In Contention

Tag: 82nd Annual Academy Awards

  • AMPAS shakes up the Best Picture scenario

    The Academy has added a new twist to the Best Picture category, which was shaken up two years ago with the expansion of the field from five to 10 nominees. According to a late-breaking press release Monday, the organization has elected the field to include anywhere from five to 10 nominees, depending upon what percentage of number one votes contenders receive during the ballot-counting process.

    Think of it as kinda/sorta like the Best Original Song category, which can have anywhere from two to five nominees, but in order to place, a hopeful must first land a certain “score” from the branch. In this instance, the “score” would be the percentage of number one votes received by a given film, with 5% being the minimum. Assuming they hold onto the rule, we could have different years with different numbers of Best Picture nominees, etc.

    It’s interesting because the race could shake out predictably — given that a handful of films are agreed upon leading up to the nominations announcement, with one or two already conceded as barely making the cut — or it could be ignited even more with a dash to squeeze into that top percentile. Who knows? But I’m a BIG fan of this measure. It seems like a happy medium between the exclusivity of five nominations and the perceived diminishing of the honor of 10. And maybe even a bit more dialed in. Not to mention, the resulting number of nominees could be a nice representation of the Academy’s stance on an overall year of film. Nicely done.

    Full press release follows…

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  • The gift, not the wrapping

    Kathryn Bigelow in The Hurt LockerLike a Tiffany engagement ring presented in a Happy Meal box, sometimes the most beautiful gifts come in really cruddy wrapping. And such was the case with last night’s Academy Awards ceremony.

    On the one hand, the show managed to delight (if not surprise) me with one of the unlikeliest sweeps in Oscar history, making history in more ways than one — and for a film that just happened to be my favorite U.S. release of the year. I can’t say that about every (or any) Oscar show I’ve watched in my lifetime. On the other hand, this remarkable turn of events was merely the silver lining to a confounding debacle of a ceremony, one of the most lazily conceived, sloppily staged and lumpenly paced efforts I’ve witnessed in two decades of Oscar-watching.

    I’d dearly love to bring a sunnier perspective on the matter than that of Kris, but just as we were in near-complete agreement on our predictions (save for, ahem, Best Animated Short), I can only echo every gripe he expressed in last night’s wrap-up. Unlike many others, I wasn’t the greatest fan of Bill Condon and Laurence Mark’s streamlined, revue-style reboot of the Oscars last year, but it had a tonal consistency and moved at a clip that last night’s show could only dream of.

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  • OSCAR TALK: Ep. 25 — Postmortem

    Oscar TalkWelcome to Oscar Talk, a weekly kudocast between yours truly and Anne Thompson of Thompson on Hollywood.

    This is the final installment of the 2009-2010 Oscar season, with nothing left to discuss but Hollywood’s biggest night. On the docket today:

    • Anne was on the red carpet and in the press area at the show last night, so she offers some first hand perspective on the festivities.

    • We dig into the actual telecast, which Anne caught in fits and starts, but I was camped out on a couch watching intently the whole time and had, well…issues.

    • Anne turned up a tally of 16 correct guesses. I nailed down 19. We commiserate on our bad calls and discuss the various winners, some of which were quite surprising.

    • Finally, we remember our personal high points from the season and let you know when we’ll be back (after a short hiatus).

    Have a listen to this week’s podcast below, with a history-making moment leading the way.  Oh, and by the way, for our committed listeners, I thought I’d offer up this soundbite from one of our broadcasts of Anne wrestling with her microphone. It cracks me up every…single…time.

    As always, you can subscribe to Oscar Talk via iTunes here.  We’ll see you back here in roughly two months.

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  • Forgotten

    I don’t know if anyone else felt the same way, but the “In Memoriam” segment last night felt extremely flat to me.  It’s not to say that it should be full of flavor and pizzazz.   Quite the contrary.  But there was just something sterile about the whole James Taylor sing-over same-old that didn’t sit well.

