles for a gay-themed romance to make it big in the flyover states. Lots of chatter about how "brave" Heath Ledger and Jake Googlely-hall were for risking their careers with these roles.
Now that it’s been established that almost everyone loves it. (Well, everyone except Utah Jazz owner Larry Miller) it seems as though people have turned their back on the notion that Ledger is the front-runner for the Best Actor award. People are starting to resent his mumbling performance as an "actory" tic. More and more people seem to be siding with Phillip Seymour Hoffman for his performance in Capote. To me, he’s looking less and less like a dark horse as time goes by. Maybe people aren’t willing to let Ledger slide after making films like The Four Feathers and The Order.
Admittedly, Ledger looked like he was just about finished career-wise. Brokeback reinvigorated him in the minds of audiences. That’s huge collateral right there. Maybe it’s best not to get too greedy and walk off with that statue. Especially in the light that Hoffman has quietly being doing his thing and rocking each and every performance he’s ever given. Often times, he’s the best thing about any movie he’s in. He was certainly the best thing in Along Came Polly – the only movie on his recent resume that I would consider a career misstep.
At any rate, there’s something to be said for workman-like effciency. He does a good job. He should be recognized for it. I say this without even having seen Capote yet. Damn, I need to amend that.
Anyway, just random thoughts floating around in my head.
Hey, Americans! Do you have plans for the Superbowl this weekend? We’re going to a friends house. I’m going with the Steelers even though I know nothing about either team. I guess I saw the playoffs and it seems to me the Steelers want it more. Beyond that, I’ll have my eye out for new commercials.
Last thing I’ll mention THE BIG SALE that’s been going on in the store since last week will wrap up on Monday, February 6th. That means this weekend is your last opportunity to take advantage of super-low prices on all garments. T-shirts are $9.99. Baby-doll tees are $14.99 and our lone, remaining hoodie is $24.99. Inventory is limited, but all quantities posted are up to date. Take advantage of this sale! I’m taking them down after next Monday, so this weekend is your last chance!
Thanks to everyone who has made purchase so far. People who placed orders last week should have seen their orders arrive this week. Accordingly, orders placed this week means you’ll be getting your goodies next week! I appreciate the support!
Be sure to sign up for our mailing list so you’re first in the loop when we announce our new merchandise in the near future!
Thanks again and have a great weekend!
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Okay, the Academy Awards start in about 20 minutes and I said I would come back to make my picks, so here they are.
Originally I was going to do a huge write up about who I thought would win and why, but I don’t think there’s enough time for that now.
Anyway, here’s who I think will win:
BEST PICTURE: Brokeback Mountain. I don’t know if it was the best movie of the year, but considering it’s origins, the difficulty the writers and producers had bringing it to screen and it’s overall cultual signifigance, I think it should be rewarded. Crash looks like it might upset, though. Especially considering the complexity of the storyline, the large and tallented cast and the fact that it’s set in L.A. – where the majoirty of Academy voters live. If any film could pull an upset, it would be this one.
BEST ACTOR: Phillip Seymour Hoffman. If the Academy could nominate and award Jamie Foxx for his performance in Ray, then they most certainly need to recognized Hoffman. His performance transcends pure imitation. You really get to see the person beneath the public facade of Truman Capote, warts and all. Again, considering the difficulty Hoffman and his writing partners faced bringing this production to film, he’s a sure bet.
BEST ACTRESS: Reese Witherspon. It’s her time. Public opinion is with her and there’s rumor that she’s being paid $29 million for her next movie. It’s safe to say she’s assumed the mantle from Julia Roberts. Is there any other actress out there right now that generates this much attention? Okay, Legally Blonde 2 was a turkey. She might not technically be a great actress, but she’s a certified movie star. Moreso than the other nominees. Except for Charlize Theron and she’s already won.
