You know the drill. Cut loose with your queries and we’ll try to address as many as we can. PLEASE KEEP IT TO ONE QUESTION, and as always, steer clear of anything we’ve covered ad nauseam.
You know the drill. Cut loose with your queries and we’ll try to address as many as we can. PLEASE KEEP IT TO ONE QUESTION, and as always, steer clear of anything we’ve covered ad nauseam.
Comments
64 responses to “Taking questions for Oscar Talk”
There was some discussion last year about the preferential voting system and how that could potentially create a scenario where a movie that did not get the most #1 votes but got a lot of #2’s could win Best Picture.
Is that something that might happen this year, and if so, which film do you think could achieve that kind of upset victory?
What do you and Anne think is behind the bias against younger male actors? Up and coming males who acted their butts off Ryan Gosling and Andrew Garfield can’t even get nominated over so so veteran Jeff Bridges and John Hawkes performances. But if your a younger female it’s much easier to get nominated as Michelle Williams and Jennifer Lawrence get in and Hailee Steinfeld and Natalie Portman are frontrunners in their category. The bias against younger me is as bad as it is for older women.
Natalie Portman in all probability is going to win Best Actress Award .. but honestly do you think she has performed better than Naomi Watts in Mulholland Drive (for which she didn’t even get a nomination) considering both the acts are more towards the neurotic side … Puting it plainly who would you choose Naomi in MD or Portman in BS …
I want to know what has changed in these 10 years.. that now Academy has more or less made up the mind to reward a neurotic character while 10 years back it didn’t even recognize it .. ???
Do you that “If I Rise” has a very strong chance of taking home the best Original Song award .. considering the liking which 127 hours has among academy members .. and also the positioning of the song in the movie is just perfect … or Academy isn’t willing to award Rahman again .. that too so soon ..
You and Anne seem to be in the minority (among other Oscar pundits) about Hailee Steinfeld winning Best Supporting Actress.
What reason do you have for sticking with her even as Melissa Leo wins all the lead-up awards?
Gautam Anand, if I may step in for a second,
I think that Naoimi was brilliant in MD but I think the real value of Portman’s perfomance is that she never really goes over the to top into scenery chewing or becoem overtly emotional. I think she did a great job being as subtle and self-posessed as possible. More importantly, I didn’t find her neurotic at all, just psychotic :) and that’s an important difference.
What lock in the major 8 categories do you think has the best chance of doing an ‘Up in the Air’ slip with a ‘Precious’ sliding in for the win?
Narrowing Bill’s question down a bit…
Is The Social Network really a lock in Adapted Screenplay? I keep being reminded of Up in the Air last year. One a favourite for Best Picture, fell from grace yet everyone KNEW it was winning Adapted Screenplay anyway. The Academy has shown that it loves True Grit, so would an upset be likely? If not, what’s the difference between the years?
Apologies if this is a topic you’ve covered before:
I’ve always wondered why only the five fringe categories require mandatory screenings to assure all of the nominees have been seen. Especially in a year like this where it’s the same ten movies over and over again, it should be easy for Oscar voters to attend AMPAS-run screenings throughout the year.
What are your thoughts on this?
What do you think the odds are of The King’s Speech getting the Best Score Award
Hahahaha I’m just listening to the latest Oscar Talk and I had a huge laugh when Anne left and you said “Ok so it’s just the guys now…let’s talk about best make-up” your timing was impecable there!
My question for Oscar Talk this week has to do with Sundance though I think that film about the girl that leaves the cult is and impressive idea, I only see a big “Oscar Worthy” future for Win Win, specially for Paul Giamantti since it was remember by the HFPA a couple of weeks ago and this movie feels like this year’s Little Miss Sunshine (admit I have love that expression since I first heard it!)
Do you see any other Sundance film making it big this year with the critics, then getting the awards treatment and finally some big love from the regular audience?
What are the unexpected(deserving) wins you are hoping for in any of the 4 acting categories despite each category being dominated by a frontrunner as of now? Example, Natalie Portman has been sweeping awards for Best Actress.
You guys went through a list of upcoming films at the beginning of January which made it sound like this year has little to offer. Here is a list that may lift your spirits (at least a bit):
A Dangerous Method (David Cronenberg)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (David Fincher)
The Beaver (Jodie Foster)
Moneyball (Bennett Miller)
The Sitter (David Gordon Green)
The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick)
J. Edgar (Clint Eastwood)
Hugo Cabret (Martin Scorsese)
Contagion (Steven Soderbergh
Source Code (Duncan Jones)
Super 8 (J.J. Abrams)
30 Minutes or Less (Ruben Fleischer)
Drive (Nicolas Winding Refn)
Tintin (Steven Spielberg)
War Horse (Steven Speilberg)
The Guard (John Michael McDonagh)
We Bought a Zoo (Cameron Crowe)
Moon Rise Kingdom (Wes Anderson)
The Ides of March (George Clooney)
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (Tomas Alfredson)
Young Adult (Jason Reitman)
Living in the Material World: George Harrison (Martin Scorsese)
Bernie (Richard Linklater)
Meek’s Cuttoff (Kelly Reichardt)
And that’s not including most of the stuff that is getting love out of Sundance, plus other ones that I probably forgot.
Thanks again, guys.