{"id":268,"date":"2008-02-19T23:17:29","date_gmt":"2008-02-19T12:17:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/batrock.net\/?p=268"},"modified":"2008-02-29T00:32:09","modified_gmt":"2008-02-28T13:32:09","slug":"oscar-08-prep-nominee-rundown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/batrock.net\/?p=268","title":{"rendered":"Oscar &#8217;08 Prep: Nominee Rundown"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/batrock.net\/images\/atonementoscars.jpg\" hspace=2 vspace=2 border=1 text=\"Wait a second, this doesn't say who the winner is at all!\"><\/center><\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve found out that dread is something that attends all awards ceremonies; if they&#8217;re tough to watch on TV, imagine how hard it must be to sit in the audience. In preparation for my projected deadblogging of the ceremony, I&#8217;m running my preliminary predictions of winners.<br \/>\nIn my case, predictions may not even be likely outcomes, but what I want. The huge problem with awards ceremonies is that they never justify the winner. They don&#8217;t say &#8220;<I>Crash<\/I> won for proving to us all how bad the white and the burden of his guilt is, and how all black women are shrews. PS Reverse racism.&#8221; It&#8217;s not like you can say &#8220;Jake Gyllenhaal receives this award in recognition of his discovery of the cure for cancer. All forms of cancer. Yes, even <I>that<\/I> one.&#8221;<br \/>\nWe&#8217;ve got a simple case of &#8220;The winner is &#8230;&#8221;, the announcement of the results, and then roll credits.<br \/>\nI don&#8217;t know why we put so much stock in a set of awards given without reason (well, obviously, they&#8217;re the &#8220;best&#8221;). I would like to point out that <i>Norbit<\/I> has been nominated for an Oscar.<\/p>\n<p>I repeat: <B><i>Norbit<\/i> has been nominated for an Oscar.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Well, here we go, anyway.<\/p>\n<p><b><big>Best Actor<\/B><\/big><\/p>\n<p>  \tGeorge Clooney in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Michael Clayton\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<br \/>\n  \t<b>Daniel Day-Lewis<\/b> in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153There Will Be Blood\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<br \/>\n  \tJohnny Depp in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<br \/>\n  \tTommy Lee Jones in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153In the Valley of Elah\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<br \/>\n  \tViggo Mortensen in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Eastern Promises\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Why is George Clooney nominated in this field? Even if you like <I>Michael Clayton<\/i>, how is Clooney anything more than pedestrian in it? That does it, I&#8217;m going to have to find a place that&#8217;s showing the damned movie and watch it again just so I can deliver a final verdict. How can <i>everyone in the world<\/I> except for me and Ajay love <i>Michael Clayton<\/I>? Clearly I&#8217;m defective. I&#8217;ve only seen three of these movies, having missed <I>Eastern Promises<\/I> and with <I>In The Valley of Elah<\/I> yet to see release in Australia. Johnny Depp is amazing, but Daniel Day-Lewis managed in <I>There Will Be Blood<\/I>, an expert slow boil that occasionally bubbles over before finally exploding into the THIRD REVELATION. Tommy Lee Jones is always worthwhile nowadays, so I&#8217;ll be interested as to what he was like.<\/p>\n<p><big><b>Performance by an actor in a supporting role<\/big><\/b><\/p>\n<p>  \tCasey Affleck in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<br \/>\n  \t<b>Javier Bardem<\/b> in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153No Country for Old Men\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<br \/>\n  \tPhilip Seymour Hoffman in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Charlie Wilson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s War\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<br \/>\n  \tHal Holbrook in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Into the Wild\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<br \/>\n  \tTom Wilkinson in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Michael Clayton\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve seen all of these, and I will give Tom Wilkinson that he <I>was<\/I> pretty amazing in <i>Michael Clayton<\/I>. Personally I want to know which universe Casey Affleck was in a supporting role in <I>The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford<\/i>, considering that he was the lead and sold the movie, but you know. I&#8217;m giving this one to Anton Chigurh, because Javier Bardem really rocked the hell out of that movie. <\/p>\n<p><big><b>Performance by an actress in a leading role<\/big><\/b><\/p>\n<p>  \tCate Blanchett in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Elizabeth: The Golden Age\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<br \/>\n  \t<b>Julie Christie<\/b> in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Away from Her\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<br \/>\n  \tMarion Cotillard in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153La Vie en Rose\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<br \/>\n  \tLaura Linney in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Savages\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<br \/>\n  \tEllen Page in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Juno\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>Pure guess work, as I&#8217;ve only seen <I>Juno<\/I>.