I give points to Felicity Huffman for taking a more challenging, "actorly" role. But tonight, Reese walks home with Oscar.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: George Clooney. I don’t know if his performance deserves it. I haven’t seen Syriana. But, like Reese, he has good buzz around him. Especailly considering his other film Good Night, and Good Luck has him nominated in the Best Original Screenplay and Best Director categories. He won’t win in either of those, so this is his gold watch. I think mosty voters will have his name on the ballot to see what kind of speech he delivers.
If I had my druthers, I would give it to Paul Giamatti – one of the strongest character actors working today, bar none. But I think the negative press around Russell Crowe during the period Cinderella Man was in theaters has hurt his chances. Poor box office of that film also to blame.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Rachel Weisz. I have no basis for opinon here. It just seems to be where everyone else is going. Some people are talking about Michelle Williams, but I really didn’t see anything in her performance that made me stand up and say "Wow!" From what I’ve heard, Weisz’s character is the lynchpin of The Constant Gardner and she delivers on all fronts.
BEST DIRECTOR: Ang Lee. I think this one is a landslide. None of the other nominees lensed anything quite so peaceful, beautiful and poetic as Brokeback Mountain. As the director of Sense and Sensibility, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and even Hulk, his versitility should be recognized. Right film, right time to give him the nod.
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Brokeback Mountain. It says more with less. Again, cultural signifigance pulls rank here.
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Crash. The complexity. The characterization. The multiple angles on the same story. It’s the most ambitious of the nominees.
Anyway, those are my choices. Really, a lot of the media outlets I’ve been keeping up with predict it the same. Really the only nailbiter is Best Supporting Actor. It could go in any direction. But the rest seem like locks. I think it’ll be a pretty standard affair for Oscar tonight. That is, unless Crash was able to perform some kind of last-minute rally. I view it as the dark horse. We’ll see!
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From the way some people were talking about Crash’s Best Picture upset over Brokeback Mountain, looting and rioting were only moments away!
I have a deeper meditation about all of the controversy/non-controversy wrought by this ruling, but since it is late on a Tuesday night, I do not have the mental capacity to share those thoughts at the moment. I’ll be back later with some more well-composed thoughts.
A brief artistic summary of today’s comic might include the declaritive statement that it was fun to draw Tom throwing over tables. That’s something that needs to happen more often. Me likely.
Y’see? There’s that lake of mental capacity I was talking about earlier.
Something that takes ABSOLUTELY no brain power is schilling my cheesy wares. And by that I mean the t-shirts I currently have for sale in the store. TODAY IS YOUR LAST DAY TO PLACE YOUR ORDER. At midnight tonight, I am ending the pre-orders and sending everything off to the printer. Hopefully, I’ll have your shirts in stock a few weeks after that and I can ship them out to you.
I know you guys are probably strapped for cash, but if you enjoyed ANY of these designs, I strongly encourage you to order yours today. A couple of them didn’t sell as strongly as I had hoped and I’m not wholly encouraged to do another run of them in the future. I might try something different instead. So the underlying message here is "Don’t expect these designs to be around forever."
Because they won’t.
Additionally, once I conclude this run of shirts, I’m going to start focusing on a pre-sale of the Theater Hopper: Year One book. I’m collecting bids from printers at the moment and hope to have them in production soon.
Something to keep in mind on those; You get a price break the more you order and in order to make it worthwhile, you have to order a lot. Like 500 to 1,000 (and actually, that’s a very small run in the book world). As such, I’m going to have to do pre-orders until I can meet costs for the entire run and that might mean needing anywhere from 200 to 300 pre-orders in the bag before I can send the whole thing to production.
Just something to keep in mind if you’re on a budget and pinching pennies. I’m going to need everyone’s support in a big way when this goes full steam. But I’m very proud of what I’ve accomplished so far and I think you guys are going to see the value of the extra effort I put into this book.
Back on the subject of shirts, many thanks to those of you who have already placed orders. I appreciate your support!