    And then, they forgot to include Bea Arthur and Farrah Fawcett, which is a shame.  There were probably more.  But we remember you here!

    (from left) Bea Arthur and Farrah Fawcett

  • Ratings were up

    Ben Stiller at the 82nd annual Academy AwardsDespite concern over how the telecast might be perceived, it turns out ratings got a boost this year, according to this Rick Kissell Variety story.  Much of that is being attributed to the presence of popular films like “Avatar,” but I think it’s also worth pointing out the role of hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin may have played here.  Their chemistry may have been a must-see for many.

    Writes Kissell:

    Oscar appears to have driven the “Avatar” express to strong numbers Sunday, with preliminary local-market scores suggesting ratings for the Academy Awards on ABC will come in up by double-digit percentages vs. last year. As a result, the show figures to have moved north of 40 million viewers for just the second time in five years…

    According to Nielsen’s local overnights, which measure viewership in 56 of the nation’s largest markets, the “82nd Annual Academy Awards” averaged roughly a 27.4 household rating/41 share from 8:30 to 11:30 p.m. ET, up a meaningful 20% vs. last year’s 22.9/36.

    I still love the irony of the ultimate Best Picture winner in the face of all this clamoring for popular appeal.  And, I might add, it became a perfect symbiosis.  “The Hurt Locker” got to win in front of a large audience that will now give it a look.  Maybe it all worked out in the end.

    Check out the rest at Variety.

  • ‘The Hurt Locker’ takes 6 Oscars, including Best Picture

    Jeff Bridges at the 82nd annual Academy AwardsOh, let’s start with the positive.  The irony of the lowest-grossing Best Picture winner of all time coming in a year when the Academy did everything it could (right down to a hopelessly baiting horror film montage) to shove the Oscar telecast toward populist appeal couldn’t be more delicious.  Much of the season was deceptively tame, but a final week push from all sides (including within) to unseat the perceived frontrunner either came too late or simply didn’t work.

    “The Hurt Locker” claimed six trophies, including Best Picture, Best Director and best Original Screenplay.  The latter became perhaps the tightest race of them all as The Weinstein Company worked aggressively to secure a prize for Quentin Tarantino, but again, it either came too late or didn’t work.

    Kathryn Bigelow’s war saga wasn’t even daunted by its perceived competition as “Avatar” managed only three wins, for Best Visual Effects, Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography.  Only one of those races included competition from “The Hurt Locker.”

    The biggest surprise of the night, no doubt, was Geoffrey Fletcher’s Best Adapted Screenplay win for “Precious,” an award that seemed to be pre-ordained for “Up in the Air” scribes Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner.  How often we forget the Academy can be as unpredictable as not.  And Fletcher, by the way, is the first African American winner of a screenplay Oscar.  “Precious,” meanwhile, was one of three films (along with “Crazy Heart” and “Up”) to win two Oscars, and it seemed to receive a lot of respect and admiration in the room.

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  • Academy Idol?

    There’s plenty of trepidation about this year’s Oscarcast, a number of industry-ites expecting the worst while, of course, hoping for the best.  We’ll know in a few hours, but I got a note today from someone on the inside of all of this that is, well, I don’t know:

    This change to “And the winner is…”, along with Shankman’s quote on the Bart/Guber show about the Oscars being the best-dressed reality competition show doesn’t bode well when you hear about the first shot tonight, which is meant to be the curtain opening to reveal either the eight Best Actors and Actresses, or possibly the 16 nominees if they include Supporting, all lined up on stage like contestants on AMERICAN IDOL.  The big idea at work here could be AMERICAN IDOL.

    Gulp?

  • Guy’s final Oscar predictions

    Christoph Waltz in Inglourious BasterdsAnd so it comes to this: more months than I care to count of watching, thinking, sweating, fretting, writing, deleting and occasionally not caring boil down to single predictions in 24 categories. There’s a lot to get through here, and I’m not going to delay things with an introduction.

