Seattlest Roundtable: The Oscars
Yes, they're overblown and sure, it's tiring to watch 4+ hours of Hollywood patting itself on the back, but it's the Academy Awards, fer fuckssake. We can't not watch Sunday's big show. From the red carpet fashion to the drawn-out musical numbers to the people-who've-died montage and the Academy's tribute to gaffers, the Oscars offer something for everyone. Plus, this year it's hosted by Jon Stewart and, though his comedy is not exactly made for Hollywood insiders, we still love that wee little funnyman. (Fact: Jon Stewart is approximately Oscar-sized.)
If you're playing the odds, the winners Sunday should be No Country for Old Men for Best Picture (and the Coen Brothers for Best Director), Daniel Day-Lewis for Best Actor, Julie Christie for Best Actress (though Marion Cotillard could take it), and Javier Bardem for Best Supporting Actor, while Best Supporting Actress is pretty much a crapshoot.
The Oscars are this Sunday evening (5pm on ABC), so we asked around the Seattlest office for thoughts and predictions. We now present them to you in clip form.
Jeremy-- Wow! I have not seen any of those!
Ronald-- I've already apologized for Atonement (an amazing novel, which failed as a film). Juno is a feel good fantasy. Edith Piaf rules. Me want blood.
Audrey-- I've seen pretty much everything (not Atonement), but that's kinda always the case. All in all, not a bad year for film.
Clint-- I've seen most everything, too, and agree with Audrey--good year for movies. The always-ridiculous-and- seemingly-random fifth best picture nom is especially odd this time around, though. Juno's amusing, but there were other, better pictures. Into the Wild, for one. (And no, that has nothing to do with Eddie Vedder.)
Charles-- To date, I've seen one best movie nominee: No Country for Old Men. If it doesn't win, I'm never going to a movie again.
Kim-- The only nominees I've seen are I'm Not There and Charlie Wilson's War, and I loved them both. They should both win everything.
Tera-- For Best Actor, I choose Viggo Mortensen in Eastern Promises. It takes a lot of guts to do a full-frontal nudity fight scene in a steam room with two large Russians swinging switchblades at you.
Ronald-- Method acting.
Matt-- Juno should get the Oscar for prettiest pregnant girl and No Country
for Old Men should get the Oscar for most unsatisfying ending as well as a special award for confusing that dumb bitch in the Q&A. Viggo Mortenson looks and sounds just like Pete the Polak, especially naked. Cate Blanchett was the only good thing about that Bob Dylan movie.
Was Inland Empire technically a 2006 movie even though we saw it January of 2007? Either way it sucked ass and deserves frequent beatings.
Some other things that suck: the shitty CGI in the Transformers movie made everything look all blurry and shit and there was too much talking and not enough transforming and robot fisting. That Die Hard sequel was okay.
Clint-- I also think No Country will be Best Picture, though Michael Clayton, strangely, was a more satisfying piece of entertainment. The melancholy of Country, and the Coen brothers' return to Blood Simple form, should put their film ahead in voter's minds... but as weird as I feel saying it, I'd sooner vote for Clayton. (I bet the Coens also pick up the directing Oscar.)
Daniel Day-Lewis deserves the Best Actor prize, and I think he'll get it. Though Clayton's namesake, George Clooney, gave an equally strong performance--minus the rabid "milkshake!" sarcasm and bitterness. That last scene sealed it for Day-Lewis, even though it bordered on grandstanding.
I've somehow missed most of the lead actress films, but think Marion Cotillard should win because Blanchett's already an Oscar winner, Christie's Alzheimer's victim wasn't as convincingly clueless as grandma was when I was a kid, Linney will surely get her own statue soon enough, and Ellen Page was just a mouthpiece for Diablo Cody's hyper-"cool" dialogue. Plus, Cotillard's beautiful and has an accent.
Hal Holbrook should take Supporting Actor--because his wet-eyed, long-suffering older friend to drifter Christopher McCandless was painfully, perfectly sincere. I'm going to be pissed when Javier Bardem wins for wearing a bowl cut.
Amy Ryan is despicable, uber-white trash in Gone Baby Gone and should snag Supporting Actress, despite Blanchett's best efforts to become Bob Dylan. It'll help that Ryan's movie isn't a very long, only-super-fans-will-understand rumination piece.