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I made a promise to come in and talk about the controversy over Crash upsetting Brokeback Mountain for the Best Picture Oscar.
But I gotta be truthful: I’m not as upset about it as I was before.
I haven’t seen Crash, so I can’t vouch for it’s worthiness or unworthiness. But at the time when Jack Nicholson read the name of the winning film from that card, I was shocked. To me, Brokeback seemed like the more culturally relevant film. Just in terms of the awareness it brought to homosexual relationships as fully realized partnerships. Not a gimmick. Not a flamboyant supporting plot device. But just as rich and detailed as any straight love story.
I’ve heard from some people that Brokeback wouldn’t have gotten the same amount of attention if it weren’t about gay cowboys. There might be some truth to that, but I don’t think so. I think audiences are interested in well-crafted stories regardless of the main character’s sexual orientation. To me, the fact that Brokeback was about a gay couple was secondary. It’s about cowardace and not standing up for the most important things in life. It’s about caving to self-imposed and societal expectations and not having the strength to question them. You could swap out two gay characters with two straight ones and it wouldn’t have changed the overall theme of the movie – That love is hard-earned and not for the weak. The characters could be a Muslim and a Jew, a black man and a white woman or your next door neighbors. The whole "gay issue" is a non-point to me.
That said, and presuming that both Brokeback and Crash are equally well-made films (represented by their equal share of earned Oscars in technical categories), at one point I questioned if there was perhaps some kind of bias against Brokeback because Academy voters couldn’t see past the "gay issue."
I think Crash may have also had a "home-field" advantage in and of that it is a movie set and filmed in L.A. and that’s where 80% of the voting block resides. Also considering the location of the shoot was probably a touch point for voters considering that most productions are being farmed out to Canada, Australia and Prague to cut costs. Filming in their own backyard was something the voters wanted to reward perhaps as a means to encourage production to stay in Tinsletown.
But overall, you have to question if perhaps the homosexual aspect of the film was not something voters wanted to appear to endorse. It was tackled at the top of the show that Hollywood was out of touch with mainstream America. A win for Brokeback would have been a strong confirmation of that point to those critics. Why give them more ammunition?
Jeffery Wells of Hollywood Elsewhere made an interesting point about the whole thing. I quote,
"Is anyone besides me seeing the irony here…the irony that howled and flooded the skies above Los Angeles last night? The very thing that Crash laments — prejudice against people of different stripes and persuasions — is what tipped the vote and delivered the Big Prize."
It’s food for thought.
I shared that thought for a while, but I think it’s since worked it’s way out of my system. Friday’s comic will reflect that and, I think, from there we can all move forward.
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Jared throws a mean uppercut. Ask someone who knows.
Okay, this time I swear I’m done with all the stuff about the Oscars. More on that later.
You know what I think is most ironic about today’s strip? Shortly after finishing it, I got an e-mail from the author of Weekly Webcomic Reviews that I was voted on of "The Cool Dudes of Web Comics" under the nomination heading "Nicest Guy in Web Comics." Yes, I have achieved this despite the fact that my characters pummel each other on a fairly consistent basis.
You should check out the article. A couple of my friends – Joe Dunn, Mitch Clem and Sam Logan – were also awarded under less subjective criteria. Still, it’s nice to be recognized.
I don’t know how to bring this up without sounding like a totally pompous idiot, but I’ve heard about my reputation for being a nice guy in other corners of the scene. I know a few people that would disagree with that, so it’s curious to me how I’ve subconciously cultivated this outward perception. It’s not like I’m giving backrubs to people who read the comic. But I totally would. I’m one of those "huggy guys." It’s what happens when your parents leave you in a crib from the age of 4 months to 2 years. You end up overcompensating later in life.
Just kidding, Mom and Dad! I love ya!
I probably need to mention that I won’t be posting any updates for the next two weeks. I have a couple of events going on right now that are going to draw my attention away from the comic. But don’t worry. I got a couple of really great babysitters that are going to take care of you.