    Well, except for this one caveat — apology, even — of sorts. As you wade through my list, you may notice that my predictions look quite similar to those of one Mr. Kris Tapley. Remarkably similar, in fact. Unhealthily similar, even.

    What can I say? Short categories aside (which were subject to further research), the following predictions haven’t wavered in my mind since nomination day, over a month ago — and I see no compelling reason to go out on a limb this year. Sometimes great minds think alike. Frequently wrong, but alike nonetheless.

    With that, my predictions, preferences and rationales continue, category by category, after the cut.

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  • 3/3 Oscarweb Round-up

    (from left) Meryl Streep and Sandra Bullock at the 15th annual Critics' Choice Movie Awards• Claude Brodesser-Akner reports that a Sacha Baron Cohen Oscarcast sketch has been nixed to spare James Cameron’s feelings.  It was a dumb idea anyway. [Vulture]

    • Steven Zeitchik on what I’ve been saying until I’m blue in the face: Meryl Streep’s silence has done her no favors during phase two, while Team Bullock continues to steamroll. [The Envelope]

    • Steve Pond tells us what happens to the ballots now that the deadline has come and gone. [The Odds]

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  • Horror at the Oscars

    Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the LambsNo, I’m not talking about the news that Martin Short and Neil Patrick Harris will be opening the show with a song and dance, but this nugget from Bloody Disgusting:

    While the Academy continues to fail to recognize horror in their prestigious festivities (has it really been 19 years since Silence of the Lambs?), Bloody Disgusting has been tipped off that the 82nd Annual Academy Awards…will feature a segment dedicated solely to our beloved genre. No word on what exactly will happen – at least it won’t feature a singing and dancing Hugh Jackman (I’m still embarrassed for him) – but it will be either an homage via clips or song about horror…If they’re going to work our way into our hearts, we need to see more than District 9 and  Inglourious Basterds getting love…

    Hm.  Thoughts?

  • 2/26 Oscarweb Round-up

    Cover of Detective Comics #27• Maria Puente on the wide array of villains represented by the year’s Oscar nominations. [USA Today]

    • Bill Mechanic tells Sharon Waxman that the Oscarcast will be “emotional.” [The Wrap]

    • Not movie related, but FYI, Batman’s is still bigger. [Hero Complex]

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  • Shankman and Mechanic on teamwork

    (from left) Adam Shankman and Bill MechanicIn last Friday’s edition of Oscar Talk, Anne Thompson alluded to something of an elephant in the room regarding the upcoming Oscar ceremony: that curiously matched co-producers Adam Shankman and Bill Mechanic are “not getting along.”

    As whispers to this effect continue to circulate around the industry, the pair have clearly aimed to dispel that notion in this interview with USA Today’s Anthony Breznican. Still, while they play up the “odd couple” angle with good humor — Shankman the highly-strung showman balancing out the more pragmatic (and aptly named) Mechanic — they don’t make you read between the lines to see the strain:

    “It’s a meritocracy,” Mechanic says. “Whoever has the best idea wins. We haven’t had a blow-up. But we’ve definitely had disagreements, and definitely gotten heated a few times. He got me going one day, probably by mistake …”

    “With an e-mail,” Shankman says. “As it always is these days.”

    “At 5:45 in the morning, and I probably didn’t read it the way he intended it,” Mechanic says. “And I got (angry) and uppity.”

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  • Sweet smell of desperation

    Kristen Stewart at the 2009 BAFTA AwardsIt’s almost as if the ratings-hungry Oscarcast producers watched last night’s BAFTA sweep for “The Hurt Locker,” finally accepted they’re going to receive no assistance from the awards, and duly sprung into action.

    Right on cue comes today’s announcement that Miley Cyrus, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner and Zac Efron will all be presenting on March 7. Perhaps if they add Robert Pattinson, they can present the Best Supporting Actress category together, heartfelt individual tributes and all.

