Alright, the time has come. I’m signing off here to make some preparations and, eventually, enjoy the show. I should hope you’ll all do the same, but in case you want some space to chat about the evening’s festivities, from the red carpet to telecast specifics to, of course, the night’s big winners, have at in here in the comments section. But bear with us if the server starts to buckle under the pressure. We’re looking into fixing that for next season, but if things start to slow down tonight, give it a minute and come on back to chat.
In the meantime, be sure to post your predictions in our official thread, and keep your eyes on The Movie Blog, where I’ll soon be participating in a quick pre-show podcast with John Campea and IESB.net webmaster Robert Sanchez. We’ll also hit it one more time after the show for a postmortem.
And here…we…go!
Comments
50 responses to “Oscar night open thread”
Assuming that the new show will still use movie clips for the acting nominees, what clips would you like to see? I have some ideas.
Richard Jenkins: confessional speech in the restaurant after “Phantom” (please, not the scene in the detention center lobby)
Mickey Rourke: the one at the Boardwalk is kind of obvious, but he’s at his wordiest then
Brad Pitt: maybe his first conversation with Tilda Swinton’s character?
Frank Langella: any part of the drunk dialing scene is fairly obvious; I’m fond of his scene with Kevin Bacon by the kitchen server’s door
Sean Penn: probably his pep talk with Emile Hirsch’s character at his apartment
Robert Downey Jr: the “full retard” tutorial
Heath Ledger: the pencil trick? Kidding; maybe his explanation of the scar to Rachel Dawes at the party
Josh Brolin: if they can avoid the drunk scene, maybe after the christening?
Michael Shannon: can’t go wrong with any of them; the last one has the most impact
Taraji P. Henson: the scene with the baby after the doctor’s grim diagnosis
Marisa Tomei: in the van, “you should call her” (hopefully not her scene at the end)
PenГ©lope Cruz: her grand entrance will do fine
Didn’t see the other 8.
There’s just no way the Academy will play Downey Jr.’s “full retard” tutorial. I think it will just be “the dude, playing a dude pretending to be another dude” clip.
Ledger’s a tough one to do, though I think you’re right about the party. I’d also think him talking to Batman in the jail cell would be a possibility.
Or something from the hospital scene. Let’s face it; Heath was brilliant in every friggin’ scene he was in.
Mickey Rourke will obviously be the one by the water.
Frank Langella will the be the phone scene
I know they won’t but the retart scene in Tropic Thunder was probably Downey’s best scene.
I agree hopefully they don’t do Marissa’s final scene and go with some other one
They better choose a good one for Penn. He’s unbelievable in that movie and needs a great clip
For Brad Pitt they should do a scene where he’s not sitting there looking at something quietly-perhaps they should use that scene towards the end when he shows some emotion.
They will probably end up using the drunken scene for Josh Brolin. Although it would be great if they used the scene where he bangs on the desk because he disagrees with Harvey on something
PLEASE!!!!! SOMEONE HELP ME!!!!!, I can’t watch the ceremony on justintv, I don’t know why, but the video just doesn’t load!!! I don’t know what to do!!!!
Shit, they did it. This new format rocks!
Yay for Penelope.
Ledger is tough to choose. So many brilliant scenes.
The pencil trick, the “why so serious” scene when he kills the gangster, the scene where he films the fake Batman and goes batshit crazy, the scene where he talks to Rachel at the party, the scene where he talks to Gordon and Batman in the police station, the scene where he talks to Harvey in the hospital, the scene where he burns the money, the scene where he talks to Batman upside down…literally every scene he’s in is stellar work.
Yeah, I like the new format as well. Although, I wish they would show a simple clip of the nominee’s performance.
Congrats to Penelope!
boo penelope. boo. I both like and dislike the new format. Oh god, why did DLB have to be so preachy?
LMAO at Lance Black’s speech.
Thank God Beaufoy and Cruz won.
Jack Black and Jennifer Aniston should not be allowed to the Oscars.
LOL at Jack Black.
I wish they hadn’t announced Best Original Screenplay so early in the show. Now I’m going to be depressed the rest of the night. Oh well.
The new format for the actors is cute in theory, but it takes a long time, and I tend to prefer the clips. On the other hand, Hugh Jackman’s opening number was really well-done, especially the Anne Hathaway bit.
Aniston/Black were really great. There was actual spontaneity there.
Suck it, Duchess.