<\/p>\n<p><big><b>Performance by an actress in a supporting role<\/big><\/b><br \/>\n  \tCate Blanchett in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m Not There\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<br \/>\n  \tRuby Dee in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153American Gangster\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<br \/>\n  \t<b>Saoirse Ronan<\/b> in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Atonement\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<br \/>\n  \tAmy Ryan in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Gone Baby Gone\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<br \/>\n  \tTilda Swinton in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Michael Clayton\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>I was a bit surprised when I saw that Ruby Dee had been nominated for a role that essentially saw her walk onto the screen, slap Denzel Washington, and walk off, but this is the Academy we&#8217;re talking about. To be honest, I&#8217;d never heard of <I>Gone Baby Gone<\/I> until these announcements. Apparently it&#8217;s out here in April. The <i>Michael Clayton<\/I> curse catches again, and I guess Tilda Swinton was good in it but she gets docked major points for participating in the greatest cop-out of the film. I&#8217;ll change my tune when I&#8217;m out of rehab. Anyway, Saoirse Ronan was pretty amazing so my money&#8217;s on her. I just wonder why <i>Atonement<\/I> didn&#8217;t get more acting nominations when &#8230; oh, I guess that the Academy doesn&#8217;t tally nominations based on my tears.<\/p>\n<p><big><b>Achievement in directing<\/big><\/b><\/p>\n<p>  \t\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Diving Bell and the Butterfly\u00e2\u20ac\u009d  Julian Schnabel<br \/>\n  \t\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Juno\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Jason Reitman<br \/>\n  \t\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Michael Clayton\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Tony Gilroy<br \/>\n  \t<b>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153No Country for Old Men\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Joel Coen and Ethan Coen<\/B><br \/>\n  \t\u00e2\u20ac\u0153There Will Be Blood\u00e2\u20ac\u009d  Paul Thomas Anderson<\/p>\n<p>Just between you and me, <i>No Country For Old Men<\/I> is pretty much cinematic perfection. I still think that <i>Juno<\/I> isn&#8217;t really Academy league, but nor was <I>Crash<\/i> and look at that. I&#8217;ll endeavour to see <i>Diving Bell<\/I> soon, it just came out here.<br \/>\nPS. <i>Norbit<\/I>. <\/p>\n<p><b><big>Best motion picture of the year<\/big><\/b><\/p>\n<p>  \tAtonement<br \/>\n        Juno<br \/>\n  \tMichael Clayton<br \/>\n  \t<b>No Country for Old Men<\/b><br \/>\n  \tThere Will Be Blood<\/p>\n<p><i>Atonement<\/I> is tempting, but there&#8217;s simply No Country for it. <\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s see how I go come Monday!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve found out that dread is something that attends all awards ceremonies; if they&#8217;re tough to watch on TV, imagine how hard it must be to sit in the audience. In preparation for my projected deadblogging of the ceremony, I&#8217;m running my preliminary predictions of winners. In my case, predictions may not even be likely outcomes, but what I want. The huge problem with awards ceremonies is that they never justify the winner. They don&#8217;t say &#8220;Crash won for proving to us all how bad the white and the burden of his guilt is, and how all black women are <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-film","category-oscars"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1HLZ6-4k","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/batrock.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/batrock.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/batrock.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/batrock.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/batrock.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=268"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/batrock.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":534,"href":"https:\/\/batrock.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268\/revisions\/534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/batrock.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/batrock.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/batrock.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}