The first event that I’m attending is kind of a long story. I’ll give you the Cliff’s Notes version here.
Have you guys heard of The World Series of Pop Culture? It’s a game show that’s going to be on VH1 later this summer. I know that you haven’t heard about it yet because it hasn’t been filmed! How do I know that? Because I’m auditioning for the show in Chicago this weekend!
Like I said, it’s kind of a long story. But essentially, a friend of Cami and I sent me an e-mail about the show and said "Tom, this is PERFECT for you!" I said "Why not?" and signed us up. We filled out an application and the casting people liked what they saw. After that, they sent us an essay to fill out and we sent that on. After that, we were told we have an audition!
This isn’t like American Idol or some nonsense like that. It’s not a cattle call. Not just anyone can go. They’re only doing this for two days and you have to have an invitation. So we’re pretty psyched about it.
Basically, the producers are doing auditions in 5 cities and will eventually cast 16 teams of 3 to compete in New York in late April. The audition on Saturday consists of a timed written test. If we pass, they sit down the three team members and interview us individually. If they like what they see in the interviews, they’ll call us Saturday night and have us come back to the hotel where we’re auditioning to do a dry run of the game on Sunday. They’re calling back 8 teams. The team that wins AUTOMATICALLY gets to go on the show. The remaining 7 teams will have their names thrown into a hat and 4 will be drawn at random to compete.
Anyway, there’s a little more to the story you can read about in the THorum here if you’re interested. It’s been an interesting journey so far. I’ll be sure to let everyone know how things turn out after this weekend. Posting pictures and whatnot.
Anyway, since there’s a possibility that we might be competing on Sunday and they may need us there until 5:00, it’s possible I won’t be home in time to do a strip for Monday. It’s a 6 hour drive from Chicago to Des Moines, so it looks like a strip from me is off the schedule.
Additionally, I will be going on vacation next Thursday the 16th through Tuesday the 21st. So instead of having a guest strip on Monday, a strip from me on Wednesday and three more guest strips after that – I decided to give myself a well earned vacation and just take the next two weeks off. After all, it’s a lot easier to relax when you aren’t worried about posting new comics.
But as I said, I have a bunch of great stuff lined up for you guys. If you need an indication of quality, chew on this – All of the guest strips are coming from artists from Boxcar Comics. Oh, yeah!
So, this is the last comic you’ll see from me until March 27th, but I’ll still be poking around and saying "Hi." Hopefully by the time I get back I’ll have some concrete news about the Theater Hopper: Year One book. Until then, have a great weekend!
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Nominees for the 79th Annual Academy Awards were announced this morning and I was pleased to see that I’ve already seen three of the five films nominated for Best Picture. That means I have less ground to cover before the ceremony on February 25.
I suppose what surprised me most is that Leonard DiCaprio was nominated for his performance in Blood Diamond and not The Departed. I was also shocked to see Alan Arkin nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Little Miss Sunshine. But that’s a pleasant surprise. Marky Mark nominated in the same category for his performance in The Departed? Not sure what to make of that.
All I know is if Martin Scorsese doesn’t walk away with Best Director this year, it’ll be a crying shame. But I think Clint Eastwood is going to give him a run for his money.
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Well, Henry is a week old, he lost his umbilical cord and I’m going back to work today after a week off. Will I live to tell about it? Who knows.
This is probably the last week of guest strips before I return to a regular Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule. I question if I’ll be able to do them in color. It’s not so much finding the time to draw and ink the comics. It’s the coloring that takes the most time. So, if push comes to shove, you’ll get the comics in black and white. I just have to play it by ear.
At any rate, sincere thanks to Josh Anderson for his guest strip. Josh does his own work with Man in a Box Comics. Go check it out. I really liked his treatment of the “gabbing girls” in his comic. I miss the Tex Avery level of cartoon violence I used to have in Theater Hopper. I need to get back to my roots.