HAHAHA, I knew all of those predicting W-E for Original Screenplay were whack. What were you thinking, seriously? He’s hip, like Diablo Cody, but more importantly, Milk would *not* be going home empty-handed. He was the endearing newcomer to root for, people. His speech was terrific, too.
Also, belated yays for Simon and Penelope and that Animated Short LMEPC guy <3.
I have to say, I’m really enjoying these potentially hokey genre montages thus far, especially the music choices. Coldplay was an obvious choice for Romance (and kudos for showing multiple clips of “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”, which was snubbed in a number of categories), but the overlay of Does It Offend You, Yeah? for Animation was inspired.
I like the pace they’re moving at. But where’s Jackman?
Ben Stiller is not funny. It was funny yesterday.
LOL at Ben Stiller!
James: I’m not upset because I predicted Wall-E but because it was my favorite movie of the year and I WANTED it to win Original Screenplay because I felt it deserved it.
Ben Stiller joining the crowd in taking potshots at Joaquin Phoenix. Sigh.
Jeremy: That’s certainly okay ^_^. I wanted In Bruges or Frozen River, or even Happy-Go-Lucky, but realistically, I wanted Milk, and was glad I was right. W-E is in my Top 5 though, above Milk, so don’t misunderstand me, haha.
Also, that Joaquin shtick was so not as funny as last night at the Spirits.
Now where’s those movie ads?
STFU, PINEAPPLE EXPRESS!! Love it; Kris must be creaming himself, too. Yay.
How are the predix?
8/10 here.
Tapley’s 10/10, nice.
What shall I eat next? Donuts or popcorn?
Quote of the night right now has to be Janusz Kaminski: “They made me do it Mr. Spielberg, it’s slow out there right now.”
Between that and “Suck on that, Anthony Dod Mantle!”, he just became the world’s most kickass cinematographer.
7/10 here.
Doc Short is the only category I got wrong so far.
Who actually predicted a W-E sweep again? =P.
I f’in hope it wins for Original Score now though, because Thomas Newman needs to be Oscar Winner Thomas Newman. Let SM win for Original Song.
I like having one presenter do a bunch of awards in a row. But not when it is Will Smith.
Poor Thomas Newman….
Wow. Kristopher is a prophet.
Departures. Well done, sir. Thank god you were wrong on MAN ON WIRE though. Petit was the highlight of the night.
Damn, crappy night for me thus far. No prizes this year.
Congrats on your “Departures” pick.
So, what should be the most refined, professional monatge in the ceremony was fucked in all holes tonight. Even if they were going to disrespect great artists, they even fucked up the ones that were there, by having the cameras zoom in and out and all around like the operaters were banging their heads on the board like monkeys.
Goddamn.
Penn’s performance was more technically impressive, but Rourke’s was more emotionally sound.
Both are deserving. But I do wish Rourke had gotten it.
Isn’t it odd that the Best Picture montage had no mention of Titanic or Crash?
Mickey Rourke losing hurts. Especially after having to hear Penn spew.
Great to see Sean Penn and Dustin Lance Black win…
way too long. they need to cut that 5 actors shit next year and just show clips instead.
Since Mickey Rourke kindasortajustplayedhimself, Penn winning THIS TIME was actually quite deserving. Unlike the first time *cue vomit*. He redeemed himself in my eyes.
Oscar Winner Kate Winslet <3.
FINALLY, THE LITTLE DOG THAT COULD WON!
Hated the fact they didn’t show clips of the acting – that is unforgivable. Who wants to watch a montage of car chases from the likes of Wanted anyway?!?!
That omission aside, plus a couple of other mis-steps such as playing music during the announcing of art direction and costumes, the changes worked.
There’s a bit of a buzz to having 5 heavyweight actors (or 4 + Adrian Brody) come out to present Best Actor for example. So quite liked that change but clips were essential.
Gutted that Rourke didn’t win but Penn was pretty terrific.
Winslet’s speech was great but wrong choice – should have gone to Streep.
Don’t really understand the Slumdog love but nice speeches from all of them throughout.
I’m feeling pretty devastated about Mickey Rourke tonight.
The best Oscar show ever! I hope they do the same format from now on! The acting awards were brilliantly done. I loved every minute of it.
Whilst I thought the show itself was very up and down the musical number from Baz Lurhmann was inexcusable.
Oh my. What a night!
Those acting presentations were really special.
I mean, how many oscar winners on stage.
FIVE!
And is Dustin Lance Black single ? Could he be any more perfect ?
The final mixing of Down to Earth and Jai-Ho was a bit weird indeed. But nonetheless inventive and a great attempt at freshness.