    Here’s hoping Stewart practises her smile over the next two weeks. Not even a BAFTA Rising Star award could cheer her up last night.

  • What might have been

    Sacha Baron CohenI agree with Anne Thompson in yesterday’s edition of Oscar Talk when she cautiously says that the hosting is one of the few things she’s not worried about in the upcoming Academy Awards ceremony. Steve Martin — tried, tested and funny on two previous hosting dates — is the definition of a safe pair of hands, while the gig seems a natural fit for Alec Baldwin’s newfound national treasure status.

    At the very least, seeing how the duo dynamic works out, after many years (my entire Oscar-watching lifetime, at least) of individual hosts, will be interesting. But show producers Adam Shankman and Bill Mechanic gave us a more intriguing what-if scenario when they revealed their far riskier initial pick for the gig:

    The always-candid Shankman revealed that when he and Mechanic first met for lunch, they immediately agreed that the person who should host the show would be none other than Sacha Baron Cohen.

    Shankman said, just as quickly as they told the Academy of their idea, “the Academy swatted it down. They thought it was too big of a wild card.”

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  • OSCAR TALK: Ep. 22 — “All the noise, noise, noise, noise!”

    Oscar TalkWelcome to Oscar Talk, a weekly kudocast between yours truly and Anne Thompson of Thompson on Hollywood.

    Every week inches us closer to the end of the loudest Oscar season of all time. Today Anne and I sit down and discuss the noise of the week, adding our own noise (we went on a bit long this week):

    • Anne was in attendance at Monday’s nominees luncheon so she offers some first-person perspective on the goings-on.

    • Speaking on the clutter, the glut of festive gatherings and contender pitching has hit a fever pitch, so we wax on about that a bit.

    • Harvey Weinstein got his druthers this week as any and everyone desperate for something to write about has picked up on his proclamation that “Inglourious Basterds” will win Best Picture.

    • The original song performances were nixed from the telecast this week, which leads us into a discussion of trepidation over how things will play out on March 7.

    • Finally, we talk through a number of the below-the-line races before addressing the foreign language and documentary short categories at some length.

    Have a listen below, with Jeff Bridges leading the way with a little ditty. And as always, you can subscribe to Oscar Talk via iTunes here.

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  • Shocker: Best Original Song nominees will not perform

    (from left) T Bone Burnett and Ryan Bingham at the 2010 Golden Globe AwardsThis is a bit outrageous.  Mike Fleming is reporting at Deadline Hollywood Daily that the original song nominees will not be asked to perform the tracks on the telecast:

    Explanations include that the songs never delivered ratings, and that is what this Oscarcast is all about. That not having the big production numbers will move the show along. That it will save money for distributors, who eat most of the costs (up to 7 figures) of schlepping singers in. That unless a song by Bruce Springsteen, Celine Dion, Sting or U2 were nominated, most of the worldwide audience is hearing the tune for the first time when it is sung. I mean, can anybody besides Tom Bernard or Michael Barker from Sony Pictures Classics hum a few bars of “Loin de Paname” from Paris 36?

    Dear Academy: I don’t think we can possibly bend over any further.

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  • Official poster for the 82nd annual Oscars

    This has been floating around for a few weeks, actually, but the Academy made it “official” with a press release yesterday.  You can head over to the official AMPAS site to purchase the poster if you like.

    Official poster for the 82nd annual Oscars

  • WEEKLY WRAP: Oscar nomination week

    Anne Hathaway and Tom Sherak announcing the 2009 Academy Award nominations• Did you hear? The 2009 Academy Award nominations were announced. “The Hurt Locker” and “Avatar” led the pack.

    • Days before, Kathryn Bigelow nabbed the Directors’ Guild Award — the first woman ever to do so.

    • Back to the Oscars, we collected reaction statements from 44 of this year’s nominees.

    • I rounded up some of the most pleasant surprises in the nominations, as well as the most unwelcome snubs.

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