A quick programming note – I’m going to try and participate in our weekly talkcast The Triple Feature tonight at 9:00 p.m. over at TalkShoe. I wasn’t able to make it last week for obvious reasons. I’d really like to be there tonight so I can talk with my good budies Joe and Gordon about The Oscars. If I can’t make it, Gordon will be running the show. I guess he ran into technical difficulties last week – NOT HIS FAULT – so hopefully this week will go a little smoother for him if I can’t make it. Anyway, check it out!
Speaking of the Oscars, I decided to try something a little different – LIVE BLOGGING DURING THE TELECAST. The concept is simple. I jot down whatever comes to mind during the show. Without further ado, here they are. I hope you get a kick out of them!
LIVE BLOGGING – OSCAR’s 2007
7:34 p.m. – Kind of interesting opening montage of nominees from the acting and technical categories – even though I keep waiting for the guy from the Macintosh ads to show up.
7:38 p.m. – Henry just had a massive poop. Thank goodness for TiVo.
7:43 p.m. – Nice suit, Ellen. *cough*
7:47: p.m. – Alright, I’ll give Ellen points for the J-Hud / Al Gore “America voted” joke…
7:51 p.m. – First award goes to Art Direction? What happened to the Best Supporting Actor leading off the ceremony?
7:56 p.m. – Will Ferrell with a giant ‘fro smelling a rose. He had me laughing right away. Add Jack Black and make it a musical? Brilliant. “Ryan Gosling. He’re hip and now. I’m going to break your hip, NOW!” “Mark Wahlberg? Actually, I’m not going to mess with you. You’re pretty bad ass.”
Wait! John C. Reily? Aw, yeah.
8:01 p.m. – Pan’s Labyrinth is sweeping the Oscars! I know that won’t be the case a few minutes from now. I just wanted to say that.
8:03 p.m. – Abigail Breslin and Jaden Smith presenting an Oscar? Say what? At least their line flubbing is an authentic moment.
8:08 p.m. – Henry needs a diaper change and to be put down to bed. TiVo to the rescue again.
8:22 p.m. – I’m back. I’m going to have to fast forward to catch up! Sorry Best Live-Action Short Film!
8:23 p.m. – Holy crap! Pause that! Is Jack Nicholson bald during the Best Live-Action Short Film acceptance speech? He pulled a Britney!
8:24 p.m. – Back from commercial. Still fast forwarding. Sorry Sound Effects Film Choir!
8:27 p.m. – Best Sound Editing falls under the digital blade of TiVo’s fast-forward technology. Best Sound Mixing, too.
8:28 p.m. – Alan Arkin wins Best Supporting Actor! The Movie Gods have spoken and they hate Norbit.
8:34 p.m. – Can someone please explain why Randy Neuman’s song from Cars was nominated instead of Sheryl Crow’s? Fast forward. All caught up now!
8:44 p.m. – Happy Feet wins Best Animated Feature Film? Booooo!
Look, I know Cars wasn’t the best movie Pixar ever produced, but giving Happy Feet the Oscar awards it’s box office take and nothing else. I would have been happier if Monster House had won.
8:45 p.m. – “Academy award winner for Best Screenplay Ben Affleck.” Uh oh.
8:53 p.m. – William Monahan wins Best Adapted Screenplay for The Departed! Are things shaping up for a Best Picture win? Maybe too early to tell…
8:56 p.m. – Chris Connelly is a complete tool with that Parcheesi board he’s trotting around. Tom Hanks responded in absolutely the right way.
8:57 p.m. – Man, I love that Wes Anderson American Express commercial…
8:59 p.m. – Ellen’s Oscar Bjorn. I probably wouldn’t have found that as funny a week ago and if I weren’t walking around the house in Henry’s Baby Bjorn earlier in the day.