Courtney-- On the supporting actor front, I have to disagree. I saw both films, and while Holbrook’s performance was surprisingly touching for being so understated, Bardem should win simply for that scene with the gas station attendant. That was the single creepiest, most uncomfortable thing I have ever witnessed. I’d award that level of squirm over touching any day.
Also: dammit I still haven’t seen There Will Be Blood.
Jack-- Haven't seen any of the supporting actress films. Have only seen Juno from the best actress list and though Ellen Page was awesome, I doubt she performed at the level of Laura Linney or Julie Christie (speaking of whom, I saw the trailer for Away From Her and there's absolutely no way I can watch that film. I'd be weeping for weeks). As for the men, I can't decide between Holbrook and Bardem. Bardem was amazing in No Country, but Holbrook really had me believing his character wanted to adopt Chris McCandless. Best film? No Country For Old Men. Hands down.
Michael-- Best Film: I missed just one Best Film nominee, Atonement, which is all Ronald's doing. I couldn't face the hours of apologetic aftermath he described. Juno is playing above its head, and while Michael Clayton is a solid, well-made film it lacks the damn-the-torpedoes gusto of No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood. Both are deeply flawed stories (if highly watchable), but I will probably watch There Will Be Blood again, to enjoy its union of sound and visuals, which like the company of the not-quite-sane, never lets you relax. No Country for Old Men could have been a great film if they'd bothered to film the last act where, you know, Tommy Lee Jones gets off his ass.
Best Actor: I gotta think Daniel Day-Lewis. He manages to make a monomaniac into an enigma. (I can't say anything about Tommy Lee Jones in Elah, even though it was showing at the Crest forever...I just never made it.) However, the Academy also has to like Clooney's slow-burn-out in Michael Clayton, and they may throw him a nod if they're voting There Will Be Blood for Best Film.
Best Actress: I'm saying Christie, Cotillard, or Linney, with Cotillard in the lead. I have no credibility here because all I saw was Linney in Savages. She was terrific but I think it's hard to overcome the coolness of French.
Supporting Actor: I saw Wilkinson's and Bardem's performances. The first was overwrought, the latter underwrought. I'd be tempted to give it to Bardem for making a killer who has to drag around a freaking air tank seem scary. I haven't seen Philip Seymour Hoffman in Charlie Wilson's War, but everyone says he's fantastic, so he's a good dark horse. Plus, he didn't get nominated for Savages, in which he's fantastic as well.
Supporting Actress: I only saw Swinton in Michael Clayton, who succeeded in making me dislike her intensely, even though I don't dislike Swinton at all. So she should win. Is that fair? Absolutely not.
James-- "Improving" No Country by having Tommy Lee Jones "get off his ass" would be like punching up "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" with the narrator taking a big ol' bite of peach while serenading the mermaids. I thought the film was perfect, and very much enjoyed the puckishness of casting Jones in what turns out to be a completely un- Tommy-Lee-Jones-ish role.
That said, it's a rare year when two masterpieces are nominated for best picture, and while I preferred No Country I wouldn't complain if There Will Be Blood takes home the statue.
Audrey-- What I'm scared of is that No Country and There Will Be Blood could split enough of the vote that Atonement (or even Juno) might be able to steal the award.
Donte-- Whatever to all of this discussion. All I care about is that Persepolis wins Best Animated Film and Transformers wins for Best Visual Effects.
Michael-- (Spoiler Alert) Yeah, I remember that part in Prufrock where the assassin wanders around killing people with a pneumatic bolt.
My problem with NCFOM is that I've now heard reasonable people claim that a) of course Tommy Lee is now going to go get Javier and b) of course Tommy Lee is going to let him go and just sink into retirement. Which means that the audience is writing the end of the movie. If I'm writing the end of a movie, I want a cut.
Clint-- Just watched The Assassination of Jesse James last night, and it's fantastic. Affleck definitely deserves the supporting nomination (but not a win), and sheesh, the film itself is Best Picture caliber. Apparently a wet Keira and no actual atonement beat a very dry Brad and all sorts of penance.
Ronald-- I said I was SORRY, dammit.
James-- Oh -- I'm also rooting for Amy Ryan as Best Supporting Actress, even though I haven't seen any of the other nominees. It'd be an impressive performance even if I weren't familiar with her work as the incredibly different Beadie Russell on The Wire