9:05 p.m. – Apparently it’s a big deal that Tom Cruise is presenting Sherri Lansing with the Oscar’s Humanitarian Award. Both she and Cruise were ousted from Paramount by Sumner Redstone last year. I heard it’s supposed to be kind of a thumbing of the nose that industry people are supposed to get excited about.
9:11 p.m. – Clint Eastwood came off a little senile at first, but he’s doing a good job keeping up with Ellen’s request for a photo from her MySpace page. Asking Steven Spielberg to take it? Great timing!
9:20 p.m. – Nice bit of self-deprecation from Robert Downey Jr. In the Best Special Effects introduction. Dead Man’s Chest wins and rightly so. Davy Jones is probably the most startling CG creation put to film.
9:31 p.m. – Whoa! Pan’s Labyrinth LOSES Best Foreign Language Film to Germany’s The Lives of Others? SHOCKER!
9:33 p.m. – I thought those dancers making the shadow puppets were pretty lame until they busted out the Snakes on a Plane logo. Nice.
9:35 p.m. – Jennifer Hudson wins Best Supporting Actress. The upstaging of Beyonce is now complete.
Hudson climbing from the American Idol reject pile to Academy Award winner is an impressive story. But that’s all it is: A story. Let’s be honest. We’ll never hear from her again. Can you really say she’s a better actress than Kate Blanchet?
8:46 p.m. – Jerry Seinfeld is delivering an excellent bit during the Best Documentary Feature introduction about movie theaters wanting you to pick up to yourself and I desperately wish I had thought of it.
9:52 p.m. – Clint Eastwood having a little trouble reading the prompter during the tribute to Morricone. Kinda shameful, Clint.
10:17 p.m. – I feel like I haven’t commented in a dog’s age. A lot of awards in technical categories, I guess. Interesting that Little Miss Sunshine won for Best Original Screenplay. So, at this point, I’m thinking it’s got to be between Little Miss Sunshine and The Departed for Best Picture – which is how I would prefer it. If Babel wins at this point, I would be shocked. But there have been lots of nice little twists tonight!
10:37 p.m. – Henry needed another diaper change during the Best Original Song award. What did I miss? Melissa Etheridge? Hmm! Not feeling so bad about missing Dreamgirls in theaters now.
10:46 p.m. – And now the sad portion of our evening, remembering those who have died. I had forgotten about Bruno Kirby and Don Knotts passing away last year. Joe Barbarra, James Doohan, Peter Boyle, Jack Pallance (although I already thought he was dead). Of course Robert Altman. A sad year.
10:54 p.m. – The show is running long. Helen Mirren wins Best Actress for The Queen. Very much deserved. An elegant woman to be sure and an excellent performance.
11:04 p.m. – Forest Whitaker wins Best Actor for The Last King of Scotland. Expect a lot of “King and Queen” headlines on Monday morning.
11:06 p.m. – “The Original Three Amigos” George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Francis Ford Coppola presenting Best Director… and Martin Scorsese FINALLY WINS! YES!
Man, I was going to say – if you pool those three icons of 70’s film making together to hand over the award to Best Director, it better go to one of their contemporaries! Standing ovation? HELL YEAH!
Funny that Lucas was relegated to the bitch seat for being the only one never to have taken home an Oscar. I don’t think too many people are crying into their Cheerio’s about that.
11:14 p.m. – The Departed wins Best Picture. I will sleep soundly tonight.
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So that’s my Oscar’s ’07 live blog. What did you guys think of the broadcast? I thought Ellen DeGeneres did a pretty good job as host . Better than I anticipated. Were there any surprises for you guys? Anyone you think was robbed? We you entertained by the show? Who had the best speech? Who was the worst dressed? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!
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I kind of painted myself into a corner with today’s comic because, originally, the set up required there to be some kind of massive upset at last night’s Academy Awards ceremony. The only problem, there were no real upsets! Pretty much everyone who was supposed to win, did. There weren’t really any awards handed out that I was upset with. I didn’t finish watching the show thinking anyone was snubbed or robbed. So I had to reconfigure the point I was making a little bit, but I think it comes off well.
Discussing today’s comic with Cami, I actually hit up a little mini-arc that addresses some of the politics behind the Oscar voting as well as attempt reveal some truth about persona biases.
That sounds pretty lofty. It’s not high-concept, or anything. I’m just trying to give you the head’s up that there will be a mini-arc this week. So if that gives you an excuse to come back to the site on Wednesday and Friday, feel free to use it.
Thinking back on last night’s show, the only real upset I can recall is French actress Marion Cotillard winng her first Academy Award for her portrayal of singer Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose. Then again, Best Actress is always a crap shoot anyway. And – not to be xenophobic – the award hardly ever goes to an American actress, so I just kind of ignore it.
I was pleased beyond reason that “Falling Slowly” from Once won Best Original Song. Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova’s performance made me want to stop what I was doing and watch Once all over again – easily my favorite movie last year.
Beyond that, nothing much to get excited about. Certainly it was obvious that there weren’t any huge blockbusters or A-level celebritires like Tom Hanks or Julia Roberts being celebrated. I’ll be curious to read about the ratings sometime today.
But when your Best Picture nominees include downers like There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men, it’s likely to ostrisize the casual movie goer. Maybe that’s a good thing? More left over for the die-hard fans?
We discussed these issues and more on a special Sunday night recording of The Triple Feature over at TalkShoe. Gordon, Joe and I hopped on the line immediately after the Oscar telecast wrapped up and we shared our immediate impressions. You should really think about downloading a copy of the show. We kept it brief – 30 minutes since we recorded on a day we don’t typically record. It’s a good introduction to what we do. If you have a chance, give us a listen!
That said, we still have ANOTHER broadcast going on this evening. The three of us will be talking about NEW movies tonight including Be Kind, Rewind, Vantage Point and the recent multiple cast announcements for the upcoming Wolverine: Origins.
So be sure to tune in tonight at 9:00 PM CST for another episode of The Triple Feature! See you there!
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Feb27
For the record, Julie Christie is a total G.I.L.F.
Then again, maybe some thoughts are better kept to yourself.
I don’t know how today’s comic became a commentary on the overabundance of opinions in the digital age, but I don’t think the observation is any less true.
You can’t swing a USB mouse online without being confronted by someone else’s opinion about something. Truthfully, we have no one to blame but ourselves. We seek it out. When we buy a new camera, we want to learn about someone else’s experience with it. When we hear about the latest celebrity scandal, we check our favorite blogs to have our disgust validated by someone with a more erudite sense of humor.
The downside to all of this is that it creates a Critic Culture. Just like I pointed out in the comic, everyone has an opinion and no one can be wrong.
It may be a moot point when it comes to something like the Oscars since winners have always been chosen by industry people – members of the Academy or Motion Arts and Sciences.
Still with the annual cottage industry set up around the Oscars, all of the articles written, the handicapping, the predictions, the red carpet coverage, the dissection of fashion – it’s become more than recognizing achievement in film. And between the internet and cable television, there are a lot of hours to fill with opinions about all of it. Audiences asorb it and become part of the process. They start spouting off their own opinions. Is anyone an expert on anything anymore? Would you trust them if they claimed they were? Probably not. It won’t be long until every awards ceremony basically becomes a blown up version of the Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice Awards.
Maybe that’s not such a bad thing? Certainly no one is taking them seriously now. I mean, the lowest rated telecast in Oscar history? Yikes. Either people are starting to see through the charade the Oscars have become (do we really need so many montages during the show?) or true movie fans are a dying breed.
The Academy made some interesting choices this year. A lot of indie fare that most people didn’t get to see. So blame the Academy or blame the audience. Me – I blame the Critic Culture.
The one I proudly represent.
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